Imperialism in South Africa

The Scramble for Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries encouraged many different nations to become involved in colonialism. In this time period, competing European powers carved up the continent of Africa between themselves, due to a variety of political and economic motives. Generally, these powers benefited from these land acquisitions. However, Germany’s neo-imperialist experience was unlike that of the other powers. Within the colony of Namibia, located in South West Africa, the real advantages that Germany received were far outweighed by the disadvantages the German empire faced. Although Germany received elevated political status from occupying colonies, the economic and military efforts that were invested in

The Industrial Revolution consumed all Europe’s natural resources and raw materials, so European’s sought to find a substantial location to support their rising economies. European’s saw that Africa had an abundance of raw materials and resources so they used social, political, and economic forces to imperialize their land. Imperialism is a policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries politically, economically, or socially. The main driving force behind European Imperialism in Africa was economics and competition.

During the European Scramble for Africa, in the early 20th century, Africans had a peaceful reaction with anti-imperialistic sentiments (docs. 2, 3, 4, and 7), peaceful actions through the approach of diplomacy (docs.1, 2, and 3) and also a rebellious anti-imperialistic reaction (docs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) towards the Scramble for Africa.

European powers shamelessly exploited the people and resources of Africa in the 19th century. They often tried to justify their actions by using ideology, religion and moralism. After the end of the African slave trade, the development of steam power, and medical discovery, European nations started exploring not only the coast but also the unmapped interior of the continent. In this essay, I will explain the main driving forces behind African Imperialism. The Western europeans countries all competed for land and resources because of their self interest. They sought natural resources, and technology gave them the ability to exploit them. The philosophy of national pride however, was the primary reason. (Main document) (Doc C, D & B)

In the late 1800’s Europeans took over Africa, took their resources,enslaving the Africans, and changed the course of history. The Europeans took over Africa, which is called The Scramble For Africa, in 1884-1914. The Europeans took over because Africa was rich in raw materials, they wanted power, and they thought their culture was superior. The driving force behind imperialism was need for resources, political competition, and technological advances. One driving force behind imperialism was need for natural resources. Document E uses a bar graph to show imports and exports in 1854, and 1900 between Great Britain and South Saharan Africa. Great Britain made 3 million British pounds in 1854, and 21

The Europeans became invested in Africa in the start of the 17th Century when the Dutch established a port on the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa to grant their ships extended range to better access the rich Indies. Modern day South Africa, known at the time as Pretoria, was a hotly contested place among the European powers. Initially there was not much to attract Europeans to the area besides its great strategic location. Dutch settlers, also known as Boers, were apt to travel inland and constantly established properties beyond the official borders of their colony. The migration of the Boers often translated to skirmishes with native African tribes. The British also established a colony on the Cape of Good Hope. The Brits sometimes brokered treaties and attempted to keep the Boers and tribes from fighting amongst each other. In the middle of the 19th century Britain controlled the colonies of the Cape and Natal. The British colonies extended from the Cape to the North and around the eastern sea-shore, nearly to Portuguese Mozambique. The Boers occupied two interior colonies: The Orange Free State and the Transvaal. The African tribes were positioned in between all of the colonies.

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

In the 1830s, the British Government began to look to South Africa for the abundant gold and diamond in the area, as well as, with the hopes of gaining control of the most strategic port and route to trade with India. The British acted quickly, and started to take control of the cape of South Africa. In 1833, they emancipated the Afrikaners’ slaves, created more taxes, and auctioned off previously communal land. This caused great rage within the Boer community. The Boers were Dutch and Huguenot people that migrated to South Africa in the late 17th century (Great Trek). Starting in 1835, the Boers left their homeland with the goal of starting a new life free from British rule. The majority of the migrants left from the Eastern frontier of South

The british needed the South African population under control and had the manpower to do so. They rounded up tens of thousands of innocents and put them into detainment camps"The Evil British.". Guards would take away food rations for the slightest perceived offense. When they rounded up the boers they detained any black africans they encountered, 20,000 of which were worked to death in slave labor camps. In total ten percent of the entire boer population died.

The Edwardian period was a time of much anxiety and insecurity for the British Empire. Although the South African War (1899–1902) had been won, many Britons were left wondering how the British Army, numbering almost half a million soldiers, had taken nearly three years to defeat a guerrilla force of roughly 60, 000 men. Goaded into the conflict by the British, the outnumbered Boers evoked great international sympathy, especially in France and Germany, leaving the British devoid of both friends and allies.

The South African people lost their own government during the colonization because they were under the control of the British and the people were enslaved. It gave the South African people a very unfair feeling because they were living in their own country but controlled by someone else. When they first lost their own government, the people could not adapt to the new policy of slavery due to the loss of freedom. Even though a lot of people did not like it that way, they had to adapt to the policy as soon as possible in order to survive. They were also not used to be controlled by the rules that the British created. For example, the punishment of the slaves were strictly controlled by the British government. One of the policy was “The number of hours the slaves could be made to work was not limited,” which meant they had to work a lot everyday. In addition, slaves’ marriages were only allowed in 1824 after South Africa had regained independence in 1822. It showed that after South Africa was not colonized by the British, people had much more freedom than before. Therefore, the British colonization brought the South African people a very bad political impact by losing its own government, not being used to be controlled by the rules, and not being able to adapt to the new

The neoliberal policies, which South Africa has implemented after the end of the Apartheid era, has lead to increased inequality, both on the national as well as the global level. This has led many to argue that South Africa today faces a new kind of imperialism, one that is not so much based on political subordination but rather on a new type of economic subordination through a so-called "empire of capital". This idea, among others, falls under the broader theory of "economic imperialism".

Throughout the history of Europeans imperialism in south Africa, native south Africans were exploited, used as slaves and servers for the Europeans. The south African people were treated unfairly for a long period of time. The south African couldn’t have more patience about their situation, so they started a war. They got their independence later after the war. This colonization that happened had positive and negative effects on south Africa.

Imperialism is defined as one country’s domination of the political, economic, and social life of another country. In Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, imperialism was present and growing. The main countries involved in the imperialism in Africa were the French, German, and Great Britain. The French’s empire was mainly in North and West Africa while Britain’s colonies were scattered throughout the continent. Germany ruled over such countries as Tanganyika, Togoland, and Cameroon, until their defeat in World War I.

     The South African Republic and the Orange Free Stated made an alliance. They then declared war on the British on October 12, 1899 because they were uncooperative with Kurger’s demands. The Afrikaner forces were successful in invading Natal and Cape Colony. In December the British commander in chief Sir Redvers H. Buller sent fresh troops to relieve the British forces in three war zones. These zones were Colenso, Natal, the hills of Magersfontein on the Orange Free State and Cape Colony borders, and the mountain range of Stormberge in the Cape Colony. Within a week, which is referred to as the Black Week by the British, each of the new units had been defeated by Afrikaner forces.