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Industrial Revolution: Raw Materials-European Countries

Decent Essays

I. General causes
A. Commercial gain
1. Industrial Revolution - the need for
a. raw materials- european countries relied heavily of these materials from asia, americas and africa. Raw materials were crucial for industrialization to grow. As industrialization grew, resource competition rose resulting in some european industrialists to push colonization of africa in order to secure resource availability
b. markets- with the surplus of goods from european manufacturers, the european people could not keep up with consumption. So, these industrialists were forced to expand their product range with the use of markets. Like raw materials at one point, competition arose with markets and once again industrialists pushed colonization of africa to secure …show more content…

Strategic and political reasons- Britain, france, and germany were in political twists trying to defend their dominance, but with no room left for expansion in europe they saw to africa for further control. France had lost land to germany and was going to gain land from africa to supplement the lost territories. Britain looked toward egypt and control of the Suez Canal. Germany was late to the overseas colonization game but was proud of their worth.
C. Medical advancements- roughly 1 in 10 european sailors who traveled to africa died due to malaria and yellow fever. However, in 1817, two french scientists, Pierre-Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimé Caventou, discovered that quinine extracted from cinchona tree proved to be a viable and effective solution to malaria
D. Exploration- european expeditions were very continuous with barely a year between them. The African Association, created by wealthy men who wanted to find the city of Timbuktu, triggered this exploration boom. After a while, venturing out of curiosity diminished and travelers started keeping record of markets, good, and resources for their wealthy contributors.
E. Development in transport- steamboats and iron hulled boats allowed ease of passage along with formidable protection. The steamboats could navigate non-tidal sections of the river and allowed inland access. It was also heavily armed.
F. Moral …show more content…

Specific causes
A. Britain- Wanted to make sure France and Germany did not get their hands on the recently discovered gold, diamonds, and other resources. So they secured as much of East Africa as quickly as they could. They seeked great commercial gain from Africa by building a telegraph line and railway system from Cairo to the Cape (north to south) (this would ultimately reinforce Britain’s commercial gain)
B. France- More active in the west and north-west whereas the British were centralized in the East. After establishing coastal region control in Senegal and Algeria, they sought raw materials like palm oil and timber, and markets new to them. They believed that developing an overseas empire was critical in enhancing their wealth as a county.
C. Belgium- King Leopold II wanted to have his country have its own spot on the map. He was going to do this by taking the Congo Basin as his own. He was going to make a colony that was quite larger than Belgium and fund all of this himself.
D. Portugal- Stretched its claims forward to Angola and Mozambique in efforts not to fall and be left behind in the territorial expansion

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