Editing Uganda Scheme (section)

== Background ==

=== East Africa protectorate and the British interests ===
The British were involved in the [[Scramble for Africa#:~:text=The Scramble for Africa, also,(between 1833 and 1914).|scramble for (East) Africa]] to safeguard a range of British interests, such as commercial superiority, the crusade against the [[Indian Ocean slave trade|East African Slave trade]], apprehension over the control of territory that served as a route to India, and rivalry with the German and French governments. They opted to exercise indirect control over East Africa by establishing the [[Imperial British East Africa Company]] (IBEA) led by [[Sir William Mackinnon, 1st Baronet|William Mackinnon]] in 1888.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Oliver |first=Roland |date=1951 |title=Some factors in the British occupation of East Africa, 1884-1894 |url=https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00080855/00029/images/58 |journal=Uganda Journal |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=49–64}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=British East Africa |url=http://www.heliograph.com/trmgs/trmgs2/bea.shtml |access-date=2023-05-02 |website=www.heliograph.com}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=British East Africa Company |url=https://www.fotw.info/flags/eaf-brit.html# |access-date=2023-05-02 |website=www.fotw.info}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Cliansmith |first=Michael |date=1974 |title=The Uganda Offer, 1902-1905: A Study of Settlement Concessions in British East Africa |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/91x5k9wm |journal=Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies |volume=5 |issue=1 |doi=10.5070/F751017515 |issn=2150-5802|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Despite significant investments, the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEA) began to fail by mid-1895. Poor infrastructure, financial instability, huge debts, and inadequate management led to this downfall.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" /> As a result, the British government proclaimed the protectorate, and its administration was transferred to the [[Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office|Foreign Office]]. With the aim of exploiting the commercial potential of the interior regions, the British built the [[Uganda Railway]], which ended up costing taxpayers a total of £5,244,000.<ref name=":1" /> Unfortunately, the return on investment from the railway was not as substantial as anticipated. This shortfall, combined with the [[Second Boer War|Anglo-Boer War]] in [[South Africa]], sparked growing unease within the Foreign Office. Immigration to the protectorate was viewed as a potential solution to the mounting debt.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |date=February 1969 |title=African Zion: The Attempt to Establish a Jewish Colony in the East Africa Protectorate, 1903–1905. By Robert G. Weisbord. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America. 1968. Pp. viii, 347. $6.00.) |journal=The American Historical Review |doi=10.1086/ahr/74.3.1057 |issn=1937-5239}}</ref>

In summary, the British had the following motive in offering the protectorate to the Zionists:

# There was a desire to control the influx of Jewish refugees to the United Kingdom after the pogroms in Eastern Europe to protect British workers.
# The Uganda Railway  constructed with British taxpayer money needed to generate a return on investment and reduce the deficit, and the Zionists could bring money and people into the protectorate.
# Gaining Jewish support was considered crucial for post-Boer War policies in South Africa.
# There was genuine concern for the welfare of Jews in Eastern Europe after the [[Kishinev pogrom]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Cohen |first=Netta |date=2021-12-31 |title=Shades of White: African Climate and Jewish European Bodies, 1903–1905 |journal=The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=298–316 |doi=10.1080/03086534.2021.2020406 |s2cid=245618899 |issn=0308-6534|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Wohlgelernter |first=Maurice |date=1964 |title=Israel Zangwill |publisher=Columbia University Press |doi=10.7312/wohl91636|isbn=9780231884716 }}</ref>