African American Imperialism

During the last two decades of the 19th century throughout the periods 1880-1900 the Europeans took over all of Africa with the exception of Liberia and Ethiopia. (John Hopkins, 1987,pg 27) Many people over the years were uncertain as to why the Europeans set out on a conquest to invade or settle into a new place where they were not from; Historians believed the European conquest of Africa was primarily motivated into finding sources for raw materials, market for products and power. The Europeans motives were under the categories of, economic, social, and political reasoning’s as well. In order to conquer this new land, Europeans used treaties, weapons (guns), and deception to lure the Africans in.
For starters, in the economic factor of the conquest was for raw materials. The Europeans, needed the raw materials to maintain their factory goods; these materials consisted of peanuts, …show more content…
I say this because, with imperialism the Europeans had leverage above the minority Africans, imperialism was established to have control over a certain groups, and depending on your social or political background, some Africans were subject to that control. According to John Hopkins the social conditioning contributed to the need to acquire colonies. (1987, page31) Another form of power the Europeans used against the Africans is the Berlin conference. The conference had four components to the conference that contributed to the conquering are 1. Before any power claimed an area they have to inform signatory powers, 2. All claims should be followed by annexation, 3. Treaties signed with African rulers were to be considered legitimate titles of sovereignty, lastly, 4. Each power could extend its costal possessions in land to some extent. (John Hopkins, 1987, pg33) Every point that was made conveyed some sort of power or rules they were going to live by when it came to having an upper hand over the

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