HISTORY
THE AGE OF IMPERIALISM
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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It had many thick jungles.
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The people of Africa did not travel to Europe often.
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The interior of the continent was unexplored.
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It was completely controlled by European countries.
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Detailed explanation-1: -Africa was called the dark continent because of the obstacles encountered while attempting to explore its interior. The plateau rim of the continent extends to the coast and in the north, the Sahara Desert was a formidable obstacle to reach the interior.
Detailed explanation-2: -Europeans could not navigate African rivers, which had many rapids, cataracts, and changing flows. The introduction of steam-powered river-boats in the early 1800s allowed Europeans to conduct major expeditions into the interior of Africa. Disease also discouraged European exploration.
Detailed explanation-3: -Explorer Henry M. Stanley used it in his 1878 book, Through the Dark Continent. In fact, it is still used today, but in context. Because of the dearth of electricity on much of the continent, satellite imaging from outer space depicts much of Africa at night as literally a dark continent.
Detailed explanation-4: -Another aspect that depicts that the African continent could never be described as a dark continent is medicine. Before the Europeans arrived with their European way of curing diseases, the people of Africa had their own system of curing the same diseases.
Detailed explanation-5: -It was argued at the time that Africa had no history because history begins with writing and thus with the arrival of the Europeans. Their presence in Africa was therefore justified, among other things, by their ability to place Africa in the ‘path of history’.