Political Violence in Africa

“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.

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.

Ikechi Mgbeoji’s book, Collective Insecurity examines the hidden causes of West Africa’s civil wars and addresses an important question: “Why has the U.N. system not worked to protect people and to enhance their welfare, as intended, in Africa and elsewhere?” In his book, Mgbeoji proposes, “the solution to African political instability lies in a structural rearrangement of the African polity for the purpose of legitimate governance of African peoples.”

By 1914, almost all of Africa had been carved up by European powers and became a prized colony because of cash crops and mines. After World War II, African nations began to assert their independence. Although

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

In the second half of the twentieth-century, African countries were able to gain their independence and strive to create unified countries. However, many countries were plagued with civil wars and the issues left behind the colonial era. The adversities faced by these new African nations are at the hands of their old colonial powers and the neo-colonialism that has taken place. These new independent countries were left to unify their people of different backgrounds, create a strong government and economy, and leave the post-colonial legacy behind.

Peebe Harry, Osaki. “Colonialism in Africa Is Still Alive and Well | Letters.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 1 Aug. 2017, www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/01/colonialism-in-africa-is-still-alive-and-well

In the late nineteenth century the European powers of the world began imperializing Africa. This annexation, occupation, and division of African territory has since led to much strife within the continent and has caused many struggles politically. This period known as the “Scramble for Africa” has led to the many problems that Africa faces today and has been the root of several wars in Africa to assume control. After World War II many European imperialists began to give African nations autonomy. This seemed like a step forward for African nations, but without any plan to transition into self governance many African nations have faced bloody civil wars and corruption. Along with political struggles, numerous African nations face rising debt and other economic problems. Many of these political and economic issues stem from the “Scramble for Africa”. Once the European countries left Africa had very little to support itself. To explain the issues left by imperialism the three African nations of Rwanda, South Africa, and Sierra Leone will be put under the scope.

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.

First, Africa was finally given a place in the international community because of New Imperialism. For hundreds of years, an entire fifth of the inhabited Earth was excluded from the world’s most important decisions. But because of New Imperialism, they were able to

Power is a tool constantly being used as narrative to persuade people. History shows how European presence has rape Africa’s inhabitants of their language, food, and traditions. African- American are being feed the narrative that Africa is a continents with several under-developed countries,

With the number of deaths being over 500,000 (Shillington,2005), the Angolan Civil War only ended in 2002, after struggling for 27 years ever since obtaining independence from Portugal. The Angolan Civil War began in Angola after the end of the war for independence from Portugal in 1975. The war featured conflict between two primary Angolan factions, the Communist MPLA and the anti-Communist UNITA. There are several causes of this war, such as the power vacuum, resource fighting and ethnic tensions. Hence, in this essay, I hope to analyze these causes and afterwards decide which cause play the most critical role in the civil war.

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

Whatever the exact nature of the various African ethnogenesis processes, the states gaining independence were populated by groups which had differing loyalties. This scenario would fall foul of many theories of the state, in which the absence of the coherent link between the population and the power structure of the state calls it into question. Ethnic cleavages has been a factor in many of the numerous coups d'etat and armed conflicts throughout Africa, as rival groups see the power of state apparatus as a prize worth fighting for(Warner 2001, p89).