European Imperialism In Africa

African Imperialism begins first with the major European powers scrambling for resources within the mostly unexplored continent in the 1870s. This, however, eventually evolved into conflicts between European powers and a conference held by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in Berlin in 1884 (Edgar, Civilizations Past & Present, vol. 2, 738). This conference resulted in the colonization of Africa to happen at an increasingly faster rate than what was seen in other parts of the world. This resulted in drastic changes for both the continent of Africa as well as the people. European rule over Africa brought change to all parts of African’s life’s and country, including the political, social, economic, and religious aspects.

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This was primarily for economic reasons that will have lasting effects on African nations as it not only changed their economy, but their entire means of survival. The land that was taken from Africans was the most arable land that they previously grew their own food on. However, because of the Europeans, the land was now to be devoted to growing their cash crops, such as coffee and oil palms. The output of these crops was now determined their survival, not whether they could grow a substantial amount of food for themselves and their family. As with the case within the Congo, some Africans were forced into slavery and others were held hostage until sufficient quotas were meet. Also in the case of the Congo, European colonization brought death to millions of Africans (Edgar, Civilizations,751), all for economical gain. Diamond and gold also further tied together the economies of Europe and Africa, the same way cash crops did. Despite Africa being their homeland, Africans were not considered citizens of European countries and thus were not allowed to hold stakes in the mines or own land in the locations that were taken for cash crops, however, they were expected to still pay hefty taxes. European economics and the demand for African goods also changed the demographic of the Congo, millions of Africans were slaughtered while white European immigrant workers had to come into the country to provide labor for the now vacant positions. (Edgar, Civilizations, 751) Some areas of Africa did become industrialized because of the need to transport goods and some did benefit from this instillation of roads and railways. However, trading routes that were in place in Africa long before the Europeans came and colonized were in some cases lost to the much faster and reliable railways. Although this change seems beneficial, it left some African societies without