WI The UK Gave up its Colonies

In the 1860s and 1870s the United Kingdom seriously considered giving up some small holdings in Africa. by giving up I mean abandoning them, as in evacuating the British people and forgetting about them. About a decade later New Imperialism began. What would have happened to the UK in this scenario? What would have happened to Africa? Would there have been a Scramble for Africa?
 
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SinghKing

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Better question- what would have happened to Africa in this scenario? Would the Scramble for Africa even happen ITTL?
 
Read this:http://worldhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/309386?terms=new+imperialism

New imperialism appears remarkable in retrospect because it developed so abruptly. As late as the 1870s, most Western governments were staunchly opposed to the idea of conquering and administering new territories. In the 1860s, the Parliament of Great Britain, the world's premier imperial power, went so far as to debate a plan to abandon the nation's tiny colonies on the West African coast. The doctrine of free trade appeared to promise British manufacturers and merchants with everything they needed from the non-Western world, without the expense of conquest and administration. In the colonies with large white settler populations, like South Africa, Canada, and Australia, the British government was moving toward encouraging greater autonomy and independence.
 
I cannot have access to the text but the part that you quoted only talks about "tiny colonies in West Africa". In the 1870s this means : Sierra Leone, forts in the Gambia and the Gold Coast. Ok, not impossible.

Some other powers will just re-occupy these areas, most likely the French, just like they re-occupied Casamance after the Portuguese. IMO Sierra Leone would try to join Liberia and the Gold Coast would stay Dutch and the French will be the most important power in West Africa until the Germans show up.
 
I cannot have access to the text but the part that you quoted only talks about "tiny colonies in West Africa". In the 1870s this means : Sierra Leone, forts in the Gambia and the Gold Coast. Ok, not impossible.

Some other powers will just re-occupy these areas, most likely the French, just like they re-occupied Casamance after the Portuguese. IMO Sierra Leone would try to join Liberia and the Gold Coast would stay Dutch and the French will be the most important power in West Africa until the Germans show up.

Yeah I probably should've put more emphasis on not all of them.
 
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