In the early 1870’s, European countries began a race to secure and control as much African land as possible. European explorers established trade routes and set out in search of raw materials and commodities within the African continent. With all available land already being owned within Europe, there was nowhere for European countries to continue to expand, so many countries set their sights on Africa.
In 1880 the region to the north of the river Congo became a French territory following an agreement between the King of the Bateke, Makoko, and the explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza. In 1881 Tunisia became a French territory. In 1882 Britain occupied Egypt and Italy began colonizing Eritrea. In 1884 British and French Somaliland were created. In 1884 German South West Africa, Cameroon, German East Africa, and Togo were created and Río de Oro is claimed by Spain.
In 1884 Portugal requested that German chancellor Otto von Bismark call together the major European country leaders to negotiate and end confusion over the control of Africa at The Berlin Conference. The conference effectively divided Africa into 50
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Critics of SAP’s questioned the effect of these policies on gender relations and the environment. While gender inequality in Africa is predated by adjustment programmes, the effects of SAP and the political climate they create are hostile to the promotion of social plans and measures to address the issue. The problems of gender relations in Africa have been increased by SAP in several important ways. In the work area, for example, there is evidence from studies on SAP impacts in Africa, that more women than men have been out of work, wage differences between men and women are increasing, the working conditions of women are deteriorating, a Situation highlighted by the fact that more women are assuming the ranks of workers in the informal
This is all based on document A “ Partition of Africa, 1884-85”. The first point is that there were seven European countries taking parts of Africa and they were the British, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Belgian, and the Spanish. These countries all took a part in this “taking” of Africa. And it was very dangerous for the African community because they were being taking over as if they were a useless community . But the two main countries of this “taking” were the British and French, and they both took about 70-75% of Africa and that is a ginormous number.
European countries tried to civilize Africa and succeeded in their movement on trying to imperialize them but only lead the Europeans to making a profit and nothing for the African workers. The only independent African states were Ethiopia and Liberia, the rest was ruled over strong European nations, like Britain and France. European nations ruled over Africa from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s, King Leopold was one of the most notorious rulers over the African estates, Leopold ruled over the Congo free state and was considered to be one of the richest near his death. What motivated European nations to imperializing Africa were, money, resources, and nationalism.
During the 15th century, the world was caught in the age of exploration. After Columbus, everyone realized that there were still undiscovered land masses that held numerous resources and extreme profit. Due to the fact that the Americas were occupied by Spain and Portugal, much of Europe turned its eyes to Africa. Consequently, Africa was a huge land mass that was just waiting to be explored, especially since Portugal hadn’t gone beyond the outer edge. The reasons for European imperialism in Africa were due to the want for more resources to boost the economy, the advantage of better technology, and a need to establish a position of power.
The Berlin conference had taken place in 1884-1885, following the event, these countries ‘scrambled’ to obtain and govern the colonies. While the British were attempting to expand, in 1891 they had offered their ‘protection’ to the Ashanti state, which they had rejected. The English were offering their hand to independent states and in hopes of obtaining the state could use the territory for their own purposes. Similarly in document 3, a letter was addressed to other christian nations who dominated the African continent, regarding the lost land they wish to retake. However, the Ethiopian leader clearly stated their desire to stay independent.
German leader, Otto Von Bismarck organized the Berlin conference to decide how Africa would be colonized. They decided
“No African delegates were present. Simply put, the European powers agreed to recognize any areas that were already occupied to being developed by other European nations. Because of this, there was a big push to the interior of Africa by competing European Armies, as they all rushed to establish…legitimate claims on areas not occupied by other European powers.” This really struck me because it shows they didn’t care about the African people at all, in fact they could care less. And that’s what starts rebellions.
One of the many reasons was that Europeans began to believe that the more territory they obtained control for their colonies, the more power one could obtain it would become more solid it would become seen by the others. Other reasons for the Europeans to desire control over African land included that many of the natural resources could only be found within Africa, examples such as diamonds, gold, and as time moved on, rubber. Providing new markets to surrounding places so that manufactured goods could be sold for larger profit. Europeans had many motivations for imperializing Africa. The main motivations were more than likely shielded, as they tried presenting themselves as philanthropist, within reality they were making Africa a horrible place to live with brutal treatment of the natives as well as multiple physical and emotional tolls for the people of
They wrote a treaty to give a limit to African rule and held the Berlin Conference to divide Africa for the six European countries.
So Europe invaded Africa, took possession of Africa, and divided Africa into colonies of Europe. The period of invasion, lasting some twenty years, was more or less completed by 1900. There followed a longer period, between sixty and ninety years, of direct European rule, called colonial rule. This was a time of profound upheaval for all of Africa’s peoples. It brought irreversible changes” (4).
The Europeans realized that if they could take control of Africa, they would have access to resources without having to pay the expensive price and they would gain land at the same time. Africa was the richest continent in terms of resources back then. Document D shows African colonies that were then controlled by Europeans and their exports. All of the colonies that are shown have various valuable exports. It also shows that Great Britain had the most valuable colonies, because those colonies had resources that had multiple uses.
In the race of European imperialism, European countries dominated innocent African colonies. The driving force behind this? Africa’s bountiful resources. Before Africa’s colonization, the European presence in Africa was extremely limited, mainly due to lack of exploration and diseases (Background Essay). However, this changed as European prominence became largely influential through the discovery of Africa’s resource rich lands.
Ethiopia and Liberia were independent nation. Humanitarians were the first to explore Africa's interior. Europeans were able to control Africa's people, resources and land. They had technological superiority to control Africa's empire. Africa was rich in minerals and natural resources.
The only thing Europeans loved more than political power was increasing their trade. In the 1800’s European nations had a desire to get a lead to widespread imperialism in Africa. With the end of slavery in 1833, European interest in Africa shifted to seizing colonies. King Leopold of Belgium acquired a private country in Africa that was 95 times bigger than Belgium and his purpose was to make money by taking out ivory and rubber.
During the period of imperialism in Africa all of the countries were competing for the title of being the richest and the strongest. In fact, the whole scramble for Africa was an opportunity for countries to enhance their overall economy. For example, King Leopold II of Belgium was determined to get the area of land so he can become more wealthy. France’s politicians thought that an overseas company would strengthen the country when it came to wealth, prestige, and power, so as a result they invested in land more toward the west and north-west. Britain wanted to protect their trading routes which required them to purchase land in East Africa, and they they soon discovered the rewards of the land so the were determined to obtain as much as possible.
Gender Equality is the only way forward. What is gender equality? Gender equality is achieved when all genders enjoy the same rights and opportunities across all sectors of society, including economic participation and decision-making, and when the different behaviors, aspirations and needs of women and men are equally valued and favored.