Ch. 14

 Seizure of a country or territory by a stronger country  Stronger country controls political, economic and social life of weaker country

 Raw materials  New markets  National pride ◦ Empire = national greatness  Religion ◦ End evil practices ◦ Slave trade

 White Europeans believed they were better  Social Darwinism ◦ Superior people should rule ◦ Non-Europeans seen as inferior  Duty of Europeans to “civilize,” “Westernize”  White Man’s Burden

 Mid-1800s ◦ Hundreds of ethnic groups ◦ 1,000s of languages  Europe controls 10% ◦ Could not travel in-land ◦ Disease  Africans control own trade networks

 Technological superiority ◦ Steam engine and ships ◦ Railroads ◦ Telegraph cables ◦ Machine guns ◦ Quanine  Protected Europeans from malaria

 King Leopold II of Belgium ◦ Claimed wanted end to slave trade  Increase Christianity ◦ Real goal was rubber  10 million die because of abuse  Other nations alarmed by Belgian control

 Scramble for territory begins in 1880 ◦ Discovery of diamonds in 1867 ◦ Gold

 14 European countries   Rules for division of Africa ◦ Notify others of claim ◦ Show they could control it  No African rulers invited  1914 – only Ethiopia and Liberia independent

 Demand for Raw Materials Shapes Colonies ◦ Countries think Africans will buy goods  Wrong

◦ Main source of wealth is rich mineral resources  Belgian Congo contains copper and tin  Small compared to diamonds and gold in South Africa

◦ Businesses develop cash- crop plantations  Peanuts, palm oil, cocoa, rubber  Displaces food grown by natives  Leads to starvation