notes

fuel for "scramble for Africa":: antislavery zeal, need for raw materials, missionary, personal gain, exotic appeal
 * Beginnings**

At the start of the sixteenth century, the Portugese had an established international slave trading system between France, England, and the Dutch. By the year 1800, the states under this system came to include the Congo Basin. As with the other African nations, the Congo's economical system came to mainly rely upon the income derived from selling peoples to coastal European traders. Unconscious of self-inflicted dehumanization and the fact that foreign powers were taking advantage of indigenous peoples, the Congo's new dependence on trade with Europe for stability continued after the Industrial Revolution, when slavery came to fall out of favor with many independent nations in the early 1800s. <<Go into why Congo/interior regions of Africa were appealing (were appealing because they likely contained the wealth they sought after) ^^green book history of congo

Although the Industrial Revolution halted the trend of exporting slaves as a commodity, it created a need for people "on the home-front" to collect raw material for the manufacture of profitable goods. The introduction of large factories capable of cheap mass production created a second rush of European "landgrabbers" to stake claim on the areas rich in products such as rubber, ivory, palm oil, lumber, and peanuts. One of the most profitable regions of Africa, the Congo Basin, appealed exploration in particular not only for its wealth of raw materials, but because it was the epitome of Europe's vision of Africa: a wild and untamed region, isolated within the Jungle and thus carried much appeal for its exotic seclusion. Explorer>Stanley>inspire mapping out/exploration of Africa's interior to "pave way for claiming African territories" << develop idea when editing this paragraph ^^ green book history of congo

It can be said that the explorer who catalyzed the exploration of the Congo was Henry Morton Stanley


 * Imperialism in Africa and the Consequences**


 * Congo Reform Movement & Treatment of Natives**