Aims of the scramble for Africa and European Imperialism

The scramble for Africa means the rush by European powers to acquire territories in Africa. It began in the second half of the 19th century; that is, after 1850.

Imperialism: refers to the belief in empire-building or the policy of extending the rule or influence of a country over other countries.

• By 1880 the scramble for Africa resembled a race which was likely to result into armed conflicts among European powers themselves.
• To avoid the conflict a conference was convened at Berlin in Germany in 1884-85 under the initiative of Germany Chancellor Bismarck. This came to be known as the Berlin Conference.
• This started the process of colonization of Africa, during which most of Africa became colonies of different European countries.

Aims of European imperialism and the scramble for Africa.

Political aims

• Many European countries wanted to protect their growing trade with Africa. This led to competition between different nations to increase their control of larger parts of Africa.
• Some European nations acquired colonies for prestige or as a sign of power and status. Each nation fought for the position of the imperial power.
• Some major nations such as Britain, France and Germany acquired lands in Africa for military purposes. They wanted to establish military bases to protect their overseas possessions.

Economic aims of the Scramble for Africa

The raw materials from the New World were no longer enough so the European nation started looking at Africa as a new source for raw material.

Europeans needed a market for their products

Social aims

European countries wanted places in Africa to resettle their freed slaves after the abolition of slavery and slave trade. For example they established Sierra Leone and Liberia.

European nations wanted to change the traditional African way of living to Western ways. This would lead to Africans buying more Western goods from European traders.

Religious and humanitarian aims of the Scramble for Africa

Missionaries and explorers opened up the interior of Africa. Their reports about the riches of Africa encouraged the scramble.

Missionaries also wanted protection of their countries’ governments against the slave traders such as Swahili Arabs who did not approve of the presence of Christian missionaries.

Exploration of Africa by Europeans

• European explorers from various countries travelled into parts of Africa that were still unknown to Europeans.
• The Europeans did not know much about the interior of Africa and hence called Africa the Dark Continent.

Factors that influenced European exploration of Africa

A number of factors encouraged Europeans to explore the interior of Africa:

Geographical motives

They wanted to know where the sources and estuaries of major rivers such as the Nile, Niger and Congo were. This would enable them to use them as waterways to reach the African interior.

Industrial revolution

the industrial revolution led to the invention of better weapons, so that explorers could defend themselves better against any dangers from people or animals along the way. The discovery of medicines such as quinine helped to protect them against diseases such as malaria.

Missionary influence

They encouraged other people, such as doctors, traders and teachers, to come to Africa. Missionary societies provided funding to explorers so that they could open up the interior for the spreading of Christianity

Roles of the African association

the African association started in London in 1788, it was a British club whose members supported the exploration of Africa especially west Africa.

Early European exploration of Africa

European explorers started crossing the Atlantic and Indian Ocean in the 15th to 17th centuries.
The Portuguese were the first European explorers of Africa. This was so because of:

1. Work of Prince Henry the Navigator who established a school for sailors and shipbuilding.
2. Portugal’s geographical position near the Atlantic Ocean enabled her people to learn the science of sailing fast.
3. Portugal needed supplement her poor economy in Europe. Portugal started sending men to find the sea route to India and search for raw material

Some of the early Portuguese explorers included:

• In 1483, Dio Cao reached the mouth of the Congo (Zaire) river opening the door Portuguese to enter the Congo kingdom later
• In 1488, Bartholomew Diaz circumnavigated the Cape and named it cape of storms. It was later renamed to Cape of Good Hope by the King of Portugal.
• In 1497-1498, Vasco da Game circumnavigated the cape all the way to India. At malindi in East Africa Da Gama found a Hindu Pirate Majid who escorted him to India.
• European exploration of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th and 19th centuries, various explorers started exploring the interior of Africa.