AFRI 2707
Discuss the impact of the First World War in Africa. Why do you suppose so many Africans fought in apparent support their colonial masters?
- In WWI, Europeans had considerable amount of force to coerce Africans into supporting their cause -
Discuss the European use of concessionary companies in the early period of colonial rule in Africa. What do you imagine might have been European arguments in favour of the system? What arguments might Africans have used against the system?
- In many parts of Africa, European governments used concessionary companies to colonize their new-found empires. - This system involved European companies being granted African territory to exploit and colonize at their own expense in the name of the European Country. - It was an attempt by Europe to colonize on the cheap - The British used the system in Nigeria - The Royal Niger Company, and the Rhodesias - The British South Africa Company, and east Africa - The Imperial British East Africa Company. Also used by the French, German, and Portuguese colonies. - Company would open up the territory, set up rudimentary administration, invest in railways, and introduce Africans to the cash crop economy. - This would eventually build up markets for European manufactured goods though in practice it did not result in this as Europeans were concerned mainly with short-term profit and concentrated on violent exploitation of the people and their natural resources - Persistent African resistance ensured that early high-profits could not be sustained and many companies went bankrupt. - Concessionary companies gave way to European Imperial control in all countries except Mozambique. EUROPEAN ARUGUMENTS - Europeans may have argued for the system by promising the development of infrastructure for Africans to enjoy - Also, they may have stressed the economic benefit Africans may receive from it in the form of employment and the introduction of a money-based economy. Also they may have suggested that Africans could benefit from the training offered by their companies. AFRICAN ARGUMENTS - Africans could have argued that the system was an encroachment on their traditional political and social systems.
8. Discuss the impact of pre-colonial Christian missionaries in Africa. Why did some Africans welcome the new religion and others rejected it
- In the late 15th and early 16th cent catholic missionaries were sent to Africa to convert a number of African rulers, in attempt to create useful allies of the Portuguese. - . Once African rulers realised the strong political motivation behind their presence, the missionaries' initiative was doomed to fail. -African rulers were interested in trading, technical assistance and firearms but they did not want new ideas which threatened to undermine the traditional religious basis of their authority. - The evangelical movement contained strong military purpose, their goal was to spread the faith to the world. - They preached a strict moral code which condemned much of essential fabric of African society (dancing, drinking...). - Christianity offered a sense of spiritual salvation and social purpose to those who had lost faith in the security and comforts of traditional African beliefs. -The spread of Christianity also meant the spread of basic education of literacy.
What major changes did the rule of Muhammad Ali and his successors bring to Egypt and the Sudan between 1805 and 1880
- Muhammad Ali transformed Egypt into the most powerful province of the Ottoman Empire. - Recognized as pasha of Egypt his initial aim was to found his own dynasty. -Did away with the corrupt tax-farming system of the Mamluks. - developed a salaried civil service and a modern professional army. - introduced new land surveys so that taxes could be reassessed and more efficiently collected. -developed agricultural reforms and more land was brought under cultivation. - saw revival of trade through the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean which had suffered since the opening of the south Atlantic route -forces reasserted Ottoman power in the Red Sean and defeated the Wahhida Arab clans of central Arabia who had occupied the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. This reopened the holy places to international Muslim pilgrimage -Ali's grandson, Isma'il succeeded him. This was a time of major boom in the state's finances (due to cotton exports). He invested in a railway and expanding the army - In 1869 the Suez canal was opened. By 1876 Isma'il was forced to admit that his country was bankrupt. -. In 1879 the installation of his son Tawfiq was used as a puppet khedive (king).
Compare and contrast the differing tactics used by African leaders to deal with colonial encroachment in at least two of the territories discussed in the readings.
