European Imperialism: The Scramble Of Africa

The scramble of Africa is typically considered as one of the most striking outbursts of imperialism. This sets the stage for Europe’s power as an imperial state. After the abolishment of slave trade, trade through numerous materials and resources brought economic prosperity to the region. The European quest for empire was due to the want of domination and exploitation of Africa’s natural resources. This conquest of Africa is used for the betterment of Europe’s economic and political benefit.

The British takeover of the Cape, during the Napoleonic Wars, encouraged further African expansion into the interior of South Africa. This branching out, and establishment of British rule disrupted the African society. Push back by African warriors, those

This, of course, was sparked by the disruption of their society from the British rule. The scramble for Africa led to the Berlin Conference where the European powers sought after African colonies. The results from the conference included agreements about which power could have what. Each colony had to notify the others of its claims. Each claim had to be followed up by effective occupation of the claim territory (p. 418). This was often accomplished by either signed agreement, or outright conquest. The European powers could not simply claim a land and stay in their own country. They would have to actively move their people to the newly claimed territory in order to live there and establish a colony and government. The universal objective of the Berlin Conference was to end the slave trade. A possible reason the Europeans listed this so heavily on the agenda was because many slaves were being imported to Latin America and they were keen on not wanting or letting America regions to gain more power or resources. The extension of civilization to Christianity was also extremely important because Europe wanted all other countries to accept their religion as