European Colonization Of Kenya Dbq

Starting with the first effect of imperialism, the introduction of Christianity in Umuofia, Okonkwo’s fatherland. Four years into Okonkwo’s exile, his good friend Obierika payed him a visit, informing Okonkwo of the arrival of missionaries in Umuofia. The Christian followers had to come to Umuofia to build a church and to convert locals into their anomalous religion. Most importantly, “what moved Obierika to visit Okonkwo was the sudden appearance of the latter’s son, Nwoye, among the missionaries in Umuofia.” (Achebe 143) The introduction of Christianity was one of the many effects set upon the African villages. Locals were becoming

There was a great question asked by numerous individuals in the eighteenth century with what happens to people’s lives when their country is a colony of another country. This was very important to Americans when they were being ruled by Great Britain, and even to this day it remains important when countries find themselves controlled by more powerful outsiders. But what is colonialism? Colonialism occurs when one nation takes control of another. Kenya’s experience as a colony of Great Britain gives us more of an idea of what being colonized meant both to the people being controlled and to those who control them. Although it seems hard to believe, Kenya was created by the Europeans and generally this had a positive on effect on Kenyans because it began development.

The Europeans thought it was their burden as white men to bring religion and God to whom they thought were uncivilized people (Spielvogel and McTighe 227) . When coming to Africa the Europeans spread the word of God through missionaries and bible teachings and converted a lot of the Africans to Christianity. As explained through an African proverb, “When the whites came to our country we had the land and they had the Bible, now we have the Bible and they have the land” (Document 3). To justify taking African religion the Europeans said it was their job as white men to give the Africans God so they can experience what comes with it. Bringing new beliefs to the Africans it replaced the other religious ideas and in turn lost much of the culture the Africans held. Incoming Europeans were more concerned with protecting their traditions and culture and spreading it to this new region rather than respecting the Africans and their existing traditional culture. While the Europeans worked to conserve their culture, religions and traditions they were looking to gain economic stability from Africa to help them to become more powerful and overall have good economic

European Imperialism and Colonization of Africa created many social and economic changes including superiority over different people, technological advances, and new territories for European countries.

In the Mid-1800s the Europeans Imperialised Africa for three main reasons. Those reasons being Cultural, Political, and Economic. The Europeans were encouraged by all the resources, and a way to find a peaceful way to divide Africa up. What motive did the Europeans have about taking over Africa? The best motive for the Europeans was economic because they needed the natural resources for the benefits.

During the nineteenth century, Europe was scrambling to colonize Africa. Before the year 1880, Europe controlled only ten percent of Africa. However, due to the Industrial Revolution and its inventions, Europe obtained the means to go into Africa and take what they wanted. Some countries wanted the raw materials from Africa while others thought that by taking control of the land, it would show how they were superior to other nations and would gain respect. Some Europeans thought that because they were superior it was their duty to help the Africans. European powers scrambled to colonize Africa because they wanted respect, to strengthen the economy, and to civilize the Africans.

colonization is compelled by predatory empowerment. The driving force behind european imperialism in africa was the trade of resources, and the power obtained from the competition of it.

Imperialism drastically changed the political, economic, social, and cultural landscape of Africa indefinitely. Europeans built various forms of infrastructure and implemented several technological advancements in Africa in order to expand the economy. Additionally, many Africans lost their sense of self identity as a result of the Western culture that the Europeans imposed upon them. Lastly, Africans lost control of their lands and their independence due to European imperialism. There are three main reasons why the Europeans imperialized Africa: 1) political competition, 2) cultural motives, and 3) economic interests.

Around the year 1897 Edward Morel noticed something that would change the way the modern world viewed the colonization of Africa and the supposed “humanitarian” work there forever (Hochschild 1). Morel worked for an English shipping company that was responsible for cargo going between the Congo Free State and Belgium. What Morel noticed was that ships from Africa were filled with rich, exotic goods like rubber and ivory, but the ships headed to Africa from Belgium were filled with military members and various firearms and ammunition (Hochschild 2). Morel made the conclusion that the cause of this odd “trade” between Europe and Africa was slave labor. European colonization of Africa was a slow, arduous process resulting in the deaths of

Even though Europe was able to take over so many colonies, the amount of influence Europe had within these regions was minimal. The Europeans urge to “civilize” these colonies was never for the good of the inhabitants. As seen before when the Europeans wanted to civilize India and the way of their lifestyle were by force. Creating armies, the Criminal Tribe, and the complete deterrence of a practice the Indians did in their religion. Not only was Europe an imperial power, but there was also Russia, France, the Dutch, and the United States (Tignor 644-648). Each country in Europe wanted to be part of the imperialistic race, and this led to the destruction of many African cultures (Tignor 647). Europe created a

European Imperialism heavily impacted the African continent through culturally, economic, and political ideas. This era of history is heavily drenched in the aspect of ethnocentrism, which is the belief that one’s own culture is superior that of another. The Europeans colonized Africa believing that they could bring civilization, but they were often ignorant of Africa’s very complex societies. The European powers divided up the continent of Africa among themselves, without any consent from the people who actually lived there. The tribal stratification was changed to a caste system where racial, ethnic, and religious differences were of utmost importance, as delegated by European rule. The structure and business of the African economy was

Finally, European colonization also had a major political impact on different African communities. Prior to European colonialism, most African localities were stateless societies, where there was no main governmental body. Bohannan and Curtin in their passage explain how African “stateless organization all use kinship as the idiom of their system of sanctions” (1995:92), and additionally explain how “since there are two centers of power, no bureaucracy can arise” (1995:92), in stateless societies. This illustrates the difference between political structures in Africa and political structures in other parts of the world, including in Europe, as many other political structures have an increased presence of bureaucracy and government. Stateless societies in Africa started to diminish once Europeans started colonizing different African societies, as through the colonization process, European settlers imposed their political systems on different African communities. Bohannan and Curtin describe how “colonial officers tried to create some sort of a state organization and bureaucracy” (1995:94) in various African communities. Through this process, many previous forms of political organization in African societies were eliminated and newer forms emerged, and in many ways this was negative as many of these political systems did not favor African populations and put them at a disadvantage to European colonizers.

The British colonization of Kenya destroyed the culture and economy of the native people, but it established a democratic government and left Kenya a more modernized country.[1] During the 1880’s through 1914, the start of WWI, was an age of imperialism. One place that felt victim to this imperialism was Africa. At this time Africa was a wholly unmodernized continent. The reason the Europeans went after Africa was the introduction of the idea of social Darwinism and the “white man’s burden”. Social Darwinism is the belief that only the strongest and the most cunning can make it to the top of the social ladder, and it was the White Man’s Burden to step in for these undeveloped countries

Religion played an important factor in the colonization of Africa. For both England and France, they used religion in order to foster new partnerships with local leaders or to rid of former religions that was considered barbaric. At the same time, the influence of Christianity and the work of churches and missionaries had a powerful affect on Africans in the British and French colonies in many different ways. For the most part, it led to many of them turning from their previous faiths and practices, and converting to Christianity. It also led them to adopt many different customs from this new religious influence.

Jomo Kenyatta’s ethnography, Facing Mt. Kenya was written in the 1930’s about Kikuyu society during 1890-1910, the early years of British colonialism in Kenya. Since the coming of the early colonization the Kikuyu people have tried to develop a religious attitude that would define it’s own culture while adapting forcefully to the European conforms of religion.