- One method to deal with colonial encroachment was a militant, confrontational method. We see this in East Africa - In East Africa, the Swahili, under Abushiri forcefully resisted the British and Germans - Abushiri and his forces attacked the Germans in August 1888 and succeeded in driving them from the coastal towns minus 2 - Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo. - Later, the Germans brought in large reinforcements which succeeded in defeating and capturing Abushiri who they hung in 1899. - The leader of the Hehe, Nkwana, fought against the Germans between 1891-1894 and committed suicide rather than surrender or be captured. - Another strategy to deal with colonial encroachment was submission. - This was apparent in West Africa, in the Senegambia region by M'backe of Sine and M'bodj of Salum - Also, nearly all of the Yoruba states of Nigeria - This particular strategy was not without its justification - Rulers readily submitted either because they became aware of the futility and cost of confronting the imperialists, or more commonly, because they themselves urgently needed European protection - Yoruba states submitted because they saw what happened when they tried to resist the British - it ended in disaster
Discuss the nature and extent of the production of cash crops for the export in the early period of colonial rule. In what ways might early African success in cash-crop production have distorted African Development?
- Small-scale peasant farmers still dominated cash-crop production in much of tropical Africa - Groundnuts were the dominant cash crop of Northern Nigeria and Senegal - Coffee was developed as a profitable cash crop in Cote d'Ivoire, Angola, Tanganyika, Uganda and eastern Belgian Congo. - Cocoa was even more successful and remained the principal export crop of Gold Cost and South western Nigeria. - Cotton was low-priced and labour-intensive and was only produced under pressure from Europeans - i.e to satisfy demands of the French textile industry, peasant production of cotton was made compulsory in certain parts of Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. - In plains of Sudan, between the Blue and White Nile, the British sponsored an irrigation scheme to promote peasant production of cotton in the area - The African tenants of the scheme lost access to other land for growing food and only received 40% of the profits from their cotton - Successful cash-crop production did not mean widespread rural prosperity - African peasant farmers still grew most of their own basic foodstuffs but importation of mass-produced European manufactured cloth and metal goods was undermining African industrial self-sufficiency - Former luxuries of diet such as sugar, started to become a necessity - Cheap rice from French Indo-China was imported into French west African colonies and was sold at rates that undercut local food producers DISTORTION OF FUTURE DEVELOPMENT - African peasant farmers who had often started the growth of cash crops for export under pressure form colonial taxation, rapidly became dependent upon the imports which their crops might buy - This is where they fell into a poverty trap, for the prices paid for exports and the prices demanded for imports were beyond their control - Marketing at the coast was in hands of small number of large European merchant companies - Ensured that prices paid to African producers were maintained at the lowest possible level - If high prices were obtained in Europe, merchants kept the difference as extra profit - When prices rose in Europe of manufactured goods being exported to Africa, European merchants passed these prices onto Africans - Turned out that African farmers were paid less for what they produced and had to pay more for what they bought. - African peasants had to bring more and more land into cash-crop production and food crops were neglected, soil became exhausted and in times of drought, famine struck. - Conclusion: cash-crops ensured that Africans would become dependant on the world for basic foodstuffs - basic subsistence agriculture
Describe the revival of colonial conquest in southern Africa in the 1870s and early 1880s. to what extent, if any was it connected to the development of diamond-mining at Kimberly?
- The discovery of huge amounts of diamonds in Southern Africa, in the city of Kimberly, resulted in the sudden rise of a city to 30 000 people had important consequences on the people of that region - Conflict over the best agricultural land emerged between black and white - The development of migrant labour also emerged as white land owners started placing increasing demands on their labourers - The mines of Kimberley employed up to 50 000 black migrant labourers from neighboring kingdoms a year. The wages were much higher than anywhere else which encouraged black migrant workers to take the long trek on foot to Kimberley. - Black's were in dire need of guns to defend their territories abroad which further encouraged them to go and work in Kimberley. - Kimberley brought many in touch for the first time with the cash economy. The workers returned home with cash which introduced the idea of the cash economy to the kingdoms beyond. This would prove to undue the independence of the Iron Age of the South African interior.
Why did Europeans turn to Africa for their slave labour in the Americas and Caribbean? Why did African rulers sell them their captives?
- labour to work the gold and silver mines and tobacco plantations -criminal and outcasted slaves from Europe, or indigenous had perished, turned to Africans for labour force -Africans had certain level of immunity to some tropical diseases. They had experience and skills in metal-working mining and tropical agriculture -African rulers who provided the captives -Main source of people for sale into slavery was those captured in warfare -primary motive of these wars was the formation and expansion of states - rarely sold ppl from their own society, except unwanted criminals and outcasts
Why did slavery and the slave trade remain so widespread in central Africa until at least 1880s?
