European Imperialism

Between the years 1881 and 1914, African territory was being invaded by Europeans during the New Imperialism period. Before Europe’s invasion, Africa consisted of various tribes and had no central government due to this during the mid nineteenth century. Europe attempted to colonize Africa using harsh military force and resulted in the European Scramble for Africa. The European Scramble for Africa caused African leaders to have different reactions such as some wanting to have no conflicts, but peace, surrendering to the Europeans due to fear, and also attempting to fight back against the Europeans.

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

During the 1800s, many European countries sent explorers to colonize Africa. Many European missionaries and explorers went to Africa in an effort to help their countries to achieve power, pride, and money. The main driving forces behind the imperialism that helped Europeans attain power, pride, and money were technological forces, politics, and economics.

What is imperialism? Imperialism is a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. Beginning in the 1800s European explorers began to push their way into the interiors of western and central Africa. In 1807 the British outlawed the trans-Atlantic and in 1833 slavery itself bringing a new wave of imperialism. What were the driving force behind European Imperialism in Africa?

Before European countries began to compete for Africa and its land, before there was a struggle against imperialism, there was the demand of more material goods for the European lifestyle. Since the demand increased, the rate of which countries had to produce the goods increased. Africa was the top supplier for cotton, rubber, and petroleum. Since European countries needed these items they needed to take control of africa, which means they would also get more power. Militaries were crucial to have power, if a country has a powerful military and a lot of land then they have more power.

“Imperialism is a policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries politically, economically, and socially” (Chapter 11 sec.1). Europeans looked to Africa as a source of raw materials, which could be used for Industrial products.The Europeans used technology to their advantage. They had better artillery, a long range of communication, a cure for the malaria disease, and transportation. The Europeans used all of their resources to help them imperialize Africa. However, there were other driving forces such as competition, economy, cultural diversity, and technology. The Europeans plan was to use their new technology to fight against Africa. The europeans philosophy was that technology was the most effective driving force towards imperializing Africa.

The Europeans began their expansion in the globe by taking up African and Asian colonies. During the 1870s, the world experienced imperialism as the Europeans established empires in Africa and Asia. Their aggressive expansion was as a result of industrialization. The move was made for economic, religious, political, humanitarian, and political reasons, amongst others (Hook and Spanier, p.19). Also, Africa was easy to access due to its geographical position. As a result, the Europeans could get into the continent through the ocean or the Gulf Canal. In addition, the Africans continent had vast lands that were beneficial for the Europeans. They started up companies and farming land that would produce their foods. Additionally, the Africans and

During the late 1800's the initial ideas of colonizing susceptible territories in Africa and monopolizing an area under one European colony is the main influence on European Imperialism. European countries were motivated by the abundance of new market and good, the growing competition between European countries to imperialize African countries, and the idea of social darwinism. The main European countries involved in the colonization of Africa were Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Spain. While each of the countries had their own individual motivations that contributed to their roles in European Imperialism, they were all competing against each other which

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.

Although imperialization indeed altered the political landscape of Europe it was no comparison to the radical transformation it brought to the populations that fell under colonial rule. Over time colonization successfully deteriorated the previous social, political, and economic norms these societies once had. Such dramatic shifts in lifestyle were due largely in part to a forced change in the land tenure system. European administrators sought to create colonies which were profitable and cohesive to the western economic system— capitalism. However, when colonist first arrived the land was not “legible” to the Europeans as village members didn’t independently or indefinitely own a piece of land. Instead, in many societies land was not viewed

Over the course of human history, many believe that the “Congo Free State”, which lasted from the 1880s to the early 1900s, was one of the worst colonial states in the age of Imperialism and was one of the worst humanitarian disasters over time. Brutal methods of collecting rubber, which led to the deaths of countless Africans along with Europeans, as well as a lack of concern from the Belgian government aside from the King, combined to create the most potent example of the evils of colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. The Congo colonial experience, first as the Congo Free State then later as Belgian Congo, was harmful to that region of Africa both then and now because of the lack of Belgian and International

The Europeans all scrambled to colonize Africa for t’s raw materials and land. THey had justified it as the White Man’s burden. They believed that is was their responsibility as a more developed race to help Africa catch up in technology, government, economics etc. Rhodes even said, “-and that the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race.” (Doc, 1) With this mindset, Europeans colonized Africa and started to export raw materials such as rubber, diamonds, gold, palm oil etc. White man’s burden led to Imperialism because they thought taking over other countries was the only to help them move forward. In doing so, they also spread their power and influence throughout the world. The White man's burden was also accompanied

Imperialism is a policy of extending a countries power on influence through democracy or military force. During the 19th through 20th century the world was going through what is now known as the New Imperialism. During this time Europe was conquering Africa. Europe went through a lot of changes that affected their belief about themselves. The changes that happened during this time led to the resurgence of economic nationalism and national imperialism. Europeans occupied the top end of the continuum. The Europeans thought that Africans were inferior. Slave abolitionists contributed to the idea of Africans being and inferior by arguing that Africans had to be protected from the slavers and that they couldn’t take care of themselves. Also scientist believed that the Africans were and

Firstly, European and Developed nations should be held responsible for the mass extinction and deaths of Native populations and the enslavement of millions of Africans. In 1492 with the discovery of the new world Europeans began to immigrate to this new continent. In the process of moving to the new world the Europeans brought their old world diseases and wars to the new world. The native populations of the new world had never had contact with these diseases and were more vulnerable and affected by theme. Within the first few decades of European colonization of the new world the natives were greatly affected, “ Possible as many as three million souls—some 85 percent of the Taino population—had vanished y the early 1500,”. This goes to show