Advantages Of African American Imperialism

Europeans filled in the blanks of African history by using exoticism to come up with origin theories that made sense to them. Because the African population has a different physical appearance than Europeans, they were viewed as the “other” race, and therefore were inferior in the minds of Europeans. Africa, however, was a society that was equally as complex as any European nation, unique with their own kingdoms and customs. Because of this, it was incorrect for Europeans to label Africans as “savage” individuals. Africa’s culture is rich and deserves to be interpreted in the way that they see fit, rather than having European stereotypes of the past define their culture of

Additionally, the Berlin conference only reinforces the fact that Europe as a whole ignored the consequences of Imperialism in Africa. This conference involved leaders of many of the conquering nations coming together to discuss a new set of rules and regulations regarding the claiming of land in Africa. Although they set in place a new system of declaring state possession no input was requested from the African populous, the ones who directly suffered the most, showing that the European’s only held their interests as valuable which is also called ethnocentrism. This process of exploitation continued until 1914, but the legacies of this event still linger even now. Nowadays an extremely high number of civil wars remain ongoing in Africa due to land dispute because of the unfair claiming system set in place by the Europeans, further proving the neglect the European’s showed when considering the negatives of imperialism. Poverty and famine stricken the inhabitants of modern Africa due to the lack of resources caused by the European’s forcibly claiming it all for themselves while providing little to the African workers they so heavily relied

When the Europeans scrambled to colonize Africa, the reactions of the natives was progressively more apprehensive. At first the natives found that they could be peaceful with this strange new white man. Soon after, though, they found that these new men mistreated and cheated them greatly, and had superior military technology. Given these new conditions of the relationship the Africans decided it was in their best interest to take up arms against the Europeans and try to rid themselves of the harmful White Man.

“Forcing people to be generous isn 't humanitarian, effective, compassionate or moral. Only acts that are truly voluntary for all concerned can be truly compassionate.” – Harry Browne. Sadly the good humanitarianism would not reach Africa until some thousands were killed by the greed of the Europeans. Europeans wanting to explore Africa for their personal gain should not have used the excuse of humanitarianism to justify the true act of imperialism that was happening in Africa because, many European countries want to “win the race” of being the first to colonize unexplored Africa, Europeans saw Africa as having an unfathomable amount of natural resources, and Europeans wanted to spread Christianity and “save” the people of in Africa.

The European history that many are presented often does not represent what occurred in actuality because “…it is the nature of those who write history to bring the ideas of their own culturally chauvinistic place and time to consideration of others.”1 This view often implies that the Africans were incompetent savages and that the Europeans forcibly asserted their will on the Africans through clear military superiority. In actuality, this view is an inaccurate portrayal of the relationship between the groups during the late fifteenth century to the eighteenth century.

Is it right to manipulate someone into giving up their possessions, ideals, and beliefs and calling it “help”? Obviously this is a conniving act of deception, yet the European powers believed that it was justified to do these things to the natives of Africa through the process of imperialism. Imperialism is a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force, and most of the European nations implemented this. Europeans justified imperialism by believing that the African people were savages and children in need of guidance. They also believed that the European race was the supreme race and that it is their duty to help the inferior races. Although the Europeans justified imperialism, it was a monstrosity that was more trouble than it was worth, and it exploited the natives for cheap labor and resources.

Throughout world history, various countries and kingdoms have strived towards achieving power, territory and control. Many rulers would compete against each other at the expense of their armies and civilian population. The largest empires started small, slowly enlarging by engulfing smaller, weaker empires using religious, ethnical, and political strategies. Simply using the aid of technological advancements in machinery and power. During the 16th century, there was a rapid growth of inventions around the world and developments in technology, which helped pave for the Industrial Revolution to occur. This Industrial Revolution was the primary catalyst amongst European nations to conquer others for more power and land. Lack of natural resources in Europe, led the Europeans to Africa in search of lumber, raw materials, and cheap labor. When Europeans went to Africa to look for lumber, raw materials, and cheap labor, they noticed how the natives had a completely different religion than theirs and the Europeans took the opportunity to start a land grab in the African continent to gain more power, territory, and convert the Africans to Christianity. Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, displays the warfare and consequences of European Imperialism in the Niger River region by focusing Nigeria’s early experiences with colonialism, from the first contact with the

