African Imperialism and Decolonization

Here is a comprehensive overview of the topics you listed, drawing directly from the provided sources:

•

Imperialism

◦

Imperialism is a policy of exerting cultural, economic, or political influence over other societies [1].

◦

Colonialism is a form of imperialism [1]. It is a system where one country takes control of the political and economic affairs of another nation and imposes policies to control the population [2]. It is also defined as the acquisition and exploitation of territory by a foreign power for its own economic and political benefit [1].

•

Causes of Imperialism

◦

The most important factor motivating European colonial expansion was economic gain [3, 4]. The Industrial Revolution in Europe created a need for raw materials and markets for manufactured goods [3, 5]. Africa had desired raw materials like palm oil, cotton, cocoa, rubber, gold, and diamonds [6]. European powers restructured African economies to grow cash crops for export instead of food for local consumption [7, 8]. They did not want to develop industries in the colonies that would compete with their own [9].

◦

Social and political factors also encouraged European involvement [10]. Countries competed for national prestige and economic growth [10]. Some claimed territory simply to keep it from rivals [5, 10].

◦

Europeans used racist ideologies to justify their actions, believing in the biological superiority of certain races and ethnicities [10-14]. Many missionaries believed European control was necessary to bring "civilization" to people they viewed as inferior [15-17].

◦

The spread of religion was also a motive, linking "civilization" to Christianity [15-18]. Missionaries established churches and schools, gathered information that helped Europeans extend control, and promoted Christianity as superior to local religions [15, 16, 19].

•

Berlin Conference

◦

The Berlin Conference took place between November 15, 1884, and February 26, 1885, in Berlin, Germany [20-22].

◦

Representatives from fourteen countriesattended, including Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Ottoman Empire (Turkey), Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway, and the United States [4, 21].

◦

Not a single African representative was present, and few participating diplomats had ever set foot on the continent [4, 21]. This disregard for African perspectives allowed Europeans to make decisions that favored themselves while claiming to bring morality and development to Africans [4, 20].

◦

The conference was arranged by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, partly to reduce the possibility of conflict among European powers competing for influence, such as the rivalry between King Leopold II and France over a region in Central Africa [5, 21, 22].

◦

The conference set guidelines for the colonization of Africa [23]. Countries had to have their claims ratified by other European powers [22, 23]. Treaties between Europeans and African leaders were recognized as legal claims [22, 23]. Significantly, European countries were required to occupy the territories they claimed [23].

•

Mandela

◦

Nelson Mandela was a key figure in the opposition to apartheid in South Africa [24-26].

◦

He was born in a small South African village in 1918 [26]. He received a British education and later ran away to Johannesburg, where he experienced the brutal reality of racially divided South Africa [26].

◦

He attended meetings of the African National Congress (ANC), an organization aiming to establish a democratic government [24, 26]. Initially known for moderate activism, the ANC, led by younger members like Mandela, became radicalized after the implementation of apartheid following the National Party's victory in 1948 [24-26].

◦

Mandela organized a protest against apartheid in 1952 and urged followers to refuse to carry government-issued passes [25, 26]. He co-founded a law firm specializing in defending black clients against apartheid laws [26].

◦

He was arrested multiple times and, after the government outlawed the ANC in 1960 and following the Sharpeville massacre, Mandela realized nonviolent resistance was not enough [25, 26]. He went underground and founded Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) to carry out armed resistance [24-26].

◦

He was charged with treason and later with sabotage and conspiracy [26]. He refused to defend himself in court because it would legitimize the state's case [26]. He received a life sentence and was imprisoned on Robben Island [26].

◦

While imprisoned for 27 years, Mandela became a symbol for the anti-apartheid movement [26]. He refused offers of release conditioned on renouncing violence [26].

◦

He was released in 1990, became head of the ANC, earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, and in 1994, became South Africa's first democratically elected president after blacks were able to vote for the first time in over 300 years [26].

