ipl-logo

European Colonialism: European Imperialism In India And The Congo

1106 Words5 Pages

When faced with 19th-century European colonialism, Japan fared the best compared to India and the Congo. The reasons behind European colonization was Industry and social darwinism. Social darwinism is the belief that certain groups of people were genetically predisposed to specific jobs and tasks. Through the theory, Europeans came to believe that because of their predisposition they had the right to rule over others, which is also known as imperialism. Imperialism can be defined as “the takeover of a country or territory by a stronger nation to dominate the political, economic, and social life of the people of that nation.” Moreover, since social darwinism supported imperialism, it, therefore, justified racism. During the time of industrialization …show more content…

In 1908 Belgium took control of the Congo and gained more power which alarmed the French. In response to the conquest of the Congo, France then began to start claiming land in Africa which lead multiple other countries to do the same. This scramble to colonize Africa is called the Scramble for Africa.The Scramble for Africa is a title for the time when Belgium and industrialization created aspiration in European nations to imperialize Africa. They looked to Africa as a new source of resources for their industries as well. To avoid war amongst themselves, they met at the Berlin Conference to address how Africa would be divided. However, in the Congo, this created even more linguistic and tribal issues as some rival tribes were placed in the same territories while others were split. From the very beginning, the Congo was unable to resist Belgium colonization since some rival tribes were already fighting amongst themselves. However, the Berlin Conference increased their resentment for each other by forcing them to live together, which eliminated any option of unity and revolting. Thus, because of their constant fighting and inability to unite, the Congo peoples remained in a position where they had to accept their fate. Additionally, since they were unable to resist European colonization, Africans were forced to collect sap from rubber plants and were mutilated were they not to harvest rubber. Because of this abuse, millions of Congolese died. Therefore, the Congo managed poorly in reaction to European colonization since they were unable to fight back at all, which also lead to the mutilation and death of millions. However, the Congo was not the only place that inadequately fared in

More about European Colonialism: European Imperialism In India And The Congo

Open Document