Africa

What can happen when one group of people thinks that they are superior to another group of people? Also known as, The African Slave Trade The Triangular Trade Africa The Americas Europe

Slavery Even before the arrival of Europeans, slavery was common in Africa. Believe it or not, Africans enslaved other Africans.

Europeans originally went to Africa to trade, but discovered that they could actually trade (barter) for slaves. Those Africans who owned other African slaves would accept goods in exchange for slaves. The Europeans then sent the slaves to the Americas as cheap labor. Why would Europeans send their slaves to The Americas? The reason is because the Europeans colonized The Americas. (Remember, The Americas originally belonged to the Natives who were mistakenly referred to as Indians by Christopher Columbus when he got there.)

The slaves were used as cheap labor to work the fields, tend to household chores, etc… They would collect raw materials that the Europeans would then send back to European factories to be processed into finished products to be sold for money. Some of the products were sent back to Africa in exchange for more slaves to be send to work in The Americas. Thus, the name,The Triangular Trade

The Triangular Trade Europe Africa The Americas Goods Slaves Raw Materials

The Scramble for Africa Late 1800s – early 1900s

Africa video.asx

Why did European nations compete in the “Scramble for Africa”? It was a time of European Imperialism (the taking over of other lands). The Europeans wanted the untapped resources of Africa. For example: gold, diamonds, and oil. The Europeans also felt it was their duty to spread Western civilization throughout the world. In order to avoid European war over land in Africa, the continent was partitioned with Britain and France getting most of the land.

Another reason for European Imperialism in Africa was: **cheap labor, limited competition, and abundant raw materials** There was a demand for raw materials unavailable in Europe, especially copper, cotton, rubber, palm oil, cocoa, diamonds, tea, and tin to which European consumers had grown accustomed and upon which European industry had grown dependent. Additionally, Britain wanted the southern and eastern coasts of Africa for stopover ports on the route to Asia and its empire in India.