Introduction
An artist impression of colonialism. See how the artist portrays colonialism as destructive to the environment and people. Notice the skeleton behind the standing person.
Picture:http://www.fresno.k12.ca.us
As you learnt in Grade 10 and Grade 11, Africans suffered five centuries of oppression and humiliation under the slave trade and colonial rule.
The whole of Africa was colonised by European powers in the late 19th century. European countries divided up the continent between them and today there are nearly 50 countries in Africa.
Britain, France, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Spain colonised the continent in what is called the ‘Scramble for Africa’. (At the end of the First World War, Germany and Italy were defeated and lost their colonies to the victorious powers). Colonial governments imposed their own systems of law on African societies. Colonial governments were brutal and Africans were denied basic human rights.
African colonies were exploited under colonialism, that is, they were used unjustly for the economic advantage of the European colonisers. And in all European colonies there was no democracy, no civil liberties and no political freedom.
At the end of the Second World War, demands for ‘uhuru’ or freedom from colonial rule swept across Africa.
Uhuru is the Swahili word for freedom. click here for the rest of this topics' glossary.
A combination of international pressure and resistance in the colonies became too great, and by 1963 most of Africa was independent of colonial rule.
The independence of African countries from their European rulers took place during the Cold War. The power struggle between East and West had a large impact on the liberation struggles and the newly independent states.
The independent states were faced with formidable tasks – namely, building the nation, developing the economy and transforming society.
In the scramble for Africa, the colonial powers had divided the continent into mini-countries.
Boundaries cut through cultural, ethnic and economic links. Divisions in colonies were used particularly by the British to ‘divide and rule’.
The colonial economy existed for exploitation and benefited the colonial powers. It has been said that no other continent suffered as much destruction of its social fabric under colonial domination.