America needs a change! The civil war left us with thousands dead, and their families devastated. About 625,000 men left for battle, but never came back. We had just started to build the country, when the Long Depression struck. This depression resulted in many without jobs and shattered people’s dreams. Some will have to start from the bottom again. After the crushing civil war and heart-breaking long depression, the thing that America needs from you is a policy of imperialism, rather than a policy of isolation. We should adopt a policy of imperialism n America because of its economic, militaristic, and political advantages.

In the 1880s the “scramble for Africa” began. The “scramble for Africa” was when European countries occupied, colonized, and divided Africa during the period of new imperialism. In the beginning imperialism in Africa seemed beneficial but then opinions changes. As imperialism spread many began to view imperialism differently than before, while some saw only the benefits of imperialism other saw the disastrous aftermath. In the past imperialism in Africa was viewed as both beneficial and harmful because of the disadvantages of imperialism, the benefits of imperialism, and the effects that imperialism had on the Africans.

When Europeans came to Africa in the 15th century, Africa was by no means significantly weaker than Europe. The continent was maintaining its own development and that’s why Europeans started trade relations with the continent. But by the end of the 19th century, Africa was already weak and the Europeans were sure that the continent was already divided and feeble to defend itself when they held a conference in 1884 to scramble the continent.

When we bethink the European Empire, we reminisce of an illustrious, paramount empire that had once dominated most of the world. But, were they all as stupendous as they seemed? The Age of Discovery was a dark, hellish era - Europeans were unsurpassable, conquering and enslaving a large miscellany of civilisations - leaving them with barren fields and waterless lakes. These civilisations ranged from small tribes to extensive continents; one of which was modern-day Africa. Unquestionably, European colonisation was the prominent factor towards underdevelopment in Africa. The European colonisers demonstrated exploitation of local Africans and their resources, the destruction of Africa’s political system, and the subdivision of traditional ethnic

In Chapter three Rodney focuses on the colonial period in which Africa helped develop the capitalist progression in Europe. “Colonialism was not merely a system of exploitation but one whose essential purpose was to repatriate the profit to the so called mother land,” states Rodney. Chapter four gives an historical background of Africa in 1885 and emphasizes on the value that came from the enslavement of Africans. This time period holds a major significance to the underdevelopment of Africa because of the Berlin conference. Africa was then divided up due to the scramble in which Europeans fought over power. The fifth chapter argues that colonialism was the main factor in underveloping Africa as a whole. Rodney argues that colonialism only did one thing, and that was steal Africa’s resources and strip them of their land. Europeans took so much from the Africans and made sure to give nothing back which explains the type of relationship they had. In chapter six, Rodney argues against past scholars who believed that colonialism had valuable outcomes in the end. The author shows how the economic and political state Africa was left robbed due to colonialism, he then provides strategies to fight against the underdevelopment.

The African people were constantly battling with the missionaries to keep their cultural practices and traditions. As a result of the missionaries and European colonization, the changing range of life in certain African societies was submerged in the dismantling of their cultural traditions and instilled by foreign rule.

5. Groups including the Europeans thought it would be best for the United States to colonize because they would be inputting their “fair share”. Britain and America started to fight for independent. America ended up winning. Most of the Americans don't like the idea of them colonizing like the other nations. Especially two groups of Americans were outspoken in their support of imperialism. Imperialism is when you extend your countries government and military, making it bigger and more powerful. One group thought that the USA should fulfill their spot in this world. The Europeans highly believed that they should colonize for these reasons. The other group was made up of business interest and opened up new markets and trade possibilities.

Years after the Berlin Conference, between 1884-1885 European imperialist powers pushed their way into Africa to be able to colonize land. The future of Africa was determined by these European Countries, while some Africans stood and watched others took a stand in trying to protect their land. Some of the Africans gave in peacefully (Docs.1,4,3), others promised to give in non-violently (Docs. 2,6) and lastly those that wanted to resist violently (Docs. 5,7,9).