5 Reasons Why the European Came to Africa

Reasons why the European came to Africa are cogent enough for one to look into. It is about time Africans started asking these questions in order to know how important they are even to outsiders like the Europeans. So, the question of why the Europeans came to Africa should be song in the tongue of every African, or form the core of every political research by Africa’s brilliant minds.

What then attracted the European explorers to Africa, the ‘Dark Continent’, even with their awareness that there was going to be a lot life-threatening challenges during the expedition? The European knew the many untapped blessings which lie not too deep down the soles of Africans’ feet. They also were aware of the human resources that could help them build their empires back home.

Europeans first became interested in Africa for trade route purposes. They were looking for ways to avoid the taxes of the Arab and Ottoman empires in Southwest Asia. During this time, many European countries expanded their empires by aggressively establishing colonies in Africa so that they could exploit and export Africa’s resources. Raw materials like rubber, timber, diamonds, and gold were found in Africa. Europeans also wanted to protect trade routes.

5 Reasons Why the European Came to Africa

The Scramble for Africa, also called the Partition of Africa, or the Conquest of Africa, was the invasion, occupation, division, and colonization of most of Africa by seven Western European powers during a short period known to historians as the New Imperialism which occurred between 1881 and 1914. The 5 Reasons why the European came to Africa, sharing it among one another is not far fetched. Here are some:

1. Industrialization

One major reason of the 5 reasons why the European came to Africa is industrialization. Industrialization excited the interest of the Europeans. They saw Africa as a place to get resources for their own industrial ambitions, where nations could compete for new markets for their goods, and where they could get many raw materials. Consequently, the Europeans seized areas of Africa.

The industrial revolution led to the massive production of goods, which required the urgent need for market, cheap raw materials and labour. The need to satisfy these factors necessitated the Europeans to look beyond Europe and came to Africa that “readily” provided them with all these and many more.

2. Man Power

At a time when the need for industrialization was at its beginning, the need for labour in Europe rose immediately after the plague. So, different philosophers began to defend and justify the use of force against the weaker species in order to defend their own survival. Ivory, gold and other trade resources attracted Europeans to West Africa. As demand for cheap labour to work on plantations in the Americas grew, people enslaved in Africa became the most valuable ‘commodity’ for European traders.

3. Trade Routes

Another one of the 5 reasons why the European came to Africa is that Europeans also wanted to protect trade routes. They were in dire need for raw materials to build their own civilization. During the 1800s, Europeans moved further into the continent in search of raw materials and places to build successful colonies. For this reason, they came to Africa and exploit it fully.

Europeans came to Africa mainly for trade, and this was the almost exclusive cause of their coming. By and large they arrived hoping for a short stay and to become rich. Some then realised the many riches to be found beyond material wealth, and stayed to form families who became part of their host communities.

4. Discovery of Diamond

The discoveries of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1886 in South Africa increased European interest in colonizing the continent. This motivated European nations to explore and create colonies in the New World. It is also one of the 5 reasons why the European came to Africa. The earliest official finds were made from approximately 1867 onward, in sands and gravels of the Orange and Vaal Rivers in South Africa. Subsequently, diamonds were found in “hard rock” kimberlites and, most recently, in off-shore deposits along the western coast of South Africa and Namibia.

South Africa experienced a transformation between 1870, when the diamond rush to Kimberley began, and 1902, when the South African War ended. Midway between these dates, in 1886, the world’s largest goldfields were discovered on the Witwatersrand. As the predominantly agrarian societies of European South Africa began to urbanize and industrialize, the region evolved into a major supplier of precious minerals to the world economy; gold especially was urgently needed to back national currencies and ensure the continued flow of expanding international trade.

5. Political Power/Exploitation

Many European countries expanded their empires by aggressively establishing colonies in Africa so that they could exploit and export Africa’s resources. They found the interest in wielding influence and turning Africa into their lapdog and a reservoir for their own wealth.

Reasons why the European came to Africa is maily for exploitation. The exploitation of Africa began with the wars inspired to procure enslaved people and the export of the most fit and strong members of Africa’s population. It continued with colonisation in the nineteenth century.

Western extortion of Africa continues, as do wars within the continent, often fought with guns supplied by westerners wanting the cheapest access to vital raw materials. The slaughter in Darfur (western Sudan) in the early twenty first century is partly if not mainly due to this, as is, for example, the situation in the Niger delta in Nigeria.

Above, those are the 5 reasons why the European came to Africa only to romance with Africa’s heritage in the name of colonization.