Colonialism

During the early colonial period, indentured servants had filled the role of labor, working primarily in the Chesapeake region in the cultivation of tobacco. However, as the Dutch lost their monopoly on the slave trade, the price of slaves fell, allowing many plantation owners to purchase slaves and encouraging the growth of the slave trade to America. During the Revolutionary War and the decades following, slavery continued to boom, particularly in the South, where the use of slaves in crop cultivation came to dominate the Southern economy.

In the North, industry-supported the economy, allowing for a decreased need for slave labor. The difference between the economies of the North and South allowed for different levels of importance for slavery in those areas; however, discrimination prevailed throughout the young nation, leading the African-American community of the time to struggle against whites for freedom and civil rights. In the South, the largest contributing factor to the expansion of slavery was the westward growth of America during the early 19th Century.

The Louisiana Purchase, signed under Thomas Jefferson, opened millions of acres to settlement encouraging many white southerners to move west into Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. These areas with their warm climates encouraged the expansion of the plantation system westward and accounts for the massive growth of slavery in those areas by 1830 seen in the Document C map illustrating the difference in slave concentration of the colonies. Lord Dunmore offered all slaves the opportunity to be free by joining the British military, as explained in his proclamation.

The British sought to weaken colonial resistance by the support of the slaves. While many joined the British military to escape slavery, some colonial states offered slaves their freedom if they joined the colonial side after realizing how many slaves were rebelling to the British side. Some free blacks joined the British side because they felt discriminated against and believed they should have the same rights and privileges as whites, as they were denied property rights. In Venture Smith’s “narrative,” a master consents ted to his salve buying his freedom. Even though the slave could not pay it all in one lump sum, the master allowed him to pay it in “payments” he paid all he had as the down payment and then earned the rest by fishing and cropping. This example just came to show that not all slave owners were opposed to slaves being free. The Vermont Colonization proposed a  contribution from each inhabitant in order to help the society establish colonies on the coast of Africa. The colonies opened the door for emancipation. Some white abolitionists even advocated freeing blacks and relocating them to Africa, as did the American Colonization Society).

Between 1790 and 1830, slavery vastly expanded. As slavery decreased in the north, the south more than made up for them due to the production of cotton booming in the south and especially down the Black Belt on the East Coast. Cotton production was already a huge industry in 1790, but it because even bigger when in 1793, the Cotton Gin was invented by a slave of Eli Whitney. The Cotton Gin made separating the cotton from the seeds quicker and easier, making the meticulous work a breeze compared to when it was done by hand. Slavery during the period also grew out of an economic need as the South looked to prosper solely through agricultural means. This meant slavery was simply an economic necessity as huge plantations, particularly those that produced cotton, were heavily labor-intensive. Because of this, slave-owners sought to control their slaves entirely and prevent them from escaping, although some slave holders allowed them to purchase their own freedom, as referred to in Venture Smith’s “Narrative”.

Nonetheless, conditions were harsh leading many slaves to attempt rebellion or escape. In The Confessions of “Ben,” the document details the plans of one slave rebellion, plotted during Peace time so as to avoid conflict with soldiers or patrols. Rebellions during the period, usually small in scale, were rarely successful in the short term and merely resulted in stricter treatment of slaves, particularly in the Deep South. The harsher the treatment, the more impassioned became anti-slavery rhetoric, particularly in the African-American community. David Walker’s “Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World,” shows just how frustrated many had become with the system of slavery, and the determination of the community to free itself through any means. Denmark Vesey was a slave who had bought his freedom and planned what would’ve been the biggest slave rebellion in the United States; however, the Vesey’s conspiracy leaked and he was tried, convicted, and executed. In the North, slavery, as a practice was a lost interest as the more industrial economy, did not rely upon slave labor for its success.

Upper-class families often owned one or two slaves to carry on matters of the home, yet the majority of Northerners never owned a slave. That, however, did not mean free blacks received equal rights or good treatment in the North. Paul Cuffe’s Petition and Prince Hall’s Masonic Movement both point out the denial of rights to free blacks, as well as the harsh racism that prevailed throughout the region. Blacks were not allowed to vote, and were often paid less for the same jobs as whites.

However, some in the North took up the issue of discrimination looking for ways to solve the struggles of the African American community. Plans for colonization of Africa by free blacks and former slaves were supports by some in the North such as the Vermont Colonization Society discussed in Document H; however, movements like this never picked up wide support and, in the end, amounted to little. During the late 18th century, the 2nd Great Awakening began as the second period of religious revival that extended into the antebellum period. Bishop Richard Allen was the founder of the African American Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Allen was granted the title of the first bishop for his hope offering of the religion given to the Black community. In the picture of Document D, an AME meeting is taking place in Philadelphia. Free Blacks often celebrated their freedom, especially since their church was the first independent black domination in the US. Many Northern Whites plead Black causes, turning into abolitionists.

