European Imperialism in Africa

During the 1800s, the colonization of Africa was taken over by Europe. The countries gained money, resources, and the power while imperializing the countries of Africa. The Europeans were fascinated by the geography and the resources that Africa had to offer. Although, the imperialism did have an impact on the future of Africa. The European Imperialism in Africa influenced the future of the citizens in Africa and Africa as a whole in three ways, the forced labor or slavery from the countries with valuable rescoures, the forced spread of Christianity, and the decreasing amounts of resources in Africa because of the abundant amount of trade.

All across Africa, Catholic and Protestant missionaries attempted to win people to Christianity. The missionaries believed the African cultures and religions were devalued. They attempted to help Africans reject their own traditions in favor of Western civilization. They also built schools and medical clinics alongside churches. The missionaries saw the Africans as children in need of guidance. Just by the missionaries changing their religious beliefs has already influenced the future of Africa. In the poem The White Man’s Burden states, “Your new-caught sullen peoples, half-devil and half child”. This refers to the belief of the Europeans that Africans resigned to live a life of savergy. The missionaries would degrade the culture and society of the African people.

With all of the natural resources Africa had to offer, slavery came along with it. Countries such as Congo, which had an abundant amount of rubber and ivory, had slavery. Millions of Congolese died because of the forced labor and slavery. This influenced the future of Africa and Africans because all of their resources are now gone and are being used in other countries. While they were slaves, they had no right to any of their own country’s materials. The future of Africa was also changed because of the death toll, economic change, and the environmental destruction resulting from wars. The countries also weren’t able to increase any of their agricultural production because an inudstrialization is needed first before it is even possible to have a stable agricultural production.

The future of Africa was also influenced by the decreasing amounts of resources in Africa because of the abundant amount of trade. The imperialist countries essentially would raid any resources they could find in the African colonies. Africa contained copper, cotton, tea, diamonds, tin, palm oil, and many other resources that made Africa a gold mine. When imperialists came and raided all of Africa’s valuable resources, they would be traded to other countries. European powers created a cash crop agriculture system by building a major trade network. Since the European’s had power of the resources, they were able to create the value of the resource to whatever they wished it to be. Africa is now stripped of their resources and are lacking in many needed materials for the growth of their economy. This completely changes the future of the African citizens and the African countries. They aren’t able to create and sell materials for the help of their economy.

With all of these effects of the future of Africa, proves how much imperialism can change a country. The Africans were forced to change their culture, way of life, jobs, religion, and even their homes were taken from them. When a country changes their whole culture by force, their success rate of the future is going to be questionable. The European Imperialism in Africa influenced the future of the citizens in Africa and the countries in Africa in three ways, the forced labor or slavery from the countries with valuable resources, the decreasing amounts of resources in Africa because of the abundant amount of trade, and the forced spread of Christianity.

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