•

Boer Wars

◦

These wars are known by various names, including the Boer Wars, Wars of Independence, or Anglo-Boer Wars [27]. The war of 1899-1902 is often called the South African War, acknowledging that all South Africans, black and white, were affected and participated [28, 29].

◦

The First Boer War (1880-1881), also called the Transvaal Rebellion, occurred when the Boers (people of Dutch extract who were farmers) revolted against the British annexation of 1877 [28, 30]. It ended with the Transvaal regaining full internal independence in 1884 [31].

◦

The Second Boer War (1899-1902) was largely caused by the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886, which made the Transvaal a potential threat to British supremacy in South Africa [31]. British leaders like Alfred Milner believed war was necessary to eliminate a "Boer oligarchy" and facilitate the gold mining industry [32]. The Uitlanders (foreign mineworkers) issue, regarding their voting rights, was agitated by Milner to get involved in the Transvaal's domestic issues [32].

◦

Black people played an important part and suffered severely in the wars, being employed in non-combatant roles by both sides [29, 33].

◦

The war demonstrated the increased accuracy, range, and rate of fire of modern rifles and artillery [34]. It highlighted the necessity of cover for attackers [34].

◦

The Second Boer War significantly shook British prestige just before WWI [27, 35]. Economically and psychologically devastating for Afrikaners, it contributed to poverty and urbanization [35]. It also fueled Afrikaner nationalism and a desire for independence and dominance, which partly explains the implementation of apartheid [35, 36]. For black people, the war also resulted in poverty and urbanization, their occupation of Boer land was not recognized, and they were denied the extension of the qualified franchise [33]. This frustration contributed to the founding of the South African Native National Congress (later the ANC) [33].

•

Scramble for Africa

◦

The European conquest of Africa is also called the “scramble for Africa” [37]. It occurred during the last two decades of the nineteenth century [37].

◦

It was a rapid period of European imperialism where countries claimed almost all of Africa [37, 38]. In 1880, about 80% of Africa was independent, but by 1900, Europeans had claimed all but Ethiopia and Liberia [37, 38].

◦

This conquest was facilitated by Europe's advantages, including vast resources, professional armies, and superior technology like the Maxim gun and advances in tropical medicine and transportation [39, 40].

◦

The Berlin Conference formalized this process by setting rules for claiming territory and requiring occupation [22, 23, 41]. The actions of King Leopold II in the Congo played a critical role in prompting the conference and the subsequent partition of the continent [41].

•

Apartheid

◦

Apartheid was the name given to the program of racial segregation implemented in South Africa after WWII [12].

◦

It is an example of racism because it legally normalized discrimination, giving privilege to white Europeans over black Africans based on race [12].

◦

The system was developed by Afrikaner intellectuals in the 1930s [13, 42]. It was rooted in social Darwinism and the theology of the Dutch Reform Church, which held that each race had a distinct culture and destiny that required independent development, opposing racial mixing [13, 42].

◦

Key legislation included the Population Registration Act (1950), which divided citizens into "white" and "nonwhite" categories, further splintering "nonwhite" into "colored," "Asian," and "Bantu" (divided into tribes with homelands) [42, 43]. The Group Areas Act (1950) restricted racial groups to separate areas [43]. The Education Act (1953) forced Africans into state-run schools that emphasized ethnic differences [43]. Other laws limited contact and reserved employment for white workers [25].

◦

Opposition was led by the African National Congress (ANC) [24-26]. The implementation of apartheid radicalized the ANC [24, 25]. Actions included the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Freedom Charter calling for a race-blind constitution [25]. Due to government oppression, some members, like Nelson Mandela, turned to armed resistance by founding Umkhonto we Sizwe [24, 25]. Other groups like the Pan-Africanist Congress also formed [25].

◦

Government resistance was fierce, leading to the imprisonment or exile of ANC leadership [25]. The massacre of anti-apartheid demonstrators at Sharpeville in 1960 brought international condemnation [25]. Despite international pressure, the National Party continued to win elections from the white electorate [25].

