In the 1880s and 1890s, Europe was undergoing the industrial revolution and needed raw materials to make products. The colonization of Africa was Europe’s plan to get these materials since Africa was still a primary sector and Europe was now a secondary sector. Europe had plenty of power to take over Africa because their government was much more organized and followed rational-legal authority. In fact in the video, one man said that it did not even require a war, only the threat of war. Aside from obtaining the African’s raw materials, Europe also had other intentions for Africa. Colonialism was the ultimate goal. Europe invaded and claimed total control over Africa, forcing their culture and civilization on the African people. As said by Professor Lansine Kaba, “We were made to be as if we had no civilization and no culture, that was very traumatizing indeed.” This is a prime example of cultural relativism, just because the African people had a different culture from what the Europeans were used to, they assumed them to have no culture at all and forced their ways on them. They forced them to learn their own language and adopt their religion and their new authority was the Queen and the King. They forced civilization upon them by imposing taxes on the people to pay for roads and schools, there was no democracy. The worst case of colonization was of the congo free state by King Leopold II. With the industrialization of Europe, the need for rubber was immense and grew especially with the invention of the automobile whose tires are made of rubber. Leopold forced all of the men, women, and children to work so hard to collect rubber for export that half of the population of the congo free state was dead by the time Leopold’s actions were exposed. -Chameleon123
I think what happened to Africa and their culture is really sad. I think that things like this happen more than we know but it is something that everyone should be aware of. Many different areas in our world had a hard time and it is really surprising what different people will do to others. The way they were taken advantage of and nothing could be done is really a problem. The way they pushed different culture onto them is really wrong. No one should be forced to take part in another culture that they wanted nothing to do with. The way they took advantage of everyone and forced a different way of life onto them is morally and ethically wrong. Litv123
In the 1880’s and 1890’s while Europe was going through their industrial revolution Africa was being subjected to colonialism first by Britain. Britain threatened to fight for the land of Africa and Africa surrendered without any war breaking out. Britain started exploiting the land of its resources and the people were placed into slavery for their own personal advantage. Other nations soon followed Britain's lead and soon Africa was owned by many other nations worldwide. When the other nations came in they destroyed many of Africa’s political systems that they had in place and they were replaced by the new systems of whichever nation controlled that area. In about 20 years 90% of Africa was brought under European occupation.Africa was being stripped of its natural resources like gold, cocoa, diamonds, ivory, rubber, and cotton. This went on until after WWII when African Nationalism came about, and some areas of Africa started gaining their independence back. Even though Africa was being stripped of it resources there were some positive results from the colonialism. Some areas were having city’s built, and the other nations were introducing their own culture to their areas. Schools were also being built to help educate the local people. Roadways were also built, but this was mainly to help with the exportation of goods. This is an example of global stratification, Africa was showing patterns of social inequality compared to the rest of the world. When looking at the world as a whole most of the low income countries in the world is Africa. Where Africa is stricken with poverty. There are some signs of this. There is little technology, a large population growth, there is also a lot of gender inequality, and there is social stratification. Social stratification is greater in agrarian societies than industrial societies. In Rostow’s Stages of Modernization, Africa lives in the traditional stage. Where they can’t see the world as being different. They have little individual freedom and don’t except or have the means to have change. According to Wallerstein’s Capitalist World Economy, Africa is the periphery of the world economy. It was brought into the Capitalist World Economy by colonial exploitation. It was supporting rich nations by giving cheap labor and vast market for industrial products. This benefits the rich nations because of the exploitation. In the video Africa was being exploited and other nations were taking their raw materials and people as slaves and manufactured the materials as something else and sometimes selling it back to Africa at a high price. Diver123
I was quite amazed countries of Europe would go this far in search for wealth. I really do just feel for the Africans. Time after time, they have been forced into slavery for the riches of their land. They have been subject to slavery and even denied the rights to practice their own traditions. The Africans had all of the resources just not the industry and this ruined them. Europe had to take advantage of their strength over them and forcibly take everything that was worth something to the country. The rest of the world flourishes from African while Africa is one of the poorest countries in the world. Scuba123
The industrial revolution in Europe was the new era of the world. The revolution called for the increased need of raw materials, which Africa was abundant with. This lead to the growth of the economy in Europe. They were dependent on the raw materials of Africa. This made Africa the third world country and Europe the first world country. The thing that limited Africa from being independent was their technological maturity. They were not as advanced as Europe in industry. The Europeans began to colonize as much of Africa as they could, sometimes without even being there. They were simply just drawing lines. They were justified by saying they were bringing civilization and religion to these people, when they just wanted their resources. They were trying to modernize the people of Africa. This began a system of chattel slavery, along with human trafficking. The Africans were treated as inferior to the Europeans and were not allowed to do things the Europeans were allowed to do. This was absolute inequality. The culture of the Africans was completely dismissed, known as cultural relativism, and the culture of the Europeans was forced on the people. Roadways and schools were built in these colonized nations. The roadways were mostly for the exportation of goods. The land of Congo experienced the worst of colonization. People were punished with the decapitation of limbs and forced to work with no pay. They were living in absolute poverty. The Africans had no freedom and were not allowed to practice their own traditions. Everything was about taking the resources out of the country and making Europe, mostly France, wealthy, a high-income nation. World War II was the turning point of African nationalism. Europeans were no longer invincible and it was time to fight back. France tried to give the Africans independence but it was to late for forgiveness. Scuba123
Actually, I understood it to be that it was not just the end of World War II that led to the change of things in Africa. Instead, it was in 1945 that the United Nations was formed which allowed grievances from small countries to be heard and acknowledged, leading the social and economic problems in Africa to become public knowledge and politicized. However, the war did release African nationalism to all the African people which destroyed the idea of the invincibility of the Europeans. This allowed the Africans to realize they could fight for their own independence. The cost of colonization to the mother countries was too much after the war, which also helped the Africans to be released from their control. sunflower123
In the 1880’s-1890’s Africa was destroyed by foreign invaders who had the attitude of entitlement and Eurocentrism. Ninety percent of Africa was considered captured by Europe. Just the thought of war was enough for them to overthrow the local African nations. The Industrial Revolution changed the sea in Europe, making Africa the workshop of the world and brought forth the idea of living in luxury. This shift brought the need for raw materials which were, and still are, natural resources in Africa. Foreign governments, France, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium took over politics, power, and authority leading the people of Africa through authoritarianism, meaning they have no say. In February 1885, the leading countries met to discuss splitting the country of Africa up between them instead of fighting over it without the general populations of Africa’s knowledge. Each controlling nation got random chunks of land, it was geographical madness. This was cultural colonialization. Africa’s (low-income country) exported all of its wealth to other countries (high-income countries). There was no democracy, there were no school, taxes were collected and roads were built but only from the mines to the port so that all the wealth would suck out of the nation. During the World Wars, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc., the “mother countries” forced the African people to fight, even thought it had nothing to do with them. This the changed the African’s ideology and helped them realize that they could fight for their independence, and led to a political revolution. Unfortunately, when the mother countries pulled out they did not help with the new formation of government or the upbringing of democracy which lead to years and years of civil war. Africa is the largest recipient of outside aid and live on less than a dollar a day. From 2000-2008 $437B left Africa through tax relief. But Africa is undergoing a social change and that is becoming more and more democratic and a social class is emerging. The raw materials of Africa have financed technology, communication, and business, leading to an atmosphere of hope of breaking free from the past and seeing real independence. sunflower123
It really is shocking to think that from 2000-2008 $437B left Africa through tax relief. Although it is recognized that there is a problem with poverty in Africa and there is some relief going towards the impoverished surely there is more that can be done to prevent the loss of lives by starvation, economic trials, as well as the AIDS epidemic across the continent. However when you have nations like Britain invading your homeland and taking you for everything you've got, it can be quite difficult to deal with such pressing issues.-MrG123
It is disturbing to think that colonization can cause problems for nations years and years later. Africa is still considered a low income nation today, and that is mainly because of the enslavement, colonization, and thievery they experienced. This video somewhat angered me. They forced Africa to fight, like you said, when those wars did not even concern them in the slightest. However, it was probably good for them to realize that they need to fight for their independence. It is interesting to me how helpful Africa is when they are such a low income nation. They live on so little, but still manage to provide aid for many nations. -softball_savvy123
