Explain What Was The Driving Force Behind European Imperialism In Africa

Ever heard the saying big bank take little bank ? That’s basically what imperialism is. Imperialism is a policy which a strong nation take complete control over other countries . This is exactly what the Europeans did in several different parts of Africa . Not only did the Europeans divided and colonized Africa but they took everything away ,from their culture to their independence. Why take all this away ? It’s simple , the Europeans nations was competing against each other and they thought they were superior. They noticed Africa had many raw materials and resources they could use and benefit from. The driving force for imperialism in Africa was economics , competition , and politics.

The main reason for European imperialism in Africa was for political reasons. According to Document A, the purpose of the colonization of African countries was for political competition between European countries (Doc. A). The partition of Africa in 1884 through 1885 showed that France and Britain were the biggest winners in seizing Africa. The British took most of north and south Africa, when the French took most of western Africa. According to Document B, John Ruskin said,” This is what England must either do or

In the late 1800’s Europeans took over Africa, took their resources,enslaving the Africans, and changed the course of history. The Europeans took over Africa, which is called The Scramble For Africa, in 1884-1914. The Europeans took over because Africa was rich in raw materials, they wanted power, and they thought their culture was superior. The driving force behind imperialism was need for resources, political competition, and technological advances. One driving force behind imperialism was need for natural resources. Document E uses a bar graph to show imports and exports in 1854, and 1900 between Great Britain and South Saharan Africa. Great Britain made 3 million British pounds in 1854, and 21

     There were many reasons for the European countries to be competing against each other to gain colonies in Africa. One of the main reasons may be that Europeans believed that the

The imperatives of capitalist industrialization, including the call for guaranteed sources of raw materials, especially copper, cotton, rubber, tea, and tin (European consumers had become accustomed to, and thus depended on these resources), and the search for guaranteed markets and profitable investment outlets, which territories like the gold and diamond-rich Egypt and South Africa provided, caused the European conquest for Africa. Therefore the primary reason for European colonization in Africa was

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

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

Prior to the movement of European Imperialism in Africa, a major law was passed. In 1807, the British government banned the Transatlantic slave trade. As a result, in 1833, slavery as a whole was completely demolished. Slavery was a very profitable trade for not only Britain, but many other European powers. Without the slave trade, many European nations were looking for a new way to expand their power of others. Therefore, many European nations switched their focus and claimed their share of the African continent, in order to continue their economic and social dominance (Document A).

The driving force behind European Imperialism was national competition because it is the cause of all of the other driving reasons. As a result of national competition, it creates an arms race, it also requires the countries to have more money and resources, and the people believe their country should be better than the next. Technology may had an incredible effect on the Africans, however, the reason the European countries had that technology is because they always want to beat the other country. Moreover, you cannot have more power and technology if you do not have the money or resources to make or buy the supplies. Lastly, this competition can lead to national pride and more nationalists that push the government to more imperialism and colonization.

The driving force of imperialism in Africa would start off to help the empires grow and keep steady economic security for the future but with conflicts on the horizon to great power

Before the Europeans began to explore Africa, little was known about the continent. However, after some initial exploration of Africa, the Europeans soon realized how economically important this area was, and how much they could profit from it. At the time, European countries had only small colonies in Africa, but after they realized that they could make money from the resources in the inner regions of Africa, they wanted to invade the African regions and assume control. This led to “ the race” and ultimately, the partition of Africa. There were many motives for the Europeans to imperialize Africa. There were humanitarian and religious goals, political goals, military goals, and most importantly, there were economic interests. During the Berlin conference, The European powers decided that they were going to spread the three C’s (Christianity, Commerce, and Civilization) in Africa. To do this, the conference had three aims “ Ensure free trade for all nations throughout the Congo, to ensure free navigation for all countries on the Niger River of West Africa, and agree to set rules by which the Europeans could proceed to divide the rest of the continent.” (Part II: The European Conquest, Pg 11). Later in the document it states that not one African representative was present at the Berlin Conference to discuss Africa's future. The European people tricked themselves into thinking that what they were doing

During the 18th and 19th centuries, Europeans demanded for more influence on economic, political, and social lives of the people. Imperialism is a country’s power and is influence through diplomacy or military force. The people were determined to shape the economy of the lands to benefit the European economies. Each European nations had certain policies and goals. Europeans used different techniques to establish control of an area.

Racism, industrial capitalism and nationalism all relate to western civilization’s competition of superiority, and this was ultimately what fueled imperialism in Africa. European nations were driven by the unknown world and exploration was a major part of life in the mid 1800s to early 1900s. Exploration led to colonization causing even more competition through Europe, due to colonization directly relating to power. Christianity also played a role in exploration. Exploration happened even more due to the desire of spreading this religion around the world.

Africans owned land, farmed, made good money, and had happy families. C2(Perkins, “Africa”). The Europeans quest for more land and power led them to pursue Africa and colonize it. Europeans felt the need to colonize Africa because of three main reasons; political, social, and economic. Economically Africa was making good money because of their resources and because of trade. When Europeans colonized Africa they established trade ports and started making money off of trade. Socially and politically the Europeans were gaining more land and becoming more powerful. A1 (“Iweriebor,The Colonization of Africa”). The motivations for the colonization of Africa was for their natural resources, the opposition to slave trade, and also again for political, social, and economic reasons. The Europeans were inspired to colonize Africa by trying to utilize the potential amount of wealth they could make with Africa’s resources. Africa natural resources were and still are gold, copper, iron, diamonds, salt, etc. With the many resources that Africa has and how much money people could make off of these resources Europe took control of a way of get more money from natural resources. Europeans opposed slave trade and going to Africa they could abolish it and also repopulate areas in Africa because the population has decreased with African people being

Businessmen needed new markets where their goods would not be taxed (Lugard 379-81). These new markets would also create more of a demand for products which would in turn create more jobs for the Europeans back home (Chamberlain 180). The Africans also provided a cheap labor source for companies built in Africa. The natives were said to be submissive and to pick up on things quickly, which made them prime candidates for the tough manual labor they were required to perform. The combination of new markets and new labor did wonders for commercial competition (Lugard 380-2).  Perhaps the Europeans realized that economic advantages alone would not be enough to convince everyone that imperialism was valuable to society. Therefore, they thought of many other justifications in an attempt to convince people.