The 19th century paternalistic views of African’s supposed inferiority
became connected to Africa’s economic exploitation. Towards the end of
the of the 19th century, imperialism became a policy of colonial
expansion pursued by different European powers.
By the 18th century, race was widely used for sorting and ranking the
people. The Scramble for Africa (or the Race for Africa) was the
proliferation of conflicting European claims to African territory during the
New Imperialism period, between the 1880’s and the start of World War
I. Slavery was deeply rooted in Western societies whose economies had
been closely tied to the systematic coercion of Non-European labourers.
Race as an objective category which supposedly marks obvious
differences on the evolutionary scale of human societies, has therefore
been undermined by historical reality. 1In the early 19th century, most
enslaved men and women worked on large agricultural plantations as
house servants and field hands. Life for enslaved men and women was
brutally abused, they were subject to repression, harsh punishment and
strict racial policing.
Still, missionaries, like most westerners, took a paternalistic view of
Africans, meaning they saw them as children in need guidance. To them,
African cultures and religions were “degraded”. They urged Africans to
reject their own traditions in favour of Western civilization. 2Ironically,
European exploration of and expansion into the African continent was
often motivation by moral outrage against slavery3. White people called
African the Dark continent because they wanted to legitimize the
enslavement of Black people and exploitation of Africa’s resources. It is
true that up until the 19th century Europeans had little direct knowledge
of Africa beyond the coast, but their maps were already filled with details
about the continent. The abolition of slavery did not automatically result
in equal relations between black and white people4. The paternalistic
colonialism stood in sharp contrast with the way the Germans treated the
Herero and Nama in Namibia in the 1880’s and onwards.
David living stone influenced paternalism and prejudices, Livingstone
believed whole heartedly in the Africans’ ability to advance into the
1
J Samson, Race and Empire (Harlow, Pearson Longman, 2005), p 83.
2
HSY2601/1 Study guide p20
3
WorldHistory_Chapter24_OCR p4
4
Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 1789-1848, (London: Abacus, 2003; 1st publ 1962), illustration 22.
became connected to Africa’s economic exploitation. Towards the end of
the of the 19th century, imperialism became a policy of colonial
expansion pursued by different European powers.
By the 18th century, race was widely used for sorting and ranking the
people. The Scramble for Africa (or the Race for Africa) was the
proliferation of conflicting European claims to African territory during the
New Imperialism period, between the 1880’s and the start of World War
I. Slavery was deeply rooted in Western societies whose economies had
been closely tied to the systematic coercion of Non-European labourers.
Race as an objective category which supposedly marks obvious
differences on the evolutionary scale of human societies, has therefore
been undermined by historical reality. 1In the early 19th century, most
enslaved men and women worked on large agricultural plantations as
house servants and field hands. Life for enslaved men and women was
brutally abused, they were subject to repression, harsh punishment and
strict racial policing.
Still, missionaries, like most westerners, took a paternalistic view of
Africans, meaning they saw them as children in need guidance. To them,
African cultures and religions were “degraded”. They urged Africans to
reject their own traditions in favour of Western civilization. 2Ironically,
European exploration of and expansion into the African continent was
often motivation by moral outrage against slavery3. White people called
African the Dark continent because they wanted to legitimize the
enslavement of Black people and exploitation of Africa’s resources. It is
true that up until the 19th century Europeans had little direct knowledge
of Africa beyond the coast, but their maps were already filled with details
about the continent. The abolition of slavery did not automatically result
in equal relations between black and white people4. The paternalistic
colonialism stood in sharp contrast with the way the Germans treated the
Herero and Nama in Namibia in the 1880’s and onwards.
David living stone influenced paternalism and prejudices, Livingstone
believed whole heartedly in the Africans’ ability to advance into the
1
J Samson, Race and Empire (Harlow, Pearson Longman, 2005), p 83.
2
HSY2601/1 Study guide p20
3
WorldHistory_Chapter24_OCR p4
4
Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 1789-1848, (London: Abacus, 2003; 1st publ 1962), illustration 22.
