The act of a country that is more powerful than another seizing it and attempting to increase its territory is known as "imperialism." Because European nations were more strong than the countries they conquered and expanded their territories, European imperialism developed. Africa experienced European imperialist animosity, political pressure, military forces incursion, action-packed takeover and colonization between the late 1860s and the early 1900s. (Shaw 150). Various African communities attempted to resist efforts by their states to colonize them at the same time that they were opposed to foreign hegemony. But by late nineteenth century, most African countries, with the exclusion of Ethiopia and Liberia, had already been colonized by European rulers.
The establishment of imperialism in Africa was motivated by economic, political, and social factors (Shaw 159). It did develop in the nineteenth century following the end and abolishment of the slave trade as well as the spreading out of the European capitalist “Industrial Revolution.” The imperatives of capitalist industrialization- inclusive of the demands for certain sources of raw materials, the hunt for fail-safe markets and lucrative investment channels- prompted the European scramble and the partition and ultimate take-over of African nations. Hence, the primary drive for European invasion was economic.
However, other factors also played vital roles in the process like the “political impetus” that resulted from the impacts of various European-based power struggles and competition for prominence. Nations like Spain, France, Germany, and Britain were contending for supremacy within European power political affairs. The one way to show prominence was through getting hold of foreign colonies like Africa. The social aspect was the last key element. In consequence of industrialization, critical social problems grew in most of the European states; joblessness, poverty, communal displacements and much more. These social issues came about somewhat because the newly-created capitalist industries could not absorb every individual. A suitable way to solve this was to obtain colonies and send this “surplus population” overseas. This resulted in the creation of settler-lands in some African nations such as Tunisia, Namibia, and Angola. At the long run, the superseding economic dynamics are what led to the colonization of other African states.
Hence, the interplay of the socio-political and economical factors showed the way for the scramble for Africa and the frantic endeavors by European military and political representatives to proclaim and set up stakes in various sections of Africa by deploying inter-imperialist commercial competitions and declaring restricted claims to exacting trade territories. So severe was the scramble that most people started fearing that it was going to lead to war. With the intention of stopping this, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck organized a political meeting involving European authorities where a treaty, the Berlin Act, was signed. The Berlin Act had provisions that were to offer guidance on how imperialist competitions in Africa were to be conducted.
There are quite many Europeans leaders, who in various capacities, contributed to the establishment of imperialism in various parts of Africa, for instance, Henry Morton Stanley, King Leopold of the Belgians, and Cecil Rhodes.
Contributions of Henry Morton Stanley on Imperialism in Congo
Henry Morton was born John Rowlands on 28th January 1841. His entire family abandoned him, and as a youth, he set for New Orleans after he was able to escape a harsh working site in his original hometown. Henry Morton was taken up by a family that he used to work for, and this is where he was named Stanley up to when he was sent away. Following his escape to Arkansas, Henry Morton participated in the Civil War from the year 1862. Henry Morton then turned to be an exquisite journalist, and sometime in 1870 was given the role of searching for one David Livingstone in Africa. David Livingstone was amongst the most thriving missionaries of his time as he was relatively compassionate to the people of Africa and because of this was loved by many. He was openhandedly administering prayers and medicine and was more concerned with the beliefs and traditions of the people. He had, however, gone missing in Africa several years before, and Henry Morton was sent to find him. With his crew of over 150 men, Henry Morton followed Livingstone’s route over to the African continent. Stanley did manage to survive the disease plagues and harsh conditions in the course of their journey, but his system was far from acceptable; Henry Morton chose to flog his sick caretakers and interpreters and did not allow anyone, apart from himself, to touch the sugar that was being delivered. Even though sugar usually helped in alleviating the pains of smallpox, Henry Morton is well known for beating his interpreters suffering from this disease who opted to consume some small amount of his sugar supply. Through these techniques, Henry was able to complete a half of his journey quickly. By beating his interpreters and those who failed to follow his rules, Henry somehow paved the way for the use of excessive force to suppress stubborn Africans who were against European domination. In so doing, Stanley contributed in the imperialism of the African continent as other European nations then preferred to use military force to threaten the few Africans who were resisting white’s invasion.
After finding Livingstone, Stanley was asked to go together with him on his journey of searching for the source of River Nile. The two traveled to the northern regions of Lake Tanganyika and other parts of the continent for the next couple of months after which they went their separate ways, and David Livingstone remained behind in Africa until his demise in 1873. Henry Morton can then be regarded the person who helped in finding Dr. Livingstone David in the heart of Africa that leader led to increased reliability for future explorations and ultimately to his participation in the progress of Belgian Congo.
