From 1875-1914 Imperialism was part of our world, people saw it from different angles and had a variety of opinions. I believe humanity took a step back during this age of imperialism for many different reasons. This idea of imperialism was used to show power and had an impact such as; taking all of Africa’s recourses, they taxed everything and treated them as inferior, and finally it lead to wars between the Africans and the Europeans. These impacts also turned later into bigger more worldwide problems.
The first reason humanity took a step backward during this time period was; they took all of Africa’s resources and left them with nothing. First they took al of their crops and the animals that allowed them to live their daily lives. Not only di they take resources that affected them right now but also resources that would affect them in later years such as; gold, iron, and other valuable elements. This took money away from the people there,
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Because the European leaders held the berlin conference without any African leaders, the borders of the colonies stirred up many African civilizations. Many different ethnic, religiously and culturally diverse merged together. Along with these disputes there were much larger disputes with the European countries, which had white men coming and saying the land was theirs. The people wee confused but then forced to do manual labor and do anything they were told. They were told to mine minerals from the earth so the Europeans could make money. Any human does not like to be bossed around by other people so soon the Africans started to turn and fight the Europeans. This fights turned into wars and lead to a large amount of deaths for the African population. People of all ages wee murdered by the new killing machine, the machine gun. This is another reason why I believe humanity took a step back during this time
Around 300 and 1400 BCE Africa had many achievements, but then the Europeans showed up and mess everything up. Acording to documents one and eight, it shows many trade routes that had been developed throughout Africa and now it is an important international trading center. In documents two and three wealth was an important thing in Africa that had contributed to many things that was used in so many ways in Africa. In documents two, four, five, six, seven, and eight there were many rulers and travelers throughout Africa that had many influences on Africa achievements, that had eventually gone downhill.
Europe’s colonization upon Africa transformed their society however the differences between these civilizations forced changes upon Africa’s society and past cultures and
European nations exported goods such as, cotton, palm oil, coffee, sugar, rubber, ivory, gum, copper, zinc, lead, coal, and diamonds, and more. A faster way of collecting resources was owning slaves and having them do the job of going to get the resources, they weren’t paid so it saved the Europeans a lot of money, and a lot of time. But it still wasn’t fair for European nations just to invade a land and then have the people that previously lived there work for you it's just so discourteous to the African people. Along with that the people were forced to extract resources from their land and give it up to the Europeans and if they did not meet their quota they were punished harshly sometimes even getting their hands cut
Until the early 1800’s the colonies of Africa were unknown to the people of Europe, but since the late 1800’s almost 90 percent of the African colonies were controlled by European countries, such as Spain, Britain, Germany according to the video about European imperialism we watched in class. The European in the 1900’s has done enormous amount of damage to Africa. The major point that the Africans lost during this time period was there sudden change in lifestyle. The changes included loss of someone close to them, forced to join the military, sold as a slave and many others.
European expansion into Africa created great controversy. Within approximately half of a century, Europeans had gained control of all African lands except for Ethiopia and Liberia, (Doc. 4). By taking their land and power, European nationalism had occupied full control of the continent. Technology also played an important role in the removal of many occupations. Since machinery was taking the place of workers, factories needed less workers to operate the equipment.
Many Europeans did not treat the Africans well. Many colonists started colonizing in the New World for three main reasons: God, Gold, and Glory. Colonists met Native Americans there and wanted the Native Americans to work for the them, which led to bad treatment of the Native Americans and also led to slavery. The Industrial Revolution soon started and people needed more natural resources for all the resources being produced. During the 19th Century, many Boers made colonies, land controlled by another country, on the land lended to them by Africans; soon afterward the colonizers started deceiving the African.
After the European nations took over many colonies, the European nations produced raw materials for themselves. The European nations conquering other nations leaves the native people in needs of money. The African culture was dominated by the Europeans and they were forced to learn the bible. The nations that were colonized by the Europeans, their government becomes weak and unable to help the native people. The Industrial Revolution and the Imperialism have many negative and positive effects on both the European nations and their
The reason being that new cultures were forced on them to follow and they were mistreated. As demonstrated in Doc# 6, most of Africans in 1850 were free, however, in 1914 almost all of Africa was controlled by European countries. Connecting to Doc# 7,” They were all rapacious, they all subserved the needs of the subject lands to their own demands; they all circumcised human rights…” Nevertheless, since they had taken control of the African land, their natural rights were limited and their land was taken advantage of by the western countries. Something else about this topic is the scramble of Africa, whereas Imperialist powers were dividing Africa between themselves after most of the fertile land was taken by the British.
The industrial revolution propelled African imperialism to a level the world had never seen before. During the late 19th century, borders in Europe became difficult to alter and the only way to expand was in other continents like Africa. Europe exposed Africa’s weakness and preyed on them, leaving the continent in disarray. The industrial revolution induced African imperialism for economic prosperity, the rise in cultural and social power, and political motives. Economic prosperity had a major impact on the advancement of African imperialism.
Europeans wanted to have power over Africa so that they can access an abundance of natural resources. The Europeans were able to receive natural resources and the Africans made it possible. They worked hard to mine resources in harsh conditions and were used a free labor. The labor that these Africans produced resulted in the Europeans being wealthy. Imperialism created instability because the African workers did most of the hard work and the “uncivilized people” were forced to change their ways.
“Imperialism is a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force” Dictionary Definition of Imperialism. In 1750 - 1900, European countries wanted to build empires all over the world; they wanted to provide materials for industrialization. Even though European countries, like France, Great Britain and Portugal, had very few establishments in Africa, they were constantly trading with them. Later, as Europeans tried conquer African land, native people became frustrated and upset; in response to imperialism. As Europeans states industrialized, they wanted to expand overseas and establish colonies in Africa.
That was the period the African first experienced the bicycle and named it “iron horse” out of delight. That was the period the educated Africans also started teaching their fellow Africans. That was the period the peace and monopoly enjoyed over centuries by African spiritualists got threatened. Christian doctrine gradually replaced the worshipping of wood and
Document C This document represents the many discoveries and inventions that helped Europeans take over Africa. The most important invention on this document is the discovery of quinine from cinchona tree bark. This is because, as the document says, this was used as a treatment for the disease malaria, which prevented much of the population from developing this deadly disease.
One major effect of European imperialism on Africa was the sudden, dramatic amount of poverty. During the "Scramble for Africa", Europeans drained all resources and money out of Africa, leaving indigenous peoples with nothing. There was also an increase in disease and fighting amongst tribes in Africa, due to Europeans drawing borders that separated some friendly tribes and forced others to live together with their mortal enemies. After WWII, when Europeans abandoned their African colonies, many were able to claim independence. However, since the indigenous people had not been allowed in positions of power while existing in a colony, they had no leadership skills to govern themselves, and many nations fell apart under corrupt rulers.
After the Great Depression, the need for raw materials grew and many countries fought over valuable land for resources. One of these big struggles was called the scramble for africa, where many countries fought over several parts of africa with only one thing on their mind, money. They wanted the raw materials mainly but covered up the fact that they were enslaving and obliterating many cultures by calling it civilization. The white Men from Europe thought that they were a superior race and decided they needed more people like them, so they destroyed colonies and tried to civilize the people of Africa. On the other end markets increase, starting a modern economic system, and establishing new ways of travel.