Free Blacks were gracious to Whites who worked hard to Improve African conditions. Most White abolitionists were great supporters of the American Colonization Society in order to send them back to their homes in Africa. While some Whites were helpful, others were discriminate like those in Boston, were Black’s lives were endangered due to hate as described in Prince Hall’s Masonic Movement. Disfranchisement gave the right to vote to Blacks in the North where their votes would’ve usually counted as less effective or completely ineffective. Although some slaves were able to buy their freedom or escape to the North, slavery as a practice boomed between 1775 and 1830. The westward expansion of America and the growth of the plantation system required a large number of slaves to support the agrarian economy. Free blacks were not spared harsh racism and discrimination, leading many African Americans to campaign for both the freedom of their people in the South and their own personal liberties at home.

In the middle of the 1 5th century, as the Roman Empire was weakening, the fall of Constantinople marked a bigger impact than anyone could have considered. The Ottoman Empire had reign to advance into the Mediterranean, and that meant that traveling east on land was not an option. With the Renaissance about to emerge, it became a springboard for the development of advanced ships. This marked the beginning of the Age of Exploration and Colonialism. The Europeans had every advantage.

Their immune system had seen all the diseases in the Old World, while he native conquered people’s immune system had only seen a few diseases. The Europeans had far more superior crops and domesticated animals. Cows, pigs, and chicken are considered super animals compared to their wild counterparts, although the wild counterparts do not even exist in the New World. The same could be said for rice, barley, and wheat. The New World had never seen these types of food. The conquered spent their days looking for sustenance while the Europeans were developing guns and telescopes.

Because the backbone of the European nations was so developed and stable, their technology and power skyrocketed. With the power, colonization and slavery thrived. From Africa and Asia to the New World, pockets of colonies emerged and developed. Often conquering the entire continent, the colonizers went to work to extract what they thought was important. There were no rights for the conquered. They were in the European man’s world and had to go along for the ride. Racial prejudice rears its ugly head throughout the two World Wars and exists even today.

The concept of racism was developed during the Age of Colonialism. The thought that any particular type of person based on looks and color was better did not exist ecause it is not true. But during and after the Age of Colonialism, racism was taught to Europeans and enforced to non-Europeans. Europeans thought that looks and color of the Anglos meant more trustworthiness and intelligence. Unfortunately, the majority of Europeans did not realize that trustworthiness and intelligence are both learned behaviors, and that non-Europeans were taught to be “uncivilized”.

With the conviction of superiority, the Europeans subdued and dominated regions throughout the planet. Africa, in particular, has a long history of colonization from the Europeans. Conquest is defined as the subjugation and assumption of control of a place or people by the use of military force. Major parts of Africa were conquered by the Europeans since ancient times. From the 7th century, Arab trade with sub-Saharan Africa led to a gradual colonization of East Africa, around Zanzibar and other bases.

Although trans-Saharan trade led to a small number of West African cities developing Arab quarters, these were not intended as colonies, and while Morocco attempted to conquer areas of the Sahel in the Moroccan war, it was soon forced to withdraw its troops atter pillaging the area. Early European expeditions concentrated on colonizing previously uninhabited islands such as the Cape Verde Islands and S¤o Tom© Island, or establishing coastal forts as a base for trade.

These forts often developed areas of influence along coastal strips, but, with the exception of the Senegal River, the vast interior of Africa was not colonized and was little-known to Europeans until the late 19th century. Vincent Khapoya mentions Ali Mazrui’s three interrelated broad reasons for European exploration of Africa: to increase knowledge, to spread Christianity and to increase national esteem. European enslavement of Africans, and visa-versa, existed along the coasts of East and West Africa since ancient times. The business exploded, however, after the Age of Colonialism was under way.

During what was called by the European powers as, “The Scramble for Africa,” colonization was motivated by the European hunger for African resources. The subsequent exploitation of the African people and the uprooting of their spiritual values by Christian missionaries would leave a permanent European stamp on the continent. Britain took the largest piece of the African cake, rom Cairo to Cape Town, in addition to Nigeria and a few West African regions. It was also the British Empire that in 1894, imposed an arbitrary boundary around the many diverse ethnic groups and kingdoms that would make up modern day Uganda.

By exploiting linguistic, ethnic, and cultural differences between the different ethnic groups, Britain’s divide and rule policies created tensions between the divided ethnic groups that helped maintain British rule. Officially, between 1884 and 1906 the Congo was controlled by a company entirely owned by King Leopold. The area was referred to as the ‘Belgian Free State. Until the end of the 1800s this company primarily exported ivory and palm-oil, a lubricant, from the Congo. Only a small profit was made from these products. At the end of the century, however, the world discovered rubber.

Soon everyone wanted it to make tires, hoses, tubes, valves and many other products. Rubber is produced from a latex ‘sap’ that came either from a tree or a vine, both of which grew exceptionally well in the Congo Jungle. Because of the new demand, the Belgian companies began demanding massive amounts of rubber from the Jungle and forced the natives to find massive amounts of it and eliver it to them. King Leopold became incredibly wealthy from the sale of rubber and the Congo paid the price. The method that most harvesters used to get the sap destroyed the trees and vines they took it from.

