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Imperialism and its impact in Africa
Imperialism and its impact in Africa
Imperialism and its impact in Africa
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It all started when Europeans ventured into an unknown Africa. At first, Europeans knew very little about Africa, traded frequently for African slaves, and they were also prone to diseases from there. The trans-Atlantic slave trade banned slavery, making it so Europeans wanted to seize countries with force. For the first time, they explored. King leopard of Belgium buying the Conga free state is an example of what was starting. The countries noticed that the claiming of Africa may lead to a war. They held a conference to peacefully divvy up Africa. No Africans were invited to this conference. The driving forces behind imperialism in Africa are helping the natives, power/nationalism, and natural resources/money. The first driving force behind …show more content…
imperialism is helping the natives. According to The White Man’s Burden, “your new-caught, sullen, peoples, Half-devil and half-child”. (Doc F) These newly caught people were the Native Africans they found when they colonized Africa. This shows the European thinking that they are supreme to the indigenous savages and must help them. Furthermore, As seen in The White Man’s Burden, “Fill full the mouth of Famine and bid the sickness cease”. (Doc F) They think that it is their duty to help those who cannot even help themselves. Simple things to Europeans such as sickness and famine make these Africans die. And they think they can help them and stop it by colonizing Africa. Therefore, helping the natives was a driving force of imperialism in Africa. The second driving force behind imperialism in Africa is nationalism/power.
According to National Pride, Joh Ruskin says, “will the youths of England, make your country again the throne of kings; ...for all the world a source of light, a center of peace?…this is what England must wither do or perish: she must found colonies as fast and as far as she is able”. (Doc B) This highlights the fact that England wants to be the center of power in the world, and to do so, the youths must find colonies. The land will give them both an economic, and resource advantage. The number of colonies they find will be proportional to England’s power. Additionally, both the youths and their parents must be very patriotic to sacrifice lives just to further England’s power through colonization. It is not like this for just England, but for other European countries too. According to National Pride, Frederic Fabri states, “It would be wise if we Germans would learn about colonial skills from our Anglo-Saxon cousins and would begin–in a friendly competition–to strive after them”. (Doc B) With all the countries competing for land, nationalism will be required to obtain colonies more efficiently. Thus, nationalism and power was an essential driving force of imperialism in
Africa. The third and final driving force behind imperialism in Africa is natural resources/money. According to African Colonies and Their Exports, African colonies had many valuable natural resources such as cotton, precious metals, rubber, etc. (Doc D) If they imperialized Africa, all those much-needed resources could be theirs. Most of those resources they found could be used in European factories to make money and make the country rich. It was the industrial revolution at the time, so it was the perfect time to do so. Furthermore, According to Imports and Exports, Great Britain made approximately 14 million pounds in 1990. (doc E) From all the money and resources they can gain from conquering Africa, it’s no surprise that it would drive imperialism.
The African empires, kingdoms, and cities had many achievements before the arrival of the Europeans. Some of these achievements had influences many other places in the world. Three major achievements were the trading systems, their military forces and strengths of its people, and the wealth and success.
Throughout the 19th century, European Imperialism had a major effect on Africa. As countries expanded in terms of wealth, resources, and innovation, more territory and workers were needed. The first solution to solve these problems was to begin colonizing in Africa. The driving force for imperialism in Europe and Africa was mainly economical. This economical approach was established through many ways including cultural and nationalistic ideas.
Prior to the arrival of European traders, the continent of Africa had developed sophisticated society as it demonstrated its ability to maintain advanced civilizations, withhold three major empires, and gain wealth through trade. Although European traders did advance organized society in Africa, it would be false to say that prior to their arrival Africa was underdeveloped.
One of the main reasons Europeans colonized Africa was for their useful resources. There are countless assets in the African landscape that were wanted by other nations. The European countries had access to some of the worlds most needed resources such as cotton, oils, coal, gold, and diamonds because they controlled Africa. This is shown on a chart of African colonies and their exports. ("Selected African Colonies and Their Exports" 269). This shows how the European countries carefully selected the land they did, to get certain resources they needed or wanted to use to benefit from. Another chart from a book by Trevor Lloyd, (Lloyd, The British Empire), displays the large jump of exports to Africa from 1854 to 1900. What that means is once Great Britain established complete control of South Saharan Africa, they began to export the resources they found that they could use. These charts are proof of how the European's wanted resources, and that is one of the main reasons for the imperialization of Africa. Not only did the European nations want the continent's resources, but they had an equal hunger for power.
The motivations behind U.S. imperialism were far different from the motivations of major European countries. Many European powers felt pressured to keep the balance of power among nations. The need to continue expanding was to make sure one country did not gain to much power over the others. The pressure to keep up with neighboring countries consumed European powers. The scramble for Africa changed Britain’s views on expanding when France started to colonize the country. Soon all major powers in Europe joined in the scramble to gain territory in Africa. The United
Prior to the 19th century, the Europeans traded mainly for African slaves. It turns out they were not immune towards certain diseases and therefore had an increasing risk of becoming sick. For years to come this continued, but not much land was conquered. Eventually, conference between only the Europeans was held to divide up the land appropriately, and the scramble for Africa began. The driving forces behind European imperialism in Africa were expanding empires, helping natives, and natural resources.
