The history of external colonisation of Africa can be dated from ancient, medieval, or modern history, depending on how the term colonisation is defined. In popular parlance, discussions of colonialism in Africa usually focus on the European conquests of the New Imperialism and the Scramble for Africa (1884-1914) era, followed by gradual decolonisation. The principal powers involved in the modern colonisation of Africa are Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, and Italy. In nearly all African countries today, the language used in government and media is the one imposed by a recent colonial power.
History of Africa
- In ancient times, people from Southern Europe and Western Asia colonized North Africa, while people from Southeast Asia colonized Madagascar.
- In the Middle Ages, North and East Africa was further colonized by people from Western Asia.
- In the Modern Era, Western Europeans colonized all parts of the continent, culminating in the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century. A wave of decolonisation followed after World War II.
Ancient and Medieval colonization
A map of Africa in 1910
North Africa experienced colonization from Europe and Western Asia in the early historical period, particularly Greeks and Phoenicians.
Under Egypt's Pharaoh Amasis (570–526 BC) a Greek mercantile colony was established at Naucratis, some 50 miles from the later Alexandria. Greeks also colonized Cyrenaica around the same time. There was also an attempt in 513 BC to establish a Greek colony between Cyrene and Carthage, which resulted in the combined local and Carthaginian expulsion two years later of the Greek colonists.
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) founded Alexandria
during his conquest of Egypt. This became one of the major cities of
Hellenistic and Roman times, a trading and cultural centre as well as a
military headquarters and communications hub.
Phoenicians established a number of colonies along the coast of
North Africa. Some of these were founded relatively early. Utica, for
example, was founded c. 1100 BC. Carthage, which means New City, has a traditional foundation date of 814 BC. It was established in what is now Tunisia and became a major power in the Mediterranean
by the 4th century BC. The Carthaginians themselves sent out
expeditions to explore and establish colonies along Africa's Atlantic
coast. A surviving account of such is that of Hanno, which Harden who quotes it places at c. 425 BC.
Carthage encountered and struggled with the Romans. After the third and final war between them, the Third Punic War (150–146 BC), Rome completely destroyed Carthage. Scullard mentions plans by such as Gaius Gracchus in the late 2nd century BC, Julius Caesar and Augustus
in the mid- and late 1st century BC to establish a new Roman colony
near the same site. This was established and under Augustus served as
the capital city of African continent Roman province of Africa.
Gothic Vandals briefly established a kingdom there in the 5th century, which shortly thereafter fell to the Romans again, this time the Byzantines. The whole of Roman/Byzantine North Africa eventually fell to the Arabs in the 7th century.
Arabs introduced the Arabic language and Islam in the early Medieval period, while the Malay people introduced varieties of their language to Madagascar even earlier.
Map of West Africa, ca. 1736, "explaining what belongs to England, Holland, Denmark, etc."
However the oldest European founded city on the
African continent is Cape Town, which was founded by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, as a halfway stop for passing European ships sailing to the east.
Early modern period
Early European expeditions by the Portuguese concentrated on colonising previously uninhabited islands such as the Cape Verde Islands and São Tomé Island, or establishing coastal forts as a base for trade.
Scramble for Africa
Established empires, notably Britain, France and Portugal had already
claimed coastal areas but had not penetrated deeply in land. Europeans
controlled only one 10th of Africa, primarily along the Mediterranean
and in the deep South. An important early leader in penetrating inland
was King Leopold of Belgium, who operated the Congo as his own private domain until 1908. The 1885 Berlin Conference, initiated by Otto von Bismarck to establish international guidelines and avoiding violent disputes formalised the "New Imperialism".
This allowed the imperialists to move in land, with relatively few
disputes. The only serious threat of inter-Imperial violence came in the
Fashoda Incident
of 1898 between Britain and France; It was settled peacefully. Between
1870 and 1914 Europe added almost 9 million square miles
(23,000,000 km²)—one-fifth of the land area of the globe—to its overseas
colonial possessions.
Vincent Khapoya notes the great self-esteem some European states
felt at possessing territory larger than themselves. He adds the
significant contribution made by Africans to struggle among the Great
Powers. He states that one million people of African descent fought for
the Allies in World War I and two million in World War II.
Khapoya considers the colonisers' administrative styles. "The
French, the Portuguese, the Germans and the Belgians exercised a highly
centralised type of administration called 'direct rule.'"
The British sought to rule by identifying local power holders and
encouraging or forcing these to administer for the British Empire. This
was indirect rule.
France ruled from Paris, appointing chiefs individually without
considering traditional criteria, but rather loyalty to France. France
established two large colonial federations in Africa, French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa. France appointed officials, passed laws and had to approve any measures passed by colonial assemblies.
Local groups in German East Africa resisted German enforced labour and taxation. The Germans were almost driven out of the area in 1888.
A decade later the colony seemed conquered, though, "It had been a long
drawn-out struggle and inland administration centres were in reality
little more than a series of small military fortresses." In 1905, the
Germans were astonished by a widely supported uprising.
