Imperialism and Colonization

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Imperialism and Colonization
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International trade

• Countries need to get their hands on raw
  materials to manufacture goods.
• This is done through international trade.
• These manufactured goods are then sold to other
  countries for profit all around the world.
• Some countries do not benefit from World trade.

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• Powerful countries make lots of profit by
  exploiting the raw materials from poorer
  countries.
• Poorer countries are desperate for business and
  are not in a strong position to take a stand and
  demand for better deals.

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Nationalist movements (18th century)

• Colonies that were once controlled by
  imperialists started fighting for independence.
• The United States became a nation in 1783.
• South American colonies, such as Bolivia, Brazil,
  Colombia, Argentina, Chile and Peru forced
  Portugal and Spain to grant them independence in
  the late 19th century.

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The abolition of slavery

• African slaves were forced to work on the
  plantations in America.
• This violated human rights.
• European church groups saw slavery as going
  against Christian values.
• European countries were pressured to put an end
  to the practise of slavery ( slave trade and
  slave labour).

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• By 1850
• Most plantation colonies had become nations.
• Europeans stopped hunting and trading Africans.
• In 1848, the government of France wrote a set of
  laws that ended slavery in the French colonies.
• Article 1 stated that slavery was abolished in
  all the colonies
• Article 8 forbade any Frenchman to possess, to
  buy and to sell slaves etc.

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Then

• Europe began colonizing Africa, Asia and the
  South Sea Islands (1850s).
• 1. Economic motive
• Europe had most of the worlds factories.
• Europe, however, needed
• raw materials to make things
• more places to sell factory-made goods
• To invest money in new companies
• European countries needed raw materials from
  other countries.

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• 2. Political and social motives
• Controlling other countries gave them prestige.
• Europe was overpopulated and needed more space
  (encouraged emigration/exiled).
• Nearly 50 million Europeans emigrated to the
  colonies by the mid-19th century.

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How did Europeans colonize Africa?

• By 1914, Europe had explored and taken almost
  complete control of Africa.
• Africans were taken over by force.
• The main colonizers were United Kingdom, France,
  Belgium and Germany.
• Why explore Africa?
• Continent had lots of natural resources.
• Excellent soil and climate for growing crops.

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• After conquering the coast of Africa, the
  Europeans began exploring the interior.
• Unarmed Africans were no match for the aggressive
  Europeans.

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The Berlin Conference

• Other Europeans hoped to have a share in Africa
  too.
• Their race to take possession of it was called
  the scramble for Africa.
• The meeting was organised by German Chancellor
  Otto von Bismarck and represented 15 countries.
• The purpose of this meeting was to settle the
  differences between European countries competing
  for African colonies.

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Agreement included

1. Everyone could use the Congo and Nile rivers for
   shipping.
2. Slavery and the slave trade was prohibited (not
   allowed).
3. Importing weapons into Africa was not allowed.
4. To take possession of a region, a colonizing
   country must occupy it (must build and settle on
   it).

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European imperialism in Africa

• Imperialism is a system in which a rich and
  powerful country controls other countries.
• Racial discrimination based on racist mentality
• Europeans felt superior to Africans.
• Europeans felt it was necessary to civilize
  Africans because they were inferior.
• The idea of superiority was promoted through
  newspapers and school textbooks.

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Economic exploitation

• European businessmen made their way into Africa
  and built canals, roads, and railway lines to
  transport raw materials to their ships.
• Mines were built to exploit natural resources
  too.
• Africans workers earned low wages.
• They worked under horrible work conditions.

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• The continent of Africa was solely used by the
  Europeans to exploit raw materials.
• In other words, the Europeans did not care about
  the African people just what their land had to
  offer.
• Raw materials were made into finished products in
  Europe.
• This left all the good manufacturing jobs to the
  Europeans.

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Suez Canal

• The canal was strategically important to the
  British and other European powers.
• It was Britain's ocean link with her colonies.

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• The colonies could only trade with their mother
  countries. This is called a colonial pact.
• The colonies were forced to provide raw materials
  to their mother countries at a ridiculously low
  price.
• In turn, the mother countries would transform
  these raw materials into finished products and
  set it to the African colonies for profit.
• Europe used this system to control the world.
• The colonies did not benefit from this system.

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Resistance to colonization

• Some colonies began to criticize Europe's
  domination over Africa as early as the 1890s.
• Journalists and politicians began to criticize
  and challenge Europe's presence in Africa.
• There were protests in the colonies as well.
• At first resistance and protests were
  unsuccessful as Europe continued dominating over
  Africa.

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What were the 3 effects of European imperialism

• 1. Economic effects
• Colonization allowed European countries to
  prosper (To do financially well ) and left
  African countries really poor.
• All of the manufacturing jobs were found in
  Europe.

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• By the 1950's, Africa won their freedom from the
  Europeans, but they were left without any
  factories, transportation infrastructure (roads,
  sewers, highways etc.).
• Africa also had no capital. They had no money in
  government banks.

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2. Cultural effects

• Many Africans converted to Christianity.
• Africans attended European-built schools and
  learned their conqueror's language, history, and
  way of life.

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3. Human and political effects

• Africans who protested were killed.
• Others died because of harsh work conditions and
  cruel punishments.
• Europeans also passed discriminatory laws.
• For example Blacks were not allowed to live in
  white neighbourhoods in the Congo.

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• Europeans re-arranged existing African
  territories and kingdoms.
• By doing this, they forced different ethnic and
  religious groups to co-exist in the same regions.
• This led to ongoing conflicts and wars once the
  Europeans left.

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Effects of European Imperialism on international
relations

• Europeans still fought over the division of
  Africa in spite of the agreement made at the
  Berlin conference in 1885.
• Two (2) significant conflicts
• In 1898, the UK and France fought over Sudan.
• They both wanted to control the Nile river. The
  UK won control.

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• From 1905-6 and 1911, France and Germany disputed
  over Morocco.
• In 1913, the arms race between the United
  Kingdom, France, and Germany began to intensify!
• World War One in 1914!
• These 3 countries were highly industrialized and
  had the technology to make large quantities of
  weapons.