Lies, Deception, and Violence in the Scramble for Africa

This is the second case study, on 19th-century African colonialism, which examines how European powers deployed lies and deception to facilitate territorial conquest and political domination, three centuries after the Spanish invasion of the Americas. Focusing on key actors such as Cecil Rhodes, Henry Morton Stanley, King Leopold II, Gustav Nachtigal, and Carl Peters, among others, the chapter demonstrates how fraudulent treaties, false diplomacy, mistranslations, and fabricated narratives were used to acquire land, coerce local leaders, and justify violent occupation. It argues that deception often preceded and enabled violence, forming a blueprint of conquest whereby initial manipulations made later coercion more effective and more easily legitimised. Through a close reading of events in various African territories, the chapter shows recurring patterns of deception. These, far from being isolated or improvised, were part of a broader imperial strategy in which violence and deception operated hand in hand. The chapter deepens the book’s central claim that domination is sustained not only by force, but also through strategic deception that shapes consent, obscures coercion, and structures colonial rule.