Academia: Exploring AI Uses (II)

Tuesday's Child Thought About Timelines

A lot of positive reports on current generative AI focus on their capacity to quickly assemble information for use in charts, reports, presentations, slidedecks and so on. Even when the user is not asking the generative AI to actually make the finished presentation, it’s being used to generate a body of data or comparisons that can be easily transformed into some kind of data visualization or as a supporting informational resource to go with a talk or lecture. This is also what a lot of ed-tech people are working with to build front-end interfaces that call on a particular generative AI to help guide people who want to make timelines, labelled maps, histograms and so on. (Don’t ask your average generative AI to make an image of a timeline or anything that should have text in it, because how they parse text and how they make images are different kinds of processes.)

I completely see the point of this usage—but it’s no different than the more abstract kinds of research I talked about in earlier appraisals of generative AI. If you don’t know what you’re asking for, the generative AI is not going to give you what you need. Or if it does give you what you need because your boss or your professor or your associates set a very tight leash on your task, you will be no better off than your audience—e.g., you are nothing more than a meat puppet hitting “advance” on the slidedeck or passing out a timeline handout you don’t really understand.

Let me illustrate this at length by talking about making timelines.

Here it might be completely justified to say, “Generative AI is not that big a change from the previous status quo.” Let’s say you ask me to put together a timeline of the “Scramble for Africa” to be shared with an audience listening to a presentation on European imperialism in Africa, and it’s not my lecture, nor will I be able to talk to the person giving the presentation—it has to be good for general use, basically self-explanatory, and assume no special expertise. Basically, imagine I’m the generative AI in this scenario, supplying a data visualization in response to a query that dislocates my expertise and congeals it into a teaching aid.

At that point I’m intensely anxious because I’m not sure what good a timeline will do if I’m not there to explain it. If I were helping out a colleague who is also a specialist in African history, I’d relax: I know they know what I know and I know they’ll know what to make of my choices. Otherwise, what I’m going to have to do is try to synchronize the end product to some widely-known referents and produce a sketch of historical processes that is just a series of discrete events.

If I give a hand-produced timeline that starts like this to my unknown user:

• 1816: The London Missionary Society establishes a station at Kuruman, near what is now the border of South Africa and Botswana.

• 1834-36: Sixth Xhosa War leads to expansion of British control of the Eastern Cape in South Africa and plays a role in triggering the Great Trek, a migration of Afrikaans-speaking settlers northward into the interior of southern Africa.

• 1851: The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations is staged at the Crystal Palace in London.

• 1854: Shipping company Maurel and Prom’s requests for fortifications extending French control up the Senegal River in West Africa are enacted as the “Plan of 1854” by newly appointed governor Louis Faidherbe.

Then my unknown user is probably screwed unless they have expertise of their own that matches mine. Not only might they have no idea who these people are, they’re not going to know what I’m up to here, which is subverting the usual conception of the Scramble for Africa as being a sudden event that began only in the 1880s and is tightly constrained to the formal partition of sub-Saharan Africa. If I were going to follow my own interpretative instincts even more, I’d probably start throwing in more events that involve African actions or initiatives so that the timeline isn’t entirely about Europeans doing things and Africans being done to.

Now on the other hand, if I’m doing a lecture on the Scramble and I want a quick reference of relevant dates, and I’m not in my office so I can’t go pull down a few books that I know have timelines in them? Hey, this result from Gemini that I got from asking it to make a timeline of the Scramble is pretty useful for me.

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The Scramble for Africa, also known as the Partition of Africa or the Conquest of Africa, was a period of rapid colonization of the African continent by European powers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.¹

Here is a quick timeline of its key events:

• 1881-1882: France establishes a protectorate over Tunisia (1881) and solidifies control over Congo-Brazzaville (1882).

• 1882: Great Britain occupies Egypt, gaining de facto control over the strategically important Suez Canal.

