Afric Causes And Conflicts In Colonialism's Genocide

For centuries, European nations had been trading slaves, gold, ivory, and more with the west coast of Africa. Throughout the early 1800s, Europeans barely knew anything about the rest of the country of Africa. This quickly changed as Europe grew a sudden interest in exploring the rest of the country and taking advantage of their many valuable resources. Many wonder what motivated Europeans to Imperialize Africa, or extend their country’s power throughout Africa. The driving forces behind European Imperialism in Africa were the strive for ultimate power in Africa between competing countries, the need for money and technological advancements in European civilizations, and the constant attempt for Europeans to spread their cultures throughout

The Europeans thought it as their duty to civilize the “inferior” races by expanding western ideals. However, they did so in a vicious and grueling way where citizens were treated inhumanely. From An Anthology of West African Verse by David Diop, he entails

In the 19th and 20th centuries Europe was thriving and wealthy while most of their colonies in Africa were suffering under their rule. The Europeans all wanted a piece of Africa’s land with its plentiful resources and free labor. Around this time, Europe was going through the industrial revolution and because business was booming the European countries need more resources than they already had. The Africans had the land the Europeans wanted to use to continue having booming businesses, they also had African slaves and workers that they can use so they don’t have to pay for labor. In the 19th century leader of the Europeans countries want to discuss how they will divide Africa without the leaders of Africa knowing. The Europeans then started to invade Africa and take control over the citizens. As the Europeans got more powerful, the Africans become more miserable. Unable to match the guns Europe had, African countries began getting claimed, one by one with the exception of two. The Europeans ruled in a cruel way that left many Africans dead or suffering. Many countries tried and successfully broke away from Europeans after many years under colonization. The Europeans had a negative impact on the lives of many Africans in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially with racism and assimilation. People were taught to be a human they had to be like a European which led to many racist views on African people and culture and is why some nations like France used assimilation to make

The reactions made a small number of African natives was to resist diplomatic responses that promised the ability to maintain peace with the nations of Europe. When diplomacy failed, Africans resisted with violence, while others drew upon their religious traditions for strength in remaining independent. Yet another reaction among Africans was to encourage other Africans to fight back. Some Africans, meanwhile, complied with – and even willfully participated in – the continent’s colonization by Europeans.

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.

Throughout history, Africa has been a vulnerable player in the eyes of the rest of the world. From the slave trade to various civil right injustices that have taken place over in every century, we have studied in this class, we have been able to see the lasting impact on the continent as a ramification of certain events occurring. Using sources from the text, I will attempt to prove how the western world, exercised their power to capitalize on the African continent, in addition to the exploitation of the African people and land.

What causes genocide? Is genocide preventable? In order to prevent genocide, we will have to understand it. “You have to understand what caused genocide to happen. Or it will happen again.” (Tim Walz) We must study and match genocides and cultivate a functioning theory about the genocidal progression. Genocide is a definite evil ethical crime any ruling authority such as a government can compel against its people. A wide-ranging explanation of genocide is the intent to destroy or murder people because of their race, beliefs, or even political and economic status. Genocidal violence has a long history. All in history, societies have tried to eliminate others for various reasons, but these attempts have been marked by the human race's rejection

Europeans feared and discriminate Africans but that didn’t stop them from selling them and making them work in plantation for a certain period of time. In addition, white blames the African for things they did not do – ““the living image of primitive aggressions which they said was the Negro but was really their own” (50). This statement proved that white colonizers get away with things by blaming the blacks, insisting that blacks are going to gore the life of them and denying the fact, blacks to be their own.

The indigenous people of Africa suffered many setbacks, when the Europeans arrived. When the Europeans arrived in Africa they made the indigenous people feel inferior, lack self-confidence, and be stripped of their responsibility. As shown by Document 2, when it says, “...convince us that our civilization was nothing less than savagery, thus giving us complexes which led to our being branded as irresponsible and lacking in self-confidence.” Some people may agree, that this seems like something out of a genocide. Originally the indigenous people of Africa were supposed to be cheap labor. However, this soon changed when the Europeans enslaved the African people. This is portrayed in Document 6, when it says, “...Beneath the noonday sun, My brother was strong…” By doing this they stole all of the human rights from the Africans, who had done nothing wrong. This is shown in Document 3, when it says, “Whereas fundamental human rights...are denied to Africans.” During this extremely horrific time in African history men were worked to death, and women were raped. This is found in Document 6, when it says,”The White Man killed my father,My father was proud, The White Man seduced my mother, My mother was beautiful.” This shows the negative effects are much worse for the Africans, than for the Europeans. But, there are some positives in this dark hour. When the Europeans arrived in Africa, they provided the

