Britain’s strategic motives in Africa centred on thwarting the growth of rival European powers as well as securing its interests in Africa. However there was a clear symbiotic relationship between strategic and economic concerns, during the expansion period. One of the first incidents in Africa where this was made manifest was when Britain invaded Egypt in 1882. The Suez Canal was of major strategic importance as it allowed ships to access the empires ‘Jewel in the crown’ India faster, through the red sea instead on going around Africa, as well as faster transportation of Arab oil. The canal was also of economic significance as historian Simon Smith reminds us that ‘80% of the Suez traffic was British, and13% of Britain’s trade passed through the canal’ , this is due to most of Britain’s trade with India passing through the Suez.
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.
The 19th and 20th centuries were characterized by the more developed countries of Europe acquiring the land and controlling resources of undeveloped countries. This idea, called imperialism, can be defined as the policy of extending a nation’s authority by territorial acquisition or by establishing economic and political authority over other nations. The European powers saw imperialism as their right and duty to exert their superiority, while the indigenous people of the inferior areas resented the Europeans greed and unrightfully taking control. Western European countries and developed a variety of attitudes toward imperialism. Economic factors were a chief motivation for colonization to European countries.
They even practiced their religion and cultural beliefs toward Africans. Then Europeans soon began to industrialize soon after. And what the Europeans wanted and needed for their industry was raw materials. And since Africa had the resources they needed, they ended up taking control. Though they struggled to involve the proliferation of conflicting European claims to African territory during the imperialism period.
Gregory Mendel’s genetic work with variation in pea plants seemed to give out a connotation, to some people, that some humans were evolved more than others. According to those sitting on top of the hierarchy, the greater the physical and cultural difference from Europeans, the less developed that other race was. With this in mind, Europeans began to invade Africa (1880s-1890s), this time using violence in order to stake their claim on Africa’s raw materials, and establish missionaries. Europeans became less concerned with converting Africans to make them civilized; instead they used this to their advantage. They made the claims that because they were uncivilized, this was a perfect justification for conquest.
Sub-Saharan Africa had much longer exposure to Islamic culture influences than to European cultural influences. Scholars and merchants learned to use the Arabic language to communicate with visiting North Africans and to read the Quran. Islamic beliefs and practices as well as Islamic legal and administrative systems were prominent in African trading cities on the southern edge of the Saharan and on the Swahili coast. During the three and a half centuries of contact between Europe and Africa before 1800, Africans yielded minimal territory to Europeans. Local African kings scrutinized the European trading posts that they permitted along the Gold and Slave Coasts and collected profitable rents and fees from these traders and merchants.
There are many motives for which the Europeans pursued imperialism in the 19th century, either for national prestige and glory, social Darwinism or even the White Man’s Burden. However the motive for which is most importantly noted for is profit from trade of materials and slaves from the new colonies of the European Empires. The colonizers traded slaves from Africa to the Americas and gained access to raw materials spread all throughout Africa. Europeans began conquering Africa and Asian in the early 16th century. Portugal was the 1st country to colonize.
21.1 4,5,6 4. Explain how the “new imperialism” differed from old imperialism. Also, explain how imperialism came to be associated with Social Darwinism? - New imperialism differed from the old imperialism because instead of a country creating a colony and claiming land they just setup trading areas like plantations. This became associated with social Darwinism because it refers to the survival of the fittest of the countries with power.
While the world was rapidly industrializing they began to adapt to their cultures. But in the Middle East they wanted to keep their Empires strong. Each colony that was conquered by Europeans began to become colonized. The White man’s Burden was a poem written by Rudyard Kipling, the poem was basically typical racism and showed that Europeans had superiority. White people should educate and civilize other
African presence 1 Afro- Mexicans Blanca Vazquez BLAS 140A African Presence 2 When we think of Mexico we have this idea of a Western-dominated world and for the most part a falsified creation of Spanish influence. In all history books the Europeans are looked at as the settlers and slave owners that made the American civilization and developed the Americas, however this has been proven to be unreal though substantial evidence. Much research has been done about the misconception that the first Africans to reach the Americas where slaves. The reality is that African culture impacted central America and we see it most emphasized in Mexican culture. Historical accounts, archaeological finds, and