Two sides of the pan

Brits and Uncle Sam

During the scramble for Africa, one individual that stood out

is the Brit Cecil Rhodes. His ambition of a "Cape to Cairo" railroad link which would potentially connect all the British colones within Africa was only one of many schemes that he came up to patronize the "British Race" as superior beings among all of the world.

This political cartoon drawn by Edward L. Sambourne was published in the "Punch" magazine right after Cecil Rhodes announced a plan to extend a telegraph line from Cape Town to Cairo. The title of the cartoon is "striding from cape town to Cairo", which implies Rhodes plan of connecting all British colonies in Africa in simple steps. Two strings appear to be connected to Rhodes's hands , one each from the top and bottom of Africa; this signifies Rhodes's idea of one telegraph line that could connect all Brits in Africa. Rhodes is depicted as a gigantic figure taking inspiration from the Greek colossus statue. The figure of Rhodes appears to be depicted as touching the skies and up to the height of clouds, taking inspiration from the fact that some Brits viewed him as a God and as a supreme leader; this cartoon could be depicting Rhodes as as above everyone else.

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, an American drew a cartoon that was more or less similar to the Cecil. Rhodes one. It depicts the popular American political figure, Uncle Sam taking a stride across the Pacific Ocean from the Western Coast of USA onto an island of the western pacific coast that has a volcano that has the national bird of America, the Bald Eagle perched on top of it. This basically shows the scout (army) has accomplished their mission and is only preparing a welcome for their great leader. Uncle Sam is shown to be as tall as a volcano cloud in the background, which again depicts the US of A as a "God" nation, with no one above them. The American Flag also appears to be flying high and proud on both of the land masses on each side of the pacific, with Uncle Sam's feet rested on both sides, depicting the USA as master(colossus) of the pacific.