In document A, it shows European colonies holding 7 African colonies, France and Britain holding the most. France colonized more in the North West and Britain's was widely spread. In document B, Ruskin says “ Seizing every piece of fruitful waste ground she can set her foot on, and there teaching these her colonists that their first aim is to be to advance the power of England by land and sea.” This quote shows that England is trying to advance in any land that they can get their hands on, and to gain political power. Also in the second document of document B, Fabri says “It would be wise if Germans would learn about colonial skills from our British cousins and begin a friendly competition.” This exhibits many countries wanting to compete against the British for land and colonization, so they would learn from their skills in order to surpass them in
As the 20th century approached, more and more countries grew desperate for land, resulting in an imperialistic activity known as the Scramble for Africa. The European imperialists were motivated by three main factors; economic, political, and social. These factors made countries compete for power and eventually led to the scramble for African territory. Although economic expansion at times was a positive outcome of European imperialism in Africa, these positive effects are outweighed by negative outcomes such as loss of culture and independence.
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. Expansion was a goal that all nations wanted to achieve. Prince Leopold, the heir of the Belgian Throne, in a conversation, explained that “since history teaches us that colonies are useful… let us strive to get on in our turn… to lead to progress in every sense.” Being a prince, Leopold must have had a pro imperialist point of view, because he wanted to keep Belgium strong and prosperous. Cecil Rhodes, in a speech at the chartering of the British South Africa company, said “Philanthropy is good, but philanthropy at 5 percent is even better.” Cecil Rhodes’s quote clearly illustrates a materialistic point of view, owing to the fact that he was the founder of De Beers Diamond Company. Being a businessman, a desire of profit was natural. However, there are other examples that show a condemnation of imperialism for economical reasons. According to William Clark, in The Genesis of Jingoism, “capitalism is international… and it will prove in the long run to be one of the leading factors in breaking down of nationalism.” Owing to the fact that this excerpt from “The...
Britain was committed to imperializing countries that benefitted them. Benjamin Disraeli, the British prime minister during the 1870’s, persuaded Great Britain to imperialize because it was a way to guard vital British markets overseas, resources, and jobs, as well as enhance their well known reputation as being the most powerful country (Butler). Great Britain wanted to spread its culture and religion (Butler). As a result, Christianity was dispersed imperialized countries under the name of Great Britain. Another major reason Great Britain imperialized in Africa was because other European countries that were participating in the “Scramble for Africa” (Berard). This was the time period where certain European countries fought over what countries in Africa to imperialize. Britain wanted more power, and therefore, more land as well. Therefore, they resorted to imperializing lands such as those in Africa.
The epoch of imperialism cannot be defined simply as 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 were 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. Britain was endowed with geographic and political advantages that allowed the country to become the first to unwittingly stumble onto industrialization. Britain was an island, therefore had developed a unique naval strength which subsequently gave Britain leverage when globalization blossomed from expanding maritime trade. Meanwhile, the rest of Europe, including Belgium, trailed behind. Presently, colonized regions still bear the traits and scars from the subjugators of their past.
Imperialism can also be encouraged by patriotism, religion, and a sense of cultural and racial superiority. During the late 1800’s, a strong feeling of nationalism swept most European countries.
Imperialism is the domination by one country of political, economic, or cultural life of another country or region and occurred during the 1800’s in Africa. Imperialism in Africa was caused by four factors in Europe: economy, politics/military, humanitarian/religion, and Social Darwinism (Ellis). The Industrial Revolution in Europe caused the need for oversea expansion because the manufacturers needed things like: rubber, petroleum, and palm oil all of which Africa had. Europe moving into Africa was also caused by nationalism, when France went into Africa so did Britain (Ellis). The difference between France and Britain was the way of rule they used. There are four different methods of imperialism: direct, indirect, protectorate, and sphere of influence. The most popular were direct and indirect. The French used direct, they sent officials and soldiers from France to administer their colonies and their purpose was to inflict French culture on their colonies and make them into French provinces (Ellis). The British, however, used indirect, they used chiefs to oversee their colonies and encouraged the children in the colonies to get education in Britain. The British “Westernized” their colonies and only used military force when threatened (Ellis).
Throughout history, imperialism has led countries to extend their rule over weaker countries and then colonized those countries to expand their own power. Imperialism allows the ruling countries to use the weaker countries for their resources. Colonizing other countries would then lead to growth and a better reputation for the dominating country. There are many examples of imperialism throughout European history. When many European countries “scrambled” for Africa, it seemed as though Africa had no say in anything.
An overwhelming majority of African nations has reclaimed their independence from their European mother countries. This did not stop the Europeans from leaving a permanent mark on the continent however. European colonialism has shaped modern-day Africa, a considerable amount for the worse, but also some for the better. Including these positive and negative effects, colonialism has also touched much of Africa’s history and culture especially in recent years.