Imperialism In Africa Essay

Political and economic factors were primarily responsible for bringing about western imperialism in Africa and Asia. While social factors were important, money and power were primarily at the root. The Berlin Conference was a meeting of major European powers with the express purpose of divvying up the African continent so that they, the Europeans, could make a major profit and gain new territories. This then opened new markets for trade for European manufacturers, who were already experiencing the problem of making more than Europeans could consume; new markets were needed. The addition of territory provided not only those new markets but raw materials for which to fuel growth in those new markets. It was a heavy mix of politics and economics that drove Imperial growth.
The Berlin Conference was a meeting of all Europe to decide who got what parts of Africa and they used “the principle of effective occupations” to do so. The principle of occupation was an idea where if a European country had a flag on a certain part of africa it belonged to them. This principle was a major help to the Europeans when they conquered Africa because they had to do very little to control it. However, the goal of the Berlin
Trade can be a profitable enterprise that brings money into a country; the more money a country has the stronger they could be. The demand for raw materials was very high so the country with the most raw material was going to make more profitable trade, or there was a possibility of the Europeans taking it over. The United States found successes with this trade model due to their overabundance of raw material. This overabundance could make The United states would be rich if they could set up more trade points than they currently had. The United States not only traded with Europe but they also made a profit and gained what they wanted by trading with other countries like the Philippines and