Scramble for Africa Imperialism

Background Africa is a huge continent, 3X the size of Europe It’s extremely diverse, hundreds of languages, societies ranging from small villages to large empires There is not “One” Africa. Different tribes in Africa fought with other tribes, just as European nations fought with each other.

European Contact prior to the Scramble Most of the contact was limited to the coast and happened during the Slave Trade. The diseases of the interior (malaria mostly) kept Europeans from getting to far. Then (because of the I.R.) new medicines were created and the steam engine was invented. This allows Europeans to explore much more of Africa.

Missonaries Catholics and Protestants sent hundreds of people to Africa to convert the people to Christianity. They took a “paternalistic” approach to the Africans, believing that they were not as “civilized” as Europeans.

Dr. David Livingstone This guy is legendary for his exploration of Africa. He is responsible for most of the knowledge that Europe had on Africa prior to the Scramble.

Belgium starts the Scramble King Leopold II sent people to explore and colonize the Congo area. Publicly he said he was doing it for the good of the Africans, but privately he just wanted to get rich.

Berlin Conference Organized by Otto von Bismarck (Germany) In order to avoid bloodshed, the European countries sat down and divided up Africa. They agreed to free trade among the colonies and agreed not to interfere with other countries’ colonies.

Social Darwinism This is an idea that applies Darwin’s theory of “natural selection” to human beings. It is the idea of “The Survival of the Fittest.” Europeans believed they were the strongest, which meant they must have been the best, which means it’s natural for them to take over weaker countries.