Another inducement for imperialism arose from the demand for raw materials, especially ivory, rubber, palm oil, cocoa, diamonds, tea, and tin. Surplus capital was often more profitably invested overseas, where cheap materials, limited competition, and abundant raw materials made a greater premium possible. During a time when Britain's balance of trade showed a growing deficit, with shrinking and increasingly protectionist continental markets during the Long Depression (1873–96), Africa offered Britain, Germany, France, and other countries an open market that would garner them a trade surplus: a market that bought more from the colonial power than it sold overall. Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the last regions of the world largely untouched by "informal imperialism", was attractive to business entrepreneurs. The development of quinine, an effective treatment for malaria, made vast expanses of the tropics more accessible for Europeans. Medical advances also played an important role, especially medicines for tropical diseases, which helped control their adverse effects. Industrialization brought about rapid advancements in transportation and communication, especially in the forms of steamships, railways and telegraphs. Technological advances facilitated European expansion overseas. By 1914, only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent of European control, and Liberia had strong connections to the United States. The most important holdings were Angola and Mozambique, held by Portugal the Cape Colony, held by Great Britain and Algeria, held by France. In the middle of the 19th century, European explorers mapped much of East Africa and Central Africa.Īs late as the 1870s, Europeans controlled approximately 10% of the African continent, with all their territories located near the coasts. Large parts of the continent were essentially uninhabitable for Europeans because of their high mortality rates from tropical diseases such as malaria. 5.1 African colonies listed by colonising powerīy 1841, businessmen from Europe had established small trading posts along the coasts of Africa, but they seldom moved inland, preferring to stay near the sea.4.1 Colonial consciousness and exhibitions. 3.7 Herero Wars and the Maji-Maji Rebellion.3.4 Britain's administration of Egypt and South Africa.The later years of the 19th century saw a transition from " informal imperialism" - military influence and economic dominance - to direct rule. In the last quarter of the 19th century, there were considerable political rivalries among the empires of the European continent, leading to the African continent being partitioned without wars between European nations. The Berlin Conference of 1884, which regulated European colonization and trade in Africa, is usually accepted as the beginning. The 10 percent of Africa that was under formal European control in 1870 increased to almost 90 percent by 1914, with only Ethiopia (Abyssinia) and Liberia remaining independent, though Ethiopia would later be invaded and occupied by Italy from 1936 to 1941. The Scramble for Africa, also called the Partition of Africa, or the Conquest of Africa, was the invasion, annexation, division, and colonization of most of Africa by seven Western European powers during a short period known as New Imperialism (between 18). Areas of Africa controlled by European colonial powers in 1913 ( Belgian (yellow), British (salmon), French (blue), German (turquoise), Italian (green), Portuguese (purple), and Spanish (pink) Empires)
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