Before the 19th century, Europeans had a limited knowledge about Africa to conquer, but they colonized other remote lands. Once the realisation dawned on them, they competed for control of this immense and richful land. These countries, including Portugal, Germany, England, and many more took the people as slave, and were force-labored in Africa. Trading natural resources also played a big role throughout the history of Imperialism. Without this period on the timeline, the fate of Africa would never fall in partition and the Europeans would not be rich as they are today. To know the main driving force of Imperialism in Africa, one may argue that claiming lands and goods benefit the economy to a high degree. Although another reason could be competing for national pride, it is not logical because pride itself doesn’t exist if one’s country is poor and powerless.

To begin with, European colonizers focused on their economy to “show off” that they are wealthy and can handle the responsibility of ruling more lands. As the countries get richer, people demanded for more coal and mass production of technologies. In order to get more resources to fulfil their needs, they must claim more lands to have the goods. According to Document African Colonies And Their Exports from DBQ, the European colonized different parts of Africa and advanced their economy by using resources. While England imported metal for making coins and building engines, Portugal imported cotton because they owned textile factories back in their territory. This shows that after they benefited from the Industrial Revolution, the conquerors were thirsty for more resources and money. In other words, instead of using the limited resources they had in their countries, they imported goods from their claimed lands to produce weapons and earn money from selling it. Therefore, it is logical that the first step to national pride is to build a strong economy first, to have what the countries think they need in order to be powerful.

On the other side, some may say that national pride is the main driving force. According to document National Pride from the same source, John Ruskin, an English intellectual at Oxford University, delivered a message to England. He said: “This is what England must either do or perish: she must found colonies as fast and as far as she is able...seizing every piece of fruitful waste ground she and set her foot on… (to) advance the power of England by land and sea.” Similarly, from the same document, Friedrich Fabri, or the father of German colonial movement, delivered the same concept. From a written passage of  his book, it says: “German Reich centuries ago was at the peak of the states in Europe, it was the Number One trade and sea power... the New German Reich wish to prove and maintain its newly won position of power for a long time.” These reasons strongly suggest that European countries should own the land in order to be the “number one” trade and sea power.  The more one claims, the better it is compared to the rest. However, if one agrees with this statement, he is missing the most important point. If they want to dominate many lands, they need power over the people. Which means, they need weapons different than swords to overpower the citizens. Claiming lands in hurry won’t do any good to the colonizers when the military force is controlling many lands at one time. Also, stated in Document Imports and Exports, Great Britain had built their economy drastically by escalating their exports from Africa in 1900. Analyzing the evidence above, England targeted a goal to export many resources from Africa their own country in order to build their economy and power their industries. Therefore, it is illogical to say that national pride is the main driving force in Imperialism.

To summarize, Imperialism was a competition between many hurricanes, each represents a European country. When one crashes into land, it colonizes it. Of course the competition continued because of two driving forces: Those are to boost their economy and trying to be the  “top” in order to have national pride. However, after examining the reasons behind these driving forces, one may say that the economy is the most significant. Without money, property, and power, one’s country may never have pride.