Colonialism In Africa Essay

“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.

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.

The Scramble for Africa took place during the period of time around 1880 until 1914. During this time Africa found itself being split up and divided amongst several European countries. In essence Africa was like a fresh baked pie and everyone wanted a slice.

Throughout the 18th and 19th century, Europe underwent an Industrial Revolution. People began relying heavily on machines. Various countries required resources for their industrial lifestyle, and thus they enforced a policy of imperialism. Imperialism is when a country politically, economically, and socially stronger takes control over a weaker country and utilizes the resources from that country. However, many countries abused their power during imperialism. European nations are guilty of abuse of power in the Congo, India, and South Africa.

The county of South Africa is an economically flourishing country and probably the most advanced country on the continent of Africa. However the entire continent of Africa is probably the most undeveloped part of the world. Why is South Africa so different from the rest of its continent? Karen Politis Virk explains that it is because of South Africa’s developed economy and diverse population (Virk 40). South Africa has three main ethnic groups: African, Afrikaners, and the mixed race. The Afrikaners and mixed races have many roots to Europe and Asia giving the nation even more diversity and a culture melting pot. This set the nation apart from the rest of the African nation in which the majority of the residents are of native African

Imperialism is the domination by one country of the political, economic, or cultural life of another country. The major causes of imperialism are related to economy, politics, military, science and inventions. Economy factors are need for natural resources, need for new market to sell products and place for growing population to settle. The major factors related to politics and military are bases for trade and navy ships, power and security for global empire and spirit of nationalism. The imperialism related to society are religion, wish to share western civilization and belief that’s the best culture.

Most of the Least Developed Countries (LCDs) exist in Africa. Although the whole world is developing exponentially through rapid globalization, Africa is still struggling to develop. Due to the imperialism of 19th and 20th century, some African nations have been colonies of Western nations. Since the imperialism lasted until the World War Ⅱ, African nations which were colonies of Western nations lost their ability to become economically independent. Therefore, still nowadays, those nations are having a hard time to develop their science and technology. To help these countries innovate and create skillful human resources, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and European Commission through its Euro-Mediterranean Information Society (EUMEDIS) together made a program developing the skills of

Sub-Saharan Africa’s colonial past has led to ethnic conflict, social problems, and economic problems during the present day. Let me start out saying that you can’t start a revolution without some kickback of the people’s opinions. The transition wasn't smoothly for the two countries I researched, The Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. These two country's colonial leaders did not do a good job of setting up these countries. If they hadn’t set up the enslavement of the people living there, the nations might’ve been a little better off. Another event that led to the ethnic conflicts going on today was the leaders gave the people independence but it wasn't given fully, North Sudanese were

Society misrepresents Africa as disease ridden, uncivilized, overpopulated and poor. It is generalized as one united nation rather than fifty-four individual states, and is conceived as an inferior nation. European nations deployed a mission of colonization to bring the continent civilization. This paper interprets the link between British colonization of Sub-Saharan Africa and lasting economic problems evident today. The argument of British underdevelopment in Africa draws on studies collected on individual African states as well as the continent as whole, regarding economic growth statistics from before, during and post-colonization. Britain failed to develop African nations, leaving them plagued with social issues following independence. This paper expands on the link between Africa’s colonial roots and international intervention’s impact on contemporary Africa today. Britain’s lack of development, rooted in colonization, is to blame for Africa’s crumbling economy.

Classic colonialism in Africa developed a rule of the economic agenda to its citizens’ livelihoods and health. Colonialism provided a small amount of modern health care, and many of the policies of classic colonialism worsened the state of public health. As a result, this destabilized the average African household, and gave an easy rise to larger cities, causing a new level of racism in Africa. After World War two, Africans would turn to Islam or Christianity; and many (especially those who participated in WW2) demanded independence. There were several forces that rose to the importance of the independence movement. For example, the teachings from Western Muslim or Christian schools led to an exposure of the political ideology that emphasized natural rights influenced the African elite to push the need for independence. Another example includes the African National Congress, which while not terribly effective, defended the interests of Africans.

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

Africa is home to countless cultures that all have their own unique ideas and customs. During the past couple of centuries, these cultures were threatened to the point where they almost ceased to exist. The Berlin Conference was a very important occurrence in Africa and Europe's history. It legitimized what the European powers, mainly France and Britain, had been doing for the past hundred years, without the approval of any African country. During the late nineteenth century, France and Britain began imperialistic ventures into Africa, which eventually led Leopold II to conquer the Congo. It was Leopold's II presence in Africa that to led the Berlin Conference.

Prior to the colonization of Africa, the continent was commonly referred to as “dark”. Contrary to that claim Africa was a place with complex societies, cultural diversity, vast languages, and abundant with resources and knowledge. Eurocentric historians and anthropologists commonly overlook this gold mine of historical events and anthropological data. With respect to history there is a lack in written documentation and written entities due to the fact that African societies commonly used the oral method in order to pass along their history. Whereas for anthropologists there is no shortage of aspects to be studied in Africa.

The aftermath of colonial rule on Sub-saharan Africans has been debilitating. It is present in the statistics, cultural changes, politics, and the historical unrest in the post-colonial state. European colonists concentrated on the export of Africa’s resources, production of cash crops, and profit gained by displacement of ethnic groups, with no focus on African development. In fact, the complete disregard for African nations lead to modern day dependency on foreign economy, hindering Africa even in its emerging independence. W.O. Maloba explains, “Economically, colonialism had linked Africa tightly to the world capitalist system dominated by Europe and later the USA. African countries, it needs to be repeated, produced raw materials and imported selected manufactured goods – each largely determined by Colonial Capitalism” (Decolonization 8). Post-colonization did not lead to complete independence for many countries, including Kenya, but a new form from within: Neocolonialism, which carries the power of colonialism under “Kenyan” rule. On independence and exploitation, Maloba continues, “the inherited economical institutions in many countries do not have the capacity to lead to sustained growth development. They were established to exploit and not develop these countries” (Decolonization 13). Colonialism, though short-lived, entrenched Africa into underdevelopment.

Mahatma Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj, Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks; and Gillo Pontecorvo’s film, The Battle of Algiers each respond to different aspects of colonialism and anti-colonialism. Fanon focuses on the effects colonialism has on the psyche of the colonized; Gandhi rejects western civilization and argues in favor of a non-violent approach to gaining independence; Pontecorvo’s film depicts revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries using mostly violent means in an attempt to obtain victory over their respective adversaries. This paper will describe the works of Black Skin, White Masks and The Battle of Algiers. Then we will see how Hind Swaraj would respond to these works.