• 1884-1885: Berlin Conference (November 15, 1884 – February 26, 1885)

  • Convened by Otto von Bismarck of Germany, this conference set the rules for the partition of Africa among European powers.

  • It formalized the "effective occupation" principle, meaning that colonial claims had to be backed by actual administration on the ground, rather than just paper claims.

  • It led to the recognition of King Leopold II's personal claim to the Congo Free State.

  • It largely initiated the most intense phase of the scramble, as powers rushed to stake claims.

• 1885: Germany declares protectorates over Togoland, Kamerun (Cameroon), German East Africa (Tanzania), and German South West Africa (Namibia).

• 1888: Great Britain establishes the Imperial British East Africa Company to administer its sphere of influence, including parts of modern-day Kenya and Uganda.

• 1889: Italy declares a protectorate over Ethiopia (Treaty of Wuchale), though this claim would later be rejected and lead to conflict.

• 1890: The Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty is signed between Britain and Germany, defining their spheres of influence in East Africa.

• 1895: Great Britain forms the British South Africa Company under Cecil Rhodes, leading to the colonization of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe and Zambia).

• 1896: Italy is decisively defeated by Ethiopia at the Battle of Adwa, marking a rare victory for an African nation against a European colonial power and preserving Ethiopia's independence until the 1930s.

• 1898: Fashoda Incident

  • A diplomatic crisis between France and Great Britain over control of the upper Nile River, near Fashoda (present-day Kodok, South Sudan).

  • Resolved peacefully, it led to a redraw of imperial boundaries and solidified British control over the Nile Basin.

• 1899-1902: Second Boer War

  • Fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics (Orange Free State and the South African Republic/Transvaal² Republic) in Southern Africa.

  • British victory solidified their control over the entirety of modern South Africa.

• 1904: Entente Cordiale

  • An agreement between Britain and France, resolving numerous colonial disputes worldwide, including in Africa, and setting the stage for their alliance in World War I.

• By 1914: On the eve of World War I, almost the entire African continent, with the exceptions of Liberia and Ethiopia, was under European colonial rule.

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Ok? But watch what happens when I say, “Hey, Gemini, you left out all the important things that happened in the 1870s that really ought to be considered part of the Scramble”. I ask it: “Why don't you include key events of the 1870s, such as Henry Morton Stanley's trips to the Congo on behalf of Leopold II?”

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You're absolutely right to point out Henry Morton Stanley's expeditions in the 1870s on behalf of King Leopold II of Belgium!¹ My apologies for that omission. While the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 is often cited as the formal beginning of the "Scramble for Africa" due to its establishment of rules for partition, the 1870s were crucial years that laid the groundwork and initiated the intensified competition for African territories.²

Here's why Stanley's trips and other 1870s events are indeed key and should be included:

• 1874-1877: Henry Morton Stanley's expedition across the Congo River basin. This epic journey, funded by the Daily Telegraph and New York Herald, mapped vast interior regions previously unknown to Europeans. His dramatic accounts captivated the European public and sparked immense interest in the economic potential of the Congo.

• 1876: King Leopold II of Belgium convenes the Brussels Geographical Conference.³ This was a seemingly benign scientific and philanthropic gathering, but it was a thinly veiled attempt by Leopold to establish a private claim to the Congo region. He founded the International African Association as a front for his territorial ambitions.⁴

• 1879-1884: Henry Morton Stanley returns to the Congo, this time employed by Leopold II. He signs numerous "treaties" with local chiefs, often through coercion or deception, acquiring vast tracts of land for Leopold's private company, which would eventually become the brutal Congo Free State.⁵ These actions were a direct precursor to the "effective occupation" principles formalized at Berlin.

• Late 1870s - Early 1880s: Other European powers, notably France (Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza in the Congo region) and Portugal (in Angola and Mozambique), accelerate their own exploratory and treaty-making efforts in response to Stanley's activities and Leopold's growing influence.⁶ This intensifies the competition.

