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Bad effects of colonialism on African countries
Effects of colonialism on modern africa
Effects of colonialism on modern africa
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The Effects of Colonization on African Countries
If Africa were a person, it would be a wise, young, memorable woman
with a difficult past. It would be wise because of its knowledge
through experience, young because of its age in comparison with other
countries, memorable because of its life-long history, and a woman
because of its patience and grueling work. The continent Africa, to
some extent is all these things; but because Africa consists of at
least 54 different countries, each with its own chronicle, it is
cannot be a person, for a person is a characteristic individual. Thus,
Africa is not as wise and collected as it should be. Young? Maybe;
memorable? Possibly; but wise? That is debatable. One of the most
fascinating things about Africa is its suffering and challenging past.
Throughout its years of struggle, its ultimate independence by 1970
has been its biggest achievement. Due to its previous colonization and
control, this period was a large step for the continent. Africa was
faced with several problems and challenges, some brought shortly
after, and some occurring long-term. Whatever the case, many of these
difficulties have affected the lifestyle of Africans today that sets
Africa apart from the rest of the world at present. The continent is
labeled as being the “Third World”. The “Dark Continent”. Why? Why is
Africa different from the rest of the world’s continents? The answer
is categorized into three different forms. The reason Africa is
diverse to continents such as America, Australia, Great Britain is
because it suffers from the problems that it did since its
independence, which can be classified into the groups ‘Econ...
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Politics is the science that guides or influencing governmental policies. Politics plays important role in the daily life of everyone’s decision making all over history. The political leaders of Europe viewed the world as a stomping ground they took powers into their hand to take control over unconquered land. They believed that once they take over less advanced places they will be able to get richer by exploiting the uneducated and weaker people. According to an to an article from Africana Age called “The Colonization of Africa” by Ehiedu E. G. Iweriebor, “By 1900 much of Africa had been colonized by seven European powers—Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. After the conquest of African decentralized and centralized
Europe, in the late 1800’s, was starting a land grab on the African continent. Around 1878, most of Africa was unexplored, but by 1914, most of Africa, with the lucky exception of Liberia and Ethiopia, was carved up between European powers. There were countless motivations that spurred the European powers to carve Africa, like economic, political, and socio–cultural, and there were countless attitudes towards this expansion into Africa, some of approval and some of condemnation. Europe in this period was a world of competing countries. Britain had a global empire to lead, France had competition with Britain for wealth and so did other nations like Germany and Russia.
"The wind of change is blowing through this [African] continent, and whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact, and our national policies must take account of it" (Macmillan). This speech, made by the prime minister of England in 1960, highlights the vast changes occurring in Africa at the time. Changes came quickly. Over the next several years, forty-seven African countries attained independence from colonial rule. Many circumstances and events had and were occurring that led to the changes to which he was referring. The decolonization of Africa occurred over time, for a variety of complex reasons, but can be broken down into two major contributing factors: vast changes brought about in the world because of World War II and a growing sense of African nationalism.
European imperialism in Africa caused Africans to lose their independence and culture. After a long time, “the wave of Independence across Africa in the 1950s and 1960s brought to the end around 75
Prior to the arrival of European traders, the continent of Africa had developed sophisticated society as it demonstrated its ability to maintain advanced civilizations, withhold three major empires, and gain wealth through trade. Although European traders did advance organized society in Africa, it would be false to say that prior to their arrival Africa was underdeveloped.
At the height of the conflict, about one third of the country's people were displaced. The chronic financial crisis became severe and the economy was close to collapsing. Poverty has become deeper in the rural areas of the Congo where poor people are now powerless, vulnerable and isolated. This is a big contributor to the poverty Congo is experiencing today, because little has improved and won’t improve until these problems are fixed. Overall, Central Africa’s dependence on agriculture could improve the wellbeing of the people but a long history of corruption, violence, and prevalent transportation issues have hindered an improvement in the economy resulting in poverty in the region.
Colonialism has plagued indigenous people worldwide and has spelled disaster for countless cultures, languages, and traditions. Over the past 500 years there have been different phases of colonization in Africa as well as other various parts of earth. There were many reasons behind exploration and colonization including economic and tactical reasons, religion, and prestige. Colonialism has shaped the contemporary understanding of individuals from Niger as well as other parts of Africa and other places too, like the Chambri and Tlingit people; mainly in economics. Because of the colonial past of so many cultures, numerous indigenous people today face many issues. Today colonialism is still active, known as Neocolonialism, which has devastating effects on global cultural groups.
