Slave Trade and European Imperialism

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Slave Trade and European Imperialism
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The Slave Trade

• When Europeans began to colonize the Americas,
  they used Native Americans for slave labor.
• Diseases, however, decreased the population of
  Native American slaves dramatically.
• The Native Americans were not used to diseases
  the colonists carried.
• By the mid-1600s, colonists in the Americas had
  turned to Africa as a new source of labor.

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Triangular Trade

• A pattern of trade known as triangular trade
  occurred between Europe, the Americas, and
  Africa.
• Merchants from Europe brought manufactured goods
  to trade for captured and enslaved Africans in
  one leg of the triangle.
• Africans were traded for items such as guns and
  cloth from Europe, and rum and gunpowder from the
  American colonies.

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Triangular Trade

• Another part of the trade triangle was known as
  the Middle Passage. Enslaved Africans were
  transported from Africa to the West Indies on
  crowded, dangerous ships.
• They were traded for sugar, molasses, and other
  products in the Americas.
• These agricultural goods were shipped to Europe
  and European colonies, making up the third leg of
  the trade triangle.

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Triangular Trade

• A Dutch ship that landed in Jamestown, Virginia,
  in 1619 was the first known slave ship in North
  America.
• The ship left Africa carrying 100 Africans, but
  arrived in Jamestown with only 20.
• It was common for people to perish on slave
  ships. Often the ships carried hundreds of
  people in dangerous conditions.

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Triangular Trade

• They were chained together by their hands and
  feet.
• The people were held in spaces that were only
  tall enough to sit in, so they were unable to
  stand up.
• Illness spread quickly in the slave ships, and
  many Africans died in transit between Africa and
  the colonies.

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Colonization of Africa

• At first, European explorers would only explore
  the coasts of Africa.
• The interior was unexplored and unknown.
  Exploration became safer as science improved.
  Most of Africa had been mapped by the mid-19th
  century.
• Steamships and railroads allowed travel into the
  continent.
• This started the age of colonialism.
• Colonialism is the forced control of one nation
  by another nation to use its resources.

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Reasons for Colonization

• Africa is a continent of vast wealth.
• It has many raw materials such as cotton, rubber,
  ivory, and minerals that are not found in Europe.
  
• South Africa is rich in diamonds and gold.
• New industries in Europe needed metals like
  copper and tin.
• The industrial revolution in Europe needed more
  raw materials.

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Reasons for Colonization

• Europeans also used Africa as a source of cheap
  labor.
• African countries were new markets for European
  goods.
• They wanted to keep a positive trade balance.
• A trade balance is the difference in value
  between a countrys imports and exports.
• The trade balance is favorable when exports are
  greater than imports.

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Suez Canal

• Colonizing Africa made it possible to create
  secure trade routes for European countries.
• The Suez Canal was the most important trade
  route.
• It is a man-made water route between Europe and
  Asia.
• The Suez Canal is located in Egypt, and was
  completed in 1869.

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Suez Canal

• Before its construction, ships had to travel
  around the continent of Africa.
• Both the British and French wanted to control the
  canal.
• Cities and forts on the coast of Africa helped
  protect trade ships.

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European Way

• Europeans wanted to change African culture to be
  more like European culture.
• A missionary is a person who goes to a foreign
  country to spread his or her religion.
• Missionaries brought Christianity to Africa.
• They also tried to end the slave trade.

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Beginnings of New Imperialism

• The end of the 19th century is called the age of
  New Imperialism, which refers to countries
  competing for land and power.
• The growth of European colonies in Africa is
  called The Scramble for Africa.

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Great Britain

• Great Britain and France fought for control of
  the region.
• The British took control of the Cape Colony from
  the Dutch in the early 1800s so that the French
  could not control it.
• The British also controlled some forts in West
  Africa, which gave them control of the gold and
  ivory trade.
• Britain took control of the Suez Canal and Egypt.

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France

• France wanted to increase its trade.
• It also wanted to spread French culture. By
  1848, the French established themselves in
  northern Algeria, their first colony.
• Trade outposts were built in West Africa for the
  slave trade.
• Most of the French-controlled land was desert.
• The French also traded palm oil and timber.

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Belgium

• Belgium was also competing for African land.
• King Leopold II purchased the Congo River basin
  with money from investors.
• Belgians did not support the purchase.
• The amount of land purchased was bigger than
  Belgium itself.
• The king wanted to make sure that other European
  countries could not control the region.

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Berlin Conference

• The Berlin Conference was a series of meetings in
  Berlin, Germany, held by European nations from
  1884 to 1885.
• African rulers did not attend.
• The European nations discussed Africas land and
  how they wanted it to be divided.
• Ten percent of Africa was in European hands going
  into the meeting.
• Europeans owned most of Africa by its end.

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Summary

• Explain the significance of how Europe's
  interests in Africa changed over the years.
  (Include the triangular trade, reasons for
  colonization, Suez Canal, Berlin Conference.
• What roles did Great Britain, France and Belgium
  have in colonial Africa?