Late 19th Century: (The Economic and Peripheral Theories of Imperialism — Free Trade Giving Way to Protectionism as Industrial Competition Increased, Africa …

Late 19th Century: (The Economic and Peripheral Theories of Imperialism — Free Trade Giving Way to Protectionism as Industrial Competition Increased, Africa Accounting for Only a Small Percentage of Exports but European Merchants Convinced of Vast Untapped Wealth, Robinson and Gallagher’s Peripheral Theory of Informal Empire Collapsing into Direct Control, and Creeping Imperialism Driven by Reluctance and Vacillation Rather Than Systematic Strategy): Global competition increased sharply as free trade gave way to protectionism — the establishment of colonial territories from which rival European powers could be excluded or heavily taxed. Africa itself accounted for only a small percentage of European exports, with British manufacturers seeking markets in Europe, the white dominions, India, and Latin America first. But many European merchants were convinced of vast untapped wealth and copious raw materials in the African interior, suggested by coastal oil and rubber and later by southern African diamonds and gold. Robinson and Gallagher argued for a peripheral theory of imperialism: the British relied on local collaborators to sustain an informal empire because it was cheap, but once such collaborative regimes collapsed, Britain was compelled to involve itself directly. Europe was sucked into Africa, and Africa’s violent transformation provided openings and leverage. There was no systematic imperialism before the 1870s, nor tactical consistency from one government to the next — there was reluctance, vacillation, and thrift. By the 1870s and 1880s, it had become clear that economic penetration would not proceed without intervention. The rise of racialism compounded this — the belief that Africans could not be left alone to create conditions conducive to healthy economic development. African rulers attempting to maintain positions as middlemen were seen as obstacles that needed to be crushed.