American Imperialism In Africa Dbq Essay

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.

“Imperialism is a policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries politically, economically, and socially” (Chapter 11 sec.1). Europeans looked to Africa as a source of raw materials, which could be used for Industrial products.The Europeans used technology to their advantage. They had better artillery, a long range of communication, a cure for the malaria disease, and transportation. The Europeans used all of their resources to help them imperialize Africa. However, there were other driving forces such as competition, economy, cultural diversity, and technology. The Europeans plan was to use their new technology to fight against Africa. The europeans philosophy was that technology was the most effective driving force towards imperializing Africa.

Some countries believed they could show their power to other countries by taking over weaker lands. “we are weak agianst them… The French immense warships filled with soldiers and armed with large cannons. No one could ressit them. They go where they want, the strongest ramparts the fall before them”(Document 7). This quote shows how France took over a weaker country and made sure that they were seen as the stronger ones. In document 4, Cecil Rhodes states “ I contend that we are the finnest race in the world, and the more of the world we inhbbit, the better it is for the human race.” He believes that the Britons must take over the weaker ones and teach them how to be more like them. He also thought that if they did this then they would look stronger and more superior to other countries. A country’s image towards others had a big impact on the expansion of

Africa was imperialised because European countries wanted to gain more land for their country’s benefit. Friedrich Fabri, the man who fathered German colonialism, saw how England was exceeding and wanted Germany to strive to their level (Doc B). Imperialising in Africa and taking their land was a strategy for the Germans to illustrate how they were getting on England’s level of power. John Ruskin, an English author, encourages the youths of England to go into other nations (Africa), seize their land, and take control or else England will have their downfall of power and get behind other European countries. (Doc B).

The European countries were beginning to understand the importance and need for the African nations. All of the European countries had realized that Africa would set forth many new opportunities for them. If they could imperialize and put Africa under their control, they believed it would increase their power. In order to imperialize Africa, Europeans would have to successfully take the country over. However, in doing so they would have to step on the toes of others in order to get what the Europeans wanted. When it came down to the decision making, the Europeans left the Africans out of everything. As you can see, the European countries did not care for the opinions of the African people; in fact, they would do what they wanted.

Before the outbreak of world war was even a thought in anyones mind, Imperialism was a widely common action throughout all of Europe. Africa was a newly discovered continent, and all of Europe wanted a piece of the new found land. In fact, the division of Imperialistic powers within Africa became such a problem that European officials held a meeting known as the Berlin Conference, a discussion the equal separation of Africa among the various powers in Europe, so as to avoid war. The larger the power, the more land they received. This, however, this created much strife among Europeans, as the powers with more lands seen themselves as better and more efficient than every other power below them. With every country in Europe being fueled by nationalism, constant fights about which nation was the greatest created non-stop conflict among European powers.

European countries had rivalries and competitions creating tense conditions that resulted in Imperialism. They were greedy for wealth and took ports and deposits of valuable materials all for themselves. Finally, the Europeans had a stronger power and presence which intimidated the colonized people making them lesser. This essay matters today because If the colonized people were to benefit more from Imperialism, there would most definitely be a lot more imperializing happening today. African societies would be more advanced and sophisticated as well as a larger trade market and variety in production. Though this never happened and the benefits of imperialism went to the

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines imperialism as, “A policy or practice by which a country increases its power by gaining control over other areas of the world.” During the nineteenth century, European countries were seeking to expand their empires. They saw seizing control of African and Asian territories as a means of strengthening their empires. The people of Africa and Asia had mixed reaction to the idea of Westerners capturing their territory and instilling new ideologies. A majority of Africans were against the idea of imperialism and did not want Europeans to capture their territory. However, the Europeans were determined to capture African territory because they knew the African continent had great potential. Initially,

