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Decolonization in Africa Notes

Decolonization in Africa

French Algeria, 1954-1962

  • Population of Algeria:
    • Poor rural Muslims
    • French-speaking urban Muslims and Catholics
    • French colons (control wealth, land, and resources)
  • France weakened after World War II:
    • Determined to hold on to Algeria
  • National Liberation Front (NLF) emerges in 1954:
    • Agglomeration of groups
    • Arab nationalism
    • Socialist ideas

Frantz Fanon

  • Born in Martinique in 1925
  • French repression early influence
  • Educated in France
  • Wrote of psychological trauma of colonialism
  • Moved to Algeria in early 1950s; joins National Liberation Front
  • Wretched of the Earth (1961):
    • Revolutionary violence by colonial people is justified
    • Dehumanized; subject to violence; necessary for psychological and political decolonization
  • International advocate

Algerian Independence

  • 1954: NLF launches revolution against French
    • First phase: urban revolt suppressed by French with mass arrests and torture
    • Second phase: rural revolt led by religious leaders; long, brutal fight
  • 1962: France signs Evian Accords; Algeria is independent, admitted to United Nations
  • 1963: Ahmed Ben Bella elected first president
    • Increasingly autocratic
    • Purges enemies
    • Amplifies socialist rhetoric
  • 1965: removed in coup; one-party

Belgian Congo

  • Belgium colonizes Congo river basin in late 19th century; officially a colony in 1908
  • Brutal economic exploitation; terror and massacres
  • Growing independence movement in 1950s driven by educated Congolese
  • Frustrated by Belgium’s slow reforms
  • MNC founded in 1958 by Patrice Lumumba
  • Negotiates Congolese independence in 1960
  • Antagonizes army, seek aid from Soviet Union
  • Executed in coup in 1961

Nigeria

  • A colony created by British colonial designs
  • Bound together various tribes, Muslims, Christians
  • Ruled through tribal federation
  • 1953-1960: riots against British
  • British pull out amidst chaos in 1960
  • 1967: Civil War in Biafra in southeast; Ibos attempt independence

Legacies of Imperialism

  • Algeria, Congo, Nigeria: violent revolutions lead to dictatorships
  • Ethnic, tribal, religious differences; failure of nationalism; results in personal dictatorships
  • Imperialism in Africa in 20th century a disaster for Africans
  • Exploitation; wealth extracted to powers
  • Little or no political reforms; “civilizing mission”
  • Deformed European culture: racism and arrogance