Reasons For European Imperialism In Africa

European countries all want a piece of Africa. Think of it like a birthday party, everybody wants the biggest piece of the cake. Why do they want the biggest piece of the cake? Is it because they want to brag, get more food, or simply because cake is good? Even though we only want cake not African countries, it it still a good example because it still shows you how much Europe really wanted the biggest piece of Africa. Here is some history on European imperialism in Africa. In the early nineteenth century European countries took over Africa, to do that they sat down and had a long discussion about the countries that they wanted to claim as their own. They did it in this way so it would be peaceful and would not cause a war against each other. Even though they did this they it still was not fair for all of the countries. This may seem like a weekend trip to you but it actually took 50 years to sort out. What I am proving to you today is what was the driving force behind European imperialism in Africa. Though there are many causes of the European imperialism in Africa, today I am going to focus on three reasons for the European imperialism in Africa. The three reasons I am going to focus on today are national competition, cultural beliefs, and economics.
The first reason for the European imperialism in Africa is national
competition. My evidence is shown in document B. My first piece of evidence is in Ruskin's excerpt, it says “That there first aim is to be advance the power of england by land by sea.” this shows that they want England to be the best in land and sea fighting and and army. My second evidence is in the excerpt by Fabri it states “Germany reich centuries ago was at peak of the states in Europe it was number one trade and sea power” this shows that they were the best and now they need and want to gain back that power and be the best in europe.
The second reason for imperialism in Africa is cultural beliefs. My evidence is in document F. My first piece of evidence is in the white man's burden by Kipling it states “fill full the mouth of famine and bid the sickness cease” this is saying that they think that they need help because of their culture and that there not surviving he states in other parts of his poem that there culture is the problem also that his culture is better and that if they worship his culture they will survive and his god will help them. My second piece of evidence is in the poem by Khumalo it is “at last when well in reach he darts out his tongue and the fly disappears. England is that chameleon and I am that fly.” this shows that he feels that his land is being taken away from him because of his culture and their own cultural beliefs.
My third and final reason for imperialism in Africa is economics.
My evidence is shown in document E. My first piece of evidence is in imports and exports to south Sahara. My evidence is shown in document E. It shows that the Europeans got about four million pounds from imports in 1854 and only three million pounds from the exports. This shows that they must not have known the true value of the exports compared to the values of imports. In 1900 the Europeans earned eight million pounds from imports and twenty one million in exports. This shows that they now found out that the value of the exports are way higher than the value of
imports.
Although there are many reasons for european imperialism in Africa including national competition, cultural beliefs, and economics. I think that economics are the most important. I think it is the most important because there were more countries in it for the money than for their culture or the competition. Most of these European countries want money, resources, and power which all comes through the economics and how much money you have. the european imperialism in Africa still has a very large effect on how we live our lives today.