However, It Was Quite The Opposite. That Wasn’T The Only

A political map of Africa shows that a total of seven different European countries claimed African territory and selfishly divvied up the land for themselves (Document 9). They took advantage of their weapons and technology that the Africans didn’t possess in order to conquer all of the land shown in document 9. Europeans would often create treaties to be signed by African rulers once they were basically in control of their territories. One specific treaty administered and written by the Royal Niger Company mentioned how they would “agree to pay the native owners of land a reasonable amount” for their territory (Document 1). But, the currency in Africa and Europe were different, so it is unlikely that the African chiefs knew how much their land was worth when Europeans paid them in foreign currency. In addition, it’s doubtful that the African chiefs signing these types of treaties spoke or were literate in English; therefore, important points could have been lost in translation and the leaders wouldn’t know exactly what they were agreeing to. Since the Europeans were the ones coming up with the terms of the treaties, it would have been in their best interest to benefit as much as they could, making these treaties biased towards the Europeans. This lead to African societies being subject to unanticipated unfair treatment that disrupted their daily

Africa, like many other continents, was a very tremendous and a very diverse civilization that is very complicated to introduce due to all its wonderful but also diverse features and beliefs. From the differences between its society and language to its religion and politics, Africa always had the reputation that its empires, cities, and kingdoms never progressed in the developments and achievements for their civilization. Many people believed that the Europeans were actually the cause of Africa’s achievements and advanced developments for their civilizations. However, this is further than the whole truth. Before the arrival of the Europeans between the 15th and 16th century, African kingdoms, empires, and cities had many achievements and accomplishments

Dr. Ivan Van Sertima who dedicated years of his life to research of the African civilization, proved that the Moorish civilization did exist and played a rather im-portant role in the development of Europe from when their cities where left in ruins from the barbarian invaders. According to Dr. Ivan Sertima’s research the African civilization were ahead of their time, in his book “The Golden Age of the Moors”, he discussed the extraordinary achievements of the Moors as mentioned before. To elaborate further the on the fact of how intellectually advanced European explores stated that they found large sculptures of African heads were found in multiple locations in the Americas the were deemed to be African because of the so called negro features on the face, the famous Columbus even revealed in his journals that Africans were in the North America before Europeans were ever there and Africans mer-chandise were just as well made as Europeans. With that being said the Africans displayed a clear understanding of how water currents works to travel to new lands, another important point to mention in my opinion would be that Africans civilization were academically ahead of the world I believe this because at that time they were the only one’s who had discovered how to utilize alchemy, trigonometry, medicine, calendars and many other things to form a proper

Africa has had a long and tumultuous road of colonization and decolonization the rush to colonize Africa started in the 17th century with the discovery of the vast amounts of gold, diamonds, and rubber with colonization hitting a fever pitch during World War I. However, the repercussions of colonization have left deep wounds that still remain unhealed in the 21st century. Early on, European nations such as Britain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium scrambled for territories. Countries wanted land so they could harvest the resources, increase trade, and gain power. The European colonization of Africa brought racism, civil unrest, and insatiable greed; all of which have had lasting impacts on Africa.

Africa was once a thriving and wonderful continent filled with luxurious and wealthy kingdoms, but that had all changed when a new and appalling type of slavery was introduced. Around the 18th century, Africa became an ideal place for Europeans to trade and buy slaves from. The slave trade in Africa seemed to be manageable and somewhat peaceful before the Europeans brought in a new type of slavery. When the Europeans bought slaves from Africans, they kept them as slaves for life which were very different from how long slaves were kept in Africa. Europeans kept slaves in extremely poor conditions and treated them as if they were less than human. These actions caused a great spike in the slave trade all over the world and many

The development and growth of civilizations in African history were contradicted by several American and European historians in the sixteenth and early twentieth centuries. The reason for this lack of understanding is because the focus was mainly on Europe’s chaotic society at the time. In addition, Africa didn’t have physically written documents to present their actual history. Instead, it was orally passed down. This is why historians have falsely concluded that Africa was an uncivilized “Dark Continent.” But what does it mean to be civilized? A group of people is characterized as civilized when they are organized as a society, and able to advance it. Since West and East Africa were able to develop advanced forms of economy, education, and government, they are characterized as civilized

