The independence movements of African peoples in the late 1950s and 1960s brought massive political changes to the continent. The people of Africa were tired of being enslaved by European nations and the Europeans nations were losing control over the protesting Africans. Uprisings were occurring more frequently throughout the African colonies due to emerging leaders uniting various groups and colonies. From 1957 to 1964, 26 colonies gained their independence due to these uprisings. However, simply declaring independence from a colonizer does not sever the cultural ties between the two. The reliance of the colonized people on the motherland is still very prominent within the independent nations. Although independence brought great joy to the people, problems arose politically, financially and socially.
Arguably the biggest advocate for Pan-Africanism during the time period was Kwame Nkrumah. His ability to unite the people of the Gold Coast influenced the Gold Coast to declare independence from Britain in 1957, forming the country of Ghana. Ghana gaining independence had a huge impact on other colonized groups in the continent. Nkrumah sailed to the United States in the 1930s for education and felt inspired by African American leaders who were against opposition in the states. He returned to the Gold Coast and formed the Convention People’s Party. The political party was formed to unite the people of Gold Coast who did not want to be ruled by Britain any longer. Nkrumah’s charismatic nature helped him gain followers from cocoa farmers to women interested in gaining suffrage. He appealed to all walks of life throughout his campaign and finally became the first leader of Ghana in 1957. Under his leadership, Ghana becam...
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...fit from Belgium rule. He believed a ruler who “takes greater interest in the advancement of native society and has no axe to grind” would come under scrutiny by some but ultimately lead to a better nation.
African leaders who brought independence to their respective countries faced many adversities when declaring independence from their colonial motherlands. In order to become completely independent from colonial rulers, the newly formed countries had to adopt modern national practices from capitalism and socialism. It is then arguable that since such Western practices and ideologies were accepted, that African nations would never truly be independent. Although this was their basis for running the country, Nkrumah, Sekou Toure and Leopold and Lumumba were all fighting to promote traditions of the African people while bringing the continent into the modern world.
The United States rests upon a foundation of freedom, where its citizens can enjoy many civil liberties as the result of decades of colonial struggles. However, African Americans did not achieve freedom concurrently with whites, revealing a contradiction within the “nation of liberty”. It has been stated that "For whites, freedom, no matter how defined, was a given, a birthright to be defended. For African Americans, it was an open-ended process, a transformation of every aspect of their lives and of the society and culture that had sustained slavery in the first place." African Americans gained freedom through the changing economic nature of slavery and historical events like the Haitian Revolution policies, whereas whites received freedom
Africa has had a long and tumultuous road of colonization and decolonization the rush to colonize Africa started in the 17th century with the discovery of the vast amounts of gold, diamonds, and rubber with colonization hitting a fever pitch during World War I. However, the repercussions of colonization have left deep wounds that still remain unhealed in the 21st century. Early on, European nations such as Britain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium scrambled for territories. Countries wanted land so they could harvest the resources, increase trade, and gain power. The European colonization of Africa brought racism, civil unrest, and insatiable greed; all of which have had lasting impacts on Africa.
During the movement of Imperialism in Africa, as Europeans were coming over to attempt to colonize African land, many Africans attempted to resist the Europeans attempt to take their land. They did this because of course, they did not want their land taken by the Europeans as it was theirs and they didn't want any change in their simple lifestyles. The African groups that resisted most were the Mandingos, Rabih, Asante, Arabi Pasha, Maji Maji, Mashona, and so on. Through all of the Africans attempts to resist European control, their resistances ultimately failed in the end besides Ethiopia's which succeeded. Now most the reasons these African resistance movements that were usually
Labor unions strengthened and the men at the head of politics granted the working class far more power than they were given previously. Africa had seen new advancements in leadership. New African leaders began to emerge where there had previously not been any. These newly appointed leaders called for Africans to reexamine their heritage and learn from and take pride in their past. In addition, there was a call for Nationalism. Africans wanted to end all forms of foreign control and influence to be able to take charge of their political, social and economic affairs. Africans above all wished to rid themselves of any form of influence from Europe and stand alone as their own country. Moreover, Nationalism laid the basis for African independence
Since the late 1800’s, almost all of Africa had been under European colonial rule, but this changed drastically in 1960. Sixteen African nations gained their independence that year, including the former Belgian Congo, which became the Democratic Republic of the Congo on June 30. One of the key personalities that made this possible was Patrice Lumumba, who experienced widespread support in gaining independence and became the first Prime Minister of the DROC. However, he lost much of this support once he was in office, and lasted fewer than 200 days. Lumumba’s ability to communicate was a key reason for his success and failure.
