How Did European Imperialism Affect West Africa
Introduction:
In the beginning of the 19th century a new wave of imperialism, which affected all parts of the world and was very sophisticated in its nature, known as ‘European Imperialism’ started. A strong nationalism of that time (an idea of national superiority) veiled under ‘the Social Darwinist Movement’ (Europeans felt that they had the right to take control over weaker areas/regions) set what is known as ‘a Scramble for Africa’. West Africa was already known/researched/investigated to Europe, but the interior was untouched/undiscovered/very little was known about the inner parts of the continent, so, some/numerous explorers (Charles Darwin) delved deeper into the heart of Africa. The driving forces behind that were technological advances and improvement of tropical medicine, which allowed the military …show more content…
Although some historians believe that imperialism was responsible for the enhancement of the African culture development and that the indigenous people were satisfied with these modernizations, in actuality/reality, Europeans took an advantage of the inferior nations more than truly helped them. Europeans lived at the expense of the Africans, who recieved little or no pay, were deprived, enslaved, and tormented in many ways, for example: women and children were sexually abused/harassed, even cases of phediophelia were common. Colonizers believed that colonized tribes were illiterate/uneducated and undeveloped.
Through imperialism, the Westerns set up a new culture in Africa.
Africans had a somewhat different understanding/perception of their culture.
The cultural changes did not only take place in Africa, actually, the African culture had/left its own impact on European culture too. It was not a unilateral interest but rather a trade. Europeans found inspiration and ideas/got inspired and heavily borrowed from Latin American, Asian, and African cultures (Smith 2000,
In the beginning of the 19th century a new wave of imperialism, which affected all parts of the world and was very sophisticated in its nature, known as ‘European Imperialism’ started. A strong nationalism of that time (an idea of national superiority) veiled under ‘the Social Darwinist Movement’ (Europeans felt that they had the right to take control over weaker areas/regions) set what is known as ‘a Scramble for Africa’. West Africa was already known/researched/investigated to Europe, but the interior was untouched/undiscovered/very little was known about the inner parts of the continent, so, some/numerous explorers (Charles Darwin) delved deeper into the heart of Africa. The driving forces behind that were technological advances and improvement of tropical medicine, which allowed the military …show more content…
Although some historians believe that imperialism was responsible for the enhancement of the African culture development and that the indigenous people were satisfied with these modernizations, in actuality/reality, Europeans took an advantage of the inferior nations more than truly helped them. Europeans lived at the expense of the Africans, who recieved little or no pay, were deprived, enslaved, and tormented in many ways, for example: women and children were sexually abused/harassed, even cases of phediophelia were common. Colonizers believed that colonized tribes were illiterate/uneducated and undeveloped.
Through imperialism, the Westerns set up a new culture in Africa.
Africans had a somewhat different understanding/perception of their culture.
The cultural changes did not only take place in Africa, actually, the African culture had/left its own impact on European culture too. It was not a unilateral interest but rather a trade. Europeans found inspiration and ideas/got inspired and heavily borrowed from Latin American, Asian, and African cultures (Smith 2000,