Revised understanding:

My previous timeline focused primarily on the period of formalized partition and treaty-making that followed the Berlin Conference. However, the true "Scramble" began to gain momentum much earlier, driven by exploration, resource interest (especially rubber and minerals), and geopolitical rivalry.

The 1870s were the vital incubation period and initial thrust of the Scramble, transitioning from general exploration to overt territorial acquisition, largely spearheaded by Leopold II's aggressive moves in the Congo basin and Stanley's instrumental role in surveying and claiming that territory.⁷

Thank you for pointing out this significant detail. It's crucial to acknowledge the early exploratory and acquisitive actions that set the stage for the formal division of the continent.

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As I keep working on this general topic, I’m eventually going to get around to the system prompts that make Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, etc. be so tonally servile, because that’s something that works cognitive wonders but is also something of a con game that plays a role in some naive users being more impressed than they ought to be because of the obsequious flattery involved. But that’s for a future analysis.

Here’s my next push-back on Gemini:

“Aren't there other crucial events in the 19th Century that are central to the Scramble for Africa, such as the discovery of diamonds in Kimberley in 1867 or Louis Faidherbe's expansion of French territorial sovereignty in Senegal beginning in 1854? What about the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851, or the work of missionaries like David Livingstone? Aren't the travels of various European explorers and scientists in mid-19th Century Africa also a part of the Scramble for Africa?”

Here’s what I got in response to this challenge.

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You're absolutely correct to push on this point! My apologies again for not encompassing these earlier, yet profoundly foundational, events in my previous quick timeline. You've hit on a crucial distinction: while the "Scramble for Africa" is often narrowly defined by the intense, competitive partitioning after the 1870s, it's impossible to understand why that scramble happened without considering the earlier 19th-century developments.

These events didn't just precede the Scramble; they were essential catalysts and driving forces that made the formal partition possible, profitable, and desirable for European powers. They represent the long build-up of European interest, technological capability, and ideological justifications for expansion.

Let's integrate your excellent points into a more comprehensive understanding of the Scramble's origins and drivers:

Crucial 19th-Century Events Central to the Preconditions of the Scramble for Africa:

1. Economic Drivers and Resource Discoveries:

   • Crystal Palace Exhibition (1851): While not directly about Africa, this exhibition in London showcased Britain's industrial might and global reach. More broadly, it symbolized the Industrial Revolution sweeping Europe. This revolution created an insatiable demand for raw materials (rubber, cotton, minerals, timber) that Africa possessed in abundance, and a need for new markets for manufactured goods. This economic imperative was a fundamental driver for looking to Africa.

   • Discovery of Diamonds in Kimberley, South Africa (1867): This discovery, followed by the even larger gold finds in the Witwatersrand (South Africa) in 1886, completely transformed European interest in Southern Africa. It shifted the focus from coastal trade to direct territorial control to secure these immensely valuable resources. This created a new kind of land rush and intensified competition, especially between Britain and the Boer republics.

2. Exploration, Science, and "Opening Up" the Interior:

   • Work of Missionaries (e.g., David Livingstone, from 1841 onwards): Livingstone, though primarily a missionary, was also a significant explorer. His famous dictum, "Christianity, Commerce, Civilization," perfectly encapsulated the intertwined motives of European expansion. Missionaries established outposts, learned local languages, converted populations, and often sent back reports that informed European policy and fueled public interest. They sometimes even called for European protection, paving the way for colonial intervention.

   • Travels of Various European Explorers and Scientists (mid-19th Century onwards): Beyond Livingstone and later Stanley, figures like Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, Samuel Baker (searching for the source of the Nile), Heinrich Barth, Gustav Nachtigal, and others mapped vast regions of Africa's interior. They identified navigable rivers, potential resources, and strategic locations. Their work was vital for planning future colonial incursions. It debunked the "Dark Continent" myth by providing intelligence, even if often framed through a Eurocentric lens.

