The history of imperialism in Africa: [sample essay], 1167 words (2023)

From the 15th to the 19th century, only 10% of Africa was colonized by European powers. These ten percent of the colonies were generally established along the mainland coast to be employed in the slave and ivory trade. The central regions of Africa were left largely unsettled by the European powers during the era of conquest. Well over a thousand native tribes of Africa controlled eighty percent of the continent until the early 1880s ("Background Essay"). However, at the end of the 19th century, the “Race for Africa” broke out, contributing significantly to Europe managing practically the entire African continent. European powers began to colonize Africa when the Industrial Revolution increased the need for colonies as sources of supplies and raw materials, and new advances made travel to the continent possible. However, the altruistic goal of bringing "Christianity, commerce and civilization" to Africa was used as a justification for colonialism, a justification used by many such as Henry Morton Stanley and David Livingstone, European missionaries and map makers of Africa (" An Essay Fund").

The European powers began to fight over more than just the African continent. However, the organization was necessary to encourage trade and prevent violence. Chancellor Otto van Bismarck met in Berlin with Belgium, Austria-Hungary, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway and the United States. Thus, the Berlin Conference took place from November 15, 1884 to February 26, 1885. In the course of this conference a process for the colonization of Africa ("Antecedent Essay") was drawn up, whereby the drafted the General Act of the Conference. of Berlin defined only some borders of the European powers. This conference had a lasting impact on Africa, as European nations drew state borders without regard to the continent's native cultural, linguistic, or social fabrics ("The Berlin Conference: Dilemma: Opening"), as no African leader was a gift. These established borders led directly to the current African nation-states, and Europe gained control of all of Africa, except Liberia and Ethiopia, in 1914. Ironically, 5 countries present at the Berlin conference did not reach any territory, and these 5 countries they had much more influence in the division of Africa than the Africans themselves (Myers). While the African borders defined at the Berlin Conference are the result of the current internal turmoil, since changing them will be in vain, they were only a single element that led to Africa's current instability. Other causes are related to political and economic events.

The arbitrary boundaries of the Berlin Conference ignored native ethnic and linguistic boundaries ("Background Essay"). In essence, these were the two causes of the major problems in Africa that continue to this day: divided ethnic and linguistic groups and the mixing of separate African societies in general (Maddox). Communities were divided, a multitude of different and often contradictory social groups combined collectively ("Background Essay"). For example, the conference brought together the Ibo and Yoruba conflict groups leading up to the 1967-1971 Nigerian Civil War (Myers). The current violence in Africa can be linked to the initial violence used in the creation of Africa: Europe had to manage its territories, so it had to send troops and armed forces just because the native Africans fought back. The violent struggles of colonialism and imperialism, however, are affecting the African continent: in British East Africa, for example, the struggle for leadership lasted until the outbreak of the First World War. In German East Africa, the revolts began in the 20th century. World War I finally ended the fighting in Somalia. It took ten years to administer Sudan. Hundreds of thousands of men and women were killed in German Southwest Africa. Five to ten million people were killed in the Belgian Congo Free State. Only Ethiopia defeated the European powerhouse (Myers). Because the borders only served the European powers and their interests, post-colonial Africa saw corrupt leaders, racism, civil wars, class divisions, and in some places, cruelty and forced labor ("Background Essay").

However, the current instability in Africa is not only due to much more orderly and systematic borders and has more than one specific cause. Although the borders resulting from the Berlin conference affected the African continent, Africa learned to manage and deal with the final results. Supporting the concept that borders were not the only factor in the current turmoil is the argument that redrawing borders would not resolve the current instability and therefore redrawing borders is not the answer (Maddox). If one border is changed, the borders of all other African nation-states may have to be changed, emphasizing once again that changing borders is not the solution (Myers). Historically, African states have failed whenever they have tried to achieve more than other African states. For example, Libya was unable to absorb Chad and Uganda was unable to absorb Tanzania or Kenya. All attempts to unite the African states are also successful. Examples of this are Ethiopia and Eritrea, which could not be added collectively, resulting in Eritrean independence sooner or later. Although tensions remained, it was ultimately wartime. The unification of Italian and British Somaliland in Somalia also failed. And although Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania, there was still conflict. The only two places where land redistribution has been beneficial are Sudan and Darfur. Congo and Nigeria, for example, are still in conflict and still have a long way to go to achieve stability (Maddox). No matter where the lines were drawn, the current themes would have surfaced anyway. Another result of the instability in Africa, which occurred shortly before the imposition of the borders of the Berlin Conference, was the different forms of government of the native African societies. Due to the many and varied political structures, conflicts on the African continent preceded and immediately continued beyond the borders. According to Jeffrey Herbst, “modern African states have become hollow. They have hard shells that involve a very weak institutional infrastructure” (Maddox). It is only thanks to this program that the rulers and the urban elite have access to energy and wealth, pitting them against the rural masses for internal control, leading to conflict and further instability. Mahmood Mamdani argues that "political conflict arises simply because urban elites seek to gain power by imposing a typical ethnic despotism on the population", adding to the existing unrest on the African continent (Maddox). Africa's greatest dilemma, however, was "the forced integration of African societies into the modern planetary economy, which predated the scramble for Africa and would certainly have occurred without it" (Maddox).

Although the borders assigned at the Berlin Conference affected indigenous social groups and provoked civil unrest, the borders are not the only culprits for modern instability, since the reassignment of borders will not solve the problems of Africa today. The current turmoil in Africa is rooted in a variety of other causes: colonialism as a whole different form of government and a forced transition to a modern economy. However, there is still hope for stability in Africa: some African states such as Senegal, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana and South Africa have managed to create significantly better political and social structures (Maddox).