Why did Europe choose to colonize Africa after the Americas even though Africa was a lot closer and discovered earlier?
In: 0
One problem for Europeans in Africa was the high mortality rate from tropical diseases such as Malaria.
Quinine had been used as a malaria treatment since the 16th century against malaria but access was limited. It is produced from the bark of the Cinchona tree that is native in to the tropical Andean forests of South America. In the beginning of the 19th century, Peru had a monopoly on production and dot alow any seed or plant getting out og the country.
The Dutch manage to get seeds in the late 1860 and they started to grow it in plantations of what is today Indonesia. The scramble for Africa starts when there is large access to quinine.
It is a bit simplified to say it is just quinine but it was a major factor. Europeans were in other location with Malaria but it is a question of what you can get from that location the danger of malaria around the world depend now on what strain is there, they are not all identical. I would read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramble_for_Africa
Latest Answers