What factors were considered when drawing the borders for the African continent?

What factors were considered when drawing the borders for the African continent?

With the exception of Ethiopia and Liberia, all the states that make up present day Africa were parceled out among the colonial powers within a few years after the meeting. Lines of longitude and latitude, rivers and mountain ranges were pressed into service as borders separating the colonies.

What was the problem with the colonial boundaries in Africa?

Besides improperly designed borders, European colonial powers employed “divide and rule,” “direct rule,” and “assimilation” policies, which forced the loss of social norms, identity, and social order for Africans.

What are the 3 factors that allowed for the imperialism of Africa?

The European imperialist push into Africa was motivated by three main factors, economic, political, and social. It developed in the nineteenth century following the collapse of the profitability of the slave trade, its abolition and suppression, as well as the expansion of the European capitalist Industrial Revolution.

What are the boundaries of Africa continent?

The continent is bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the east by the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and on the south by the mingling waters of the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

What are the factors that led to the scramble and partition of Africa?

The reasons for African colonisation were mainly economic, political and religious. During this time of colonisation, an economic depression was occurring in Europe, and powerful countries such as Germany, France, and Great Britain, were losing money.

How did imperialism affect Africa’s borders?

There were several negatives of colonialism for the Africans like resource depletion, labor exploitation, unfair taxation, lack of industrialization, dependence on cash crop economy, prohibition of trade, the breaking up of traditional African society and values, lack of political development, and ethnic rivals inside …

What issues were caused by the European partitioning Africa?

The European partitioning of Africa contributed to conflict, civil war, and artificial political boundaries. New African governments did not have experience governing or solving conflicts so force became a way to solve problems.

How have European boundaries in Africa led to severe conflict?

Africans were forced to work under terrible conditions on plantations, railways, and logging. In order to gain power, Europeans encouraged Africans to fight against each other. New political boundaries caused ethnic groups to clash. This has led to ethnic and political unrest in Africa today.

What are the 4 causes of imperialism?

The four major motives for imperialism are economic, strategic, religious and political. These motives helped great empires expand their territory and brought new cultures and languages to both the colonised countries and the countries colonising them.

What are the 4 reasons for European imperialism in Africa?

To start with, a few major causes of imperialism are economics, exploration, ethnocentrism, politics, and religion. Economics prompted imperialism due to countries pursuing benefits to improve their economies. Economic benefits mean having control of markets, raw material, and natural resources.

How is Africa divided geographically?

Africas physical geography, environment and resources, and human geography can be considered separately. Africa has eight major physical regions: the Sahara, the Sahel, the Ethiopian Highlands, the savanna, the Swahili Coast, the rain forest, the African Great Lakes, and Southern Africa.

How did Africa’s geography affect movement in Africa?

What geographic features limited movement in Africa and what made them obstacles? The terrain of the rain forest and desert made these areas hard to cross, while the high plateau in the interior and the river cataracts made movement between regions difficult. … Outside trade opened North Africa to new ideas.

Is Africa’s struggle to maintain colonial borders becoming a contradiction?

But as the continent becomes more democratic and Africans assert desires for national self-determination, the African insistance on maintaining colonial-era borders is facing more popular challenges, further exposing the contradiction engineered into African society half a century ago.

How did the British system of indirect rule affect African societies?

The two systems were very different and as a result had different effects on African societies. The British system of indirect rule simply meant that power over colonies would be exercised through indigenous political structures. These structures which is related to a customary law were preserved and allowed to continue.

Why did European traders not expand into the interior of Africa?

Europe established trade relations with African rulers and encouraged them to trade with them exclusively. European traders were at first not interested in expanding into the interior of Africa. As long as African rulers assured them of a supply of slaves from the interior, they felt no need to expand into the interior.

How did European countries gain control of the African colonies?

Colonial rule was the result of competition among European countries for control of African resources. In the beginning, control was limited to colonial authorities securing the loyalty of African chiefs and kings. This meant that African chiefs would trade only with their colonial government.