HIS 221: Humanities in the World since 1300 A.M. Riotto A World History of Rubber Writing Assignment After reading the book A World History of Rubber written by Stephen L. Harp the way I see things around me have changed forever. I only paid my items with money but someone before I was able to pick my items from store paid higher price for it. The price hidden behind objects of our daily usage can vary from sweat, blood, body parts, freedom, family, hunger, terror, and often death not just one person but whole community. One shipping company clerk Morel 1900’s by revising accounting books at port in Congo realized that what Belgians are taking from Congo is much more than just rubber, diamonds, and ivory. His concern is what they are returning …show more content…
624) but when European colonialism came in play with “civilizing mission” was to enrich themselves. Europeans did many engineering wonders to Africa but only to be able to get to new raw materials and agricultural goods and with trade they wanted to impose their cultural and religious ideas by promoting Western education and science through missionary activities. By discovering gold and diamonds in Africa, Europeans completion for Africa’s land started (Overfield, p. 276). In Berlin Congress 1884, was verification of their claims over Africa. “The consequences for Africa were devastating. Nearly 70 percent of the newly drawn borders failed to correspond to older demarcations of ethnicity, language, culture, and commerce. They based their new colonial boundaries on European trading centers rather than on the location of African population groups (WTWA II, p. …show more content…
A higher demand (especially rubber products) for this “exotic” products meant a higher exploitation of land and labor force. The only way to achieve “rationality and efficiency” in order to gain more profit from rubber plantations and collection of “wild rubber” lies in brutality and exploitation. Asian workers on rubber plantations were described as “inferior workers as well as inferior being ‘with fewer needs’ thus ideologically justifying much lower wages than for Europeans” (Harp, p. 21) and in Congo “Race of cannibals for thousands years; we have to teach them how to work; beasts with monkey legs” (King Leopold’s Ghost, movie) find justification in social Darwinism. Darwin theory of natural selection was tailored for “legitimated the suffering of the underclasses in industrial society” and “Europeans would repeatedly suggest that they had evolved more than Africans and Asians” (WTWA, p. 619). Author Harp argues that “European planters, however, attributed what we would call cultural differences to ‘race’ in much the same way that Europeans and American generally threw that word around before World War II ( p. 28). Asians were seen as “a land of little brown men…The country will ere long come to its own as a rich and most valuable asset to the British Empire, even as today
In the early 19th century, the British East India Company established more trade warehouses and thoroughfares in the Indian subcontinent. This occupation of Indian lands was welcomed by some groups and fiercely opposed by others. While met by more opposition, the British Empire expanded into the other Indian Ocean territories up to the end of the century. Because the trans-Atlantic slave trade was profitable for African elites and brought many valuable goods to West Africa, when it was effectively shut down after 1808 by British patrols, people along this coast were eager to keep the European trade lines alive. The imposition of this “legitimate trade” (any non-slave trade) saw a huge rise in African exports of gold and palm oil.
In conclusion, during the 15th and 16th centuries Europeans visited the Atlantic Coast in the African states to observe for gold and silvers. They took advantage of the Africans to get their desires when the Africans acknowledged them to be equal which drove into Africa’s downfall.
King’s Leopold’s Ghost, Belgium is known as the strongest country in search of a colony (Congo) for its own exploitation. Professor Landstreet defines forced labor as the most extreme form of slavery, work that people are compelled to do against their will and subjected to physical punishment if they don’t perform their work. In the following essay, I will be discussing the social structure, ideologies and power relations in context with forced labor. The scramble for Africa started in the 1800s to the start of the First World War (1914). Prior to the 19th century, the rest of the world knew very little about Africa, the Dark Continent.
Africa is a land of riches like no other, so as expected, European countries would have some sort of desire to conquer properties in whatever way they did. As stated in African Colonies and their Exports Chart, countless of natural resources are found in different areas in Africa. Not only does the data show plenty of resources, but also a variety (Doc D). This confirms that Africa is a wealthy land that Europeans grew fond of and hoped to take over. Specified in Imports and Exports Graph, following the 1900’s, after the conference to divide up Africa was held, Britain decided to use Africa’s natural resources and specialize in many industries. The imports doubled from 4 million pounds, while the exports boosted from 2.5 million all the way to 21 million pounds (Doc. E). With this lucrative increase in trading and selling, it is fair to conclude that not only were resources a factor of beginning imperialism in Africa, but also a successful result.
The results of European colonialism shows that the aim of colonialism is to exploit the human and economic resources of an area to benefit the colonizing nation. As a result, the nation that is colonized is affected negatively. In reality, how Europe really affected Africa as a whole is much
Europe, in the late 1800’s, was starting for a land grab in the African continent. Around 1878, most of Africa was unexplored, but by 1914, most of Africa, with the lucky exception of Liberia and Ethiopia, was carved up between European powers. There were countless motivations that spurred the European powers to carve Africa, like economical, political, and socio–cultural, and there were countless attitudes towards this expansion into Africa, some of approval and some of condemnation.
