European Imperialism In Africa

The main three purposes for imperialism in Africa are economics, national pride and cultural superiority. Africa has become its own self-sustaining community with tribes that would soon be dominated by European influence and imperialism. By the year of 1850 only 10% of Africa had been claimed by Europe. Europe’s main goal was to imperialize as much land as they could. To imperialize the means when a country takes over an area of land through force and violence. Economics is one of the main driving forces for imperialism in Africa. Economics is the production and consumption of goods and the transfer of wealth to obtain those goods. Nationalism is the pride in ones country. Cultural Superiority is when one ethnicity believes that they are better

King Leopold made money off of the Congo Free State, he made money off of ivory and rubber, these were two of the many natural resources in Africa. Many countries were mesmerized by the extensive resources in Africa, these countries realized that they could increase their capital by collecting these valuable resources. Powerful countries like Italy, England, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium and Portugal attended the Berlin Conference in 1884 and 1885. The Berlin Conference was a meeting that seven powerful countries attended to divide up Africa reasonably and peacefully by the Rule of Occupation. The only reason for the conference was fear that war would occur by countries fighting over resources. National pride was one of the three driving forces for imperialism in Africa. Europe was a very powerful area in the 19th century. Nationalism took place in the 19th century because Europe wanted to show its greatness through dominance and imperialism in Africa. John Ruskin a professor at Oxford University held a lecture in the year of 1870 that was about making England a royal throne of kings again and imperializing every area of land that England could get their hands on. England ended up being one of the most powerful countries (other than the United States of course) with fifteen to sixteen colonies in