it's crazy how they discussed splitting up the country without letting the Africans know what was going on. just imagine how much money Africa would have right now. i completely agree wit you . Also the way these countries went about everything was terrible. they left a country with barely anything to survive let alone an actual government. That just goes to show that even back then people were selfish if not worse than today's society. People never seem to think about things like this when it comes to learning new material. Dancer 123
I like how you said that Africa was the “workshop of the world.” It is true because Europe was treating Africa as if it needed their help in “creating” a culture when really they already had a culture of their own. Europe was forcing their language, religion, and other ways of life on the African people because they had such a strong sense of ethnocentrism that they did not even consider the African culture a culture since it was so different than theirs. Another good idea you brought up was how the European leaders were just claiming random areas of land. In fact, many of them had never even seen the land they were drawing boundaries into. -Chameleon123
I can see Africa being the "workshop of the world". The Europeans was using Africa for it's resources. It was very sad that the people of the 17 nations was being set up by the European imperialism to be raped. In my opinion the Europeans took everything the people in Africa had from their freedom down to their state of mind. Africa did not have no control over anything. They were being slaved and people was making good money off of slavery. It's very sad of what the people in Africa have been through and what they are still going through in today's society. Africa is considered one of the poorest country with the highest HIV rate. Rendezvous123
It is no secret to anyone that has ever studied a single ounce of history, that Europe is one of the most imposing, vile continents that has ever graced this home we have called earth. Not only did they push millions of people across the Atlantic Ocean onto the continent we now know as North America due to the widespread monarchy of England, but they also had the nerve to invade Africa and impose their way of life on the African people as well. As it were in the 1880s and 1890s, Europe, especially Britain, was a wealthy populace in comparison to the drags of living in Africa where there was clearly no objections to the continent being home to many low income countries. So naturally the masses of high income europeans came in droves to colonize Africa, take away all of their resources, and subject the African individuals to an entirely new way of life. The white man proving once again just how nice and friendly he truly is…. Not so modestly speaking, as technology grew with the invention of the automobile and population growth in surrounding continents, the Congo was invaded while its inhabitants were forced to work collecting rubber to make the tires. This practice is also known as neocolonialism which further led into multinational corporations as King Leopold II would have it. The colonization of Africa in the 1880s and 1890s was a very sad example of colonialism that proved power is more important than the decrease in poverty. In fact as the whole situation in the Congo developed it proved the matters of inequality within the modernization theory later developed in the 1950s. Instead of providing foreign aid to the poor, King Leopold II would continue to exploit them and continue controlling the population for his own maniacal needs and services. Also of important notation here is the dependency theory, as played out by the rich Europeans when exploiting the poor Africans.-MrG123
I never really thought about how bad England pillaged and reaped others for their own good. I know about what happened here in the United States, but I never really knew about what happened in Africa. What happened in the Congo with King Leopold of Belgium, there is no reason for that to have happened at all. I can not fathom how someone could be so cold and ruthless to people blows my mind. How can somebody cut off another's hand because they are not working hard enough. This is unimaginable to me. I can’t imagine what their life there could've been like. Diver 123
I appreciate your critique of Europe because it is exactly what I think whenever I think about colonization and the great disparities between Western European countries and the 'third world'. Europe set out on a horrific mission to control the whole world which disadvantaged so many countries and peoples. While the video showed that compared to France, Britain did not try to totally assimilate the people they were colonizing, their ways of life still were heavily imposed on Africans under the guise of humanitarian or civilizing missions, that motive being problematic on its own. Though some aspects of colonization have helped in ways, like your mention of reducing poverty, I agree that the consequences much outweighed the benefits. -dday123
When Europe and Africa were at war, Europe was a high income nation, while Africa was a low income nation. A good example of colonialism is what Europe did to Africa. Africa had many riches, jewels, and other items that Europe needed at the time. Europe wanted political supremacy over all nations. Africans culture and way of life was completely ignored by their invaders which is known as cultural relativism. The invaders forced them to learn their own language, for example, rather than the Africans being able to speak their own. The Congo experienced the worst colonization. To other nations, they cared less about the poverty of other places. Power was the most important thing to possess. There was race inequality when foreigners were invading. African Americans experienced a lot of racism. The more powerful nations received random pieces of land which is cultural colonization. This caused complete global madness because of the power nations wanted to possess, the random land each nation owed, and because all nations wanted to have political supremacy. Africans, including women and children not just men, had to do a lot of manual labor during this enslavement. Whoever refused to work, would have their hands amputated and/or be killed by their invaders. All nations wanted to take away Africa's resources and wealth, which is why Africa is a poorer nation today. In fact, this is usually most nations are low income nations because of our other nations treated them in the past. World War II was the turning point for the Africans. It caused Europe to no longer be invincible in the eyes of the Africans. In the 1950s, Europe faced an economic crisis, which greatly helped the Africans. Britain was bankrupted. Africa had to help feed them. Nationalism is very powerful, and people first realized this in the 1950s. Colonization is saddening because it can destroy a happier future for certain nations. -softball_savvy123
I agree with absolutely every thing you said! Their culture and lifestyle was completely ignored like you said. In their own country they were being treated like animals, and foreigners. It is inhumane, and selfish for the Europeans to invade another continent to steal their resources, and on top of that to force slavery on them. They took advantage of them because since Africa is a low-income they didn't have any resources to protect themselves. The Europeans could do whatever they wanted to them, and they did. Even worse in the Congo with Leopold II in power. In 23 years all he did was murder, torture, mistreat, and enslave the natives. Colonization is a very serious and dangerous thing and it is revolting to think that these African people were ruthlessly overtortured, murdered, and enslaved in their own native land. panda123
The video starts out with a very powerful message of African being free for only fifty years. The way their values and beliefs were taken away from them is horrific. Africa’s entire social structure was destroyed by different soldiers overnight. Europe had captured an entire continent and there was nothing the entire African community could do about it. They did not have to have any war the threat of the guns was enough for their country to be taken over. The Industrial revolution was booming over in Europe and because their demand for luxury was so high they felt the need to take from Africa. Africa was wealthy with diamonds and many other materials that Europe stole from them. Africa had a cultural lag and was not able to keep up with Europe in the same way. Europe was technologically advancing and leaving African and their people behind. They were not viewed as valuable people only their land was valuable. Europe knew they were taking advantage of a low income nation, however that never seemed a concern to them during the entire video. The meeting that was held to distribute different parts of Africa to different European leaders is such an invasion of the African’s land and they were never part of that decision much less any decision. The entire video is rich with colonialism and is a great example of exactly what Europe was doing to Africa. Their entire culture, family, and faith were stripped from the African people. The way Europe justified the situation is morally wrong. They were not bringing anything positive to the African people they were treating them like slaves and not allowing their voice to be heard. Europe has an entire social control over Africa and were changing their everyday of life. They constructed their social reality and told them the way to live their lives from day to day. This was definitely a situation where race was involved as well. One man in the video states that it was thought that the white man was superior to the black man. All of these videos show how race has always been an issue and still is. Litv123
It's such a shame that Africa has been free for only fifty short years. I completely agree that what happened to this nation was horrific, and I think there are many ways Europe could have helped Africa and gotten raw material without destroying African culture. They didn't see these people and their traditions as valuable, like you said. As they were tearing apart hundreds of different traditional African cultures, Europe was reaping the rewards of their raw materials. It was morally wrong for these Europeans to try to justify what they were doing at all. Just because Europe believed that their culture and religion was superior, it was forced upon thousands. daisy123
