19th Century African American Imperialism

In the 19th century England, the wealthy Victorians enjoyed exotic luxuries from the British colonies. British companies gained immense power and riches by exploiting the colonies, the government gained more power and influence against their competitors with the Empire taking up more territory than ever. Even the missionaries and explorers benefitted financially like never before towards the end of the century through books . In order to understand the happenings during the last decades, the causes leading to it must be sought out first. Brantlinger points out: “…the Dark Continent developed during the transition from the main British campaign against the slave trade, which culminated in the outlawing of slavery in all British territory in 1833, to the imperialist partitioning of Africa which
The ability to implement the senses when narrating the happening in the colonies, brought closeness and curiosity into the minds of the Victorians, enhancing the view upon imperialism likewise. In 1856, Charles Darwin’s “Origin of Species” brought the concept ‘survival of the fittest’ . Consequently, the principle empowered the imperialistic ideology by justifying the British Empire’s spread due to the empowered sense of British sovereignty. By placing British natives first social Darwinism began to generate a certain view of the African people, not to mention the other indigenous people in the other colonies. This became evident by the rhetoric used in the later decades where Brantlinger expressed the literary change accordingly, “…antislavery literature is that the Romantics, unlike the Victorians, were able to envisage Africans living freely and happily without European interference.” . Therefore, the first half of 19th century acted as the ignition to the view on imperialism during the