Effects Of Imperialism In Africa

As the 20th century approached, more and more countries wanted more and more power. At the end of the 19th century, the Belgian King Leopold sent emissaries to the African Congo to establish trade. This single act caused France, Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal to go over to Africa and do the same. However, the European countries did not just establish trade, they invaded the African territory and took control over it. This became known as the Imperialist Scramble for Africa.1 By the 20th century, Great Britain dominated from Egypt to South Africa, Nigeria, and the Gold Coast; France occupied a vast expanse of west Africa; Germany controlled modern-day Namibia and Tazania; The Portuguese had full control over Mozambique
In some parts, such as Ethiopia and Egypt, Christianity had already been introduced, but for the rest of Africa, Christianity wasn’t introduced until the modern era. Not all missionaries supported the colonialism that was happening, but the missionaries that did, believed that the control the Europeans would have would provide a better environment for the missionaries in Africa. The missionaries that d In the earlier days of colonialism, the Europeans allowed the establishment of private companies to administer in Africa.4 The companies were usually formed by business men who were just interested in exploiting the natural resources of the territories that they were allowed to run business on. The companies were allowed to set up their own labor recruitment and their own systems of taxation. Some European powers provided charters for these companies and did because the company took full responsibility for the expenses and because of this the European countries had the political benefit without the expense. For example, The British East Africa Company colonized Kenya on behalf of Britain and made treaties that
The borders that have been established even today, were drawn out by European nations. Most of the time, the people that drew these borders paid no attention to the different ethnicities or the different political groups that were already established in Africa at the time. Sometimes, people who had never been united before were stuck under the same government. Other times, they just divided the existing government systems at the time of the conquest. The European nations ever took in consideration the different groups of people they were smashing together under one government. Africa was a divided country before the colonization started, and would still be divided even though the different groups were stuck together. They didn’t always speak the same languages, they had different religious beliefs and they had different political