March 6th, 2015
Period: 2
Mrs. Whitley The Europeans main reason for imperializing Africa was to stop Belgium from growing too strong. As Europeans enter they took the land of the Africans and forced to grow cash crops slowly as they took over. Many of the Africans starved and were brutally treated to make the Europeans rich. Eventually they found gold and diamonds, when the Europeans found out about that they took over almost all of Africa and took what they could to get rich. (Doc 4) The Europeans would take all the minerals from their land, and force them to grow cash crops such as peanuts and palm oil. However the Africans did get benefits, they no longer fought amongst each other, mostly, they had a cure for a rampant case of malaria, and literacy rates went up. As the Europeans westernized the Africans they built hospitals so Africans did live longer. The Europeans promised to protect them and failed to do so. (Doc 1) Imperialism had mostly bad effects in my opinion. It took their land and almost all their rights. It ruined their entire culture which had lasted thousands of years before then. The Africans lost their identity, they slowly began to become like the Europeans in many ways so they lost their identities. The Europeans caused many deaths to the Africans. They brought smallpox, war, and famine. The wars had cost the Africans many men due to their outdated weapons. The Maxim gun had also turned the Europeans into fierce fighting forces.