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The Rise Of American Imperialism

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Since the beginning of humankind, Africa had always been a difficult continent to colonize. The amount of natural barriers, the rainforest, the climate, and the dry and wet seasons are why Africa wasn’t able to be colonized until the 19th century. The Europeans were first able to colonize Africa in the late 1880’s but, that success didn’t come without many challenges they faced. They had issues with medicine, politics and their economy was failing. In the 1500’s, European colonialists tried to invade Africa in the 1500’s, before being fought off by unified African forces. The Songhai empire and the Mali empire were responsible for the defense against the Europeans. However about 300 years later, the cure to malaria was found in 1832. This drug …show more content…

There were very few technological advancements in Africa that didn’t benefit all demographics of Africa. Only richer people, usually of European descent were able to access western technology. None of the famous inventions like the telegraph, even medicine, weren’t brought to Africa until decades after the rest of world received the technology. Furthermore, the Europeans didn’t want to help them upgrade their medicine because it was easier to politically and socially control them. A reason for this is, “Starting from a base of total ignorance, the imperial resources to disease went through many stages.” Also, “The journey from hap-hazard experimentation to full-blown public health systems was a long and painful one that cost millions of people their lives.” Furthermore, Florence Nightingale proved statistically that her sanitized hospital regimes, which insisted on cleanliness, exercise, and edible food and fresh water were far more effective than the laissez-faire approach of dealing with sickness. The recollection of these experiences points out a huge flaw in Africa. There was no real attempt at treating or solving medical problems in Africa at a low affordable cost. Not to mention, the British were capable of developing vaccines for African natives, they just didn’t because that was their method of keeping African slaves under their ownership. Nowadays, the life expectancy of African natives can be from forty five, to seventy years, all because the British had no interest in helping the locals during imperialism. On the other hand, the cure for malaria was invented in 1832, it was called Quinine, it suppressed pain and helped with other medical concerns as well. However, they never distributed it to everyone, only British

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