Positive And Negative Effects Of Imperialism On The Continent Of Africa

Imperialism affected the continent of Africa economically, politically and socially in both negative and positive ways. One of the positive effects, depending on your beliefs is the spread of christianity to the continent of Africa which opened up more mission opportunities. The missionaries involved in these missions helped establish an education system in Africa to educate the locals about their culture and land. The Europeans defended the native people against their enemies or gave them weapons to enable them to defend themselves whenever it was necessary. Also they brought new technology of all kinds to Africa; they provided with tools for farming and introduced new crops like corn from the New World. They built a strong infrastructure

including hospitals, roads, and communication systems. The plantation systems that were established boosted the growing of cash crops like cocoa, tea, coffee, rubber, and cotton. Many of the
African people learned English, French, and Portuguese from there European masters which was really the only thing from the mass slave trade that helps them in today’s world. Due to the fact that it helps them communicate with the global economies of the world today with less difficulty. The imperialism also helped make the world aware of Africa’s diverse culture through cultural assimilation, and their massive amount of natural and mineral resources. Making them part of trade in the international markets. New household goods were introduced to the people, more African jobs were created and some of the people learned new trade methods making some tribal groups that sided with the Europeans very wealthy. And depending on your opinion better institutions were established to govern the people which still exist in African countries today

Negative effects on the African continent included the slave trading of most of the natives to European masters where they were treated very poorly and worked for no pay.

The Europeans took land from the Africans to establish farms to grow their cash crops and forced the people who once ruled these lands to work on the farms for absolutely nothing. African culture, even though made aware of was diluted and age old traditions and lifestyles were taken away. African religions were destroyed because of the forced spread of christianity throughout the continent. They were also forced to learn the languages of Europeans, and how to dress and eat like the Europeans. Totally abandoning normal diets and clothing styles. The spread of viruses brought by Europeans were foreign to the immune systems of the Africans and totally obliterated the population making the European take over that much easier. Due to the new European boundaries of the country many tribes and families were torn apart which still shows up today with the constant fighting in places like Liberia. Europeans took for themselves almost all of Africa’s resources such as diamonds, gold, ivory and primary agricultural products. This gave the Africans no opportunity to learn how to use their natural resources for economic development. Lastly Europeans took over all government decisions, so Africans were only able to occupy inferior positions and had no say in the decisions that had to do with their home country. Overall the negative effects of imperialism on Africa outweigh the positives by a substantial

amount.