What Were Different Factors For A Scramble For Africa

During the late 1800’s, Europe was looking for a way to improve themselves as a whole. With growing population and a steady decline in available work, something new had to be done. Countries looked towards Africa to serve as new colonies for the Europeans in order to better their own countries. During the European acquisition of African colonies in the period 1880 to 1914 Europe’s attitude towards Africa was that Africa was the inferior race in comparison to the Europeans. With the help of a strong feeling of nationalism, Europeans were motivated to acquire new lands in order to improve their motherland’s

The European colonization of Africa, also known as the Scramble for Africa, Partition of Africa, or Conquest of Africa, occurred between the 1870s and 1900s, and was the invasion, occupation, colonization, and annexation of African territory by European powers during a period of New Imperialism. European control of the continent increased from 10 percent (1870) to 90 percent (1914), with only three territories, Saguia el-Hamra, which was later integrated into Spanish Sahara, Ethiopia and Liberia remaining independent of Europe’s control. There were many reasons for the European colonization of Africa, including economic and political motives, with the Berlin Conference serving as a catalyst. Africans resisted the European invasions of their lands, with the two main methods of opposition were guerilla warfare and direct military engagement. European influence on Africa still remains today, though these influences are generally negative and hurt Africa’s overall development.

For centuries, European nations had been trading slaves, gold, ivory, and more with the west coast of Africa. Throughout the early 1800s, Europeans barely knew anything about the rest of the country of Africa. This quickly changed as Europe grew a sudden interest in exploring the rest of the country and taking advantage of their many valuable resources. Many wonder what motivated Europeans to Imperialize Africa, or extend their country’s power throughout Africa. The driving forces behind European Imperialism in Africa were the strive for ultimate power in Africa between competing countries, the need for money and technological advancements in European civilizations, and the constant attempt for Europeans to spread their cultures throughout

European countries met together in the Berlin Conference to decide who would get what part of Africa. The Europeans set out to imperialize Africa and that they tried, but fell short leaving some parts uncivilized and others were turned into crude representations of cities in Europe. The main and most important reason that convinced the European leaders invading Africa was that of an economic motive, because of Europe's greed and their need to be in a position to trade, taking Africa's key riches was a necessity if they wished to grow in their economic position. Other factors only boosted their reasons to invade, they coincided with religious reasoning, missionaries trying to convert African natives. Religious reasoning also served as a front

As Europe’s economy and standard of living rose, the need for more land flourished as well. Europe sought to split the various parts of Africa during the Berlin conference (without the approval of the Africans, of course). Eventually, Europe successfully stole most of Africa from its rightful owners. The greedy Europeans showed pretentiousness towards the colonies in Africa and wanted to seize territory in order to utilize their available resources while displaying supremacy over the other races.

In the 19th century Europe underwent imperialism, Europe wanted to take control of different continents one of which was Africa to gain power, civilize the African people and grow the economy of Europe. With intentions to help, the Europeans moved to Africa in order to get the resources that were grown there forcing the Africans native to those regions to move to North and South America (Document 9). By 1885 the amount of people living in Africa had increased due to the amount of Europeans (Spielvogel and McTighe 234). The Europeans took resources and goods from Africa to sell and increase their capital. These reasons changed the way of life for the Africans making them adapt to the changes without being able to fight back. While imperialism

In a broader historical context, the European scramble for Africa was the result of many different conflicts. Many conflicts resulted from European countries’ desires for land and property. More specifically, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. These countries also were in conflict as it related to trade with other places. All of the preceding conflicts eventually resulted in the European Scramble for Africa.

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

Originally, the Europeans wanted little to do with Africa; that all changed when they found slathers of natural resources. Natural resources were very appealing to greedy Europeans, so naturally they would try to go to, or colonize, areas with them. "At the same time, the nature of European interest in Africa changed dramatically. Impressed by the continent's abundant supply of natural resources, Europeans sought to exploit* the potential wealth. To achieve this goal, they attempted to overpower African peoples and force them to accept foreign rule," (Colonialism in Africa). These resources were worth a lot, and if they had the areas with such resources the Europeans would be very wealthy.

Before the Europeans began to explore Africa, little was known about the continent. However, after some initial exploration of Africa, the Europeans soon realized how economically important this area was, and how much they could profit from it. At the time, European countries had only small colonies in Africa, but after they realized that they could make money from the resources in the inner regions of Africa, they wanted to invade the African regions and assume control. This led to “ the race” and ultimately, the partition of Africa. There were many motives for the Europeans to imperialize Africa. There were humanitarian and religious goals, political goals, military goals, and most importantly, there were economic interests. During the Berlin conference, The European powers decided that they were going to spread the three C’s (Christianity, Commerce, and Civilization) in Africa. To do this, the conference had three aims “ Ensure free trade for all nations throughout the Congo, to ensure free navigation for all countries on the Niger River of West Africa, and agree to set rules by which the Europeans could proceed to divide the rest of the continent.” (Part II: The European Conquest, Pg 11). Later in the document it states that not one African representative was present at the Berlin Conference to discuss Africa's future. The European people tricked themselves into thinking that what they were doing

diplomacy or military force. In the 20th century many European countries attempted to colonize the great continent of Africa. Europeans saw Africa as an area they would be able to profit from, as it had a great climate, good size, and some phenomenal natural resources. While the Europeans divided the continent of Africa they failed to see the possible negative effects on themselves, and the indigenous people of Africa. Their foresight was limited to only the positive outcomes.

In a family of six you can be assured that when dessert comes out after a homemade meal that you better be fast so you can get your own share of mamma pecan pie. Even if it is cut into equal pieces there are motivations for wanting more than your fair share. Motivations such as, you missed out on seconds during the main course, you just love her cooking, or you don’t want your siblings to get more than you. These motivations create havoc until mom instructs everyone that, “there will be no fighting over my pie”. It is so interesting that in terms of the fight for a piece of pie, similarities can be drawn to the scramble for Africa. Though there was no one that stood in the place of a mother to tell the European powers that they needed to

The abundance of resources, especially salt, gold, and slaves in Africa, especially after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, was too much for Europe to ignore. Most European countries, Italy

There are many factors that played an important role in the process of taking over Africa for various European countries. Between 1870-1890 European powers such as Great Britain, France, Germany,

Going back to the 1860s, Africa was an unknown continent to many Europeans. Most Europeans only had colonies on the coastline, such as current day Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal etc. The only people to go into the interior of Africa was missionaries, reporters and traders. As people of Europe discover more about Africa, discoveries will begin the Scramble of Africa, an event in which very rapidly, Europe was able conquer most if not all of Africa. They did this with technological and medical advances, economic reasons, and the motivation of prestige and White Man’s Burden.