Causes and lasting Effects
Fantasy Draft Questions
Who colonized you?
 What did they want from you?
 Did you have any say in which team (
colonizing power ) drafted you?

What does Africa have that
Europe doesn’t?
Look at the resource map of Europe
 Look at the resource map of Africa
 What resources does Africa have that
Europe does not?
 Are these resources more valuable?

 What makes you think so?
What is colonization?

When one country takes over another
country/territory or land and rules it/ puts
it under their control
Why did European countries want
to colonize African countries?

For their resources! Africa has many
natural resources that can be used
especially in Europe's manufacturing
centers.
 Basically, Europeans would take control of
African resources, and use them to make
things and sell for money for their own
government NOT the African colony’s
benefit!
Which European countries
colonized the most in Africa?

Color your map using the color coding
Did African countries have any
say in who colonized them?
NO!
 During the Berlin Conference in 1884
European countries met to divide up
Africa and set up borders.

 How many African representatives were
there? ZERO!!!!
The good and the bad ( depending on who you ask)
Changing Country Borders


Split up territory
based on resources
Sometimes
traditional ethnic
groups that were
enemies or never
were associated
with each other now
got thrown in the
same area
Changing Language

Europeans made their
language the official
language of the colonial
government and business.
So all business was
conducted in that language (
for example, English,
Spanish, German, French,
Portuguese)
 Had to learn whole new
language
 Today you many still speak the
European language of their
colonial power
○ Ex. English in South Africa,
French in the Ivory Coast
Changing Religions


Prior to colonization many
African countries had their
own native religion
Ways that monotheistic
religions spread:
 Islam spread through trade
with the Arabs (from the
middle east) first in the
northern parts of Africa (
cause its closest to the
middle east) then
elsewhere.
 Christian missionaries
spread Christianity
 When European countries
colonized Africa they
brought their religion with
them mostly Christianity
Cultural Changes Lead to CONFLICT
BEFORE COLONIZATION

Many African nations
lived in city states ( own
independent society with
own leader or group of
leaders)


DURING COLONIZATION
The colonial government had
the most power and then
would appoint a local Africa
leader ( a chief). The chiefs
were expected to maintain
local order and enforce
colonial laws.
“Divide and rule” colonial
policy of treating some ethnic
groups different than others
so that they will not be united
 Why? If groups aren’t united
they will not work together to
overthrow the colonial power
Ethnic Conflict in Nigeria
Was a British colony
 British put the Nigerians into three ethnic
groups:

 Hausa-Fulani: islam ( from north)
 Yoruba: half islam half Christian ( in the
south west)
 Igabo: catholic ( in the south east)

When Nigeria got its independence the
three regions were forced to work
together. This created issues that lead
to a civil war in 1967
Nigeria conflict GOOD Results
 Economic
boost has made Nigeria the
fastest growing economy in Africa
 Lagos: capital city is modern and a
center for Africa music and movies
○ Nicknamed Nollywood
 Oil and petroleum was discovered in the
1970s along the cost and has helped
boost Nigeria’s economy
 8th most populated country in the world
Nigeria Conflict BAD results

Ethnic and religious tensions still exist
 The north does not has lower literacy rate, poorer
healthcare and not as good as infrastructure (
transportation and communication)
 Economic inequality: places with oil like Lagos and
Port Harcourt have more money than other territories
 Religious differences: Nigeria follows an English legal
system similar to ours but 12 states in the north
follow legal systems based on Islamic law
○ Boko Haram is a militant Islamic terrorist group that has
immerged in Nigeria and has carried out attacks and t
threatened to overthrow the Nigerian government
Rwanda and Sudan
What is genocide?
http://www.history.com/topics/what-is-genocide
Mass
killing of people based on race, religion,
ethnicity etc.
Examples include:
 the Holocaust (late 1930s-1940s)
 Armenian Massacre, Bosnia-Yugoslavia ( 1990s)
 Rwanda (1994)
 Darfur (2003-?)
Rwanda Genocide
Hutu
is majority ( 85%) Tutsi is minority
group
Tension
caused with the Belgian ( colonial
rulers of Rwanda) treating the Tutsi better
than the Hutu ( better jobs education ect).
Hutu
grow resentful and violence builds:
1959 Hutu revolution forced out many Tutsi
and by 1962 when Rwanda got its
independence, the Hutu had kicked out
Tutsi monarch and taken over government
Rwanda Genocide-continued
In 1990, forces of the Rwandese Patriotic Front
(RPF), consisting mostly of Tutsi refugees, invaded
Rwanda from Uganda.

A
ceasefire was signed in 1992 and the president
of Rwanda ( who was Hutu ) agreed to start giving
Tutsi more representation in government.
1994
plane carrying the Rwandan and Burundi
presidents is shot down. Each side thinks the other
did it and the Hutu extremists groups begin killing
Tutsi
Killing

spreads
by July the RPF regains control
Videos from Rwanda Genocide1994
 Left

to Tell- survivor story
interview with survivors
2014
 1994
dateline video at
refugee camps
-
history channel recap of
what happened
Conflict in Sudan
Causes of the conflicts are mostly based
on religion and ethnic differences.
 Also, issues over resources: parts of the
country have oil other parts just desert.
 When the British rules Sudan they ruled
the north and south as two separate
places. But when Sudan got its
independence the country had to work
together as one big place. This did not go
well.

