Imperialism In South Africa Essay

Imperialism is the violent or informal way a group of people take over another’s land and often dictate their lives. South Africa was introduced to imperialism around the 1800s and lasted to the 1900s. The first empire to take hold of South Africa was the Dutch Empire. South africa was a thriving place with many small villages and a deep culture, but Imperialism from europeans changed all that. They imposed on the peace and changed their way of life. The europeans had no regard for the people who lived there or their culture. Slavery and harassment was a major role to the decimation of South Africa’s people. The dutch empire started in South Africa as a trading post and were peaceful but as time passed the european people became hostile and didn’t

Soon a time known as the Great Trek came as Dutch people became tense with the rapid growth in the region so they moved east which led to many upset natives and a war began between Boers and the Bantu people. Boers were european settlers who drove the Bantu people north. This led to great a tension in the region.

The dutch held South Africa as a port up until Britain came and at that point they became mutual users of the area with Britain gaining more control. Britain had used South Africa as a mid point or pitstop for their colony in India. This caused Britain to have a large control of naval trade making them a stronger power. Which gave them access to more resources and slaves. Imperialism in South Africa wasn't all bad though; the europeans had brought with them industrialization causing a rise in urbanization and growth in the area. This led to advances in medicare and cultivating. Tricks like tilling land changing crops every other year and other farming techniques made slave work less necessary. The rise in people caused multiple cultures to thrive resulting in the diverse area that we know