Africa had many resources that could not be found or grown in Europe. By colonizing these territories, Europeans had control over these resources and could use them to improve the European economy. Document D shows a list of resources exported from Africa and what these materials were used for. For example, in the French colony of French West Africa, oils, cotton, peanuts, bananas, coffee, and cocoa were all resources that were exported to France. The various items can be used for soap, candles, fabrics, and food. France was able to transport these items from Africa at a very cheap price, but they could also sell these items for more. This system allowed for more money to go to the government which greatly improved the economy. Also, European countries hoped to colonize Africa for the possibility of creating new markets. European countries controlled the trade in and out of the majority of African countries, which meant that Europeans often introduced mercantilism into the African countries. However, “Mercantilism… forced the colonies into a dependent relationship in which they were economically weaker than the ‘mother country.’" (ABC-CLIO). After colonizing, European countries had complete control over the economies of African people, and the African economies were ruined in a way that made it almost impossible for them to break away from the Europeans. Consequently, Europeans were able to use African colonies to improve their own economies and ruin the African

In the 19th century, Europe’s materials were beginning to run low. They first noticed the the opportunities for free labor in the form of slaves (until the slave trade was abolished in 1807), and then the huge number of resources that Africa had. After those discoveries, Europeans wanted to try and colonize, or takeover Africa. For a long time, Europeans were kept out of Africa due to their strong armies, unknown rivers, and different diseases. However, at a certain point Europeans were able to finally break down the barriers when they had taken enough able-bodied men from Africa, invented new technologies such as a steamboat, and found cures to different diseases that had heavily hurt Europeans in the past.

Ancient Africa held many treasures like gold and salt that could be used to build a large empire. A few men did exactly that. African empires were wealthy and great before men from Europe came onto the scene. Before the arrival of the Europeans, African civilizations from 300 to 1400 CE were wealthy, flourished in trade, and encouraged things like education, the arts, and security.

Africa has undergone a long history of being invaded, taken advantage of and colonized. European powers are primarily at fault for this, however they have experienced their own turmoil in this time period: war. This led Europe to create mercenary armies of African soldiers to fight for their countries, particularly in the World Wars. The rampant injustice of this system and many African lives lost was a spark for the African nation states under colonial rule. It led to the wildfire that was African independence movements, protests, and riots. It also led to the Year of Africa, where most countries were recognized as their own entities and no longer colonies. While there are many factors involved in this portion of history, the importance of

Africa’s persistent poverty interrogates the continent’s past through institutions, government, demography, economics, colonialism, and the impact of the trading. The colonial era affected the variety of Africa’s historical development for it was quite the game changer since it put a halt to the continuous drain of scarce labor and paved the way for the expansion of land concentrated forms of agriculture, and engaging smallholders, estates, and communal farms. The establishment of the colonial rule over the African interior reinforced African commodity growth in export. The colonial control facilitated the construction induced significant inflows of European

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

Historical globalization did not benefit indigenous groups, like the Africans because they were stripped of their rights and the ability to conduct their own affairs. Europeans wanted to colonize Africa to obtain the natural resources and slaves. This need for slaves and territory sparked the scramble for Africa and soon the whole country was controlled by the Europeans. Countries like Belgium forced the Africans to work in mines harvesting natural rubber. If they resisted they were brutally punished, tortured and killed. The Africans that were not forced into slavery in their home

Africa was always a savage place with no civilizations or so the white man thought. When the British first came to Africa to colonize it, the British writers wrote about how it was a savage land and had no makings of a civilization. That was completely wrong. A group of people cannot survive for thousands of years without some aspects of civilization. The novel Things Fall Apart (by Chinua Achebe) talks about and shows examples of all seven elements that make a civilization. Things Fall Apart shows some aspects of civilization such as religion, government, and social structure. In the novel, Achebe shows the Igbo culture is a fully functioning civilization.

We suffer grinding poverty while the wealth that we produce is drained out of our communities. Of all of the commercial trade that happens in the African continent only 12% of that trade is between African people. More than 80 of the economic activity happening in Africa results in Africa loosing wealth. Industries that operate all over the world depend on the labor and resources of African people. Yet, the more we labor the poorer we get. The more resources that are taken out of Africa the deeper our poverty grows. In the U.S. and other former slave countries African people have always been the backbone of labor. When it was convenient, we were pushed into the lowest sectors of the labor process. When it did not suit the powers that be, we were pushed out of employment and left without means to make a living. African people have invented countless technologies that have improved economic production. Yet, we were either not allowed ownership of our work or had that work stolen from us outright. When African people try to organize ourselves to bargain for our economic well-being we are met with the violence of economic and political institutions that are hell bent on keeping us in disarray. As a result African people continue to live and die in the most unfavorable economic situations in nearly every part of the world were