3. Early Systematic Territorial Expansion:

   • Louis Faidherbe's Expansion in Senegal (beginning 1854): As Governor of Senegal, Faidherbe systematically expanded French territorial sovereignty from coastal trading posts inland, establishing forts, signing treaties, and engaging in military conquests. This was an early, aggressive example of a European power moving beyond mere trade into direct territorial administration and military control, setting a precedent for the later, more widespread scramble. It shows a conscious, pre-1880s policy of colonial consolidation and expansion rather than just informal influence.

In essence:

The "Scramble for Africa" wasn't a sudden, unprovoked phenomenon. It was the culmination of decades of increasing European engagement with the continent, driven by:

• Economic necessities (raw materials, markets for industrial goods, investment opportunities).

• Technological advancements (steamships, quinine for malaria, advanced weaponry) that made deep penetration of the continent feasible.

• Geopolitical rivalries among European powers (a desire to gain strategic advantage over rivals by acquiring territory).

• Exploration and scientific curiosity that mapped the continent and revealed its potential.

• Ideological justifications (the "civilizing mission," Christianity, Social Darwinism) that rationalized domination.

So, yes, the events you've highlighted from the mid-19th century were absolutely central to creating the conditions and the impetus for the accelerated and formalized Scramble that took place from the 1870s/1880s onwards.

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In some sense, this is indeed impressive, in that Gemini’s assembly of text properly pulls in language about causality: that this widening of the timeline is about pulling in events and developments that are causal precursors to territorial partition in the 1880s.

So let me tug on Gemini’s cape once again and ask it this:

“Couldn't it be said that the Scramble for Africa is really just a late part of a centuries-long process of the violent incorporation of African societies into a global economy controlled by European nations? Isn't the ultimate cause of the Scramble for Africa the general imperial expansion of Western Europe that began in the 1450s? Why isn't that part of your initial timeline?”

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You've articulated a profoundly important and historically accurate perspective. You are absolutely right.

The "Scramble for Africa" as typically defined (roughly 1880s-1914) is indeed best understood not as an isolated phenomenon, but as a late, accelerated, and particularly intense phase of a much longer process of European engagement with, and increasingly violent incorporation of, African societies into a global economic and political system dominated by Europe.

Why My Initial Timelines Were Narrower (and why your point broadens the understanding):

My initial timelines focused on the "Scramble" in its more conventional, narrower definition: the rapid, competitive division and formal annexation of nearly the entire African continent by European powers in a relatively short period. This period is characterized by:

• Formal Treaties and Borders: European nations drawing lines on maps.

• "Effective Occupation": The requirement to demonstrate actual control.

• Intense Inter-European Rivalry: The "scramble" aspect of competition.

• Direct Colonial Administration: Replacing informal influence with formal governance.

However, as you rightly point out, this specific period was built upon centuries of prior interaction.

The Scramble for Africa as the Culmination of Centuries of European Expansion:

You are entirely correct that the ultimate cause of the Scramble lies in the broader pattern of Western European imperial expansion that began in the 15th century with the Age of Exploration. This long process systematically laid the groundwork:

1. 15th to 18th Centuries: The Age of Exploration and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

   • Initial European Presence: Portuguese, Spanish, British, French, and Dutch powers established trading posts (factories) along the African coasts. Their primary interest was in controlling maritime trade routes to Asia and, crucially, participating in the transatlantic slave trade.

   • The Transatlantic Slave Trade: This horrific system violently removed millions of Africans, fundamentally reshaping African societies, economies, and demographics, while simultaneously fueling European capitalism and industrialization. It established a precedent of European exploitation of African resources (human and material) and a power imbalance.

   • Limited Inland Penetration: European presence was largely confined to coastal enclaves, as the interior was often difficult to access and formidable African kingdoms (like Asante, Oyo, Dahomey, Kongo, and others) effectively resisted deep penetration.

