Firstly, a main cause of British imperialism in Africa was the scramble for Africa, or in other words, the race for new colonies in Africa and the things brought with it. Due to extreme nationalism, the countries of Europe considered their civilization and way of life to be superior to all others. Britain was currently the greatest power in Europe so they claimed vast territorial expansions such as South Africa, Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, and Rhodesia, just to name a few. The emergence of new political thoughts in the late 19th century, particularly Social Darwinism, increased the feelings that the European nations had a duty to bring civilization and religion to the "savages" of Africa. This made imperialism acceptable for the whole of Europe. Of course, Britain as being the most advanced country from having the first industrial revolution, took this to heart and supported the Christian missionaries politically and even militarily because the missionaries usually went too far. To add to the effects was Rudyard Kipling's peom, "The White Man's Burden" in which the British writer explains the responsibility of white people to govern non-white people, so that apparently it served as justification of British imperialism in Africa. Overall, the desire for new colonies in Africa and the deployment of Christian missionaries resulted in more harm done than the so-called good intentions of the British.
MLA: I have posted MLA on the other 2 blog posts summarizing my sources.
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