Colonization and the First Globalization

During the late 1800’s, Europe was looking for a way to improve themselves as a whole. With growing population and a steady decline in available work, something new had to be done. Countries looked towards Africa to serve as new colonies for the Europeans in order to better their own countries. During the European acquisition of African colonies in the period 1880 to 1914 Europe’s attitude towards Africa was that Africa was the inferior race in comparison to the Europeans. With the help of a strong feeling of nationalism, Europeans were motivated to acquire new lands in order to improve their motherland’s

During 19th century Europe the Industrial Revolution was rapidly spreading through many prominent European nations, such as France, Germany and Spain. The Industrial Revolution was the name given to the period of time, around the 1800s, when many of Europe’s economies switched from agricultural economies to industrial ones. This Revolution spurred on a new age of European Imperialism, European nations set about conquering, claiming and colonising chunks of Africa. The new economic motives, technological advancements and desire for power created by the Industrial Revolution were the greatest motives behind European Imperialism in Africa.

European Imperialism began because there was a need for natural resources and for new markets to sell European manufactured products. The Industrial Revolution created this need for natural resources, and because of the steadily increasing population in Europe and the limited land, expansion seemed necessary. One of the places Europe expanded was Africa. Africa was a very attractive continent because it had large deposits of natural resources such as gold, diamonds, and rubber. Africa’s people were also very primitive in relation to the Europeans after an Industrial Revolution, which made taking control of them even easier.

It is a widespread belief that colonization of the Americas started and ended with the English and the 13 colonies, an exclusive and extremely condensed version of history. In American Colonies, Alan Taylor delves deeper into this condensed version of events to offer a more informative and truthful point of view on American history. In this document, Taylor presents the argument that American colonization was the result of the efforts of multiple cultures and races. He continues on to say that many of these groups of people were left out of the story of American history, which led to the English being established as the dominant force of colonization.[ Taylor, American Colonies, 1]

To illustrate, the map of Africa drastically changed from 1891 to 1914. In 1891, Europeans had only colonized the coast of Africa. But by 1914, all of Africa except Ethiopia and Liberia had been colonized (Doc A). This shows how quickly Europeans took over Africa. Each European country was in a race with the other countries to get as much African land as possible.

The Europeans began their expansion in the globe by taking up African and Asian colonies. During the 1870s, the world experienced imperialism as the Europeans established empires in Africa and Asia. Their aggressive expansion was as a result of industrialization. The move was made for economic, religious, political, humanitarian, and political reasons, amongst others (Hook and Spanier, p.19). Also, Africa was easy to access due to its geographical position. As a result, the Europeans could get into the continent through the ocean or the Gulf Canal. In addition, the Africans continent had vast lands that were beneficial for the Europeans. They started up companies and farming land that would produce their foods. Additionally, the Africans and

During the Age of Imperialism, Europeans colonized and conquered almost all of Africa during the scramble for Africa, lasted from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. When Europe first began asking Africa to give up their freedom, most kingdoms politely declined the offer. However, some countries surrendered and soon realized the horrific mistake they had made. The African people began to rebel against European rule, some leaders becoming desperate enough to trick their own people into joining the effort. Many Africans were not on board with the African Scramble.

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. One of the main reasons was that the

"The Colonization of North America." In Modern History Sourcebook. April 1999- [cited 17 September 2002] Available from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall.mod/modsbook.html., http://curry.eduschool.virginia.edu.

Europeans were able to colonize Africa because of the many advantages they had over them. Firstly, the Maxim gun had been acquired. This was the first automatic machine gun to be produced. The Europeans were able to travel much more easily due to the steam engine.

In the late 1800’s, Europeans began a new era as they expanded overseas to colonize Africa. Beginning in the 1500’s, European nations traded for slaves, gold, and ivory throughout Africa’s west coast. During the 1880’s, multiple countries, including Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, and Italy, competed for colonies all throughout the continent. Britain and France managed to hold the most territory within Africa.

The ‘scramble for Africa’ was a phenomenon in the world between the years 1880-1914. The ‘dark continent’ was relatively untouched by Europeans up until this point, with few ports of control on the coasts in the west, which were remnants of the slave trade, and in the south, Britain held the Cape, taken from the Dutch during the French Revolutionary Wars. So, during a period of 30 years, it came to pass that almost the whole of Africa was taken by Europeans. (Except Liberia a colony for freed American slaves, and Abyssinia managed to hold out against Italian aggression). It will be my objective in this essay to analyse the economic factors which resulted in the almost complete colonisation and takeover of Africa, and also to determine to

Between 1870 and 1914, European countries ceased about ninety percent of Africa. Native Africans faced political, military, and imperialism pressure from various European countries. After the end of the profitable slave trade in Africa, due to abolishing of slavery, Europeans explored for new guaranteed markets, and heavily profitable investments. In addition, European countries were under industrialization, the demand for raw materials heavily increased. Europeans as well faced power struggles with one another and competition for political influence in Africa. European power struggle ultimately lead to the “Scramble for Africa.” Europeans undertook the process of imperialism in Africa in the late 19th century by exercising political, economic, and military power on their African colonies. Some African leaders and societies welcomed Europeans in hopes to protect and develop their native land. Some African leaders and societies responded to European occupation by gathering resistance groups in attempt to fight off foreign imperialists.

The scramble for Africa represents the most thorough and systematic process of colonialism in world history. The European colonial powers managed to conquer and control almost the entire continent of Africa in a short, twenty-five year period from about 1875 to 1900. Some of the European states involved were already well-established global powers; the others were up and coming nations that desired to emulate and compete with the dominant imperial states. Various factors allowed for and contributed to the conquering of the whole of Africa by European states. The slow, but ever-growing European presence on the perimeter and the completion for dominance between the major European states acted as the platform for the inevitable quest for

Colonization is caused by several factors, such as overpopulation, civil unrest, religious intolerance and poverty in the origin countries. However, colonization due to imperialism is a major factor for colonization. In 1492, the Europeans reach and colonize the North Americas to establish new settlements, but disregard the native populations and resulted in loss of sovereignty. Similarly, Africa was colonized by major European powers in the 19th century, from the 1870 's to the 1900 's. Africa was a land that had plenty of resources, such as