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European Imperialism Dbq

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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 …show more content…

This can be shown in Document C, which features excerpts from one of John Ruskin’s novels. “(T)his is what [England] must either do or perish: she must found colonies as fast and as far as she is able, formed of her most energetic and worthiest men;—seizing every piece of fruitful waste ground she can set her foot on, and there teaching these her colonists … that their first aim is to be to advance the power of England by land and by sea” (Ruskin). From this, the reader can understand what European’s primary motives were. This excerpt illuminates the fact that European countries took over the country of Africa to harvest their own profits and succeed economically, and would take down other European countries for their own …show more content…

. . (Document F)
By reading this poem, the reader can understand the viewpoint of many Europeans, and how they viewed themselves as being significantly “more intellectual” than the Africans.
Although Europe may have encountered a series of obstacles along the way, European countries collectively imperialized the entire country of Africa for many reasons. European countries seized land by utilizing technological advancements to their advantage, to gain power and rise above competing other European countries, and to spread their own culture and religion throughout Africa. European countries did technically compete with each other to conquer African land, but altogether each country eventually came together to take over the entire country. All of these reasons share one common factor: they only benefit the Europeans. From the way Europeans treated Africans and forcefully took over their country, it is clear that Europeans would destroy any other countries without hesitation to gain as much power as

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