European Imperialism DBQ

Words: 588
Pages: 3

Between 1878 and 1914, European powers sought to achieve more territories in Africa. A lot of high head officials thought of this imperialist action to be good because they felt it was good to maintain global influence. And of course there were people who thought of this colonization as bad because they saw it as the government just taking advantage of money because of new markets. While others also saw it as helping Africa because they weren't as civilized and industrialized as much as Europe. The conquering of all of Africa was said to be a way to keep European powers “power”, even though many argued it was a scheme for Africa’s resources and some said it was to civilize the backwards continent.

Political and great leaders of Europe wanted
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(Doc 3) Joseph Chamberlain, a British industrialist and politician/reformer, said in a speech in 1888, that this oversea acquisition was completely necessary to the European society. BUT he was an industrialist which he's going to be in favor for whatever helps and improves his country so this speech is irrelevant. (Doc 5) The German Social Democratic Party in 1900, expressed that the “colonial policy is pursued for the purpose of capitalist exploitation” and its “greedy desire of the bourgeoisie”. This showed how even a European congress can disagree with the acquisition of Africa.

The new lands acquired by Europe were not as civilized as Europe, so some thought to believe that this colonization was good to enlighten Africa. (Doc 6) Martial Henri Merlin, a governor general of French Equatorial Africa, in a speech stated how Europe went to these new territories with a right to conquer them and in the meantime they also have to civilize these backwards people.

In conclusion, the imperialist age of conquering Africa was a success for Europe but came with different attitudes towards it. Political leaders and government officials thought of this colonization as a new way to keep their global influence. Others saw it as the government taking advantage of the new markets in Africa and using them for goods. And there were also people who thought of it as