30 - The Colonization of Africa

Colonization took different forms in different parts of the world. The way colonization was pursued in Africa was very different from the way it was pursued in the Americas. Justified in large part by both racism and a narrow interpretation of Christian scripture, the actions of the European powers in Africa were such that the impact of colonialism on that continent was so devastating it still has repercussions today.

As early as the 15th century, the Portuguese had established trading posts along the coast of West Africa. Although, as with the Spanish in the Americas, the Portuguese were seeking mineral wealth they quickly discovered that an even greater profit could be made in the slave trade. The original African slaves were purchased from the North African Berbers and were taken to work sugar plantations on Portuguese estates on the island of Sao Tome located in the elbow of Africa.

Slaves remained the primary source of African trade throughout the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, but with the general worldwide abolition of slavery in the 19th century, other ways were sought to exploit the continent. The lead was taken by Belgium in the late 1800s. They established trading relations with the people of what was then called the Congo (now Zaire). Following the Belgian model, other European nations rushed to claim their spheres of interest as well.

To avoid the type of open conflict with one another which had occurred with the colonization of the Americas, the European powers decided to take a more civilized approach to the apportioning of Africa. Representatives met in Berlin in 1885 and arbitrarily divided the continent into territories. France, England, Portugal, Germany, and Belgium all claimed lands and established borders which defined the limits of their possessions. These later became the territorial boundaries of the African nations, although these European borders cut across traditional tribal lands and even included rival tribes within the same political jurisdictions. This resulted in the inter-tribal conflicts which occurred in African nations throughout the 20th century, such as those between the Ibo and Yoruba in Nigeria, the Acholi and Buganda in Uganda, and the Hutu and Tutsi in Rwanda.

Africa had some of the most productive farmlands in the world. These lands were, in large part, what attracted Europeans to places such as Zimbabwe (formerly called Rhodesia) and Kenya. The settlers came in order to farm. They appropriated the best lands from the native population and developed estates which produced crops primarily for foreign consumption: cotton, tea, coffee. The labor on these estates was provided by native Africans, reduced to the status of serfs.

Once again, the pattern of development which occurred in Africa during the colonial period was designed to benefit the colonizing power rather than the local populations. And, insofar as they profited the nations of Europe, those models of growth and development appeared to be successful. However they had not brought prosperity to the local populations. After African nations achieved independence, the hope was that these patterns would change. But they didn’t.