Africa Since 1940

Their goal has always been to rob them of their livelihood, to destroy and steal what were rightly the Africans. Ignorance and defiance became the downfall of many, as they trusted the words of the whites. The destruction and atrocities that Africans faced was indicative of the cruel way in which European invaded the nation and took control in the name of colonization. Many books made note of the colonizing of the African nation. Three of those great books are: African Since 1940 The Past of the present by Frederick Cooper, The Nigerian Civil war by John de ST. Jorre and African Perspectives on Colonialism by A. ADU Boahen.

However, of the three books Boahen provides more supplemental materials that support my thesis. The most important economic change that occurred in Africa was during the period 1880-1960. This period marked the colonization and the scramble for African colonies. Boahen writes “The first and the most important of the economic changes that had occurred in Africa by 1880 were the abolition and suppression of that most inhuman and abominable of all trading activities- namely, the slave trade-and its replacement by trade in natural products, which has become known in typical Euro- centric terms as legitimate trade” (Boahen pg. 1).

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Slave trade exemplified the harsh cruelty that Africans faced. They were sold into slavery and beaten and many die during that time. The middle passage journey of slaves that were sold across the world to work on plantations proved to be the worst journey in history. Slave trade only profited the European as slaves were an aspect of making money for their masters. Not only were the African people forced to leave most of the power countries’ economies weak and on the brink of collapse. They needed new ways to generated money which they did by overflowing Africa and retaining most of the Natural resource such as ivory, diamond, and gold.

The scramble for Africa open door to a new way of thinking: the county did not just change economically but socially. According to Cooper by the 1700s the era in, “Pan- Africanist was at its highest point of mobilization in African political history”. (Cooper 24) . For the first time westerners such as Marcus Garvey from African decedent who was captives of slavery, began to challenge imperialism. They launch organizations: International African Service Bureau based out of London. Regional linkages were established between countries and hybrid culture was form. People of western African coast began referring to themselves as nations.

Black influential understood the gravity of slavery and knew that the change has to begin with them. The 1880 was a better time period in Africa because Slavery was abolished and therefore, the old African country way of life have been abolish to some degree in that now people were no longer under bondage. These individuals were free to live a life in less fear and with a more renew sense of hope for the future. It was good that a new Africa was emerging because this means that individuals will be more incline to want to strive for a better life for themselves and their families and to make a better future for their children.

Moreover, after the abolition of slavery the formation of legitimate trade means that individuals could have a source of gaining employment to help to support their family. Boahen mentioned that in the 1880 (African had become more deeply integrated into the capitalist world-economy than before, a development which the ensuing colonial system was to intensify,) which exemplify the fact that Africa was become more stabilize as an economy in of itself where job can be provided for its citizen. (Boahen pg 5). The economy development of Africa in the 1880 meant that the qualities of life for the people were going to improve over time.

With the economy improving this would open up individual access to job opportunities. The invasion of European forces into Africa brought a division among the African people. Elements that were formulated such as governmental, educational and their religious system were imposed in a cruel manner as many Africans throughout that time in history were brutally harmed by the Europeans. This abuse was due to the fact Different language religion and other aspects of life were enforced by the Europeans colonization.

So, with the abolishment of slavery individuals learn both the language of their ormer ruling countries and the original language of their ancestors through parents teaching of their children. Language plays a crucial part in an individual culture as it is the mean through which communication took place. Cooper mentioned that “At any one moment, Africa appears as a mixture of diverse languages and diverse culture; indeed, linguistically alone, it is the most varied continent on earth” (Cooper pg11). This mean linguistically speaking Africa came out of the slave trade become a more diverse country.

This diversity is obvious in more than one language that which is spoken by individuals from the continent of Africa. The African people depended on their cultural languages to bind them together. This help them to confuse their colonizers in their intent and goal of enforcing slavery. African understood the importance of language and how they could use it to their advantage. Additionally, the 1880 was a period in which the Christian missionary was also experiencing dramatic change. The change in the Christian missionary mean that individuals where having a renew view of religion and how it should be practice.

Boahen also mentioned that change in the religion in African societies resulted in stratification, which means that there were different groups of individuals in the African society; therefore, the further stratification of African societies into a relatively small Christian educated elite, particularly in western and southern Africa, and a large traditional and illiterate group” (Boahen, 17). So, it is obvious that as people were becoming more educated they were more able to view religion from a different perspective.

