Preview

What Are The Consequences Of African American Imperialism

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1261 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Are The Consequences Of African American Imperialism
It was the time that the genocide reached its peak. Hundreds of thousands Congolese were forced to work in the forests. Those who did not follow the order were killed or amputated. During the reign of Leopold, 10 million Congolese were murdered. Edmund Dene Morel, a prominent British journalist who witnessed the atrocities in the Congo, described what the king had done to the Congolese:

Thus, with a stroke of the pen, King Leopold abolished the rights of the natives to the land and its products; thus he swept away their liberty, and the liberty of others, to trade in rubber and ivory; thus he reduced a population of millions of free men and women to virtual slavery; thus he arrogated to himself and his friends the absolute ownership of the
…show more content…
Alexander Herituleac points out that Africa suffered seriously from the consequences of the scramble. For one thing, the nature of colonial exploitation forced Africa to export raw materials to the Western powers and colonialism encouraged competition and conflicts among ethnic groups to benefit the colonial powers at the expense of African states. As such, African economies are vulnerable to the ups and downs of the global markets and unable to develop its economies strong enough to compete at the global stage. For another, the Europeans powers eventually introduced capitalism to the Africans that led to the gap between Africa and the rest of developed world. Alexander Hrituleac further …show more content…
They have created the gap between Africa and other continents that is hard to bridge. In addition, another dire consequence of the scramble was the depletion of valuable resources important to the development of African economies and well-being of the Africans. Settles indicates that the European powers insisted on the production particular products to exclude the development of local economies, which eventually led to inadequacy of the food reserves causing chronic malnutrition and famine. Moreover, under colonialism, agriculture became highly commercialized. As a result, according to Settles, “the commercialization of land provided an avenue of escape for many of the males of the servile and cheap labor force in agriculture and added the price of land to the cost of production. Thus colonialism saw the rise of a large, landless class of laborers who traveled from place to place in search of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    1) Colonization has been prevalent since the age of mankind, likewise with economics. The economics of the world heavily correlates to the pattern of colonization that swept across the globe in the 1700’s. In the eyes of colonizers, their duties were strictly to enlighten the people of these univillied nations while retrieving goods to take back to their people. Going to places like Africa and Asia, natural resources were abundant, so colonizers felt as if taking these goods were not a disservice to the natives, but rather they were spreading the wealth to themselves. For example, the Spanish robbed the Americas of their “gold, spices, cotton palm oil their timber”(p39) all while redirecting the wealth back to Europe. Many colonizers failed to realize the century long ramifications they would create. Conversely, the natives were extremely aware that they were oppressed, attacked and abused.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Imperialism in Africa: Greed is history’s most powerful motivator. Imperialism, a seizure of smaller countries, was very common in Europe in the 1800-1900’s. Commonly, Africa is the victim of imperialism. However, before the Industrial Revolution, malaria, a deadly disease, was incurable, making Africa safe from invasion. After the Industrial Revolution, Europe needed resources and money, causing the sudden need for African colonies.…

    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    For examplocument 1, “The Map of Africa by Treaty” by Sir. Edward Hertslet, it shows how the continent of Africa was divided and occupied by many different countries. These countries include Germany, France and England. The map also depicts independent states. There are few independent states whereas the major countries occupy Africa. Another economic loss of the african imperialism was the economy. Churches would send missionaries to Africa and take photos of the people before and after the natives were “civilized”. To the occupying countries, civilizing the natives was converting them into christianity and introducing them to western ways. The missionaries would attract tourism and donations when showing photos of the natives westernized. For example, Document 3, “Images of Colonial Africa”, These two photos show Kenyans before and after colonization. Before colonization, the Kenyan family depicted in the photo were wearing traditional kenyan clothes as well as standing in front of their mud hut home. The after colonization photo displays a family in westernized clothing in front of a christian church. These photos attracted people from all over to donate to the churches so they could go back to Africa and convert the natives, ruining another…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imperialism is an arrangement of a country’s power being expanded by the impact of diplomatic and military means. The Europeans and British wanted to take over other countries/colonies and imperialized for new natural resources, new markets, and the belief in European superiority. The first reason the imperialized is because they would get the new natural resources of that land such as copper, tin, gold, and diamonds. They were in control of or owned those resources. Another reason the British imperialized was because of the new markets they could sell to, which helped them gain more customers, since they ran the government they got to determine where people buy things from. The last reason they imperialized is because they were racist and thought they were the best which is the belief in European superiority. The idea of imperializing was becoming very popular during this…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With Africa's forced consent to European rule they start the drain of there resources and the creation of a stagnant economy that has to rely upon its ruling country for aid. The ruling country in turn has free reign to fully exploit the resources of the colony in a way that creates gigantic profit for them but leads to a declining rate of living by the African people and harsh working conditions. Because of this the African population began to become poverty stricken. Disease spread at a greater rate and yearly death rates began to rise.…

    • 1092 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imperialism Autosaved

    • 909 Words
    • 3 Pages

    During the 1800’s, seven European nations were taking land from Africa for themselves without the consent of the Africans. This is known as Imperialism; imperialism is an action by a strong nation to take control of another country. In this case Europe was the strong nation, and it was taking control of Africa. Many asked themselves why the Europeans were engaging in Imperialism. The European nations were engaging in imperialism for political factors and cultural causes because they wanted to gain power and spread their culture. However, the primary cause for engaging in imperialism was economic. European nations competed against one another to exploit Africa’s natural resources for financial gain.…

