European Rule And The European Imperial Rule

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.

“People were forced to work in harsh, dangerous conditions in order to be able to provide for their families” (Document 8). Although most people were grateful to have a job, the conditions that they were forced to work for in order to provide for their families were unfair to them, and their families. Just because they obtained a job one day, doesn’t mean they would have it the next day, for example, if an employee was sick, or injured and had to miss a day of work the employee wasn’t guaranteed to continually have the job after they finally recovered. “I am at work in a spinning room tending four sides of warp which is one girl’s work” (Document 1) working conditions such as these are very harsh for the employees, not only do they have to keep up with the work of four people. Not only do the employees have to keep up with the sea of work, they also have to attempt not to get injured with the very harsh conditions lots of employees did in fact end up with serious injuries. “5 in the morning till 9 at night…” (Document 7) Those were the harsh working hours according to twenty-three year old Elizabeth Bentley. Long hours such as those were very common for factory workers, which made life hard for employees. Not only was harsh working conditions bad, but also the worst consequence that came about through the Industrial Revolution was child

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

Throughout the history of the world, imperialism has played a major role. Imperialism is one country’s complete domination of the political, economic, and social life of another country. Imperialism has many positive and negative effects. The Age of Imperialism is considered 1800 - 1914. During this time Europe became a major world leader. European countries set up colonies all over Africa, Latin America, and Asia, and encouraged their citizens to populate them. European imperialism boosted Europe’s economy, and made them a world power. Imperialization had an entirely different effect on Africa, Latin America, and Asia. People of these countries were mistreated, they lost their culture, land, and self respect. The negative effects of

The proletarians and the bourgeoisies had very different ways in which they lived during the industrial age. The proletarians lived inside the city where pollution was very bad and overcrowded by a large majority of population, where as the bourgeoisies lived outside the city limits and controlled much of the land. Once the Industrial Revolution came the life in the cities where the proletarians lived became very drastic. Disease in the city became very bad and could destroy a large percentage of the population by causing death. The working class suffered from various types of diseases such as lung disease and many poisonings. The working class would not nearly live as long as the bourgeoisies because they would not be able to receive the medical care that they needed.4 Also crime in the cities became very high because criminals could get away very easily. Eventually law enforcement would be created to slow down the high rates of crime. Another thing

The capitalists and their industries greatly affected many citizens and even their own workers by dehumanizing them. Men would stand outside of factories for days, even weeks, waiting for the chance to get a job. The head of the industries would use this to their advantage by picking the strongest men and paying them a low amount of money and when they become injured or useless, they just hire someone else. The food industries were horrible with how they took care of their workers and their products. “For it was the custom, as they found, whenever meat was so spoiled that it could not be used for anything else, either to can it or else to chop it up into

Thus, it was believed that conflicting classes existed because individuals developed an appropriate sense of class-consciousness (Buckler 740). This consciousness is very obvious when looking at the mindset of the middle-class owners. They were primarily focused on production and gave little thought to the environment of their workers. As a result, most early factories contained extremely unpleasant work conditions. Mills and factories were dangerously loud, and they were sweltering hot in the summer while poorly heated in the winter. Work days consisted of endlessly long hours and holidays were rarely granted. Furthermore, no laws or unions stood protecting the early urban proletariat workers. Despite these horrid conditions, the proletariat workers were desperate for jobs and were entirely dependant on their employers. Also, because of class-consciousness, they came to accept their positions in society as grueling factory workers. On top of terrible work conditions, the Proletariats’ living conditions were less than satisfactory due to the rapid population increase in urban cities. Until the Industrial Revolution, most of the continent’s population was rural. However, by mid-nineteenth century, half of all Europeans lived in cities and worked in the new industrial factories instead of farms. This transformation of Europe from a rural to urbanized society depressed the living standards of workers to horrendous levels. In doing so, however, it

With the development of cities the working class ended up living in low income slums. Friedrich Engels stated in The Condition of the Working Class in England, “Every great town had one or more slums areas into which the working class are packed.” (Document 5) The slums then lead to poorer living conditions such as infected water and poor ventilation, which effected the life span of the people. Living with the poor condition meant that they were prone to get sick. As Edwin Chadwich pointed out in his report, “That the annual loss of life from filth and bad ventilation are greater than the loss from death or wounds in any wars in which the country has been engaged in modern times” (Document 6) In addition to these struggles, Karl Marx from the Communist Manifesto said, “Modern industry has converted the little workshop of the patriarchal master into the great factory of the industrial capitalist.” (Document 10) This quote shows that this is another way the poor is being controlled by the rich and that someday there will be a classless

Many of the workers “demand a reduction of the hours of labor”(Document G), because they were required to work long hours with little pay in bad working conditions. Moreover, the workers had to comply to their bosses with no questions asked, “in which the individual no longer works as independently as formerly, but as a private in the ranks, obeying orders, keeping step, as it were, to the tap of the drum”(Document C). The labors did not work in good conditions, but because the economy was bad, workers could not just quit their job at their own free will. They needed money to pay for their tenements and food, and many of them lived in hull-houses or tenements stuffed with other families and individuals in the same position as them. On the other hand, according to the statistics provided by document A, food prices and fuel and lightening prices decreased significantly over the the years from 1870 to 1899. The cost of living also decreased over the years, but barely. Comparatively, big businesses started opening department stores which attracted the consumers during their leisure time. Department stores were “hundreds of stores coordinated into one and laid out” all under one roof which made it easier for the consumers to shop. Individuals started to enjoy leisure, while some went and shopped, some enjoyed movies and even walking around the

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?

“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.

For the 300 years between 1500 and 1800,European nations traded for slaves,gold, and ivory along the west coast of africa, but they did not go deeply into the continent. In the 1880s Africa was under full assault as European nations competed with one another for control of the continent. The driving force behind European imperialism is power and they gain it by getting control and  resources of Africa and they justify it all by saying it was their duty as more civilised nations to make other nations as civilized as theirs.

Throughout the book Ehrenreich’s co-workers all seem to struggle, such as the trouble with housing in Key West and healthcare in Maine. Having a place to live, eating properly, and healthcare seem to be the biggest cause of concern within the working class. Most of the jobs that she worked, the workers did not have healthcare packages or benefits. So it wasn’t uncommon for them to have trouble trying to manage their health and struggle to pay for medication, let alone a visit to the doctor. Without healthcare and a lack of proper diet (in Maine she had a ‘thirty minute’ lunch break but most of her co-workers barely ate anything close to a meal) it is not hard to see how the working class can easily be shot into poverty; seeing as most of the working class that she had encountered were just living above the poverty line. Reading about what she noticed and noted about her co-workers it isn’t hard to imagine how easy it would be to fall below the poverty

The condition of the working class in the 19th century was ridiculously out of control. Due to the instant explosion of industrialization throughout Europe, the environment suffered. The rise of mass production happened so quickly and its

While the upper class reaped all the benefits of the industrial revolution and lucrative religious ventures, the lower class citizens were being treated like animals. The revolution into industry sent poor farmers into the cities looking for jobs that were controlled by the wealthy upper class. Immediately these people were exploited, being given long hours, low wages, and horrible living arrangements. The working class citizens were being exposed to conditions of “filth, ruin, and uninhabitableness, with the defiance of all considerations of cleanliness,