Themes in African History 1
The Open University of Tanzania
Institute of Continuing Education
Themes in African History
OFC 011
First Edition: 2013
Copyright © 2013
All Rights Reserved
Published by
THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA
Kawawa Road,
P. O. Box 23409,
Dar es Salaam,
TANZANIA
2 Themes in African History
Contents
Lecture 1 The Concept of History, Sources and Types of History
Lecture 2 African Prehistory
7
13
Lecture 3 Economic and Technological Developments in Pre-colonial Africa 23
Lecture 4 Political Developments in Pre-colonial Africa
35
Lecture 5 Africa’s Contact with the Outside World:
The Transatlantic Slave Trade
47
Lecture 6 The White Settlement and the Mineral Revolution in South Africa 59
Lecture 7 Colonial Conquest and African Reactions
73
Lecture 8 Colonial Situation
81
Lecture 9 Nationalist Struggles and Decolonisation
91
Lecture 10 Post-independence Developments: Political Sphere
105
Lecture 11 Post-independence Developments: Economic and Social Spheres 117
Themes in African History 3
General Introduction
OFC 011: ‘Themes in African History’ is a history course for Foundation
Course students of the Open University of Tanzania. It surveys the history of
Africa from prehistoric times to the present. The topics in the course have
been presented thematically basing on the major landmarks in African
history.
This course is particularly useful to the students intending to take history and
political science in their undergraduate degree programmes.
Objectives
At the end of the course students should able to:
(i)
Define the concept of history and explain sources and types of history
(ii)
Discuss African prehistory
(iii) Analyse the political and economic developments in pre-colonial Africa
(iv) Analyse the Transatlantic slave trade and its impact
(v)
Discuss the imposition of colonial rule and African responses, colonial
administration and colonial economy.
(vi) Discuss the African nationalist struggles and post-independence
developments.
Best wishes for your study of this course.
E. C. J. Tarimo
The Open University of Tanzania
4 Themes in African History
LECTURE 1
The Concept of History,
Sources and Types of History
1.1 Introduction
Dear student, this is your first lecture in this course. It introduces you to the
concept of history. It briefly surveys the sources of history, types of history and
relevance of history.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you will be able to:
Define the concept of history;
Mention and explain sources of history;
Explain the types of history;
State the relevance of history.
1.2 Concept of ‘History’
History is generally defined as a study of past human events. This definition is
however very limited, for it is not all past human events that constitute history.
Human activities are multiple and take place every day but they cannot all be
taken as historical events. History, therefore, is the study of selected past human
events. The selection of historical events depends completely on the historian, his
background,
the
political
and
socio-economic environment in which he lives, the message he wants to
communicate to his consumers and the lessons he wants them to learn.
In this lecture, we therefore define history as an interaction between the historian
and his facts and an interaction between the past, present and the future.
Activity 1
What is history?
Themes in African History 5
1.3 Sources of History
Sources of history refer to the sources or areas where a historian searches for
historical information. Such areas are the sources of ‘raw materials’ for the
historian.
For a long time until early 20th century, written sources had been regarded as the
only sources of written history. Absence of such sources in Sub-Saharan Africa led
to the conclusion by the colonial historians that Black Africa had no history
(Tarimo 2004:12).
The necessity to decolonise African history from its colonial biases, following
attainment of independence by African states led to rigorous search for other new
sources of history such as oral traditions, archaeology, language and linguistics,
anthropology and others. The application of these new sources made it possible to
re-write the African history more scientifically and from an African point of view
thereby shading it from the colonial biases from 1960’s onwards.
The application of these new sources is now globally accepted as a more scientific
method of historical research and construction.
In this lecture, we will examine briefly the following sources:
1.3.1 Oral Sources
This is the most important source of African history. Oral sources refer to the
historical information obtained from verbal transmission. They constitute
eyewitness accounts and oral traditions.
Eyewitness accounts are those accounts given by people who witnessed or
participated in the event in question. For instance, a historian may get firsthand
information about the African independence struggles by interviewing the leaders
or people who participated in those events. Oral traditions, on the other hand,
refer to information handed-down verbally from generation-to-generation which
may go back to centuries past. Such information can be obtained from griots,
historical narrations, or from tales, riddles, poetry, music, jokes, etc.
Activity 2
Distinguish between eyewitness account and oral traditions.
6 Themes in African History
1.3.2 Archaeology
Archaeology, as a source of history, is concerned with the study of past human
physical and cultural remains (fossils and artefacts) recovered from the earth by
archaeological excavations. As such archaeology deals with prehistoric as well as
historical periods of human society.
Thanks to archaeology, Africa is now regarded as the cradle of mankind. This has
thrown overboard the colonial view that Africa had no history of its own.
The dating of the recovered archaeological remains is determined by using radio
carbon isotopes such as carbon-14 and potassium argon.
Activity 3
1.
What do you understand by archaeology as a source of
history?
2.
What instruments are used to date archaeological remains?
1.3.3 Language and Linguistics
The language of people carries with it the culture of that people. A historian is
interested in extracting cultural information associated with the language.
Historical linguists have helped in tracing the migration of people and their
intermingling by examining the lexical relationships of languages. The Bantu
migration and dispersion, for instance, has been traced in this way.
Activity 4
How is language used as a source of history?
1.4 Types of History
There are many types of history ranging from political history, economic history,
social history, cultural history, and religious history. In our discussion in this
lecture, we will be confined to the first three types.
1.4.1 Political History
Political history is a historical study concerning with the wielding of political
power in society. It deals with state issues such as the rulers, statesmen,
constitutions and the maintenance of order. Up to early 20th century political
history was predominant. Historians of that time were more concerned with
studying state powers, rulers and other state issues e.g., war, diplomacy, militarism
and conquest, expansion and colonialism. With the emergence of
Themes in African History 7
underdevelopment and materialist school in mid 20th century however, political
history was superseded by economic history.
Activity 5
Explain the concern of political history.
