2023 - Africa Unit Assessment

Slave Trade

Slave Trade

• (1500-1800) 10-15 million enslaved people sent to the New World

• Slaves were purchased from Gold Coast and Slave Coast (West Africa)

• Europeans traded guns and manufactured goods for slaves with African rulers → Arms race

• African rulers obtained enslaved people from prisoners of war captured in conflicts between kingdoms

• African rulers did not see slaves as their own people but as prisoners of war

• Demand for sugar caused the slave trade to surge

• Many Europeans could not enslave the natives because they were sick or dead from foreign disease from the Europeans

Middle Passage - Triangular Trade

• Enslaved people traveled in the Middle Passage

• They suffered disease, maltreatment, psychological depression, death, etc.

• The boats that the slaves traveled on were through the middle passage

  • Each slave was only given 5 feet length and 11 inches width

  • Unwashed bodies, heat, no fresh air, seasickness, perspiration

  • Captains of these ships received cash commissions based on the amount of enslaved people they brought to the Americas

• Triangle Trade = Trade routes between Europe, Africa, and the Americas

Race based enslavement

• Racial Slavery as a result of: Skin color

King Leopold the 2nd

• Carried out the brutal colonization of the Congo for its resources

• Rubber made him very wealthy

  • He obtained this rubber by torturing the Congolese people

  • He made unattainable quotas and when the people weren’t able to meet demands, their hands were cut off

Barriers to entry in Africa

• Escarpments

  • Steep cliffs

  • Cataracts

  • Large waterfalls on many African rivers

  • Inability to create a workaround

  • Ex. Nile, Congo, Zambezi

• Boats cannot sail down many rivers

• Early Europeans did not explore much land and many people did not want to be the first to do so

  • “Going into the unknown”

• Inability for Europeans to fight off many diseases

• Had to get past indigenous groups

Decolonization of Africa - Post WWII

• Colonial rule was removed in 1931

• South Africa passed the Union Act in 1934

• Sub Sahara

• Independence problems existed

  • Overdependence on export crops

  • Arbitrarily drawn borders (mixed groups and separated tribes)

  • Roads and railroads needed modernization

  • Large populations with very little resources

• Some wanted to keep personal priviledges, control of resources, and political power

  • Power struggle with indigenous population

• Racial conflict - very severe in South Africa

  • White government and diverse majority

Independence Movements

• 1945-1960’s

• Few Europeans lived in Africa, except for in Algeria, Kenya, and South Africa

  • This was unlike colonization in the Americas

• First nation to gain independence was Libya in 1951 - From Italy

• Last nation to gain independence was Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) in 1980 - From British

United Nations

• Imposed sanctions and international sympathy arose. Nations refused to trade with South Africa and companies left

• Decolonization of Africa and Asia increased membership of the General Assembly of the UN

• UN began shifting focus

  • Issues on poverty

  • Racial discrimination

• “We are here as peacekeepers, not peacemakers” during the Rwandan genocide

  • They stayed within hotel walls in “Hotel Rwanda” and didn’t intervene in the bigger issue

  • Eventually left Rwanda because of the murder of 10 of their Belgian soldiers

  • They abandoned the families in need in Rwanda

  • Removed all whites from Rwanda

Apartheid & Apartheid Laws/Policies

• Policy of legal racial separation/segregation

• National Party - new power in South Africa implemented Apartheid

• Promoted Afrikaner (Dutch South African) nationalism (1948)

• It helped the people in power to…

  • Maintain control over non-whites

  • Change economics (to benefit white business owners)

  • Change politics (restricting ability to vote)

• Some policies -

  • Mixed Marriages Act of 1949

    • Whites and members of other races could not marry

  • Population Registration Act of 1950

    • Must identify as either white, colored (mixed), Indian, or Black

  • Group Areas Act of 1950

    • Segregated residential areas

  • Bantu Authorities Act of 1951

    • Political rights restricted to residential zones

  • Blacks were excluded from political life

• Extension of University Education Act - forbade non-Europeans to English speaking universities