Throughout history, imperialism has led countries to extend their rule over weaker countries and then colonized those countries to expand their own power. Imperialism allows the ruling countries to use the weaker countries for their resources. Colonizing other countries would then lead to growth and a better reputation for the dominating country. There are many examples of imperialism throughout European history. When many European countries “scrambled” for Africa, it seemed as though Africa had no say in anything. During the 19th century, Europe found a way to use Africa for their own growth and power. Using Africa for their resources, the Europeans colonized Africa without a second thought. European imperialism in Africa had a negative impact because of social disarray, cultural loss, and death it caused.
In terms of political changes, European imperialism negatively affected Africa. Firstly, European colonization created enormous conflict between colonists and the African people. African resistance to “The Scramble for Africa” lead to the instability of Africa’s political structure. There was ineffective resistance of the African people against the Europeans. In an attempt to regain their independence, Africans took up arms against their colonial masters as soon as they perceived them to be at a disadvantage. In southern Africa, in The Republic of Namibia, the Herero people rose against German rule in 1904, killing over 100 German settlers and traders. German commander, General von Trotha, retaliated with a war aimed simply at extermination. This resulted in the decline of 70% of the Herero population.1 Nowhere else was colonialism quite so brutal, but almost everywhere it tended towards unrestrained brutality as soon as it was challenged.2 Warfare created considerable unrest among African people. Afterwards, the people of Africa came to the realization that the consequences of resistance against European colonists could be devastating. As well, the Europeans demonstrated that they had the technology and resources to gain control. Secondly, colonial expansion changed the face of Africa’s political structure. The Berlin Conference of 1884-85, attended by 13 European nations and the USA, set the ground rules for partition of Africa. When the conferenc...
Colonialism, which was a major cause of the north-south gap that occurred in the period following the Second World War, is the takeover by a nation of foreign territories; making them part of it to aid its own economical, social and political structures. The mother countries succeed in doing that by using the colony’s natural resources, money savings, and their lands, which leads the colony to rely on the mother country and therefore, leaving the country underdeveloped. Hence, the world wide scramble for colonies, particularly in the late 19th – early 20th century, had a tremendous negative effect on the economic, social, and political structures of indigenous, non-industrialized peoples.
What is the impact of colonialism on the economic development of Sub-Saharan Africa (Africa) or more generally the colonized countries? This is a question which has reiterated itself through the social sciences for over a century. Colonialism refers to the establishment of political and economic control by one state over another. The colonial experience began in the late 1400s, when Europeans arrived and set up trading posts in Africa. They became interested in Africa as a whole. Europeans were impressed with the abundance of natural resources. It reached a peak in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when European powers dominated many parts of the continent. Colonialism in Africa created nations and shaped their political, economic, and cultural
Africa’s struggle to maintain their sovereignty amidst the encroaching Europeans is as much a psychological battle as it is an economic and political one. The spillover effects the system of racial superiority had on the African continent fractured ...
By altering the perspectives of West Africans, it created two major problems. The indigenous man believes he is behind the rest of the world and must assimilate, and the colonizer becomes the ultimate goal of the colonized man. This is an imagined state of inferiority. Europeans have to power to influence one another and the one’s they colonize. Europeans provided a “need” for industrialization that was not relevant to African life. In order to legitimize industrialization, Europeans played on the ego’s of the ambitious. Marketing an ideal that Africans could be just as successful as the Europeans. Aimé Cesaire says, “No human contact, but relations of domination and submission which turn the colonizing man into a classroom monitor, an army sergeant, a prison guard, a slave driver, and the indigenous man into an instrument of production”. (Cesaire, 50) The colonized man no longer needs the colonizer, he must perpetrate their principles. Some West Africans will now take on the role as exploiters in order to gain approval. This type of Laborer becomes the sub-oppressor. West African citizens are split into bourgeoisie and impoverished. The bourgeoisie believe that they have reach success by becoming educated in Europe and must come back and help their homeland, when in actuality they begin to harm their home rather than help. By believing that the colonizer has better schooling, opportunity or knowledge, they devalue those
There is no doubt that European colonialism has left a grave impact on Africa. Many of Africa’s current and recent issues can trace their roots back to the poor decisions made during the European colonial era. Some good has resulted however, like modern medicine, education, and infrastructure. Africa’s history and culture have also been transformed. It will take many years for the scars left by colonization to fade, but some things may never truly disappear. The fate of the continent may be unclear, but its past provides us with information on why the present is the way it is.
It is said that colonialism is the occupation and control of one nation by another. In this case it was the continent of Europe occupying Africa during the late 19th and 20th century. There were many justifications for this rule over Africa. Some of the justifications were that they would bring higher civilization, increase trade and economic prosperity for Africans, Christianity and the end of paganism, human rights and the end of slavery, women’s rights and the end of polygamy, the introduction of freedom and liberty, the benefits of modern medicine, better agriculture, and modernity.