Long-term Effects of European Colonization on Africa Essay

People of the early African kingdoms were able to create successful trade routes with Europe and Asia, become very wealthy from conquering and gaining land, and were able to have a strong central government. All of this was done before the Europeans had reached Africa. Trade flourished on the East African coast, especially when trading was established with India and Arabia. African kingdoms were prosperous, because of their success with not only trading but also with their ability to conquer land. A governmental structure is key to allowing any kingdom to thrive, and the African people were able to achieve this.

Africa has undergone a long history of being invaded, taken advantage of and colonized. European powers are primarily at fault for this, however they have experienced their own turmoil in this time period: war. This led Europe to create mercenary armies of African soldiers to fight for their countries, particularly in the World Wars. The rampant injustice of this system and many African lives lost was a spark for the African nation states under colonial rule. It led to the wildfire that was African independence movements, protests, and riots. It also led to the Year of Africa, where most countries were recognized as their own entities and no longer colonies. While there are many factors involved in this portion of history, the importance of

Africa nowadays is viewed as a pretty poor continent, but if it were not for a single event, it wouldn’t be in the shape it is today. This event is best known as the scramble for Africa. The European powers had begun taking land after King Léopold the second claimed that initial piece of land. European powers gathered in 1884 to discuss which part of Africa were theirs to avoid fighting, however this was done between European countries, and the thought of even inviting a spokesperson from Africa was beyond them. The people of Africa were enslaved and forced to work the land for natural resources such as rubber and diamond. After the European powers claimed all that they could, two independent countries remained. These two countries were Liberia and Ethiopia. The “Eurocentric” perspective that the European powers had at the time allowed for them to commit these horrible acts and see nothing wrong with what they had

Imperialism in Africa began in the late 19th century. It began when King Leopold II began the Scramble for Africa. All of the major colonial powers went after Africa. Their goal was to gain the most wealth and to have the most territory. Having more territory and claiming valuable parts of the continent was a symbol of power. Imperialism in Africa had negative and positive consequences on both the Europeans and Africans, these can be shown through human rights issues, new industry and advancements, and wealth and influence.

In the early 1880’s, the powers of Europe started to take control of regions in Africa and set up colonies there. In the beginning, colonization caused the Africans little harm, but before long, the Europeans started to take complete control of wherever they went. The Europeans used their advanced knowledge and technology to easily maneuver through the vast African landscape and used advanced weapons to take control of the African people and their land. The countries that claimed the most land and had the most significant effect on Africa were France, England, Belgium, and Germany. There were many reasons for the European countries to be competing against each other to gain colonies in Africa. One of the main reasons was that the

The first source that I have chosen demonstrates the long lasting effects Africa endured due to imperialism. The illustration shows the countries that were involved in colonizing Africa and what they contributed to how the continent is prospering currently. Also, the cartoon shows how severely the presence of imperialism affected Africa. For instance, when countries exploited Africa during 1880-1913, the people who inhabited the land experienced poverty and starvation due to countries claiming and controlling their land. During the scramble of Africa, countries saw the great amounts of natural resources they were able to exploit, such as a large quantity of diamonds, gold, salt, iron, etc. The extraction of the continents resources increased poverty in Africa which resulted in their economy to plummet. Imperialism is a major factor to Africa’s lack of development and instability due to the injustice that was exhibited towards the population of Africa. African’s were forced into slavery and cheap labor which as a result destroyed the African community. The citizens are still presently trying to rebuild their government and salvage the damage that was done by the British. In the second source that I have selected explains the benefits that Britain gained through imperializing sections of Africa and the results it has led to presently. Africa’s resources were left mainly untouched by natives and largely accessible for the country to extract. The country’s economy greatly

The county of South Africa is an economically flourishing country and probably the most advanced country on the continent of Africa. However the entire continent of Africa is probably the most undeveloped part of the world. Why is South Africa so different from the rest of its continent? Karen Politis Virk explains that it is because of South Africa’s developed economy and diverse population (Virk 40). South Africa has three main ethnic groups: African, Afrikaners, and the mixed race. The Afrikaners and mixed races have many roots to Europe and Asia giving the nation even more diversity and a culture melting pot. This set the nation apart from the rest of the African nation in which the majority of the residents are of native African

In the game Battleship, the winner sinks as many ships as it can in order to be seen as the powerful  leader.  In the beginning, countries such as Britain were  trading with Africa simple things such as spices. Later, they decided to take the country to get all of Africa’s resources. What was the driving force behind Europeans imperialism in Africa? The driving force to take over these lands and the people was political competition, cultural attitudes and economics.

While the imperialization of Africa did bring some benefits, those benefits were greatly outweighed by many negative effects, for both the European countries and the African natives. Imperialization showed to be very expensive and difficult for the Europeans and probably not worth the trouble. As for the natives, matters were even worse, during and after imperialism.

Africa was once functionable. The destruction and splitting by Europeans made Africa unmanageable. European colonists became wealthier and African became poor, molding Africans turn against each other. Colonialism has impacted African cultures by giving one person a voice and not the others, also it violated their natural rights. The Berlin

​Most Europeans had the perception that people from the African continent were inferior. This is because they thought that their traditions were backward and lacked civilization. They used this notion as a justification for subjecting the African people to slavery. However, this is not the case since civilization is said to have originated from Africa. The most organized and advanced people in terms of technology are said to be the Africans even before the European slavers discovered Africa (Chivallon and Alou, 2011). Egypt had tremendous accomplishments in mathematics, science, arts, and medicine even before the transatlantic trade. Civilization in this country had lasted for over two thousand years prior to the development of Rome.

The colonization of Africa had many impacts. Europeans colonized Africa for political, economic, and religious reasons, but economic was the most significant. One of the economic reasons for Europe colonizing Africa was to export goods from Africa (ivory, diamonds, gold, etc.) to Europe. Europe will manufacture these goods and end up trading with other countries with the new goods. Europe also colonized Africa for its land to have trading posts with neighboring places of Africa. Europe could trade with these nearby countries to gain resources they cannot naturally obtain from their land. These motives were very important, as there was a scramble of land ownership in the beginning of the colonization.

Before the 18,00’s not much was known about Africa due to the many diseases and land boundaries that prevented exploration. This was all changed however when a man named David Livingstone opened the eyes of all Europeans. With this newfound knowledge many countries were coming to Africa mostly due to economical reasons. This is because many countries saw Africa as a wonderful place for trade and to gain resources. The Jungles in Africa offered rare wood and rubber. Africa also hosted wonderful for trading. With all these resources Europeans would be able to build their economical empire and have more power in general. The economical resources Africa Held is why many European countries started their bid for land in Africa.

Between the 1870s and 1900’s, Africa was under various pressures and invasions by Europe which later on lead to the colonization of Africa. Although Africa set up numerous resistance against Europe, by the early twentieth century the entire nation of Africa was colonized by Europe except Ethiopia and Liberia.

some say that colonization of Africa was a bad thing but others seem to disagree some say that it was a good thing that happened.Well colonization of Africa was a devastating time when European countries from all over invaded Africa's turf, there was bitter protest against this imperialism. There are many reasons to why Africa was colonized but the three reason we will talk about is long term effects, extermination of the African people, and evolution of colonization. These were three reasons why colonization of africa was negative.Colonization had a negative impact on Africa, as it caused too much chaos and too harsh a life to the Africans which led to long term effects, extermination of the African people, and evolution of colonization.