This resistance was at first successful. However, within a year, the
insurgency was suppressed by reinforcing troops armed with machine guns.
German attempts to seize control in Southwest Africa also produced
ardent resistance, which was very forcefully put down.
King Leopold II of Belgium called his vast private colony the Congo Free State.
His harsh treatment of the Africans sparked a strong international
protest and the European powers forced him to relinquish control to the
Belgian Parliament to take control.
Khapoya notes the significant attention colonial powers paid to
the economics of colonisation. This included: acquisition of land, often
enforced labour, introduction of cash crops, sometimes even to the
neglect of food crops, changing inter-African trading patterns of
pre-colonial times, introduction of labourers from India, etc. and the
continuation of Africa as a source of raw materials for European
industry. Colonial powers later focused on abolishing slavery, developing infrastructure, and improving health and education.
Decolonisation
Vincent Khapoya notes the significant resistance of powers faced to
their domination in Africa. Technical superiority enabled conquest and
control. Pro-independence Africans recognised the value of European
education in dealing with Europeans in Africa. Some Africans established
their own churches. Africans also noticed the unequal evidence of
gratitude they received for their efforts to support Imperialist
countries during the world wars.
Vincent Khapoya also notes that while European imposed borders
did not correspond to traditional territories, such new territories
provided entities to focus efforts by movements for increased political
voice up to independence. Among local groups so concerned were
professionals such as lawyers and doctors, the petite bourgeoisie
(clerks, teachers, small merchants), urban workers, cash crop farmers,
peasant farmers, etc. Trade unions and other initially non-political
associations evolved into political movements.
Khapoya describes the differences in gaining independence by
British and French colonies. Britain sought to follow a process of
gradual transfer of power. The French policy of assimilation faced some
resentment, especially in North Africa. Shillington describes the granting of independence in March 1956 to Morocco and Tunisia to allow concentration on Algeria where there was a long (1954–62) and bloody armed struggle to achieve independence. Khapoya writes that when President de Gaulle in 1958 held a referendum in its African colonies on the issue, only Guinea voted for outright independence. Nevertheless, in 1959 France amended the constitution to allow other colonies this option.
As Shillington describes farmers in British East Africa were upset by attempts to take their land and to impose agricultural methods against their wishes and experience. In Tanganyika, Julius Nyerere exerted influence not only among Africans, united by the common Swahili language,
but also on some white leaders whose disproportionate voice under a
racially weighted constitution was significant. He became the leader of
an independent Tanganyika in 1961. In Kenya,
whites had evicted African tenant farmers in the 1930s; since the '40s
there has been conflict, which intensified in 1952. By 1955, Britain had
suppressed the revolt, and by 1960 Britain accepted the principle of
African majority rule. Kenya became independent three years later.
Shillington vividly portrays Belgium's initial opposition to
independence, the demands by some urban Africans, the 1957 & 1958
local elections meant to calm this dissatisfaction, the general unrest
that swept the colony, the rapid granting of independence and the civil
strife that ensued.
The main period of decolonisation
in Africa began after World War II. Growing independence movements,
indigenous political parties and trade unions coupled with pressure from
within the imperialist powers and from the United States and the Soviet Union ensured the decolonisation of the majority of the continent by 1980. While some areas, in particular, South Africa, & Namibia retain a large population of European descent, only the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla and the islands of Réunion and Mayotte, the Canary Islands, and Madeira
remain under European control, the latter two of which were never part
of any African polity and have an overwhelmingly European population.
Theoretical frameworks
The
theory of colonialism addresses the problems and consequences of the
colonisation of a country, and there has been much research conducted
exploring these concepts.
Mahmood Mamdani
Mahmood Mamdani
Mahmood Mamdani wrote his book Citizen and Subject in 1996. The main point of his argument is that the colonial state in Africa took the form of a bifurcated state, “two forms of power under a single hegemonic authority”.
The colonial state in Africa was divided into two. One state for the
colonial European population and one state for the indigenous
population. The colonial power was mainly in urban towns and cities and
were served by elected governments. The indigenous power was found in
rural villages and were ruled by tribal authority, which seemed to be
more in keeping with their history and tradition. Mamdani mentions that
in urban areas, native institutions were not recognised. The natives,
who were portrayed as uncivilised by the Europeans, were excluded from the rights of citizenship.
The division of the colonial state created a racial segregation between
the European ‘citizen’ and African ‘subject’, and a division between
institutions of government.
The division Mamdani spoke about in Citizen and Subject is
still visible in African cities. The segregation he talks about was
based on race, but now is also based on wealth and class. Urban areas of
African cities are divided between rich areas and poor areas that do
not have services. This is best illustrated by Johnny Miller, who
created a project called Unequal Scenes to showcase the inequalities found in some urban African spaces. One city that Miller looks at is Nairobi in Kenya.
