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Millin-Cecil Rhodes(biography of British empire builder)(1933)

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This is Sarah Gertrude Millin's amazing book Cecil Rhodes (1933) which is a biography of the famous British empire builder and founder of Rhodes scholarships. Born in 1853, Rhodes was a financier, statesman and empire builder of British South Africa. He grew up in the English countryside and in 1871 was sent to assist his brother in business in South Africa, where he became interested in diamond mining. He founded De Beers Consolidated Mines (1888) and by 1891 his company was mining 90% of the world's diamonds. Seeking expansion to the north and dreaming of building a Cape-to-Cairo railway, he persuaded Britain to establish a protectorate over Bechuanaland (1884), clashing with Boer president Paul Kruger. He obtained digging concessions from Lobengula (1889), but in 1893 Rhodes overran him militarily. At his instigation Britain chartered the British South Africa Co. (1889) and put Rhodes in charge. He extended the company's control to two northern provinces, which were eventually named after him as Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). Interested in the mineral-rich Transvaal, he plotted to overthrow Kruger (1895); the attempt was botched by Leander Starr Jameson, and Rhodes was forced to resign as prime minister of Cape Colony and head of the British South Africa Co. His last years were marked by disappointment and scandal brought about by the scheming of Princess Radziwill. His will bequeathed most of his fortune to establishing the Rhodes scholarship. He died in 1902 in South Africa. Rhodes in his time was revered in England. Who else had a huge country named after him? His life-long dream was the world federation of states, cessation of wars and world government - a new world order - under British rule. In the perspective of the turbulent century that passed since, he appears a giant with toppled dreams. This is his story. 360 pages. A must read for everyone.