Soon the Belgians began to hire soldiers to make sure that the natives produced the raw material. They threatened them with starvation, mutilation or even death if they did not produce enough rubber. Many times they followed through with the threats. Between the 1880s and 1903 the population of the Congo was reduced from over 20 million people to about 8. 5 million. Joseph Conrad, an author who was there during this time, in his book Heart of Darkness, best illustrated what was going on there when one character on his death bed comments on the situation by simply saying: “the horror, the horror. The term ‘imperialism’ should not be confused with ‘colonialism’. Robert Young writes that imperialism operates from the center, it is a state policy, and is developed for ideological as well as financial reasons whereas colonialism is nothing more than development for settlement or commercial intentions. The Age of Imperialism was a ime period beginning around 1700 when modern, relatively developed nations were taking over less developed areas, colonizing them, or intluencing them in order to expand their own power.

Although imperialist practices have existed for thousands of years, the term “Age of Imperialism” generally refers to the activities of nations such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States in the early 18th through the middle 20th centuries, the “The Great Game” in Persian lands, the “Scramble for Africa” and the “Open Door Policy” in China. Genocide is the eliberate or systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, caste, religious, or national group.

The Germans decided that certain ethnic groups were to be eradicated in Namibia. German Lieutenant-General Lothar von Trotha said, ‘l wipe out rebellious tribes with streams of blood and streams of money. Only following this cleansing can something new emerge’. Von Trotha brought with him to German South West Africa 10,000 heavily-armed men and a plan for war. During the period of colonization and oppression, many women were used as sex slaves. “To receive omen and children, most of them ill, is a serious danger to the German troops. And to feed them is impossible.

I find it appropriate that the nation perishes instead of infecting our soldiers. ” In the Herero work camps there were numerous children born to these abused women, and a man called Eugen Fischer, who was interested in genetics, came to the camps to study them. He decided that each mixed-race child was physically and mentally inferior to its German father and wrote a book promoting his ideas: “The Principles of Human Heredity and Race Hygiene”. Adolf Hitler read it hile he was in prison in 1923, and cited it in his own infamous pursuit of “racial purity’.

We can see a trend that follows. For the colonized, life became a living hell. For the colonizers, life became extravagant and easy. These give and take relationships created the modern global economy that we have today. The scars of the past still haunt the wounds of today. Third world countries are still struggling for survival while the well fed first world nations are aligning themselves together to maintain their dominance. While the obvious means of colonization may not be visible, the same characters are in control.

However, the other factors that occurred at home which reformed he world of money can be considered as the more significant factor as it aided the scale at which both companies were able to grow. The other various factors that occurred amongst the home front had a huge impact in the development of the British Empire, possibly acting as the most significant. Although having been present before, trading companies really thrived during this period.

This was due to a series of revolutionary changes, most notably the change from the medieval regulated trading concerns system to the ‘joint stock’. This now meant that instead of investors pooling heir earnings into one single ship’s voyage, they would be investing money in a whole company. This resulted in lower risk investments and due to the notion that smaller investments could be made; more of the population possessed the means to be able to do so, increasing the company’s finances which subsequently improved the governments.

Also the development of factors who were the men in charge of the actual trade with the native population became the beginning of permanent European bases overseas whilst factories became the hub of local trade, spreading European influence in native society and economy (as Wilderness’s theory states). Also, as London was beginning to become a major trading port it began relying on raw materials from overseas trade. For example by 1 720, 15% of all national import came from India alone. And so with this alarming dependency comes a natural conviction that this supply must be protected.

This is significant because one way to protect something is to have control over it, and so it seemed like an almost convenient logic for the British to start thinking about gaining imperial power. These factors are the most significant in the development of the British Empire through trade and commerce. This is cause if it weren’t for the ‘joint-stock’ System, both companies may not have had the means to be as successful as they were which would have dimmed a development of Empire. Also, the dependency they acquired on foreign materials was one of the main benefactors in their want for imperial control.

However, it can be argued that this reliance was caused by the successes of the trade companies such as the ICE and without these, there would be no dependency and so no need for hegemony. The East India Company is a definite factor in the development of the British Empire through trade and commerce. Starting off with simply the intention to read comfortably with the promisingly lucrative East, through its various successes the East India Company did prove to be the starting foundations of English colonialism in India.

After a long termed desire to establish a trade with the east, the East India Company was finally developed and launched with an official charter in 1600. As hoped, right from the very start, the company was seeing extremely healthy profits. This then encouraged a 1 609 charter which gave the company permanent rights whilst a further charter in 1670 meant that the company could actually make its own laws with an army ND the ability to print money. Both of these events contributed to the development of the British Empire as they became the first signs Of actions which imitated the actions that may be expected of a colonial state.

Another subtle indication of the company’s intended permanency came through the building of Fort William. However, possibly the most evident way in which the ICE aided the British Empire came in their seek to be granted firm. Firm was mainly needed so that the ICE would have the rights to set up permanent trading bases and factories, both of which would have been essential for effective trade. This meant that through negotiations, they became drawn into local power networks, which politically strengthened their position in India.

