Impact Of Colonialism In Africa

2. One of the key impact/effects of the European colonial rule in Africa was the integration of African economies into a global capitalist economy. Drawing from your textbook and discussions, explore the transformations of the African economy during the colonial rule. Be sure to discuss such sectors as agriculture, transportation, mining and labor.

The systematic expansion of the Europeans which involves the control of territory and people across the world is what is known as “colonialism”. Although colonialism did not take its root in Africa as it dates back to the 16th century, but Africa was the last wave of colonialism. This European expansion in Africa had occasioned a scramble at the Berlin Conference of 1885 and was not the first of

The exploitation of the resources of Africa, 'animal, vegetable and mineral', for the sole benefit of the colonial powers and their mercantile, mining and financial companies in the metropolitan countries were the primary motivation for colonialism as they had overtime had some level of influence in the continent. These Africa Countries were seen as a way out of the depression with the creation of more market and selling of their overproduced goods. They also needed larger amount of raw materials at a cheaper rate due to the progress of the Industrial Revolution so they invested their surplus capital in those places where they could get cheap labors and in turn make more profits in

The colonialist focused on transportation sector because of its importance in furthering European mining interests while as well in the aspect of agriculture, the transportation was largely to connect the agriculturally rich areas. They connected areas of high economic potentials. In a global capitalist market, an infrastructure investment brings about economic change which reduces trade costs and integrating markets. The transportation in colonial Africa brings a transportation revolution, because trade costs were extremely high before.

Africa’s exports were comprised of raw materials such as oil, copper, cotton, coffee, and cocoa. In the agricultural sector, the growth of cash crops reached such an extreme during the decades of colonialism that food had to be imported, while industrial development was thwarted in Africa itself because manufacturing and the processing of raw materials happened exclusively overseas.

Meanwhile, “colonial investments focused on infrastructure supporting export/import transportation rather than focusing on transforming and improving local productive