•

Rwanda

◦

Rwanda was colonized by Germany and then Belgium, gaining independence in 1962 [44].

◦

The population consisted mainly of Hutu (85%), Tutsi (14%), and Tua (1%) [44]. Although sharing language and traditions, disagreements grew substantially during the colonial period [44].

◦

Belgian colonists arriving in 1916 radicalized the differences between Hutus and Tutsis [44]. They established an official register classifying Rwandans by ethnicity, promoted racist theories of Tutsi superiority, and used physical measurements for classification [44]. Belgians favored Tutsis, considering them closer to Europeans and granting them better jobs and education, which led to Hutu resentment [44, 45].

◦

This discrimination culminated in riots and killings against Tutsis before independence [44]. After independence, the Hutu majority won elections, reversing the power dynamic, and a staunchly Hutu nationalist regime took power, with periodic violence continuing in the following decades [44].

◦

In 1990, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel army primarily of Tutsi exiles, began launching attacks from Uganda with the goal of replacing the Hutu government [44, 46, 47]. Uganda trained and supplied the RPF, violating international agreements [46, 48]. The US was aware of this assistance and the escalating ethnic tensions but did not intervene [48].

◦

The RPF invasion and civil war exacerbated ethnic fears, which were exploited by Hutu extremists [49, 50]. Propaganda portrayed Tutsis as seeking to re-establish a dominant system similar to the colonial era [50].

•

Belgium in the Congo

◦

The territory that became the Democratic Republic of the Congo was a Belgian territory since the 1880s [51].

◦

It was initially privately owned by King Leopold II and called the Congo Free State [51-53]. Leopold's ambition was to acquire a personal colony for economic gain and to increase his nation's power, seeing how other European countries benefited from colonization [54].

◦

To gain international approval, particularly at the Berlin Conference, Leopold II claimed his mission was humanitarian, intending to spread Christianity and civilization to the Congo [17, 52]. He even named it the "Congo Free State" to maintain this illusion [52].

◦

However, his true aim was economic exploitation, primarily rubber [53, 55]. Finding a plentiful supply of rubber trees in the rainforest was like finding a gold mine due to high demand and low supply [55].

◦

Leopold II ordered his men to enslave the Congolese people to extract rubber, as he did not want to pay for labor [53, 55]. The regime involved forced labor and brutal punishments, including cutting off the hands of those who failed to meet rubber quotas or when soldiers wasted ammunition [14, 53, 56].

◦

Up to ten million people died under King Leopold II's regime due to starvation, disease, poor working conditions, and brutality [51, 56, 57]. Early photographs of these atrocities led to the world's first international human rights campaign [56].

◦

This campaign hastened the end of Leopold's personal rule, and his personal colony was handed over to Belgium in 1908, becoming the Belgian Congo [56, 58]. Exploitation and brutality continued under direct Belgian government control [56].

◦

After the Belgian government took over, they also exploited other resources like diamonds, gold, and ivory [58]. Although they ended slavery and employed Congolese for wages, exploitation and brutality persisted [56, 58]. Belgium became extremely wealthy from Congo's resources [58].

◦

Belgian mission schools in the Congo focused on primary education, training Africans for semi-skilled jobs in colonial administration, agriculture, transportation, and the army [19, 59]. Higher education was limited, as authorities feared it would create educated Congolese who might challenge colonial authority [59].

◦

The colonial style meant few Congolese were trained as doctors, academics, or leaders, leaving the country ill-equipped at independence [60].

•

Rwandan Genocide

◦

The Rwandan genocide occurred between April and July 1994 [44, 61]. It was triggered by the political assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, when his plane was shot down on April 6, 1994 [44, 62].

◦

Responsibility for shooting down the plane is controversial, but evidence suggests the RPF was responsible [62-64].

