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African colonies

Published 25 Sep 2017

Colonization was one of the darkest periods in African history due to the vast exploitation of its resources by foreigners and the grave human rights abuse that was perpetrated upon the locals. It saw great European powers divide Africa among themselves and then impose their colonial rule upon the inhabitants who were already being violated by being sold to slavery.

There are many factors that led the African people to revolt against white rule. These include racial segregation that saw Africans forbade from using certain facilities that were reserved for the whites. Moreover Africans were denied several rights and were made to work for the whites for little or no pay despite having lost their land to the foreigners. The fight for independence was not smooth and the movements were encumbered by several problems (Young 1994).

One of the problems that armed movements faced were the fact that the white master had superior arms and a vast supply of the same. According to Shillington (2005) most Africans had limited weapons and sometimes had to use traditional ones like spears to engage in combat against a heavily armed white military force. Furthermore, Africans lacked unity since white people recruited other Africans into their police to fight against their fellow brethren. Secondly the colonizers sought to limit the formation of national political movements and this prevented African leaders from being able to rally their countries to rebel against the colonizers. They were also imprisoned which stopped or hindered their efforts to agitate for independence. In addition most resources were controlled by their white masters and this lead to black movements lacking the funds to finance their war for independence. Lastly there was a small minority of Africans who had been brainwashed to believe that their colonization was a good thing and were reluctant to see the settlers go.

References

  • Shillington, K. (2005).Encyclopedia of African history. CRC Press.
  • Young, C. (l994). The African Colonial State in Comparative Perspective. New Haven:Yale University Press.
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