European colonial competition for resources and geographic control in Africa

Scramble for Wealth in Africa

1880-1900 was a period that was characterized by rapid colonization of the entire African continent by European nations. This was what was known as the scramble for Africa and it took place due to various economic, social as well as political evolutions that were taking place in Europe. This scramble was known as the race of Africa or partition of Africa was a process of invasion, occupation and eventual annexing of the African territory by European powers during the new imperialism period.

By 1880, around the coast of Africa and a small distance inland found along major rivers like Niger and Congo were under the European rule which was only a small part of Africa. This paper will therefore look at the scramble for Africa and the reasons that led to this evolution. There are various factors that led to the impetus scramble for Africa, most of the factors were due to events that were taking place in Europe and not Africa as it can be assumed. First the slave trade had ended; Britain had successfully halted slave trade particularly around the African shores but inland Muslim traders were still carrying out trade and most of local chiefs refused to let go of the slaves. Another reason was exploration; this was rampant in the nineteenth century and there was no year that went by without a European expedition in Africa. As the years went by the European explores changed their goals and instead of traveling to satisfy their curiosity which were their initial reasons they started to make a detailed reports on markets, goods and resources for the wealthy philanthropists who were financing their trips. Henry Stanley Morton an American an explorer of Africa was the most closely connected to the beginning of the scramble for Africa, he had crossed the continent and located what was termed as the missing 'Livingstone" but was infamous for his exploration that he made on behalf of king Leopard 11.capitalism is another reason that was attributed to the fact that the end of European trade of slaves paved way for need of commerce between Europe and Africa. Capitalist might have been enlightened by slavery and gotten over it but they still had the desire for exploiting the continent and they branded the encouragement of what they termed as legitimate trade. They located vast reserves for raw materials, they went ahead to plot their trade routes, navigate rivers and made identifications of population centers that they could offer markets for their manufactured goods from Europe. This time plantations and cash crops were rampant and dedication of the region's workforce to produce coffee, sugar, palm oil, timber and rubber for Europe. This was more enticing if the Europeans set up a colony that gave the European nation a monopoly (Boddy-Evans, 2010).

There are also other factors that played a role for the scramble to take place this are steam Engines and iron Hulled boats that would navigate non-tidal river sections that allowed inland access and it was armed heavily. Medical advances were also crucial since Africa to be precise western region were known as white man's grave due to two diseases namely malaria and yellow fever and scientists came up with a cure for malaria that eased the problem. Politics was another fact, after Germany and Italy unification Europe had no more room for expansion therefore Africa was a good ground to exercise their might. Military innovations were also key since by the nineteenth century, Europe was ahead of Africa by a great margin when it came to weapons. The Europeans since they were focused on colonizing and conquering Africa drastically restricted their sale of the new weapons they were producing to Africa so that they would maintain their superiority.