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. So the way European nations earned their money was from selling their resources they had from their land, they would force the Africans to work long hours and were not paid at all. In a document by Trevor Owen Lloyd, “The British Empire” states that Great Britain exported 4.6 million pounds from Africa. European nations would …show more content…
European nations exported goods such as, cotton, palm oil, coffee, sugar, rubber, ivory, gum, copper, zinc, lead, coal, and diamonds, and more. A faster way of collecting resources was owning slaves and having them do the job of going to get the resources, they weren’t paid so it saved the Europeans a lot of money, and a lot of time. But it still wasn’t fair for European nations just to invade a land and then have the people that previously lived there work for you it's just so discourteous to the African people. Along with that the people were forced to extract resources from their land and give it up to the Europeans and if they did not meet their quota they were punished harshly sometimes even getting their hands cut
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.
Europe colonized Africa seeking mutual benefits of the European industry and supposedly of Africans as well. While before 1850, Europe only had control and access to a small percent of the African continent, European nations had gained control of most of Africa and had access to most of its resources and markets by 1914 (Doc 6). This displayed an entirely new opportunity for European nations to gain much wealth and power from new resources and customers. As for the Africans, before the arrival of Europe, war, human sacrifice, witch doctors, and slave-trade among African natives were common. Believed to be savages, Africans had much to appreciate from learning the European conduct of justice and humanity, according to imperialists.
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
Many Europeans did not treat the Africans well. Many colonists started colonizing in the New World for three main reasons: God, Gold, and Glory. Colonists met Native Americans there and wanted the Native Americans to work for the them, which led to bad treatment of the Native Americans and also led to slavery. The Industrial Revolution soon started and people needed more natural resources for all the resources being produced. During the 19th Century, many Boers made colonies, land controlled by another country, on the land lended to them by Africans; soon afterward the colonizers started deceiving the African.
British and French European countries were considered the biggest winners in the “race” to size African colonies in 1914. By 1885 the only two African countries to remain independent was Ethiopia and Liberia.(Doc A) John Ruskin announced in his lecture at Oxford University February 8, 1870 that the colonist “first aim” should be “to advance the power of England by land and by sea” This influence that John had for the European countries was a great impact for imperialism in Africa . Great Britain made about 3 million dollars from exports to South Saharan Africa in 1854 and this number increased to 20 million in 1900. This change in rate of growth for exports in Great Britain was a cause for competition in Africa among the European countries with the resources Africa was providing such as copper, zinc, lead, and coal.
Marielle Apronti Prof. Oscar Williams AAFS 311 4 March 2018 The Trans-Atlantic slave trade was the most important factor when considering the early development of European capitalism. The arrival of the Portuguese to the West African Coast and their establishment of trading and slave ports throughout the continent set in stone a trend of exploitation of Africa 's labor and human resources. Europeans greatly benefited from the Trans-Atlantic trade, as it allowed them to aggregate raw materials such as sugar and cotton to manufacture products that funded the Industrial Revolution. In the book “Capitalism and Slavery” by Eric Williams he addresses the origin of “Negro” history, the economic and political impact of slavery in Great Britain, the role of the American Revolution and the decline of slavery in Great Britain.
By taking over Africa they could control over the market, and how the goods were distributed. European takeover of Africa has numerous, lasting
Great Britain and South Saharan Africa imports and exports document E shows that the African colony wasn 't the best with money instead they would trade which is the main reason the Europeans took over. Imports from Africa were less while exports rose high. Great Britain made up to three million British pounds in 1854 and twenty-one in 1900 from import and export. African slaves were additionally being used to work British owned plantations in the colonies. Over all trading was a link to natural resources.
In South of Africa, Great Britain was known to take gold and diamonds and turns into Jewelry, metal, wiring, fuel, coins etc. While the materials were existing. The Europeans were educating the Africans and also using them as cattle the Europeans have overworked the Africans for so many years until slavery was
"The slave trade actually prevented the coming into being of an agrarian revolution in Ghana, and likewise an industrial revolution. Because before you can industrialize you need to have stable agricultural production.” (“Slavery 's long effects on Africa”, para 6) Since during that time they got attacked to kidnap people and burn places they had nothing to start living. “The period between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries was a time of economic stagnation for Africa, which fell further and further behind the economic progress of Europe as the years passed by.” (“Riches & Misery: The Consequences of the Atlantic Slave Trade”, para 5)
In Hochschild book, he describes how although Leopold never stepped foot in Congo, he exploited the region for its ivory and rubber, while oppressing the natives to forced labor for his own personal gain. In addition he used and army of mercenaries to force the indigenous people into slavery to work mines, extract ivory, hardwoods, or on rubber plantations. While King Leopold exploited ivory, rubber, mining, and hardwoods, other European powers exploited their colonies raw materials. Davidson highlights how raw materials were made into finished products and sold back to colonies for profits. The Senegalese (colonized by French) economy was focused on exporting cash crops to France, while in Kenya (colonized by British) Africans worked on tea and coffee plantations.
In the 19th century imperialism was an important part of building European empires. The four major motives for imperialism are economic, strategic, religious and political. These motives helped great empires expand their territory and brought new cultures and languages to both the colonised countries and the countries colonising them. European countries such as Britain and France would use their colonies in Africa for economic gain. They would be able to exploit the country’s natural resources and bring them back to the “mother country” to sell and use.
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.
Colonialism and its effect on Africa: In order to discuss colonialism it is necessary to define what colonialism is, according to dictionary.com: “colonialism is the control or governing influence of a nation over a dependant country, territory or group”. The main exploration countries, mainly: Spain, Britain, Portugal and the Netherlands, colonised numerous other countries in their travels and for the expansion of their nations (Cameron, 1993). A major aspect of income for the colonialists was slavery, the colonialists took only citizens of economic value as slaves. This left Africa with less citizens of working age and caused an influx of slave labour in European countries.
By the 19th hundreds Africa was colonized by Europe however only Liberia and Ethopia were not part of the colonization because they were already independent by that time. There are many reasons why Europe colonized Africa both political and economic. Europe wanted Africa’s natural resources. Africa’s natural resources were thus extracted by this wealthy nations, who then took the money that was made from those resources back to their developed countries. Examples Nigeria that is rich in oil and diamond-rich South Africa Join StudyMode and get inspired today!.