Upon returning to his homeland, Henry Morton was praised for being amongst the first people to resolve one of the utmost exploration mysteries, found Dr. David Livingstone, and in the end turned to be the catalyst to what would be an outstanding illustration of the influence of imperialism on Europe’s subject populaces. Industrial units could now make use of material goods obtained from Congo, manipulate the African people, and boost incomes from trade on immeasurable amounts (Rogers 35). Stanley was welcomed as a hero in every part of the world that he went to and every piece of his work was made available far and wide and circulated to Europe and America. Motivated by positive response and admirations from the USA and other top explorers, he tried to propose a structure that he believed would bring about much success in imperialistic Europe. Henry Stanly had the desire of exploiting the profit-making potential that Africa presented, at some point advising imperialist leaders to “pour the civilization of Europe into the barbarism of Africa” (Rogers 40). Despite his argument that “there are 40 million naked people in Africa and the cotton-spinners of Manchester are waiting to clothe them” an immense mainstream of the European-based countries failed to find this idea alluring, as a true imperialistic growth of the African continent by European nations had not yet commenced at this time.
Contributions of King Leopold of the Belgians to the Establishment of Imperialism in Africa
King Leopold or Leopold II of the Belgians was born in on 9th April 1835. He rose to the throne in 1865 and ruled until his demise on December 17th, 1909. King Leopold had for a long time wanted to have an overseas colony so as add to his personal affluence and spotted Congo as an ideal prospect. He had previously not succeeded in acquiring such a territory mainly because Belgium was a relatively smaller, had no navy, and was secluded in the heart of Europe; it had diminutive imperialistic strength on its own. Recognizing that would have to take actions himself, he was forced to employ a renowned explorer whom he thought could acquire some colonies in African continent on his behalf.
King Leopold, not like other European nations, argued that Stanley’s goal to commercially make the most of Africa had some stronger economic prospective. He then did initiate a colonization scheme with relatively no budget limits named as the “African International Association for Development” in central Africa. The aim of this project was asserted to be “abolishing Arab slave trade, making peace amongst chiefs, and securing them just and objective negotiation.” Contrast to this, King Leopold put Henry Stanley in control of creating local links, and exploiting them, on his subsequent expeditions to Congo. Henry Morton brought reliability to the cause because of his earlier encounters with Livingstone; this made Leopold’s plan more credible. To add on, Stanley’s strategies for moving forward his forces, and King Leopold’s cause, proved to be effective than any person could have imagined.
Upon arriving in Congo, Stanley started constructing various means of transport and eliminated any obstruction at an increasing speed. He was able to achieve this by wiping out anything in his way and demolishing local ethnic groups in violent conflicts that ended up destroying the nation’s social infrastructure. Stanley then forced local leaders to give in their lands at gunpoint and to put up with terrible conditions imposed on their people; he did establish stations all over the regions and was able to persuade close to 500 local rulers to hand over their independence. He did not hesitate to use armed force to kill African people who chose not to cooperate and quickly managed to conquer the nation by using this technique.
By coming up with the plan of setting up “African International Association for Development,” King Leopold took imperialism to a new level. This is because by recruiting Henry Stanley, King Leopold’s main aim was only to exploit Congo instead of simply exploiting both the land and its populaces while at the same time controlling imperial policies and introducing certain measures aimed at protecting the rights of its overseas subjects.
At the long run, King Leopold gained absolute power over of the “Congo Free State,” a huge area owned by the King himself that did fit in free trading into its guidelines, but its people were not really free. The certainty of the situation was that King Leopold acted brutally to the African subjects as he took several hostages and forced people to work through being tortured, killing, and starvation just to make it clear that he was the supreme ruler of Congo.
Contributions of Cecil Rhodes to the Establishment of Imperialism in Africa
British imperialism in Africa resulted in some changes all over Africa. Some changes had positive impacts on the continent whereas others had negative effects. Imperialists like Cecil Rhodes argued that the “scramble for Africa” was a way through which other European nations could obtain wealth and fame. Even though British imperialism to some extent had some positive effects, it as well had some undesirable effects as it also meant poverty, slavery and poor living conditions to the African people. As Europeans grew to gain increased control over the continent, the state of affairs grew worse as the Africans were treated inferiorly to the whites. Cecil Rhodes advocated for his belief that the whites were the supreme race in the world and that they were allowed to do anything they felt like doing, even if it meant grabbing the lands belonging to Africans. He once stated, “We are the finest race in the world and the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race” (Woolf 32). With this sense of superiority over the African people, the European nations did not see anything wrong as far as abusing, persecution, and grabbing African lands unlawfully was concerned. Such beliefs of thinking to be superior to other races, as claimed by other European leaders like Cecil Rhodes, are what prompted imperialism of African continent. This is true since other European nations were compelled to look for overseas colonies, particularly in Africa, so as to exercise their superiority rule over others (Woolf 35). In so doing, lead to African colonization.
In conclusion, it is true to say that before the era of exploration of African continent had come to an end, the “scramble” for the same continent had started, with the aid of the very explorers. Most European nations took their expeditions as money-making, just reasons for the colonization of Africa. Certainly, quite many of the explorers stoutly recommended the rapid colonization of the African continent to their European leaders as they made known features of prospective interests.
Work cited
Rogers, Harold S. "Imperialism in Africa." The Black Scholar 3.5 (2002): 36-48.
Shaw, Timothy M. "International Stratification in Africa: Sub-Imperialism in Southern and Eastern Africa." Journal of Southern African Affairs 2.2 (2007): 145-165.
Woolf, Leonard. Imperialism and Civilization. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 2008.
