Western Influence On Africa

Ibn Battuta has idiosyncrasies, prejudices, and arrogance. He is also a man of curiosity, and conviction. It is because Ibn Battuta represents or comes across so much like ourselves that it is easy to dive more deeply into his writing and stories and see things through his eyes. What the reader can see is a picture of African civilization before European influence. Battuta’s stories

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

“West African societies were shaped by competition for wealth and the search for independence from more powerful kingdoms” (History 2011). Most of Africa’s oldest kingdoms originated from West Africa. These old kingdoms contributed to the development and growth of Africa in many ways, especially trade and economic growth. As the new kingdoms replaced the old ones, they experienced a vast change. Conquest and warfare along caused these transformations to occur. It was also influenced by the patterns of trade. The earliest civilizations were in West Africa south of the Sahara desert. These civilisations grew at a time when most of the outside countries were experiencing The Dark Age. “After the fall of the Western half of the Roman Empire around

Social Upheaval and Low Self Worth was another one of the major impacts of the European commercial activities on West Africa. As a result of the slave trade through raids and trade, there is no doubt concerning the social ills that plagued Western Africa. Many Africans were betrayed by their own political leaders

The ‘scramble for Africa’ was a phenomenon in the world between the years 1880-1914. The ‘dark continent’ was relatively untouched by Europeans up until this point, with few ports of control on the coasts in the west, which were remnants of the slave trade, and in the south, Britain held the Cape, taken from the Dutch during the French Revolutionary Wars. So, during a period of 30 years, it came to pass that almost the whole of Africa was taken by Europeans. (Except Liberia a colony for freed American slaves, and Abyssinia managed to hold out against Italian aggression). It will be my objective in this essay to analyse the economic factors which resulted in the almost complete colonisation and takeover of Africa, and also to determine to

“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 European powers that were in much need for resources during the 1500s through 1800s were Great Britain, France and Germany. During 1500 and 1800 Africa seemed like an impossible feat to conquer because of malaria but this wouldn’t stop the persistence of the leaders of France and Great Britain. The idea of exploring and conquering new land meant more to these leaders because of the motivation to keep their national security strong and keep their economy stronger. These countries would use their remaining resources to look for more disposable ones so that their empires could grow considerably. Great Britain would be dug in the

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

(open sentence) Racism big countries like United states and Russia thought they were the best and wanted to show their dominance and power. Paternalism they believed the little countries were inexperienced so they had to come and take over. “Survival of the Fittest” they excuse all sorts of very cruel behaviors on part of Europe. While political and economic factors were important to consider the way people think and feel often guides behavior, Social factors were primarily responsible for bringing about Western Imperialism in Africa and Asia.

The West African Savannah and the Mediterranean North Africa connected their trade across the Sahara. Erik Gilbert and Jonathan Reynolds are the authors of Africa in World History in which they explain the history of the Atlantic trade. With European contact along the Atlantic would redefine the economics and the nature of West Africa and West Central Africa. For authority in these regions the Ottoman, European and Omani forces fought. In 1444, Lancarote de Lagos, a Portuguese navigator, sailed into Senegal River and captured a group of Africans to carry them off into slavery. Europeans attempted to obtain the slaves sold into the Mediterranean Slave Market. West Africans didn’t just trade slaves they were also practicing slavery by having a large number of girls serving the sultan’s meals. When Ibn Battuta visited Mali he was shocked to see this, not because there was slaves but because they were naked. The Guyanese scholar Rodney argued that the African continent changed for the worse when the slave trade began. An American, Thornton, and his supporters believe that the Atlantic slave trade wasn’t a bad thing and that slave ownership was a fundamental feature of the African economic life. In 1453, the Ottoman Turks made the slaves no longer available to the Italian slave merchants by capturing Constantinople. In 1434, Gil Eannes managed to double Cape Bojador by allowing the wind to bring him another way home and that is how he found the Atlantic wind system. A decade later,

over religious dress and worship schedules, while Muslim youth can often become the victims of

Abderrahmane Sissako’s film Bamako (2006) and Homi Bhabha’s essay “Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse” both explore how the globalization and Western-dominated policies affect the deepest levels of everyday life of ordinary Africans. In his essay Bhabha defines Mimicry as the subordination of the eastern countries on the hands of the ruling classes and the resultant effect of this domination.

While reading the literary work, “Where There Aren’t No Ten Commandments,” I noticed many differences and similarities in the way Europe colonized Africa and the Americas. This work tells a story, with facts, about Leopold and his way of colonizing countries in the 1800s. It includes the reason for the Europeans interest in these places as well as their brutality towards the indigenous people. The way in which the Europeans colonized Africa and the Americas were similar however, there were differences in their reasons to colonize, desires to stay, and impacts on the colonies.

Advance the financial position of developed western countries. In more ways than one Thomson further proves that even before colonial rule the westernised developed countries exploited Africans, be it for their labour, draining the capital of underdeveloped states among other things. “Examining the issue of labour exploitation first, the west began to take advantage of Africans even before colonial rule was established” (Thomson, 2000: 19).

In the recent decades, West Africa has been studied and analyzed by multiple geographers and historians. Combined with history of the rise of early civilizations, religious influences and conquests, this region continues to open more dialogue on how these events from its past took place. One subject in particular has also become part of that discussion. That subject happens to deal with the rise and creation of West African states. In this essay, I will discuss how these states were created as well as the multiple ways in which the use of both inside and outside influences helped to shape these various states.