European Imperialism In South Africa Essay

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The British Empire was a largely economy-run country. They wanted control of everything from bananas in the Caribbean to diamonds and gold in Africa. This in turn left a devastating effect on how the government in some of these regions was set up. One of these countries was the country of South Africa. The main influence of European Imperialism began with the settling of the Dutch, who combined with some of the native population and became farmers. They enslaved the natives and had slaves shipped to them. This was mostly near the Cape and edge of South Africa, so they avoided conflict with any other tribes in the area. Most of them were migratory and had large families. Because of this the government did nothing to stop them from expanding. …show more content…

This led to the districts of Swellendam and Graaff-Reinette declaring to be independent Republics. This freedom didn’t last very long as the British annexed the cape in 1795. The control of the British over the southern cape of Africa didn’t make things any better either. The British just wanted control of the cape because it was one of the main trade routes to India, and didn’t really care too much about it’s inhabitants at first. Most of the largest problems started with the abolition of slavery in the British empire. The Boer farmers not only hated the British since they restricted their migration movements, but also despised them because they needed the slaves to properly run their farms. This in turn led to plenty of resentment of the newly freed slaves. They didn’t have many rights for several years afterword. The first of these restrictions was the Masters and Servants Act in 1841 which forbid freed slaves from breaking a labor contract. Basically still forcing them to have slavery. The British government made great attempts to stop the slave trade, but the slave trade kept on for several years after only stopping at around the

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