Posted by Chester Morton / Wednesday, 3 May 2017 / No comments
The reasons for the partitioning of Africa
THE REASONS FOR THE
PARTITIONING OF AFRICA
Introduction
Prior to the 1870s, the European power-house was never
interested in Africa as a colony. The hands of the British were full with
activities of colonization in Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The Germans, the
Italians and the Belgians did not even consider it as issue. Interest in Africa
by officialdom started to increase in the 1870s, therefore, between 1876 and
1900, European countries turned their attention to Africa with the possible
intention of colonizing it. Several reasons accounted for this shift of
interest toward Africa.
REASONS FOR THE PARTITIONING
The search for fresh resources
Communication between explorers of the continent and
missionaries, on the one hand and official in the Metropolis indicates that
Africa was full of resources ready to be tapped. There was that general belief
that once the continent was “tamed’ its resources was available to be grabbed.
One of the reasons for the partitioning of Africa was therefore to tap it rich
resource for the benefit of the Europeans.
The search for new markets
After the introduction of mechanization to the process of
production, there was improvement in production levels which led to surplus
goods in the system. The surplus products needed to be sold but since their
markets were already saturated, there was the need to push the extra goods into
other markets. Another reason for the partitioning of Africa was therefore to
look for markets where their excess goods could be sold.
The search for new investment destinations
The industrial sector of Europe had been booming and profits
were expanding exponentially. There arose the need to invest the surplus
capital, which were lying idle, in other places. Therefore, another reason for
coming to Africa was to look for virgin areas to invest their surplus capital.
To curb the problem of unemployment
After the successful development of machines to replace
manual labour, many of the factory and farm hands had to be laid off. The
laying off of the extra hands created the problem of unemployment. One of the
reasons for turning to Africa was therefore to create employment avenues there
so that the surplus hands could to be transported there to ease the employment
situation back at home.
A stable environment for the merchants and missionaries
Long before the official presence of the Europeans in Africa,
there were merchants and missionaries who had been trading and evangelizing on
the continent. Such people needed a stable environment to carry out their
activities. They had therefore repeatedly sent petitions back home calling on
their government to come and set up on the continent. The coming of the
Europeans was therefore a response to the petitions of these trail-blazers.
A sign of prestige
It was a sign of prestige, among the European countries, to
have a colony away from the Metropolis. To be seen to be acquiring colonies in
Africa was the thing of the moment. Therefore one other reason why the Europeans
partitioned Africa was to show that they have arrived.
An area of least resistance
In the Franco-German wars of the 1870s, France had been
dispossessed of Alsace and Loraine and it was soon realized that pursuing
territorial expansion inside Europe was an unwise policy because it could be
met with very stiff resistance. Africa, at the time seemed to be the only
continent which could pose the least resistance and it was the reason why the
partition started for Africa.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1. Why was Africa partitioned by the European powers toward
the end of the nineteenth century?
2. Outline six reasons for the partitioning of Africa getting
to the close of the 19th century.
