Continent Africa Research Paper

When I began reading Chapter 1 of “Mistaking Africa,” it reminded me of our first class meeting. Professor Crowley asked us to do the same exercise Curtis Keim talks about in the text. Professor Crowley asked us what comes to mind when we think about Africa. It is a great exercise and allow us to express our perceptions of Africa. Even in class, it took me time to think about what comes to mind when I hear the word Africa, because I have not really heard much about it besides the common misconceptions: “Africa is a primitive place, full of trouble and wild animals, and in need of our help” (5). I frequently see the UNICEF commercial with Alyssa Milano, who asks her viewers how it would feel to be able to save a child’s life for fifty cents a day. The commercial precedes to play really depressing music and shows a slideshow of undernourished children, who fend for themselves in

Power and Control. These are the two big factors for imperialism.At the time period one of the most formidable empires in the world (The British empire/European empire),still wanted more ‘power’. Whether that power came from having more land,much more resources,and simply “bragging” rights,it’s very apparent that power was main influence. Europe enacted imperialism on Africa for resources,land,and power.

Africa, like many other continents, was a very tremendous and a very diverse civilization that is very complicated to introduce due to all its wonderful but also diverse features and beliefs. From the differences between its society and language to its religion and politics, Africa always had the reputation that its empires, cities, and kingdoms never progressed in the developments and achievements for their civilization. Many people believed that the Europeans were actually the cause of Africa’s achievements and advanced developments for their civilizations. However, this is further than the whole truth. Before the arrival of the Europeans between the 15th and 16th century, African kingdoms, empires, and cities had many achievements and accomplishments

There were many nations involved in the European imperialism. Latin America and the seaports of Asia and Africa were the first to be colonized. England had been leading the colonial power amongst the Europeans. France had been second in command. Portugal, Spain and Holland received few colonies. Germany and Italy were last to join because they unified themselves in the 1860's. Africa had delayed its colonization because of its many diseases and geography. Africa became colonized in the 19th Century.

Imperialism is defined as one country’s domination of the political, economic, and social life of another country. In Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, imperialism was present and growing. The main countries involved in the imperialism in Africa were the French, German, and Great Britain. The French’s empire was mainly in North and West Africa while Britain’s colonies were scattered throughout the continent. Germany ruled over such countries as Tanganyika, Togoland, and Cameroon, until their defeat in World War I.

Africa’s diverse population and unique history are partially due to the continent’s geography, which also fuels the debate over who is African and who isn’t. Its geography impacted the African people in many ways over a very long period of time.

For centuries, European nations had been trading slaves, gold, ivory, and more with the west coast of Africa. Throughout the early 1800s, Europeans barely knew anything about the rest of the country of Africa. This quickly changed as Europe grew a sudden interest in exploring the rest of the country and taking advantage of their many valuable resources. Many wonder what motivated Europeans to Imperialize Africa, or extend their country’s power throughout Africa. The driving forces behind European Imperialism in Africa were the strive for ultimate power in Africa between competing countries, the need for money and technological advancements in European civilizations, and the constant attempt for Europeans to spread their cultures throughout

Africa was an essential for Europe to gain power in economics and trading position and land. It was a great leap in the civilized world as said by Beaulieu “This area of the world [Africa] needs civilized people to intervene.”(Document S). The Imperialism of Africa was a success in the eyes of Europe, them walking away with the goods of the new land, but was a step back for the people in Africa them entering a cycle of slavery and unjust rule as talk about in Document

From 1500 to 1800, the Europeans already had their eyes on Africa, although not for the purpose of imperialism. Over the next century, slavery was abolished and Belgium began by establishing the Free Congo State in order to make money. Soon, many other European leaders began to realize that Africa was rich with natural resources (Background Essay). The main forces driving European Imperialism in Africa were the capabilities of the European countries’ economies and the opportunity for more wealth and money.

Europe saw great profit in imperialising Africa. Africa had valuable natural resources that could make Europe rich.

Before the Europeans began the New Imperialism in Africa, very little was known about the inner parts of the continent. However, after some explorers delved deeper into the heart of Africa, the Europeans soon realized how economically important this area was, and how much they could profit from it. At the time, Britain had only small occupations of land in Africa, but after they realized that they could make money from the rich resources from the inner regions of Africa, they wanted to invade the African countries and take over. This led to the scramble and ultimately, the partition of Africa. During the Age of Imperialism, from 1870-1914, Britain was a major country, which proved to be true in

The continent of Africa has a very diverse human population and a rich history. Of all of the different groups of people in Africa, the Maasi, Tuareg, and Bambuti are a few. Each of the tribes has their own distinct features. For instance, the Massi value cattle, the Tuareg wear blue head dressings and the Bambuti have an average height of five feet and they are actually part of four small tribes. Next, the first major migration of humans was from Africa. Africa is widely believed to be the ‘cradle of humankind’. The continent of Africa is the only one with evidence of human fossils. One of the next colossal migrations was the Bantu Migration. No one is completely sure why the Bantu migrated 2,000 years ago, but many tribes joined them because

Africa was largely desired for several reasons. First and foremost it had raw materials that all of countries needed badly, especially Britan. Britan had a small amount of natural resources in the first place, most of its terrain is littered with rocks, making it unusable. With the coming of factories, the British quicky ran out of their resources. Africa offered miles upon miles of untouched, fertile land, teeming with materials they could use to run their industries. Secondly, as a result of new technology, homelessness was on the rise. Poverty was higher than ever and Britian figured that they could just export this population to another area. Africa had a large land mass and a small comparitive population. This means that they could conquer a large amount of land with minimal effort (Iweriebor).

The “Out of Africa theory”, one of the most believed human migration theories, is a theory Charles Darwin contributed towards to after studying the behaviour of African apes, what he believed to have a close evolutionary relationship with humans. It states modern humans began to evolve in east africa 200-400,000 years ago, before eventually migrating. This migration took place 70,000 years ago, when the Homo sapiens dispersed out into Europe and Asia from East Africa. It later implemented that there were most likely multiple migratory waves, which lead to the first humans arriving in Australia. This second wave most likely arrived in Australia 50,000 years ago, near(what we know today as) Papua New Guinea and the Northern Territory.

Tanzania is a beautiful country located in Eastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean and its neighboring countries: Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Mozambique. The country is home to some popular and important national habitats that contain a huge variety of plant and animal species. Inside the 364,000 square miles of the country are the Serengeti National Park and Mount Kilimanjaro, which are major habitats that play a big role to the ecosystem surrounding it. However, the country has been suffering through its own problems, not only due to climate change, but human caused destruction. With everything overwhelming Tanzania, all they can do is ask for help.