Narrate the incidents during the Scramble for Africa 5. Describe the results of the Scramble for Africa 6. Identify countries that were colonies by European countries in Africa European imperialism Imperialism is a term that refers to the economic and political domination or control of one country or nation by another one which is technologically and economically more advanced. Therefore, European imperialism was the economic and political domination of other nations world over by European powers. For more than three centuries the European nations had extended their influence and imperialism into other continents such as Asia, Latin America, the West Indies, and Africa.
The countries involved in the ‘Scramble for Africa’ were Britain, France, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Italy. A key economic feature of colonialism was producing and exporting raw materials either agricultural or mineral, precious metals such as gold, silver and copper. Tropical products for luxury consumption such as coffee, sugar, spices, timber and fabrics like cotton. Later when Britain, France and Germany were competing against each other for colonies in Africa in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the international market had changed rapidly with a huge demand for raw materials for manufacturing such as jute, cotton, rubber and sisal (Bernstein, 1992:48). Mass consumption demand such as tea, sugar and vegetable oils (Bernstein, 1992:48).
Colonialism in Africa: The good, the bad and the downright ugly The most parts of Africa spent two generations under colonial rule. The colonization of Africa has a long history, being most noticeable between the 19th and 20th century. The effects of colonialism fall into three categories: good, bad and downright ugly. A good aspect of colonialism in Africa was economical growth. One factor that helped economical expansion was industrialization.
This dissertation focuses on the reaction to colonialism from 1900 to 1964 in Northern Rhodesia. It will begin by giving a brief general historical review of colonialism in Africa, details of the racial attitudes of the British, then proceeds to discuss their respective political administration and finally the reaction of the natives to colonialism. Between the 1870s and 1900s, Africa faced heavy European imperialist aggression, diplomatic pressures, military invasions, and eventual conquest and colonization. At the same time, African societies put up various forms of resistance against the attempt to colonize their countries and impose foreign domination. By the early twentieth century, however, much of Africa, except Ethiopia and Liberia, had been colonized by European powers.
These inventions (refer to Document C for examples) caused great economic expansion across Europe. Yet at the same time, these exact inventions caused for a need of more raw materials. This is where Imperialism began to take shape, because before Imperialism in Africa had begun, there were still many examples of Europeans who’d enslaved africans on their own land. Which meant that once raw materials for machines that needed simple labor in a factory rather than the fields were needed to maintain their great economic boost; whichever European country had the most property in Africa, got to conquer the most land in its entirety (Scramble for Africa). Meaning these now obsolete slaves were being subject to have to watch European countries take over their lands and began industrializing on african soil because of how rich in materials the African land is.
Another thing was that Islam promoted more equalitarian social arrangements that were new and attractive to the Indians. West Africa, experienced both the cultural influence of Islam and its own internal state building, for example, it civilizations had new developments that produced, in some places, great artistic accomplishments. In Africa, the spread of Islam empowered many things. For one Islam provided new influences and contacts without uniting the African cultures The spread of Islam across much of the northern third of Africa produced intense effects on those who converted and those who were against the new faith. Islam also linked Africa more closely to the outside world through trade, religion, and politics.
Access to commodities such as fabrics, spices, and gold motivated a European quest for a faster means to reach South Asia. It was this search that led the Portuguese down the coast of West Africa to Sierra Leone in 1460. Due to several technological and cultural advantages, Portugal dominated world trade for nearly 200 years, from the fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries. While, in the fifteenth century, the rest of Europe was decimated by the Black Plague, Portugal was protected by its physical isolation. Additionally, Portugal had an unusually strong national identity, due to its natural geographic borders, allowing the pooling of the considerable economic resources necessary to fund these ambitious explorations.
Europeans have provided us with many of our everyday gadgets and gizmo's in this modern world through trade. The infinite cycle of trading around the world has shaped our modern world and culture today, consisting of life changing technology and ideas. However, the European presence in Africa, Asia, and the Americas was both a blessing and a curse, impacting and trading with people around the world, but destroying many colonies, cultures, people, and places along the way. In Africa, the European presence brought great impact and unforeseen changes to Africans and their cultures (Ellis 452). This era marked the start of the booming African slave trade, which was opposed by many leaders for the horrible treatment Africans were receiving.
During imperialism, Europeans went into Africa and stripped its land of its resources and this also changed the climate negatively. After stripping Africa of its resources the Europeans left, which left a political power vacuum making it easy for warlords and drug lords to take control. This is how Africa attracted issues like Rwanda and the problems in Somalia today. Africa is now stripped of natural resources which makes it difficult to create a normal lifestyle for inhabitants. Another barrier that does not allow Africa to develop into a prosperous continent is agricultural issues.
Finally, from analyzing these interactions between the Europeans and the natives, it can be seen that the Europeans, to some extent, thought of themselves as superior to the natives they encountered. Through most of the explorations that occurred, trade was the outcome of the economic relationship that was developed between the natives and the explorers. For most of the 15th century, when Africa was being explored, slaves were a commodity. In The Atlantic Crucible, Armesto made this evident, “The economy was geared to slaving, raiding the African coast…” (Armesto, p. 183). Armesto also said, “It was necessary to continue the search further south, and to exploit the chief resource of the region: slaves” (Armesto, p. 193).