Toddlers and Total Imperialism

The boom of the Industrial Revolution made prosperous countries of Europe look around with envious eyes on the lands of Africa and Asia. The boom and imperialism is similar to a teacher who brings in a new chest of toys to her class. The toys come in and the grabbing begins! The grabbing of the toys is equivalent to the grabbing by the European countries of the land south and west of them. These European countries include Britain, France, Belgium, and Germany.

Why did these countries look to Asia and Africa? The reason is that this land was close to the mother country and the land held bountiful resources. These resources included gold, diamonds, and spices. The prehistoric tools of the tribes of Africa led the conquest of land to be easy. These European countries also continued the use of natives as "indentured servants" or "slaves" to increase production and profit.
The craze began with Leopold II of Belgium. His inquisition of the Congo and the discover of diamonds began the great "African Fever". Major European countries went into a rush of land grabbing in Africa.

Cecil Rhodes taking a break during his imperial conquests

Cecil Rhodes was also a man of great conquest of ambition. Cecil Rhodes was a British man who established protectorates over Bechuanaland and Rhodesia. Cecil and his soldiers fought back the Afrikaners. Rhodes and Britain would be one of the first countries to use "self-governing" colonies. Britain and Cecil Rhodes found great wealth in gold.

Berlin Conference

This great grab of land led Jules Ferry of France and Otto van Bismarck to plan the Berlin Conference. This conference established that "European claims to African territory had to rest on 'effective occupation'". This meant that Europeans had to go to Africa, claim land, and defend it in order to claim the land as theirs. No one could look from afar and claim an entire section of Africa. This led to the map of Africa, after this time of Imperialism, to be compared to a puzzle. Before imperialism, Africa was a huge region with small sections of European countries on the outskirts of the continent. After this new age of imperialism, the land was mixed with different races and nationalities. The lack of collaboration of tribes throughout Africa left the country easy to infiltrate and conquer.

Before and After Imperialism

The imperialism of these great countries truly compares to the behavior of toddlers and new toys. When one goes for the toys, everyone goes for the new toy. Africa was the new toy. Germany, a new world power, wanted to impress the local countries with Otto Van Bismarck's reform in education in these third world countries. Other countries found the idea to educate these natives in the attitude of the "White Man's Burden". The new grab for land is equivalent to the grab of a small child. They both saw value in what they found and potential of what could happen.