European Imperialism in Africa

You have 10 minutes to read then history summary sheet and answer the questions

1. Describe what you see

2. What could this symbolize?

3. Is this a negative or positive portrayal?

African Trade [15c-17c]

Imperialism

• Def: a policy or practice by which a country increases its power by gaining control over other areas of the world

• Often involves making other areas colonies of the powerful country• Colony: an area that is controlled by or belongs to a country and is usually far

away from it

Why Colonies in Africa?1. Availability of Raw Materials • Industrial Revolution: Period of time when products start being

produced by machines. (Can make lots at one time)• Countries needed raw materials to make new goods and these were

available in Africa:• Rubber• Cotton• Oil• Tin• Copper

Why Colonies In Africa?

2. Markets• Factories made more goods than the people at home could buy so new

markets were needed to sell products.3. Nationalism: def – patriotic feelings or actions• Colonies will add to the power that the country has.• New countries (Italy and Germany) want to catch up with Great Britain and

France.

Why Colonies in Africa?4. Belief in the need to “civilize” the “backward” peoples of the world.• To Europeans, people who had a different way

of life and a different religion were “backward”• Mission to spread Christianity and

Industrialism everywhere.• “White Man’s Burden” – Racist poem that

becomes famous reason to justify imperialism5. Racism - “Social Darwinism”

• Promoted the idea of the white European race being superior to others, and thus, fated to rule over others

Africa

1890

The Berlin Conference• 1884–85 - A meeting between European nations to to peacefully

divide Africa among them for colonization. There were no Africans present.

(Encouraged European nations to aggressively colonize and exploit Africa's human and natural resources or to lose their claims under the Principle of Effectivity, which allowed signatories of the agreement to jump each other's claims if the claims were not being fully exploited. )

What is meant by the “Scramble for Africa?”

Africa

in

1914

AFRICANS IN AFRICA• By the time of the First World War (1914)–Only 2 independent African countries• Abyssinia (Ethiopia)– Ruled by dynasty stretching back to at least the 13th century– Last emperor was Haile Selassie, deposed in 1974

• Liberia– Formed by freed slaves under auspices of the United States

government

Types of Rule

• Direct Rule: European officials set up governments and laws like those in their home countries. They replaced local rulers with European officials. • Examples: Belgium, Germany, or Portugal.

• Indirect Rule: In this style of governing, African officials and local leaders were allowed to run local governments and community affairs. Europeans were still in charge of final decisions. • Example: Britain

Brutality of European Rule• King Leopold of Belgium – Belgian Congo

Consequences for the European’s arbitrary borders?

Landlocked areas of control?

Borders after independence

What is a result of being a landlocked country?

How did Europe’s arbitrary boundaries impact Africa?:

(Arbitrary def: based on random choice)

Created landlocked countries. Consequence for Africa? • Economic problems for landlocked countries

Divided tribal/ethnic groups. Consequence for Africa?

• Ethnic groups with little in common or frequent conflict were placed in the same country and expected to work together.

• Leads to a lot of civil conflict and even genocide. Genocide = Deliberate killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political, or cultural group