04/12/2012
World History II In the 19th century, the new practice of imperialism was becoming popular in western nations. Imperialism is when a stronger nation takes over a weaker nation for multiple reasons. One of the most colonized countries was in Africa during the age of European imperialism. The Europeans had the advantage of being industrialized resulting in Africa becoming colonized by Europe.
During the age of imperialism, the industrial revolution was also taking place. Europe lacked natural resources; Africa had the resources that Europe needed to be successful in industrialization. According to Captain Lugard Europe was looking for new for new markets because the old markets were being closed due tariffs, growth of completion between nations, and becoming too needy on the markets. (Peter, Stephen, and Erwin P. Grieshaber.Documents in World History.5th ed. New York: Pearsons/Longman, 2009. Print.). To stop the tariffs the Europeans decided to colonize instead; they did not need to worry about trade tariffs because they ran the country. Africa was good for shipping because it was surrounded by water. The shipping routes made it easier for the Europeans to ship from Africa. Africa was a golden to Europeans, due to location and the natural resources. Africans were raised differently then Europeans. The people in Europe wanted to reform Africans to become more like them. All the religions in African were either polytheistic or Islamic. Europeans did not approve of those religions; Europeans needed to convert Africans to Christianity. Christian missionaries were used to spread Christianity to Africa. Europeans believed that the Africans believed in witchcraft (165.). It was believed to be witchcraft; the Africans used “magic” to stop danger, win a war, and to end a drought (165.). Witchcraft was also shown by the example of the “Medicine Man”, a person that knows how to cure some diseases that led to many superstitions of the “Medicine Man”(165.) Europeans believed in “The White Man’s Burden” written by Kipling. The theme of this poem is to civilize the uncivilized. Kipling means that the Europeans are better than the Africans; Africans are described as “Half devil and half child” (168.). Europeans felt like they need to help the Africans they were out of control and need a new positive direction in life. Africa was not unified, resulting Africa lacking national and cultural identity. Without being unified, it made it easy for Europeans to imperialize Africa. Africa at the time of imperialism had a high population rate. The birth rate in Africa was double then the birth rate in Europe. Africans were used as slaves to the Europeans. People were stolen from there tribes and sold to Europeans. Slaves had to learn all the ways the Europeans needed them to work for them. They needed to learn carpentry, agriculture, and other forms of labor that Europeans needed from them (165.). The trip to Europe for the slaves was uncertain. The middle passage was a trade route that slaves from Africa go to another colony to work for the Europeans. On the middle passage, many Africans got ill or died before