What was the sharing of Africa? THE Africa Sharing was triggered by a set of agreements between the main imperialist powers of Europe, in the 19th century, on the possession of territories in the African continent.
The economic growth of these powers made them want to advance towards Africa in search of raw materials for the manufacture of products in their industries.
The African continent was the most affected by European industrialization.
Index
- How did the partition of Africa take place?
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Summary – Africa Sharing
- Portugal
- Spain
- France
- Netherlands
- England
- Italy
- Belgium
- Germany
- Berlin Conference
- Consequences of sharing Africa
How did the partition of Africa take place?
Portugal had already explored the African continent since the 16th century. They used Africans as slave labor to be explored in their newly discovered colonies in America.
The idea sold by Europeans to society was that the African continent needed to be civilized, which is why European expansion was so important.
In addition to the belief in the superiority of races and civilizations, as in the civilizational hierarchy the Europeans occupied the top. Therefore, they had the mission to civilize all peoples considered inferior to them.
O social Darwinism it is the belief in the existence of societies superior to others, a theory that reinforced European practice.
Civilization would take place in the use of slave labor that contributed to the profit of trade.
Several countries participated in this business, such as England, France, Spain and Portugal.
The expeditions to the African continent had several purposes:
- Economic: Supply of raw materials and the possibility of exploring the area;
- religious: Establishing Christianity as the official belief, ending cannibalism and polytheism;
- Scientific: Explore the terrain and discover the diverse ethnicities who lived there.
These were some of the Europeans' justifications for the possession of African territory. In reality, they only wanted profit.
The enrichment took place at the expense of a lot of exploitation of labor and violence against the local population.
The idea of saving the African people from savagery and backwardness was just an excuse to justify the cruelty of their actions.
Summary – Africa Sharing
The African territories were gradually invaded by several European powers:
Portugal
After the independence of its colony, Brazil, Portugal managed to conserve its African territories such as Cape Verde (1975), Mozambique (1975), Angola (1975) and Guinea (1973).
Portugal had problems with some European countries that wanted to expand their territories and invade their possessions.
Spain
The Canary Islands, Western Sahara, Melila and Ceuta were left with Spain. Later, in 1778, the country invaded Equatorial Guinea.
France
In 1624, France occupied the territory of Senegal, with the objective of supplying its colonies in the Caribbean with the work of enslaved people coming from Africa.
During the 18th century, the French occupied several islands around the Indian Ocean.
Among other places, during the 19th century (1819 to 1890) France occupied the Ivory Coast (1960), Tunisia (1956), Algeria (1962), Togo (1960), Mali (1960), Niger (1960), Benin (1960), Morocco (1956).
The French faced wars both against the inhabitants of the invaded territories themselves, as well as against the Germans, who were interested in the regions belonging to France.
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Netherlands
As early as 1652, the Dutch had a gas station in Cape Town, South Africa. It was in this place that the Dutch stayed the longest.
However, their occupation began in the country known today as Ghana. They stayed there until 1871, when they sold the territory to the English.
Around 1857, they explored the Congo.
Even losing the current Cape Town to the British (1805), the Netherlands remained in South Africa. The two countries conflicted continuously throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
England
With the Industrial Revolution, the United Kingdom became the greatest economic power of the 19th century. In this way, more and more, he needed raw materials for his industrial production.
England is involved in conflicts with almost all European countries, aiming to increase its territories on the African continent.
It occupied the current countries known as Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Sudan.
Italy
The country occupied the territories of Libya, part of Somalia and Eritrea.
Invades Ethiopia in the 1930s, under the command of Benito Mussolini and maintains its domain until 1941.
Belgium
The then King of Belgium created, in 1876, the International Association of Africa, which initially had the objective of carrying out actions on the mainland, but the real intention was to investigate the territory of Congo, which would later be their property personal.
Belgium also occupies the territory corresponding to Rwanda. This region had an ethnic division, which triggered the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
Germany
Tanzania, Namibia and Cameroon were the territories occupied by the Germans.
After German Unification, the German Empire became very powerful. Therefore, Otto von Bismarck (German Prime Minister) invites the great European powers to discuss the African territorial division. This event was known as Berlin Conference.
Most African countries only gained their independence from European countries around the 1950s and 1970s.
Berlin Conference
Held in Berlin in the years 1884 and 1885, the Berlin Conference aimed to bring together the greatest powers of the 19th century to discuss about the occupation of the African continent, recognizing the borders already occupied and establishing rules for future occupations.
The aim was for the divisions of African regions to be made as organized as possible. The intention was that no country would enter into conflict over these territories.
Consequences of sharing Africa
The African continent was divided between the natural borders created by different ethnic groups. After the Partition of Africa, its borders were redrawn according to the will of the European colonizer.
Rival ethnic groups for centuries had to live side by side, which led to serious conflicts and many deaths.
Furthermore, African nations were massacred throughout the 20th century for resisting the European invasion.
Because of the violence, bloody wars and unbridled ambition of Europeans, Africa has become the poorest continent in the world.
Read too:
- east africa
- Southern Africa
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