Colonialism and Independencein Africa

Words to Know!

• Artificial Political Borders• European Partitioning (Artificial Political Borders)

• Berlin Conference• Nigeria• Kenya• South Africa• Sudan• Federal Republic

Colonialism is generally defined as the occupation and control of one nation by another. Do you know of any countries around the world, either in or outside of Africa, which have been colonized at some point in their history? Over the last few hundred years, various European nations have colonized many areas of the world. These European colonies were in North and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and various smaller islands

around the world. European nations colonized Africa from the late 19th century until the middle to later 20th century.

What is Colonialism?

Africa

1890

Colonial Conquest in AfricaThe 19th century in Europe was a time of industrialization. Factories in Europe required raw materials to be manufactured into marketable products. As a result, Europeans sought both a source of raw materials, as well as, a market for manufactured goods in Africa. This economic motivation played a large role in the

colonization of Africa. The Industrial Revolution’s need for Raw materials.

Punishing “Lazy” Workers

Harvesting

Rubber

5-8 Million Victims! (50% of Population??)

It is blood-curdling to see them (the soldiers) returning with the hands of the slain, and to find the hands of young children amongst the bigger ones evidencing their bravery...The rubber from this district has cost hundreds of lives, and the scenes I have witnessed, while unable to help the oppressed, have been almost enough to make me wish I were dead... This rubber traffic is steeped in blood, and if the natives were to rise and sweep every white person on the Upper Congo into eternity, there would still be left a fearful balance to their credit. -- Belgian Official

African Trade [15c-17c]

Pre-19c European Trade with Africa

Diamond Mines

Polished Diamonds

Unpolished Diamonds

NationalismPolitics in Europe also led to the colonization of Africa. Nationalism-a strong of identification with and pride in one's nation-resulted in competition between European nations. This competition often resulted in wars between nations. One of the causes of the Scramble for Africa, (1885-1910) which resulted in the colonization of all of Africa in just twenty-five years, was the competition between European nations to control as much of Africa as possible to gain economic and political power. No major nation wanted to be without colonies. The competition was particularly strong between Britain, France, and Germany, the strongest European nation-states in the late 19th century.

Graphic OrganizerNationalism

Colonialism

Industrial Revolution

• In addition, ideologies of racial hierarchy were prevalent in Europe in the 19th

century. Many Europeans viewed themselves as the most advanced civilization in the world, and some saw it as their mission to "enlighten" and "civilize" people in the rest of the world. Ethnocentrism.

Arguments for Colonization

• The colonization of Africa coincided with the expansion of Christian missionary activity in Africa. Parts of Africa, such as Ethiopia and Egypt, were home to Christians right from the beginning of Christianity as a region. However, Christianity was introduced to the rest of Africa only in the modern era.

Religion and Colonialism

Graphic OrganizerNationalism

Colonialism

Religion

Industrial Revolution

A few Africans welcomed the Europeans

• European nations were able to make certain areas of Africa into their colonies in two main ways. Some African leaders were willing to sign treaties with Europeans for various reasons. In some cases, they saw it to their benefit to gain European allies. Secondly, military force was used in some cases when there was a large amount of resistance to colonial rule.

Interactive Notebook Question (Left Side)

• Why would some African tribes welcome European colonization?

• Why would other African tribes put up a fight against European colonization however and up conquered so quickly?

Berlin Conference

Berlin Conference

• The Berlin Conference where many major European countries took part in the division of Africa, including Belgian, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.

• This is commonly known as the “Scramble for Africa”, but

they did not uphold them. The African people had no say in decisions made.

Artificial Political Borders• “The consequences of the European partitioning of the continent

of Africa were devastating, as the newly drawn borders failed to correspond to older demarcations of ethnicity, language, culture, and commerce” (288).

• These horrible borders showed the European ignorance for the individual African tribe’s original territories. They did not allow the indigenous people of Africa to have a chance to survive.

• Read the statements above, work with your partner to write a definition for Artificial Political Borders.

Graphic OrganizerNationalism

Colonialism

Religion

Berlin Conference

Artificial Political Borders

Industrial Revolution

Artificial Political Borders• The boundaries made during the Berlin

Conference effect Africa to this day. The Niger River basin area is filled with unrest,

civil war, and violence. So is the Congo. An Artificial Political Border is one created by an outside entity without regard to the ethnicity or religious groups in the area.

• All African countries, with the exception of Ethiopia and Liberia, started out as colonies. And just as with the American War for Independence, some African colonies, such as Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, also gained their independence only after waging war against their colonial masters. While the majority of African countries gained independence without having to resort to a revolution, in every African country independence was won only after the people organized themselves in a struggle against colonialism.

