Concretely, colonial policies in Africa were driven by economic Essay

Concretely, colonial policies in Africa were driven by economic factors and not by concerns about the type of society colonial rule would bring about. Discuss - Essay Example This is what came to be known as the "Scramble for Africa". Many historians debate on the reasons as to why European nations rushed to establish colonies and territories in Africa, finding it hard to agree upon a single cause. One thing is very clear though; the colonial policies in Africa were driven by economic factors and not by concerns about the type of society colonial rule would bring about. Colonialism, whether it was by the Belgian, British, German, French or any power was not supposed to be a kind enterprise. The reason behind colonialism was one: exploitation of human labor and economic surplus accumulation. Consequently, capitalism did not spare labor exploitation even if it took spilling blood so as to fulfill the agenda. Britain developed and became a post-industrial nation with financial services increasingly becoming important in its economy. The financial exports kept Britain going, especially its capital investments based outside Europe. The surplus capital was profitably invested not in Britain but overseas, where abundant raw materials, limited competition, and cheap labor made bigger premiums possible. Imperialism inducement arose due to raw materials demand, unavailable in Britain and Europe. These included rubber, copper, tea, cotton, and tin. In Africa, the European’s capital investment was relatively little compared to the other continents. The companies which were involved in commerce were not relatively big, apart from De Beers Mining Company owned by Cecil Rhodes, who carved out north and south Rhodesia for himself and his company, as did King Là ©opold II with the Congo Free State and later Belgian Congo. Europe was experiencing an economic depression during the late 1800’s.as a result, the colonial governments did not have enough for spending on economic development, political administration, and social programs in their new colonies. A policy was formulated for the colonies to â€Å"pay for themselves.† In