European Colonialism And The European Colonization Of Africa

From the start of the 1800s, the continent of Africa was considered to be a gold mine for the European powers. Unknown of the riches beneath their feet, African people lived a very simplistic life and followed their traditions until european explorers David Livingstone and Henry Stanley published an account of their journey through the wilds of Africa. In a mad dash for these rich African lands, the European powers decided to have meeting that would latter be called the Berlin Conference. At this meeting, many of the European powers decided, without the consent of any African leader, to colonize Africa. They sought to take its resources and influence their people with inventions from the West. The colonization of Africa lasted from the early …show more content…
This form of government was only concerned with the “affairs of a colony at the central and local levels.”(Colonialism in Africa) The Europeans worked behind the scenes, making laws and overseeing the judicial system, while they appointed traditional African leaders to act as figureheads to oversee the local government. What I don 't understand is why the people didn’t realize that the African leader was actually not making any of the decisions, but instead it was really the Europeans. Colonial powers inundated Africa with European products which caused a myriad amount of African industries to close because they could no longer compete. Even though colonialism brought stability to some of the African regions it did very little to provide administrative training for local people. (Colonialism in …show more content…
Although they educated a very few number of them, education opened the door to anti colonial and nationalistic activity. After World War Two and the democratic propaganda ceased influencing Africa they were determined to struggle for independence. The different colonial governments left behind roads, railroads, ports, new technology, and other benefits to the continent of Africa as a whole. Nevertheless, their impact on Africa was not all positive. Their foreign policies damaged the traditional economies and drastically changed the social ranks of land ownership and labor. The colonial system offered opportunities like jobs,education, and new markets to sell goods; however some Africans were left poor and landless because the traditional African goods could not compete with those made by the Europeans. Additionally, the Europeans emphasis on cash crops made for exports made Africa dependent on trade with foreign nations rather than trade between neighboring colonies. Still to this day many of the African nations still trade more with countries overseas than with neighboring