-Africans were crucial to the Merchant Capitalist system - Slaves were used as bartering objects in exchange for plantation crops, sugar, guns... - Profits from the triangular trade largely accounted for the rising wealth of a number of major European port cities.
Indicate the new economies conditions, which emerged in the nineteenth century that paved the way for the abolishment of slavery.
-Britain had become the first major European nation to abolish the trade in slaves in 1807 -rapid expansion in Caribbean sugar plantations in the late 18th century had led to overproduction and a fall in the selling-price of sugar. - African merchants charging higher prices for captives - Plantation owners were no longer able to pay their debts to European bankers - Europeans found it more profitable to invest in new manufacturing industries - cheap wage labour in European factories was more efficient
Discuss the likely short term and long term impact of the Atlantic slave trade on the peoples of western Africa.
-increased the level of general warfare in the West African interior -serious loss to the productive potential of the region -14-35, the most significant workers in the African economy -Millions of people were transported out of Africa -roots of European racism are to be found in the European exploration of Africa -suggesting that Africans were naturally inferior. -argued that Africans were being rescued from a primitive and barbaric existence -justified their actions in the name of spreading Christianity and civilisation
Africa had witnessed a series of far reaching revolutions during the first 8 decades of the 19th century. Analyse the nature, scope and impact of those new trends and processes.
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Describe and account for the strength of Algerian resistance to the French occupation of their country in the 19th century.
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Discuss the motives and impact of European explorers in the 19th century Africa. How important was the role of Africans to the success of European exploration?
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What social economic and legal changes were brought to the cape colony by the establishment of British rule there after 1806? Why did Africans stand to lose or gain by these changes?
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Why did German administration in East and South-West Africa experience such widespread rebellions have on the final years of German rule in the colonies?
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Why did the British and the Boers go to war in 1899? What was the long and short-term impact of that war on the African peoples of southern Africa?
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Major African Languages
Afro-Asiatic; North Africa to the Horn Nilo-Saharan; Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania Niger-Congo; Senegal to Angola Khoisan; Bushmen of Africa
Why did Africa fall so quickly to European control in the final quarter of the 19th century?
EXPLOITATION OF RIVALRIES - Although some African leaders saw the need for alliances, most rulers failed to form any such alliances - This allowed Europeans to pit one group against the other - Colonists were able to exploit traditional and longstanding rivalries between African states - African rulers therefore accepted European alliance or treaties of "protection" which they believed would protect them from their longstanding African enemies. - Once these enemies conquered, real nature and extent of European protection became clear ADVANTAGE IN MILITARY TECHNOLOGY - In earlier centuries, Africans were able to fairly compete with Europeans - 1880's, African armies were rapidly overtaken by advances in European weaponry - first the breech-loading repeater rifle, then the Maxim gun - the world's first highly mobile modern machine-gun. - Guns were being sold to Africans for years, however after the invention of these two new superior weapons, their sale was restrictions were placed on their sale to Africans. - Also, African armies were numerically inferior OTHER FACTORS - No African state was strong enough economically to have sustained any protracted warfare against any of the imperial powers - the defeat of any of them was just a matter of time
Triangle Trade
Europe --> Africa --> New world and back.
Compare and contrast African resistance to European control in any two of the regions referred to in your readings. Was there any ways in which the threat of European colonization might have been dealt with more effectively?