The photographs he provides highlights the housing inequality. The
suburb of Loresho is home to the rich that live in gated communities,
and to the poor that live in slum
communities. They are only separated by a concrete barrier. This
barrier represents a class segregation and the uneven distribution of
wealth.
Achille Mbembe
Achille Mbembe
Achille Mbembe is a Cameroonian
historian, political theorist, and philosopher who has written and
theorized extensively on life in the colony and postcolony. His 2000
book, On the Postcolony, critically examines postcolonial life in Africa and is a prolific work within the field of postcolonialism.
It is through this examination of the postcolony that Mbembe reveals
the modes through which power was exerted in colonial Africa. He reminds
the reader that colonial powers demanded use of African bodies in
particularly violent ways for the purpose of labor as well as the
shaping of subservient colonised identities.
Through a comparison of power in the colony and postcolony,
Mbembe demonstrates that violence in the colony was exerted on African
bodies largely for the purpose of labor and submission. European colonial powers sought natural resources
in African colonies and needed the requisite labor force to extract
them and simultaneously build the colonial city around these industries.
Because Europeans viewed native bodies as degenerate and in need of
taming, violence was necessary to create a submissive laborer.
Colonisers viewed this violence as necessary and good because it shaped the African into a productive worker.
They had the simultaneous goals of utilizing the raw labor and shaping
the identity and character of the African. By beating into the African a
docile nature, colonisers ultimately shaped and enforced the way
Africans could move through colonial spaces. The African’s day-to-day life then became a show of submission done through exercises like public works projects and military conscription.
Mbembe contrasts colonial violence with that of the postcolony.
Mbembe demonstrates that violence in the postcolony is cruder and more
generally for the purpose of demonstrating raw power. Expressions of
excess and exaggeration characterize this violence.
Mbembe’s theorization of violence in the colony illuminates the
unequal relationship between the coloniser and colonised and reminds us
of the violence inflicted on African bodies throughout the process of
colonisation. It cannot be understood nor should be taught without the
context of this violence.
Stephanie Terreni Brown
Stephanie
Terreni Brown is an academic in the field of colonialism. In her 2014
paper she examines how sanitation and dirt is used in colonial
narratives through the example of Kampala in Uganda. Writing also about Abjection through sanitation planning in the city and how this plays a key role in this narrative of colonisation.
Brown describes Abjection as the process whereby one group others
or dehumanizes another. Those who are deemed Abject are often avoided
by others, and seen as inferior. Abjectivication is continually used as
a mechanism to dominate a group of people, and control them. In the
case of colonialism, she argues that it is used by the west to dominate
over and control the indigenous population of Africa.
Abjectivication through discourses of dirt and sanitation are
used to draw distinctions between the Western governing figures and the
local population. Dirt being seen as something out of place, whilst
cleanliness being attributed to the “in group”, the colonisers, and dirt
being paralleled with the indigenous people. The reactions of disgust
and displeasure to dirt and uncleanliness are often linked social norms
and the wider cultural context, shaping the way in which Africa is still
thought of today.
Brown discusses how the colonial authorities were only concerned
with constructing a working sewage system to cater for the colonials
themselves, and weren’t concerned with the Ugandan population. This
rhetoric of sanitation is important because it is seen as a key part of
modernity and being civilised, which the African population are
therefore seen as not being. This lack of sanitation and proper sewage
systems add to this discourse of the people of Africa and Africa itself
being savages and uncivilised, playing a central role in how the west
justified the case of the civilising process. Brown refers to this
process of abjectification using discourses of dirt as a physical and
material legacy of colonialism that is still very much present in
Kampala and other African cities today.
Critique
Critical
theory on the colonisation of Africa is largely unified in a
condemnation of imperial activities. Postcolonial theory has been
derived from this anti-colonial/anti-imperial concept and writers such
as Mbembe, Mamdani and Brown, and many more, have used it as a narrative
for their work on the colonisation of Africa.
-
- ‘Post colonialism can be described as a powerful interdisciplinary mood in the social sciences and humanities that is refocusing attention on the imperial/colonial past, and critically revising understanding of the place of the west in the world.’
Postcolonial geographers are consistent with the notion that
colonialism, although maybe not in such clear-cut forms, is still
concurrent today. Both Mbembe, Mamdani and Brown’s theories have a
consistent theme of the indigenous Africans having been treated as
uncivilised, second class citizens and that in many former colonial
cities this has continued into the present day with a switch from race
to wealth divide.
Mbembe is one of the most prominent writers within the field and this has led to his work being reviewed by numerous academics. On the Postcolony has faced criticism from academics such as Meredith Terreta for focusing too much on specific African nations such as Cameroon.
Echoes of this criticism can also be found when looking at the work of
Mamdani with his theories questioned for generalising across an Africa
that, in reality, was colonised in very different ways, by fundamentally
different European imperial ideologies.
In contrast to Mbembe and Mamdani, Brown is a less prominent writer and
one whose work is yet to be reviewed by other academics meaning it is
currently harder to grasp what academic theoretical critiques could be
brought against her work.
