Would Europeans have bothered to colonize Africa in the 1870's if the Industrial Revolution had never occurred, thus eliminating the need for raw materials like coal or iron?
Europeans would have colonized Africa in the 1870's even if the Industrial Revolution did not happen at the time. Trade routes could open up through Africa to cut out the Italian and Muslim controls on the Silk Road trade system that already went near that area, Europe would have run out of natural resources that help grow their economies, and the need for land to expand to would push Europeans to move out to different surrounding areas.
The silk road was a prime location for Europe to maximize profits. They could use Africa as a branching point to expand out into the trade routes coming from India and China, to collect the resources for trade themselves. Cutting out the middlemen of the Italians and the Muslims would allow Europe to benefit from the process of taking the wares from the creators of the materials, and shipping them to Europe to sell for profit. If each European country established a presence in Africa to gain access to the silk road, then they could all buy the materials they needed directly off of the producers of such wares and transport them back home to be sold for a profit to the citizens of the country, with the government receiving the profit from such sales.
Although Europe traded for materials, they also had food and other agriculture present in their land and raw materials available under the surface. Eventually, though, the resources available to be mined would run out, and European governments would have to pay the expensive prices to other countries for their materials. When that happened, the countries would branch out, looking for cheaper ways to provide the same materials, leading them to the thus far un-colonized African continent. Here they could enlist the local's help for mining the materials that they needed back home, along with some extras to trade along the silk road for profit.
With more money, European countries can stand to grow more food and allow for larger population growth. With the population growing, countries would need more land for farming to support larger populations of people in the country. This expansion would have led them to search for the land necessary in places other than Europe and the already established surrounding areas, leading them to Africa, and area unclaimed by European powers until the 1870's.
We learned from colonialism and imperialism that the more land a country controls, the more money it can get and the more power it holds. Expanding to Africa would have happened anyways, allowing those countries that got there first to become rich many times over, collecting more land and the materials from it and housing their people there. This would happen even if it hadn't happened in conjunction with the industrial revolution in the 1870's, maybe even just as a fluke, but it would happen nonetheless.
http://africanhistory.about.com/od/eracolonialism/a/ScrambleWhy.htm
http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-colonization-of-africa.html
https://thingsfaper1.wikispaces.com/file/view/africa1914.jpg/176756739/349x311/africa1914.jpg
http://peterbianchi.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Industrial-Revolution.jpg
The silk road was a prime location for Europe to maximize profits. They could use Africa as a branching point to expand out into the trade routes coming from India and China, to collect the resources for trade themselves. Cutting out the middlemen of the Italians and the Muslims would allow Europe to benefit from the process of taking the wares from the creators of the materials, and shipping them to Europe to sell for profit. If each European country established a presence in Africa to gain access to the silk road, then they could all buy the materials they needed directly off of the producers of such wares and transport them back home to be sold for a profit to the citizens of the country, with the government receiving the profit from such sales.
Although Europe traded for materials, they also had food and other agriculture present in their land and raw materials available under the surface. Eventually, though, the resources available to be mined would run out, and European governments would have to pay the expensive prices to other countries for their materials. When that happened, the countries would branch out, looking for cheaper ways to provide the same materials, leading them to the thus far un-colonized African continent. Here they could enlist the local's help for mining the materials that they needed back home, along with some extras to trade along the silk road for profit.
With more money, European countries can stand to grow more food and allow for larger population growth. With the population growing, countries would need more land for farming to support larger populations of people in the country. This expansion would have led them to search for the land necessary in places other than Europe and the already established surrounding areas, leading them to Africa, and area unclaimed by European powers until the 1870's.
We learned from colonialism and imperialism that the more land a country controls, the more money it can get and the more power it holds. Expanding to Africa would have happened anyways, allowing those countries that got there first to become rich many times over, collecting more land and the materials from it and housing their people there. This would happen even if it hadn't happened in conjunction with the industrial revolution in the 1870's, maybe even just as a fluke, but it would happen nonetheless.
http://africanhistory.about.com/od/eracolonialism/a/ScrambleWhy.htm
http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-colonization-of-africa.html
https://thingsfaper1.wikispaces.com/file/view/africa1914.jpg/176756739/349x311/africa1914.jpg
http://peterbianchi.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Industrial-Revolution.jpg