Colonialism in Africa (Essay Sample)

Name of Professor:
Name of Student:
Unit Code:
Topic: Colonialism in Africa
Between the eleventh and mid twentieth century, transcontinental visits were the most important journeys people could make, if they had the ability. From India to Arabia, from Arabia to Africa, Portugal to Africa, Spain to the new world, and India to Africa, it was all a lifetime dream and a lifetime achievement by then. During these visits, there was clash of cultures as well as a blend, resulting in an exchange of practices, from language to religion. A rich testament of this can be observed all through the coastal towns of most continents, providing an idea about what happened in the past. The main essence of these exploits was either for trade or religion. The Arabs came to spread their newly found religion of Islam as well as trade with the natives, while the Portuguese were basically out to discover new horizons.
As soon as the teachings of Muhammad started being accepted among the African population, so was the general Arab culture. The indigenous African people intermingled and intermarried with these new cultures to give rise to new groups, such as the Swahili at the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts, which was as a result of African and Arabic marriages. The Arabs even ruled the coastal towns of east Africa, with the most notable one being the sultan of Zanzibar. One big irony about the spread of Islam and to some extent the Arabs themselves was that it focused too much along the coast, and very rarely penetrated inland.
After the early visits from the Arabs, Portuguese and to some extent Indians, there came the advent of another new crusade. A fast spreading religion in Europe soon found its way to other parts of the world, with emphasis being on Africa. This new religion, Christianity, was being preached to everyone, through the European missionaries. They came mostly from Britain and Germany as ambassadors of Christ, the figurehead of the religion. These missionaries, being led by the likes of Ludwig Krapf and Rebmann revolutionized religious crusade through exploration. As opposed to the Islamic ambassadors along the coast, they also decided to venture inlands to penetrate the African continent. As a result, whereas the Islamic religion took long to penetrate inwards, Christianity eventually won over most Africans from land. As these European missionaries spread religion, so did they keep records into account of their experiences, observations and fascinations about the African continent. Back home, the letters sent by these missionary explorers generated a lot of interest over time. A striking coincidence was that this was the time of the Industrial revolution, and the need for raw materials for the upcoming industries was desperate. A combination of these factors finally brought European powers to the pedestal of the African continent. Colonialism was just about to begin.
This paper is going to talk about colonialism in Africa. On a broader perspective, we are going to have a look at the origin, reasons as well as the consequences of colonialism on the African continent and its people. Colonialism can be defined to as the annexation, or takeover and occupation, of a certain territory or geographical location, by another country. This can either be willingly on forcefully(African Studies Centre,2014).It all began with the good reports from the missionaries, and then a sudden realization by the European powers, that there was a place rich in resources that were yet to be exploited, as well as population to provide cheap labor. However, before venturing deep into colonialism, we are going to have a peek into how and what Africa was before colonialism, during the pre-colonial era.
Pre-Colonial Africa
In pre-colonial times, which can date back to the ancient times, most African societies practiced simple living. They used simple tools mainly made of iron or bronze to do their hunting or cultivation. Their basic organization was in terms of age groups, which were properly managed by the elders and the community at large. Oral literature was the most applied form of passing culture and tradition, since most of the African societies had not yet mastered the art of writing, exception of the Egyptians and a few others who had come into contact with them.
These African cultures can be categorized into two major groups, either centralized or decentralized. As its name suggests, centralized communities were located within one geographical location and under one ruler mostly a monarch. This was the case with a majority of the African cultures such as the Buganda kingdom under Kabakas as well as the Shona kingdoms under Mwene Mutapa in East and Southern Africa respectively. They were centralized due to two main things, agricultural land or trade. The decentralized ones were mainly led by clans and clan elders and as a result there was no one form of leadership (Flemming & Falola, 2009).Due to the lack of basic civilization and continuity, most monarchs and disintegrated into numerous others. In other cases, smaller chiefdoms coalesced to form one huge kingdom such as the manner in which the Asante kingdom was formed. In essence, most power was centered on natural resources, which Africa was hugely blessed with. Mansa Musa, the emperor of Mali, whose capital was a city called Timbuktu in the eleventh century, at one time paid a pilgrimage to Mecca through Cairo. On his stops in the two countries, he showed extreme extravagance by showering the authorities there with an excess amount of gold. The amount of gold was so much that people spread stories about the emperor’s ‘City of Gold’ in reference to Timbuktu. The news spread far to the Europeans, who decided to set foot looking for this city and its gold. European explorers made it their ultimate goal to reach Timbuktu, most of who failed (Boddy-Evans, 2011).
This was just an example of the developing European interest towards the African continent, a trait observed from north of Africa down south. As already hinted before, trade, religion and spirit of adventure is what brought about exploration among different peoples. The African rulers, by then, were kings and chiefs, who ruled vast territories. On the arrival of visitors, the ambitious African rulers chose to form alliances with these trade merchants, to increase their influence as well as be wealthier than their competing territories. It should be noted that the African rulers were promoting slave trade, in conjunction with the Arab merchants. In West Africa, kingdoms were fighting each other and capturing people from their conquests.. The Mende and Wolof kingdoms regularly raided each other for slaves. A similar thing was observed from the Songhai Kingdom (Dr.Perbi, 2001).
Reasons for Colonialism and actual Colonialism
Just like it happened in the 1960s when the united states and Russia were engaged in the cold war through technology and the space race, so was the situation in Europe. The major European powers, namely Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Italy and Spain were undergoing a renaissance. This was the period of industrial revolution, as well as a tight competition for political supremacy. Territorial influence was a direct statement of one’s strength. They wanted other areas where they could expand and as well hide their military bases.. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately for these big boys of Europe, this is one fact they all knew too well. No new territory matched their description better than Africa. The other thing is that the space for both construction and expansion of the upcoming industries was proving to be inadequate. As a result, some of the indigenous population in these countries needed to be displaced and given a second home, an asylum from which to proceed with their lives. The Europeans, just like in any other business setup, were also trying to expand their market outreach. And what other market that an untapped, unexplored one in Africa? But above all, there was one factor that overruled everything, raw materials. These European powers knew very well that the new industries coming up in their homeland will soon require a higher amount of raw materials than the ones that could be supplied from within. They therefore had to start outsourcing sooner than later, for both purposes of supply as well as stocking their reserves for future purposes (Iweriebor, 2002).To avoid this conflicts between these nations, the then German councilor, Otto von Bismarck, set aside a conference in 1884 which ran to 1885,to discuss how the territories could be shared between these European powers. Boundaries were marked and each power had a given set of rules to follow while crossing into foreign territory, in order to avoid war. Ironically, no African was part of that conference, and the European powers had little or limited knowledge about the continent they had shared among themselves (BBC, 2014).It was therefore a combination of socioeconomic as well as political factors that led to the scramble for Africa. Although some sinister reason put forward by some relates to the fact that they also took over Africa so that they could have a place to dump their industrial waste.
Africans reacted differently towards the arrival of the colonialists on their land. Some, like the Wanga kingdom in Kenya, for their own selfish ambitions as well as an expectation of favors to strengthen their power. However, a majority of African groups resisted the European invasion. Seen as a large familiarity among the more organized groups, a majority of those that resisted were either chiefdoms or kingdoms. This was as a result of the unity they had in fighting for their own sovereignty. In West Africa, Samory Toure had waged a long standing vicious guerilla warfare against the French as he expanded his territory. He did this in addition to making an effor...