  • Which were the most successful and funded

  • Separate universities were created

• Segregation of schools, hospitals, and neighborhoods

• More than 1 million blacks were forced to relocate from white areas between 1950-1980

Homelands/Bantustans

• 10 homelands were created: 9 for non-whites and 1 for whites

  • They could not travel to other homelands without permission

• When non-white homelands became independent, people would lose their South-African citizenship

  • They were on their own with little resources and protection

• 4 homelands eventually became independent

• The only black people allowed in white homelands were minors used for labor

African National Congress (ANC)

• Created in 1912

• Organized strikes, boycotts, etc. (mostly nonviolent)

• Face imprisonment - organization was banned

• Nelson Mandela emerges as a leader

  • He originally didn’t want to join → He wanted to make his family proud

  • Jailed 1962…1964-1990

• Ruling party in South Africa at national level since 1994

• Group campaigning for racial equality

Stephen Biko

• 1977 - Popular student leader beaten to death by police while in custody in Pretoria

• Leader of South Africa Students Organization

• He died from “brain injuries sustained through a scuffle with police officers”

• Led the Black Consciousness movement

  • Biggest anti-Apartheid movement at the time

Sharpeville Massacre

• March 1960

• Demonstration against Pass Laws (passes that non-Europeans needed at all times

• Police opened fire on unarmed demonstrators; 69 killed

• “State of Emergency” in South Africa declared

  • Gives military full control

• 69 were killed and 180 others were wounded

• Turning Point:

  • People became more involved

  • Leaders became more radical and violent because they saw nonviolence wasn’t working

Soweto Riots

• Black students in high school need to take some Afrikaans’ classes (language of Afrikaners)

  • Language of their oppressors

  • They were very insulted

• Protest, boycotts

• Daily rioting - hundreds of students killed (about 435)

  • Hector Peterson was the first student killed

• Spread through Africa

World Pressure on South Africa/ International Sanctions

• 1985 - US, Canada, European Union limited sanctions on South Africa

  • Foreign Policy

    • Nations cutting SA off

      • Broke official ties with Britain, India, Canada, etc.

  • Divestment

    • Companies cutting SA off

End of Apartheid

• Meetings between Mandela and de Klerk

  • Four year “State of Emergency” ended

  • Apartheid repealed

  • Separate Amenities Act repealed (1990)

• Apartheid ended under de Klerk

Divestment

• United States corporations announced they were leaving South Africa

  • Coca Cola, General Motors, IBM, etc.

  • Over 70 major corporations left

• Desmond Tutu won Noble Peace Prize for his efforts

Election of 1994 in South Africa

• Mandela vs. de Klerk

• Nelson Mandela was elected

  • First black president of South Africa

• 1994: 80% of land was owned by whites, yet they were only 16% of the population

Bishop Desmond Tutu

• Led economic fight against Apartheid

  • Nonviolence

• Called for trade restrictions from other countries into South Africa

• Established The Truth and Reconciliation Commission

F.W. deKlerk

• Became President September 1989

  • February 1990 - legalized ANC as a political party

• Nelson Mandela released from prison in February 1990 (Jailed 1964-1990)

• Passes reforms measures leading to the end of Apartheid

Nelson Mandela

• Wanted to make his family proud

• Wanted freedom

• Was sentenced to prison for sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the state

  • He was there from age 44-71

• Government uses the prisoners as tools for ending Apartheid by offering him freedom (his release was conditional)

  • He doesn’t want to negotiate for release if it will stop the movement for change

  • The whites said they would get equal power share, but Nelson didn’t want that. He wanted One Man One Vote

• He and other prisoners were assaulted and tortured in many forms. They were also asked to preform difficult labor

• When he was eventually released, he said “I don’t want it to be told that you have given me my freedom. Just open the gate and let me go.”