MAJI-MAJI REBELLION (1905-7) - Head tax was levied on all adult Africans and a high level of violence and intimidation was used in its collection - In July 1905, rebellion broke out in the southern part of the colony when local people resisted government attempts to force them into growing cotton for export - the revolt spread rapidly with attacks on all foreigners - Peoples of southern Tanzania came together in a unique way to resist colonialism turning to their believes in the spirit world - They sprinkled their bodies with magic water known as Maji-Maji which would turn the bullets of their enemies into water - Initial success strengthened believe in Maji-Maji water and rebels stormed down a German machine-gun post only to be killed in the thousands - This exposed the weakness of Maji-Maji and political unity gradually fell apart - However, because of Maji-Maji, Germans reduced their use of violence in enforcing authority for fear of provoking another rising - Maji Maji had shown possibility of wider African anti-colonial nationalism across pre-colonial divides and was an important inspiration to a later generation of nationalists who brought the country to independence in early 1960's. HERERO AND NAMA RISINGS (1904-7) - In colony of South West Africa, Germans were vigorously pushing forward a policy of white settlement in central highland region - Nama and Herero pastoralists had suffered heavy cattle-losses in rinderpest epidemic of 1896-97 - White settlers took advantage of this and moved on to valuable African grazing land which was temporarily being underused - White traders stripped Africans of their existing cattle to stock newly acquired white ranches - In 1904, the Herero rose in revolt and killed over a hundred German traders and settlers and reoccupied much of their former territory - Failed to persuade Nama to follow them until with was too late as Germans had brought in reinforcements from abroad and isolated the Herero - The Herero broke out of the encirclement and German general, von Trotha, issued his notorious "extermination" proclamation - Herero were driven westwards to Kalahari where tens of thousands died of thirst and starvation - By the time von Trotha's proclamation was withdrawn at the end of 1905, only 16 000 Herero were left alive out of 80 000. - In the meantime, Nama had also risen in revolt under leadership of Witbooi - Waged successful guerrilla campaign and managed to tie German forces down until at least the end of 1905 when ageing Witbooi was killed - Thereafter, Nama unity gradually fell apart - At the end of the war, Germans destroyed any remaining Nama and Herero independence by confiscating their cattle and deposing all their chiefs MAJI-MAJI HERERO AND NAMA - Organization was spontaneous and lacked central leadership - Provoked by resistance to overly harsh German policies - Used spiritual power to guide the rebellion - Sense of unity among organization strengthened their cause - Ultimately failed by provided incentive for future leaders to pursue independence vs. - Organization was planned with central leader - Witbooi - Provoked by resistance to overly harsh German policies - Used manual force to guide rebellion - Ultimately failed by provided incentive for future leaders to pursue independence
Why did Europe scramble for Africa in the 1880s? Was it a logical progression from the so-called era of legitimate commerce?
MARKET SATURATION - By 1870, W. Europe's factories were producing so many cheap goods that they were running out of people to sell them to. - Since their home markets were saturated, they turned to Africa - As rivals such as Germany and France began to pick up the pace of their production, Britain shifted from a free trade policy to a more nationalist policy - Germany and France seeing this move knew the best way to beat Britain was to establish colonies or protected areas in Africa where trading with Britain could be done without being heavily taxed. NATURAL RESOURCES - Europeans started to realize the amount of natural resources that were going un-tapped in Africa - Products such as oil and ivory had already been exploited to some extent in W. Africa however rubber from tropical forests had not yet been tapped. - Discovery of huge quantities of diamonds and gold in S. Africa in 1870-1880 heightened Europe's expectations of Africa. - The anticipation of quick profits and safeguard markets for the future induced other less prominent European countries to seek a stake in Africa SURPLUS CAPITAL - There was a need to invest surplus capital that was being generated by the capitalist system of production - The interests pursued in exporting capital also give an impetus to the conquest of colonies for in the colonial market, it is easier to employ monopoly methods to eliminate competition to ensure supplies, to secure the necessary connections etc NATIONALISM - The most important of the social forces encouraging the scramble was the exaggerated spirit of nationalism in Europe following the unification of both Germany and Italy in the late 19th C. - With the emergence of a strong national consciousness, nations began to think not only of their power and progress but also of prestige, greatness and security. - In Europe, in the late 19th C., prestige was measured in the number of overseas colonies a nation possessed WAS IT A LOGICAL PROGRESSION? - Yes. Once capitalism started to explode in Europe, the impetus to trade also grew - Natural resources were needed to fuel the expanding capitalist economy and Africa was so rich in natural wealth that it was logical for Europeans to start there to extract the wealth
Types of Capitalism
Merchant Capitalism; Traders don't control point of production, depends on slavery Industrial Capitalism; Industrial class controls point of production, creates wage labour and colonialism emerges Globalization; (Financial Capitalism) Cannot co-exist with any other mode of production