1.4.2 Economic History
Economic history deals with issues of production and distribution in society and
the relations which are forged in the production and distribution process. It
examines who produces what, by what means and who gets what. However there
are bourgeois and materialist economic histories, their differences being rooted in
the theories they employ in the analysis of the economic relations existing in
society, and the way they examine those relations. Bourgeois school is based on
idealist outlook. It lacks scientific analysis of society. It is held by right-wingcapitalist scholars. The materialist school is based on scientific analysis of society. It
was propounded by left-wing-socialist scholars. Karl Marx was its precursor.
Although economic history existed before Karl Marx, it was he who advanced it
into a scientific field of study by equipping it with his theory of historical
materialism. According to Marx, the economy is the basis of society. This means
that material production is the basis of human existence, and all other human
relations and institutions are built on this base. To him, the economy determines
politics and not the other way round.
Economic history emerged dominant in some of the African countries, especially
those which embraced socialism e.g., Tanzania in the 1970s and 1980s. Today
however it has largely lost strength in favour of local and cultural histories which
constitute the recent trend in historical scholarship.
Activity 6
Explain the importance of economic history.
1.4.3 Social History
Social history is concerned with the study of day-to-day undertakings and
interactions of the ordinary masses of the people such as peasants, women, youth,
etc. Some historians have called it the history of the inarticulate. Today’s historical
trend is towards this kind of history. It delves into local histories of the ordinary
people, examining their cultures, technologies, belief systems, indigenous
knowledge, social institutions, etc.
8 Themes in African History
Activity 7
What do you understand by social history?
1.5 Relevance of History
The relevance of history rests on the following aspects:
Firstly, it offers lessons. From history, we can learn the past achievements, failures,
and draw lessons.
Secondly, as an academic discipline, history can be studied independently and for
its own sake. To a historian, history produces aesthetic pleasure and amusement
when reading. It is a thought-provoking discipline and it strengthens reasoning
capability. It searches for objectivity and truth and builds intellectual curiosity.
Thirdly, history is an applied discipline. It provides background information for
the study of other disciplines. It is an integrative and interdisciplinary subject.
Activity 8
Does history have any relevance?
Summary
Since the goal of history is to provide answers to the contemporary problems, it
cannot just be a study of past events. It is therefore an interaction between man
and his environment and between the past, present and future.
Sources of history include, inter alia, written sources, archaeology, oral sources,
language and linguistics, and study of people’s cultures. The need to reconstruct
the African history led to the discovery of the new sources which have now been
acknowledged globally as authentic sources of history.
There are various types of histories; the most prominent being political history,
social history and economic history.
The relevance of history rests on the fact that it offers lessons to tackle the present
problems. It is also an independent academic discipline which can be studied in its
own right as well as an applied and integrative discipline.
Themes in African History 9
Exercise
1.
Describe the concept of ‘History’.
2.
Mention and explain any four sources of history you know.
3.
Distinguish between
4.
(a)
Political history
(b)
Social history
(c)
Economic history
How relevant is history in today’s world?
References
Car E. H. (1967), What is History? New York: Vintage Books.
Collingwood R. G. (1964), The Idea of History, Oxford University Press.
Ki-Zerbo J. (ed) (1995), General History of Africa: Vol. 1 Methodology and African
Prehistory, UNESCO.
Tarimo E. C. J. (2004), An Introduction to African History to 1880, Dar es Salaam:
OUT.
Vansina J. (1965), Oral Tradition: A Study in Historical Methodology, London:
Routledge and Kegan Paul.
10 Themes in African History
LECTURE 2
African Prehistory
2.1 Introduction
Dear student, this is your second lecture in this course. It introduces you to
African prehistory.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you will be able to:
State the meaning of prehistory;
Explain the theory of evolution;
Discuss the process of human evolution in Africa;
Assess the technological developments of the African prehistoric societies.
2.2 Definition of Terms
Before discussing further, you must be aware of the key terms and terminologies
used in this context.
2.2.1 Prehistory
According to World Book Dictionary, the term ‘prehistory’ refers to the period
before the written history. This definition is however limited and misleading as
human history is not only the written history. Human history predates the
development of writing. When such a definition is applied on African context, it
may be even more misleading for it will be assumed that the pre-literate societies of
pre-colonial Africa were still prehistoric. Such a definition will take us back to the
colonial racist view that African continent had no history.
The term ‘prehistory,’ therefore, does not mean absence of written history. Rather
it denotes the study of the early man, his physical environment and his cultural
and technological developments starting from the time he separated himself from
the other primates leading an independent evolutionary process up to Iron Age
period.
Themes in African History 11
In this stage, the early man was more of a slave than a master of his environment
since he hadn’t yet developed the capacity to master and transform it. His history
was largely dictated and shaped by the forces of nature.
2.2.2 Human Evolution
In his book The Origin of Species (1859), Charles Darwin propounded the theory of
evolution stating that living organisms have been adapting themselves to the
changing environment and in the course transforming themselves gradually from
simple to more complex forms. Coming to human evolution the theory states that
humans have evolved through different biological stages in terms of morphological
and anatomical changes and adaptation leading to the appearance of the present
human species (Homo sapiens sapiens). It should also be noted that humans have
not only evolved biologically but, through adaptation and interaction in the
environment, they have also developed culture and complex social relationships.
There is no reason to suppose that the process of evolution has stopped. Indeed it
continues and there is no doubt that the present human species may continue to
transform into different forms in the future.
Darwin was also the first person to propose Africa as the original home of
mankind. This proposition was later proved correct through archaeology, which
has so far testified Africa as the cradle of mankind.
Perhaps, it is important to explain briefly the factors which influenced human
evolution. The basic factor was the changes in the environment. During the
Eocene and Oligocene periods (50-25 million years BP) the world’s climate was
wet and the earth was covered by extensive rain forests. However, from the
Miocene to Pleistocene periods (25-1 million years ago) the earth experienced great
physical and climatic changes. The physical changes produced extensive ranges of
mountains and valleys. These included the Alps, Himalayas, Andes Atlas,
Drakensberg and Rocky Mountains, and the rift valleys, for example, the great
East African Rift Valley. Volcanic Mountains such as Kilimanjaro and Mount
Kenya were also formed during this period.
