The Causes And Effects Of British Imperialism In Africa

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

In conclusion, the origins and development of Britain’s North American colonies was sustained by the need to stay in economic power. Bacon’s Rebellion, a high demand for cash crops, and an easy purchase of slaves through trade overall introduced and developed slavery to the Americas all while increasing economic status for England and their

It is clear that cultural concerns play a role in the enhancement and the downfall of the relationship of GB and Africa during expansion. The British mindset during the period was that they were the superior race of the world and that it was their ‘white man’s burden’ to rule Africa to bring them into civilisation. Ferguson supports my point saying ‘Victorians aspired to bring light to what they called the Dark Continent.’ This suggests that their arrogant mindset would make them feel as though cultural imperialism was the best morally correct action for the empire because Africa, to them was behind. This brought a jingoistic British attitude towards colonisation as people thought their country was being helpful. An example of how they brought ‘light’ was through converting Africans into Christianity. Ferguson gives a statistic ‘1886 and 1895 the number of Protestants in Africa trebled’. This shows that the British aim to civilise Africa was working which gave them something in common which made it easier for British to settle in Africa during expansion.

Assess the significance of the role of individuals in bringing about the expansion and dismantling of the British Empire in Africa in the period 1870-1981

The British colonies began on a loose foundation with the failure of Roanoke then the harsh reality Great Britain faced with the Jamestown colony. When the number of colonies grew in the New World so did Britain’s control over it’s people. The British Empire thrived off the natural resources but the continuous involvement in wars such as the Second Hundred Years’ War, and the Seven Years’ War made the British focus more on their domestic affairs rather than the colonies. The neglect of the colonies was just one of the many

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

During the 19th century, Imperialism started to break out across the globe. The Age of Imperialism actually began in 1870, mostly impacting European states, Africa, and the Middle East. This is where countries gained power by taking over and claiming land that was already inhabited. States were driven by power and influence, and they all wanted to be the best. This lead to tension and competition for power among countries. However, places with the biggest army, most advanced technology, and organized government system were usually the most successful, especially Great Britain. With this tension over power came conflict over land and territory. Because of its natural resources and huge coastlines, Africa became the main target for claiming land. European states first started claiming land on the coast of Africa and then they all fought over who could have the most land. The Berlin Conference was a meeting between all the states fighting for land, including Britain, France, Germany, and the U.S. The intent of this conference was to settle tension over territory and reduce conflict over land on the African

Throughout the British Rule the government had the desire to expand and lusted to gain as many resources as they could. In the beginning of the Industrial Revolution the economy was booming and the stocks were thriving. The reasons that caused the British to go for a search of new colonies were that the British population was growing fast and they needed land to export their population and they also needed new markets to sell their excess of product and get raw materials. Though the British Empire had the intentions of creating a better way of life for foreign lands as well as themselves, they had also created a corrupt society for once peaceful countries.

From the end of 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, saw the annexation and colonisation of vast territories in the African continent by Europeans powers. The period was known as New Imperialism. By the beginning of 20th century, almost 90% of the continents was under European powers, while some other African countries managed to preserve their independence, namely Ethiopia and Liberia. The scramble for Africa was caused by continuous rivalries between the European powers namely Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Belgium which compete for political and economic supremacy without declaring any sort of war among themselves. The process of consolidating power in Africa by this European powers was by military

“British involvement expanded rapidly in response to the demand for labour to cultivate sugar in Barbados and other British West Indian islands.” The British became involved once other countries did. When there was a need for something, like sugar, they got more and more laborers from Africa. The more people they had, the faster the work was done which helped them make money much quicker than just doing the work for themselves. People thought of Africans as poor, so they often believed that it was a good thing that they were brought to Europe to work because they thought they could not be doing any better in Africa. They thought that they were doing the people of Africa a favor by getting them out of their country and bringing them to work in Europe, but they were really making their lives difficult - especially when they had to make the voyage over to Europe where several people died. “Some pretend that the Africans, in general, are a set of poor, ignorant, dispersed, unsociable people; and that they think it no crime to sell one another, and even their own wives and children; therefore they bring them away to a situation where many of them may arrive to a better state than ever they could obtain in their own native country.” It hurt the African people to be taken away from their

Before the Europeans began the New Imperialism in Africa, very little was known about the inner parts of the continent. However, after some explorers delved deeper into the heart of Africa, the Europeans soon realized how economically important this area was, and how much they could profit from it. At the time, Britain had only small occupations of land in Africa, but after they realized that they could make money from the rich resources from the inner regions of Africa, they wanted to invade the African countries and take over. This led to the scramble and ultimately, the partition of Africa. During the Age of Imperialism, from 1870-1914, Britain was a major country, which proved to be true

The attempt to end the slave trade brought the British into conflict with elite African slave traders. The British anticipated conflict therefore their efforts to abolish the slave trade in the city of Lagos are minimal. The British instead used features of domestic slavery to justify their approach to it, and created policies. Rather, the British used the anti-slavery movement to have an informal control the city of Lagos. For the simple fact that the city of Lagos was an economic center in the Western Coast of Africa. As well as the British thought that with the abolishment of the slave trade would allow for Africans to have better access to British goods. It reveals that the British wanted Africans to buy British goods that

As a way to maintain their colonies throughout Asia, the British decided to imperialize South Africa. At first, they had no intent to imperialize South Africa, and once they did, they began to also interfere in several other matters such as slavery. Slavery was considered an important business since the Dutch Boers, people who lived in South Africa with Dutch ancestry, took part in the slave trade. The abolishment of slavery lead to the rise of racism which was instilled in the minds of the Boers and the British settlers. As a result, British imperialism was more detrimental to the South Africans, as it created laws which limited the rights of ex-slaves, leading to the start of racism, and because political tension rose between British government

Colonialism put a significant burden on colonies and once these territories were decolonized, they were no longer self-sufficient. Even after these territories regained their autonomy, they were still left to struggle after being exploited for decades. To begin, the French and British colonized Africa and left these territories to pay for operations the French and British implemented, such as military, private services to “whites”, and further education. These territories had very little to begin with because of slavery, so massive debts were accumulated. For instance, Senegal, as mentioned earlier, was colonized by France in the nineteenth century. It, along with other colonies along the west African coast, were exploited for their resources and were left to pay for the damages after not only World Wars I and II, but also from in-country fighting as well. Siji Jabbar, author of “How France loots its former colonies” says, “France organized its colonies in a system of “compulsory solidarity” which consisted of obliging the states to put 65% of their foreign currency reserves into the French Treasury, plus 20% for liabilities. This means these countries only ever have access to 15% of their own money! (Jabbar, 2013). Ultimately, colonization did just permit the occurrence of physical slavery, but colonies were looted and forced to sign binding contracts that leave them penniless indefinitely, but are also hard to get out of. Second, some of these territories had some natural resources that were considered valuable. Unsurprisingly, the colonists exploited these natural resources, such as the gold mines in the Congo. When colonialization ended, these developing nations were left with no natural resources and struggled to find ways to be independent, since the sectors they relied on to make money were abused and destroyed under European and American control. An interesting example of colonial exploitation occurred along the coast of West Africa in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Rene Ruiz, author of “The colonial underdevelopment of Africa by Europe and the United States” mentions, “The wealth of these countries instead went to enrich Western nations, leaving nothing for the African