John Reader Foreign Influences

Social Upheaval and Low Self Worth was another one of the major impacts of the European commercial activities on West Africa. As a result of the slave trade through raids and trade, there is no doubt concerning the social ills that plagued Western Africa. Many Africans were betrayed by their own political leaders

The Atlantic Slave Trade was a part of African history that had made one of it's biggest impact on Africa's relation with the world and more importantly on the inner workings of the country itself due to its large-scale involvement of many of the people in the continent. Although the slave trade was so long ago the impact can still be seen in Africa's social workings within the people, its economy in the local and global market, and within the political landscape of the countries.

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

The ‘scramble for Africa’ was a phenomenon in the world between the years 1880-1914. The ‘dark continent’ was relatively untouched by Europeans up until this point, with few ports of control on the coasts in the west, which were remnants of the slave trade, and in the south, Britain held the Cape, taken from the Dutch during the French Revolutionary Wars. So, during a period of 30 years, it came to pass that almost the whole of Africa was taken by Europeans. (Except Liberia a colony for freed American slaves, and Abyssinia managed to hold out against Italian aggression). It will be my objective in this essay to analyse the economic factors which resulted in the almost complete colonisation and takeover of Africa, and also to determine to

The first chapter in Boahen’s book is titled “Eve of Colonial Conquest” and this section gives the readers a background of the colonialism in Africa through a look at the fundamental economic, political, and social changes that occurred just a few decades before colonialism took root. Boahen states that the trade of “natural products” is the most significant economic change in Africa by 1880. Just before the trading of “natural products” slave trades were abolished.

Africa has had a long and tumultuous road of colonization and decolonization the rush to colonize Africa started in the 17th century with the discovery of the vast amounts of gold, diamonds, and rubber with colonization hitting a fever pitch during World War I. However, the repercussions of colonization have left deep wounds that still remain unhealed in the 21st century. Early on, European nations such as Britain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium scrambled for territories. Countries wanted land so they could harvest the resources, increase trade, and gain power. The European colonization of Africa brought racism, civil unrest, and insatiable greed; all of which have had lasting impacts on Africa.

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

The changes in African life during the slave trade era form an important element in the economic and technological development of Africa. Although the Atlantic slave trade had a negative effect on both the economy and technology, it is important to understand that slavery was not a new concept to Africa. In fact, internal slavery existed in Africa for many years. Slaves included war captives, the kidnapped, adulterers, and other criminals and outcasts. However, the number of persons held in slavery in Africa, was very small, since no economic or social system had developed for exploiting them (Manning 97). The new system-Atlantic slave trade-became quite different from the early African slavery. The

“ Parts of sub-Saharan Africa were divided among small states or chiefdom's with iron tools.” “While Aboriginal Australians and many Native Americans remained hunter-gatherers, most of Eurasia and much of the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa gradually developed agriculture, herding, metallurgy, and complex political organization. “ Therefore, the European Imperialists have not only impacted the Caribbean, Aztec and Inca Empires and North America, Africa was also impacted

Africa’s persistent poverty interrogates the continent’s past through institutions, government, demography, economics, colonialism, and the impact of the trading. The colonial era affected the variety of Africa’s historical development for it was quite the game changer since it put a halt to the continuous drain of scarce labor and paved the way for the expansion of land concentrated forms of agriculture, and engaging smallholders, estates, and communal farms. The establishment of the colonial rule over the African interior reinforced African commodity growth in export. The colonial control facilitated the construction induced significant inflows of European

Africa, Asia, and the Americas all fell victim to the greed of the Europeans. Furthermore, an “expanded market” was needed after the rise of the Industrial Revolution (Sanderson “Imperialism notes”). Surpluses of products demanded a larger community to obtain the goods. The introduction of machinery reduced the number of workers

As major European empires rose from the start of the 1400s and facilitated the rise and extensive growth of the transatlantic slave trade up until the mid-to-near end of the 19th century, Africa, especially the western areas, became a major hub within the European imperial economies, with that the Asian trade market, thus influencing, if not almost undoubtedly fostering, financial globalization and some pieces of globalization in cultural matters. With the Portuguese’s kick off of the transatlantic slave trade, a major connection to the global

Throughout history, a motif of stronger, more aggressive, better resourced societies preying on weaker individuals for land, labor, and goods can be seen. The Atlantic Slave Trade effected West Africa by transforming the construction and formation of states. Ranging from powerful, militarized, and centralized states like Dahomey and Kongo, to more decentralized groups like Balanta and Igbo. Many scholars argue that the centralized societies targeted these decentralized societies and kidnapped people for the slave trade or for their own lineages, but this issue of strong and organized preying on weak and scattered is not as “black or white” as it may seem.

In studying the continent of Africa, a person simply cannot underestimate the importance and impact the time period 1770-1875 had on the shaping of pre-colonial Africa’s historical experience. By diving head first into Africa’s past and closely examining several themes and concepts of the time, one can fully comprehend just how much the colonization of Africa changed it forever, both for the better and the worse. The many reasons as to the “how and why” Africa was shaped into what it has become today can be seen within Thomas Getz’s book, Cosmopolitan Africa. Specifically, it is through the examination of the themes of the globalization of Africa in the oceanic era, the practice and belief of religions, and the significance of the Industrial Revolution, that the specific ways Africa was shaped from 1770-1875 can clearly be demonstrated.

For centuries Europe has traded with countries from around the world that has changed their economy, and their social life. Africa has a rich culture which contains very rich resources that the nation used to trade with other countries for years to help their nation. One Africa’s biggest trading partners was Europe within the 9th to 17th century. The reason these two were major trading partners was because of each countries needs which they both helped each other. At the time Europe was fascinated with Africa’s textiles, carvings, spices, and ivory but was soon fascinated by purchasing slaves to help with their economy by purchasing labor for their factories and plantations. While Africa was fascinated by Europe’s weapons and also cloth, iron and copper which the tribes in Africa would trade their own people for these goods. Therefore European culture was most affected by the contact with cultures from Africa which changed the European economy, and their social life and their way of living.