Despite some greed that the attendees had, the decisions that were made at the Berlin Conference reflect the sense of compassion that the European colonial powers had for the African populace. The powers wanted to make sure that the rules set in place would help the people of Africa, and it would help assist the people in Africa in becoming civilized. The humanitarian mission that each country had is reflected in the Treaty of Berlin, a set of rules that all attending powers came up with. According to Article Six of the Treaty of Berlin, the European powers decided that they should try and enhance the lives of African citizens as much as possible.
“All the Powers exercising sovereign rights or influence in the aforesaid territories bind themselves
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to watch over the preservation of the native tribes, and to care for the improvement of the conditions of their moral and material well-being, and to help in suppressing slavery, and especially the slave trade. They shall, without distinction of creed or nation, protect and favour all religious, scientific, or charitable institutions, and undertakings created and organized for the above ends, or which aim at instructing the natives and bringing home to them the blessings of civilization.” The article states that the European colonial powers that take territory over must preserve everything that the African peoples were doing before, along with caring about the mental and physical well-being of the tribes.
This article shows that the countries, despite having greed for territories and despite having ulterior motives when deciding upon these rules, were willing to care for and look after the African tribes, which shows that the powers truly wanted to better the lives of the tribes. The powers went even further than that and also wanted to expel slavery and slave-trade in the territories that they would rule over. According to Article Nine of the Treaty of Berlin, slavery was to be abolished in any African land ruled by European …show more content…
powers. “Seeing that trading in slaves is forbidden in conformity with the principles of international law as recognized by the Signatory Powers, and seeing also that the operations, which, by sea or land, furnish slaves to trade, ought likewise to be regarded as forbidden, the Powers which do or shall exercise sovereign rights or influence in the territories forming the Conventional basin of the Congo, declare that these territories may not serve as a market of means of transit for the trade in slaves, of whoever race they may be. Each of the Powers binds itself to employ all the means at its disposal for putting an end to this trade and for punishing those who engage in it.” The strong opposition to slavery and slave-traders that the European powers had reveals that they did not want to engage in any activity that could be used to oppress the people that they were ruling over.
They even went so far as to declare slavery as forbidden in any way, shape, or form. This action alone shows that the European power’s decisions were trying to protect the African peoples as much as possible. They also tried to protect African citizens through other decided rules, like the rule of effective occupation. Effective occupation is defined as the rule that a European nation could establish a colony only if it had taken position effectively through signed treaties with local leaders. A European power would also have to develop the land economically and have defense systems in place before the power could have ownership of the property. All of these provisions that are set in place show that the Europeans were concerned about the well-being of the territories that they would take over, and it shows that they want to improve the citizen’s lives. This rule had to be followed strictly, and you could only be able to get territory if you followed every single aspect of the decree. Besides the elements of defense and improvement of the lands in Africa, another essential point of this conference was the discussion of commerce. According to Thomas Pakenhaim,“The aim of the conference was to promote the civilization of the African natives by opening the interior of the
continent to commerce.” The powers wanted to expose as much of the continent as possible to commerce because they thought that it would help the natives become further civilized. All of the attendees at this conference wanted to promote commerce, as well as Christianity and civilization in the African territories. This great wish for the “3 C’s” to be enacted outweighed the greed and contempt that the countries attending held for one another, which is why this conference is noted as being one of the meetings in which most of the nations were fair and condign to one another, something that was reflected in the decisions. All delegates had to agree to the annexation rules, which shows that each nation was an equal and present participant in the rule-making process. It was also decided that rivers in Africa would be open to all ships, not just those of the colonial power that owned the land in which the river ran. This decision shows that the countries were looking out for each other in the decision-making process and that they wanted to, as much as possible, make sure that the everyone would have equal opportunities to have territory in Africa. Despite some greed that the delegates harbored for their own countries prospective territorial growth, the decisions that were made at this conference made sure to take care of the African people and made sure that the European powers all had a fair chance at a territory.
In 1893 a world fair was held in Chicago Illinois to celebrate the 4thcentenniel of Columbus discovering the Americas. The exposition displayed grand buildings with beautiful architecture, hundreds of exhibits ranging from exotic tribes of Africa, to new inventions, expertly constructed landscape, and astounding attractions such as the first Ferris wheel. The fair lasted for six months and had over 27 million visitors, including ¼ of the American population.
In conclusion, the motives concerning imperialism in Africa are a matter of expanding empires, helping natives, and natural resources. Europeans countries constantly tried to compete with their neighbors in fair ways to become the most dominating country. Just as much as they took possession of Africa, their will was also to assist Africa on their right path and put an end to any dilemmas they may be
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 a land grab on 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 economic, political, and socio–cultural, and there were countless attitudes towards this expansion into Africa, some of approval and some of condemnation. Europe in this period was a world of competing countries. Britain had a global empire to lead, France had competition with Britain for wealth and so did other nations like Germany and Russia.
