Final answer:
European nations colonized African nations to access raw materials, new markets, and assert military dominance, under the guise of civilizing missions. This exploitation, particularly during the 19th and early 20th centuries, resulted in substantial wealth extraction from Africa to benefit European industrial economies.
Step-by-step explanation:
The "greed" that European nations were satisfying by colonizing African nations was multifaceted, primarily driven by economic factors. During the colonization era, particularly in the 19th century and early 20th century, European powers sought to expand their territorial reach and increase their wealth.
They aimed to gain access to a variety of raw materials and new markets to sell their finished goods, as well as boost their national prestige. The notorious Scramble for Africa was characterized by the partitioning of African territory during the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 without the consent of African communities. Additionally, the quest for colonization was spurred by a desire for military dominance and nationalistic fervor.
European nations such as Britain, France, and Germany were keen on extracting minerals and establishing plantations for crops like tea, cotton, and coffee. Africans were often relocated or forced to work on these plantations or in mines, which severely disrupted their traditional ways of life and environments.
The industrial powers justified this exploitation through the guise of bringing civilization, Christianity, and monogamous marriages to African societies, a sentiment echoed in Rudyard Kipling's poem "The White Man's Burden." However, the underlying reality was a blatant extraction of wealth and resources from African lands to feed the industrial appetite of Europe.