Even though some countries in Europe were going through an industrial revolution, many countries in Africa were being forcibly exposed to colonialism by countries such as England, France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, as well as others. In a matter of a mere twenty years, most of Africa (nearly ninety percent) had been taken over by these European nations. Why the sudden dramatic change? The answer lies in the fact that the European industrial revolution required raw materials of which Africa possessed a multitude in abundance. These colonists had nothing but their own interests in mind. They were extremely entitled and Eurocentric which affected greatly how poorly they treated the “workers” (slaves). This colonization was cultural: all of the low-income countries in Africa were sending their exports (mostly raw materials) to high-income countries in Europe. Instead of taking what the African nations had, the colonists could have brought some of their innovations with them and started investing in the land, local people, and local government, thereby building the individual nations up so they could export on their own through their own will. There was an attempt at abolitionism in the late eighteenth century, however it was not successful. France’s take on colonization was different that most other countries in Europe. France desired not only to rule an area; instead they desired to assimilate the population they ruled over to French values and ideals. They did this by basically recreating French towns in the nations they ruled over. However, this idea of cultural assimilation was misjudged. They ruled too powerfully, allowing hardly any local leaders. Even after King Leopold was ousted for his atrocities in the Congo, the foreign aid that then stepped in gave little help. The roads that they built all led from the mines or plantations to the port instead of connecting towns. The schools and public buildings they built meant taxation on the local population. -ThreeTwo123
I think a good point is that after all the high income nations left they left a population of uneducated people to try to run countries made up of hundreds of different ethnic groups. It's so sad the amount of lives were lost because of ethnic warfare. According to the video over 2 million people are thought to have lost their lives because of ethnic warfare. Also I never realized that everything in the countries benefited the empires even the roads were meant to benefit the empires by running to the port rather than through the towns and cities of the country which is super interesting. -Glass123
European countries like Britain, France, Belgium, and Germany need the resources that many countries in Africa were plentiful in. They all believed that they were far superior to the African people so instead of working out fair trade agreements they colonized most of Africa. Africa was rich in materials like rubber and cotton and in those times colonialism equated to supremacy. During colonization France forced these countries into assimilation. The African society could not longer be apart of their lives. This assimilation can be to blame for the thousands of lost languages and cultures that the African people will never be able to get back. Britain did not force assimilation rather they let the ethnic groups live as they always have as long as they were reporting to their leaders and the leaders were reporting to the British government. This division had lasting effects on free Africa; over 2 million Africans were killed in ethnic infighting after Britain left their colonies.Colonialism ended around the 1960s but after the freedom of the African countries neocolonialism lingered. Even today these countries are not free one of the most eye opening quotes from the video is “financial rewards can be traced back to those countries bailing out a dependent Africa” meaning high income nations like the US are bailing out low income countries in Africa all the while these countries are gaining capital through exploiting Africa’s rich natural resources. I think the scramble for Africa can help prove the Dependency Theory. Countries like Belgium, Britain, and France would not have had the wealth and power had it not been for the economic oppression and political oppression of natural resource rich countries of Africa.The US gained exploited Africa through the use of slave trade. The US would not have had the success it did have without slave trade. -Glass123
Africa was used and abused. I can think of no other way to phrase it. There has been fear and disparity in Africa because of the Europeans for a long time. The control that the Europeans had, 90%, was far too much. Africa became the “workshop of the world.” Rather than delighting in their own resources, Africans were forced to use their resources to make other countries better. The Africans wanted to trade or make money for their labor. They were seeking opportunities to get involved. But other countries had really hurt their opportunities. Rather than treating Africans like equals, even though Africa contained many resources Europeans longed for, they treated Africans like “subjects of empire.” The industrial revolution was part of the cause for all of this. People were becoming hungry for power and wealth. Africa was being fought over as if it was something to be owned. The people of Africa were given no self worth. This shows how huge of a role racism played into this. It was significantly hard for Africa to pursue colonialism on their own. Leopold of Belgium contributed to the poverty, misery, and despair. I could not believe that it took Belgium five years to remove him after they found out about just how horrible he was to the Congo. At least 165,000 Africans fought in World War 1 and died for Europe! In World War 2 there were about half a million. Thankfully we have come a long way since then. 1960 was the year of Africa. Europe began to see the importance of this nation, and that it deserved to be independent. The issues that occurred in the Congo still forced many people to never want to go back. Thankfully Africa does have successes today, and a hopeful future. -M&M123
In the late 1800s, European nations believed the colonization of Africa was the best way to get the raw materials needed to fuel Europe’s industrial revolution. During the Berlin Conference from 1884-1885, the high-income nations of Europe met to decide which nations would get which areas of Africa. From this, a map of Africa was created with no regards for the people and communities that already lived there. Some indigenous groups were separated and some were forced to live in the same countries as their enemies. Because Europe had more wealth and power, colonization didn’t even require war, just threats of it. As different European nations conquered different areas of Africa, most Africans experienced forced assimilation. European culture, religion, and language was forced on these people with no regard for their own African culture. This is also known as cultural relativism. Europe was not only stripping this nation of its rich natural resources such as gold, ivory and rubber, but also of its traditional African culture as well. Colonial exploitation brought more wealth to high income nations because Africa offered cheap labor, cheap raw materials, and vast market systems that European governments could control. While Africa was suffering from poverty, nations in Europe that were already wealthy were just getting richer. Congo was the worst example of this, as the natives were forced to work without receiving pay, and if they were disobedient limbs were cut off and some could be killed. As colonization had too many negative impacts, there were some positive impacts. Africa received new roadways, modern medicine, and new schools. However, even though the children of Africa could now receive a good education, they were not allowed to speak any African languages and African traditions were banned. Some schools even gave their students new identities with Christian names. So, even some of the positive impacts also turned out to have negative impacts on Africans. In just 20 years, over 90% of Africa was controlled by European nations. Only after World War II did the idea of African nationalism become popular. Europe was at its weakest, and some African nations fought for and gained their independence back. It is such a shame that Africa had to experience colonization in such a negative way when Europe could have actually helped Africa out of poverty. daisy123
You mention that Europe could have helped Africa out of poverty. I agree and I think that Europe should have used their technology to help the African nations. Africa and its nations had the chance of becoming developed countries that could be grow and flourish on their own. They were not as advanced technologically. With that being said, It is sad that greed is always associated with richer nations. Taking advantage of poorer nations is unfortunately still seen today. We don't see much of colonization, but neocolonialism is still occurring. This reminds me of what happened to the Native Americans. We took advantage of them and forced them to assimilate with western culture. Many Native American tribes were killed. It is sad that we did not take the time to understand Native Americans and try to work with them to benefit the both of us. Check123
In the 1880’s and 1890’s the european imperialism in Africa set up the continent to be raped. The European had captured the continent of Africa for their raw materials. There was a high demand in Africa of rubber, gold, diamonds, cotton, etc. Africa was an opportunity for the Europeans. The Africans wanted to trade the right way, sell their labor from South Africa, they wanted to learn, and meet each other. Colonialism became fast track of political supremacy in Europe. The textbook states how “late in the fifteenth century, Europeans began exploring the Americas to the west, Africa to the south, and Asia to the east in order to establish colonies.” Europe was a continent in supremacy. In 1885 the act of Berlin was passed. They drew new borders along Africa. It legalized the scramble of Africa. There was inequality between white and black men. There was no contact with white people in Africa. Every white man was superior to black man. They were not equal. They made so much money in the slave trade. The Africans realized that they were still in chattel slavery. According to the textbook, the buying and selling of slaves still takes place in many countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, and especially Africa. Servile forms of marriage may also amount to slavery. In India, Thailand, and some African nations, families marry off women against their will. Many end up as slaves working for their husband’s family; some are forced into prostitution. Extensive exportation sweep thru the continent. They wanted to rule and assimilate the population. There was no civilization or culture. There was global stratification going on in Africa due to the Europeans. Africa is considered a middle-income country. They are not rich but they are a nation with a standard living about average for the world as a whole. Seventeen nations has been celebrating 50 years of a dependence from decades of European colonialism. Rendezvous123
During the 1880’s and 1890’s the Europeans had invaded and colonized the continent of Africa. In fact the whole continent of Africa was colonized except for two countries. That is a mind-blowing statistic. Since Africa had very valuable resources like diamonds, ivory, rubber, and cotton, the Europeans wanted them for themselves. They began to enslave, and brutally mistreat the Africans. There was one man in particular that surpassed this inhumane slavery, and treated them even worse. His name was King Leopold II of Belgium. He had told the Berlin delegates that he was going to go to Africa and civilize them. Instead of civilizing them like he said, he did the exact opposite. His reign was so beyond inhumane that he halved the population. One of the things that he would do was that he would amputate the hands of those that didn’t meet the production quota. On top of that, he would kill the slaves that would revolt against being enslaved. His reign lasted for 23 years, and it took five years for the Belgium government to take the country back. After years passed with Africa under colonianism, they were finally starting to decolonize in 1960. It was called the Year of Africa because of all the celebrating and joy that they were expressing. Sadly, that only lasted for about two years, because when the Europeans left the continent, they had left them with no organization whatsoever. The 1960’s and the 1970’s were full of non-stop violence; about 2 million people died because of ethnic violence. The Europeans had no right to invade, and enslave the African people. If they wanted resources, it could have been negotiated, not force slavery on them. Social class plays an important role in history, because it was the low-income countries that were being invaded and destroyed. The wealthy people took advantage of them, and destroyed the social organization of the natives. Also, they organized the territories for exploitation of natural resources. panda123
