To what extend was the colonisation and decolonisation of Britain’s Africa driven by individuals within Africa? Before the 1870’s Africa was largely unknown to the outside world but, in the 1880’s the scramble of Africa began, where European counties, especially Britain all wanted to colonise Africa. Was the whole reason for British colonising Africa economically or strategically driven or was it led by individuals in Africa (men on the spot) or was it more of a top down process led by the government in Britain? And even though Britain fought so hard to control large parts of Africa it is clear that after World II Britain’s empire was declining especially after India gain independence in 1947. However, the British did try to revive their African empire in the late 40’s and early 50’s but their sudden fall into a steep imperial decline with the Suez crises saw individuals like Macmillan to acknowledge that decolonisation was the only way forward, as it would be more beneficial for Britain to decolonise than to resist the rise of nationalism.
The Rise of Colonialism in Africa Between 1870 and 1900, Europe set out to colonize Africa for their raw materials. Africa was up against invasions of Europe's military and diplomatic pressures. This did not happen without a fight, and Africans were not happy about this attempt to be colonized. With the exception of Ethiopia and Liveria, Africa had been colonized by Europe by the early twentieth century. Europe wanted to set up and colonize in Africa, mainly because of Africa's raw materials it was purely economic.
The reasons for this were the new intellectual ideas coming out of Britain during the industrial revolution, mostly ideas from humanitarian philosophy. Contained in the new, rapid influx of late enlightenment philosophies was this new humanitarian philosophy that all men are created equal. While essentially reiterating most of the Lockian philosophy which dominated pre-slavery times, this put a great emphasis on combating the trend of slavery and breaking down all other barriers that limited any culture of man. The British government eventually came under this philosophy when they officially banned slavery in their country in the early 19th century. This put a huge damper on the triangular trade that put slavery in many other countries and thus led to the downfall of slavery in all modern countries.
After witnessing two thriving centers of capitalism, Nkrumah returned home with hopes of turning his homeland around. One thing that was occurring in Africa and not the United States was a process known as “balkanization”. The United States were strong because they realized that even a confederacy was not adequate to maintain a successful capitalist state. Africa was continually being exploited due to the many isolated governments that could be swayed by powerful foreign investors. One of the examples Nkrumah used was cocoa production.
Imperialism in Africa In 1884, European imperialist nations met at the Berlin Conference and carved Africa up like a cake. Great Britain took Rhodesia, Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa, while Portugal took Angola and Mozambique, and Belgium took the Congo. France set up colonies in Morocco, West Africa, Algeria, and Madagascar, while Italy took Libya and Eritrea, and Spain took Rio de Oro. At the Conference, (which did not include African representatives), Europe based new colonial boundaries on natural resources and disregarded the tribal and ethnic boundaries that had existed for centuries. Enemy tribes were often forced to live together, which resulted in civil wars over the years.
Imperialism: The Scramble for Africa (1880-1900) was a period of rapid colonization of the African continent by European powers. But it wouldn't have happened except for the particular economic, social, and military evolution Europe was going through. In the end Britain and France had the most colonies and Germany lost out so it was also a major contributor to tension in Europe. Nationalism: Triple Entente, an informal alliance among Great Britain, France, and Russia in the period before World War I. It opposed the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
In turn these changes affected attitudes of the British government and public opinion and undoubtedly influenced key decisions about both expansion and dismantlement in Africa. Britain's first intervention in Africa occurred in Egypt. Egypt was part of the Turkish Empire in 1882 but discontent lead to national revolts that scared Britain. Following the purchase of the Suez Canal shares in 1875, British financial and trading interests had grown in the area. Britain could not allow her investments in Egypt jeopardized, as Egypt was a vital route to India.
Research Paper 4 Question: How did imperialism help and eventually hurt powers in Europe? Imperialism helped European powers by giving confidence to the European government. It hurt them by bringing conflict with the British and china causing the Opium war, also a major part of European imperialism was the colonization of Africa and India... The Europeans made a big name for themselves during the late 1800s, early 1900s, they ran through countries like Africa for the fact that they could. They caused a lot of hatred towards them that evolved into more… Along with expanses, there came abusive power from the European countries.
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.
She denies that possibility that Africa can catch up by following the same path of industrialization, technological progress, and capital accumulation as the more developed countries have used. She explains that the peak of evolution has already been reached by industrial countries and white men, and that black people still have more developing to do themselves with a little more effort and more education. One of the points that Mies exemplifies is that even if one of these colonies was to reach what they thought was the “ultimate