Q1.
What do you think the cartoon (Fig. 4.3) is trying to express? (Keep in mind that the telegraph, which permitted instant communications for the first time, was then a recent invention.) Analyse different elements of the drawing.
Answer
The message is domination presented as heroism. A single European stands with one boot in the far south of Africa and the other in the far north, holding a telegraph wire across the whole continent — the picture says that one man, backed by one nation, can straddle and command an entire continent. Take the drawing apart element by element.
| Element | What you can see | What it is saying |
|---|---|---|
| The pose | Legs stretched from the southern tip of Africa to its northern edge | The whole continent is one man’s stride — nothing in between is worth stopping for |
| The scale | The figure is drawn taller than the continent, head above the clouds | Africa is reduced to a floor to stand on; the coloniser is superhuman |
| The telegraph wire | Held taut in both outstretched hands, running the length of Africa | The new technology of instant communication is the instrument of control: orders from London could now reach Africa in minutes instead of weeks. Empire is being wired together |
| The clothes | Military-style dress, heavy boots, a slung rifle, a helmet in the raised hand | The ‘business magnate’ is armed. Commerce and conquest are the same person |
| Who is missing | Not one African appears anywhere in the drawing | The continent is drawn as empty land waiting to be taken — the most revealing detail of all |
| Where it was published | Punch magazine, London, 1892 | The audience was the British public, and the cartoon flattered them: this is what our men are doing out there |
Why the telegraph hint matters: before the telegraph, a message from London to a distant colony travelled by ship and took weeks; an official on the spot had to decide things himself. Once the wire was laid, decisions could be made in the imperial capital and enforced the same day. That is why the cartoonist chose the wire rather than, say, a flag: it is the exact symbol of an empire that could now be run, not merely claimed. And in this chapter you meet the same technology in India — where, the book notes, the telegraph network, like the railways, was paid for out of Indian tax revenue.
Did you know? The drawing is usually known as ‘The Rhodes Colossus’, and the figure is generally identified as the British businessman Cecil Rhodes, who wanted a telegraph and railway line running the length of Africa. The title also puns on the ancient Colossus of Rhodes, a giant statue said to have straddled a harbour entrance.