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
For most of the Africans they change they wanted to see after independence were economic. The problem is the economy that the Europeans left behind. Europeans left Africa in worse shape when it comes to the economy then before they came. The European abused the Africans they tricked them into thinking they were there to help, but that was not the case. They used their resources for their own benefit. But the worse thing the Europeans did was put the African in dept. African leader inherited economies that were reliant on on the international market. Agricultural crops and mineral due to colonialism limited colonies to production of just those raw materials. Therefore each colony on exported a few different goods so they were subject to a rise in prices. According to Watson “most goods that newly independent countries exported earned less than the goods they imported. This imbalance- paying more for imports than a country earns in exports-drove many African countries into dept.”(Watson). By the European not caring about the better good of Africa they drove them right into dept... Going back to education, the new African leaders had no idea how to properly deal with a felling economy. The European powers made each African colony dependent on the production of only a handful of goods. Which in the end made European grate profits. So now that African leaders are in charge they have all this dept. on their hands. As stated in the article “Colonization and Independence in Africa”, “Africans were at grate disadvantage in this trade, because prices for raw material were significantly lower than the prices of manufactured goods”(Colonization). The money that was coming in was less than the money going out. Africa was left with an economic unbalance. Also the population went up but not enough jobs. Therefor Africa had to work harder to work
When considering what the African diaspora is, there is one period of time that people commonly refer to. This period of time is the Atlantic Slave Trade. While not the only diaspora of the African people in history, the Atlantic Slave Trade is most commonly thought of due to the scale at which Africans were being emigrated, with around 10-15 million Africans being brought over to the Americas, as well as the effect it has on us today. When looking at the experiences of Africans, they greatly differed dependent on where they landed. These experiences affected later generations of Africans, forcing them to adopt their own culture based on their surroundings and what they were accustomed to from Africa.
For this assignment I chose to write about Jomo Kenyatta. After reading chapters three and four of Khapoya’s book, it was hard to imagine an Africa that wasn’t under colonial rule. I can only comprehend on a very basic level the impact colonialism had on the Africans economically, physically, and mentally. It is inspiring to read further and discover the immense, calculated, and passionate efforts that many Pan African leaders played in the years that followed. I found Jomo Kenyatta to be particularly interesting. For many reasons, Kenyatta is considered one of the most significant leaders of the Pan African movement in the twentieth century. Kenyatta had a clear vision of what he wanted for Kenya (or Africa as a whole), he was prepared for the path he would have to take, and he accomplished much for the country and continent as a whole.
At the end of WWII is when decolonization was brought up as a serious topic of discussion. Over 200,000 Africans had fought in Europe and Asia for the Allies’ freedom and democracy which showed quite the contradiction. They were fighting for something that wasn’t even going to truly benefit them. In 1945 is when the 5th Pan African Conference met to go over the possibility of granting back independence to the colonized areas. Ghana played a significant role during the decolonization process in Africa because Ghana was the first Sub-Saharan African majority government to gain independence in 1957. Not only did Ghana gain independence, but they did this by acting nonviolently. For years following th...
European colonization had an impact on the government of Africa. One day, a white man came to the African council and told them that they now had a king. The King of Europe was now their king and Africa was his land. A new council was made in the town of Nairobi, in which acted for their King and was Africa’s government. The council made laws for the Africans to follow (Doc.
...ural resources. Post independence Africans although not ruled by Europeans nations such as Britain, France, and the Dutch were still dependent on these nations for goods and other trading purposes. Culturally, post independence Africans and precolonial Africans were different because post independence Africans were greatly influenced by the mother countries that ruled them because their mother countries cultures were inflicted on them whether it was language, food, religion, or even clothing. Precolonial Africans and post independence Africans also differed politically in the aspect that precolonial African governments were more tribe like, while post independence Africans governments had western influence and some cases lead to dictatorships as seen in Liberia dictated by Samuel Doe, Zaire dictated by Mobutu Sese Seko, and Somalia dictated by Muhammad Siad Barre.
"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.
The craftiness of colonialism on Africa changed its history forever but there were good and bad effects because they built schools and improved medical care but they also had segregated benefits and resource drainage.
An overwhelming majority of African nations has reclaimed their independence from their European mother countries. This did not stop the Europeans from leaving a permanent mark on the continent however. European colonialism has shaped modern-day Africa, a considerable amount for the worse, but also some for the better. Including these positive and negative effects, colonialism has also touched much of Africa’s history and culture especially in recent years.