The Rhodes Colossus

The Rhodes Colossus is an iconic editorial cartoon of the Scramble for Africa period, depicting British colonialist Cecil Rhodes as a giant standing over the continent.

The cartoon was drawn by Edward Linley Sambourne, and first appeared in Punch magazine in 1892. It was widely reprinted in its time, and has since become a standard illustration in history texts.

The cartoon was published in the 10 December 1892 edition of Punch, appearing beside a recent excerpt from The Times about a Rhodes plan to extend an electrical telegraph line from Cape Town to Cairo.

It was led by a piece of satirical verse on the character and ambitions of Rhodes:

Brobdingnagian Bagman, big Dreamer of Dreams.
A Titan of tact and shrewd trader—shrewd trader!
A diplomat full of finesse and sharp schemes,
With a touch of the pious Crusader—Crusader!
A "Dealer" with despots, a "Squarer" of Kings,
A jumper of mountain, lake, wilderness, wady,
And manager 'cute of such troublesome things
As L or the M—the M.

Well may A wonder and F tootle praise,
His two thousand hearers raise cheering—raise cheering.
Of wild would-be Scuttlers he proves the mad craze,
And of Governments prone to small-beering—small-beering.
Sullen Boers may prove bores to a man of less tact,
A duffer funk wiles Portuguesy—tuguesy;
But Dutchmen, black potentates, all sorts, in fact,
To R the astute come quite easy—quite easy.

The British South-African Company's shares
May be at a discount—(Trade-martyrs!—trade-martyrs!)—
But he, our Colossus, strides on, he declares,
Whether with or without chums or charters—or charters.
Hooray! We brave Britons are right now to the front—
Provided we've someone to boss us—to boss us;
And Scuttlers will have their work cut out to shunt
This stalwart, far-striding Colossus—Colossus!

— Verse accompanying the original cartoon