Claire- CAUSE essay rough draft- with citation

The British imperialized for many reasons. One of which was to protect their economy. The British economy was very dependent on trade and by developing their colonies, that expanded their trade (Cullen). The colonies were potential markets for industrial products. Since Africa was undeveloped, land was cheap, which simplified achieving their goal. The need to imperialise was important because the British needed to protect their trade routes with India from France and Germany (Baldwin). Originally, they never really cared about Africa until they discovered gold and diamonds in the 1870's (Cullen). After these discoveries, there was an overseas expansion in raw materials; rubber, tin, copper, petroleum, etc. Through this developed trade routes, not only did the British economy expand, but European merchants and entrepreneurs made personal fortunes (Baldwin).