European Imperialism In Africa In The Late 19th Century

To begin with, Europeans believed that in order to build on their acquisitions and improve the availability of new resources they would need to conquer Africa. At the time, Europe’s external conflicts were increasing significantly. Countries, such as England, France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Holland, and Spain, all began the race to conquer and divide the continent among themselves. This is portrayed in the political cartoon “The Mad Scramble for Africa” by David Bainbridge (Doc 4). The cartoon shows European countries in a fight for different regions of Africa.

European nations scrambled to take control of Africa due to the opportunity of exploiting resources and colonization. European imperialism was in Africa partly present because of the rivalry for power between Britain, France, and Germany. These countries were each trying to increase their status by accumulating countries located elsewhere on the continent. European countries entered Africa to claim territories, since owning multiple territories with colonies showed their power. Britain.

Although, the Industrial Revolution resulted in very much pain, the Europeans did just as much damage when they invaded Africa, with no regards to the original African people. The imperialism in Africa included many countries from Europe, all with their own reasons to invade Africa, including land, power, resources, and more. In the text, "Confessions of Faith," Cecil Rhodes states, "Africa is still lying ready for us it is our duty to take it. It is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory." This statement illustrates England 's point of view towards imperialism and also provides their reasons for imperializing to Africa.

Africa was imperialized by Europeans in 1880s-1940s. Before Africa imperialism they had thousands of different tribes, nations, culture, and languages. Africa had complex trade and different ethnic groups. Europeans took over Africa because abolition slavery, wanted to spread christianity and had new resources. This happened by having more advanced weapons, cooperate with local leader, and took advantage of Africa conflict.

The next factor that made the British colonise South Africa for power is for colonial rule. Colonial rule is a competition for power in South Africa. they fought for power against other European Empires. To avoid any conflicts, the Europeans and the U.S leader gathered in Berlin during 1884. They split up Africa so each empire would get a part of Africa (“petrimoulx.pbworks.com”).

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” --- W. B. Yeats, “The Second Coming”. Imperialism is the action of one country forcefully gains and keeps control over another territory. European imperialists were motivated to charge into Africa because of 3 main factors: economic, political, and social(Vontz, “imperialism”). With the rise of industrialization there was an increase of social problems in Europe. The rate of poverty and homelessness created a need for more economic opportunities.

Between the 300 Years of 1500 and 1800’s European nations traded slaves, gold and ivory throughout the west coast of Africa. It changed when I the 1800’s people moved into central Africa and by the 1880’s Africa was being attacked by almost all of the world's nations. So what was the driving force behind imperialism in Africa. It was all made up from economics, morality and revolution. Out of economics morality and revolution economics is a very important one.

Through the expenditure, there were both pros and cons experienced along with it. From colonization, nations obtained power, wealth, and extra raw materials; however, conflict arose as well as the dehumanization of the natives when they were forced to work for the European nations. These nations felt superior and therefore, through primal instinct, they corrupted the new colonies and spread their evil throughout it. Authors, like Conrad, spoke out and addressed the morality issues with the event of imperialism in their works. In the Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad transcends the deep, dark African jungle in order to illuminate the true nature of humanity’s heart, filled with the darkness of obsession, corruption, and evil.

Especially, Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (Triangular Slave Trade) not only highly affected the continent but also left it with sophisticated disputes for the continuing generation because it depopulated the continent and morally undermined the peoples. Since the 18th century, even though some European governments had attempted to be abolished slave trade activities by laws; the more bad condition (colonization) could come to replace the slave trade and other trade activities. The reason is that the objective of the slave trade was to use African labor outside Africa; whereas that of colonization was to exploit their labor on their own land, in Africa, and to get the market for industrial commodities. Colonization affected the African histories, cultures and traditions and identities, and shaped the societies with European modes of life. Due to this, Africans were considered as uncivilized societies that had already psychologically and morally marginalized the people.

Imperialism was a major cause of WW1 because Britain, Germany and France needed foreign markets after the increase in manufacturing caused by the industrial Revolution (BBC, 2008). The three countries competed for economic expansion over the whole of Africa. This caused plenty of conflicts between France & Great Britain and between Germany on one side and France and Great Britain on the other side, almost precipitated a European war between the three nations. Sometimes colonies are acquired after a fully-fledged invasion or a fight against the local population. British control of South Africa was established after a series of campaigns and native tribes like the Zulus, followed by two magnificent wars with the Boers (farmers of Dutch extraction) (Quizlet, 2013).