Also, the prospect of trading bases would definitely intensify the sense of European permanence in the East. After a few violent naval battles with the Dutch, the Moguls saw the British as superior and decided to grant them the firm they so desired. This had a couple significant effects. Firstly, it displayed a certain importance of military’, but rather naval superiority in getting what is wanted. This was to become a huge factor in the actual placement and sustain of the British Empire.

One of the biggest issues facing African historians is the fact that the study of actual African History is relatively new. A large majority of the sources available are written from the point of view of Europeans, with an Intended audience of Europeans. In this egocentric method of reporting history, Africans were viewed more as objects: a people with a past but no history. The written “historical” sources provided by imperialists robbed Africans of their voice.

The principal challenge facing African historians Is to find a way to Inject the African voice Into the narrative, and thus roved a more accurate representation of the continental history. This task presents more profound questions.

What qualities make someone an African?

Is it sufficient to be a black person living on the continent? Are there levels of ethnicity? Are the descendants of Africans brought to other parts of the world In the slave trade “Africans”? Ultimately, who decides who Is “African”? Equally problematic is the Issue regarding what represents a credible source, either written or oral.

Each presents unique challenges that must be addressed in order to qualify the value of the Information they portend to provide. While the more traditional African historical sources are Invariably prone to the problem of European bias, cave paintings offer a source that was born out of a desire of an African (not a European) to document their experiences. For example, the rock art of Gill Kefir in what is present-day Egypt represents people allegedly engaging in the catchy of swimming.

This offers historians perhaps the oldest example of source material regarding African history. UT what does this ‘Written” source actually tell African historians? Most importantly, it definitively proves that someone was there, and through scientific dating cuisines, It indicates approximately when they were there. This is real, hard evidence, which “underpins all historical research. “This Is not to Infer that there are not problems with the use of the paintings as a source of usable evidence. The older a source is, it is more likely to be inaccurate. Were the people in the paintings actually swimming, as scientists believe?

Does that mean that the desert where the cave paintings were found was once a land that contained lakes or rivers? Or did the cave painters devise their art from the second-hand memories of others who had traveled to faraway lands? What was the reason they chose to document their experience? Was it graffiti? Was it done for religious reasons? Was it a territorial marking? Archaeological sites are less prevalent in Africa than other parts of the world, which Is problematic In having the ability to compare this particular site to others.

Further, the available archives needed to compare these archaeological finds are fewer in number in African regions, and sometimes less accessible due to political reasons. The Information In the African archives that do exist Is often more difficult to translate than traditional archival Information In that most African engages are oral, and not written, and nearly impossible to document without the benefit of oral history.

How can African historians mitigate these challenges and ‘OFF source?

One suggestion is to actively search for other existing examples of cave paintings and to compare them based on materials, method, content, location, etc. When such comparable examples do not exist, scientists could initiate more archaeological digs, extend communication among scientists to broaden the evidence base, and exert political pressure upon leaders to focus on scientific endeavors, as well as the preservation of the archives. Like historians in other parts of the world, African historians face the challenge of deteriorating archives because of damage caused by the elements, water damage, and insects. Traditional written sources such as government documents, tax records, and newspapers may also be lost due to archival neglect. Historians must consider several criteria of source criticism to determine each written source’s historical value. Regardless of the name on the document, who was the actual author? What was the real purpose of the document? Who was the intended audience? Did the author have personal motives in reporting it in the manner in which he did? For example, most government documents from Colonial Africa were written by Europeans, with an intended European audience.

There is no African voice in this “history. ” Africans were treated like objects,9 and colonial imperialistic authors of written sources “believed that they actually were generating history for the first time?that Africa (and Africans) had no history before their arrival. “Another limitation of written documents is that they are created from the point of view of an observer, and thus produce an opinion that is completely subjective, and thereby, by definition, are open to other opinions and observations. To address the limitations of written documents, historians often attempt to incorporate oral sources in conjunction with written sources in order to strengthen historical evidence. “Anxiety about flawed written sources drew scholars away from libraries and into towns and villages for historical narrative. “The incorporation of oral history into the narrative makes it more evidential and gives the written documents a more verifiable African voice. Relying on written documents from the Colonial period without the incorporation of oral sources, in many cases, produces an inaccurate version of African history.

Typically, in the African “history’ provided by Colonial Europeans their culture, norms, and ideology were largely ignored. “One of the key methods to avoid (the possibility of denying Africans a voice in their own history) is to include a people’s own oral traditions and life histories in ethnographically and archaeological work. “Because most African languages in Colonial Africa were oral and not written, it is imperative to consider oral sources to bolster the evidence provided by written sources. Oral sources can provide a wealth of historical evidence.

For example, Historical linguists use oral sources to accurately track the movement of people across the continent. This evidence of human migration can help explain cultural change, which is important when considering that a lack of concentration of people in a particular area makes a study of their culture less possible. Oral histories offer first-hand accounts of events. These oral histories evolve into oral traditions; stories passed down from generation to generation, offering us a glimpse of pre-colonial Africa not found in the Euro-centric written documents of imperialists.