Climatically, there were changes from wet to drier conditions leading to
disappearance of forest and prevalence of grasses and shrubs in most parts.
The ancestor of man who had been used to arboreal life (living on trees in the
jungle) found himself in a disadvantage following the disappearance of forests. He
had to adapt to terrestrial life (life on the land). In the process he slowly evolved
Bipedalism. This is the process of walking on two legs using the hind limbs.
Standing on the hind limbs he could reach for fruits and nuts from the shrubs by
using the forelimbs, which now became specialised in labour process including
making and using tools.
Development of labour process involved thinking. This led to increase in brain
capacity from less than 400 cc of the earliest hominids to 1450 cc of the present
human beings. This was also accompanied with development of consciousness.
12 Themes in African History
The labour process also necessitated communication among the ancestors of man
leading to development of language which was, in turn, aided by Bipedalism and
erect stand. Walking upright enabled the vocal cords to be elongated. The increase
in brain capacity controlled and coordinated the complicated vocal cords
facilitating language communication. These developments led to complete
separation of man from the primates. We can, therefore, summarise the factors that
separated man from the rest of the primates as development of Bipedalism, ability
to make and use tools, labour process, increase in brain capacity and language
communication.
Activity 1
1.
What do you understand by the term prehistory?
2.
Explain what is meant by human evolution.
3.
State conditions which influenced human evolution.
2.3 Africa: The Cradle of Mankind
We have already stated that archaeological findings point Africa as the cradle of
mankind. This is because all stages of human evolution bear evidence in the
continent. Below is the sequence of human evolution from australopithecines to
Homo Sapiens Sapiens with evidences drawn from Africa.
2.3.1 Australopithecines
Human evolution is traced back to 30 million years ago when the creatures
ancestral to humans (hominidae) started undergoing independent evolutionary
process from the rest of the primates by acquiring the traits of bipedalism etc.
However, it is not the intention of this lecture to trace human evolution to that far
back. We will therefore confine ourselves to the emergence of australopithecines –
the incontestable ancestor of human dynasty. These creatures are believed to have
existed between 6 and 1 million years ago (Ki-Zerbo GHA Vol. 1, 1995: 407),
(Oliver, 1991:1). There are basically two major types; namely, Australopithecus
Robustus (Boisei) and Australopithecus Gracilis (Australopithecus Proper) (KiZerbo, 1995: 407–408) (Oliver 1991: 1–4).
The remains of Australopithecus Robustus have been discovered in many places
e.g., Olduvai gorge where a creature named Zinjanthropus Boisei was discovered by
Dr. Louis Leaky in 1959. This creature is said to be 1.8 million years old. Other
discoveries have been made in South Africa dated 2–2.5 million years. Others are
from Omo (Ethiopia) and Lake Turkana (Kenya).
Themes in African History 13
This creature is called robustus because it was very strong. It was about 1.5 metres
tall and weighed between 36 and 66 kilograms. Its brain capacity was about 530 cc.
However, it was not completely adapted to Bipedalism. This creature appears to
have become extinct around 1 million years ago. It is also doubtful whether it was
the direct ancestor of the human dynasty.
Australopithecus gracilis appear to have existed between 2.5-1 million years ago. It
comprises of two kinds: namely, Australopithecus Africanus discovered in South
Africa and Australopithecus Afarensis discovered in Afar Ethiopia. The creature is
said to have been just over 1.2 metres tall and weighed between 18 and 32
kilograms. Its face was more prominent than that of Australopithecus boisei. The
eyebrow ridges were fairly more developed and supported a comparatively more
developed forehead. The brain size was between 428 and 485 cc for the
Australopithecus Africanus. This creature was also permanently bipedal. (KiZerbo, 1995: 408) (Oliver, 1991:3)
The remains of Australopithecus gracilis have been recovered in Makapansgat and
Sterkfontein in South Africa (for Australopithecus Africanus) Afar and Omo in
Ethiopia (Australopithecus Afarensis dating between 4 and 3 million years ago).
Others were recovered in Laetoli in Tanzania and Logathan in Kenya.
Australopithecus Gracilis is believed to be the direct ancestor of the Homo
dynasty. In the course of time, this creature seems to have undergone decisive
enlargement of the brain together with accompanying modifications to the teeth
and hands evolving into Homo Habilis (Oliver, 1991:3).
Activity 2
Explain what you know about australopithecines creatures.
2.3.2 The Genus Homo
The next stage of human evolution was the emergence of the genus Homo starting
with Homo Habilis followed by Homo erectus, then Homo Sapiens and lastly,
Homo Sapiens Sapiens – the modern man. The earliest creature in this sequence is
Homo Habilis (man, the tool-maker). Its remains were discovered by Dr. Louis
Leaky at Oldvai Gorge together with a range of crude stone tools (pebbles)
believed to have been used by this creature. This constitutes what is known as the
Oldwan culture. The fossils of this creature have also been recovered in Omo
(Ethiopia) and Lake Turkana (Kenya). The Old Stone Age begins with the
appearance of this creature.
Homo habilis is estimated to have had the height of between 1.2 and 1.4 metres
and the brain capacity of between 680 and 800 cc. It existed between 2.5 and 0.5
million years BP. About 1.5 million years ago Homo habilis is said to have already
14 Themes in African History
evolved into Homo erectus. The Homo habilis continued to exist until about 0.5
million years when it became extinct.
Homo erectus was the next hominid in the chain after the Homo habilis. This
creature appears to have existed between 1.6-0.5 million years ago. As opposed to
Homo habilis, which was still bending, Homo erectus possessed an upright posture
comparable to modern man. He had brain capacity of between 750 and 1000cc.
Homo erectus is associated with the Acheulean (hand axe) technology and it seems
to have spread from Africa to the rest of the continents. The oldest recorded sites
of this creature are at Lake Turkana and Olduvai Gorge dated 1.6 million years.