Power is something all European countries wanted in the late 1800’s. One of the ways countries showed power was through the amount of land they had. This thirst for land was called imperialism, as strong European countries would take over smaller, weaker countries in order to gain more land, and gain more power. The Berlin Conference held in Germany in 1884-1885, divided Africa so imperialistic European countries could gain control of different regions of this immense continent with no African representative present. The imperialism of Africa entailed the dominance over all aspects of a country, in an economic, political, and social way (Beck, 687-8).
Conquest and colonization has always played a role in the history of European powers. Throughout the centuries many different European empires have attempted to make their mark on multiple different continents. Some have found success, while others have failed. One case in particular, in which European nations could not quite find stability, was in North America. Factors such as the American Revolution, U.S. westward expansion, and the Monroe Doctrine pushed European nations out of North America. Afterwards, the late 19th century marked the beginning of New Imperialism. As New Imperialism began, Africa became important to European nations in their “Scramble for Africa”.
This resulted in the decline of 70% of the Herero population.1 Nowhere else was colonialism quite so brutal, but almost everywhere it tended towards unrestrained brutality as soon as it was challenged.2 Warfare created considerable unrest among African people. Afterwards, the people of Africa came to the realization that the consequences of resistance against European colonists could be devastating. As well, the Europeans demonstrated that they had the technology and resources to gain control. Secondly, colonial expansion changed the face of Africa’s political structure. The Berlin Conference of 1884-85, attended by 13 European nations and the USA, set the ground rules for partition of Africa.
Before the Europeans began the New Imperialism in Africa, very little was known about the inner parts of the continent. However, after some explorers delved deeper into the heart of Africa, the Europeans soon realized how economically important this area was, and how much they could profit from it. At the time, Britain had only small occupations of land in Africa, but after they realized that they could make money from the rich resources from the inner regions of Africa, they wanted to invade the African countries and take over. This led to the scramble and ultimately, the partition of Africa. During the Age of Imperialism, from 1870-1914, Britain was a major country, which proved to be true in the “carving up” and division of Africa. Britain was one of the strongest of the European countries, and had the power to take over much of the most valuable lands with the most rich and abundant supplies of raw materials and other resources. There were five main reasons for their imperialism. They were political and military interests, humanitarian and religious goals, ideological, exploratory, and lastly, but most importantly, economic interests.
Africa has had a long and tumultuous road of colonization and decolonization; the rush to colonize Africa started in the 17th century with the discovery of the vast amounts of gold, diamonds, and rubber, with colonization hitting a fever pitch during World War I. However, the repercussions of colonization have left deep wounds that still remain unhealed in the 21st century. Early on, European nations such as Britain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium scrambled for territories. Countries wanted land so they could harvest the resources, increase trade, and gain power.
In the early 1880’s, the powers of Europe started to take control of regions in Africa and set up colonies there. In the beginning, colonization caused the Africans little harm, but before long, the Europeans started to take complete control of wherever they went. The Europeans used their advanced knowledge and technology to easily maneuver through the vast African landscape and used advanced weapons to take control of the African people and their land. The countries that claimed the most land and had the most significant effect on Africa were France, England, Belgium, and Germany. There were many reasons for the European countries to be competing against each other to gain colonies in Africa. One of the main reasons was that the Europeans believed that the more territory a country was able to control, the more powerful it could become and the more powerful it would be seen as by other countries. Other reasons for the desire to control African land included the many natural resources that could only be found in Africa, such as diamonds, gold, and as time progressed, rubber. It also provided new markets in surrounding places so that manufactured goods could be sold for a larger profit. The Europeans had many motives for imperialism in Africa. Yet the true motives were often shielded as they tried tom present themselves as humanitarians when in reality they were making Africa a terrible place to live with brutality and harsh treatment of the African natives. The ways of the Europeans had many physical and emotional costs for the people of Africa. The imperialism process also took a toll on the people of Europe. The European imperialistic colonization in Africa was motivated by the desire to control the abundant natural resources an...
Said, Edward W. “Culture and Imperialism.” Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism 2nd ed. Ed. Leitch, Vincent B. and William E. Cain, eds. New York: Norton, 2010. 651-655. Print.
The colonization of Africa officially began in 1884 with the Berlin Conference. Western European powers began to split up the land and resources in Africa among themselves. This period of history became known as the Scramble for Africa. The Scramble for Africa occurred because as the slave trade ended, capitalists saw Africa as a continent that they could now exploit through legitimate trade. European capitalists found new ways to make money off of the continent. With greater exploration of the continent even more valuable resources were found. The encouragement of legitimate trade in Africa brought Europeans flocking to colonize Africa. Africa lost their independence, and along with it, their control over their natural resources. Europeans used the term the "White Man's Burden," a concept used by white colonizers in order to impose their way of life on Africans within their colonies, to ...
The Europeans saw Africa as being a great place to obtain all types of resources from labor to natural materials. Items such as cotton, coal, rubber, copper, tin, gold, and other metals were considered very valuable and readily available in Africa (Nardo). The industrial revolution had already become a strong influence on the countries that attended the Conference. They had spent the past...