Militant Anti-Colonialism in Africa and the West: Annotated Bibliography

Imperialism is defined as one country’s domination of the political, economic, and social life of another country. In Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, imperialism was present and growing. The main countries involved in the imperialism in Africa were the French, German, and Great Britain. The French’s empire was mainly in North and West Africa while Britain’s colonies were scattered throughout the continent. Germany ruled over such countries as Tanganyika, Togoland, and Cameroon, until their defeat in World War I.

The Kenyan feminist and environmental activist, Wangari Maathai, explores the legacy of colonialism and oppression in her native country through her moving 2006 memoir, Unbowed. Maathai explains that over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Africa experienced a massive influx of white settlers. In an effort to solidify control over recently acquired colonies, many European powers had encouraged large numbers of their ethnically white citizens to make a new home on the African continent. As a result, thousands of native Africans were displaced. Maathai’s ancestors, the Kikuyu and Maasai peoples were among them. The majority of these forced dislocations took

“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.

People try to help people when sometimes, no help is needed. During the 1800's, the more developed countries wished to expand and help to develop other nations. They did this by the process called imperialism. One of these developed countries was France, who imperialized Algeria. They did this for many reasons such as nationalism and the White Man's Burden. French Imperialism on Algeria was harmful during and after Algerian independence politically, socially and economically. It was harmful during because politically, the French took over Algeria by force and forced them to do their work. Socially harmful because the Algerians morals and way of life depleted. And economically because they were given jobs equal to lower class citizens, and did not help their economy. After independence, Algeria did not keep the changes that France had previously made politically, socially and economically. Making the whole process harmful to Algeria

Algeria is a republic, having won independence from France on July 5, 1962 (U.S. Department of State).

Africa was a nation that was based off of selling slaves in which the Europeans were familiar with but by 1807, slavery was abolished which made King Leopold II move onto a different resource to line his pockets. The resource he started production on was rubber because of the widespread want for rubber for tires and other manufactured goods. Around the 19th century when Leopold acquired even more land and expanded his production on rubber and sometimes ivory his managers proceeded to force labor and strip away daily cleanliness which eventually led to the widespread disease of malaria which killed as many as 10,000,000 people. With a absolute infectious disease clouding Africa and the seemingly brutal army brought up by Leopold, what really was the driving force behind European Imperialism in Africa?

In the wake of the industrial revolution, many European countries gained economic power as well and eventually military power. The first to invest in the industrial revolution was Great Britain, making the nation one of the most hegemonic powers since it was able to gain advantage over the other European nation who was involved in the Balance of Power, which was created in 1815, and involved Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, France, and Austria. The Balance of Power was created to help prevent major wars between the nations whereby, every nation stated would have and equitable military based on its size and location however, since Britain industrialized, the nation was able to erode the balance of power and industrialization was able to make size obsolete because of mechanized and advanced weaponry. As a result, Britain was able to surpass the other nations and was able to expand its nation and belief around the. Ultimately, as a result Britain was able to become the most hegemonic nation around the world. One of the locations Britain was able to colonize was Africa by the nineteenth century where it was ultimately able to aid the Africans, by spreading Christianity and helped improve the overall conditions in the conquered area and assimilated the Africans to European cultures, as well as advance the Africans technology.

Imperialism in Africa began in the late 19th century. It began when King Leopold II began the Scramble for Africa. All of the major colonial powers went after Africa. Their goal was to gain the most wealth and to have the most territory. Having more territory and claiming valuable parts of the continent was a symbol of power. Imperialism in Africa had negative and positive consequences on both the Europeans and Africans, these can be shown through human rights issues, new industry and advancements, and wealth and influence.

In the early 1880’s, the powers of Europe started to take control of regions in Africa and set up colonies there. In the beginning, colonization caused the Africans little harm, but before long, the Europeans started to take complete control of wherever they went. The Europeans used their advanced knowledge and technology to easily maneuver through the vast African landscape and used advanced weapons to take control of the African people and their land. The countries that claimed the most land and had the most significant effect on Africa were France, England, Belgium, and Germany. There were many reasons for the European countries to be competing against each other to gain colonies in Africa. One of the main reasons was that the

diplomacy or military force. In the 20th century many European countries attempted to colonize the great continent of Africa. Europeans saw Africa as an area they would be able to profit from, as it had a great climate, good size, and some phenomenal natural resources. While the Europeans divided the continent of Africa they failed to see the possible negative effects on themselves, and the indigenous people of Africa. Their foresight was limited to only the positive outcomes.

The Battle of Algiers was a very eye opening movie to say the least. This movie is about the struggles the Algerian people had to face in the resistance of being imperialized by the French Government. In order to lessen the chances of a full out war, the French Government sent one of its best commanding officers, Colonel Mathieu, to stop the resistance. He has faced Ali La Pointe there who used to be a petty thief. He had become the leader of the FLN which is the resistance force that the Algerians have made.

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.

Modern African states have several problems ranging from corruption, to armed conflict, to stunted structural development. The effects of colonialism have been offered as a starting point for much of the analysis on African states, but the question of why African states are particularly dysfunctional needs to be examined, given the extent to which they have lagged behind other former European colonies in many aspects. In the first section, I will consider the problems with African states from the level of the state. That is, the nature of the states' inceptions and the underlying flaws may explain some of the issues that have been associated with African states today. Next I examine the development of, or lack of, civil

Second largest country in Africa, tenth largest country in the world, diverse culture extending from the Mediterranean coast to the dunes of the Sahara Desert...Algeria. Even with its massive size the current status of Algeria’s economy is quivering in the lofty winds of the Tell Atlas Mountains. The economy tends to remain dominated by the state, which is accordingly a legacy of the country’s socialist post-independence development model. Hydrocarbons are the backbone for Algeria, accounting for 60% of budget revenues, 30% GDP, and 95% of export earnings. Reviewing the last five years we see the government halting privatization of state-owned industries, and increasing the restrictions of imports and foreign involvement. Algeria’s

Algeria is a North African Mediterranean Country, dominantly populated by Sunni Muslims. Multiple Arabic and Berber dialects are spoken throughout the land. The majority of North African countries have defined cultural identifies, however Algeria lacks a firm cultural foundation and has become somewhat of a piecemeal (Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, 2011).