Chapter 25: Political Cartoons

This cartoon showcases how the whole of Europe longed for the riches of Africa, showcase by the captions of 'Gold Fields'. The whole of Europe believed that Africa was an untapped gold mine and wanted its hands on every inch possible. The Artist's opinion could be that this land-grabbing was greedy, but this is an unlikely opinion of the time. Most likely the artist is simply making a statement about how the ever-present influence of the European governments is bearing down on Africa, as showcased by the deep shadow that man's hands are leaving. Another important aspect is the wealthy suit that the man is wearing, showing the already large amounts of wealth that Europe had as it bore its greedy fingers down on Africa. If this is indeed his opinion, I completely agree with it. Europe definitely overdid their colonization of Africa both by ruining indigenous people and by enforcing their way of life on those who didn't want it.

This political cartoon showcases the struggles that pervaded Africa especially the aspect of governing it. Here we see multiple personifications of Death all arguing about how the continent should be governed. The artist's opinion is probably that Africa, left to its own devices, is doomed to die a multitude of horrible deaths. Therefore European intervention is necessary to keep these people from killing themselves out of ignorance. This idea exemplifies European nationalism and even the notion of the "White man's burden" to make Africa a suitable place to live. I think that the artist is making a large miscalculation on the continent, and that Africa should be left to its own devices. After all it survived this long without intervention, why would it need intervention now?