European Imperialism In Africa

Ever heard the saying big bank take little bank ? That’s basically what imperialism is. Imperialism is a policy which a strong nation take complete control over other countries . This is exactly what the Europeans did in several different parts of Africa . Not only did the Europeans divided and colonized Africa but they took everything away ,from their culture to their independence. Why take all this away ? It’s simple , the Europeans nations was competing against each other and they thought they were superior. They noticed Africa had many raw materials and resources they could use and benefit from. The driving force for imperialism in Africa was economics , competition , and politics.

The Europeans colonized colonized many parts of the world but the most colonized was the continent Africa. The European explorers started imperializing Africa after exploring into the interior of Africa and finding the resources that African countries had. What is imperialism? Imperialism is the policy of taking control of another country. There were three main reasons for European imperialism in Africa: Political reasons, technology, and economic reasons.

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

Prior to the movement of European Imperialism in Africa, a major law was passed. In 1807, the British government banned the Transatlantic slave trade. As a result, in 1833, slavery as a whole was completely demolished. Slavery was a very profitable trade for not only Britain, but many other European powers. Without the slave trade, many European nations were looking for a new way to expand their power of others. Therefore, many European nations switched their focus and claimed their share of the African continent, in order to continue their economic and social dominance (Document A).

European imperialism started as a source for raw materials and a way to gain advantages over their rival countries (Spielvogel and McTighe 226). Yet, the African countries being imperialized were impacted by this settlement in many positive ways (Spielvogel and McTighe 231). Europeans brought ideas of Westernization and influenced the societies that were not yet industrialized and ones that lacked the modern elements many European countries had acquired (Spielvogel and McTighe 235). Through the spread of western ideals and democracy, the people of Africa were inspired to pursue their own self-rule and continuation of the modernization that the European imperialists left behind on the continent. When European nations first imperialized the African

Imperialism has several driving forces behind it including competition and the natural resources in those areas. However, the most important cause of imperialism was the moral responsibility Europe, in their eyes, had to give the African natives. One of the driving forces behind European imperialism was the competition behind all of the countries. In Document A there is a map of Africa from 1884-85, it shows that out of all of the countries in Africa only 2 were independent. During the time of exploration all countries were fighting for land to get more money, whoever had the most land was a better and more powerful than everyone else.

These three reasons of Europe’s interest in Africa are all interrelated. For example, there was a system dedicated to the fact of determining if a particular area would benefit Europe if they decided to colonize based on the scientific data received. I believe Europeans were very avid about imperializing colonies and empires in Africa. This statement is proved by reasons relating in political, cultural, and economic. In a political stance, there was competition among other European states “for sovereignty in the international system of the eighteenth century” (Khapoya, 1994, 103). The pride that came with Great Britain claiming and controlling a country in Africa that was “more than forty times it’s own size” (Khapoya, 1994, 104). In the exact words of Vincent B. Khapoya enlightened my statement and belief that politics was a huge factor in imperializing Africa by the European’s, “the possession of huge colonies provided manpower that held out the promise of imperial powers by getting richer and growing stronger by being able to wage successful military campaigns anywhere in the world” (Khapoya, 1994,

Imperialism drastically changed the political, economic, social, and cultural landscape of Africa indefinitely. Europeans built various forms of infrastructure and implemented several technological advancements in Africa in order to expand the economy. Additionally, many Africans lost their sense of self identity as a result of the Western culture that the Europeans imposed upon them. Lastly, Africans lost control of their lands and their independence due to European imperialism. There are three main reasons why the Europeans imperialized Africa: 1) political competition, 2) cultural motives, and 3) economic interests.

Even though trade between nations grew greatly and a world economy developed, it “created bitter rivalries among the imperial powers and hatred among the colonized people.” From Doc. #5 (A Place in the Sun), says “In spite of the fact that we have no such flect as we should have, we have conquered for ourselves a place in the sun.” This reveals that Germans were encouraged to take part in Imperialism. It demonstrates how Germany wanted to keep its empire economically and politically growing, in order to compete with other nations. We could also look at Doc. #6 (Letter to SIr George Grey), announces “I know that you have followed with interest the transactions with interest....by your excellency’s meditation.” This is important because it shows that Moshweshewe request for peace to Sir George Grey, due to situation that Moshweshewe and his tribe has been put into by the invasive Boers and other high-ranking British officials, asking for help to stop their unfair territorial advances.

There are many reasons why European decided to take over africa. One being is their power and believing that they can do anything they want because they were powerful and unstoppable. Due to the Europe's national pride and civilized nation, they feel obligated to civilize africa. Imperialism means a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. That's one of the driving forces.

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

In a time period beginning in the 19th century, the British Empire imperialized all over the world. there are many examples of Great Britain imperializing other nations during this time, but China, Africa, and India should be looked at with a microscope. Imperialism is one of the big reasons why these nations have grown and prospered through the years. It introduced medicine, education, advanced transportation and communications, and religion. The introduction of religion is both good and bad, some say it was forced upon the citizens but others say differently. With these incredible positive effects came some negatives. The stealing of land, cheap labor, taxing, and slavery is never good. Imperialists were clearly wrong in some parts, but the

The Europeans all scrambled to colonize Africa for t’s raw materials and land. THey had justified it as the White Man’s burden. They believed that is was their responsibility as a more developed race to help Africa catch up in technology, government, economics etc. Rhodes even said, “-and that the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race.” (Doc, 1) With this mindset, Europeans colonized Africa and started to export raw materials such as rubber, diamonds, gold, palm oil etc. White man’s burden led to Imperialism because they thought taking over other countries was the only to help them move forward. In doing so, they also spread their power and influence throughout the world. The White man's burden was also accompanied

First of all Imperialism affected many different things in Africa and in the middle east. The effects of the imperialism resulted in stress and powerful threats from Western imperialists. They kept pleading for special rights but they did not give in so quickly. They wanted Europeans to reside in Muslim lands. The Muslims weren't’ so happy about that arrangement. Some of the time Europeans protected their rights, but other times they acted as if nothing ever happened. Africans resisted imperialism as much as they could. Germans fought wars against Africans which did not help the imperialism in Africa. When the Germans fought the Africans they caused more chaos making everyone panic and lives were lost.

For cultural and ideological reasons, imperial nations believed that their values and beliefs were superior to anyone else’s. A huge concept of New Imperialism was the European “civilizing mission”. In general, Europeans think they’re doing a good deed by imposing their beliefs onto the inhabitants of Africa. As King Leopold II stated, “Our refined society attaches to human life (and with reason) a value unknown to barbarous communities” (King Leopold II, 222). Since the Africans were “inferior” to Europeans,