Social Darwinism In Africa

The events that occurred in Africa during the colonial period are unspeakably cruel and just flat out wrong in many ways. The British saw opportunity in Africa after Dr. Livingston went off on the first exploration of unknown parts. Dr. Livingston went MIA in Africa, so months later the British sent Henry Morton Stanley to find him. Stanley ended up finding Livingstone in a small village on the shore of lake tanganyika. Stanley was working directly for King leopold, from Brussels. These two explorers discovered that Africa was rich in minerals such as diamonds and materials such as rubber. They also came to realize that they could use these African people living there, as a way for free labor.
In 1885 this is exactly what happened during the Berlin Conference, when world powers such as Germany, Britain, Spain, France and Austria-hungary split up Africa into different colonies. These European powers believed, That it is their duty as proper white men to go over and civilize the african people. As said in the Berlin Conferences Treaty of Berlin “aim at instructing the natives and bringing home to them the blessings of civilization” Europeans said that by civilizing the Africans, they were helping them out. When in …show more content…
These European men actually believed in survival of the fittest, so to them the Africans were the weaker people. In Darwinism the basic idea is that the weaker and less adapted people will die out leaving only the strongest and most adapted people. The problem with the Europeans believing in this is that it means they won't treat the African people with any respect whatsoever. As we know from history this was a true fact. There used to be zoo-like exhibits with native African people in it, with signs saying no throwing peanuts. This is how animals were treated, which is demoralizing for any human being. The Animals in zoos were probably treated better than the people of the Congo