History Notes: European Colonisation of Africa

Africa Before European Colonisation

• People have lived in Africa longer than anywhere else in the world.

• Before European colonization, Africa was mainly under African rule until the late 19th century.

• Relationships between African societies varied, including peaceful interactions and warfare.

• Examples of trading kingdoms include Egypt, Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe, and Mali.

• The Swahili also had trading routes into Africa and across the Indian Ocean.

• The Ashanti kingdom in West Africa will be discussed later.

The Discovery of Quinine

• Europeans exploring Africa often suffered from malaria, transmitted by mosquitoes.

• In the 1850s, quinine was discovered as an effective medical treatment for malaria.

• Quinine reduced European deaths from malaria by about four-fifths.

• It enabled Europeans to live in Africa and facilitated European armies entering malaria-infested areas.

Why European Powers Colonized Africa Quickly

Rivalries Between African Leaders

• African kings and chiefs competed for wealth and power.

• European powers exploited these rivalries, persuading African leaders to side with them against others.

Natural Disasters

• After 1895, a severe drought occurred in many African regions due to a decline in rainfall, leading to crop shortages.

• A plague of locusts further destroyed crops.

• The cattle plague (rinderpest) of the 1890s killed up to 95% of cattle, sheep, and goats, resulting in starvation and death among people.

• These disasters weakened African people, making them unable to resist colonization.

The Invention of the Machine Gun

• European countries used force and violence to take control of land.

• Europeans had more powerful weapons, including the newly invented Maxim gun, which could fire eleven bullets a second.

• Most African armies had outdated guns.

• European countries agreed not to sell Maxim guns to Africans, creating a military disadvantage.

New Diseases

• In the late 1890s, Africa was affected by smallpox epidemics.

• Europeans had developed immunity to these diseases through prior exposure.

• Africans had no immunity or resistance to these diseases, leading to widespread sickness and death.

The Coast of West Africa Before the Arrival of Europeans

• Before European colonization, West Africa was part of a thriving trade network.

• West Africans traded millet, sorghum, wheat, kola nuts, livestock, ivory, ostrich feathers, cloth, and gold.

• They exchanged these goods for goods from traders in the Sahara Desert, Europe, and the Middle East.

• Imports included salt, copper, brass, silver, tin, lead, tobacco, dates, textiles, clothes made from wool, silk, velvet or satin, books, writing paper, cowrie shells, tea, coffee, sugar, spices, jewellery, perfumes, bracelets, mirrors, carpets, and glass beads.

Gold in West Africa

• Africa has produced two-thirds of all gold ever mined.

• Between the 11th and 17th centuries, West Africa was the leading supplier of gold in the world.

The Ashanti and Their Early Contact with European Traders and Explorers

Gold and the Ashanti Kingdom of West Africa

• By the 16th and 17th centuries, Akan territory was divided into independent kingdoms.

• By the early 18th century, the Ashanti kingdom controlled many of the other kingdoms and the trade routes to the coast and richest gold mines.

• Early European explorers and traders called it the Gold Coast due to the richness of gold in the area.

• The King of the Ashanti is called an 'Asantehene', and the Queen Mother, the 'Asantewaa', is a symbol of the wealth.

• The Queen Mother wore so much gold jewellery that she needed two people to carry her hands.

• Before spectacles, the Queen Mother wore a headpiece with beads to cover her eyes, later replaced by glasses of gold made by Akan goldsmiths.

Slaves and the Akan States

• Early Portuguese traders were interested in gold and later expanded to include slaves.

• Portuguese slave traders set up a base at Elmina on the coast of the Akan states.

• From 1451 to 1870, about twelve million West Africans were taken to America as slaves as part of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

• Africans were kidnapped by fellow Africans who would march their captives to the coast where they would sell them to European slave traders at Elmina.

• The slaves were kept in prisons called barracoons at Elmina Castle where they waited before they were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean.

• Ashanti traders initially got horses and guns in exchange for people, later exchanging cloth, metal items, copperware, and brassware.

• Manufactured goods like bracelets, water jugs, shaving bowls, barber's basins, chamber pots, urinals, and kettles were in great demand.

The British and the Colonisation of the Gold Coast

The Myth of the Golden Stool

• The Golden Stool is a sacred symbol of Ashanti unity and nationhood.

• In 1701, during the reign of Asantehene Osei Tutu, a priest stated that the Supreme God had sent an object from heaven containing the spirit of the nation.

• A Golden Stool descended from the skies, containing the soul of the Ashanti people.

• No one could be a legitimate ruler without the stool.

• A new king was lowered and raised over the Golden Stool without touching it.

• The stool was placed on its own chair and was not allowed to touch the ground.

• According to legend, Anotchi, an experienced medicine man and magician, made the Ashanti a great people upon fleeing to the Ashanti.

The British Colonisers and the War of the Golden Stool

• Between 1824 and 1901, the British fought four wars against the Ashanti.

• The Ashanti defeated the British Empire in the first three wars, but eventually, the Ashanti kingdom became part of the British colony called the Gold Coast.

• In 1896, the British occupied Kumasi and sent King Prempeh I and several chiefs into exile.

• Prempeh's followers hid the Golden Stool to prevent it from falling into British hands.

• Major Hodgson demanded that the Ashanti leaders hand over the Golden Stool, leading to the War of the Golden Stool.

• The British also recruited some local groups that were enemies of the Ashanti.

• The British finally defeated the Ashanti in 1902.

• Asantewaa and other Ashanti leaders were sent into exile alongside Prempeh I.

• The British took over the Ashanti Kingdom and it became part of the British colony of the Gold Coast.

Results of Colonisation for Ashanti Kingdom and Britain

Ashanti Lost Many Golden Treasures

• After the defeat of the Ashanti, the British soldiers collected all the gold treasures from the palace.

• Many of these items are displayed in British museums today.

The Ashanti People Lost Their Independence

• The Ashanti people in the Gold Coast were stripped of their political rights.

• Legitimate Ashanti leaders lost their power, and many were forced off their land to work on farms or in factories for low wages, enriching the British.

• Under British rule, the Ashanti were required to work for wages and pay taxes to the colonial government.

• Very little money was spent on vital services like healthcare and education, further worsening the challenges faced by the Ashanti community.

The British Grew Richer

• The British wanted to get as much as they could from the Gold Coast while spending as little as possible.

• They built railways and roads to quickly extract resources, which were then shipped off to Europe.