The Positive And Negative Effects Of European Imperialism In South Africa

In the second half of the 19th century, most African countries faced the aggression of the European imperialism. All African countries were colonized except for Ethiopia and Liberia. South Africa was one of the main countries that faced imperialism. The Boers, also known as the Dutch descendents or Dutch farmers, were the first to colonize South Africa in 1652. Later on, the British came and took Cape Colony from the Dutch in 1795. The British at first mainly wanted to colonize South Africa as it helps her to trade with India by its route. South Africa’s temperate climate, natural resources, and massive minerals attracted Europeans to take it over. Also, South Africa has a strategic geographical location as it’s located at the center of the

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.

2) The Europeans who settled in the South African cape were very successful. One reason this happened was because the African cape and Europe sit at a similar distance from the equator. This means the climate of the two areas were similar, allowing for crops and domesticated animals from Europe to survive in the South African cape. Another reason the Europeans were successful was because of germs. The Africans did not have the same immunity as the Europeans to diseases that originated from European domesticated animals. Because of this African population were demolished and the Europeans were able to

The later generations of Africans had become slaves and abused physically and mentally because the 19th and 20th centuries made it okay to think of Africans as inferior beings compared to the Europeans. Still today, many African countries suffer because they didn’t have a chance to advance themselves from when Europeans came took the resources they needed and left. In countries like the United States of America, Africans were used as slaves till 1865 and even now hate crimes and racist remarks are happening to them even if it isn’t as frequent as before. Many hate crimes against African people now can be connected to the colonization of Africa because most of the racist beliefs and jokes started here when the Europeans deemed them as barbaric, childlike, and not very educated. This time period is also when the whole superior race belief started to come into view. Though much has changed and improved, like African people having rights, being able to choose careers they want, work for pay, vote and do anything other races can do there is much more room for improvement. Although not everyone in Africa is poor, they still have a lot that are and we can fix that by building more jobs and schools so that kids can get an education to move up in life. The Europeans going to Africa was not a very good thing to happen to African people because it left many countries to the problems that they face

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

European imperialists built on the information provided by adventurers and missionaries. For example, a Scottish missionary named David Livingstone, went to Africa in the 1840s and spent three decades exploring the interior of Africa. This exploration sparked interest in Africa and others followed, including the imperialists. (Imperialism in Africa). The Berlin Conference of 1884 allowed Europeans to draw lines on maps and carve Africa into colonies. The result was a transformation Africa, with essentially all parts of the continent colonized in about fifteen years. The Europeans continued to interfere with African land and culture. Thus, leading to independent revolts and eventually lead to the Boer War. This was a conflict between The British and the Dutch farmers. Black South Africans decided to help the Dutch who were fighting back against their enemies. The British captured many of these men and put them in concentration camps where many of them died. The establishment of colonies were actually a positive for Africa. It made for a new way of life socially, politically and economically. So even with the horrible and unjust concentration camps, Great Britain was able to give back to the people they conquered in

Due to Britain placing South African natives into gas chambers many died. Many others died from being forced into the war to either be challenged, lookout, chauffeur, or an employee. (World History, 2009, p.778). Due to the Europeans colonizing Africa many black South Africans died due to the British capturing them and putting them in concentration camps. This is a huge negative impact because this can cause a huge population decrease.

The failure of the Union of South Africa in achieving equality for all inhabitants was a result of the prevailing factor of racial discrimination against native Africans. The pre-existing desire to establish a white supremacy characterised southern African colonisation which caused conflict between the British and Boers (German and French settlers). The discovery of gold and diamonds in the Veld instigated industrialisation and exploitation of African labour and with increased imperialistic expansion, British and Boer forces declared war resulting in desecration of African land and communities. The Union further cemented racial segregation against black societies with the creation of European administrative structures that ensured settler minorities

The South African people lost their own government during the colonization because they were under the control of the British and the people were enslaved. It gave the South African people a very unfair feeling because they were living in their own country but controlled by someone else. When they first lost their own government, the people could not adapt to the new policy of slavery due to the loss of freedom. Even though a lot of people did not like it that way, they had to adapt to the policy as soon as possible in order to survive. They were also not used to be controlled by the rules that the British created. For example, the punishment of the slaves were strictly controlled by the British government. One of the policy was “The number of hours the slaves could be made to work was not limited,” which meant they had to work a lot everyday. In addition, slaves’ marriages were only allowed in 1824 after South Africa had regained independence in 1822. It showed that after South Africa was not colonized by the British, people had much more freedom than before. Therefore, the British colonization brought the South African people a very bad political impact by losing its own government, not being used to be controlled by the rules, and not being able to adapt to the new

With the description favoring the School and their Western assimilation desire, Mayer is overtly showing the perseverance of white power. Nonetheless, the transition to South African urbanization emphasizes the industrial colonialism with European industry in mines and factories in the urban center. Hence, most of the social productivities would centralize this area. In addition, Magubane argues that the colonists attempted to prevent African permanent migration to town. The colonists only wanted South Africans as temporary town workers for cheap labors and desired only white citizens as permanent in the central of South Africa. They pushed African men’s family to the rural lands and only required the men temporarily in town for labors. The Africans who are in town would live in tied housing, lacking of basic amenities. Magubane argues that this work relationship was the efforts of British colonialism to stabilize their regimes, by keeping white citizens only as the main citizens. In facts, the conducted study of social and psychological problems among the South African population would help to prevent the future rebellions. Furthermore, the colonists would promote the idea of Western cultural assimilation, which is shown in Mayer’s analysis. Thus, Magubane considers Mayer’s

The associated with Southerly Africa is actually characterized by racial as well as politics physical violence, territorial discord, battles associated with conquest, as well as inter-ethnic competition. Southerly Africa ended up being colonized because of the English as well as Dutch within the 17th millennium. This Dutch had been the first European buying and selling electrical power to create some sort of everlasting relief within Southerly Africa. This Republic associated with Southerly Africa is often a constitutional democracy with three-tier method associated with government.

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities

Having spent a year living in the beautiful country South Africa in 2010, I experienced first-hand how colonialism deformed the nation and its

Comparison of the differences between the British, the Dutch and the South African cultures, analyzed by using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, can be found in appendix 3.