Analyze Africa's actions and reacions during European scramble for Africa DBQ

A. Adu Boahen's African Perspectives on Colonialism neatly classifies African responses to European colonialism during both phases of invasion and occupation during the 19th century with precise labels according to their nature or time period. However, the reactions can also be loosely grouped into two diametric characterizations: peaceful and violent. Although creating this dichotomy seems a gross generalization and oversimplification of the colonial African experience, it more importantly allows for a different perspective- one that exposes the overwhelming success of the typically peaceful or pacifist reaction in contrast to the little gain and large losses of the violent response.

The sheer guise of philanthropical charity scarcely conceals the colonist’s true objective, the hunt for ivory. The colonists attempt to extinguish any and all forms of African culture in their wild quest for ivory. One night while at the camp, Marlow witnesses a fire engulf a shed housing trading goods. “One evening a grass shed full of calico, cotton prints, beads, and I don’t know what else, burst into a blaze so suddenly that you would have thought the earth had opened to let an avenging fire consume all that trash.” In a somewhat symbolic retaliation, the African culture seizes its revenge on the imposing imperialist culture. As the flames ravish the shed, Marlow watches as a man attempts to put out the fire “…[he] dipped about a quart of water and tore back again. I noticed there was a hole in the bottom of his pail.” This hopeless effort signifies the futile efforts to suppress the overbearing strength of the African culture.

By this ruling, the various European countries who ruled certain African countries were empowered and as such, they imposed their own administrative and legal systems on those lands which they governed. We find a mixture and a blend where by country after country came to be made up of peoples with different cultural characteristics. However, we must emphasize that this character of division from colonialism made things complex. An example of this complexity in terms of territoriality is illustrated when we identify ‘Ewe people to be found in Ghana, Togo, and the republic of Benin.’ The African inhabitants were Europeanized in terms of culture. The African is made to abolish her cultural identity to embrace a totally different and alien form

The coming in of Europeans in Africa resulted in many changes. At first their arrival led to the improvement of trade, though a lot of minerals were taken away by them. But things turned worse when that trade turned into the selling and buying of human beings. From that time many things happened to the African people. Some of the things that happened were the arrival of missionaries who had also an impact on the African community. Later on it was the conquest and the partition of Africa. Many of these experiences that happened when the Europeans arrived affected Africans negatively. This paper will reflect on the changes and the consequences that happened when Europeans encountered Africans.

Acts of resistance and conflict plague human history. More recently in recorded history, the African continent and its peoples have fought for autonomy and basic human rights under the hands of white European colonizers. The avenues through which forms of African resistance presented themselves have both been peaceful as well as violent. Avenues of peace made themselves prevalent by through treaties and other forms of diplomacy. More violent paths made themselves through armed attacks towards fixtures of white settlement. Both violent and peaceful attempts were proliferated by a growing desire of freedom within the various African colonies. These attempts are marked by the changing political, social and economic climate of the globe marking

This fight for land intensified and France began to use military force to abolish the powers of local chiefs. Conklin highlights the experience felt by the African country Dakar who was harshly treated by France. The native people of Dakar were exposed to the brutal rule of France and also became enslaved to the nation. Conklin uses this information to condemn the French government and says, “The government assumed both to be entrenched institutions in pre-colonial African society, and it did not hesitate to attack either in the name of a higher republican morality. Its actions marked a break with the views and policies of colonial officials in France's much more limited territories under the Second Empire.”(424) France did not uphold itself to the regulations that they had intended to stick to when colonizing Africa. This statement made by Conklin is very realistic due to the inequality of power that France had over civilizations in Africa. As an established nation France had advancements in weaponry, an established army, and endless supplies which resulted in an uneven match for Dakar. If need be France could wipe out their population, but enslaving them could educate them to adopt French culture and ideas. As France continued to colonize Africa they had to find new ways to convert natives to adopt French culture due to anti slavery laws. France planned to wipe out chiefs or any relics that once represented old African culture. Conklin provides evidence that supports the side of the natives in Africa that had to deal with this unfair treatment. This aligns with her previously stated reasoning that France’s actions are immoral. Conklin quoted a Dakar native and he says, “‘It was "a splendid massacre," as one Dakar official noted after World War I; the directive sent down "was to liberate the slaves to

