Asses the significance of economic reasons influencing Britain’s relationship with its empire in Africa in the period 1870-1981?

Britain’s relationship with Africa was a very volatile one. By 1914 Britain was able to took control over nearly 30% of Africa’s population and most of African territory (5 million square miles) where under British control. By doing this Britain was able to gain the ‘Lion’s share’ over the other European powers which were competing for control in Africa. On the other hand by the end of the 20th century Britain’s influence in its African empire had shrinked dramatically. The process of colonization which mainly took part between 1870-1914 and decolonisation which started from the end of the Second World War until 1981 took place due to many and various reasons. Some of the reasons include Imperialistic and nationalistic feelings of the British people and of the Afrikaners , military conflicts, political actions and economic reasons. This essay will try to prove that the most important reason which influenced British relationship with its empire in Africa between 1870-1981 were economic reasons to a great extent as each and every action of the British leaders concerning Africa was either purely based on economic interest or had an indirect economic motive. To begin with before the 1870’s British policy towards its African empire was mainly focused on informal imperialism. This type of control was mainly focused on trading agreements as Britain did not establish territorial control. The primary purpose focused on purely economic interests. However everything changed during the period of the 1870s. The shift of British policy towards formal imperialism reflected a significant shift in Britain’s relationship with its Empire. The main factors that led to this change were economic reasons. According to a study which was published in 1902