Oral sources obviously can complement the written, a realization that was for too long lost on most professional order to strengthen written sources to form cohesive historical evidence is Jan Vinson, who “established that the stories handed down from one generation to another … Were as stable and reliable accounts of their past as were the written chronicles and personal narratives… (and) that in fact they were of the same genre. “In Banana’s own words: “by creating a lifelike setting, (oral tradition) gives evidence about how situations as they were observed, as well as about beliefs uncovering situations. Thus, oral sources, through both shared oral history and oral traditions, combined with written sources, form a more credible account of historical occurrences than written sources alone provide. Oral sources, though, are not without their limitations. “

Astoria can place trust in oral sources only to the extent that they can be verified by means of external evidence of another kind, such as archaeological, linguistic, or cultural. “Oral sources are subject to misinterpretation because of selective or collective memory, rumor, myth, or hearsay. That being said, oral sources subject to these limitations still offer substance, because historians can still study why the subjects believe it happened that way. African historians can mitigate the limitations of oral sources by searching for information that is valuable, if not as historical evidence, but as information that is not readily apparent through the written archive. While attempting to glean evidence from a source on one topic, a historian may gain knowledge of another unintended topic.

Ultimately, “it is the duty of the historian to subject all written accounts to radical internal and external analysis to determine authenticity and credibility. If the accounts are thoroughly examined, and the texts can be compared to one another with the information contained in oral and other sources, they will continue to yield valuable information on the history of Africa. “These things considered; if an historian wanted to get an approximation of how many Africans were enslaved, maimed or killed in the occupation of King Leopold in the Congo, where would they start? What sources would they utilize, and what would they expect to find?

What there information might they “accidentally’ stumble upon?

I propose that a good place to start would be to examine any existing hospital documents from 1885-1908, to determine if there is a written record of the number of people treated for loss of limbs. Local censuses (if available), police records, military ledgers, property records, death certificates might also prove as fruitful written resources. Additionally, missionary records in the region mighty prove to be valuable, especially considering that they would probably not require translation, lessening the possibility that any information would be mistranslated.

Another possible valuable written source might be records in the Belgian archive, or that of the present-day Democratic Republic of Congo. The historian might hope to find information or documents concerning the Congo Reform Association, which might shed some light on the information she seeks. Additionally, research on the Congo Free State propaganda war and the International Association of the Congo might provide valuable useful written sources of evidence of injuries and deaths to those enslaved at that time.

One might also be able to glean useful information from historical-based literature, such as Joseph Concord’s Heart of Darkness, Sir Arthur Cowan Dole’s The Crime of the Congo, and Bertrand Russell Freedom and Organization. Research on the parties evidence of the atrocities in the region, including Edmund Dine Muriel, Roger Casement and the aforementioned Bertrand Russell. Local museums might contain artwork from the region during Loophole’s occupation that captures the outrage, despair and helplessness of the affected.

By speaking to locals, she might learn, through oral tradition, the stories passed down from generation to generation about the occupation. In the unlikely, yet still possible event, that any 106-year-old residents still survive, they would be able to provide first-hand oral history. Other than gaining information regarding the number of enslaved, killed and maimed, she would, in all probability, gain an understanding of the long-term effects of the occupation of Leopold upon the citizens, as well as information of how Loophole’s occupation came to an end due to intense international criticism.

Possible obstacles that she might experience: In retreat, Leopold may have destroyed written evidence of the atrocities, as well as local artwork or libraries. His regime may have been so strict that any expression, either written or oral, was prohibited and subject to the same penalties as those who refused to work in the mines, or underperformed in their duties, diminishing oral sources. Let’s consider that the same historian endeavored to learn the approximate number of the descendants of diasporas Africans who returned to partake in the so-called “redeeming of Africa. Where might she begin, and what would she expect to find? What limitations might she encounter? What other information might she learn along the way? A good starting mint would be to visit the archives in Liberia and Sierra Leone; countries set up as places of African repatriation for freed slaves. There, she could view the legal records regarding who came back and when they returned, who their family members were, where they lived, as well as their professions. Available Census documents would prove to be invaluable in that regard.

Ship’s manifests would reflect the number of passengers returning to these countries, as well as the number of family members that accompanied them. She could research the founders of both countries, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, the first president of Liberia, and Christopher Koru Cole and Osaka Stevens, early leaders of Sierra Leone, to find documents pertaining to the numbers of returning Africans. She could study historical literature about repatriation, such as Back to Africa: the Colonization Movement in Early Africa by Timothy Crummier, as well as Black Migration in America: a Social Demographic History by Daniel M. Johnson and Rexes R. Campbell. She could also read the works of the men who themselves returned, such as George Washington Williams, Samuel Jay Crotchet, and Henry McNealy Turner. Some limitations she might experience in her research: inconclusive data due to the relative impossibility of proving that they (or their descendants) were indeed originally removed from the continent. Incomplete or inaccurate documentation might also prove to be a stumbling block in attaining this information.