For the other parts of Africa they are dated 1.5 million years, while for Europe and
Asia it existed between 1 million and 0.5 million years. There are also records of
the hand axe culture associated with this creature in Europe and Asia.
Next in the chain were Homo sapiens. This creature had the brain capacity
between 1000 and 1400 cc. It existed between 200,000 and 35000 years BP. Fossils
of this creature have been recovered in many parts of Africa for instance,
Elementaita (Kenya) and Omo (Ethiopia) dated around 200,000 BP and Broken
Hill (Zambia) dated around 35000 BP. It also appears in other continents. The
appearance of Homo sapiens conceded with the beginning of middle Stone Age
technology, and thus it is associated with this technology.
The last in the chain is Homo Sapiens Sapiens – the modern man. He had the brain
capacity of 1450 cc. He appeared around 50,000 years BP. Some of the fossils of
this creature are noted to have Negroid, Bushmanoid and Nilotic features. This
indicates that some of the present African stocks are descendants of these proto
ancestors. Archaeological evidences show that Homo Sapiens Sapiens was scattered
all over Africa and over the globe. Homo Sapiens Sapiens still survives today. We
all belong to this specie.
Activity 3
Explain the evolutionary process of the genus Homo.
2.4 Prehistoric Technological Development
Other primates e.g., the chimpanzees and monkey use sticks and stones to assist
them in obtaining food. But it is only man who can make tools and use them to
suit his purposes.
Before the discovery of metals (about 6000 years BP) stone tools were predominant
and had existed for about 3 million years past. However the stone-tool-making
technology experienced modifications and improvements with time. Thus, basing
on the level of improvement of the tools produced, prehistoric stone technology
could be divided into three ages; namely, old, middle and new Stone Age.
Themes in African History 15
2.4.1 Old Stone Age (Palaeolithic)
This period lasted from 3 million years to about 200,000 years BP. The tools made
included pebbles (rounded crude tools with pointing edge for cutting), choppers
and flakes for skinning and cutting. The pebbles were discovered in large numbers
at Olduvai Gorge leading to what is known as the Oldowan culture. These tools
are associated with Homo habilis.
Later on, about 1.5 million years ago, we experience the appearance of Acheulean
technology. This is characterised by predominance of hand axes. This is a tough,
sharp and heavy tool chipped on both sides and trimmed on one end side to
produce sharp cutting edge for skinning, cutting, slicing, etc). The hand axe is
associated with Homo erectus. There are also traces of fire in this period. The hand
axe has been discovered in many parts of Africa, Europe and Asia.
2.4.2 Middle Stone Age (MSA) (Mesolithic)
This period is traced from about 200,000 BP. It is associated with Homo sapiens. It
is characterised by smaller and more refined tools than those of the Old Stone Age.
These include knives, blades, scrappers and spears. Some of these tools are fitted in
wooden handles by using vegetable and plant glue or twine. There is regional
variation in the style of tool-making and there is deliberate selection of harder
rocks e.g., the volcanic for the manufacture of tools. Bone tools are also common.
There is widespread use of fire. Shelters built by using tree branches, grass and
stones are also common. Caves are also used as shelters.
In terms of cultural achievement, this period is characterised by intentional burials
which are accompanied with placing of artefacts and food with the dead for use in
the after-life. This practice symbolised existence of some form of religion.
The tools of MSA have been discovered in places such as Kalambo falls (Zambia),
Florisband horizon in Orange Free State (South Africa), and Chavuma (Zambia).
2.4.3 New Stone Age (Neolithic)
This period emerged with the appearance of Homo sapiens sapiens around 40,000
years BP. In this period the stone-tools technology became more sophisticated. It is
dominated by microlithic tools (tiny tools trimmed in variety of shapes for
different purposes and uses). Tools such as crescents, backed blades and awls for
grooving are common. Others include axes, spears, arrows, bows and harpoons.
These greatly improved the hunting techniques. Some of these tools were made of
bones. Metal rocks are most preferred for tool manufacturing. Pottery and
basketry are widespread. Huts made of poles, grasses and skins are in common use.
Rock shelters are still in use. There is widespread prevalence of rock arts showing
variety of animals, hunting scenes, cultural ceremonies, etc.
In this period we experience the beginning of the domestication of plants and
animals. This development probably began by gathering wild grain such as wheat,
16 Themes in African History
barley, sorghum and millet. The wild plants were probably initially protected and
encouraged in the areas they grew best. Slowly, the technique of weeding to enable
the plants to produce better yield was learnt. In the course of time they also learnt
seed sowing, preservation of seeds for next season, hoeing, and ploughing.
Animal domestication seems to have started in the like manner. People began to
control the movement of particular wild animals, protecting them from other
predators. The next step was to control their breeding so as to produce the type of
animals most useful to the community. (Shillington: 1995: 14-16) (Ki-Zerbo, 1995:
688-699)
Crop cultivation and animal domestication brought fundamental changes to
human society. People began to live in permanent settlements in suitably fertile
regions, growing their own food. Due to more abundance of food and settled life,
women could bear more children resulting into faster increase in population. Some
form of community organization and control became inevitable at this time. This
development is what is termed as Neolithic Revolution.
Activity 4
Distinguish between old, middle and new stone ages.
2.5 Iron Age
Through many years of trial and error, the African prehistoric man was able to
forge iron into tools. Fire was an important agent in this process. The iron-bearing
rocks were heated to separate the iron ore from the rock wastes. The initial
purpose of this exercise was to get the hard rock (the ore) to forge the ore into iron
tools through intensive heating and hammering.
Eurocentric historians have tended to suggest that iron technology defused into
Africa from Western Asia (Mesopotamia), landing first in Egypt and Carthage and
from there spreading to the continent. This erroneous explanation has long been
thrown overboard for the following reasons.