Listening to this makes me wonder how King Leopold became this man who led to the surpassing of this "inhumane slavery." It's like Hitler or Jones. How do these people obtain so much power and keep people under their control. He was doing things you mentioned, like amputating hands of those who didn't meet the production quota. So why did nobody stop him? He was in charge of an entire nation of people, yet none of them seemed to have questioned his authority or actions whatsoever. I agree that the Europeans had no right to invade or enslave. It ties into the idea of prejudice that some people are just better or worth more than others. -M&M123
Britain and France and other European countries had a lot of control over most of Africa and knew all about their resources. They used this control to their benefit by taking their resources during the industrial revolution. The treatment of the African people was very cruel and unjust. There were railroads built all over Africa to transport resources, but not used for the people of Africa. They were constantly getting rid of Africa’s resources all the time. I think it’s sad that European countries depended on the African troops to fight in World War I and II even after they already took most of their Earth’s resources. I think this is cruel because they didn’t have a choice. World War II began African Nationalism when African’s began to stand up for their rights. The unequal treatment of African people started a revolution. Once Africa gained its’ independence, there were problems with politics dealing with ethnicity. Since the European countries who ruled over Africa never knew the people by their ethnicities, everyone had to become familiar with their different cultures and it caused tension in some parts. Africa continued to be in extreme poverty because of the colonialism. They are depending on external aid to survive every day. $437 billion dollars has left Africa illicitly. This is a crazy amount of money to have taken away from an entire continent. All of that money that was conned away from the people could have gone towards them and helped their nation to grow and become better rather than continue to be in a state of poverty today. It is disturbing to hear that foreign banks in Africa avoid paying tax and another $854 billion has been taken from Africa. This could all have been used for development. I think that people take advantage of Africa and it is because of others’ need for more money, which is wrong because a lot of them have plenty more than Africa. -Kiwi123
It is by far one of the sickest things I’ve heard. How could a country get away with stealing over 4 billion dollars is unfathomable to me. It sickens me to know that still today they able to somehow smuggle money from a place that is already stricken with poverty. Africa is not all poor as it is portrayed on TV, some places of this continent, are flowing with green grass and is just as beautiful as any high-income nation. If Africa continues to go on the path of rebuilding and focusing on the people instead of violence which is expected due to its lack of funds, then Africa will and can be great again. Benoodles123
Africa, once rich of many profitable goods, now suffers from global poverty within many of the countries in the continent. It was subject to colonialism which aided in the downfall of this continent. The economy was full of primary sectors such as rubber, diamonds, minerals, and many other goods. This enabled many countries to want a piece of this land and one by one each country was bought by various other countries. Eurocentrism overrode this continent. Europe completely took over the land and began exploiting the countries. As they experienced the industrial revolution began Europe who already had a means to an end felt greed take over and came over to Africa to enhance their land while leaving Africa to fend for themselves. A ground-breaking moment in their history was when colonialism dissipated and they began to try and regain control of their country. They were on the right track but other countries still had the upper hand on Africa. Africa was able to aide in the wealth of many countries that bought land from the continent helping them become postindustrial countries. Yet that still was not enough, they still sought out for more goods will enabling Africa to become more industrialized. Today Africa is still subject to inequality and exploitation mainly by Britain. Since 2008, Africa had over 4 billion dollars stolen from them but yet parts of the continent continue to have impoverished countries. Today Africa is slowly coming around although it not fully industrialized, it has made strides to becoming a better, more successful place to live. It is sad to see a nations potential be stolen right from underneath them and to know that it is still occurring today and not much can be done about it due to the lack of resources that they have is even more sad. Benoodles123
From the variety of history classes I have taken since high school, the consequences and atrocities, like Leopold in Belgium, of European colonialism in Africa aren't new information but they are still important. The fact that the majority of Africa has only been independent for about 50 years now is very upsetting. What is also upsetting is the turmoil and violence that was present after decolonization. As mentioned in the video, though Europe was happy to use and abuse the African continent, they generally left quickly without political foundations for these new countries, leading them to implode politically afterward. The ethnic divisions within countries and arbitrary borders made by Europeans also hurt these countries after the revolutions. Because of these failures by European powers, colonialism is mostly responsible for the turmoil and poverty in Africa after the Year of Africa. This is ironic since Western countries now raise funds for aid and paint Africa as a sympathetic continent with many problems, removing themselves from the role they had in Africa. When I was younger, I also supported monetary aid to Africa, but I now am aware that this aid helps to create more dependency like that which was present in colonial times. After learning more about the history of colonialism in Africa, I believe that colonialism is to blame for many current problems. However, Professor Kaba from the video argued that we should not use colonialism to blame for all present problems in Africa. He instead placed emphasis on the last 50 years in Africa and their more recent political systems. New leaders came and went and they also managed to fail their people. His point is valid and some governments could have tried much harder to help their people rather than falling into corruption, but I still believe that colonialism heavily impacted the foundation necessary to help Africa succeed. - dday123
During the industrialization age, European nations seeked to Africa to gain natural resources to improve their global wealth and power. European had become a secondary sector in natural resources while Africa was still a primary sector, making them a target for nations seeking more materials. Global stratification was very prominent during this industrialization period. Each nation wanted to have a more powerful status over the other. Africa, which was not as technologically developed, was seen as a much lower status by the rest of the world. Africa was eventually divided up in sections for each European nation when the Act of Berlin was written in the 1880s. Instead of sharing the wealth with the African nations, the European nations were taking advantage and using Africa and it’s people for greed. The nations and tribes of Africa had no say whatsoever and were not aware of what the European nations were doing when the Act of Berlin was written. Africa lacked the resources to defend themselves from the authority and control of other high-income nations. Africa’s social structure changed drastically when Europe began the colonization of the continent. European nations were changing the African nation’s culture and, in some cases, forcing them to assimilate with Western culture and language. Cultural relativism forced the African nations to learn and adapt to European culture. European religion was additionally forced upon the Africans to help further control the people. It wasn’t until after World War 2 that the people of Africa began to revolt and demand independence from the European nations. Revolutions came about from the African nations when they wanted to separate themselves. Though many African countries separated from their European ties, democratic government was not developed in the aftermath as most Western countries had thought would happen. Instead, dictatorships, authoritarianism, and/or totalitarianism governments emerged. Today, we still see other high-income nations taking advantage of the low-income nation in Africa. Neocolonialism is occurring where corporations are controlling a low-income nation economically and not necessarily politically. Check123
I agree with you. By colonizing Africa, Europeans were promising to industrialize the continent and help the native people. What ended up happening was that the European nations exploited their people, took their lands, and depleted their resources. In fact, many people indigenous to Africa lost their lives fighting in Europe during the world wars. It would be terrible as a person to serve for and, especially, die for a country that has done nothing but oppressed you. Many Africans in the documentary were forced to assimilate into European culture, and they considered nations in Europe to be their mother countries, which is very sad. aardvark123