Additional research on topics such as the American Colonization Society, and the histories of both Liberia and Sierra Leone would not only provide numerical data, but also undoubtedly uncover unintended useful information about the achievements and political and religious aims of those who returned, as well as how hey were received. Did they consider themselves more “civilized” than the native Africans whose descendants had not been removed from the continent?

What other the reasons why some Africans did not return, even though they had the opportunity. Through personal interviews of present-day citizens who are descendants of returning freed slaves she could learn of the oral traditions they had developed. She might also learn of the artwork prevalent in these regions, as well as the folklore and literature that the return to Africa produced, and how it differed from that of indigenous Africans. “As a recognized academic endeavor, (African history) has emerged only in the last four or five decades. Until recently, African “history’ was written by and for Europeans, and as such, didn’t provide a realistic depiction of the people, the culture, and the overall actual history of the continent, but served more as a record of White encroachment, and functioned as a tool of propaganda to legitimate the “civilizing mission” of Europeans. By altering traditional methodology and utilizing both written and oral sources, a more accurate picture of African history ND its people can be discovered and studied.

Beyond the fade of imperialistic African “history,” there is a real history of the African continent that invites further study, and such an endeavor is necessary in restoring the African “voice. ” If we fail to do so, “(w)e run the risk of not only denying people a voice in the reconstruction of their own history, but offending and demeaning indigenous cultures when we use them as a model for the past without recognizing not only their changing past but their active involvement in changing and/or maintaining their identities and history in the present.

The Twentieth Century brought with it vast changes for the peoples of West Africa. The yoke of colonialism bound them together into a new political, economic, and social order. It was as if hundreds of years of history had suddenly ended, and begun again anew. In the wake of the Berlin West Africa Conference, in 1885, the great powers of Europe – Britain, France, Germany, and even Portugal and Belgium – had carved up West Africa among themselves. European overlords either completely replaced, or else adopted a “supervisory” position over the native African authorities.

Proud kingdoms, like those of the Asante, Benin, and Dahomey, found themselves forced to adapt or disappear, as West Africans struggled to make sense of a world that had been turned completely upside down and inside out. For “inside out,” could easily describe the reversal of economic roles that came along with European conquest. Formerly, European traders had stayed close to the coast, allowing the African rulers and merchants to supply Europe and her New World colonies with slaves and other “merchandise.

The British had finally succeeded in ending the slave trade some years before, and many of the coastal kingdoms of West Africa had languished as a result. Some had been almost wholly dependent upon the trade in human beings – now there would have to be new sources of revenue. For the most part, these new sources of income would be developed by Europeans who would exploit West Africa’s people and resources for the benefit of their home countries. However, the Africans would also learn from their new masters. Some of them would obtain a Western education, or work to introduce the ideas of the modern industrial world to Africa.

European science, technology, education, political, economic, cultural, and religious ideas would all have a profound impact on West Africa. The pre-colonial relationship between Europeans and West Africans was one of mutual trade. In the first half of the Nineteenth Century, Europeans vastly increased their purchases of palm oil, and also continued to buy tropical hardwoods, while Africans received the products of Europe’s industrial revolution: cotton and woolen textiles and iron. 1 It was only as direct European influence began to increase that economic conditions were gradually modified.

The introduction of cocoa by European missionaries in the 1860s, led to its becoming a major cash crop and primary export by the earliest period of European colonial domination, around 1900. Gold and coca were the mainstays of the economy in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). To keep up with their seemingly insatiable demands for these and other products, the British, French, and other others, introduced more modern techniques of production. In particular, they employed industrial methods of mining, and built railroads and port facilities to enable a vastly increased flow of goods.

Yet it would be wrong to think that was no African response to changed economic conditions. Already, in the late 1800s, African merchant families, such as the Sarbahs, began to encourage rubber production: In contrast to the palm oil trade, the rubber trade, because of a greater monetary return per unit of labour input and weight, drew into its orbit thousands of producers from the deep interior, including Sefwi, Kwahu, Asante and the distant states of Brong-Ahafo, all more than 100 miles from the coast.

The rubber trade also gave rise to a new group of middle-men or broken from the Fanti states, Asin, Denkyera, and Akim, who carried the trade to the further limits of the forest zone and in so doing accelerated the extension of the cash economy. Rubber became a major export with shipments totalling well over one million pounds volume in 1886; and by 1893, the Gold Coast ranked first among the rubber exporting countries of the British Empire and third in the world. 3

Africans were, therefore, fully able to adapt themselves to European conditions in order to increase the size and extent of their markets, even if this necessitated adopting new techniques, and even entirely new crops, like rubber. On the down side, an economy based on growing and harvesting rubber latex caused significant social upheavals. The influence of the coastal mercantile families and kingdoms waned in favor of inland economic interests. 4 Families like the Sarbahs expanded their trading networks deep into the Interior, opening up branch story, cajoling purchasers, and further turning economic focus toward the one paramount crop.