Firstly, archaeological findings have proved that iron technology developed
independently in most parts of Africa (Tarimo 2004: 47). Secondly, iron ore did
not exist in all places. Only the societies which happened to possess the iron ore in
their environment had the advantage of acquiring the technology of working it
earlier before the others. It should also be noted that the Iron Age societies were
separated by vast tracts of land and so communication of knowledge and ideas was
also limited. Even if the iron-bearing rocks happened to exist in a certain
community it was first necessary to identify its existence. This was only possible
after a long interaction with the environment by the respective community. Again
in most societies, if not all, the knowledge of iron working was not open to
everybody. Rather it was an exclusive monopoly of certain clans. Such
Themes in African History 17
circumstances can only support the view of independent acquisition of knowledge
than the diffusion of knowledge argument.
The earliest traces of iron technology in Africa date back to 1500 BC. This was in
Egypt (Ki-Zerbo, 1995: 727-728). In Nubia, it dates back to 800 BC. By 300 BC
Meroe, the capital of Kush had developed the biggest iron industry ever before
established in the region.
The traces of iron technology in West Africa date back to 1000 BC. In East Africa
it is 500 BC, while in South Africa it is 400 BC (Tarimo, 2004: 34). Through trade,
iron tools spread from the producers to the non-producers. Slowly, stone tools
were abandoned in favour of iron tools. By the end of the first millennium AD,
most societies of Africa had acquired iron technology.
Development of iron technology led to improvement in food production and
greater mastery of the environment. Agricultural production, livestock-keeping
and even hunting became more efficient. The increase in food production led to
increase in population. More complex division of labour based on specialisation of
activities and skills was also made possible. Craftsmen, religious and political
leaders emerged. New methods of community life, new forms of government and
new patterns of keeping law and order developed. In short, the discovery of iron
technology marked the end of the long march of African prehistory and the
beginning of historical period.
Activity 5
How revolutionary was the discovery of iron?
Take Note
The following are the most decisive landmarks in the technological development
of the prehistoric man.
(i)
The discovery of stone tool-making.
(ii)
The discovery of fire
(iii)
The Neolithic revolution (knowledge of domestication of plant and
animals)
(iv)
The discovery of metallurgy, i.e. the ability to forge iron tools and other
metal objects.
Summary
Contd…
18 Themes in African History
Prehistory refers to the study of the evolution and development of the early man
up to Iron Age.
Evolution is a process whereby living organisms have been changing from simple
to complex forms. Man has also undergone similar process.
The entire process of evolution of the prehistoric man from australopithecines to
Homo sapiens sapiens together with the accompanying technological
developments from Stone Age to Iron Age bears concrete evidences from Africa.
This qualifies Africa as the cradle of mankind.
Exercise
1.
Discuss the process of human evolution.
2.
Examine the technological development of the prehistoric man from Old
Stone Age to Iron Age.
References
Barnhart, C. L. and Barnhart, R. K. (eds) (1988), World Book Dictionary, Chicago:
World Book Inc.
Bohaman, P. and Curtin, P. (1988), Africa and Africans, Illinois: Waveland
University Press Inc.
Clark, G. (1978), World Prehistory in New Perspective, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Chambers Encyclopaedia Vol. XI. London: International Learning Systems
Corporation Limited.
Fage, J. D. and Tordoff, W. (2002), A History of Africa, London: Routledge.
Ki-Zerbo, J. (ed) (1995), General History of Africa: Vol. I Methodology and African
Prehistory, California. UNESCO.
Oliver, R. (1991), The African Experience: Major Themes in African History from
Earliest Time to the Present, Icon Editions
Shillington, K. (1995), History of Africa. London: Macmillan Education Ltd.
Tarimo, E. C. J. (2004), An Introduction to African History to 1880, O.U.T.
Themes in African History 19
20 Themes in African History
Themes in African History 21
LECTURE 3
Economic and Technological
Developments in Pre-colonial
Africa
3.1 Introduction
Dear student, in the previous lecture, we have discussed about human prehistory.
In that lecture we examined aspects such as human evolution and technological
development from Stone Age to Iron Age.
We saw that although there was no definite boundary between prehistory and the
beginning of historical period, the inception of Neolithic revolution and the
beginning of iron working are regarded as the transition stages towards the
historical period.
In this lecture, we will examine economic and technological developments in
pre-colonial Africa.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you will be able to:
Explain and discuss the different economic occupations of pre colonial societies;
Show the influence of environment on the economic occupations;
Establish the level of technological development of pre-colonial societies;
State the role of trade on the economic life of pre-colonial African societies.
3.2 Economic Occupations of Pre-colonial
Societies
Economic occupations refer to those activities in which people engage daily in
order to realise their means of subsistence. The main economic occupations of the
pre-colonial societies were agriculture and animal husbandry. These activities
22 Themes in African History
formed the economic basis of those societies. Other activities were fishing, hunting
and gathering, mining and metallurgy, crafts and trade.
3.2.1 Agricultural Systems and Techniques
Several agricultural systems and techniques evolved. These were largely influenced
by the environment.
1.
Permanent Crop Cultivation: Permanent crop cultivation involved
cultivation of perennial crops. It evolved in areas with fertile soil and
relatively high rainfall, normally characterised by two high rainfall seasons.
In East Africa such places included the interlacustrine region, particularly
west and north of Lake Victoria and the highland areas. Other such places
included the forest region of West Africa and the equatorial Africa.
The crops cultivated ranged from stem and tree crops such as bananas,
fruits and nuts to root crops, for instance, yams. These were perennial
crops. Seasonal crops were also intercropped with these crops. These
societies also kept livestock e.g., cattle, goats and sheep on a small scale
around their homesteads.
Because of the permanent nature of the crops grown, the societies also
tended to establish permanent settlements.
Activity 1
What do you understand by permanent crop cultivation?
2.
Shifting Cultivation: Shifting cultivation involved continuous shift to new
land after the land under cultivation for several seasons lost its original
fertility. Shifting cultivation was applied in areas with low population
density. These areas were also prone to diseases such as trypanosomiasis,
which affected man and livestock alike rendering the environment
unsuitable for high population growth and stock raising. As such there was
no possibility of replenishing soil fertility by application of animal manure.
