AFRICAN HISTORY

AFRICAN HISTORY

 

 

 

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The Europeans colonized Africa between 1881 and 1914. They struggled for invasion, occupation, division, and colonization of African territories. These struggles are referred to as, scramble for Africa, or the Partition for Africa, or the Rape of Africa. The European motive was to control valuable natural resources, rivalry, and the quest for national prestige together with religious missionary work, even though African political played a major role in their colonization.[1] In 1870s, Europeans had already covered areas of East and Central Africa. They colonized countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, etc.

Most African countries were colonized due to economic, political, and religious reasons. Powerful countries such as Britain and Germany were losing money due to the Economic depression occurring in Europe.[2] They tried to escape poverty, warfare, political turmoil, famine, and diseases that were affecting their countries. The revolutions occurring in Europe encouraged them to search for markets for their manufactured goods in Africa, and this resulted to scramble for partition. The Europeans also needed raw materials. Their machines manufactured processed foods faster than the use of hand. They came in search for products such as cotton, iron, copper, and palm oil.

The Europeans also needed labor. Due to the deteriorating economy, they were in need of cheap labor, which was readily available in Africa after the abolition of slave trade. They therefore came in search for women and children and young men to provide them with free labor in their factories. Africa also provided a great platform for investments due to presence of excess capital gained from the accumulation of profits in industrial investments. Improved transportation due to industrial revolution also enhanced colonization. The Europeans could easily travel freely and in their quest for exploration, they ended up oppressing Africans.

The Europeans also travelled as missionaries in the quest for spreading religion across African countries. The missionaries ended up settling in areas such as the coastlines, which eventually turned to oppression of the Africans since the Europeans’ population spread across countries. They also discovered medicine which enabled them to withstand African conditions. This resulted to adaptability in African regions hence the colonization.[3] The inventions of machinery in Europe rendered some Europeans jobless and so they moved to Africa seeking employment hence dominated African Industries and finally colonizing them.

The Africans did not just sit by and watch their countries get taken over. Most countries resisted some fully eliminating the whites, while some had to struggle for years. For example, colonization in South Africa began in 1652. South Africans were far from helpless victims of colonization since they strongly resisted the oppression. Exploitation of labor, taxation, arbitrary violence, and racism fueled South Africans to resist. They formed African Resistant Movement in the early and mid-1960s as the National Committee of Liberation. It advocated for dismantling colonial rule and eventually transformed the country into a free military country.

Tanzania was not spared either. The Germans and British colonized the country exploiting their resources, leaving the country at a bad financial stage. A spirit medium named Kinjikitile Ngwale was the leader of Tanzanian Maji Maji rebellion movement[4]. He led the people from southern parts of Tanzania by giving them a war medicine, which was in fact, water. This fueled their need to resist the German rule since they believed that the water would turn the German bullet into water. The result for the Maji Maji war was a great mass of death and followed by a great famine known as the great hunger. Similarly, Chimurenga is a Shona word also known as Ndebele found in Zimbabwe. It refers to the revolutionary struggle or the rise against the British administration in the 1890s. The first Chimurenga war was fought between African nationalist guerillas and predominantly white Rhodesian government during the 1960s.[5]

The African resistance had serious consequences. For example, during the Maji Maji war, a lot of people last their lives due to ignorant fighting. The Europeans has more advanced weapons, which was an added advantage to their oppression. There was destruction of natural resources. Most resources were destroyed as war of resistance ensured between the European and Africans.[6] The development of countries who were under colonial rule was affected. Instead of spending tomes to come up with industrial growth, time was spent fighting the whites in a quest to earn independence. Most African countries ended up losing these battles due to lack of advanced weapon, lack of a common language and internal betrayal. All these caused political instability in most countries as there was the struggle for power and maintaining political freedom.

When Europeans realized that it was too expensive to maintain their colonies in Africa, they removed them. The unending determination by the Africans to resist their rule was not making it easier. This however caused African to sink in economic and political instability.[7]The effects of colonization cannot dwell on the negative side but also on the positive side of view too. African societies have since then undergone positive progress and still remain strong and well capable of absorbing external challenges.

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

 

Aydin, Aysegul, and Cem Emrence. “Organization.” Zones of Rebellion, 2015, 17-34. doi:10.7591/Cornell/9780801453540.003.0002.

 

 

Milazzo, Kathy. “Marking Your Territory.” The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Competition, 2018, 110-136. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190639082.013.5.

 

 

MILLS, BRANDON. “Situating African Colonization within the History of U.S. Expansion.” New Directions in the Study of African American Recolonization, 2017, 166-183. doi:10.2307/j.ctvx072fm.12.

 

 

Parsons, Timothy. “African Military History and Historiography.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, 2018. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.241.

 

 

Rushohora, Nancy A. “Archaeology of the Majimaji War.” Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, 2018, 1-6. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_3237-1.

 

 

Saraiva, Tiago. “Sheep: Fascist Settlers and the Colonization of Africa and Europe.” Fascist Pigs, 2016. doi:10.7551/mitpress/9780262035033.003.0007.

 

 

Temperley, Howard. “Against Wind and Tide: The African American Struggle against the Colonization Movement.” American Nineteenth Century History 16, no. 3 (2015), 364-365. doi:10.1080/14664658.2015.1136475.

 

[1] Kathy Milazzo, “Marking Your Territory,” The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Competition, 2018, xx, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190639082.013.5.

[2] Aysegul Aydin and Cem Emrence, “Organization,” Zones of Rebellion, 2015, xx, doi:10.7591/Cornell/9780801453540.003.0002.

[3] Timothy Parsons, “African Military History and Historiography,” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, 2018, xx, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.241.

[4] Nancy A. Rushohora, “Archaeology of the Majimaji War,” Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, 2018, xx, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_3237-1.

[5] Tiago Saraiva, “Sheep: Fascist Settlers and the Colonization of Africa and Europe,” Fascist Pigs, 2016, xx, doi:10.7551/mitpress/9780262035033.003.0007.

[6]  BRANDON MILLS, “Situating African Colonization within the History of U.S. Expansion,” New Directions in the Study of African American Recolonization, 2017, xx, doi:10.2307/j.ctvx072fm.12.

[7] Howard Temperley, “Against Wind and Tide: The African American Struggle against the Colonization Movement,” American Nineteenth Century History 16, no. 3 (2015): xx, doi:10.1080/14664658.2015.1136475.