The Fight for Independence

Civil Wars in Post-Colonial Africa• These wars brought additional hardships on the

population including the destruction of infrastructure, crops, education, healthcare, and increase the spread of disease and famine.

• The reasons for political violence, authoritarian governments, or corruption in some African countries, are complex and not a reflection of the inability of Africans to govern themselves.

Graphic OrganizerNationalism

Colonialism

Religion

Berlin Conference

Artificial Political Borders

Struggle for Independence

Civil Wars

Industrial Revolution

• What is a Civil War?

• Why did Civil Wars break out in Africa?

– Colonial states were weak and lacked capacity to meet citizen needs.

– Colonial states were not democratic and had little respect for human rights.

– ·Ethnic conflict is a major political

problem in many African countries.

·What do you need for a stable government in Africa?

National unity is essential for the success of any country. For this goal to be met, citizens have to develop a stronger loyalty and identity to the nation than they do to an ethnic group.

Sovereignty- a fancy term for authority and power to insure security.

Basic human services: education, health-care, housing and adequate employment opportunities.

Which type governments did the new countries choose?

• At their independence, each Africa country had a constitution that, like the U.S. Constitution, established the "rules and regulations" of government. These constitutions often reflected the systems of government of the colonial power. Remember that Britain and France had the most colonies in Africa.

• Most were multi-party democracies. In this system, two or more political parties compete in regularly scheduled elections to control the government.

• A few chose a presidential system that where, like in the United States, the president and executive branch have considerable power. State power is shared by the national assembly, or legislative branch. French colonies, such as Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, and Mali inherited this system in which there is a balance of power between the executive and legislative branches of government.

• Others chose a parliamentary system. In a parliamentary system, the national assembly (what in the U.S. is the Congress) selects the executive cabinet from among the members of the national assembly. The head of government in this system is called a Prime Minister. African countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone inherited a parliamentary system.

Military Governments• Almost every African country that gained

independence in the 1960s started out with multiparty systems. However by the end of the 1960s, only a handful of African countries maintained a multiparty system. Indeed by 1970, half of the independent countries in Africa had military governments. The process by which a group of military takes control of government is called a coup d'etat this is a French term that means an overthrow of the state.

• Some coup d'etats were quite violent. In the process of taking control, the soldiers involved killed members of the civilian government, including, at times, the president.

Interactive Notebook Question

• If you were the new leader of an African country, how would you prevent a Coup?

• The strains on the political system in the early years of independence provided an environment in which

corruption became widely practiced in some African countries.

A few government officials used their government position to benefit themselves and members of their family. Military leaders often used the pretext of widespread corruption to justify their taking power.

• In spite of popular opposition to military rule, between 1960 and 1985 there were 131 attempted coups in Africa, of which 60 were successful! And three countries have had six successful military coups ! Indeed, out of 54 independent African countries, only six countries have not experienced an attempted or successful coup since they became independent .

The Big Four

• So how did Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan, and South Africa gain their independence?

Kenya

• Although there was a European presence in this part of Africa as early as 1498, Kenya did not become an official British colony until 1920. Black people in the colony were denied a role in politics until 1944, when a few blacks people were allowed to run and hold office. In the 1950’s, there was a violent, seven year uprising resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of black Kenyans. Black participation in government increase steadily during this period, and Kenya become an independent nation in 1963.

Path to Independence

• Kenya– Who was the colonizer?– Was a war fought for independence?– When was independence granted?– Did racism play a role in the colony?

Nigeria

Nigeria

• British influence in Nigeria began in 1885 and the territory officially became a British colony in 1914. A largely peaceful nationalist movement in Nigeria led the British to move Nigeria gradually toward independence between 1945 and 1960. Final independence was achieved in 1960. Unfortunately, economic development by the British during he colonial period was unequally distributed in the territory that become Nigeria. This allowed some of the ethnic groups in the country to have greater wealth and power than other ethnic groups. The inequities and ethnic tensions caused multiple coups throughout the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.

Path to Independence

• Nigeria– Who was the colonizer?– Was a war fought for independence?– When was independence granted?– Did racism play a role in the colony?

South Africa

• Much of the colonial conflict in South Africa occurred between the British and the settlers of Dutch, German, and French origin who preceded the British. Eventually, the British Empire was able to consolidate power over this group and established the Union of South Africa in 1910. At this time , all power remained in the hands of white South Africans under British rule. In 1912, the African national Congress (ANC) was established. This group would fight for the rights of black and “colored” people in South Africa from 1912 through the end of Apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994. Is it important to understand the independence of South Africa was to continue Apartheid more than to separate from Great Britain.

