How might the legacies of imperialism and this period's stereotypes about Africa influence the way people view the world today?

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How might the legacies of imperialism and this period's stereotypes about Africa influence the way people view the world today?
he revealed that the Congress of Berlin was a
two weeks before the first group of delegates arrived in Germany.
"The Berlin Conference to apportion the rising riches of Africa among the white
peoples met on the fifteenth day of November, 1884. Eleven days earlier, three
Germans left Zanzibar (whether they had gone secretly disguised as mechanics),
and before the Berlin Conference had finished its deliberations they had annexed
to Germany an area over half as large again as the whole German Empire in
Europe. Only in its dramatic suddenness was this undisguised robbery of the land
of seven million natives different from the methods by which Great Britain and
France got four million square miles each, Portugal three quarters of a million, and
Italy and Spain smaller but substantial areas.
....Lying treaties, rivers of rum, murder, assassination, mutilation, rape, and torture
have marked the progress of Englishman, German, Frenchman, and Belgian on
the dark continent. The only way in which the world has been able to endure the
horrible tale is by deliberately stopping its ears and changing the subject of
conversation while the deviltry went on.
It all began, singularly enough... with Belgium. Many of us remember [Henry]
Stanley's great solution of the puzzle of Central Africa, when he traced the mighty
Congo sixteen hundred miles from Nyangwe to the sea. Suddenly the world knew
that here lay the key to the riches of Central Africa. It stirred uneasily, but [King]
Leopold of Belgium was first on his feet, and the result was the Congo Free State.
... But the Congo Free State, with all its magniloquent heralding of Peace,
Christianity, and Commerce, degenerating into murder, mutilation, and downright
robbery, differed only in degree and concentration from the tale of all Africa in this
rape of the continent already furiously mangled by the slave trade. That sinister
traffic, on which the British Empire and the American Republic were largely built,
cost black Africa no less than 100,000,000 souls, the wreckage of its political and
social life, and left the continent in precisely that state of helplessness which
invites aggression and exploitation. "Color" became in the world's thought
synonymous with inferiority, ... Africa was another name for bestiality and
barbarism.
you
in th
by E
Thus, the world began to invest in color prejudice....For indeed, while the
exploration of the valley of the Congo was the occasion of the scramble for Africa,
the cause lay deeper. . . . Already England was in Africa, cleaning away the debris
of the slave trade and half consciously groping toward the new Imperialism.
France, humiliated and impoverished, looked toward a new northern African
empire, sweeping from the Atlantic to the Red Sea... Germany... looked to Asia
and Africa for colonies. Portugal sought... her claim to her ancient African realm;
and thus a continent where Europe claimed but a tenth of the land in 1875, was in
twenty-five more years practically absorbed."
Summary:
Transcribed Image Text:he revealed that the Congress of Berlin was a two weeks before the first group of delegates arrived in Germany. "The Berlin Conference to apportion the rising riches of Africa among the white peoples met on the fifteenth day of November, 1884. Eleven days earlier, three Germans left Zanzibar (whether they had gone secretly disguised as mechanics), and before the Berlin Conference had finished its deliberations they had annexed to Germany an area over half as large again as the whole German Empire in Europe. Only in its dramatic suddenness was this undisguised robbery of the land of seven million natives different from the methods by which Great Britain and France got four million square miles each, Portugal three quarters of a million, and Italy and Spain smaller but substantial areas. ....Lying treaties, rivers of rum, murder, assassination, mutilation, rape, and torture have marked the progress of Englishman, German, Frenchman, and Belgian on the dark continent. The only way in which the world has been able to endure the horrible tale is by deliberately stopping its ears and changing the subject of conversation while the deviltry went on. It all began, singularly enough... with Belgium. Many of us remember [Henry] Stanley's great solution of the puzzle of Central Africa, when he traced the mighty Congo sixteen hundred miles from Nyangwe to the sea. Suddenly the world knew that here lay the key to the riches of Central Africa. It stirred uneasily, but [King] Leopold of Belgium was first on his feet, and the result was the Congo Free State. ... But the Congo Free State, with all its magniloquent heralding of Peace, Christianity, and Commerce, degenerating into murder, mutilation, and downright robbery, differed only in degree and concentration from the tale of all Africa in this rape of the continent already furiously mangled by the slave trade. That sinister traffic, on which the British Empire and the American Republic were largely built, cost black Africa no less than 100,000,000 souls, the wreckage of its political and social life, and left the continent in precisely that state of helplessness which invites aggression and exploitation. "Color" became in the world's thought synonymous with inferiority, ... Africa was another name for bestiality and barbarism. you in th by E Thus, the world began to invest in color prejudice....For indeed, while the exploration of the valley of the Congo was the occasion of the scramble for Africa, the cause lay deeper. . . . Already England was in Africa, cleaning away the debris of the slave trade and half consciously groping toward the new Imperialism. France, humiliated and impoverished, looked toward a new northern African empire, sweeping from the Atlantic to the Red Sea... Germany... looked to Asia and Africa for colonies. Portugal sought... her claim to her ancient African realm; and thus a continent where Europe claimed but a tenth of the land in 1875, was in twenty-five more years practically absorbed." Summary:
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