Colonialism brought about a certain kind of need to rule and command for many European nations, which brought them to feel the need to colonize many nations in Africa because they were not as technologically advanced as those in Europe. Many Western nations began to associate industrialization with better as a whole, which is not the case. For many, heritage, culture, and upholding your values are more important than your technology. That is seen, here, in Africa in many nations. The Congo region has a rich artistic history and as a stereotype, Afrocentrism has a large focus on heritage and honoring your ancestors, which is seen in native African spirituality, too. After your ancestors die, they become spirits, and you pray to them for guidance and help in the living world. That ideology is looked down upon from a European perspective because most Europeans are obsessed with moving forward, whether it be economically, culturally, or technologically. Taking advantage of these low income nations, European nations, as high income nations, started to look at African nations as property, not independent and rich cultures. Africa produced many goods for the people of Europe, and once actual colonialism dropped out and the countries were given their independence, neocolonialism took root, and the people of Africa were still under European rule, albeit not legally. They owned so much of the industry and job market in the African nations that it is impossible to escape the corporate presence within the area. The situation is much like that of Walmart’s influence in America. If the company leaves, many jobs are lost, whether it be from the actual store or external vendors, and because they own so much of the market, they can dictate what the prices are for goods they need and where their materials come from. They are so big that they can afford to boycott local businesses for a period of time without going out of business. aardvark123
In the 1880s and 1890s, Europe was undergoing the industrial revolution and needed raw materials to make products. The colonization of Africa was Europe’s plan to get these materials since Africa was still a primary sector and Europe was now a secondary sector. Europe had plenty of power to take over Africa because their government was much more organized and followed rational-legal authority. In fact in the video, one man said that it did not even require a war, only the threat of war. Aside from obtaining the African’s raw materials, Europe also had other intentions for Africa. Colonialism was the ultimate goal. Europe invaded and claimed total control over Africa, forcing their culture and civilization on the African people. As said by Professor Lansine Kaba, “We were made to be as if we had no civilization and no culture, that was very traumatizing indeed.” This is a prime example of cultural relativism, just because the African people had a different culture from what the Europeans were used to, they assumed them to have no culture at all and forced their ways on them. They forced them to learn their own language and adopt their religion and their new authority was the Queen and the King. They forced civilization upon them by imposing taxes on the people to pay for roads and schools, there was no democracy. The worst case of colonization was of the congo free state by King Leopold II. With the industrialization of Europe, the need for rubber was immense and grew especially with the invention of the automobile whose tires are made of rubber. Leopold forced all of the men, women, and children to work so hard to collect rubber for export that half of the population of the congo free state was dead by the time Leopold’s actions were exposed. -Chameleon123
ReplyDeleteI think what happened to Africa and their culture is really sad. I think that things like this happen more than we know but it is something that everyone should be aware of. Many different areas in our world had a hard time and it is really surprising what different people will do to others. The way they were taken advantage of and nothing could be done is really a problem. The way they pushed different culture onto them is really wrong. No one should be forced to take part in another culture that they wanted nothing to do with. The way they took advantage of everyone and forced a different way of life onto them is morally and ethically wrong. Litv123
DeleteIn the 1880’s and 1890’s while Europe was going through their industrial revolution Africa was being subjected to colonialism first by Britain. Britain threatened to fight for the land of Africa and Africa surrendered without any war breaking out. Britain started exploiting the land of its resources and the people were placed into slavery for their own personal advantage. Other nations soon followed Britain's lead and soon Africa was owned by many other nations worldwide. When the other nations came in they destroyed many of Africa’s political systems that they had in place and they were replaced by the new systems of whichever nation controlled that area. In about 20 years 90% of Africa was brought under European occupation.Africa was being stripped of its natural resources like gold, cocoa, diamonds, ivory, rubber, and cotton. This went on until after WWII when African Nationalism came about, and some areas of Africa started gaining their independence back. Even though Africa was being stripped of it resources there were some positive results from the colonialism. Some areas were having city’s built, and the other nations were introducing their own culture to their areas. Schools were also being built to help educate the local people. Roadways were also built, but this was mainly to help with the exportation of goods. This is an example of global stratification, Africa was showing patterns of social inequality compared to the rest of the world. When looking at the world as a whole most of the low income countries in the world is Africa. Where Africa is stricken with poverty. There are some signs of this. There is little technology, a large population growth, there is also a lot of gender inequality, and there is social stratification. Social stratification is greater in agrarian societies than industrial societies. In Rostow’s Stages of Modernization, Africa lives in the traditional stage. Where they can’t see the world as being different. They have little individual freedom and don’t except or have the means to have change. According to Wallerstein’s Capitalist World Economy, Africa is the periphery of the world economy. It was brought into the Capitalist World Economy by colonial exploitation. It was supporting rich nations by giving cheap labor and vast market for industrial products. This benefits the rich nations because of the exploitation. In the video Africa was being exploited and other nations were taking their raw materials and people as slaves and manufactured the materials as something else and sometimes selling it back to Africa at a high price. Diver123
ReplyDeleteI was quite amazed countries of Europe would go this far in search for wealth. I really do just feel for the Africans. Time after time, they have been forced into slavery for the riches of their land. They have been subject to slavery and even denied the rights to practice their own traditions. The Africans had all of the resources just not the industry and this ruined them. Europe had to take advantage of their strength over them and forcibly take everything that was worth something to the country. The rest of the world flourishes from African while Africa is one of the poorest countries in the world. Scuba123
DeleteThe industrial revolution in Europe was the new era of the world. The revolution called for the increased need of raw materials, which Africa was abundant with. This lead to the growth of the economy in Europe. They were dependent on the raw materials of Africa. This made Africa the third world country and Europe the first world country. The thing that limited Africa from being independent was their technological maturity. They were not as advanced as Europe in industry. The Europeans began to colonize as much of Africa as they could, sometimes without even being there. They were simply just drawing lines. They were justified by saying they were bringing civilization and religion to these people, when they just wanted their resources. They were trying to modernize the people of Africa. This began a system of chattel slavery, along with human trafficking. The Africans were treated as inferior to the Europeans and were not allowed to do things the Europeans were allowed to do. This was absolute inequality. The culture of the Africans was completely dismissed, known as cultural relativism, and the culture of the Europeans was forced on the people. Roadways and schools were built in these colonized nations. The roadways were mostly for the exportation of goods. The land of Congo experienced the worst of colonization. People were punished with the decapitation of limbs and forced to work with no pay. They were living in absolute poverty. The Africans had no freedom and were not allowed to practice their own traditions. Everything was about taking the resources out of the country and making Europe, mostly France, wealthy, a high-income nation. World War II was the turning point of African nationalism. Europeans were no longer invincible and it was time to fight back. France tried to give the Africans independence but it was to late for forgiveness. Scuba123
ReplyDeleteActually, I understood it to be that it was not just the end of World War II that led to the change of things in Africa. Instead, it was in 1945 that the United Nations was formed which allowed grievances from small countries to be heard and acknowledged, leading the social and economic problems in Africa to become public knowledge and politicized. However, the war did release African nationalism to all the African people which destroyed the idea of the invincibility of the Europeans. This allowed the Africans to realize they could fight for their own independence. The cost of colonization to the mother countries was too much after the war, which also helped the Africans to be released from their control.
Deletesunflower123
In the 1880’s-1890’s Africa was destroyed by foreign invaders who had the attitude of entitlement and Eurocentrism. Ninety percent of Africa was considered captured by Europe. Just the thought of war was enough for them to overthrow the local African nations. The Industrial Revolution changed the sea in Europe, making Africa the workshop of the world and brought forth the idea of living in luxury. This shift brought the need for raw materials which were, and still are, natural resources in Africa. Foreign governments, France, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium took over politics, power, and authority leading the people of Africa through authoritarianism, meaning they have no say. In February 1885, the leading countries met to discuss splitting the country of Africa up between them instead of fighting over it without the general populations of Africa’s knowledge. Each controlling nation got random chunks of land, it was geographical madness. This was cultural colonialization. Africa’s (low-income country) exported all of its wealth to other countries (high-income countries). There was no democracy, there were no school, taxes were collected and roads were built but only from the mines to the port so that all the wealth would suck out of the nation. During the World Wars, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc., the “mother countries” forced the African people to fight, even thought it had nothing to do with them. This the changed the African’s ideology and helped them realize that they could fight for their independence, and led to a political revolution. Unfortunately, when the mother countries pulled out they did not help with the new formation of government or the upbringing of democracy which lead to years and years of civil war. Africa is the largest recipient of outside aid and live on less than a dollar a day. From 2000-2008 $437B left Africa through tax relief. But Africa is undergoing a social change and that is becoming more and more democratic and a social class is emerging. The raw materials of Africa have financed technology, communication, and business, leading to an atmosphere of hope of breaking free from the past and seeing real independence.
