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Can you provide an example of imperialism in Africa?
Quick answer:
European imperialism in Africa involved the colonization and exploitation of African territories by countries like France, Britain, and Belgium. This era, spanning from the mid-1700s to the early 1900s, saw European powers dividing Africa for resources like gold and diamonds, often disregarding the native populations. Notably, Belgium's exploitation of the Congo and Britain's construction of the Suez Canal illustrate these imperialist practices. The legacy of colonialism continues to affect Africa's economic development today.
Africa has been significantly affected by European imperialism. Before the mid-1800s, many countries engaged in the slave trade, in which European nations took advantage of African tribal wars in order to sell human chattel all over the world, especially into the Americas. France and Britain were the main colonizers of Africa, though at one time Belgium owned the Congo, a region that was actually larger than Belgium. Germany was a late arrival to colonization, but it still managed to acquire some lands in East Africa.
The relationship between the colonizers and the colonized was often exploitative. While Germany had hopes that German settlers would move to Africa, none of the other European countries hoped that their citizens would become permanent residents of the continent. Belgium famously exploited its colony for gold and diamonds, while Britain and France waged war against the tribes of their respective territories. While there are claims...
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that the British assisted their colonies through the construction of the Suez Canal, this was mainly done to ensure fast British access to India, a colony Britain valued far more than any in Africa.
Other than Liberia and Ethiopia, nearly all of Africa was ruled by a foreign European power by 1850. Many of these places did not become independent until after WWII and still suffer from a lack of economic development today after decades of exploitation.
There are so many!
Countries have been invading other countries for just about as long as there
have been countries---but some of the worst examples of imperialism involve
European countries such as France and the UK invading African countries such as
Algeria and South Africa.
From about the mid 1700s to the early 1900s, European countries basically
invaded and carved up pieces of Africa between each other without any regard
for what the people living there thought on the matter. They extracted and sold
natural resources such as gold and diamonds. They even captured and bought and
sold people in the Atlantic slave trade.
Many of the problems Africa still has today can be traced in part to this
history of imperialism. We can even see a difference in outcomes between French
and Belgian colonies, which were almost entirely extractive, and British
colonies, which at least made a small effort toward building local
infrastructure. Countries such as South Africa and Egypt that were colonized by
Britain are now generally doing better in terms of economic development than
countries such as Burkina Faso (colonized by France) or Congo (colonized by
Belgium).
There are so many examples to choose from, you could pretty much pick whatever
country in Africa most interests you and look up its history---odds are, you'll
find that it had some history of European imperialism.
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