Classic Colonialism In Africa

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.

Around the year 1897 Edward Morel noticed something that would change the way the modern world viewed the colonization of Africa and the supposed “humanitarian” work there forever (Hochschild 1). Morel worked for an English shipping company that was responsible for cargo going between the Congo Free State and Belgium. What Morel noticed was that ships from Africa were filled with rich, exotic goods like rubber and ivory, but the ships headed to Africa from Belgium were filled with military members and various firearms and ammunition (Hochschild 2). Morel made the conclusion that the cause of this odd “trade” between Europe and Africa was slave labor. European colonization of Africa was a slow, arduous process resulting in the deaths of

Colonialism impacted North Africa in numerous ways. Its history is forever changed and the people of North Africa are still struggling because of the effects it had on its society. The Europeans that invaded North Africa thought of their European culture as high class and elite and looked down upon the Arab culture. Because of this, the Europeans started to build newer cities and created businesses that accommodated the European lifestyle. Building on lands that weren’t theirs to claim pushed tribes into the mountains and caused the dislocation of tribal life. Poverty was an outcome of tribe disruption because many families lost their homes, and if families had already come from poverty, then they would live around the cities in bidonvilles as well as the people coming from the cities into the bidonvilles. Because of the dislocation of families when leaving their hometown, the sense of community was also broken because families no longer lived next to each other and their neighbors might not even speak in the same dialect, making it very difficult for them to communicate with one another. This dislocation is what began to break down the cultural identity and belonging of many young Arabs, even after returning to their hometowns after independence, there was still a disconnection because the original culture had faded because of the hybridization of the two cultures.

During the 1870’s Europeans started colonizing countries in Africa. Europeans did this because they needed all of Africa's valuable resources.Africa was a big target because they were not very modernized in technology so it was easier for the Europeans to seize control. The Europeans were able to enter Africa through ships and scare the Africans with their guns. The Europeans controlled Africa in two ways direct and indirect rule. Direct rule is when the country in charge rules strictly over the country and they try to civilize the people they are ruling. For example in Algeria the French had direct rule. The French were in Algeria and gave Algerians their needs but no rights. Indirect ruling is when the country in charge is ruling from far

With the beginning of the end of the slave trade fast approaching in Europe and Africa, and too little room for expansion within Europe, powerful advancements by European powers such as Germany, France, Britain, and Belgium were made to expand the empires of each country and develop places of trade and commerce through colonies, and a build in world prestige for each European power. The leaders of these European powers would meet in Berlin from 1884-85 in order to partition and agree upon the division of Africa to each nation, creating spheres of influence to be administered by each nation, and only that nation. This form of forced imperialism would lead to exploitation and atrocity of truly epic proportions in the soon-to-be-developed Congo

Africa was like the Tiramisu of the late 1800’s. Every European world leader wanted to get their hands on a decadent, fattening piece of African territory. The richness of the cake represented all of Africa’s natural resources that Europeans wanted, which would provide markets for their products and raw materials to be used in factories. The cake was dished out during the Berlin Conference when Otto von Bismarck split it and gave portions to the European guests. Most guests had no reservations and joyfully indulged in the cake as they thought that they were helping the Africans improve their cultures. However, no rulers asked any of the Africans how they felt about this and completely disregarded their opinions. Unlike imperialism in Asia,

European nations traded for slaves, gold, and ivory along the west coast of Africa for the 300 years between 1500 and 1800. The European nations wanted to express their superiority because they felt that their countries were the best. According to Wikipedia, “Imperialism is taking a country's pride, their culture, or capturing their land.” That is exactly what the European nations did to Africa. The reasons behind European imperialism in Africa are nationalism, cultural reasons, and economic reasons.

The British introduced Africans to democracy and a powerful leader instead of a traditional council. The African people intertwined their beliefs with their religion. Their gods dominated their political beliefs and set up a social hierarchy within their tribes - but when Christianity was introduced to their culture, the natives were forced to be ruled under their one king, which is completely different from how the Natives ruled. Socially the Africans were subjected to British influence as well. For example, in the Ibo culture, Polygamy was often practiced by men and women. This happens between man and wife and is a culture in which man can have more than one wife. This practice was quickly outlawed by the christian missionaries.

For centuries, powerhouses of the world have been dividing and conquering the lands of “the other.” These imperialistic powers unearth the roots of the conquered lands and utilize the resources for their own capitalistic benefit; however, the effects of imperialism extend deeper than just taking advantage of the soil. There is the physical subjugation of the land and the indigenous bodies that inhabit it, but there is also a much more sinister method of conquering: cultural imperialism. Through the systematic replacement of the original culture, the people of the conquered land lose their sense of place in the world, thus imprisoning them in a cycle that seeps into the coming generations like slow poison. This is exactly what Tayeb Salih is

the Berlin Conference to divide Africa into colonies, which created the country known as Kenya.

Imperialism is when a world power colonizes a smaller country or kingdom, and then proceeds to exploit the land and resources of the kingdom or country. Through the majority of the 18th century, imperialism was a dominant force on global relations. During the peak of the Age of Imperialism, Queen Victoria and her British empire dominated the world. British Imperialism started in the late 1700’s because of population growth and the advances in technology industrialism that occurred during the Industrial Revolution. The areas that the British imperialized during this time period include India, a large part of Africa, and Australia.

The experiences of the women of the African diaspora are as diverse as the regions they have come to inhabit. Despite the variety in their local realities, African and African-descended women across the planet share in many common experiences. Wherever they have made their homes, these women tend to occupy inferior or marginalized positions within their societies. Whether in the United States, Europe, Latin America, or even Africa itself, black women must confront what Patricia Hill Collins describes as a “matrix of domination” which has, for centuries, perpetuated their subjugation and oppression. According to Collins, a matrix of domination is a comprehensive social organization in

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

There is a large variation in levels of development amongst nations around the world. Some countries like America are described as being fully developed because of their high levels of GDP’s, industrialization and other advances. On the other hand, there are other places around the world like Ghana, Afghanistan, and Algeria that are described as developing nations meaning they have low GDP’s, are not industrialized fully yet and have many more advancements to make until they become developed. Colonialism is the reason why most of the world’s countries are still described as developing Nations. Colonialism is when a ruling power takes control over an alien people or a nation that is separate from their own, over an extended period of time. The legacies left by colonialism have made it difficult for those countries to build back their economies, governments and gain overall stability. As those countries that were colonized tried to develop, a new type of colonialism called neo- colonialism that has infiltrated itself all throughout the world is making it even more difficult for those nations to develop because it is drastically affecting their economies. Neo- colonialism is the continuation or the extension of the economic model of colonialism within the previously colonized countries after they have gained independence. This new colonialism is more effective and less direct than the old type of colonialism because it is done through the economy, but the neo- colonizers