ReplyDeletesunflower123
It really is shocking to think that from 2000-2008 $437B left Africa through tax relief. Although it is recognized that there is a problem with poverty in Africa and there is some relief going towards the impoverished surely there is more that can be done to prevent the loss of lives by starvation, economic trials, as well as the AIDS epidemic across the continent. However when you have nations like Britain invading your homeland and taking you for everything you've got, it can be quite difficult to deal with such pressing issues.-MrG123
DeleteIt is disturbing to think that colonization can cause problems for nations years and years later. Africa is still considered a low income nation today, and that is mainly because of the enslavement, colonization, and thievery they experienced. This video somewhat angered me. They forced Africa to fight, like you said, when those wars did not even concern them in the slightest. However, it was probably good for them to realize that they need to fight for their independence. It is interesting to me how helpful Africa is when they are such a low income nation. They live on so little, but still manage to provide aid for many nations. -softball_savvy123
Deleteit's crazy how they discussed splitting up the country without letting the Africans know what was going on. just imagine how much money Africa would have right now. i completely agree wit you . Also the way these countries went about everything was terrible. they left a country with barely anything to survive let alone an actual government. That just goes to show that even back then people were selfish if not worse than today's society. People never seem to think about things like this when it comes to learning new material. Dancer 123
DeleteI like how you said that Africa was the “workshop of the world.” It is true because Europe was treating Africa as if it needed their help in “creating” a culture when really they already had a culture of their own. Europe was forcing their language, religion, and other ways of life on the African people because they had such a strong sense of ethnocentrism that they did not even consider the African culture a culture since it was so different than theirs. Another good idea you brought up was how the European leaders were just claiming random areas of land. In fact, many of them had never even seen the land they were drawing boundaries into. -Chameleon123
ReplyDeleteI can see Africa being the "workshop of the world". The Europeans was using Africa for it's resources. It was very sad that the people of the 17 nations was being set up by the European imperialism to be raped. In my opinion the Europeans took everything the people in Africa had from their freedom down to their state of mind. Africa did not have no control over anything. They were being slaved and people was making good money off of slavery. It's very sad of what the people in Africa have been through and what they are still going through in today's society. Africa is considered one of the poorest country with the highest HIV rate. Rendezvous123
DeleteIt is no secret to anyone that has ever studied a single ounce of history, that Europe is one of the most imposing, vile continents that has ever graced this home we have called earth. Not only did they push millions of people across the Atlantic Ocean onto the continent we now know as North America due to the widespread monarchy of England, but they also had the nerve to invade Africa and impose their way of life on the African people as well. As it were in the 1880s and 1890s, Europe, especially Britain, was a wealthy populace in comparison to the drags of living in Africa where there was clearly no objections to the continent being home to many low income countries. So naturally the masses of high income europeans came in droves to colonize Africa, take away all of their resources, and subject the African individuals to an entirely new way of life. The white man proving once again just how nice and friendly he truly is…. Not so modestly speaking, as technology grew with the invention of the automobile and population growth in surrounding continents, the Congo was invaded while its inhabitants were forced to work collecting rubber to make the tires. This practice is also known as neocolonialism which further led into multinational corporations as King Leopold II would have it. The colonization of Africa in the 1880s and 1890s was a very sad example of colonialism that proved power is more important than the decrease in poverty. In fact as the whole situation in the Congo developed it proved the matters of inequality within the modernization theory later developed in the 1950s. Instead of providing foreign aid to the poor, King Leopold II would continue to exploit them and continue controlling the population for his own maniacal needs and services. Also of important notation here is the dependency theory, as played out by the rich Europeans when exploiting the poor Africans.-MrG123
ReplyDeleteI never really thought about how bad England pillaged and reaped others for their own good. I know about what happened here in the United States, but I never really knew about what happened in Africa. What happened in the Congo with King Leopold of Belgium, there is no reason for that to have happened at all. I can not fathom how someone could be so cold and ruthless to people blows my mind. How can somebody cut off another's hand because they are not working hard enough. This is unimaginable to me. I can’t imagine what their life there could've been like. Diver 123
DeleteI appreciate your critique of Europe because it is exactly what I think whenever I think about colonization and the great disparities between Western European countries and the 'third world'. Europe set out on a horrific mission to control the whole world which disadvantaged so many countries and peoples. While the video showed that compared to France, Britain did not try to totally assimilate the people they were colonizing, their ways of life still were heavily imposed on Africans under the guise of humanitarian or civilizing missions, that motive being problematic on its own. Though some aspects of colonization have helped in ways, like your mention of reducing poverty, I agree that the consequences much outweighed the benefits. -dday123
DeleteWhen Europe and Africa were at war, Europe was a high income nation, while Africa was a low income nation. A good example of colonialism is what Europe did to Africa. Africa had many riches, jewels, and other items that Europe needed at the time. Europe wanted political supremacy over all nations. Africans culture and way of life was completely ignored by their invaders which is known as cultural relativism. The invaders forced them to learn their own language, for example, rather than the Africans being able to speak their own. The Congo experienced the worst colonization. To other nations, they cared less about the poverty of other places. Power was the most important thing to possess. There was race inequality when foreigners were invading. African Americans experienced a lot of racism. The more powerful nations received random pieces of land which is cultural colonization. This caused complete global madness because of the power nations wanted to possess, the random land each nation owed, and because all nations wanted to have political supremacy. Africans, including women and children not just men, had to do a lot of manual labor during this enslavement. Whoever refused to work, would have their hands amputated and/or be killed by their invaders. All nations wanted to take away Africa's resources and wealth, which is why Africa is a poorer nation today. In fact, this is usually most nations are low income nations because of our other nations treated them in the past. World War II was the turning point for the Africans. It caused Europe to no longer be invincible in the eyes of the Africans. In the 1950s, Europe faced an economic crisis, which greatly helped the Africans. Britain was bankrupted. Africa had to help feed them. Nationalism is very powerful, and people first realized this in the 1950s. Colonization is saddening because it can destroy a happier future for certain nations. -softball_savvy123
ReplyDeleteI agree with absolutely every thing you said! Their culture and lifestyle was completely ignored like you said. In their own country they were being treated like animals, and foreigners. It is inhumane, and selfish for the Europeans to invade another continent to steal their resources, and on top of that to force slavery on them. They took advantage of them because since Africa is a low-income they didn't have any resources to protect themselves. The Europeans could do whatever they wanted to them, and they did. Even worse in the Congo with Leopold II in power. In 23 years all he did was murder, torture, mistreat, and enslave the natives. Colonization is a very serious and dangerous thing and it is revolting to think that these African people were ruthlessly overtortured, murdered, and enslaved in their own native land.
Deletepanda123
The video starts out with a very powerful message of African being free for only fifty years. The way their values and beliefs were taken away from them is horrific. Africa’s entire social structure was destroyed by different soldiers overnight. Europe had captured an entire continent and there was nothing the entire African community could do about it. They did not have to have any war the threat of the guns was enough for their country to be taken over. The Industrial revolution was booming over in Europe and because their demand for luxury was so high they felt the need to take from Africa. Africa was wealthy with diamonds and many other materials that Europe stole from them. Africa had a cultural lag and was not able to keep up with Europe in the same way. Europe was technologically advancing and leaving African and their people behind. They were not viewed as valuable people only their land was valuable. Europe knew they were taking advantage of a low income nation, however that never seemed a concern to them during the entire video. The meeting that was held to distribute different parts of Africa to different European leaders is such an invasion of the African’s land and they were never part of that decision much less any decision. The entire video is rich with colonialism and is a great example of exactly what Europe was doing to Africa. Their entire culture, family, and faith were stripped from the African people. The way Europe justified the situation is morally wrong. They were not bringing anything positive to the African people they were treating them like slaves and not allowing their voice to be heard. Europe has an entire social control over Africa and were changing their everyday of life. They constructed their social reality and told them the way to live their lives from day to day. This was definitely a situation where race was involved as well. One man in the video states that it was thought that the white man was superior to the black man. All of these videos show how race has always been an issue and still is. Litv123
ReplyDeleteIt's such a shame that Africa has been free for only fifty short years. I completely agree that what happened to this nation was horrific, and I think there are many ways Europe could have helped Africa and gotten raw material without destroying African culture. They didn't see these people and their traditions as valuable, like you said. As they were tearing apart hundreds of different traditional African cultures, Europe was reaping the rewards of their raw materials. It was morally wrong for these Europeans to try to justify what they were doing at all. Just because Europe believed that their culture and religion was superior, it was forced upon thousands. daisy123
DeleteEven though some countries in Europe were going through an industrial revolution, many countries in Africa were being forcibly exposed to colonialism by countries such as England, France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, as well as others. In a matter of a mere twenty years, most of Africa (nearly ninety percent) had been taken over by these European nations. Why the sudden dramatic change? The answer lies in the fact that the European industrial revolution required raw materials of which Africa possessed a multitude in abundance. These colonists had nothing but their own interests in mind. They were extremely entitled and Eurocentric which affected greatly how poorly they treated the “workers” (slaves). This colonization was cultural: all of the low-income countries in Africa were sending their exports (mostly raw materials) to high-income countries in Europe. Instead of taking what the African nations had, the colonists could have brought some of their innovations with them and started investing in the land, local people, and local government, thereby building the individual nations up so they could export on their own through their own will. There was an attempt at abolitionism in the late eighteenth century, however it was not successful.
ReplyDeleteFrance’s take on colonization was different that most other countries in Europe. France desired not only to rule an area; instead they desired to assimilate the population they ruled over to French values and ideals. They did this by basically recreating French towns in the nations they ruled over. However, this idea of cultural assimilation was misjudged. They ruled too powerfully, allowing hardly any local leaders.