Path to Independence

• South Africa– Who was the colonizer?– Was a war fought for independence?– When was independence granted?– Did racism play a role in the colony?

Sudan

• After numerous attempts to gain independence from the British, they finally were successful in 1954.

• The continued British occupation of Sudan fueled an increasingly strident nationalist backlash in Egypt, with Egyptian nationalist leaders determined to force Britain to recognize a single independent union of Egypt and Sudan. With the formal end of Ottoman rule in 1914, Husayn Kamil was declared Sultan of Egypt and Sudan.

• In 1946 British colonial authorities merged southern and northern Sudan into a single administrative region. The inhabitants of southern Sudan primarily practice Christianity and Traditional African religions. Northern Sudan is inhabited by Arab

Muslims. Merging the citizens in the previously separate regions led to the first Sudanese civil war and subsequent political and ethnic strife. Sudan then became an autocratic military dictatorship. Today, they are separated into the countries of Sudan and South Sudan.

Path to Independence

• Sudan– Who was the colonizer?– Was a war fought for independence?– When was independence granted?– Did racism play a role in the colony?

• The Cold War also brought problems to the continent of Africa. The United States and the Soviet Union used the counties in Africa as pawns in a global chess game of domination, wealth, and power.

As economies deteriorated, social strains increased and civil wars and refugees became the faces of Africa. But, in the last decades of the century, South Africa achieved the miracle of majority rule under Nelson Mandela, while in Uganda Yoweri Museveni fought the first post-independence liberation war and became the symbol of a new political generation of leadership. In Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda - intellectuals who had been through the fire of liberation struggles and set out to build societies which could transcend both the heavy hand of outsiders, and the scourge of ethnic politics. The 1994 genocide in Rwanda, in which a million Tutsis were killed by their erstwhile friends and neighbors from the majority Hutu population, acted as a terrible warning of what ethnic politics had in store if Africa's new leaders were to fail.

• So what does the future hold for Africa?

Pan-Africanism

• The Pan-African movement began in the late 1800’s as a philosophy emphasizing the common bond shared by people of African descent and encouraging unity among African people. This was/is a Nationalistic movement to encourage African nations to be independent from Europe.

African Nationalsim• From 1900 to 1945, most Pan-Africanists, with the notable exception of Marcus Garvey, were black

intellectuals form the United states, the Caribbean, and Europe or affluent black Africans studying abroad in Europe and the Americas. After WWII, these young black leaders began to organize influential

groups of black African's. Some of the groups attending Pan-African conferences in Europe developed nationalist movements in the colonies and fought for independence.

Independence

• Some of the most influential Pan-Africanists rose to become president of newly independent African countries. This is true to Kenyatta in Kenya and Nkrumah in Ghana. The Pan-African movement led to the development of a loose organization of African states known as the African Union.

African Union

• The African Union (AU) is a supranational union consisting of fifty-three African states. Established in 2001, the AU was formed as a successor to the African Economic Community (AEC) and the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

Overview• Eventually, the AU aims to

have a single currency (the Afro) ,a single defense force, as well as other institutions of state, including a cabinet for the AU Head of State. The purpose of the union is to help secure Africa's democracy, human rights, and a sustainable economy, especially by bringing an end to intra-African conflict and creating an effective common market.

• The AU covers the entire continent except for Morocco, which opposes the membership of Western Sahara as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

• The AU's first military intervention in a member state was the May 2003 deployment of a peacekeeping force of soldiers from South Africa, Ethiopia, and Mozambique to Burundi. AU troops are also deployed in Sudan for peacekeeping in the Darfur conflict.

Summarizing Activity 1Left Hand Side

• Draw two rough outlines of Africa

• In one draw the original boundaries of the cultures in Africa before European Colonization

• In the other draw the Artificial Political Borders after European Colonization

– Estimate the boundaries-use your best guess

Summarizing Activity 2Left Hand Side

• Draw or List the four reasons Europeans Colonized Africa in the 19th – 20th centuries.

Summarizing Activity 3Left Hand Side

• Once African nations achieved independence, which form of government did the choose most often?

• African Studies Center, African Independence. October 27,2007.• http://www.jgcinema.org/pages/parolechiave.php?

parola=Violenza. November 6, 2007.• Exploring Africa,

http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m7b/activity2.php, October 10,2007

• Gross, Scott. The 30th Anniversary of the Berlin Conference Its adverse affects on Africa. Retrieved from: http://sun.menloschool.org/~sportman/modernworld/chapter8/2004/fblock/sgross.html/ December 18, 2008

• Stanford Dictionary of Philosophy. Retrieved from: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nationalism/ December 18, 2008