Civil War in Sudan

From 1955-1972 north and south Sudan
fought a civil war.
 End result was the north ( mostly Muslim)
controlled the government and the southern
rebels who did not like that form of government,
started to form their own armies with the support
of the Dinka and Nuer people.

1983 civil war started up again over fears
that the Islamic law of the North would be
forced on the people of the south ( who were
either Christian or their own traditional
religion)
End result of Sudan’s Civil War
 End result was the force migration of
many people to near by Kenya and
Ethiopia
 The Lost Boys of Sudan: over 20,000
boys were forced to leave their homes
many dying on the way
○ Why? Armies on both sides would try to
recruit young boys to join them often by force
What is happening in Darfur?

http://www.darfuraustralia.org/d
arfur/basics
Basic
Outline Video
Genocide in Darfur




Started in 2003 between the Arab ethnic groups in the north
and the African ethnic groups in western Sudan ( a region
known as Darfur)
What happened? Rebels attacked a Sudanese government
airbase because they felt like the government was favoring
the Arab ethnicity
The government responded by unleashing the Janjaweed (
an armed militia group meaning they are not part of the
army but a group of volunteer civilians) who terrorized the
villages in Darfur: destroying homes, attacking unarmed
civilians like women and children
Between 2003-2013: This caused over 2 million Sudanese
people in Darfur to leave their homes and become refugees
in nearby places like Chad
Problems Causes by Colonial
Economies

Africans lose control of resources
 Colonies were set up to export their raw materials.
Money goes to colonial power

Poor Infrastructure
 Transportation focused on exporting goods out not
shipping them through the country

Food production
 Farming was replaced by mining for minerals
 Food then had to be imported from Europe which
was expensive for Africans ( more money for
Europeans)

Farming cash crops
 Farming all one thing not to keep but to sell
Lingering Economic Issues

Poor infrastructure
 Communication systems ( phones etc) and
transportation systems ( trains, roads,
shipping)
Poverty
 Poor healthcare

 Governments not spending money on health
care; not enough for the population
 People get sick and cannot work
 Epidemics like AIDS
Your task…. Should you choose to
accept it:


Pick one of the
economic problems
facing post colonial
Africa:
With a teammate
decide:
 What could your country
do to help fix this issue
 Defend your answer:
why did you make this
choice and how will it
help the issue
What some countries are doing
to help/ improve
Micro lending- “mini loans”- when small lenders or
individuals lend small amounts of money to people who
do not qualify for traditional loans.
 Mobile money- using the phone like a bank card

 Used in Kenya, Gabon and Sudan among other nations
Ecotourism- people coming to visit country to see wildlife
 Commercial Agriculture- specializing in a cash crop to sell

 Ex. Sudan= cotton, Liberia= rubber

Improve infrastructure- build up better transportation
systems to ship goods all over,
 improve communication systems so business can be done
anywhere with any one
○ Think internet
Getting independence

Pan Africanism: goals were to get
independence and unify people
 American WEB Du BOIS helped start this
movement

Independence started in the 1950s and
spread
 Sudan and Ghana first few
 Leaders formed Organization of African Unity to
help other nations get independence

HOWEVER, difficulties remained after
independence
 Some independence movements lead to civil war
PROBLEMS
Civil wars broke out
 Weak governments and poor leaders
 Governments started off multiparty but
then became single party

 Easy for one group or person to take over
which lead to DICTATORSHIPS
Ex. Of countries with post-colonial
government issue
Ghana
 Congo
 Zimbabwe
 Somalia

Your task… should you choose to
accept it
In your teams you will receive
a description of one post
colonial dictator
 You need to ‘put the dictator
on trial’


Half of your team will serve as
the prosecution:
○

Half will serve as the defense:
○

Describe what offenses this
person has done to their
country
Describe any positives that this
alleged dictator may have
brought to their country
Present to the class and the
class will vote as to whether or
not this person should be
overthrown
Ghana

Elected Kwame
Nkrumah
 Turned into a dictatorship
Those who opposed him
were jailed or exiled
 Controlled economy

 What to make which
businesses would make
it
 Led to corruption cause
government officials kept
the wealth

1966 military overthrew
him
 Suffered 5 more military
take overs
Congo


Dictator Joseph
Mobutu ruled for
30years
used country’s
resources for his own
lavish lifestyle
 Spent 500 million
building 1 of 11 palaces

Overthrown in 1997
and became the
Democratic Republic
of Congo
Zimbabwe




Dictator Robert
Mugabe
One party rule
Corrupt elections
Took over farms on
‘white land’
 Used violence from
militias to do this
 This lead to the loss
of jobs for thousands
of African workers
Somalia and transitional
governments


Transitional
government: ran by
a non elected group
that helps design a
government
In Somalia this led
to political instability
 Made it easy for war
lords to take over
 That combined with
drought made serious
issues