Scramble for Africa
What were the major historical factors explaining ‘the scramble for Africa’?
In order to approach this essay question, my analysis will be divided into two parts. The first section will define what the scramble for Africa means. In the subsequent sections, I will refer to the case history of colonization of Africa by some European countries, the motives behind their actions and its consequences on Africa particularly.
The scramble for Africa was described as the golden period of European expansionism in the 19th century. It was an age in which the continents of Africa, Asia and Middle Eastern states were brought under the control of European powers following the Berlin Conference from 1884 to 1885. Hobsbawm (1987: 56) describes the period as an era of empire since it evolved out a new type of imperialism which is based on an ancient notion referred to as the age of “emperors”. It was a period in which European superpower nations such as Great Britain, France, and Portugal, to mention but a few, emerged economically strong following rapid industrialisation, with the objective to pursue national interests overseas.
The scramble for Africa started when the benefit of industrial revolution gave rise to unprecedented expansion in the production of goods and services, which needed to be exported to outlandish markets. For the partition and the haggling that went it did not come out of the blue. It was orchestrated by a combination of factors and conditions under which European powers faced in their metropolitan countries at the time. Having lost their North and South American colonies, Australasia and the Pacific rim interests at the turn of the century, the European powers turned their searchlight to Africa, Asia and the Middle East for new markets by consolidating previously held trading posts and sea route communications and grabbing new territories along the way; hence the scramble for Africa. The partition has been described as one of the most important turning
In order to approach this essay question, my analysis will be divided into two parts. The first section will define what the scramble for Africa means. In the subsequent sections, I will refer to the case history of colonization of Africa by some European countries, the motives behind their actions and its consequences on Africa particularly.
The scramble for Africa was described as the golden period of European expansionism in the 19th century. It was an age in which the continents of Africa, Asia and Middle Eastern states were brought under the control of European powers following the Berlin Conference from 1884 to 1885. Hobsbawm (1987: 56) describes the period as an era of empire since it evolved out a new type of imperialism which is based on an ancient notion referred to as the age of “emperors”. It was a period in which European superpower nations such as Great Britain, France, and Portugal, to mention but a few, emerged economically strong following rapid industrialisation, with the objective to pursue national interests overseas.
The scramble for Africa started when the benefit of industrial revolution gave rise to unprecedented expansion in the production of goods and services, which needed to be exported to outlandish markets. For the partition and the haggling that went it did not come out of the blue. It was orchestrated by a combination of factors and conditions under which European powers faced in their metropolitan countries at the time. Having lost their North and South American colonies, Australasia and the Pacific rim interests at the turn of the century, the European powers turned their searchlight to Africa, Asia and the Middle East for new markets by consolidating previously held trading posts and sea route communications and grabbing new territories along the way; hence the scramble for Africa. The partition has been described as one of the most important turning
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