"Expansion Was Everything": Europe's Colonization of Africa

By Facing History, adapted by Newsela staff on 11.03.17

Word Count 946

Level 1050L

French and German officials in the swamp forests of the Lobaye valley in the Congo region of central Africa. The officials are deciding new Franco-German borders.

In the late 1800s, English businessman Cecil Rhodes made a fortune by claiming huge stretches of land in South Africa. The lands he claimed were rich in gold and diamonds. Rhodes used brutal means to force the local population to work for him, and thousands died as a result. Rhodes felt this brutality was acceptable because in his view Africans were members of an inferior race.

Rhodes was an imperialist, and for him expansion — increasing the territory and wealth one controls — was everything. The governments of many European countries were also imperialist. At a state level, imperialism is the policy of expanding the rule of a nation or empire over foreign countries by force.

In the 1800s, European nations acquired great wealth and power by conquering foreign lands. The inhabitants of these new colonies were forced to labor for their European rulers. Imperialists used ideas about the inferiority of nonwhite races to make their control seem acceptable and even noble.

France became a major imperialist power

Like England, France became a major imperialist power during the 19th century. Many Frenchmen had deeply racist ideas about non-Europeans. In a speech to French lawmakers in 1884, Jules Ferry, who twice served as prime minister of France, said:

"Gentlemen, we must speak more loudly and more honestly! We must say openly that indeed the higher races have a right over the lower races. ... I repeat, that the superior races have a right because they have a duty. They have the duty to civilize the inferior races."

A few months later, France took part in an international meeting known as the Congress of Berlin. It was called by Otto von Bismarck, then chancellor of Germany, and was attended by 15 nations. They came to set rules for dividing up Africa — the only large landmass Europeans had not yet fully colonized. By agreeing to follow those rules, the group hoped to avoid a war in Europe. They paid little or no attention to the effects of their decisions on Africans. The results of their efforts can be seen in the following maps. One shows Africa in the 1880s, before the Congress of Berlin, while the other shows the continent in 1913.

European powers divided Africa up

At the Congress of Berlin in 1884, 15 European powers divided Africa among themselves. By 1914, these imperial powers had fully colonized the continent. Africans were forced to work for their European rulers, who steadily plundered Africa's natural riches. W.E.B. Du Bois was an African-American scholar and activist. In 1915, he summed up Europe's African land grab in an article written for the Atlantic Monthly magazine.

European imperialists murdered, tortured and wrote "lying treaties" to grab what they could, Du Bois wrote. They used unspeakably hateful and dishonest methods to steal Africa's land from its people.

The theft of Africa's land began soon after explorer Henry Stanley mapped out much of Central Africa during the 1870s. Stanley's explorations made the riches of Central Africa seem within reach for the first time.

Belgium was the first country to colonize Africa

Belgium was the first country to make a grab for the riches opened up by Stanley's explorations. In 1885, it set up a Belgian colony in Africa, known as the Congo Free State. Belgium's King Leopold promised that Belgian colonial rulers would bring peace, Christianity and new wealth to their African subjects. Instead, Du Bois wrote, they brought "murder, mutilation and downright robbery." As brutal as it was, Belgian rule was only the latest chapter in a long history of African suffering at the hands of Europeans, Du Bois wrote. The true beginning was the slave trade. The slave trade cost black Africa no fewer than 100 million lives, Du Bois wrote. It destroyed Africa's political and social life, and the continent was left in a state of helplessness. That weakness later made it easy for Europeans to grab Africa's riches, Du Bois explained.

Africans were seen as primitive and inferior

The slave trade also shaped Europeans' low opinion of Africans. In time, Africans came to be seen as primitive and almost subhuman. Blackness became "synonymous with inferiority," Du Bois wrote, and Africa became "another name for bestiality and barbarism." These prejudices later made it easier for Europeans to explain and excuse their colonization of Africa.

Stanley's explorations may have kicked off Europe's colonization of Africa, but "the cause lay deeper," Du Bois wrote. The idea was already there before Stanley.


Quiz

1 Which of the following MOST influenced the way European countries divided up Africa?

(A) the example set by Cecil Rhodes
(B) the speeches given by Jules Ferry
(C) the meeting at the Congress of Berlin
(D) the article written in the Atlantic Monthly

2 WHY did W.E B. Du Bois write about the slave trade?

(A) to emphasize the effects of imperialism as a force in Africa
(B) to introduce what first allowed imperialism to take hold in Africa
(C) to elaborate on the reasons Germany wanted a colony in Africa
(D) to illustrate what Belgian rulers had allowed in Africa

3 Look at the maps labeled "1880" and "1913."

Which selection from the article is BEST illustrated by the two maps?
(A) They came to set rules for dividing up Africa — the only large landmass Europeans had not yet fully colonized.
(B) The theft of Africa's land began soon after explorer Henry Stanley mapped out much of Central Africa during the 1870s.
(C) England was in Africa well before the 1870s because of the slave trade, and was already thinking of Africa in imperialist terms, Du Bois wrote.
(D) In 1875 only 10 percent of Africa was under European control. By 1900, nearly all of the continent was ruled by European powers.

4 Examine the image at the top of the article.

HOW does this image contribute to the reader's understanding of imperialism?
(A) by showing European leaders dividing up the land while African people are forced to work for them
(B) by illustrating how European leaders marked out boundaries between their African colonies on a map
(C) by showing that European leaders cooperated peacefully with African people when colonizing the continent
(D) by illustrating European leaders' interest in the traditions and practices of their African colonies