The lack of unity in Africa served as a strong advantage, allowing Europeans to govern the land with only minor upheavals from these groups. Industrialization had set the stage in such a way, that the demand for raw materials and new markets grew immensely. Europeans were in need of raw materials to fuel their factories, and they also wanted to sell their goods to new people. This urged their search for new colonies. In their competition for colonies and trade, European nations grew a strong sense of national pride.
Underdevelopment There was several immediately obvious aspect of that underdevelopment that we need to elaborate. Colonialism has its own logical concept on the Europeans and Americans. It was not true that the idea to colonize Africa was the issue to make profits. But their target was human capital associated with slavery. Africans were skilled, knowledgeable and creative individual who manage themselves without outside help.
Nkrumah was in doubt about true independence and because of that, he wrote on neocolonialism. Neocolonialism is a condition where a country may be politically independent and still be economically dependent on other states. He also was involved in Pan-Africanism, and felt that Africa needed more development and African needed political unification of its countries. Nkrumah had an idea of an African Federation and it did not succeed. There was then the OAU Organization of African Unity.
During the time of the European scramble for Africa, European countries fought to control the natural resources and colonize Africa. In response to the imperialism of Europeans African actions and reactions involve, diplomatic methods nonviolent and violent resistant. Documents 1, 2, 3 reveal evidence of how some African countries that was oppose to the imperialism of the Europeans deal with it by using diplomatic methods. The Royal Niger company document gives an example of how the British were willing to develop a diplomatic relationship with the chiefs of the African countries. It shows how the Royal Niger Company agrees on paying for the land and to respect native laws (doc 1).
Before colonialism came to Africa, the continent was thriving. As Boahen says, “the most surprising aspects of the imposition of colonialism on Africa were its suddenness and its unpredictability.” Because prior to this, there was growing independence of many African nations. The slave trade had a major impact on Africa and its ability to grow economically. It also hindered family structures due to the massive amounts of men between ages 18 and 30 who were taken for slaves. African cities and towns did not have
After Europe set up colonies all across the continent, there were many resources found. The slave trade was established in Africa while it was under the imperialism from Europe. Other important resources that were found in Africa were diamonds, especially in South Africa, and gold. Another key reason why Africa was under imperialism was because Europeans, not just the British, wanted to spread Christianity and religion wherever they conquered, and since Africa seemed uninfluenced by any form of religion, it seemed the perfect place to impose Christianity. Africa’s ports were also a major stopping point for most of the world, and Europe had ideas of spreading Christianity to the world and it would start one port at a time.
In his views, Lincoln saw slavery as an unavoidable social evil that was essential to the economy . To the blacks, it was immoral and inhuman, but the Border States relied on the slave trade for their economic production. Abolishing slavery only meant altering the economic system in the slave Border States and this could only result in less support. Lincoln believed that slavery was destined to fade away with time but could not just be terminated abruptly. He advocated for a gradual termination of slavery but not a direct confrontation; first was the introduction of the Emancipation Proclamation, then the compensation of slave and finally colonization of the freed slave.
How would you account for Ethiopia's successful resistance to European conquest? Being an African state it would seem that throughout the period commonly known as the "Scramble for Africa" Ethiopia played an exceedingly powerful role and not a role where they were to take advantage of. Many states fell under the power of European colonialism, Ethiopia was one state that effectively stopped the colonialists from seizing their land through numerous different ways. The collection of African states was previously successful as "No African state was strong enough economically to have sustained warfare against Europe"[1]. Many foreign powers wished to take Ethiopia for themselves due to its economic nature and its long standing history.
In both cases, the slave trade worked to undermine the legitimacy of political institutions and sustain large gulfs between the interests of the ruling classes and those of the common people. Although the trans-Atlantic slave trade was a global system that involved several continents, the trade as a whole was controlled by European middlemen. As Walter Rodney wrote, "Only the European capitalist had such world-wide power, and they used Africans for their own purposes. "[1] However, views differ as to the causes and consequences of the African slave trade in Europe. Eric Williams' economic reductionist argument presented in his 1944 Capitalism and Slavery supported the theory that the move toward African enslaved labour in the Americas was entirely a matter of economic expedience that helped catapult Western Europe to the forefront of a new global capitalist economy.
As the story progresses the effects of the Europeans coming into contact with the Igbo people unfolds as it is seen from the prosperous Nkwo market, the fear imposed by Kitikpa, and the emptiness Julius experiences. Conflict is evident in the form of culture here and in “Things Fall Apart” In Things Fall Apart, we see a conflict early in the story between Okonkwo and his father, Unoka. "Okonkwo was ruled by one passion - to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness" (Achebe pg.13). Unoka was considered to be a failure.