Empire and colonization
Examine and explain one justification European powers used to colonise Africa in the late 19th century.
The desire to expand and seek influence beyond Europe called for the realisation of Africa as one of the most potential spheres for wealth accumulation and resource mobilisation. Africa provided the purported undeveloped and unexploited economic zone that was ripe for religious, economic, and civilisation expansion. With such a notion in mind, the development of European occupation and colonisation of Africa distorted African traditions and economic activities through the installation of new values and culture. The leaders who spearheaded the expansion of Africa in the late 19th century cited and justified the White Man Burden as the moral obligation for African colonisation. The white man burden was divided into three categories; civilisation, religion, and commerce. In such a context, this paper will explore commerce as one of the justification European powers used to colonise Africa in the late 19th century.
The exploration of the African coastline in the 18th century and early 19th century by the European powers led to the realisation that Africa needs to be exposed to modern civilisation and Christianity. These two obligations provided real impetus for natural resource exploitation beyond offshores and thus the colonisation of the whole of Africa. The abolition of the slave trade in the 1807 and subsequent decline of trade between European countries and the USA forced European powers to legitimize African exploration for economic reasons. To exuberate and justify African colonization, the industrial revolution, which was taking shape in Europe, demanded extensive natural resources that were not available within the boundaries of European countries. African soil and population provided an abundance of raw material, which was not exploited, thus being considered the potential burgeon for fuel European industrial revolution. The presence of natural mineral resources like gold, diamond and copper, rubber, and oil in Africa at a fair price forced the European countries to scramble for Africa in order to acquire these resources.
Before the scramble for Africa, the European companies had established a profound connection with African merchants and served as the initial contact point for colonizer’s expansion. With support from the colonial powers, these companies and contact merchants aggressively explored untapped regions across the continent, thus taking control of major African territories. Although the first contact attempt was met with mixed reactions by the merchants and the African communities, the European employed nationalist lobby rhetoric’s, this attracted exploration and securing of productive lands across all part of Africa, subdivision of African territories according to the European powers interest and ultimate colonisation of African land. With the African kingdom’s resistance to colonization, some European published scholarly material that advocated for colonisation of African as a financial obligation of European countries. Such scholar work is The Rise of Our East African Empire which retaliated that “as long as our policy is one of free trade, we are compelled to seek new markets; To allow other nations to develop new fields, and to refuse to do so ourselves, is to go backward… We owe to the instincts of the colonial expansion of our ancestors those vast and noble dependencies which are our pride and the outlets of our trade today, and we are accountable to posterity those opportunities which now present themselves of extending the sphere of our industrial enterprise ….” (Lugard 69-75).
The increase in the need for economic incentives across Europe could not match the demand for raw materials and products, which was readily available for the smooth running of commerce activities. With the mechanization of industrialization, the rate of industrial production skyrocketed, and the raw materials available within Europe’s vicinity could not meet the demand for production. Therefore the need for colonisation of Africa, which was unexploited, arose to fill the gap. This European power, as a result of the exploitation of vast African resources, increased their production to a capacity beyond their consumption rate. This resulted in the flooding of African colonies with European exported products hence driving the African domestic industry out of operation. `This created a scenario where European powers exploited African resources, processed them, and sold the surplus in the African market, thus creating cyanotic commerce which was administered by the European powers.
- Lugard, The Rise of Our East African Empire, (Edinburgh, 1893), I.585-587, II.69-75