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Expansionism in the mid 19th century
Impacts of slavery on africans
Imperialism in europe
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Recommended: Expansionism in the mid 19th century
Until recently, world history has been a history of empires. From the Mongols to the Ottomans, empires have always sought to push their physical boundaries, yet none have achieved the success of the British. With colonies in the Americas, Africa, and Australia, 19th century Britons were able to claim that the sun never set on their empire. This far-reaching and wide-encompassing empire allowed the British to establish a global movement of people, goods, ideas, and capital. This global movement not only asserted Britain’s financial dominance, but it also enabled the British to project their western ideology on to the rest of the world. However, the British visions of empire did not always match up with reality. Although there was a British presence across a large part of the globe, the diversity of people and their treatment created sharp distinctions among …show more content…
Abina was a courageous and bold young woman from West Africa who was enslaved against her will, even though the practice had been outlawed many years before. After escaping to British-controlled territory, she took her case to local court and placed her hope in the colonial British judicial system. Instead of being allowed to present her case to a jury of her peers, she was forced to look for sympathy from “important men,” or the white men with political power. The story exposes the fact that, for imperialists, labor was the scarcest resource. Because of this, the British employed forced labor, claiming that the Africans were working to pay off their taxes. While the brutal and sometimes violent extraction of labor is an ugly part of imperial efforts in Africa, the greatest tragedy is the political divisions that were imposed by Western powers, and the fact that they do not leave when British rule
There were many cultural beliefs and practices that changed the outcome of Abina’s life including liberalism, industrialism, imperialism, colonialism, nationalism, slavery, and gender discriminations. Through the Western influences that the British brought to Africa, not only did Abina’s life change but the positive and negative effects influenced everyone in her village.
Due to the increasing popularity of graphic histories, the story of Abina and the Important Men takes an original transcript and turns it into a colorful narrative. This graphic history recognizes the struggles of the oppressed, still facing infringement upon their natural rights after the abolition of slavery in all British possessions. Historians tell this story through the use of graphics illustrated with the use of the original transcript, while providing historical context. Although there are strengths in Abina and the Important Men, there are many glaring issues as well. This graphic story follows the story of Abina Mansah, an Asante woman under the employment of Yaw Awoah, who believes she was wrongfully enslaved by Quamina Eddo.
One of the major questions asked about the slave trade is ‘how could so Europeans enslave so many millions of Africans?” Many documents exist and show historians what the slave trade was like. We use these stories to piece together what it must have been to be a slave or a slaver. John Barbot told the story of the slave trade from the perspective of a slaver in his “A Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea.” Barbot describes the life of African slaves before they entered the slave trade.
Abina’s court case basically was discredited and silenced because she didn’t work in the fields. The consistency of Abina’s attempt to explain what it means to be a slave and the British’s definition of what it means to be a slave complicated her case. The fine line between the definitions of slaves implemented to the British territory was very fuzzy to begin with. According to Abina, “They’re free, but they’re not free” (60). It was easier for the British to abolish slavery in order to avoid arguments and better the economy. They jumped from abolition to focusing mainly on oil exports. The British priority was oil rather than enforcing the new law banning slavery (10). They felt like it was impossible to try and enforce the law anyway because the lack of money and people disobeying (10). Because abolition was put in effect with no explanation and not enforced, people were granted the ability to define these rights
In the novel, Abina And The Important Men written by Trevor Getz and Liz Clarke, Abina who is a woman from West Africa who was wrongfully enslaved and decided to bring it to the attention of the courts in 1876. While reading this book, the reader begins to see how the officials in Britain where turning a blind eye to the fact that slavery was indeed present all for the sake of maintaining there economic status as well as maintaining good relations with the “important men” of West Africa. Palm oil is one of the most valuable as well as important harvests and the men described in the book as the head of production are equally as valuable. The power and authority that these men have on the growth of the economy is what allows the reader to see that these men are the “important men”. Because palm oil is an important factor in the economic status of West Africa, the men who are in charge of producing it are equally as important. Abina believed that her enslavement was without merit and was willing to do whatever it took to get somebody to listen to her and to eventually take the man who did keep her as a slave, to court. Because, the man was a palm oil grower, this case would not be, in the least bit, a silent matter. Thanks to the new laws being enforced against slavery however, Abina’s story would now be put placed in the mercy of Judge William Melton who thought she deserved a fighting chance.
