Explain the Motivations Underlying New Imperialism in Africa
Camy
European Imperialism has occurred for many centuries. It started around the 1500s until the 1800s. This period was called Old Imperialism. During this time, European established colonies along the African coastal line. These colonies were used to trade for goods and slaves with the African tribes during the Atlantic Slave Trade. At the time, European technology was not advanced enough to fully conquer a continent. Then the Industrial Revolution (1760s-1840s) came and drastically changed Europe into a more technologically advanced continent. These technological advances gave Europe the power as well as the need to invade Africa, whose empires had been weakened by the slave trade
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The Industrial Revolution brought along many new inventions that made producing goods much easier and at a faster rate. The problem with the faster production of goods was that they used resources at a much faster rate as well. Therefore, Europe needed a better way to get resources out of Africa rather than trading with the Africans. The solution was to conquer a territory in Africa. By doing this, Europeans were able to employ the Africans at a very low cost, which allowed them to take resources out of Africa much faster than before and at a cheaper cost. In the book, “The Challenge for Africa” by Wangari Maathai, Maathai states that “The European powers were seeking to establish not merely outposts… but also new sources for the raw material they needed to expand their industrial economies” (doc 5). This turned out to be extremely beneficial for the Europeans because their economies began to dramatically increase over the years following New …show more content…
This was especially important for England who traded a lot with China and India. England was fortunate enough to acquire Egypt and the Suez Canal, which was part of the fastest route to the Far East. Transportation also played a role in why the European nations chose to conquer certain parts of Africa. For example, if you look at the map in document 2 you can see that every European nation acquired land that either bordered an ocean or contained a river leading to an ocean. Transportation was very important because the Europeans needed a quick way to export resources from Africa and at the time ships were the fastest form of transportation. Water transportation was so vital to the Europeans that in the Berlin Act there was a clause that gave “all [European] nations the advantages of free navigation of the two chief rivers of Africa flowing into the Atlantic Ocean” (doc 1). Having colonies on the coast of Africa allowed the Europeans closer access to the Far East, which made it even easier to trade in the Far
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.
With the Industrial Revolution in full swing, Europe was looking to bolster their trade markets abroad. Thinking of it this way: in order to sell more goods, you need more places to sell them. So, with this thinking in mind, the Europeans said to themselves, 'What better place than Africa and Asia?' Along the same lines, colonies on these continents were seen as great places to get cheap, raw materials for Europe's factories. Add to this that Europe needed a place to house and employ their surplus population, and you can see why New Imperialism held the promise of economic growth.
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.
When the Age of Imperialism began in 1875, it effected Africa in many ways. Nowhere was the competition for colonies more intense than in Africa. Europeans went after North and South Africa splitting up the continent. Egypt and Sudan were taken over by Britain to obtain the Suez Canal. Imperialism helped to develop Africa’s economy and turned it into a continent of colonies.
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”.
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 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.
With Europe in control, “the policies of the governing powers redirected all African trade to the international export market. Thus today, there is little in the way of inter-African trade, and the pattern of economic dependence continues.” Europeans exported most of the resources in Africa cheaply and sold them costly, which benefited them, but many Africans worked overtime and were not treated with care.
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.
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).
The first Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain. It led to a dramatic increase in factories, therefore a vast amount of manufactured goods. The demand for goods created by the Industrial Revolution helped clear the way for the Age of Imperialism because Great Britain and eventually all of Europe sought after more natural resources and raw materials. Imperialism is the policy in which a stronger country seeks to dominate a less developed country both politically and economically. Although the European imperialism of Africa was exploitive and self seeking, it was justified because it ultimately enhanced the growth and development of the African nations through new laws, government, well ordered finance and freedom form oppression.
This picture represents European nations were successfully trying to build and take over Africa communications (Sambourne). This picture shows that Africa was so important for Europeans to build for trading and economics. These are all examples of how Europe benefit from
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. During the 19th century, Europe found a way to use Africa for their own growth and power. Using Africa for their resources, the Europeans colonized Africa without a second thought. European imperialism in Africa had a negative impact because of social disarray, cultural loss, and death it caused.
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.
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.