Tonight's reading was a general conclusion to Scramble for Africa in the book. It revolves around the artistic interpretations of how many artists viewed the breaking up of the contents during the 19th century. During this time it was when the European began to exploit Africa in ways other than the slave trade and began to hunt for raw materials, as well as land, and expansion in the industrial revolution. The visual sources in the book were particularly eye catching because each one was unique in its vary own way.
The first visual source was really interesting because the artists take was entirely different than what I would have expected especially when just viewing it. Think of a modern day monopoly game in which the theme is gaining wealth and prestige by gathering land. This was the idea of was gathered from the French's overall scramble to gather parts of Africa, and was rather creative at the time.
The second visual aid was just as striking as the first. I especially liked this one because it was more vivid and enthralling that the other sources. It depicted the French expedition as they traveled a crossed the continent of Africa and placed great emphasis on the Commander of the French expedition Jean-Baptiste Marchland, and his eighteen month long march with his troops. In the picture Marchland is leading the way through a dry desert type scene, with his troops guns pulled ready to fire, and with him stand dramatically over the dead body of a soldier. I believe that this portrayal of Marchland made the French feel as if they were reaching higher goals than the other Europeans and emphasized this on the cover of their magazine.
These to visual sources are just little insights to how the Europeans thought of their take over of Africa. Much of the artistic work was done by the European's and showed how they each got a piece of the African nation.
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