• He became president

  • Included people of mixed races in the government

Belgians in Rwanda

• Favored Tutsis and gave them more benefits

  • Better education, more opportunities, better jobs, nicer homes, etc.

• Late 1800’s/early 1900’s - They exploit the division of the Hutus and Tutsis to their own benefit

  • Divide and conquer method

• After Hutus overthrow the Tutsi monarchy in 1959, the Belgians leave and Hutus take their place

Tutsi & Hutu

• Hutus

  • 85% of the population

  • Mainly peasant farmers

  • Were deprived of priviledges and opportunities

• Tutsis

  • Minority group but have long dominated the lands

  • Better education, more opportunities, better jobs, nicer homes, etc.

  • Mostly aristocratic cattle herders

    • The more cattle you had, the more power you held

  • “Superior” status

  • Belgians gave them protection and weapons

• They both spoke the same language, were mainly Christian

Rwandan Genocide

• 1959 - Hutus overthrow the Tutsi monarchy - tens of thousands or Tutsis fled to neighboring nations (Burundi, Uganda, etc.)

  • But wanted to return to Rwanda

  • Many still stayed because they didn’t want to lose their status, homes, etc.

• 1962 - Belgians leave - Hutus take their place

  • Tutsis were made scapegoats for all problems - they were blamed for everything and targeted

• Radical Hutus begin genocide after President Habyraimana’s death

• April-June 1994: 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in about 100 days as a result of the genocide

• Hutus used the phrases “cut the tall trees” and “weed out the cockroaches” to refer to killing the Tutsis

Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)

• Tutsi refugees and Hutu moderates form the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) - go to war with government

• Their goal was to overthrow the government and go back to Rwanda

• They invaded Rwanda in 1990

  • Forced Hutus to flee to the DRC

Death of President Habyarimana (Spark for genocide)

• Signed peace agreement with RPF but is then killed in April 1994 by mysterious plane crash

• The rebel Hutus think the RPF did it, and the RPF thinks the rebel Hutus did it as an excuse to start the genocide

Interahamwe

• Organizers of the order to carry out the genocide

• Presidential guard and radio propaganda encouraged them

• Militia

Issues with Rwanda today

• Paul Kagame is oppresive

• Police state

  • Many random checkpoints

• Every able-bodied citizen has to take part in a clean up on the last Saturday of each month

• Rwanda spends so much money on their airlines and infrastructure when so many people are poor

• Still considered one of the poorest countries

• Less freedom of speech

  • Can not challenge the government

• Now illegal to talk about ethnicity

Paul Rusesabagina and the Genocide

• “Family is all that matters”

  • Paul wants his family to stay together. He doesn’t care that his wife is Tutsi even though he is Hutu

  • He pays almost all he has to save his family

• Paul used his hotel as a refugee center for children in need

Paul Kagame

• Oppresive - Tyranny

  • Extended constitutional term limits, allowing him to rule for longer

  • Shut down free press

  • Clamped down on dissent

  • Opposition figures have been imprisoned or killed

• One of the West’s most reliable and best friends

  • Visits many American universities, political leaders, sports programs, and international organizations

  • Western nations contribute to 70% of Rwanda’s national budget

• Anti-imperialist

• He is good at guilt-tripping the West

• Blamed for “sparking” the Rwandan genocide and then doing little to help it

• Rules with an iron fist

Democratic Republic of Congo

• Territory

  • 1/4 the size of the US

• Agriculture

  • Can grow variety of crops

  • Coffee, sugar, tea, cotton

• Mineral resources → Child labor, unsafe working conditions within mines

  • Most important

  • Precious metals

  • Diamonds, gold, coltan

• 71% below the poverty line

• Belgium colonized and controlled until 1960s

  • Did little to prepare for independence

  • Under King Leopold’s rule

• Country descended into Civil War

  • Prime minister was overthrown and murdered in jail

Joseph Mobutu

• Consolidates power in 1975

  • Renamed Congo → Zaire

  • Mobutu “Sese Seko”