Cultural superiority is the idea that one is better, or of greater status than another because of their race or culture. This is what happened to Africa by Europe. Rudyard Kipling, a famous European journalist, wrote a poem with the line “Send forth the best ye breed”. He is trying to get the British citizens involved with the imperialism in Africa. He is calling the Africans less than human and saying that they need to help him. He is implying that Europe has more power than Africa. The Europeans took over Africa because they felt that they needed to help the Africans out because they thought that they were “savage beasts”, less than human (according to Kipling). The Europeans also had more power because they were so much farther ahead in technology than the Africans. For example, they had the Maxim gun and the repeating rifle. They also had better much more money. This evidence shows that cultural superiority and technology advancements played a major role in the imperialism of

In the 1800s Europe underwent a renewed period of imperialism which was very sophisticated in its nature. Much emphasis was placed on gaining or controlling a colony. The resources and wealth gain from the colony was used to finance war and the army as well as the economy. The stronger a European military gets the more power full that country become in Europe and as such gaining the wealth from a colony could either break or build the power and prestige of a nation. When France for example, moved into West Africa, rival nations such as Britain and Germany seized lands nearby to halt further French expansion. In essence the Europeans taught of the colonies as a source of security. So strong and sophisticated was the sentiment of nationalism that it set of what was known as a ‘Scramble for Africa. West Africa was already known to the European but the interior was untouched. The Belgian king Leopold the second occupies and carry profitable economic activities in the Congo (South Central Africa). Before long Britain, France, Germany and Italy were all lock in a tussle, pressing rivals claim to the region. According to Bickers and Henriot

British scholars reexamine British imperialism in Africa, focusing their interpretation specifically, on Egypt; while arguing that the British government, despite great indecision occupied Egypt because of its location on the route to India, and not for Economic motives. The issues that must be considered are: the fundamentals of western-style culture introduced in the non-western world; the introduction of the new institutions that surfaced from interaction between traditional Egyptians and European societies; and the response of Egyptian populations to the new modernizations, and their attempt to restructure the world. British intervention brought about the full impact of European modernization to a country that was brought to their knees because of poor financial decisions made by their Ottoman khedives. The reforms the British instituted from 1882 to 1914, for their own purposes, in addition to overall administration, had influential effects on the internal life of Egypt, as well as its

Imperialism in Africa can be compared to how soviet union annexed surrounding nations during its reign. Like the Europeans, the Soviet Union forced their way through surrounding nations and many who oppose died. However, instead of going to the area and directly controlling them they would declare the areas as satellite

Most of the Least Developed Countries (LCDs) exist in Africa. Although the whole world is developing exponentially through rapid globalization, Africa is still struggling to develop. Due to the imperialism of 19th and 20th century, some African nations have been colonies of Western nations. Since the imperialism lasted until the World War Ⅱ, African nations which were colonies of Western nations lost their ability to become economically independent. Therefore, still nowadays, those nations are having a hard time to develop their science and technology. To help these countries innovate and create skillful human resources, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and European Commission through its Euro-Mediterranean Information Society (EUMEDIS) together made a program developing the skills of

Africa was a resource rich, divided, different country. Every country that took a part in Africa's imperialism saw this matter and took advantage. If Africa had time to figure out how to develop an economy, unify with each other, and industrialize itself; imperialism from other countries would

Africa was colonized by Europe by countries such as Great Britain and France, which one can still see evidence of today. This was done at the Berlin Conference. The only two countries not directly colonized where Ethiopia for somewhat religious and Biblical reasons and Liberia, which had a legitimate government and this way the West would not have to directly imperialists the country but could just tell the leaders what, they wanted. The leaders obliged in return for not being colonized. When first colonized the many cultures languages and religions were not considered. Consequentially many opposing people came to live in the same state and this resulted in bloody hatred and eventually civil wars in many of these countries. Europe did not realize how many different nations there were in Africa when they were dividing it up amongst themselves. They just wanted to colonize and wanted equal shares for each other. Possible tension did not enter the minds of these colonizers and even if did it did not severely alter any decisions. In fact it was better for them if no group had a majority in a region because this would lessen the chance of a revolution. The peripheral countries of these new African boundaries usually did what the European core countries did. They wanted to enhance their status quo. The