Societies practicing shifting cultivation were mainly those found in the
Savannah woodland regions of Africa. In East Africa, these places include
western and southern Tanzania.
Activity 2
How was shifting cultivation practiced?
Themes in African History 23
3.
Mixed Farming: Mixed farming involved crop cultivation and livestock
raising on a relatively large scale. Crops cultivated were the seasonal crops
such as cereals and legumes. Mixed farming was quite widespread in the
Savannah grassland areas. Societies which practiced mixed farming included
the Sotho and Swazi of South Africa; Shona of Zimbabwe; Sukuma, Gogo,
Nyaturu and Nyiramba of Tanzania.
Agricultural Techniques
Together with these farming systems, other agricultural techniques included the
following:
1.
Bush Burning: This was a fire-setting technique of clearing the land for
cultivation. Given the simple tools of production used to clear the land,
bush burning was one of the common techniques employed. It also added
phosphorous to the soil especially those with deficiency of the mineral.
2.
Intercropping: This involved planting of different crops in one field. It was
practiced almost everywhere in Africa. The application of this system
enabled maximum utilisation of the land and production of a variety of
crops in the same plot. It also checked the spread of diseases.
3.
Agroforestry: This involved planting of trees in cultivated fields. It was
notable in places like Zimbabwe. The trees helped to maintain soil fertility
and provided a shade to crops. They also provided fruits, timber and
firewood. The decomposed litter improved soil fertility.
4.
Terracing: This involved constructing stone ridges across the slopes to
prevent soil erosion. This was practiced in highland areas.
5.
Wetland: This was a system of flooding the fields with river floods. After
the retreat of the floods, seeds were sewn in the field. Rice pads were
particularly raised in this way. This technique was employed in river valley
areas e.g., the Nile, Niger, etc.
6.
Irrigation: This was a system of irrigating the field using lake, river or
stream water. It supplemented the unreliable rainfall as a source of water
for crops. Large-scale irrigation systems have been in existence along river
Nile in Egypt and Sudan since ancient times. Small-scale irrigation systems
existed in many places all over Africa.
Activity 3
What do you understand by
(i)
bush burning
24 Themes in African History
(ii)
intercropping
(iii)
agro forestry
(iv)
wetland
(v)
irrigation
3.2.2 Crops
Crops in Africa were of different types ranging from cereals, oil seeds, root crops,
vegetable, fruits, nuts, etc. These crops also fell into two main groups namely, the
indigenous and foreign (exotic). The indigenous crops included sorghum, millet,
yams, sweet potatoes, cow peas, palm oil, kola nuts, date palms, pumpkins and
watermelon.
Through constant interaction with the outside world, Africa was able to obtain a
variety of crops from Asia and America. Those originating from Asia included rice
and banana. Latin America supplied tobacco, cassava, pineapple and maize. These
crops are said to have been introduced into the continent by the Portuguese in the
16th century onwards.
The foreign (exotic) crops have been adapted to African environment and have
multiplied into different varieties. They have added an important component in
the dietary composition of the African societies. In many places, for instance, crops
such as maize, rice and banana have supplanted the indigenous staples.
Activity 4
Mention and explain two categories of crops found in pre-colonial
Africa.
3.2.3 Farming Tools
The dominant farming tools in Africa were the hand hoe and the plough. The
plough was mainly used in Egypt and North Africa while the hoe was more suited
to working in the shallow and fragile tropical soil of the south Sahara to avoid its
over-exposure to agents of erosion.
3.2.4 Animal Husbandry
Animal husbandry refers to domestication of animals. Cattle, sheep and goats were
the major stocks of the domesticated animals. Two main system of animal
domestication evolved. They included pastoralism and mixed farming. The latter
has already been discussed. Pastoralism refers to keeping of animals on free range
whereby the animals wander around in the wilderness looking for pastures.
Pastoralism was either transhumance or nomadic. Transhumance involved regular
Themes in African History 25
trekking with the livestock on a definite orbit. Normally, the pastoralists who
practiced transhumance had permanent homes and they also practiced some
agriculture. However, during dry season they left their homes for some time while
moving to new pastures far away from their homesteads. They stayed there with
their livestock until the rain season set in. Then they returned to their homesteads
with their livestock.
Nomadic pastoralism, on the other hand, refers to constant movement of people
with their livestock in search of pastures and water. Normally, the nomadic
pastoralists had no permanent homes. These people were found in drier places
particularly in the savannah scrubland. Typical of nomadic pastoralists in East
Africa were the Maasai, Turkana, Karamojong and Borana. In West Africa they
included the Fulani and Tuareg; while in South Africa they were the Khoikhoi.
Livestock and its products were much useful to the Africans. Its meat was food to
the people; skins were used to make bags, sandal, cloths, tents, etc. Horns were
used as musical and alarm instruments. Cow dung was used as manure and for
plastering walls and floors as well as making fire. Cow-dung fire was also used as an
insecticide to keep away mosquitoes, flies, snakes and wild animals. Livestock was
also used to pay dowry and in settling debts and fines.
Activity 5
1.
What do you understand by pastoralism?
2.
Explain two types of pastoralism.
3.2.5 Hunting and Gathering
Hunting and gathering was a part time job of many pre-colonial societies. It
supplemented agriculture and livestock keeping. However, few societies such as the
San of the Kalahari Desert, the Pygmies of the Congo forest and the Hadzabe of
Arusha, Singida and Shinyanga (Tanzania) still practice hunting and gathering as
their major economic occupation until today.
3.2.6 Fishing
Fishing was another important occupation. It was practiced along the water bodies
(rivers, lakes and oceans). Societies around such places developed sophisticated
techniques of fishing, making fish-nets and traps and building boats and canoes.
3.2.7 Iron Working
As already stated in lecture 2, iron technology, by the end of the first millennium
AD, had spread to most societies of Africa. African societies got access to iron
tools either by producing them or through trade.