2. Early 19th Century: Abolition, "Legitimate Trade," and Early Exploration

   • Abolition of the Slave Trade: While initially leading to a decline in direct European involvement in slave trafficking, it spurred European interest in alternative forms of commerce – "legitimate trade" in raw materials like palm oil, timber, and minerals. This required greater engagement with African producers.

   • Missionary Activity: As discussed, early missionaries like David Livingstone began to venture inland, seeking to "civilize" and Christianize, often serving as pioneers for later colonial ventures.

   • Early European Exploration: Expeditions began to map and report on the interior, dispelling myths and revealing the vast resources and potential for European control.

3. Mid-19th Century: Accelerating Economic and Political Penetration

   • Industrial Revolution Demands: The escalating needs of European industries for raw materials (cotton, rubber, minerals) and new markets intensified the economic imperative to control Africa.

   • Technological Advances: Quinine (combating malaria), steamships (navigating rivers), and improved firearms gave Europeans unprecedented advantages in inland penetration.

   • Early Annexations: As you mentioned with Faidherbe in Senegal from 1854, some European powers began to move beyond informal influence and establish small, formal colonial territories or protectorates, setting a precedent for direct rule.

   • Resource Discoveries: The discovery of diamonds (1867) and later gold (1886) in Southern Africa dramatically raised the stakes, making direct territorial control imperative for economic gain.

Conclusion: A Long Arc of Imperialism

So, yes, the Scramble for Africa (1880s-1914) is indeed the crescendo of a much longer, centuries-old process of European imperial expansion. It represents the point where informal influence, coastal trade, and piecemeal exploration transformed into a systemic, competitive, and almost complete territorial annexation.

The earlier periods laid the economic, technological, ideological, and political groundwork, creating the conditions and the impetus for the final, rapid "scramble" to formally divide the continent. To understand the Scramble, one must understand the preceding centuries of European interaction and its increasingly dominant, often violent, nature.

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Poor Gemini, having to submit to my historiographical bullying. I decided to see how far I could push it and demanded that it offer me a timeline that located the original cause of the Scramble for Africa in geographic determinism, and that finally broke the streak of Gemini amiably agreeing that I am right and the timeline needs to be longer—and it properly smelt out my paraphrasing of Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel. That’s not a surprise—it’s not about comprehension, it’s that the phrases I used in my question are derived from Diamond and that tilts the probabilities of an answer to me in that direction.

The ultimate point here is that if I were looking for a quick reference work that saves me 15-20 minutes of hunting through books, Wikipedia, etc. while I’m preparing a presentation, Gemini is helpful. But it’s only because I already know what I’m looking for and why.

I’m going to be a broken record on this point, but so far I am seeing absolutely nobody who is offering a conventional kind of evangelism for generative AI explain how we’re going to get people to the point of being able to use the efficiencies and affordances of generative AI effectively.

That might not involve a pedagogy that is focused on transferring content mastery. It might be in fact that we’re finally having a colossal professional bluff called, that our pedagogies have never been what produce content mastery, have never had anything to do with the creation of expertise. Perhaps it is just that we create a emotional context, an affective situation, an enveloping Skinner box, that pushes students to acquire content mastery in a sort of “guided auto-didacticism”. Maybe we’ve been wrong about how it is that people acquire knowledge, just as we are potentially wrong about the functions and values of knowledge-having and knowledge-making within and beyond academia.

These are points I want to keep exploring, but there’s a simpler take-away. Whether or not we’ve been wrong about how people became knowledgeable in the past, the fact remains that you can’t use generative AI well to make charts, slides, timelines and the like if you don’t know a fair amount about the information you’re asking it to assemble for you. Of all the outcomes that we might be facing, I think turning into a world of people who just eat what is put in front of us, who just read the slides and distribute the handouts, seems like one of the least desirable.

Image credit: "Free Culture Timeline Chalkboard" by believekevin is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.