The 1880 was also a period in which there was changing political trends that were towards a sense of greater centralization. Boahen mentioned that even though there was a change in some of the empires in terms of disintegration such as empires such as Asante and Oye empires some empires became even stronger (Boahen, 2008). So, there were the emerging of new empires such as the Sokoto empire and the Tukulor empire of Masina that were in much larger existence especially in certain area state as the century in West Africa begins to emerge.

New political change in Africa was evident in Nigeria such as constitutional experimentation (Boahen, pg 12). So, the constitution help to lay out the foundation for how individuals in the new African, societies wanted to be treatment by their government in making sure those individuals in the societies was educate. So, with modernization there came a renew way of engaging in political activities as it will benefit the country of Africa. However the prosperity and flourishing of the countries of economy depended on the mobilization of African leaders yet this did not come forth.

Cooper writes “The development effort of late colonial regimes never did provide the basis for a strong national economy; economies remained externally originated and the state’s economic power remained concentrated at the gate” (Cooper 5). He was also concern about where the blame for the wars lie cooper writes “By looking at the post-war era as a whole, one can begin to explain the succession of crises that colonial and postcolonial states faced, without getting into a sterile debate over whether a colonial legacy or the incompetence of African governments is to blame” (Cooper 6).

The African nation had many crises to deal with mainly poverty that resulted from the war. Colonization of the African people drove them deeper into poverty many regions had to sell their labor. Cooper writes “In parts of African, colonization drove rural dwellers into deepening poverty, sometimes as a deliberate policy to create labor reserves where people had little alternative to selling their labor cheaply, sometimes as a result of actions which made difficult ecosystems worse” (21). Poverty is one of the worst elements of people’s lives and this epidemic led the African people to seek for help.

War is the most dreaded and the resulting effect of break-down of laws and orders in a civilized society. The Nigerian civil war which is known as the “Biafra War” took place on July 16th 1967 to January 15th 1970, political conflict was caused by the attempted secession of the southern providence of Nigeria as the self-proclaimed republic of Biafra. The conflicts accrued when Great Britain invaded Africa and divided up the some of it colonies causing a great separation among the African people; where people in the north were Muslims and in the south were Christian.

However due to the division it ended in economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tension among the various peoples of Nigeria. During the war millions died and many were displaced leaving the colony in a state of distress. Due to the war hunger and starvation arose in Biafra many young children died; soldiers were out raged and they decided to take matters into the own hands St. Jorre writes “hungry soldiers tried to hijack a food convoy, and he beat them to a pulp” (St. Jorre pg. 251) this provided the severity and level of starvation that was felt in Biafra that even those responsible for aintaining the law put their needs above the people.

Starvation does not respect anyone and during this period it evident that hunger claimed many lives. The depth and continuance of the war resulted in more deaths as starvation continued and no help was evident. As the Biafra’s people would look for help from the western world it was eminent that something needed to be done. The starvation was not ending and if they could only receive a little help it could go a long way this could be attain by pricking the conscience of the western world.

ST. Jorre writes “By striking at the heart of the Western world’s moral conscience with the real threat of millions starving to death if the war continued, backed up the imagined one of genocide if they surrendered, they succeeded where all their other tactics intensive lobbying, signing the oil away repeated appeals to the religious, ideological and the political sensibilities of the outside world had failed” (ST. Jorre pg. 241). This sad way of life was the start of new recognition for other African countries that had to deal with the epidemic of starvation.

ST. Jorre writes “The immediate benefits of such concern were useful enough, especially the money, the lobbying publicity and public support that followed each new starvation newspaper story or television film” (ST. Jorre pg. 242). Even in such distraught moment in history something good came of it as the Western nation would become aware of it and help to prevent an occurrence elsewhere. African people endured the worst life possible due to greed from their European colonizers.

Their lands were invaded and lives were destroyed as many were taken as slaves to work on plantations to make money for them. What the Europeans did not only hurt the African people physically but emotionally too they have never recovered. This led to war on the Continent as poverty took over and the means of survival was as the height in the minds of all Africans. Many aspect of their lives were taken away their culture, their language and their believe were destroyed. The European brainwashed the African people and took over and kill many in the process.