Even after King Leopold was ousted for his atrocities in the Congo, the foreign aid that then stepped in gave little help. The roads that they built all led from the mines or plantations to the port instead of connecting towns. The schools and public buildings they built meant taxation on the local population.
-ThreeTwo123
DeleteI think a good point is that after all the high income nations left they left a population of uneducated people to try to run countries made up of hundreds of different ethnic groups. It's so sad the amount of lives were lost because of ethnic warfare. According to the video over 2 million people are thought to have lost their lives because of ethnic warfare. Also I never realized that everything in the countries benefited the empires even the roads were meant to benefit the empires by running to the port rather than through the towns and cities of the country which is super interesting. -Glass123
European countries like Britain, France, Belgium, and Germany need the resources that many countries in Africa were plentiful in. They all believed that they were far superior to the African people so instead of working out fair trade agreements they colonized most of Africa. Africa was rich in materials like rubber and cotton and in those times colonialism equated to supremacy. During colonization France forced these countries into assimilation. The African society could not longer be apart of their lives. This assimilation can be to blame for the thousands of lost languages and cultures that the African people will never be able to get back. Britain did not force assimilation rather they let the ethnic groups live as they always have as long as they were reporting to their leaders and the leaders were reporting to the British government. This division had lasting effects on free Africa; over 2 million Africans were killed in ethnic infighting after Britain left their colonies.Colonialism ended around the 1960s but after the freedom of the African countries neocolonialism lingered. Even today these countries are not free one of the most eye opening quotes from the video is “financial rewards can be traced back to those countries bailing out a dependent Africa” meaning high income nations like the US are bailing out low income countries in Africa all the while these countries are gaining capital through exploiting Africa’s rich natural resources. I think the scramble for Africa can help prove the Dependency Theory. Countries like Belgium, Britain, and France would not have had the wealth and power had it not been for the economic oppression and political oppression of natural resource rich countries of Africa.The US gained exploited Africa through the use of slave trade. The US would not have had the success it did have without slave trade. -Glass123
ReplyDeleteAfrica was used and abused. I can think of no other way to phrase it. There has been fear and disparity in Africa because of the Europeans for a long time. The control that the Europeans had, 90%, was far too much. Africa became the “workshop of the world.” Rather than delighting in their own resources, Africans were forced to use their resources to make other countries better. The Africans wanted to trade or make money for their labor. They were seeking opportunities to get involved. But other countries had really hurt their opportunities. Rather than treating Africans like equals, even though Africa contained many resources Europeans longed for, they treated Africans like “subjects of empire.” The industrial revolution was part of the cause for all of this. People were becoming hungry for power and wealth. Africa was being fought over as if it was something to be owned. The people of Africa were given no self worth. This shows how huge of a role racism played into this. It was significantly hard for Africa to pursue colonialism on their own. Leopold of Belgium contributed to the poverty, misery, and despair. I could not believe that it took Belgium five years to remove him after they found out about just how horrible he was to the Congo. At least 165,000 Africans fought in World War 1 and died for Europe! In World War 2 there were about half a million. Thankfully we have come a long way since then. 1960 was the year of Africa. Europe began to see the importance of this nation, and that it deserved to be independent. The issues that occurred in the Congo still forced many people to never want to go back. Thankfully Africa does have successes today, and a hopeful future. -M&M123
DeleteThat wasn't supposed to be a reply ^^ -M&M123
DeleteIn the late 1800s, European nations believed the colonization of Africa was the best way to get the raw materials needed to fuel Europe’s industrial revolution. During the Berlin Conference from 1884-1885, the high-income nations of Europe met to decide which nations would get which areas of Africa. From this, a map of Africa was created with no regards for the people and communities that already lived there. Some indigenous groups were separated and some were forced to live in the same countries as their enemies. Because Europe had more wealth and power, colonization didn’t even require war, just threats of it. As different European nations conquered different areas of Africa, most Africans experienced forced assimilation. European culture, religion, and language was forced on these people with no regard for their own African culture. This is also known as cultural relativism. Europe was not only stripping this nation of its rich natural resources such as gold, ivory and rubber, but also of its traditional African culture as well. Colonial exploitation brought more wealth to high income nations because Africa offered cheap labor, cheap raw materials, and vast market systems that European governments could control. While Africa was suffering from poverty, nations in Europe that were already wealthy were just getting richer. Congo was the worst example of this, as the natives were forced to work without receiving pay, and if they were disobedient limbs were cut off and some could be killed. As colonization had too many negative impacts, there were some positive impacts. Africa received new roadways, modern medicine, and new schools. However, even though the children of Africa could now receive a good education, they were not allowed to speak any African languages and African traditions were banned. Some schools even gave their students new identities with Christian names. So, even some of the positive impacts also turned out to have negative impacts on Africans. In just 20 years, over 90% of Africa was controlled by European nations. Only after World War II did the idea of African nationalism become popular. Europe was at its weakest, and some African nations fought for and gained their independence back. It is such a shame that Africa had to experience colonization in such a negative way when Europe could have actually helped Africa out of poverty. daisy123
ReplyDeleteYou mention that Europe could have helped Africa out of poverty. I agree and I think that Europe should have used their technology to help the African nations. Africa and its nations had the chance of becoming developed countries that could be grow and flourish on their own. They were not as advanced technologically. With that being said, It is sad that greed is always associated with richer nations. Taking advantage of poorer nations is unfortunately still seen today. We don't see much of colonization, but neocolonialism is still occurring. This reminds me of what happened to the Native Americans. We took advantage of them and forced them to assimilate with western culture. Many Native American tribes were killed. It is sad that we did not take the time to understand Native Americans and try to work with them to benefit the both of us. Check123
DeleteIn the 1880’s and 1890’s the european imperialism in Africa set up the continent to be raped. The European had captured the continent of Africa for their raw materials. There was a high demand in Africa of rubber, gold, diamonds, cotton, etc. Africa was an opportunity for the Europeans. The Africans wanted to trade the right way, sell their labor from South Africa, they wanted to learn, and meet each other. Colonialism became fast track of political supremacy in Europe. The textbook states how “late in the fifteenth century, Europeans began exploring the Americas to the west, Africa to the south, and Asia to the east in order to establish colonies.” Europe was a continent in supremacy. In 1885 the act of Berlin was passed. They drew new borders along Africa. It legalized the scramble of Africa. There was inequality between white and black men. There was no contact with white people in Africa. Every white man was superior to black man. They were not equal. They made so much money in the slave trade. The Africans realized that they were still in chattel slavery. According to the textbook, the buying and selling of slaves still takes place in many countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, and especially Africa. Servile forms of marriage may also amount to slavery. In India, Thailand, and some African nations, families marry off women against their will. Many end up as slaves working for their husband’s family; some are forced into prostitution. Extensive exportation sweep thru the continent. They wanted to rule and assimilate the population. There was no civilization or culture. There was global stratification going on in Africa due to the Europeans. Africa is considered a middle-income country. They are not rich but they are a nation with a standard living about average for the world as a whole. Seventeen nations has been celebrating 50 years of a dependence from decades of European colonialism. Rendezvous123
ReplyDeleteDuring the 1880’s and 1890’s the Europeans had invaded and colonized the continent of Africa. In fact the whole continent of Africa was colonized except for two countries. That is a mind-blowing statistic. Since Africa had very valuable resources like diamonds, ivory, rubber, and cotton, the Europeans wanted them for themselves. They began to enslave, and brutally mistreat the Africans. There was one man in particular that surpassed this inhumane slavery, and treated them even worse. His name was King Leopold II of Belgium. He had told the Berlin delegates that he was going to go to Africa and civilize them. Instead of civilizing them like he said, he did the exact opposite. His reign was so beyond inhumane that he halved the population. One of the things that he would do was that he would amputate the hands of those that didn’t meet the production quota. On top of that, he would kill the slaves that would revolt against being enslaved. His reign lasted for 23 years, and it took five years for the Belgium government to take the country back. After years passed with Africa under colonianism, they were finally starting to decolonize in 1960. It was called the Year of Africa because of all the celebrating and joy that they were expressing. Sadly, that only lasted for about two years, because when the Europeans left the continent, they had left them with no organization whatsoever. The 1960’s and the 1970’s were full of non-stop violence; about 2 million people died because of ethnic violence. The Europeans had no right to invade, and enslave the African people. If they wanted resources, it could have been negotiated, not force slavery on them. Social class plays an important role in history, because it was the low-income countries that were being invaded and destroyed. The wealthy people took advantage of them, and destroyed the social organization of the natives. Also, they organized the territories for exploitation of natural resources.
