African American Imperialism

During the European Scramble for Africa, in the early 20th century, Africans had a peaceful reaction with anti-imperialistic sentiments (docs. 2, 3, 4, and 7), peaceful actions through the approach of diplomacy (docs.1, 2, and 3) and also a rebellious anti-imperialistic reaction (docs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) towards the Scramble for Africa.

“African Perspectives on Colonialism” is a book written by A. Adu Boahen. This book classifies the African responses to European colonialism in the 19th century. Boahen begins with the status of Africa in the last quarter of the 19th century and follows through the first years of African independence. This book deals with a twenty year time period between 1880 and 1900. Boahen talks about when Africa was seized and occupied by the Imperial Powers of Europe. Eurocentric points of view dominated the study of this era but Boahen gives us the African perspective. There are always two sides of the story and Boehen tells us the side less talked about informing us of what he knows.

Between the period from 1880 to 1914, European powers went after overseas empires in Africa. The governments and political leaders of the European powers believed that this colonization of the African empires was necessary to maintain their global influence. A second group of people supposed that African colonization was the result of the greedy Capitalists who \only cared for new resources and markets. The third group of people claimed it to be their job to enlighten and educate the uncivilized people of Africa. Although the political leaders of European powers encouraged colonization of African empires to advance their nation’s global influence, others argued that it was only for the profiteering of the Capitalists who sought new

European powers shamelessly exploited the people and resources of Africa in the 19th century. They often tried to justify their actions by using ideology, religion and moralism. After the end of the African slave trade, the development of steam power, and medical discovery, European nations started exploring not only the coast but also the unmapped interior of the continent. In this essay, I will explain the main driving forces behind African Imperialism. The Western europeans countries all competed for land and resources because of their self interest. They sought natural resources, and technology gave them the ability to exploit them. The philosophy of national pride however, was the primary reason. (Main document) (Doc C, D & B)

Following the end of the Industrialist Era and the emergence of countless technological advancements, the United States entered the world stage as a dominant power. The United States was attempting to create an empire by imperializing land outside of its own borders in order to benefit the country’s economic interests. Many citizens, whose views were greatly influenced by their understandings of national identity, saw this overseas expansion in conflicting ways. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these groups differed in their opinions on the idea of imperialism due to either their wanting to remain a democratic country built on the ideals of freedom and liberty, or their wanting to expand for economic reasons and nationalism.

Giving up all of one’s possessions due to a forceful invasion is brutal and inhumane. Europe was superior while Africans were inferior and human rights for Native Africans were disregarded when Europe took over. Europe imperialized many countries in Africa in the 1800’s; Europeans wanted to dominate a weaker nation for more land. Because Africa had ivory, gold and rubber, they wanted Africa’s natural resources to make them more powerful. The invasion of the Europeans may have improved some African lives by building infrastructure--such as railroads, roads, and air/maritime routes--however, African lives were negatively impacted due to the lack of education, racial inequality, and cultural changes.

The Europeans thought it was their burden as white men to bring religion and God to whom they thought were uncivilized people (Spielvogel and McTighe 227) . When coming to Africa the Europeans spread the word of God through missionaries and bible teachings and converted a lot of the Africans to Christianity. As explained through an African proverb, “When the whites came to our country we had the land and they had the Bible, now we have the Bible and they have the land” (Document 3). To justify taking African religion the Europeans said it was their job as white men to give the Africans God so they can experience what comes with it. Bringing new beliefs to the Africans it replaced the other religious ideas and in turn lost much of the culture the Africans held. Incoming Europeans were more concerned with protecting their traditions and culture and spreading it to this new region rather than respecting the Africans and their existing traditional culture. While the Europeans worked to conserve their culture, religions and traditions they were looking to gain economic stability from Africa to help them to become more powerful and overall have good economic

Africa DBQ     Africa is an extremely large continent filled with 54 countries. European occupation of Africa has shaped the very structure and function of many of these diverse countries. Socially and economically, European influence is very obvious through imperialism, the act of one country extending power and rule over another, as well as colonization, the act of establishing a colony in another country. The effects of European imperialism and colonization have greatly damaged Africa in many different aspects of life.     European imperialism as well as colonization worked to control much of Africa.