• Kleptocracy

• Klepto = theif

  • He steals the money that the nation gets

  • Ruled by thieves

  • Money doesn’t go to workers

  • 15-20% of state budget went to Mobutu

  • Cold War politics support him

DRC’s Conflict with Rwanda

• Cold War ends

  • So does support for Mobutu

• Hutu death squads (Interahamwe) from Rwanda

  • Flee to Zaire

  • Mobutu was weak, dying of cancer

• Border became powder keg (high tension area) - unresolved ethnic disputes

• 1996 - Rwanda invades (under Paul Kagame’s rule)

  • Target Hutu death squads

• So much violence in DRC at the border because many Tutsis fled and the border is very tense

DRC’s resources

• DRC and 9 nations surrounding it sit on the richest part of the planet

  • Uranium, diamonds, gold, oil, cobalt, etc.

    • Which are found in our electronics

• The mines are hazardous and difficult to regulate

  • People have been buried alive and have died from the toxic gases

• Children and people that need work desperately work in the mines

• Four conflict minerals:

  • Tin

  • Tangelum

  • Tungstun

  • Gold

Effect of Slave trade on Africa

• Disrupted whole societies

• Changes balance of power

• Arms race

• Male population decreases

• Conduct of war shifts because of the focus on guns

• The rich got richer

• Famine

• Because of male population loss and constant fighting

Imperialism

• The process of a large powerful nation dominating a weaker nation

• In 1870, 10% of Africa was colonized

• In 1895, 90% of Africa was colonized

• Belgium colonized Rwanda in the early 1900s

  • They used their power to intensify the divide between Tutsis and Hutus

    • Gave ID cards to separate the groups

Motivations for imperialism

• Exploration

• David Livingston and Scotts Mungo Park

• Natural Resources

Diseases of Africa

• Malaria

• Sleeping Sickness

• River Blindness

• Bilharzia

• Guinea Worm

• Blinding Trachoma

• Ebola

Social Darwinism

• Europeans created ideas based on Charles Darwin’s ideas about evolution to justify their actions

• Enslaving people conflicted with their beliefs of Christianity, so they needed to find a reason

  • “Survival of the fittest”

• Justification for European expansion

• They claimed that “they are to be dominated and that’s just the way it is”

• They said they would bring enslaved people -

  • Civilization

  • Christianity

    • even though they didn’t want this…

• White Man’s Burden

  • They claimed they had a duty and were just doing their job

• These reasons made sense to uneducated masses

European dominance in Africa

• They were technologically superior

• Maxim gun was invented in 1884 and it was the 1st automatic gun → They used manpower more efficiently

• Used steamboats, railroads, and cables to gain control in Africa

• Developed drugs to prevent Malaria in 1829

• Manipulated rival Africa groups to fight one another to European benefit

King Leopold, The Congo River Basin and Belgian Congo

• He used his wealth for personal gain

• President of the International Africa Association, which operated in the Congo River Basin

  • This area included Lake Malawi, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Victoria, and the upper Nile.

• He was celebrated as the leader of a crusade to bring civilization to Africa

• But, after his plans to annex the Congo to Britain, the IAA dissolved and he controlled and owned the Congo by himself

• Demands for increases in rubber outstripped the natural rate of supply, meaning that obtaining enough was impossible

• The people of Congo were unable to meet quotas and they were punished with amputations (of the hands especially) and murder

Berlin Conference

• 1884-1885

• Africa divided into zones

• No concern for natives or environmental factors

  • Populations, water sources, food, agriculture

• Europeans occupy lands - respect each others claim so they don’t have to worry about each other as well

• Only 2 nations left free

  • Liberia and Ethiopia

• Europeans saw this as the “Scramble for Africa” while Africans saw this as their continent being separated and societies being destroyed

• Africans were not invited