The Contributions Of British Imperialism In Africa

In the 1800’s Imperialism, an action by a strong nation to take control of another country, became prominent in Europe towards Africa. The driving forces of Imperialism in Africa were competition for land, economics, and the need for power. The “Partition of Africa, 1884-85” map demonstrates the competition related to the colonization of European colonies in Africa. There were a total of 7 European countries that imperialized Africa, but the main countries were France and Britain. The only non-colonized countries were Ethiopia and Liberia; this was because they had an established strong government.

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.

European Imperialism heavily impacted the African continent through culturally, economic, and political ideas. This era of history is heavily drenched in the aspect of ethnocentrism, which is the belief that one’s own culture is superior that of another. The Europeans colonized Africa believing that they could bring civilization, but they were often ignorant of Africa’s very complex societies. The European powers divided up the continent of Africa among themselves, without any consent from the people who actually lived there. The tribal stratification was changed to a caste system where racial, ethnic, and religious differences were of utmost importance, as delegated by European rule. The structure and business of the African economy was

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

Beginning in 1881 and subsiding in 1914, Africa underwent an invasion of European power known as Imperialism. While african territory was being occupied, divided, and colonized by larger countries, the driving force behind European Imperialism in Africa became rather transparent. The sizable countries sought after power and resourceful profit in which they looked to the smaller African colonies to provide. Two of the biggest winners in the race to seize these colonies were Britain and France, they desired a gain in technological advancements, exported African resources, and economic growth.

The new imperialism was a major thing in the late 19th and 20th centuries in Africa. There were a lot of negative and positive effects because of the imperialism. The people in Africa during the time of imperialism suffered a lot. Most of which were the negative aspects of the imperialism. The negative aspects caused things like a lot of wars between countries. The negative effect also led to all of the Africans to do labor all of their lives no matter what time of the day or night it is. All of the Africans had to labor to get food for their family and themselves. Many of the colonizers wanted to expand their empire.

A main reason for the cause of the Imperialism in Africa was Nationalism. Nationalism is having pride in one's nation. The Europeans had this great competition for power. By controlling different parts of Africa, they gained more power. Europe wanted everyone to see how powerful they were

Imperialism, a policy in which one country seeks authority over another country by economic and political domination. The Europeans at this time in history, were looking for resources and something to help them show their national pride; the best way to do that was to imperialize different countries. Africa, which was not industrialized, was seen as not capable to lead themselves into modernization. The europeans as well as many other countries began to seek land in the divided, war-filled country. The reasons for europeans seeking imperialism is because of the strive for natural resources, the need to show national pride, and thoughts upon racism.

Early in the twentieth century, imperialism was brought up by European powers of the time; Germany, Great Britain, France, and Russia. These nations were after raw materials in Asia, Africa, and South America and when they realize that they could not retrieve it, they began to colonize smaller counties that contain the many resources they need and used it for their benefit. Western values played a big part in European imperialism. European civilization experienced a period of extraordinary rapid expansion worldwide during the nineteenth century and the twentieth century. European nation-states had become very powerful because of industrialization. Imperialist projects will unite European industrial power with smaller nation-states.

There are various reasons behind imperialism in Africa. Economics, National Competition, and Cultural Superiority are the main ones. European countries often thought that their culture or ways of living was better than the Africans; therefore they just had to take over.

Before 1750 no European had dared to go down into Africa, consequently for the fear of catching some sort of disease. But why did the Western Europeans begin to imperialize in the 1800s when they had already taken over the India and much of the eastern continent. Imperialism in Africa really started with the idea of Social Darwinism, the need for raw materials and the fact that they had become technologically advanced.

A fine motive in the imperialism in Africa would be the sufficient amount of natural resources that Africa has. According to Document D, "The colonies under the European imperialism have natural resources such as cotton, ivory, copper, zinc, gold, diamonds and more," (DOC D). In this quote this suggests the abundance of natural resources that Africa has with many gems like diamonds and gold to trade staples such as cotton and ivory. As seen in Document C, "The major advances in technology helped the imperialism of Africa with more utilities to use to better conquer the vast African land," (DOC C). These major technological advances included weapons, faster ways of transport, and many other things these things also all interconnect with natural resources and how they are used. These natural resources are used in these things because they can be molded and used as a type of material to use. These materials can also help with helping an economy the

The reason for British Imperialisation of Africa was for wealth, minerals, hold of authority, trade of gold and other resources and agricultural advancement. The British occupations of Africa were met with serious resentment by the native Africans. These resulted in wars and other violent conflicts. Imperialism by definition is were a nation or empire extends its power by the colonization of territories. This may include exploitation of these territories. Many empires throughout history have imperialized many territories; one of those being The British Empire. The British Empire was one of the largest and most successful empires the world has ever seen. At its peak, this empire covered about 412 million people, which was 23% of the world’s

European countries now felt much more empowered which allowed for competition to foster between nations. Europe with the technological advantage provided by the industrialization gave them the means “to impose their rule throughout the world.” (Weber 558) Industrialization led the way to imperialism-the extension of a nation’s rule or authority over foreign nations, territory, or the acquiring of colonies or dependencies. Europeans nations went into Africa, Asia, and the Americas for this purpose. Their justification for imperialism was that these people from non-European countries were uncivilized and needed to civilize them because it was their duty as superiors-the white man’s burden. During the Berlin West Africa conference the imperialist powers met up to discuss how they were going to split African into sections like a pie. Every imperialist nation wanted a piece of the African pie even though they had never been to Africa before. There was a not a single African present in the conference, all were European. They were getting ready to colonize Africa. Colonization means to control dependent nations, territory, or people. There is a problem with imperialism and colonization. Well there are many problems with imperialism but the problem that is important to state is the hypocrisy of the Europeans. The reason why Aime Cesaire claims Europeans are hypocrites is because during the Enlightenment Europeans claimed

European Imperialism, or “Old Imperialism” (1450-1650), happened largely for political power and economic reasons. France, Britain, Portugal, Germany, and Spain, all fought for African territory. The 15th-16th centuries was an era of discovery with explorations by land and sea. These explorations opened up new trade routes across the ocean and the increase of colonization. The convenient location of Africa, with its coastal land, assisted European nations exploring new routes to Asia while seeking gold, land, precious metals, spices, luxuries, and agricultural plants.