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Europe had long held an interest in Africa since the
Portuguese started creating trading posts there in the late 15th
century, however the reunification of Germany and Italy in the
late 19th Century gave new impetus to European involvement in
the African continent, because, to put it simply, there was no
room for further expansion for powers within Europe and it was
seen as a source of cheap labour and resources.
There was one guiding principle for European colonialism in
Africa; exploitation and this desire for exploitation was
fuelled by the end of the slave trade whereby European nations needed
to replace human trade with alternative trade and
industries. Up until the end of the 18th Century most European
involvement had focussed on coastal areas, with their trading
posts with Britain having a presence in Sierra Leone, southern
Africa, and Lagos, France ruled settlements in Senegal (Dakar
and St Louis), Cote d'Ivoire (Assinie and Grand Bassam), Benin
and some of Algeria, while Spain dominated parts of northwest
Africa. The Turks had Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, whilst Portugal
controlled Angola and Mozambique.
As these countries made moves to explore further inland, they
discovered that the 'Dark Continent' had many natural resources.
As word spread across Europe so did the movement to harvest these
natural resources. In 1884 Von Bismarck of Germany convened the
Berlin conference which was to mark the beginning of what was
known as the Scramble for Africa. Although this conference divided up the
continent of Africa into spheres of European influence, it
omitted to include the actual peoples involved. As such, although
the Berlin Conference is widely viewed as the division of Africa,
it wasn't until the end of World War I that those European
countries had actually managed to exert their full sovereignty
over the countries they had been 'given'. The following table explores colonialism in
Africa by country. It should be noted that not all dates have
universally acknowledged and it provides a summary only. The
video (below) provides further insights into colonialism in
Africa whilst the maps below shows European activity colonialism
in Africa in 1850 compared with after the Conference of Berlin in
1885.
For full details of each colonial country and dates of independence click here or download the file above for more detailed information about each country's independence.
Colonialism in Africa: Colonial Map of Africa
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