We are leaving the Industrial revolution behind and getting into the era of European imperialism with a special focus on the continent of Africa. Our goal is to understand how the European nations like England and France need raw materials to use in their factories so they head to Africa where they can use their power to take what they want. First we will look at how the Ethiopians successfully resisted Italian forces at the Battle of Adwa. We will then move into a case study on the infamous success story that is Cecil Rhodes rise to power in Southern Africa. Lastly we will look at the concept of “White Man’s Burden” and how it effected the people of the world, specifically Africans.

Historians generally agree that the Scramble for Africa, the rushed imperial conquest of the Africa by the major powers of Europe, began with King Leopold II of Belgium. After reading a report in early 1876 that the rich mineral resources of the Congo Basin (the modern-day Republic of the Congo) could return an entrepreneurial capitalist a substantial profit, the Belgian king ordered the creation of the International African Association, under his personal direction, to assume control over the Congo Basin region. When Leopold asked for international recognition of his personal property in the Congo, Europe gathered at the Berlin Conference, called to create policy on imperial claims. The conference, after much political wrangling, gave the territory to Leopold as the Congo Free State. The conference further decreed that for future imperialist claims to garner international recognition, “effective occupation” would be required. In other words, no longer did plunging a flag into the ground mean that land was occupied. The conference also created some definition for “effective occupation,” noting that significant “economic development” was required.