Animal Conservation Strategies and Inclusion of Rural Indigenous Communities

As the ships of European countries sailed into the coasts of Sub-Saharan Africa the inhabitants did not know that within a few hundred years their ways of living would be changed forever due to imperialism and the combining of cultures. For a period of time Europe believed Africa was backward in a sense of the way the country was being ran could never be successful. “Evidence from Social Darwinism proved that only the most able would survive so they believed using the ideas of “white superiority” and “civilizing missions” would only further develop Africa” (Falola). “Civilizing missions was the idea that the superior race had the right to

In Basil Davidson’s video “Different but Equal,” he outlines the European perception of Africa upon their discovery of the continent. Claims that the Europeans were making about African culture, however, were far fetched and did not depict Africa in a positive manner. History according to pre-European Africa was rich and diverse, but once Europeans saw for themselves how different their continent was from Africa, they began to make up their own version of African history.

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.

From 1880 to 1900, Africa was split in many colonies by several different European countries. This was called the “Scramble for Africa. Because Africa didn’t have all of the technology that the Europeans possessed, the Europeans deemed them “uncivilized.” They took it upon themselves to colonize their land, disregarding their set tribes and customs. Although attempting to seem helpful, Europeans had their own selfish reasons for renovating Africa and its traditions.

The drive to colonize the continent of Africa in the 19th centuries brought the European imperial powers against difficulties which had never been encountered before. One such difficulty is that of the local wildlife in Africa, such as lions or other big game animals. In The Man-Eaters of Tsavo, by Colonel John Patterson, a railway bridge project in East Africa is terrorized by a pair of man-eating lions. This completely true story shows the great difficulty in colonizing Africa by demonstrating the somewhat harsh environment of Africa.

For centuries Africa has been sought after and colonized by European powers for political, social and economic gain. Europeans needed Africa’s rich resources to fund their industrial revolution. European countries were strategically trying to one up another for the best resources so that their country would come out on top, while completely disregarding African people. Many European countries came to the conclusion that it was well within their rights to colonize Africa in order to protect their commercial interests. They simply decided to lay claim to territories in Africa, treating the continent as if it was theirs to take. In this essay I will argue that to the Europeans, Africa was just a commodity to be fought over and colonized and I

European Imperialism in Africa had one real driving force behind it, racism. After 300 years of Europeans cashing in on Africa’s coasts, the explorers finally ventured inward, wreaking havoc on the continent’s environment and inhabitants, not giving a second thought to the people whose lives they ruined. This is made clear though the British’s new industry they built their and the economy formed atop it poorly affected the people they took advantage of and the moral obligations they had but did not follow.

Across the continent nations were faced with the challenges of strengthening and growing their national unity and security to allow for continued growth. Many areas across Africa have witnessed failed states that lead to economic and political turmoil steaming from decades of failed European policy. In addition to the failed policy, European rulers left Africa with a complex problem of handling human rights. Under European colonial control African people were subjects to their European controlled courts which left them as inferior to those who were occupying their land. In many cases the indigenous people of Africa were forced into slavery to serve the colonial powers in the areas of industry and agriculture. The indigenous people of Africa were also forced to carry identification badges and were subject to continues brutality by authorities. Many areas throughout Africa are still stricken with deep wounds and divides from racism related to European rule. Even to this day the effects of European colonial rule have hindered the continents view of having a long history of developing new techniques and

In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Europeans invaded Africa, colonizing every country except Liberia and Ethiopia. Some African nations attempted to fight back, but the European’s superior weapon easily suppressed the resistance. Then, the Europeans extracted natural resources and utilized the force labor of Africans. European imperialism and colonization in Africa clearly invoked more harm than the benefits to Africans. The Europeans crippled the Africans by extracting natural resources, forcing Africans to work for them, and leaving Africa unprepared with independence.

In 1885 at Berlin, the major european powers meet together, each seeking to increase their influence on the world by taking control of the African continent. Europe had a grip on Africa until a series of African independence movements in the 1960s. Between that time the native people of each African colony were treated differently and used for different purposes. Compare and Contrast how each European country used and treated the people of their respective colonies.

Many different races once considered Africa, as a continent that could not support itself since Africans were savages who were not able to prosper on their own. Because of this, life was not easy for Africans and their way of living was very mediocre. Africans’ weakness eventually became evident to the other nations of the world. The European system for instance, fortunately for them, decided to take control of Africa. This was a decision that benefited them financially as they exploited the richness that Africa enfolded. Although many Europeans believed that Africans were much more inferior to them because of their skin color, they knew the significance of the richness that Africa’s soil could give them. It is true that the European’s

“The Myth of Wild Africa” introduces one to the false, preconceived notion of Africa and Africa’s people that were around since the early 1900s. The book compares older, colonial methods of conservation that were coercive and based on the “myth”, and newer Afrocentric conservation efforts that are more objective and inclusive to the African people. The book emphasises that the inclusion of African people is what will make African conservation successful. In the past, Africa as considered an untouched paradise,

Since as early as the fifteenth century and continuing to the present day, European colonies have always viewed Africa as an economic object with a wealth of resources waiting to be extracted and exploited through colonization or by what ever means necessary. The recent history (500 years) of the world justifies the conclusion that Europeans have always sought to assert superiority over people of darker pigmented complexions (all of who just happen to be non-Europeans) by the free and unrestrained assertion of their will and authority, unfettered by any moral constraints on human conduct. As a substitute for any notion of a “humane” code of conduct, the European psychology operated a regime based upon the principles and practices used to control and domesticate lower forms of animal life. In the beginning, the slave trade was the main attraction of these European nations because they saw a law filled with cheap labor and always felt that Africa was uncivilized country begging for colonization. There was undeniable thirst for Africa, deeply rooted in racism. The European nations saw Africa as empty and undiscovered land simply because there were no Europeans present. Judging by the particularly heinous treatment of the Congolese people, it is far to posit that these Europeans believed

When Europeans moved into the bush of Southern Africa and realized that they were hopelessly outnumbered, they had to develop ways to create and maintain their authority over the native population. They had tremendous advantages in the obvious areas, as author Jared Diamond writes in his Pulitzer Prize winning book:

“We are experiencing what is likely to be the greatest percentage loss of elephants in history,” said Richard G. Ruggiero, an official with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Ney York Times; December 3, 2012). The poaching of elephants started in the late 1800’s and is still happening today. People are slaughtering these majestic animals for their ivory tusks. Ivory has been sold on the black market for millions of dollars. Before the start of ivory poaching there were millions of elephants in the world in both Africa and India, but today because of the hunting for ivory, there are barely any of these giants left in the wild. Throughout history Europeans have been moving in on central African states to make