Discuss the economic and political motives for European expansion into Essay

Discuss the economic and political motives for European expansion into Africa in the 19th Century - Essay Example However, in the 19th century, European expansion was much greater and had new motives: political, economic and social. This essay discusses the economic and political motives for European expansion into Africa in the 19th century. Common excuses for the19th century colonial expansion were the spread of civilization, education, and Christianity (Colonialism in Africa, slide 5). However, these were only pretexts. There were other economic and political reasons for this expansion, which were mostly concealed. Industrial Revolution is the classic reason given when the economic motive is explored. Industrial revolution created a sharp need for raw materials, new resources, new markets and new investment outlets for surplus capital (Colonialism in Africa, slide 6). There was interplay of various factors, such as unemployment resulting from the large scale industrialisation. Europe dealt with this problem by acquiring new colonies for the purpose of finding an alternative place for such surplus population. These settler colonies served different purposes from the non-settler colonies. The economic motives for colonial expansion are testified by the colonial economic policies that enabled exploitation of natural and human resources. Development of infrastructure for easy access to and transportation of resources and education for the development and eventual exploitation of human resources are examples (Nationalism and Decolonization, slide 3). While the economic imperatives derived from industrial revolution spurred the eventual colonization of Africa, the political impetus was equally powerful in the European expansion and it rose from inter-European competition for pre-eminence and power (Colonialism in Africa, slide 7). Colonies around the globe symbolised power and various European powers competed to acquire colonies, establish stakes and declare exclusive rights in particular territories and waterways across Africa. The scramble for Africa was so that