They also became increasingly dependent on fluctuations in the European market. 5 Furthermore, the conflict between European sponsored economic development, and meddlesome European control can be seen in the 1920’s Gold Coast, where British Governor Guggisberg pursued a policy that was in many ways detrimental to the future of the African peoples under his control: Anti-modernisation, anti-urban, and anti-development. Regulations and barriers against innovation proliferated…. Official policy did nothing to encourage the emergence of a commercial middle class.

Its effect instead was to establish a highly formidable machinery of bureaucratic control…. The most damaging effect of colonial policy on the ground was the way in which it hindered the emergence of a ‘native modernizing cadre’, one result of which ‘was to divert into long and bitter anti-colonial struggles much brilliant talent which could have been used creatively in development sectors’. 6 The subordination of African interests to European profits condemned West Africans to economic backwards through lack of skills and genuine opportunities.

The lack of skill and opportunity open to native West Africans leads naturally to a discussion of European education and the new horizons it presented. Prior to the era of colonial domination, West Africa’s peoples had had little contact with Western ideas, except for he occasional interactions with Christian missionaries. The states, large and small, of West Africa had been universally pre-industrial, and had possessed nothing in the way of modern communications, transportation, or even the kind of complex educational and political institutions that existed in the Christian and Muslim worlds.

Missionaries were the first to introduce Western educational methods into West Africa: For them education took place in schools, where obedient pupils listened to teachers, took examinations, and received diplomas certifying knowledge. Discipline was important, not only to make the children study, but also to mold desirable habits and (that was usually considered to be even more important than learning itself). 7 On the whole, Western education extended only to teaching subjects that Europeans thought would be useful to their “charges.

Vocational training was sufficient for people who would never have to govern themselves. 8 Nevertheless, an exposure to the Western academic tradition inspired many African families to push for a higher level of education for their children. “Few pupils wanted to undergo the cost and the hardship of study, only to be prepared for a rural life and a low living standard. ” 9 In the 1930’s, in French West Africa, Colonial Government officials began to formulate a new approach that appeared to look forward to a synthesis of the European and Native traditions.

France’s redefined mission civilisatrice [civilizing mission] was to be fulfilled… by teaching the subject populations how to live according to “authentic African traditions,”… This vision of France’s role overseas as the protector of indigenous cultures in the colonies challenged earlier presentations of the colonial mission that had presented France as the bearer of “European civilization” and “French culture” destined to bring Africa out of the “darkness” in which many late-nineteenth-century colonizers claimed its people lived. 10

The French administrators went so far as to strongly encourage African arts and crafts, sponsor African festivals – even to teach Africans “how to be African”(! ). In order to avoid contamination by native teachers already trained in the earlier European methods, the French actually brought in teachers from France to lead the Africans in the study of their native West African culture; these teachers being observed leading Natives in local folk dances, etc. 11 Such plans represented an interesting attempt to keep Native elites loyal to France, while at the same time, well-rooted in their Native lands and cultures.

Ostensibly, such practices would avoid the “stateless” quality of Africans educated under the earlier system. Nonetheless, exposure to European educational and economic ideas – even when those ideas were fused with African traditions – could not forestall an African thirst for greater freedom and opportunity along European lines. Colonial rulers often imposed a dual system of justice – a European one for major offenses, and a Native one for those offenses deemed minor by the Colonial Authorities.

The French, early on, abolished the Native courts and legal system, except in rare cases, while even under the British, it was quite clear that Native justice was distinctly secondary to the “real” justice of the Europeans. 12 Dichotomies such as these further entrenched notions of West African inferiority. The French instituted a policy of not interfering in African customs and culture, as long as those customs did not conflict with the French aim of achieving some sort of “evolution” among Africans. 13 It was taken utterly for granted that African culture was inherently inferior to French civilization.

By contrast, the British authorities endeavored to maintain equilibrium by combining traditional African smallholder society with the demands of the British Cocoa Board. Rural West African society was to be maintained at all costs to prevent a breakdown of the social order, such as occurred when jobs were scarce and peasants left for the cities in the hope of finding work. There, oddly enough, the British actually encouraged the growth of an urban petit bourgeoisie in the dream of preventing rebellion.

With the collapse of world markets during the Great Depression, urban and peasant unrest increased – with the noticeable difference that now a radicalized bourgeoisie was available to lead that unrest. 14 In short, the European colonial administrations of West Africa both helped and exploited Africans. With their thirst for profits, and a belief in the superiority of their own institutions, technology, and culture, they dreamed of “advancing” the native population while at the same time keeping that population economically productive, and under firm European control.

Yet in so doing, they introduced many attributes of the modern world to the peoples of West Africa. European notions of development, education, and justice split traditional African life into separate public and private spheres – especially for those who embraced European learning and techniques. 15 The divide that grew up between Europeanized Africans, and those who have remained closer to their traditional ways of life remains a problem even today.

One of the lasting legacies of European Colonization in West Africa was this impartial transformation; this creation of a society existing in two worlds, trained properly for neither. Once opened to the full force of the industrial (and later post-industrial) economy, the traditional African economy could not compete. At the same time, not enough West Africans were educated, in the European sense, to provide the skills and leadership to easily lead their people into a new era. European rule has left West Africa with many choices, not all of them good.

