Goals and Tools of Colonialism   Term Paper ID:44603 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Discusses how European powers colonized Africa and how they maintained control there in the ...... More...

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Paper Abstract: Discusses how European powers colonized Africa and how they maintained control there in the nineteenth century. Paper Introduction: Goals and Tools of Colonialism The goals of the European imperial powers with respect to colonialismin Africa were remarkably consistent across countries and cultures TheBritish French Belgians Germans Portuguese and Italians who carved outterritories for colonial exploitation throughout much of Africa each soughtto expand their own power by acquiring new territory to increase theirwealth by gaining control over the valuable minerals found throughoutAfrica and simultaneously acquiring laborers from native African peopleswho would further the commercial and agricultural activities of Europeancolonists Shillington At Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. (2 5). ReferenceShillington, K. The churches and missions worked hand in hand withcolonial administrators to bring European civilization to Africans. This did not mean the Europeans accepted educatedblacks as equals. However, the situation in this colony withrespect to the relationship between the white Boers and black Africansremained one of white dominance. They sought to formalize the distinctions betweendifferent peoples on the basis of customary differences of dress, housing,language, and religious practices. The British made use of the principle of divide and conquer intheir southern African colonies although they did use African customary lawand permitted chiefs to judge local civil disputes and to try minorcriminal cases. Among those tools were an extensive militaryoccupying force, a police force, taxation, and labor laws which werefavorable to whites. Racial discrimination was a key characteristic of thecolonial enterprise. According to Shillington (2 5), the word "tribe" was used in aderogatory sense by European colonists who regarded African societies asprimitive and inferior. History of Africa. In what is now South Africa, for example, capitalismflourished and depended upon recruiting migrant workers from all overAfrica, bringing together different groups to serve in the mines and on thefarms that were controlled by both the British and the Boers (Shillington,2 5). ManyAfricans were conscious of the social and economic injustices of colonialsociety and their own exclusion from the politics of their country. To acquire and thenmaintain dominance, groups such as the British used a variety of tools tosubdue the local population. Whilelip service was given by some colonial powers to the idea of bringing theChristian religion or European civilization to Africans, in reality thesegoals were subordinated to the economic and political objectives of thecolonial powers (Shillington, 2 5). By creating elites from among localblack groups, they further alienated Africans from each other. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. TheBritish, French, Belgians, Germans, Portuguese, and Italians who carved outterritories for colonial exploitation throughout much of Africa each soughtto expand their own power by acquiring new territory, to increase theirwealth by gaining control over the valuable minerals found throughoutAfrica, and simultaneously acquiring laborers from native African peopleswho would further the commercial and agricultural activities of Europeancolonists (Shillington, 2 5). Shillington (2 5) noted that colonial authorities may have wellinvented to concept of tribalism, fostering conflict between differentgroups. At its heart, the colonial or imperial erawas about the conflicts between European Great Powers and their need toexpand in terms of both territorial hegemony and economic prowess. British attention to African customary law and the supportof chiefs in the Rhodesian and South African colonies had little to do withany actual respect for the influence and authority of these individuals.Instead, the chief became the administrator of colonial overrule and wasthe individual who received the full weight of local African hostility. In the 187 s and188 s, the discovery of diamonds and other valuable minerals increased thelevel of conflict between blacks and whites and as Shillington (2 5, p.319) notes, "ushered in a new era of aggressive white colonialism whichextended white control and settlement overmuch of the remaining African-ruled territory" of the southern African interior. It would be wrong to assume that throughout Africa, the people werepositive in their response to the European occupation. In theprocess, some African tribes thus constituted were established as superiorand were given the putative advantages of a European education(Shillington, 2 5). The idea of race as a factor ensuringthat black Africans would be subordinate was introduced in this era aswell. In the Transvaal, British taxation was so repressive that it led theBoers to rise in rebellion, ultimately defeating the British and regainingcontrol over the region. Goals and Tools of Colonialism The goals of the European imperial powers with respect to colonialismin Africa were remarkably consistent across countries and cultures. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.