Tag: battle of plassey and battle of buxar

The "Scramble for Africa" was the invasion, occupation, division, colonisation and annexation of African territory by European powers during the period of New Imperialism, between 1881 and 1914. In 1870, only 10 percent of Africa was under European control; by 1914 it had increased to 90 percent of the continent, with only Ethiopia (Abyssinia), the Dervish state (present-day Somalia) and Liberia still being independent.

Ethiopia was able to decisively defeat Italy in a war and thus became the only traditional non-European empire to defeat a European army. 

China was having its own culture with strong tilt towards communism. Though  European powers established parts of coastal cities or trade ports as "concessions," which they occupied and controlled. Some, such as Shanghai, were divided into multiple European concessions. Others, like British-controlled Hong Kong, were fully absorbed into the European empires. This is why China is labelled as partially dominated by Europe.

In the late Nineteenth century King Leopold II of Belgium attempted to influence the Belgian government to support colonial expansion around the then-largely unexplored Congo Basin. The rulers showed a sheer ambivalence and hence Leopold was successful in establishing a colony there.

In the period of great mobility there were great changes in economic, social, political and culture. Groups of people traveled long distances in search of opportunity. The subcontinent held immense wealth and the possibilities for people to carve a fortune.

The European nations transformed due to the Renaissance Movement, developing a crave for modern imperialism. By 1914, this caving brought the entire Asian and African regions under the imperial rule.