During the Age of Imperialism, Europeans colonized and conquered almost all of Africa during the scramble for Africa, lasted from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. When Europe first began asking Africa to give up their freedom, most kingdoms politely declined the offer. However, some countries surrendered and soon realized the horrific mistake they had made. The African people began to rebel against European rule, some leaders becoming desperate enough to trick their own people into joining the effort. Many Africans were not on board with the African Scramble.

Throughout history as well as in modern times, revolution, imperialism and colonialism have played part in the rise and fall of governance and power structures in the world. Wars have occurred to gain power over a government or society. Colonialism benefits the motherland by sending citizens into a new territory and securing raw materials for the economic benefit of the mother country. King James l, in 1604 granted The Virginia Company, a group on entrepreneurs, a land grant in the Chesapeake Bay of North America to establish a colony. Captain John Smith headed up the colony and the expedition was launched in hopes of finding a trade route to the Orient, as well hoping to find gold. The Virginia Company selected the Chesapeake area because it was uninhabited by Native Americans.

The Spanish war gave the United States an empire. At the end of the Spanish war the United States took Spanish colonies such as Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and many other islands. The creation of the American Empire leads to the end of the Spanish Empire. The United States wanted to build up the countries so that markets would open up and purchase American goods and to improve the American economy.

Africa faced many serious negative consequences because of imperialism. The resolution of the All African People’s Conference held in Ghana in 1958 said, “...Whereas fundamental human rights… freedom to live a full and abundant life… are denied to Africans through the activities of the Imperialists,” (Document 3). This resolution said that human rights, which are rights entitled to all humans regardless of any difference, were taken away. Because of this, the Africans were made to feel inferior which is not healthy for people and can cause serious consequences like the Africans assimilating to the European culture instead of preserving their rich, diverse culture. Sekou Toure, an African nationalist, had similar ideas, he said, “Our continent possesses tremendous reserves of raw material… with its potential sources of power, give it excellent conditions for industrialization,” (Document 2). So as well as the Africans being stripped of their basic rights

This European interference in African historical storytelling destroyed parts of the uniquely constructed explanations that were no more wrong than the scientific explanations. In general, education destroys the truth of imaginative stories because it teaches which explanation is “correct” when both are equally legitimate. Part of the reason to imperialize, according to J. A. Hobson, author of Imperialism: A Study, is the ability to control the education of the colonized. To the ignorant public, education is a reason to imperialize for it is seen as generous of the mother country to enlighten primitive Africans. Once able to control the education of children, it is easier to impose ideas of racial inferiority, corrupted measures of value, and European morals. (Hobson 229) This education, however beneficial or otherwise, plausibly diminished inventive African explanations of nature, but also destroyed the need for griots. Once Europeans and eventually Africans could begin writing down their stories, the oral storytellers of the past were not needed. The essential and important part of Mali’s history and cultural became much less

Between 1800 and 1914, European imperialism failed to improve the social, political, and economic aspects of the African society through colonization, creating more harm than prosperity. The industrial revolution created the need for colonization to obtain raw materials for production in order to expand the European market. King Leopold II’s rule of the Congo inspired other European nations to compete to claim African lands; this race is famously known as the “Scramble for Africa”. In order to organize the imperialization of African lands, Otto von Bismarck lead the Berlin Conference, which divided the African soil among eligible European nations. The conference was held between fourteen European countries and no African representatives were

Beginning in 1880, there was a growing desire for European countries to expand and control their rule. The only continent at that time that was left uncontrolled and, in the European's eyes uncivilized, was Africa. This was the start of Western Imperialism. All European countries wanted their piece of Africa and to get it, they would let nothing stand in their way. They would change the entire government, religion, market, and behavior of most of the African nation and affect almost every person living there. An account of the impact of Imperialism is given in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. This book shows the changes that occurred in Africa during Imperialism and its affect on the community and the people