In colonial America, there was enough economic opportunity for a poor European to want to take the long boat Journey across the Atlantic Ocean to start a new life. Europeans began immigrating to America creating colonies in the mid-eighteenth century. There were thirteen original colonies. A variety of religions and classes of people such as rich merchants, poor fame’s, and slaves moved to colonial America. Most, but not all were able to benefit from the economic opportunity in the new land.

This essay will prove how much economic opportunity there was in Colonial America ND will also state the factors the affected the colonists’ opportunities to succeed. One of the simplest sources of opportunity in America was the spacious land. It had not yet been over populated with other countries. (0. 1) As in Europe, one does not find a crowded society, where every place is over-stocked. There is room for everybody in America. (Doc. 6) Anything could happen for the new American because there was so much open land.

A second example of opportunity was that there were raw materials and better crop growing climates in America than there were in England. (0. 1) Tobacco was a principle article of trade in the colonies. Doc. 4) It was a popularly demanded product and didn’t grow well in the European climate. (0. 1) By growing this crop, the colonists were able to benefit economically by selling and trading tobacco with Europe. Thirdly, in the colonies many colonists owned farms. In the south, most of the farms produced cash crops.

These were large crops that were grown to sell for money instead of the use of the farmers themselves. These crops were very labor intensive. (0. 1) Most of the owners of these cash crops purchased African slaves from slave traders to do all of their work for them. (0. 1) ‘It is the poor Negroes who alone work hard… ‘ (Doc. 5) Although the African slaves did not benefit in any way from this system, the colonists benefited greatly. They had the opportunity to earn money without having to do much labor.

In the northern colonies, there was a higher demand for workers due to slow immigration. (0. 1) ‘… Poor people (both men and women) of all kinds, can here get three times the wages for their labor they can in England or Wales’. (Doc. 2) Here, colonists were able to greatly gain economically and were presented with a huge opportunity to earn more money in the colonies Han in England. A factor that determined the success of a colonist was their social status. Many of the common colonists made their living by farming and selling their crops.

In Virginia, a royal governor named William Berkeley would put heavy taxes on the farmers with the consent of the wealthier class. This was due to the fact that the extra money Berkeley accumulated would go to them. (0. 1) ‘Bacon’s Rebellion… Was the first instance in the colonies “in which the common people rose not only against the Royal government, but also the rule of the privileged class. “(Doc. 1) In this rebellion Jamestown was burned driving Berkeley out. Taxes paid by the fame’s were reduced. (0. ) This rebellion shows that the lower class was able to rise against their higher authority, cause them to give in the lower classes demands, and give them what they wanted. A wealthy man could be successful, but so could the poor because of a lack to an est. blessed government. Also, it someone was wealthy enough to own a slave, they had a great advantage of success in the colonies. A slave owner could have double to work they needed done for half the price it would coast to hire other colonists or work on their own. (0. 1)

In colonial America there was a great amount of economic opportunity for colonists who emigrated from Europe. They were able to grow profitable crops by taking advantage of the good climate and spacious land. They were able to suppress their governor when their demands were not met and a sense of equality was established. Colonists took the advantage of owning slaves to do the labor of mass producing cash crops. And some colonists had the opportunity to be paid handsomely for their labor in the colonies. These examples and factors are clear evidence that there was economic opportunity for the colonists in America.

In addition to this the first wave was caused by the lust for gold, glory, and mercantilism. The second wave had the desire to secure sources of raw materials and to educate and save the native people. The colonization of Africa happened between the 1 ass’s and 1 ass’s. African societies put up forms of resistance to fight against the attempt to colonize their countries. In despite of the fight, most of Africa had been colonized by European powers. When the European imperialist pushed into Africa it was titivated by three main factors which were social, political, and economic.

Africans were used by the Europeans as a source of salves, raw materials, and riches. The imposition of colonialism on Africa would alter its history forever. There modes of thought, and ways of life were impacted by the change. Prior to the “scramble for Africa,” their economies were advancing in every area, mostly in the area of trade. The colonizing of Africa was to exploit the physical, human, and economic resources of an area that would benefit the longing nation. Before the colonization, Africa was not economically isolated from the rest of the world.

The African states engaged in international trade and the West Africa had specifically developed extensive trading systems. After Livingston opened African the Western missionaries moved in by the thousands. Benefits of the missionaries being involved were hospitals, colleges, schools, development projects, abolition of slavery, and improved agricultural methods. With all these benefits you would think it was he best thing that has ever happened, but with all these benefits it came with a cost.

European colonialism brought many things to Africa to include rails and roads but it also cut brought conflicts in the societies today. When the rails and roads were put up, it cut the African continent up into several administrative units. In doing this it created a drag on its development but with everything going on in Africa the main conflicts cannot be blamed on colonialism. The African leaders and their greed to satisfy their riches, their ironies and their families is what puts an impact and conflicts in the world today.