Adwa African Victory

“Ibn Battuta’s stories give us a picture of Africa through eyes of a devote Muslim traveling all over the continent of Africa and the world. In his accounts sub-Saharan Africa is described prior to colonialism and racism. Ibn Battuta’s stories as they are transcribed in “Ibn Battuta, In Black Africa” by Said Hamdun and Noel King are representative of the only written account of this period and give us the most realistic and accurate account of this time in history.

But there were some Africans who were also against imperialism but had rebellious actions and reactions in response to the Scramble for Africa. In the painting of the battle of Adowa between Ethiopians and Italian troops the Ethiopians defeated the Italians and which show a response in a rebellious manner (doc.5). This showed that they had defiant response to the taking over of Africa and fought back. The point of view of this document is biased because they have a picture of Jesus in the upper middle part of the picture and he is on a horse and this symbolizes Christianity in the Ethiopian culture and how the artist feels Christianity was their ultimate protection when in

“West African societies were shaped by competition for wealth and the search for independence from more powerful kingdoms” (History 2011). Most of Africa’s oldest kingdoms originated from West Africa. These old kingdoms contributed to the development and growth of Africa in many ways, especially trade and economic growth. As the new kingdoms replaced the old ones, they experienced a vast change. Conquest and warfare along caused these transformations to occur. It was also influenced by the patterns of trade. The earliest civilizations were in West Africa south of the Sahara desert. These civilisations grew at a time when most of the outside countries were experiencing The Dark Age. “After the fall of the Western half of the Roman Empire around

“African Perspectives on Colonialism” is a book written by A. Adu Boahen. This book classifies the African responses to European colonialism in the 19th century. Boahen begins with the status of Africa in the last quarter of the 19th century and follows through the first years of African independence. This book deals with a twenty year time period between 1880 and 1900. Boahen talks about when Africa was seized and occupied by the Imperial Powers of Europe. Eurocentric points of view dominated the study of this era but Boahen gives us the African perspective. There are always two sides of the story and Boehen tells us the side less talked about informing us of what he knows.

This novel is the definitive tragic model about the dissolution of the African Ibo culture by Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo, a great and heroic leader, is doomed by his inflexibility and hubris. He is driven by fear of failure.

The cultural diversity and advancements portray the progression developed in African history. The growth of these two subcontinents prove that American and European historians were incorrect on how advanced and civilized Africa was.

During 19th century Europe the Industrial Revolution was rapidly spreading through many prominent European nations, such as France, Germany and Spain. The Industrial Revolution was the name given to the period of time, around the 1800s, when many of Europe’s economies switched from agricultural economies to industrial ones. This Revolution spurred on a new age of European Imperialism, European nations set about conquering, claiming and colonising chunks of Africa. The new economic motives, technological advancements and desire for power created by the Industrial Revolution were the greatest motives behind European Imperialism in Africa.

In document 4, Ndansi Kumalo, an African veteran of the Ndebele Rebellion, discussed his tribe’s surrender to the “White people”. He also described the horrifying and humiliating lives they struggled with “like slaves” because of their surrender. This poor treatment led to uprisings and rebellions. Although African reactions to Europe’s Scramble for Africa were all similar, the reactions had varied results. Some rebellions failed poorly, but others succeeded.

The history of Africa is very complex. Europeans invaded Africa and stripped them of their culture and denied future generations their history. Despite the focus on the time of enslavement in modern history, African history expands far beyond that. African history has been consistently whitewashed and many historians have attempted to put our history in a box. In order to understand and study the African experience, one must realize that the history of Africa extends far beyond the times of enslavement and colonialism.

As European violence increased, the Africans began to seek ways to take action against them. Yaa Asantewi, Ashanti queen mother, gave a speech to chiefs stating that if the men did not begin to take action against the European violence soon, the women would begin the fight the White Man themselves. This is quite significant because women were considered second class citizens, weak people who did nothing but the simple tasks in life. The Herero people also were compelled to take up arms against the Germans invading South-West Africa. In a letter he wrote “Let us die fighting rather than die as a result of maltreatment, imprisonment, or some other calamity. Tell all the chiefs down there to rise and do battle”(Doc 7). Finally, artwork can be analyzed from the uprisings against Europeans such as the Italians. Document 5

The book, The Battle of New Orleans, was interesting, but not great entertainment. The book was contained a lot of dates, troop numbers and places. If you wanted to know about military history, and don’t mind a lot of statistical information, you should read it. Army leaders who want to enhance their leadership style by reading history should be able to gain some insights from this

The book i read was “ Lions of the West,” by Robert Morgan it was published on October 18th 2011 and there are 496 pages.

The historical novel Segu by Maryse Condé is set in the African country of Segu during a time of great cultural change. The African Slave Trade, the spread of Islam, and personal identity challenges were all tremendous and far-reaching issues facing Africa from the late 1700s to early 1800s. Condé uses the four brothers of the Traore family, Tiekoro, Malobali, Siga, and Naba, to demonstrate the impact that the issues of Islam, slave trade, and identity had on African people through the development of each character. The oldest of the sons, Tiekoro exemplifies the influence and spread of Islam through out Africa at the time.

Instinct often dictates action, overriding any forethought or humanity. One of the most primitive, yet profound instincts is the survival instinct. Self preservation is deeply ingrained into nearly every aspect of life, including the lives of present day people. Thus, diverging from this most innate way of life in favor of saving the life of another is an extremely noteworthy action. The Holocaust is an example of a time in history where preservation often took priority because of its vicious nature. History was repeated in 1994, when decades after the Holocaust, terror, disaster and ugliness surrounded the people of the Rwandan genocide after Hutu forces began the mass killings of the Tutsi people. The predicted response to an ugly time

“Ghana’s history is a metaphor for what occurred in the immediate aftermath of independence in Africa,” is a quote by Kofi Awoonor, Ghana’s leading literary figure and one of Africa’s most acclaimed authors. Three of his poems illustrate the hardships and trials that the Africans faced after their claim of independence from Britain. As said by Awoonor himself, “...high hopes were crushed by the greed, corruption, and lust for power…”. The author uses multiple literary devices as a way to emphasize the adversities they faced. Kofi Awoonor symbolizes the downfall of Ghana after independence through the use of theme, mood, and symbolism in his Three Poems.