WORLD HISTORY IN AFRICA

By Fred Brown IIWorld History after 1500Dr. Katherine Green

Changes in African Societies By the beginning of the twentieth century, the

Europeans had completely restructured life in Africa.

Land division had changed due to Europeans taking over.

The traditional African leaders either lost all power to European officials or adopted their style and became known as pawns.

The relationships between the European masters and the Africans varied throughout the different countries. For example, the French officials in West Africa got along well with Africans but this is not so in Central Africa.

Undermining of the Old Ways…

Religion: With all the new ways of living that the Europeans brought, they also brought Christianity. They converted a few Africans but Islam was far more prevalent already.

Migration: Some Africans were attracted to more urban cities such as Dakar, Lagos, and Nairobi. But a lot stayed in their rural villages where they lived simple lives growing crops and raising livestock. Some were forced to turn to cash cropping or waged labor to pay the taxes that the Europeans imposed upon them. They felt this was just plain stealing which is why some moved to the more urban cities.

Undermining of the Old Ways Cont’d…

Power Shifts: As stated earlier, the Africans that were traditionally in power continued to be community leaders. But colonials appointed new native rulers whom were given power as well but generally always abused it. The villagers and community leaders resent the native rulers because of this.

Tradition Changes: Africans were starting to think the old ways of doing things to be ineffective so they turned to the “white man’s” way of life. They dreamed of having futures in the white man’s religions, schools, cities and jobs. The European’s medicine worked better and faster as well. A lot of Africans felt like they were undecided of whether to stick with the old ways of life or the new European style.

Economic Changes… When the Europeans arrived they didn’t have

any plans as to how they would develop their newly acquired territories economically. But they did know they wanted to have the Africans pay for all military and civil disputes.

The Europeans would have like for cash cropping and African mineral resources to pay for all expenses but that was a dream because only a few colonies such as the Gold Coast, Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya and South Africa could actually cover those expenses that way.

Economic Changes Cont’d… Also, Africa could not attract private investments into

the country on a similar scale to what was happening in America or Asia. Though Africa did start to get a little recognition as a wealth producer when the copper mines and rubber plantations of the Congo as well as the diamond and gold mines of Cape Colony began to materialize.

The Europeans’ main goal was to “Europeanize” Africa driven by railroads and mineral wealth. But by the year 1914 they knew that was not going to happen; partly because the different colonies varied immensely, both economically and politically.

Economic Changes Cont’d…

In some colonies throughout Africa, colonial economic take over was abundant and very visible. They had taken over all the agricultural land for European profit only. There were requirements all throughout Africa that monetary payment of taxes had to be paid which forced Africans to work on plantations in poor conditions and for cheap labor.

Economic Changes Cont’d… The different European governments had different goals for their

colonies but only came about by necessity and was not pre-planned. Under the French rule, they used a process known as assimilation and association. This is the process by which the French accustomed Africans with the French language, history and civilization. They required Africans to acquire French manners and values as well. This gave some Africans the name of “black Frenchmen and women.” Which allowed them to enter the colonial bureaucracy and become French citizens, but that rarely ever happened.

In the more southern regions, which were under rule by the British, attracted those who liked to make profits. There were both private and governmental rulers but they all used the indirect rule system. This is when the government gave locals power to rule so that European administrative costs were reduced for the home country. The British used that system when colonizing India as well.

Economic Changes Cont’d… Slowly but surely Africans came into power and entered

the world market; this doesn’t include all Africans, just the pawns established by Europeans. Africans stopped growing food crops and began growing cash crops. Cash crops are just crops that are grown for profit such as peanuts, palm oil, cotton, cocoa, sisal, tea and coffee. The cash crops that Africans grew could only be used and sold as raw material and the prices depended on the world market. They heavily depended on profit from cash crops and when the Great Depression came and the prices of crops fell, many Africans became poverished and starved when they didn’t make a lot of money to buy food.

Economic Changes Cont’d…

Once many Africans became poor, they were definitely forced into the more European lifestyle. The some of the villages power shifted from those who came from well respected families or religious authority to those who were wealthy.

The End