    • 909 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Belgium saw them as an easy target with big profits and imperialized. Belgium, as a western nation, also agreed to the ideas of Social Darwinism, the belief that the white European was better than the rest of the people in the world, chiefly based on their physical features. Simply put, they were racist. Most Europeans fell into this belief, but the Belgian people took this to an extreme. They enslaved the native people of Congo in their own country and forced work upon them. Quotas and taxes were created to ensure certain amounts of raw materials were gathered and harsh punishments were put into action for those who didn’t complete or meet their requirements. According to Mark Twain, “The amount of rubber needed to meet the tax requires the men to work for up 25 days each month harvesting the wild rubber vines in the Congo forest” [3]. According to this that would leave only 5 days a month for “regular” life for the Congolese people. They did not have the time or resources to educate themselves, make money, or to develop. In 1908 the Belgian government gave the natives better treatment, by taking away the direct ownership of the nation from Leopold and they made it an official colony of the Belgian government [4]. This decision came through by putting humanitarian pressure put on King Leopold. Conditions improved, schools, hospitals, and roads were built, but the cruelty and racism was still their because of the history they had of it. Also, the punishment, crimes, and cruelty was all that the people understood because they were forced to live in it their entire lives, and it was a hard to shift back. Even in today’s world, this industrialization and these policies have left a scar on the Congos. In both the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic Of Congo there is still political unrest and constant violence. On December 17, there were 22…

    • 1768 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Again Europe turned Africa from a already stabled and established continent to a divided un-structured warland. Economically, Africa struggled before imperialism. They had problems finding ways to equally disperse money which therefore lead to some parts of Africa to battle hunger. The jobs they provided also did not pay the employees well which made it hard for citizens to live stable lives.…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Spanish soon found themselves in a war with the Zulu tribe. The Zulu was able to drive the Spanish back with a surprise attack. The second attack however, the Spanish would be ready. The Spanish circled their wagons and used the circle as a stronghold. The Spanish used their rifles to completely decimate the Zulu people and won the Battle of Blood River. The Zulus joined New Guineans and the Incas on the list of unlucky civilizations. The Europeans implemented railroads for transport across Africa. Around this time, the Europeans developed the world’s first automatic gun. The weapon was unstoppable and it overwhelmed and overcame any attackers. With the power the Europeans now possessed, they began to extract Africa’s wealth for their own profit. However, the Africans had germs on their side. The Africans traveled in small groups and in strategic areas to prevent disease. The Africans also had some immunity to the diseases present on Africa. The Europeans were placed in the same situation the Incas were in. Many of them died due to the disease. The Europeans also did not know how to farm on the more northern African land because the climate was so much different. The Africans had knowledge of tropical farming but the Europeans did not. Many of the European animals also died from disease. The Europeans’ thirst would not die as they continued to take advantage of Africa. The Belgians destroyed African villages and forced Africans to work in mines. The consequences of grouping the Africans in large towns were and continue to be catastrophic. Africans lived in small groups to prevent disease but the Belgians forced them to join together. This led to the rapid spread of disease and the destruction of the old African ways. In the present day Malaria robs Africa of both its people and its money. Africa’s disease riddled counties are a result of their geography. Their fate was also sealed long before guns, germs, and…

    • 1176 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    After World War II, the people of Africa fought to end the effects of European imperialism in order to achieve political independence and reclaim African culture. However, tensions caused by artificial political boundaries established by European powers exacerbated preexisting tribal and religious divisions. The newly ‘freed’ African states were unstable and struggled to deal with these conflicts, often resulting in civil wars and genocide. During this struggle, Africa received very little support to help develop African economies or governments from the very countries who caused Africa’s weak infrastructure. 19th-century European imperialism was a major factor in causing the political weakness within African states, but the fact that the solution…

    • 1720 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Throughout history, nations have tried to ‘compete’ with each other in almost every respect, trying to become the biggest world power. One way to do this is by developing colonies: this increases land supply as well as the abundance of resources, thus improving the economy. Africa was a generally underdeveloped continent with weak, decentralized political structures that could be easily conquered by western militaries, who wanted to colonize there to use the raw materials and human labor to improve their economy. While Belgians who were imperializing the Congo in the 19th century believed and justified their actions by saying they were helping the conquered peoples to advance and “catch up” to the West technologically and culturally, in reality…

    • 1705 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    History books like to paint the practice of colonization as a peaceful movement, but reality tells a different a tale. The colonization of America, for example, resulted in massive deaths, rapes, and pillages of Native American tribes and communities who had inhabited the land centuries before the Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower. Much like the Native Americans, Africans were subject to this same type of abuse. Affluent European nations such as Britain, Germany, and Italy took it upon themselves to claim all the sovereign countries of Africa with a bogus claim of wanting to “civilize” the people of these nations. Missionaries came by the boatloads in an effort to rid Africans of their already established religious beliefs and convert them…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imperialism In Africa

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How has the scramble for Africa affected Africans? Europeans have always been known to take over many territories. For example, the British have expanded their empire to Australia, Asia, and even the Americas. Although these changes have made what the world is today, nothing has changed more than Africa. Before Colonialism occurred, Africa traded with other parts of the world for centuries (RP #1). In the nineteenth century, the Europeans started to notice that Africa could be a “gold mine” for their own economy. As more Europeans started to invade Africa, much of Imperialism took place. The two main reasons for Imperialism and Colonialism in Africa were for trade and territorial control.…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Before European imperialism reached Africa, the African people lived in villages and had agricultural economies. When the Europeans spread into inland Africa and started colonize the land, the life of natives drastically changed. The Europeans came into Africa, took over the land and began to dictate and deceive the Africans for European gain. The Europeans brought an active and more worldly economy to Africa, but they did not let the natives constructively participate or benefit from this new system. European imperialism was harmful to Africa in several ways, as when the Europeans came over, so came a significant loss of life to natives and famine, and a division of culture that brought conflict into tribes, and a loss of land and resources,…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays
    • 1645 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays