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The Effects Of Capitalism In Africa

751 Words4 Pages
Capitalism has always been an economic system that been practiced in many of the countries around the world such as the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Capitalism can be defined as an economic system in which the investment and ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange of wealth is controlled by private owners for profit (Keith, 2010). Meanwhile, Imperialism can be defined as, “a policy of extending a country’s power and influence through colonization, use of military force, or other means” (Gupta, 2007, p. 423). In the early stages of capitalism, the capture and sale of Africans was an essential source of the original accumulation of capital (Hunt & Lautzenheiser, 2011).
During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the drive to industrialization had managed to captured most of the attention, time and money of the capitalists to “conquer, colonize, subjugate, and exploit the areas of the world lying outside the North Atlantic region where capitalism was born” (Hunt & Lautzenheiser, 2011, p. 347). The industrialized capitalist countries mercilessly subdued areas all over the earth to maximize profit. For example, nearly all (93%) of Africa had been forcefully subjugated to foreign capitalist rule. 40% is conquered by France, 30% had been seized by Britain, whereas Germany, Belgium, Portugal and Spain about 23%.
There are two reasons for the capitalist government to subjugate and dominate other countries. Firstly, they want to establish the
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