Conflict for power existed not only in Europe, but because of imperialism it spread across much of the Eastern Hemisphere. First and foremost, economic rivalries had developed between Britain, Germany, and France. The two Allied members of the group were very concerned about their Central opponent, as both wished to contain Germany’s territorial claims on the resource- and labor-rich continent of Africa.
Europeans dominated the African continent for centuries. The white man tried to “civilize” Africa by making themselves superior to other races. They created a rule that non-white races must obey them. This gave Europeans to the power to rob the continent of a huge amount of its riches and inflict a tremendous amount of suffering on Africans. The second letter was called to bury the unpleasant memories of slavery in the past and focus on a future, without this superior rule. It was asked that colonial powers cooperate and fix their past mistakes and injustices against the Africa, by granting them independence. The solution was to bring unity between Africa and the Europeans. The division made them weak because Africa had the potential to be
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”.
The most prominent response to European Imperialism by Africans was the formation of allies as an attempt to stand together and make decisions that benefit the same goal of maintaining a stable society along with freedom and other civil rights. As seen in Document #1, the Chiefs of several African groups come together to sign a document that affects their society in a positive way by “extending the territory” and areas like the Niger River Delta. All the leaders pledged to “NOT” go to war with others as they need to work together for a better future. Signing a contract intended for the Royal Niger Company sets rules and regulations for Africans and the Royal Niger Company to follow so that there aren’t any disagreements in the future that can
Africa was known for its land of richness, full of its right elements to have the right resources, education, and state of order. European nations looked for and wanted raw materials, and saw Africa as the perfect foundation. Then the European nations have decided to colonize and attack parts of Africa then divide it with each other. After ruling and taking charge of these areas they have not stopped, but rather their greed for more is just starting. Africans have tried more than once to stop these attacks, but nothing changed. In the end, after all of these attacks the Africans lost their freedom and land. This is a very obvious case of unfairness where the European nations decided to rule a land and take all their resources that do not belong to them in the first
... Although the imperialization of Africa started out as a beneficial deal to both Africa and Europe, it quickly took a turn for the worse as Europe started to take complete control of African colonies. The Europeans wanted African colonies for many reasons. They wanted new land and the natural resources that can only be found in Africa, they wanted the new market opportunities that having colonies in Africa would open up to them, and they wanted to stay in competition with other European countries. The motives of the Europeans quickly deteriorated as they started exploiting the native Africans and abusing the slave trade that they had promised to abolish with the three C’s.
Africa’s struggle to maintain their sovereignty amidst the encroaching Europeans is as much a psychological battle as it is an economic and political one. The spillover effects the system of racial superiority had on the African continent fractured ...
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 Berlin Conference of 1884 peacefully divided Africa between world leaders. The conference, also known as the Congo Conference, looked at Africa as a great source of wealth in many areas to be shared among the participating countries. The division that took place at no time had at interest the people of Africa. By the time Africa regained its freedom in the 1950’s most areas had developed severe political and racial division. The result of this turbulence and division is the occurrence of such violent civil wars and genocides in African countries such as Rwanda.
...nce, they wanted to prove themselves. Super powers and international organizations gave them a limited amount of time to become successful before they swept back in to make decisions. Because the African countries could not create a steady economy in such a short amount of time, they had to accept assistance from Western powers. These Western powers gained a lot of unfair benefits from these relationships and bettered their super power state. No matter how hard the African countries would try, the Western powers continued to have ultimate power and serious aids during this decolonization period. African leaders have tried very hard to lessen the influence of Western powers and the broader international community but they’ve never been completely successful because they continuously needed support in state building, economic development, and public health initiatives.
In order to properly understand the effects of colonization, one must look at its history. Most of Africa was relatively isolated from Europe throughout early world history, but this changed during the 17th to the 20th centuries. Colonization efforts reached their peak between the 1870s and 1900 in the “Scramble for Africa” which left the continent resembling a jigsaw puzzle Various European powers managed to colonize Africa including Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, and Spain. This intense imperialist aggression had three major causes. The primary reason was simply for economic gain. Africa is refuge to vast, unexplored natural resources. European powers saw their opportunity and took it. Another motive was to spread the Christian religion to the non-Christian natives. The last major incentive was to demonstrate power between competing European nations. African societies did try to resist the colonial takeover either through guerilla warfare or direct military engagement. Their efforts were in vain, however, as by the turn of the century, only Liberia and Ethiopia remained not colonized. European powers colonized Africa according to the guidelines established by the Berlin Act (1885). Many of the colonized nations were ruled indirectly through appointed governor...