Zack Machacek
AFRO 1021 – 001
Midterm Paper
The Colonization of Africa
There are many false truths and incorrect hypotheses when the subject of European colonialization in Africa is mentioned. European Imperialism has been blamed for what the state of Africa is for centuries, however, in my opinion, the imperialists did not have much of a role in the current state of Africa; Africa was in an inevitable state for centuries, making it easy for both European and the African empires themselves to colonize. On the other hand, European imperialism did, in fact, disrupt some of the traditional ways of the African people. In this paper, I will be discussing both sides, as well as Africa as it was centuries ago, as well as some major historical events that happened during the time of the scramble and colonization of Africa.
To get a brief introduction of why and how people were colonizing Africa, or sometimes called the “Scramble for Africa,” there are a few things we need to know. Colonization in itself started in the 15th century with the Age of Discovery led by the empires of the Portuguese and Spanish. A few centuries later, European imperialists started this colonization of Africa throughout the 1700s and the 1800s, due to a loss of American land and colonies during that time period. The main key players in the Scramble for Africa were Germany, France, Britain, Portugal, and Spain. However, some of these countries were not the same back then, so describing them as the empires they were would be more accurate. Now, onto the reasoning behind the colonization: besides the fact that some of these empires were losing ground and territory in America, the empires knew that they could gain a strong work force from Africa as well as access to many raw materials. Aside from a work force and materials, the empires had a few motives in mind, these include: the spread of religion, economic and exploratory expansion, and the spread political ideas.
Prior to the Scramble for Africa, the many different types of African people lived in their own respected traditional ways. There were many villages, each village had a chief and everyone listened to their chief. Every African citizen had a role in their village, some tended farms, others raised cattle, and some were leaders. Although imperialists are not to blame for the current 21st century state of Africa, they are to blame for disrupting the traditions of the African people for at least a century. During the Industrial Revolution, when Europeans truly believed that their superiority ruled over the Africans’ inferiority, imperialists owned much of Africa, controlling the villages, farms, government, religion, and worst yet, the new ‘traditions.’
Throughout the colonization and Scramble for Africa, there were many major historical events that took place, most notably there was the Berlin Conference and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Both of these historical events were detrimental throughout the colonization of Africa. Starting with the Berlin Conference, created in 1884 by the first Chancellor of Germany, Otto Van Bismarck, and closing in 1885, the European diplomacy treated African natives like any other natives. The men in charge made alliances with the chiefs of Africa’s tribes and villages. There was no war between the Europeans and the Africans, although some African tribes did set up resistance, the imperialists took over nearly everything that belonged to the Africans. The main idea of the conference was for the many countries involved in it to figure a way how to peacefully split up the continent of Africa, emphasis on the peacefully part.
Before any talk of the Berlin Conference, the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade existed for centuries, started by the Portuguese in the early 16th century. The slave trade has a lot of false accusations against it, contrary to popular belief, the soon-to-be slaves were actually sold from other Africans, to the Europeans. The vast majority of these slaves were imprisoned for many different types of wrongdoings that they had committed within their village. For the peaceful Africans and their villages, this was actually a good thing for them to get rid of prisoners for many reasons, some of them being: more space for the other citizens of the tribe, more rations of food and water, and the fact that their village would be safer without some of those people. Although the slave trade in its entirety was an absolute horrid way of life for the African slaves, there were unfortunately many positive upsides for both the Africans and the European empires in charge of the trade. Back to the topic of the Berlin Conference, it wasn’t until 1885, during the demise of the conference that the thirteen empires involved created the Berlin Act, in hopes of suppressing slavery in its entirety. Although slavery was abolished in America about two decades prior to the Berlin Act, and the fact that slavery is still going on in the 21st century, the 13th amendment and the Berlin Act made huge strides in stopping slavery for good. To wrap up, the Berlin Conference was in no way in support of killing or displacing the African people, and for the slave trade, many Africans were on board, as terrible as it may sound.
After many major historical events that did not affect Africa in the best ways happened, we have Africa today. Today, Africa has 54 countries, all of which are rich in tradition and social, religious, and political culture. South Africa, to mention one, is one of the most known about countries in terms of still be segregated and owned by the Europeans. But since 1994, and three years of talks and negotiations, South Africa is no longer owned by anyone nor is it racially segregated, although many white people still make up the majority of higher paying jobs.
Looking back at the colonization of Africa centuries ago, we do not see Europeans scavenging and taking over the lands like they did in the past. As much of the land in Africa never had an imperialist come through it, and most African territories that were colonized only remained that way for a few decades, the long term effect of those territories do not carry on to the 21st century. Aside from Africa, the United States used to be a colony controlled by another country, after that, they seemed to meander well shortly after the colony was disbanded. Besides a few exceptions, and past some of the horror some of the Africans could have experienced, the Berlin Conference’s goal was to peacefully use Africa, although it may have not worked like that in a very few instances, the European rule did not last long and the Africa we see today is rich with heritage and culture.
In conclusion, many Africans have gone though much hardship in the past few centuries, whether it be the imperialists using their land, or having their fellow African village citizens selling them as slaves, the hardship is over. Although many African countries are still labeled as a third world country, many believe that that is not fault of the days of imperialism. The Africa we see today is no longer experiencing the major historical events that took place centuries ago.