Imperialism In Africa

The Europeans colonized colonized many parts of the world but the most colonized was the continent Africa. The European explorers started imperializing Africa after exploring into the interior of Africa and finding the resources that African countries had. What is imperialism? Imperialism is the policy of taking control of another country. There were three main reasons for European imperialism in Africa: Political reasons, technology, and economic reasons.

During the European Scramble for Africa, in the early 20th century, Africans had a peaceful reaction with anti-imperialistic sentiments (docs. 2, 3, 4, and 7), peaceful actions through the approach of diplomacy (docs.1, 2, and 3) and also a rebellious anti-imperialistic reaction (docs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) towards the Scramble for Africa.

The desert-rich country of Mauritania has a complicated history. They have been controlled by various countries throughout their history. The country was originally inhabited by Black Africans; they date back to the Stone Age. They were quickly inhabited by Sanhaja Berbers who were Caucasoid people from North Africa. This society is dated back as far as the 3rd and 4th century. Therefore, most native people from Mauritania are of Berber descent.

The location of Britain also was a factor that lead to their leading role in industrialization. Great Britain is an island that is isolated and insulated. This fact is a driving cause for Britain to be self-sufficient in providing for itself. Although they had a great navy and were

The Scramble of Africa was a colonization made up of African nations by European powers during the new imperialism. The African economies were beginning to be advanced in the area of trade. Africa faced military invasions, and colonization, but at the same time, African societies put up resistance against the attempt to colonize their country and impose foreign domination

An already relatively wealthy and powerful country, Britain also had a stable government. Limited conflict, both political and social, created a sense of stability. This factor, in combination with a more advanced system of banking compared to other parts of Europe, encouraged the growth of businesses. Middle class entrepreneurs were critical as they were able to invest money into new technologies and engineering projects, without which many inventions would not have been discovered. The fact Britain was based on capitalism also enabled businesses to flourish. It provided fertile grounds for those wanting to take risks and try new methods without the direct interference of the government. In other parts of Europe, many governments set stricter restrictions which limited opportunities and individual freedom.

Imperialism was a movement that affected all parts of the world, beginning as early as the 19th century. Wealthy and established nations would annex and take control of underdeveloped nations and civilize them. This may sound good in theory, but Imperialism seemed to take advantage of the so-called “inferior” nations more than truly help them. The economic superpowers seized the land of the territories they thought to be subordinate, using it as trading depots, an outlet to gain natural resources, and to civilize the native people. These three factors continued to be a main staple in society of South Africa even after imperialism ended and it was an independent nation. Racial segregation was

Admittedly, some may argue that French imperialism led to an era of economic growth and technological advancement. The changes to the social and political structure of African society, as well as the use of cheap labor, allowed overall profits to increase. Dr. Christopher Churchill, a Canadian cultural historian, stated how trade and agricultural output in the French Ivory Coast (with respect to cocoa, coffee, and banana) during the early 1900s showed increased economic productivity in the colonized areas, causing net profits to increase by millions of dollars (Churchill). The colonies experienced economic prosperity as exports increased, and the overall labor force grew rapidly. However, most regional profits were taken away from African populations

The turmoil happening with the Egyptian colony was very similar to what was happening with other countries in Africa and in parts of Asia. This uneasiness was cause by powerful countries following the ideology of imperialism. In the 19th and early 20th century, many countries were expanding their territories and conquering other lands. Similarly to Egypt, Congo free state was controlled by outside parties. Both colonies were thought to be “independent” or “free” but in actuality, they were both being used for resources and profits. In Egypt, new fiscal laws were made to increase in taxation on the Egyptians. Unsurprisingly, Congo also had a resembling situation occur where their government had a new tax on the rubber for people of Congo. Secondly, most European used tactic such as negotiation and diplomacy to take over new lands.

Classic colonialism in Africa developed a rule of the economic agenda to its citizens’ livelihoods and health. Colonialism provided a small amount of modern health care, and many of the policies of classic colonialism worsened the state of public health. As a result, this destabilized the average African household, and gave an easy rise to larger cities, causing a new level of racism in Africa. After World War two, Africans would turn to Islam or Christianity; and many (especially those who participated in WW2) demanded independence. There were several forces that rose to the importance of the independence movement. For example, the teachings from Western Muslim or Christian schools led to an exposure of the political ideology that emphasized natural rights influenced the African elite to push the need for independence. Another example includes the African National Congress, which while not terribly effective, defended the interests of Africans.

Many critics today find it easy to label historical novels and other pieces of literature as products of discrimination. They often think that the novels written one to two centuries ago explicitly discriminate minorities, women, and people espousing radical views on society. One critic that accused a twentieth century novel of discrimination was Chinua Achebe. In his essay “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’, Achebe describes Conrad as being racist towards Africans and argues that European civilization was essentially below that of the African natives. The author of Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, explores the colonization of Africa by the Europeans and argues that imperializing Africa will incur more collateral damage towards both the Africans and the Europeans than what was originally expected. Based on a through

“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter” (Achebe 1994). Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart does a great job in giving the audience an idea of what was going in Africa; the traditions and the complex social institutions, before Colonialism and once the Europeans arrived in Africa. The colonization of Africa by the imperialists was due in part to the abundant resources on the continent, which created a rivalry between European nations known as "The Scramble for Africa"; deleterious effects on their systems and the African people continue to this day.

As the world’s empires began stretching to all corners of the globe, colonization provided growing empires with the much needed resources to sustain their exponential growth. As a small island nation, roughly the size of Louisiana, the British Empire was quickly becoming the world’s super power as the eighteenth century approached. With industrialized centers such as Manchester and London leading the world’s technological advancement, resources imported from colonies and foreign alliances were key to Britain’s economic and technological growth as the globe’s premier superpower. Taking place primarily from 1760-1850, the industrialization in England was fueled by a need for sustainment as nation. Due to minimal land mass of the British Isles, heavy reliance was placed on colonies and foreign nations for acquiring the needed resources to produce goods. With such goods as America’s cotton, Britain’s cotton gins could mass produce clothing and linens to all corners of the globe providing the nation with an influx of capital required to obtain much needed food sources and materials necessary to further along the industrialization. With greater capital inflows, British industries could purchase materials needed for production, keeping factories open year round and people of England off of the streets as employment provided for greater personal opportunity.

First and foremost, the factor that makes Britain as a powerful country is its economic growth (Crouzet, A history of the European Economy, 115). The agricultural revolution provides modal for the farmer to invest in industrial sector. Britain produce a lot of agriculture products that exceed the domestic demand. This guarantee the food supply for the workers and Britain don’t need to import food. Another factor is the invention of modern machine. This maximize the production and use least number of force. The machine produce a lot of product and cause the product to become cheaper. Since the number of production increase, the products can be exported. The huge number of factories

As pressure rose to become the strongest world power, European powers scrambled to claim different territories overseas. By the mid-nineteenth century, Great Britain was arguably the most powerful country in Europe. With such a high status of power, the British aspired to maintain their dominance. To maintain such prominence, expansion became a necessary action to prevent hegemony from other nations. Since Great Britain’s geography as an island prevented them from having better access to resources, it was clear that colonies overseas would allow them to retain power. According to Paul Kennedy, Britain would not have a hegemony because ‘as a consequence, the “modernization” which occurred in British industry and communications was not paralleled by improvements in the army’. Without an improvement in the British forces (despite technological improvements), expansion was necessary in order to maintain their dominance. Also, as a political and economic rivalry grew between France, the British were inspired to colonize more overseas empires successfully. As a result, Great Britain saw interests in regions such as northern and eastern Africa.