What were the Europeans attracted to Africa in the late nineteenth century? How did they exploit the people their?
In the late nineteenth century, Europeans were attracted to Africa:
(i)Due to its vast resources of land and minerals.
(ii)Europeans came to Africa hoping to establish plantations and mines to produce crops and minerals for export to Europe.
(iii) Employers used many methods to recruit and retain labour. Heavy taxes were imposed which could be paid only by working for wages on plantations and mines.
(iv)Inheritance laws were changed so that peasants were displaced from land: only one member of a family was allowed to inherit land, as a result of which the others were pushed into the labour market.
(v)Mineworkers were also confined in compounds and not allowed to move about freely.