26 Themes in African History
The process of producing iron tools was so involving. Firstly, the ore was mined
and then it was smelted in clay furnaces by using charcoal. The smelted iron was
taken to blacksmiths for forging into various tools and articles such as axes,
daggers, sickles, knives, spears, arrows, utensils and jewellery. By 19th century iron
mining and working was widespread all over Africa.
Activity 6
Explain the process of iron working.
3.2.8 Copper-working
Copper and its alloys (bronze and brass) were widely used in pre-colonial Africa.
In many places they preceded iron. Unsmelted copper was one of the metals
widely used by the late Stone Age societies to produce stronger stone tools.
Smelting of copper began around the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, while bronze
(alloy of copper and tin) was in use in Egypt and West Africa since the 3rd
millennium BC. By the third century BC, copper was produced in Katanga region
of central Africa where the richest deposits of copper in Africa were found.
Copper deposits were identified by surface indications and its extraction was done
through open-cast and underground mining. In open-cast mining, small shafts were
dug to several feet underground. This system was widely practiced in Katanga
region. In underground mining, shafts were sunk to the depth of up to 1000 feet.
Underground tunnels were dug to connect the various chambers at the foot of the
shaft.
The copper ore was broken up and dislodged from the rock by using stone and
iron tools or fire-setting techniques. The ore was lifted to the surface and taken for
smelting in furnaces. The smelted copper was then casted to produce various
articles. The casting process involved the mixing of tin or zinc to produce bronze
and brass respectively. Copper and its alloys (bronze and brass) were made into an
array of products such as wire, rods, statues, masks, jewellery and ornaments,
vessels and utensils. It was decorated on royal insignia and palaces and was also
used as a medium of exchange. The most famous bronze and brass workers were
found in Igbo, Ukwu and Yorubaland (Nigeria). Bronze was also produced in
Zimbabwe and the Transvaal South Africa.
Activity 7
1.
How ancient is the discovery of the uses of copper in Africa?
2.
Examine the process of copper working.
3.2.9 Tin-working
Themes in African History 27
Tin was produced in ancient Egypt and in several places of west, central and
southern Africa. By 19th century AD, Jos plateau in Nigeria was the leading
producer of tin.
Tin was mined in either open-cast or reef mining. After mining, the ore was
washed in streams, canals or calabashes to separate the tin from the rock waste.
After that, it was smelted in furnaces. The smelted tin was taken to tin smiths for
producing various articles such as sheaths, rings, bracelets, horse gear, etc. It was
also used for soldering and a finish for household utensils such as bowels, jugs,
plates and lumps. Tin was also alloyed with copper to produce bronze.
Activity 8
Explain the process of tin production and its uses.
3.2.10 Gold Production
Gold was a metal of ornament and prestige. Otherwise it had little utilitarian value.
The production of gold in Africa dates back to antiquity. In Egypt, it dates back to
the third millennium BC. As an article of ornament, gold was coloured, soldered
and plaited on copper and silver objects. It was also used to make coins and jewels
and for decorating objects and buildings.
Nubia was the greatest producer of gold in ancient Africa. This was replaced by
West Africa in the first and second millennium AD. West African gold flourished
and sustained the Trans-Saharan trade for many centuries. It also contributed
greatly to the prosperity of the western Sudan kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and
Songhai.
Further south, Zimbabwe was another great producer of gold dating back to 8th
century AD. Most of Zimbabwean gold found its way to the external market. It
contributed immensely to the strengthening of the Indian Ocean trading system.
Initially it was exported to Arabia, Persia and India and later on, from 16th
century onwards, to Portugal and other European countries. It contributed to the
rise and prosperity of the Zimbabwe state and the successor states of Mutapa,
Torwa and Rozwi. It was also instrumental for the rise and prosperity of East
Coastal city states such as Kilwa and Sofala before they were interfered by the
Portuguese.
Activity 9
1.
Discuss the usefulness of gold.
2.
Who were the main consumers of the African gold?
3.2.11 Salt Production
28 Themes in African History
Salt was another essential mineral produced in pre-colonial Africa. It had dietary,
medicinal and other values. It was flavour for foods and was also used to treat
stomach ailments, eye disorders, bruises and infections, venereal diseases etc.
Salt was also used for industrial purposes such as dyeing clothes, making soaps and
smelting cooper. It was also a feed and medicine to livestock.
There were three main ways in which salt was obtained. They included extraction
of salt from saliferous springs, lakes and the sea; processing of salt from saliferous
plants; and salt mining. In the first case, people living around salt lakes, salt spring
or along sea shores produced salt by digging holes and filling brine in the holes and
left to evaporate until sufficient concentration occurred. After that the brine was
boiled in clay jars until it crystallised. Such practice was done in many places such
as Uvinza in Kigoma Tanzania and along the Indian and Atlantic sea shores.
In the second case, this practice was done in areas with high rainfall and, therefore,
there was insufficient concentration of salt in the soil. In this case, the communities
living in such areas identified saliferous plants and reeds and used them to extract
salt. The process involved drying and burning of saliferous plants and grasses and
the ash obtained was mixed with water to form liquid. This liquid was then
filtered. The resulting brine was used directly for cooking or it could be boiled in
pots until it crystallised.
The third method was salt mining. This was done in areas with salt mines. It
involved digging pits of various sizes to reach underground water. Here, salt was
formed on the water surface. It was then collected, put in moulds and left to dry.
After that it was ready for use. Salt mining was done in the Sahara desert.
Activity 10
Discuss three processes of obtaining salt.
3.2.12 Craft Industries
The development of agriculture and animal-keeping had necessitated storage and
other essential necessities to support these activities. This led to development of
craft industries to produce items to serve the above purposes and other important
needs of day-to-day life. In this section, we will be confined to textiles, basketry,
pottery, leatherwork and woodwork.
