africa

The overall impact of European civilization had more negative affects on the world than positive. But, the impact of the war and other factors caused many countries to withdraw their influence from the colonies. Science and biology created solutions for diseases. Rebuilding the info structure and the living standards became a higher priority after the war than building up overseas empires. The discovery of quinine allowed Europeans to now travel deep into Africa and take direct control over a majority of the continent. European leaders were occupied with domestic economics and realized the profitable trade was with countries inside the continent. However, in one instance Europe was able to take control of the Americas because of their low population. The fact that it was divided into states provoked the need for strong governments and because there was no one power that could change things in Europe they obtained a relatively strong freedom of thought. Futhermore, Europe sent explorers to find different and needed trade routes to Asia and India because the land routes were extremely long (class notes). People argue the fall of colonization began with Europe and others argue it began with the colonies. During WWII Europe relied heavily on their colonies for support, which increased the native elites (locals who represented the colonies) importance in the colonies. It was more difficult for France to give their empires because their initial motivation for acquiring the colonies was national prestige and power. In fact trading posts was all Europe could establish when trading with Africa.