Effects Of Imperialism In Africa

Imperialism in Africa began in the late 19th century. It began when King Leopold II began the Scramble for Africa. All of the major colonial powers went after Africa. Their goal was to gain the most wealth and to have the most territory. Having more territory and claiming valuable parts of the continent was a symbol of power. Imperialism in Africa had negative and positive consequences on both the Europeans and Africans, these can be shown through human rights issues, new industry and advancements, and wealth and influence.

With the economic gain in mind, the European colonies are more likely to compete more rigorously to get the most money possible. The bar graph representing Great Britain and South Saharan Africa Imports and Exports, 1854 and 1900 revealed that there was an increase of about 10 million british pounds in exports to Africa after the spread of imperialism. As a result of the large increase in money after they took over Africa, competition between colonies was encouraged very strongly. There were many different colonies in Europe that competed for the resources in Africa. Each of the different European colony gained the resources from the part of Africa that they colonized.

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.

From textiles to weapons, European companies prospered on exploitation of Africa's natural richness, reinforcing the economic reasons that drove imperialism on the

European domination in Africa began because the Portuguese wanted to establish a faster route to India. Yet, when the Portuguese arrived they began to set up a trade of gold, slaves and ivory. The Europeans pretended to be Christian humanitarians and attempted to convert the Africans to Christians. They used god to justify their mistreatment of the natives. Many of the natives did convert to Christianity and accepted the Europeans mistreatments. The Europeans set up port cities on the African coast in order to help their ships on their journey to India. At the port cities, they could stop, rest, and replenish their supplies.

The Missionaries also served to civilise Africa, “They founded schools where sanitations and agriculture as well as the three R’s [reading, writing arithmetic] were taught”(document N). Thus benefiting Europe's excuse to extract the materials needed from Africa saying that they were just Civilising the natives.

Africa’s persistent poverty interrogates the continent’s past through institutions, government, demography, economics, colonialism, and the impact of the trading. The colonial era affected the variety of Africa’s historical development for it was quite the game changer since it put a halt to the continuous drain of scarce labor and paved the way for the expansion of land concentrated forms of agriculture, and engaging smallholders, estates, and communal farms. The establishment of the colonial rule over the African interior reinforced African commodity growth in export. The colonial control facilitated the construction induced significant inflows of European

Christian members in Europe established churches in conquered territories during the nineteenth century. With this Western cultural values were spread. Europe found the option to use imperialism to their advantage when the scramble for Africa occurred. This is when The Berlin West Africa conference occurred regarding the split of Africa into colonies. The country was so behind with the rapid industrialization, that new diffusion of ideas was necessary and sought out by citizens. Colliding of religions also involved new education and new foreign languages. As seen in document five, philanthropy was a key part and wanted “five percent better” through Europe at the time. This showed Africa’s hesitant distinction through the late 1880’s to 1950’s and was portrayed across the globe as a developing reputation. Problems with governments, leaders, and trade reflected onto Africa that also left religious views and questions in the air. Against imperialism, Africa saw no hope in ever regaining independence. Colonial conflict struct, and a self government without the help of other countries was out of the picture. In documents three and nine, a German man and German Social Democratic party address how Africa is beginning to look like Europe and how markets within Africa are no longer relevant “to new markets which each country tries to usurp to itself”. These documents showed how after many

People of the early African kingdoms were able to create successful trade routes with Europe and Asia, become very wealthy from conquering and gaining land, and were able to have a strong central government. All of this was done before the Europeans had reached Africa. Trade flourished on the East African coast, especially when trading was established with India and Arabia. African kingdoms were prosperous, because of their success with not only trading but also with their ability to conquer land. A governmental structure is key to allowing any kingdom to thrive, and the African people were able to achieve this.

Before the Europeans began to explore Africa, little was known about the continent. However, after some initial exploration of Africa, the Europeans soon realized how economically important this area was, and how much they could profit from it. At the time, European countries had only small colonies in Africa, but after they realized that they could make money from the resources in the inner regions of Africa, they wanted to invade the African regions and assume control. This led to “ the race” and ultimately, the partition of Africa. There were many motives for the Europeans to imperialize Africa. There were humanitarian and religious goals, political goals, military goals, and most importantly, there were economic interests. During the Berlin conference, The European powers decided that they were going to spread the three C’s (Christianity, Commerce, and Civilization) in Africa. To do this, the conference had three aims “ Ensure free trade for all nations throughout the Congo, to ensure free navigation for all countries on the Niger River of West Africa, and agree to set rules by which the Europeans could proceed to divide the rest of the continent.” (Part II: The European Conquest, Pg 11). Later in the document it states that not one African representative was present at the Berlin Conference to discuss Africa's future. The European people tricked themselves into thinking that what they were doing

In a family of six you can be assured that when dessert comes out after a homemade meal that you better be fast so you can get your own share of mamma pecan pie. Even if it is cut into equal pieces there are motivations for wanting more than your fair share. Motivations such as, you missed out on seconds during the main course, you just love her cooking, or you don’t want your siblings to get more than you. These motivations create havoc until mom instructs everyone that, “there will be no fighting over my pie”. It is so interesting that in terms of the fight for a piece of pie, similarities can be drawn to the scramble for Africa. Though there was no one that stood in the place of a mother to tell the European powers that they needed to

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

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 Horror! The Horror!” It is what Joseph Conrad had described about the colonization of Africa. During the colonization, Africa was being strangled out of their ways of culture and life. Africa was also being split between the Europeans. Africans were forced to learn the mother-tongue. Colonization was destroying the resources Africans had.

In 1828 Shaka, leader of the Zulu tribe prophesied that ‘the swallows’, white men building mud houses, would come to conquer his people. By the end of the century his prophecy was reality. The extraordinary expansion drift of all major industrialised countries in Europe led to an unparalleled division of the African in the last two decades of the nineteenth century.