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Economy Mainly Based on Slave Trade
Most people think that the slave trade had only negative effects on Africa. Although slavery was a terrible thing it was the main part in the African economy. The slave trade gave Africa some power and money. -
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Changes in West Africa
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Freetown is Founded
Freetown was founded by Britan after they abolished Slavery. This was a town for the freed slaves to go. Freetown was located in Sierra Leone. -
Britan Abolishes Slave Trade
Britan was the first country to abolish slavery. It took a very long time for the rest of the world to deside to do somthing about it. Slave labor was to convienient for the rest of the world to give up. -
Scramble to Africa Began
European powers wanted land in Africa to boost trade and gain more resources. The countries basically had a first come, first searve basis on the land in Africa. After this so called Scramble the only countries that remained independent was Liberia and Ethiopia. -
Liberia Remains Free
During the scramble to Africa Europe took over almost all of the African lands. The Liberians were on of the only countries to maintain their freedom during this time. This was very impressive because the Liberians were much less powerful than the European powers. The country even remained untouched after the Berlin Confrence -
Berlin Confrence
The Berlin Confrence was a way to make the scramble to Africa more organized. At this confrence the European powers split the lands of Africa. The map on the left is how the land was split, most went to France and Britan (France-blue, Britan- pink). -
Slave Trade Ends
The slave trade was a terrible thing, but when it ended it severaly hurt the economy. For a while the economy in Africa was going under. The people had to get a new way to get money. -
Start of Palm Oil Exports
Palm oil was a break through for Africa. This completely revived Africas Economy after the end of the slave trade. The palm oil business also gained more money than the slave trade because one slave could eventually make more palm oil than they would have been worth at the slave trade. -
Scramble to Africa Calms Down
At this time all of the land in Africa has been claimed for quite a while. Europe has been gaining a lot of trade through the new resources and ports that they have in Africa. This claimed land also gave Europe better routes to India and China. -
France Captures African Resistance Leader
Rabah the leading resistance leader in Africa was captured by France while trying to gain their independence. He was captured around Lake Chad. He had a large colony of freeom fighters and fought hard against France
