FROM CO-OPERATION TO CONQUEST: THE TRANSFORMATION OF AFRICANS – EUROPEANS RELATIONS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Abstract
This paper examines the transformation of Euro-African relations from the fifteenth century to the nineteenth century, focusing on the shift from co-operation to conquest. Early interactions between Europeans and Africans were largely characterized by diplomacy, commerce, negotiated engagement, and mutual economic benefit under African political authority. However, the expansion of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade significantly changed the dynamics of Euro-African relations. The demand for enslaved labor in America reshaped African economies, intensified warfare in certain regions, and increased European commercial influence. The nineteenth-century introduction of legitimate commerce, driven by industrial demands, further integrated African economies into the global capitalist structure while deepening dependency. The rivalries among European powers culminated in the Scramble for Africa, which was formalized at the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885. Thus, this article examines the transformation of Euro-African relations from early cooperation to imperial domination. Drawing on historiographical debates and world-systems theory, it argues that the shift from mutual trade to colonial conquest was driven by structural changes in the global capitalist economy and intensifying European imperial competition. The study further highlights the enduring implications of these historical processes for Africa’s post-colonial development and international relations.