With colonization comes the natural idea that the settlers have a right of superiority over the indigenous people. This idea held to be true in almost all of European colonization in Africa (Stanley and Milne 198), but Isak Dinesen and her relationships with African people and cultures were special. “Unlike most of her fellow Europeans, Dinesen embraces the differences she finds between herself and the East Africans and often adopts their customs and attitudes. Her relationship with them evolves into friendship” (Stanley and Milne 198).

Who were the Mau Mau? What fueled their short lived but symbolic rebellion? What is their significance in the struggle for independence that occurred in Kenya? What does understanding the insurgency teach us of the clashes between deep rooted African culture and the force of European civilization mission? The rebellion surprised the British early on in 1952 by its aggressiveness and early success in rallying up the masses for a common cause, equality. For decades the white British settlers took their lands and sent the indigenous Kikuyu into reservations which could not even come close to sustaining their ever growing pastoral population. The Second World War seems to have been the turning point for the majority of Kenyans who wanted equality with the Europeans (Elkins, 2005, p. 22) .

A considerable body of research in African history argues that the main impact of Europeans’ influence in Africa was not colonization per se, but the improper border design (Michalopoulos and Papaioannou, 2011:1). Partitioning, the argument goes, led to ethnic struggles, patronage politics, and spurred civil conflict, leading to poverty and underdevelopment (Alesina et al., 2011). Yet, related with African colonial border, there is very little work that formally examines the impact of ethnic partitioning (Englebert et al.,

The author, Martin Meredith is a highly respected historian, biographer, and a journalist who spent many years in Africa. He has written several books about Africa and modern history. This book is authoritative and well-documented. The author used over 600 credible sources that are very appropriate for this book. To bring more credential to his work, he referenced prominent African authors such as Marcel Amondji, Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe.

After discussing the ‘Scramble for Africa’ in class I decided that I wanted to do more research on the subject and thusly having this be the general focus of my essay. The following source provides another perspective on the European’s motives for conquering Africa. Essentially, Barnhart is arguing that the fate of one’s status relative to others is the main cause for asserting their authority onto other states. While this argument stands it cannot be the main focus of my paper as concluding that there was only one cause takes away from the complexity of the situation. Therefore, this source will be used as an example of one of the possible reasons for the sudden Scramble, in which it will be followed by an argument that general conclusions do not tell the whole story of a situation.

An approach to African studies will be summarized within this essay. Each chapter encompasses a detailed explanation from African cultures to economical struggles and much more. These 10 chapters will include a brief introduction and summary of African societies, Power, Descent from the same ancestor, Contracting an alliance, Government, Repetitive and dynamic models, Inequality, Dependence relations, Association, and Exchange of Goods.

Ben-Jochannan, Yosef, and John Henrik Clarke. 1991. New dimensions in African history: the London lectures of Dr. Yosef ben-Jochannan and Dr. John Henrik Clarke.

It is therefore true to say that the primary concern of most post-colonial African novelists, like Al-Tayyib Salih, Chinua Achebe and others, is to change for better the history of their people which colonialism has taken off or manipulated. The African novel occupies a central position in the criticism of colonial portrayal of the African continent and its people. It grew, in part, from a history of active resistance to the colonial encounter. It has been crossing boundaries and assaulting walls imposed by History upon the horizon of the continent whose aspirations it has been striving to

Years after the Berlin Conference, between 1884-1885 European imperialist powers pushed their way into Africa to be able to colonize land. The future of Africa was determined by these European Countries, while some Africans stood and watched others took a stand in trying to protect their land. Some of the Africans gave in peacefully (Docs.1,4,3), others promised to give in non-violently (Docs. 2,6) and lastly those that wanted to resist violently (Docs. 5,7,9).