In a freezing class, two brilliant minds unlocked the fiery passion that is their talent one an artist the other a writer. Bringing to light a history long forgotten creating abstract thoughts arbitrary to our own. Komi Olaf the artist and Okey Ndibe the writer not only enlightening the class but also the world with each brush stroke and each word. Every creation stemming from the hands of these masters tell of issues at the heart of Africa from colonialism to existential dilemmas. Thru spoken word, hip-hop, art, music, poems and literature issues close at heart to the artists and to Africa are portrayed. This paper will focus on the art exhibit by Komi Olaf and Foreign Gods inc by Okey Ndibe as spoken by them during their discussion in the class on October 13th. Where the talks focused on the key course objectives being stereotypes, post-colonialism, youth culture, and resistance.

European domination of Africa had global influence economically, politically, and socially. Areas such as France and Portugal saw some benefits economically and places such as Britain saw social and political benefits. Contrastingly, in regions of the world today, people of the African Diaspora are still seen as lesser and tribal. There has been little progress for people of color, but the progress that has been made is significant. However, the progression of people of color has been met with oppression from an ideal that has evolved from years of unchecked privilege; white Supremacy. White supremacy is not just radical KKK groups but a different version of “racial and social discrimination because it is systematic and more fully theorized.” White Supremacy is a notion that white people are superior based on their characteristics and attributes. This ideal is both conscious to those who act on it and subconscious to those who use their white privilege

Beginning in 1880, there was a growing desire for European countries to expand and control their rule. The only continent at that time that was left uncontrolled and, in the European's eyes uncivilized, was Africa. This was the start of Western Imperialism. All European countries wanted their piece of Africa and to get it, they would let nothing stand in their way. They would change the entire government, religion, market, and behavior of most of the African nation and affect almost every person living there. An account of the impact of Imperialism is given in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. This book shows the changes that occurred in Africa during Imperialism and its affect on the community and the people

What is the name of the horrid conflicts that cause the mass killings of millions? What is the thing that scars people mentally and physically? The answer to all of these questions is Genocide. There are genocides going on in every part of the world today whether or not we know it. One widely known genocide is the Jewish Holocaust. Hitler killed, tortured, and traumatized millions of people during his time of ruling in Germany. Genocides have an outcome of millions killed, thousand displaced and many more haunted. There are several factors that contribute to genocide, but most have the common bases starting them: religious, ethnicity, and greed.

The European nations used the term “civilizing mission” to convince people to support the exploration of the unknown parts of the African continent. Europeans believed that Africans were uncivilized, lacked Enlightenment, and needed European progress. In the eyes of the people, this colonization was supposed to moralize the indigenous people into their idea of civilization, but this was not the case. In the late nineteenth century, Europe’s “civilizing mission” was never civilized because the focus of the colonization of Africa was to make the nations more powerful. To increase the power of the homeland, colonists extracted resources from Africa and sent them back and they abused the native people, as presented in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

Western and European powers came to dominate life in the late-19th and early-20th century. These imperialist powers hoped to gain economic, and political powers through the use of others. They exerted their power and dominance to do so. With this power they could subdue and take over other countries. Although the right to do this can be argued heavily, it does not stray from the fact that sometimes it is alright to do. Displayed in Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the introduction of the white missionaries brought new life into Africa. The white missionaries made changes and went against the religion of the Africans. They did it in their own view of righteousness: once abandoned babies were saved and rejected outsiders became accepted. However, their methods sometimes were underhanded and cynical. The extent of the force that they showed became unnecessary and when the white settlers began to infringe on the rights and cultures of the Africans, it’s clear that there is a certain extent of which they could oppress them. Europe had the right to take over Africa if they were making changes that would have benefitted both the Igbo and the Europeans, but should only make changes if it does not infringe on another’s culture or religion.