Imperialism is when a stronger country extends its rule by taking over a weaker country. Between 1500 and 1800 European presence was in africa. There were many reasons why Europeans were in Africa such as religious motivations where christians wanted to spread the religion to the west (Doc 12).Moral reasons Europeans believed they were the most advanced and thought it was their duty to civilize the africans. The europeans felt like they had to improve the Africas “develop for them their territory by the construction of roads, canals, railways, and telegraphs, and by the establishment of schools, newspapers; and to give them the benefit of other blessings of civilization which they have not the facilities for creating”(Analyzing Imperialism).There was also …show more content…
There were tons of raw goods and raw materials in Africa. ALthough Europeans started colonizing in africa in the 1500s “The 19th century in Europe was a time of industrialization. Factories in Europe required raw materials to be manufactured into marketable products” (Doc 12). Not only was Africa full of raw goods and materials, it was also a completely new market where new materials could be sold. Factories were also a big part of the economic plan. A plan the Europeans created was to mineral products from africa and “send raw materials to feed European factories. Raw materials were exported to Europe, who would then re-export them to Africa as final products, sold at high prices. Africans could not afford to pay for these products”(Effects of European Rule). This way Europeans would make products at lower prices and sell them for way higher prices. Europeans would make so much more money selling them in Africa for high prices because Africans would need the food and products and would have to buy them for a lot of money. Selling products made in factories was not the only way that Europeans made money, they also planted cash