◦

The genocide was a government-backed campaign of mass killing aimed at the ethnic cleansing of Tutsis and their Hutu sympathizers [44]. Hutu extremists and militias like the Interahamwe went village by village [44, 62].

◦

The aim was ethnic cleansing [44]. Citizens were encouraged to kill their neighbors, often using simple tools like machetes and clubs [44, 61, 62]. Radio stations were used to incite people to kill [44, 62].

◦

Within 100 days, at least 800,000 people were killed, making it the most rapid genocide ever recorded [44, 61]. Women were raped, and children were not spared [44].

◦

The violence had its roots in colonial ethnic divisions, particularly the Belgian favoring of the Tutsi minority, which created Hutu resentment [44, 45]. Post-independence Hutu nationalism and the RPF invasion exacerbated these tensions [44, 49, 50].

◦

The genocide unfolded before the eyes of the international media, but the world largely failed to intervene [44]. The UN peacekeeping force was significantly reduced after some peacekeepers were killed, and deployment of further forces was delayed, partly due to US resistance over costs [44]. Former US President Bill Clinton later called the failure to act his biggest regret [44, 65].

◦

The RPF eventually overthrew the Hutu regime in July 1994, ending the genocide [44].

•

Resources in Africa

◦

Africa possesses vast natural resources, which were a primary motivation for European colonization [6, 8, 38, 53, 58, 66-68].

◦

Examples include gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt, uranium, iron, palm oil, cotton, cocoa, rubber, ivory, timber, and coffee [6-8, 55, 58, 66, 67, 69, 70].

◦

European powers restructured African economies to extract these resources efficiently for their own profit [7, 71]. They reorganized agriculture to focus on cash crops for export [7, 8]. Mining became a primary economic activity in some regions [69].

◦

Africans were disadvantaged in this system [71]. Land, especially the most fertile, was confiscated and sold to European settlers [7]. African workers performed dangerous jobs for very low wages [7, 69, 72]. European companies often ran the economy with little oversight, leading to severe abuses [73].

◦

Economies were made dependent on the production of only a few goods for export to Europe [71, 74]. Infrastructure like roads and railways was built to transport raw materials to ports [38, 74-76]. Local industries were not developed to avoid competing with European ones [9, 77].

◦

Taxes were levied on Africans to fund the colonial system, forcing them to work for European businesses to earn money [9].

◦

The rich uranium mines in the Congo were of significant concern to the US and USSR during the Cold War, as control over them was highly valued [68, 78]. Cobalt, once a byproduct, became highly valuable for electric batteries, with 60% of the world's supply in the Congo [67, 79].

•

Pan Africanism

◦

The influence of Pan-Africanism, alongside other factors, contributed to ideas and movements demanding reforms and eventual independence in Africa after World War II [80].

•

Decolonization in Africa

◦

The main period of decolonization began after World War II [81].

◦

Africans played a significant role in both World Wars, often recruited by colonial powers for resources and manpower [66, 81]. Returning African soldiers had new ideas about their place in the world and began to demand equal treatment and independence [81].

◦

Ideals like self-determination, advocated in Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points after WWI and the Atlantic Charter of 1941 after WWII, fueled independence movements [66, 81]. The establishment of the United Nations in 1945 also provided a platform to raise the problems of the colonized [80, 81].

◦

African independence and nationalism movements began to surface, demanding freedom from colonial rule [81]. Pan-Africanism was also an influence [80].

◦

European nations gradually relinquished control, but the process was not always smooth and involved civil unrest, particularly in regions like Algeria and the Congo [81].

◦

Many countries gained independence in the mid-twentieth century, particularly by the 1960s [2, 80].

◦

The legacy of colonialism meant that newly independent nations often faced significant challenges. They inherited economies structured for European benefit, lacked infrastructure development for internal trade, and often had few qualified local people in leadership positions due to limited educational opportunities under colonial rule [18, 56, 60, 74]. This led to issues with infrastructure, stability, economic instability, and civil wars in the post-decolonization period [18, 56, 60, 81