ReplyDeletepanda123
DeleteListening to this makes me wonder how King Leopold became this man who led to the surpassing of this "inhumane slavery." It's like Hitler or Jones. How do these people obtain so much power and keep people under their control. He was doing things you mentioned, like amputating hands of those who didn't meet the production quota. So why did nobody stop him? He was in charge of an entire nation of people, yet none of them seemed to have questioned his authority or actions whatsoever. I agree that the Europeans had no right to invade or enslave. It ties into the idea of prejudice that some people are just better or worth more than others. -M&M123
Britain and France and other European countries had a lot of control over most of Africa and knew all about their resources. They used this control to their benefit by taking their resources during the industrial revolution. The treatment of the African people was very cruel and unjust. There were railroads built all over Africa to transport resources, but not used for the people of Africa. They were constantly getting rid of Africa’s resources all the time. I think it’s sad that European countries depended on the African troops to fight in World War I and II even after they already took most of their Earth’s resources. I think this is cruel because they didn’t have a choice. World War II began African Nationalism when African’s began to stand up for their rights. The unequal treatment of African people started a revolution. Once Africa gained its’ independence, there were problems with politics dealing with ethnicity. Since the European countries who ruled over Africa never knew the people by their ethnicities, everyone had to become familiar with their different cultures and it caused tension in some parts. Africa continued to be in extreme poverty because of the colonialism. They are depending on external aid to survive every day. $437 billion dollars has left Africa illicitly. This is a crazy amount of money to have taken away from an entire continent. All of that money that was conned away from the people could have gone towards them and helped their nation to grow and become better rather than continue to be in a state of poverty today. It is disturbing to hear that foreign banks in Africa avoid paying tax and another $854 billion has been taken from Africa. This could all have been used for development. I think that people take advantage of Africa and it is because of others’ need for more money, which is wrong because a lot of them have plenty more than Africa. -Kiwi123
ReplyDeleteIt is by far one of the sickest things I’ve heard. How could a country get away with stealing over 4 billion dollars is unfathomable to me. It sickens me to know that still today they able to somehow smuggle money from a place that is already stricken with poverty. Africa is not all poor as it is portrayed on TV, some places of this continent, are flowing with green grass and is just as beautiful as any high-income nation. If Africa continues to go on the path of rebuilding and focusing on the people instead of violence which is expected due to its lack of funds, then Africa will and can be great again. Benoodles123
DeleteAfrica, once rich of many profitable goods, now suffers from global poverty within many of the countries in the continent. It was subject to colonialism which aided in the downfall of this continent. The economy was full of primary sectors such as rubber, diamonds, minerals, and many other goods. This enabled many countries to want a piece of this land and one by one each country was bought by various other countries. Eurocentrism overrode this continent. Europe completely took over the land and began exploiting the countries. As they experienced the industrial revolution began Europe who already had a means to an end felt greed take over and came over to Africa to enhance their land while leaving Africa to fend for themselves. A ground-breaking moment in their history was when colonialism dissipated and they began to try and regain control of their country. They were on the right track but other countries still had the upper hand on Africa. Africa was able to aide in the wealth of many countries that bought land from the continent helping them become postindustrial countries. Yet that still was not enough, they still sought out for more goods will enabling Africa to become more industrialized. Today Africa is still subject to inequality and exploitation mainly by Britain. Since 2008, Africa had over 4 billion dollars stolen from them but yet parts of the continent continue to have impoverished countries. Today Africa is slowly coming around although it not fully industrialized, it has made strides to becoming a better, more successful place to live. It is sad to see a nations potential be stolen right from underneath them and to know that it is still occurring today and not much can be done about it due to the lack of resources that they have is even more sad. Benoodles123
ReplyDeleteFrom the variety of history classes I have taken since high school, the consequences and atrocities, like Leopold in Belgium, of European colonialism in Africa aren't new information but they are still important. The fact that the majority of Africa has only been independent for about 50 years now is very upsetting. What is also upsetting is the turmoil and violence that was present after decolonization. As mentioned in the video, though Europe was happy to use and abuse the African continent, they generally left quickly without political foundations for these new countries, leading them to implode politically afterward. The ethnic divisions within countries and arbitrary borders made by Europeans also hurt these countries after the revolutions. Because of these failures by European powers, colonialism is mostly responsible for the turmoil and poverty in Africa after the Year of Africa. This is ironic since Western countries now raise funds for aid and paint Africa as a sympathetic continent with many problems, removing themselves from the role they had in Africa. When I was younger, I also supported monetary aid to Africa, but I now am aware that this aid helps to create more dependency like that which was present in colonial times. After learning more about the history of colonialism in Africa, I believe that colonialism is to blame for many current problems. However, Professor Kaba from the video argued that we should not use colonialism to blame for all present problems in Africa. He instead placed emphasis on the last 50 years in Africa and their more recent political systems. New leaders came and went and they also managed to fail their people. His point is valid and some governments could have tried much harder to help their people rather than falling into corruption, but I still believe that colonialism heavily impacted the foundation necessary to help Africa succeed. - dday123
ReplyDeleteDuring the industrialization age, European nations seeked to Africa to gain natural resources to improve their global wealth and power. European had become a secondary sector in natural resources while Africa was still a primary sector, making them a target for nations seeking more materials. Global stratification was very prominent during this industrialization period. Each nation wanted to have a more powerful status over the other. Africa, which was not as technologically developed, was seen as a much lower status by the rest of the world. Africa was eventually divided up in sections for each European nation when the Act of Berlin was written in the 1880s. Instead of sharing the wealth with the African nations, the European nations were taking advantage and using Africa and it’s people for greed. The nations and tribes of Africa had no say whatsoever and were not aware of what the European nations were doing when the Act of Berlin was written. Africa lacked the resources to defend themselves from the authority and control of other high-income nations. Africa’s social structure changed drastically when Europe began the colonization of the continent. European nations were changing the African nation’s culture and, in some cases, forcing them to assimilate with Western culture and language. Cultural relativism forced the African nations to learn and adapt to European culture. European religion was additionally forced upon the Africans to help further control the people. It wasn’t until after World War 2 that the people of Africa began to revolt and demand independence from the European nations. Revolutions came about from the African nations when they wanted to separate themselves. Though many African countries separated from their European ties, democratic government was not developed in the aftermath as most Western countries had thought would happen. Instead, dictatorships, authoritarianism, and/or totalitarianism governments emerged.
ReplyDeleteToday, we still see other high-income nations taking advantage of the low-income nation in Africa. Neocolonialism is occurring where corporations are controlling a low-income nation economically and not necessarily politically. Check123
I agree with you. By colonizing Africa, Europeans were promising to industrialize the continent and help the native people. What ended up happening was that the European nations exploited their people, took their lands, and depleted their resources. In fact, many people indigenous to Africa lost their lives fighting in Europe during the world wars. It would be terrible as a person to serve for and, especially, die for a country that has done nothing but oppressed you. Many Africans in the documentary were forced to assimilate into European culture, and they considered nations in Europe to be their mother countries, which is very sad. aardvark123
DeleteColonialism brought about a certain kind of need to rule and command for many European nations, which brought them to feel the need to colonize many nations in Africa because they were not as technologically advanced as those in Europe. Many Western nations began to associate industrialization with better as a whole, which is not the case. For many, heritage, culture, and upholding your values are more important than your technology. That is seen, here, in Africa in many nations. The Congo region has a rich artistic history and as a stereotype, Afrocentrism has a large focus on heritage and honoring your ancestors, which is seen in native African spirituality, too. After your ancestors die, they become spirits, and you pray to them for guidance and help in the living world. That ideology is looked down upon from a European perspective because most Europeans are obsessed with moving forward, whether it be economically, culturally, or technologically. Taking advantage of these low income nations, European nations, as high income nations, started to look at African nations as property, not independent and rich cultures. Africa produced many goods for the people of Europe, and once actual colonialism dropped out and the countries were given their independence, neocolonialism took root, and the people of Africa were still under European rule, albeit not legally. They owned so much of the industry and job market in the African nations that it is impossible to escape the corporate presence within the area. The situation is much like that of Walmart’s influence in America. If the company leaves, many jobs are lost, whether it be from the actual store or external vendors, and because they own so much of the market, they can dictate what the prices are for goods they need and where their materials come from. They are so big that they can afford to boycott local businesses for a period of time without going out of business. aardvark123
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