Throughout history, it is not uncommon for stories to become silenced; especially, when such a story is being told by the voice of a slave's. Slaves were not granted the same equal rights as the free men. They also were not seen as whole individuals -- worth less than the average citizen, to be sold and traded as property. Abina Mansha was a female slave whom once lived in Asante but came to live in the British Gold Coast Colony during 1876, after being sold to Guamin Eddoo by her husband, Yawawhah. As Abina claims in her testimony, her purchase was no accident. "Slavery had been abolished throughout the British Empire, a law extended into the Gold Coast in 1874. Yet ironically, the demand for laborers on the growing palm oil plantations and in the houses of those who own them means that the trade in slaves into the Gold Coast does not dry up following the war" (Getz and Clark, 2011, p. 6). Abina And The Important Men: A Graphic History written by Trevor R. Getz and Liz Clarke, but spoken in different perspectives, helps shed light on Abina's personal lifestyle; while the date and location provides us with further insight on how the world reacted to 19th century Western culture.
The narrative by Olaudah Equiano gives an interesting perspective of slavery both within and outside of Africa in the eighteenth century. From these writings we can gain insight into the religion and customs of an African culture. We can also see how developed the system of trade was within Africa, and worldwide by this time. Finally, we hear an insider's view on being enslaved, how slaves were treated in Africa, and what the treatment of African slaves was like at the hands of the Europeans.
Introduction: The epoch of imperialism cannot be defined simply as a proliferation of inflated egos tied to the hardened opinions of nationalists, but also a multi-faceted global rivalry with roots of philosophies tainted with racism and social Darwinism. The technique of each imperialist was specific to the motivations and desires of each combative, predominantly Western power and subsequently impacted the success of each imperialist and its colonies. Driven by industrialization, Europeans are aware of the urgent need for raw materials and new markets to maintain a constant rate of expansion and wealth. Imperialism became a competition; in general, the European countries led with fervor while the non-Western regions deemed likely to be stepped on.
There is a point of time in certain a country’s history where they become dominant and more powerful than ever before. During this elongated process a country becomes an empire. The British and the Ottomans were states that succeeded in this process, but becoming an empire such as theirs required vast amounts of political and social maneuvering to expand their boundaries, called imperialism. Imperialism is, “a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force”. By becoming a modern nation enjoying economic prosperity and political stability, the British and the Ottomans created an imperialistic impact over the globe with distinctive motivations and approaches especially during the transition period of gaining ample amount power and influence globally.
This class was filled with riveting topics that all had positive and negative impacts on Africa. As in most of the world, slavery, or involuntary human servitude, was practiced across Africa from prehistoric times to the modern era (Wright, 2000). The transatlantic slave trade was beneficial for the Elite Africans that sold the slaves to the Western Europeans because their economy predominantly depended on it. However, this trade left a mark on Africans that no one will ever be able to erase. For many Africans, just remembering that their ancestors were once slaves to another human, is something humiliating and shameful.
At its height the British Empire spanned the globe with colonies in all the populated continents. Although similarities and differences in the way that they were settled, exploited, and in turn let go. Both the rise and fall of the British Empire are tied directly to the Metropol’s ironclad grasp over its vast conglomeration of colonies. This does not exclusively imply that each of the colonies were operated the same way, in fact
By the end of the 19th century European nations chose to protect their access to markets, raw materials, by seizing outright political and military control of the emergent world. In 1914 the net result of imperialism was a world in which the Western powers had established themselves competitively on every continent. Britain, Belgium, Holland, and France, all had empire more than twenty times their own size. It is this imperialism created a build-up of tension in Europe and outside of Europe, imperialistic events were ultimately the foundation of the cause of
...w Imperialism' 1880-1902." The Rise and Fall of the British Empire. London: Abacus, 1994. 209-11. Print.
...o marry someone she barely knew and did not want to marry while other women from Asante, as discussed earlier in the paper, did not have control over their bodies being photographed and publicized. However, in Abina and the Important Men, it shows that Abina did not let European imperialism silence her. Instead of staying where she was enslaved, Abina ran away to Cape Coast to achieve freedom. Unlike Abina, many people during the 19th century remained silenced. The reason that people were silenced is due to the fact that many of them who lived in the Gold Coast still were slaves even though technically slavery was abolished. Many of these individuals did not contain the bravery that Abina had to try and get her story heard. The effect that European imperialism had on women in Africa was silencing their voice, exposing their bodies, and an increase of labor hours.
In West African Narratives of Slavery, Sandra Greene charts a different route than the typical text that highlights the infamous slave trade along the coasts of West Africa. The text focuses on the lives of Africans who were slaves of their fellow Africans and provides a perspective that contrasts the stories those who faced the burdens of continental travel. To enlighten readers on the impact of the slave trade and slavery on the West African locals, Greene contextualizes primary source evidence. The use of primary source evidence allows readers to closely follow Africans enslavement on the continent and their attempts at liberation. The text also uses this primary source evidence to show the slow cultural shifts that emerge in the