Scramble for Africa Simulation

The Object: To carve up Africa and, at the end of the simulation, have the most colony points remaining. This
simulation ends when all territories in Africa have been claimed.

Goal: To show the importance of imperialism (national rivalry toward national growth and territorial
acquisition) in creating national strife. The goal is also to show how countries will create war over natural
resources. Finally, this will serve as a stepping stone to show how imperialism created the first World War.

Supplies Needed: Supplies included in this PDF: each team needs a country card, Africa map with point values, Africa
map with country names

Additional Supplies Needed: One dice

Procedures:
7 teams: Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Portugal

Each country begins with a certain amount of military and money that reflects 1880

Countries (teams) rotate around the classroom, taking turns with the goal to acquire the most colony points.

Country Money Points Military Points

Great Britain 17 16
France 15 12
Germany 11 11
Spain 14 9

Belgium 13 10
Portugal 11 8
Italy 10 10

On your turn you have a choice of three things you can do:
- you can conquer an unoccupied territory
- you can wage war against an occupied territory (provided you meet the requirements)
- or you can skip your turn to receive extra resources

Rules:
Territory Acquisition of Unoccupied Territories:
A country can conquer ANY UNOCCUPIED territory in Africa AS LONG AS it has the required amount of money
and military power. If a country wishes to conquer a territory, the $$ and military will be deducted from totals

Territory Acquisition through War:

Any country wishing to wage war for an occupied territory can do so, BUT must meet two requirements:
- it must have enough money and supplies to take over that territory
- it must already have a territory that borders the one they want to wage war against.

For example:

Assuming Great Britain has the appropriate military

and money points, it can wage war on France because Britain cannot wage war on France
they have a shared border. because it is too far from the territory they want

4
Consequences For War (Read Closely):
If you are waging war:
- if you start the war AND lose the war, you lose ALL supplies you needed to win the territory.
- if you start war AND win, you take the land and do not pay any $$ or give up any military.

(Using the previous example, if Great Britain starts a war with France and loses, then it loses the required
military and money points. Essentially, they are left with less points and have gained no extra land. If
Great Britain wins the war, they lose no points in either category, since it is assumed they gain resources by
taking over a territory. They then gain the new territory.)

If you are defending yourself:

- if a country is declaring war on you and you lose, you lose the territory
- if a country is declaring war on you, and you win, you keep the territory but do NOT get any more
money and military points.

After declaring war, the team declaring war rolls a dice to attack. The number on the dice dictates how
many chances the defending team gets to defend. For example, if a ONE is rolled, the defending team only
gets to role the dice ONE TIME to defend, whereas a SIX would give the team SIX changes to keep their
territory.

If a defending team rolls a THREE on any of the chances it has to defend, then it wins the war. If they
roll anything but a three, the other team wins.

(Using the previous example, if Great Britain has the appropriate military and money supplies and shares a
border with a territory controlled by France, it can declare war. The GB team rolls the dice and it shows a
TWO. This means that France gets to roll the dice TWO TIMES before the war is over. On their first roll,
France rolled a FIVE. They only have one more roll to keep their territory! On their second roll, they roll
a THREE! This means France keeps their territory and GB loses military and money points. IF France
fails to roll a three, they lose the territory (GB gains it) and neither side loses points.

Getting more money / military:

Beginning on round 2:
- Each country receives +1 for both money and military PER TURN as countries replenish their supplies
- If a country chooses to skip a turn, they receive +4. However they can choose how to distribute those
4 points depending on what the country needs (for example: 2 money, 2 military OR 1 money, 3
military OR 0 money, 4 military).

Keeping track of territories:

Students will receive laminated maps that can be written on with Vis--vis markers. Students will use
corresponding colors for the European powers. Students will write on map when a country acquires a
territory.