Textiles
African communities had developed the art of weaving and spinning cotton and
other fibres to make clothes since antiquity. Archaeological evidence has revealed
presence of women fabrics of ancient times in Egypt, Mali and Zambia. Written
sources also reveal textile manufacturing dating back to ancient times in north and
West Africa. There is also evidence of textile manufacturing in Mozambique and
Malawi. (Zelza 1994)
Themes in African History 29
The process of textile manufacture ranged from collection of fibre, soaking, drying,
softening, cleaning, spinning, weaving, dyeing, bleaching, embroidery and
appliqué.
The fibres included bark, bast fibre, silk, wool and cotton. Others include raffia
and skin. The fibres could be categorised into those that were spun, such as silk,
wool and cotton, and those that were not such as bast, barks, raffia and skin.
Bark cloth was produced in Buganda where varieties of trees suitable for the
production of bark fibre existed. Silk production was confined to Madagascar and
Nigeria where a certain species of anaphase moth, which produced the silk, existed.
Wool was harvested from sheep in North Africa. Cotton was grown locally in
many places of Africa and was the commonest fibre for cloth production. Skins
were readily available in most societies and were also used for cloth making.
Activity 11
Which raw materials were used for textile manufacturing in Africa and
how were they distributed in the continent?
Basketry
Basketry was most common among agrarian societies who needed baskets for
carriage and storage of grain and other agricultural products. Basketry involved
coiling, twining and plaiting. The raw materials included grasses, leaves and fibres
from various plants. The articles produced included baskets for general use, food
baskets, storage containers, milk- and butter-vessels, baskets for carrying chicken
and small animals, fish traps, bags, beds, carpets, mats and tents.
Activity 12
Discuss the importance of basketry to African communities.
Pottery
The discovery of fire and the need to cook and store food led to the development
of pottery. By 19th century, pottery had spread to most societies. Various articles
were made ranging from cooking utensils, containers for storing liquid and
foodstuffs, and roofing tiles.
Leatherwork
Leatherwork was practiced by many communities but it was more prominent
among pastoral communities. Leatherwork ranged from production of clothes,
sandals, bags, bedding materials and tents.
30 Themes in African History
Woodwork
Woodwork was practiced by many societies. It involved production of household
furniture such as beds, stools and chairs of various types. Wood was also used to
make utensils and vessels such as bowls, bottles, trays, spoons, mortars and pestles.
It was also used for carving and musical instruments.
African wood sculpture is rated among the best in the world and the Makonde of
Tanzania are among the prominent woodworkers.
Activity 13
Examine the range of woodwork products.
3.2.13 Trade
Trade is a means by which commodities change hands. Development of trade
presupposes existence of surplus in society. It also symbolises uneven distribution
of resources. But more importantly it shows the level of development of society. In
this context, the existence of trade indicates that a society has attained complex
division of labour based on specialisation of activities and therefore facilitating
production of different kinds of essential articles which can only be evenly
allocated through the medium of trade. Trade is an essential mode of distribution
of material values in society.
Trade in Africa was carried out at three major levels, namely local, regional and
intercontinental. Local trade was conducted between and among village
communities. This was the commonest and most important trade. It was basically
barter trade (i.e. exchange of goods for goods). Although this trade did not require
marketplaces nevertheless such places existed everywhere in the villages, and
specific market days were earmarked when sellers and buyers could meet and
exchange their products. In the local trade there were no middlemen who traded
for profit. Goods passed freely from producers to consumers on agreeable and
equitable exchange basis.
Regional trade was more specialised and dealt with the commodities which were
scarce and geographically unevenly distributed. These included commodities such
as salt, iron, gold, copper, certain kinds of clothes, etc. In this case people were
forced to go beyond their borders and their ethnic groups to trade with other
communities in far distant places. This trade was therefore interregional and
interethnic. In this case the use of middlemen became necessary. The middlemen
traded for profit. Certain articles were identified and accepted by the trading
parties as medium of exchange. The choice of a medium of exchange took account
of such qualities as the value of a commodity, its scarcity, durability, portability
and storage. In this case, commodities such as gold, salt, bars of iron and copper
and cowry shells served as medium of exchange.
Themes in African History 31
This trade was conducted in definite marketplaces. Sometimes these places
developed into market towns. In the Sudan region of West Africa such towns
included Jenne, Timbuktu and Gao.
For security reasons the trade was organised in caravans and definite trade routes
developed. This kind of trade is also termed long-distance trade and the typical
example of this was the Trans-Saharan trade of West Africa and the long-distance
trade of east and central Africa. In Africa, several communities specialised in long
distance trade including the Berbers of North Africa, the Tuarage of the Sahara,
the Dyula and Wangara of West Africa, the Ovimbundu, Imbangala and Cewa of
Central Africa and the Yao, Nyamwezi and Kamba of East Africa.
Intercontinental trade was carried out between Africa and the outside world, i.e.
Europe, Asia and America. It was prompted by the quest for tropical products
such as ivory and other important and valuable commodities such as gold and
slaves. The intercontinental trade strengthened the interregional trade, for
example, the Trans-Saharan trade and the East Africa long distance trade as already
discussed.
This trade was basically unequal. For many years, since the first millennium AD,
Africa supplied to the rest of the world gold and slaves in exchange for less valuable
products such as beads, porcelain, spirit and guns. It served to under-develop the
continent.
Activity 14
Distinguish between local, regional and intercontinental trade.
Summary
Agriculture and animal husbandry constituted the major economic occupations of
the pre-colonial African societies. Other occupations included hunting and
gathering, fishing, mining, and craft industries and trade.
The environment (climate, soil, water bodies and other resource endowments) had
great influence on the economic practices of the societies.
Pre-colonial African metallurgy and craft technology had by 19th century attained
a significant advancement and revealed great ingenuity by the smiths and
craftsmen.
Pre-colonial African trade served as a means of distribution of the resources and
man-made articles among people and between communities.
32 Themes in African History
Exercise
1.
Discuss various techniques of pre-colonial agriculture.
2.
Examine the major sectors of pre-colonial economy.
3.
With concrete examples analyse the level of technological development of
metal industry in pre-colonial Africa.
4.
Discuss the importance of trade to the economy of pre-colonial African
societies.
5.
How dynamic was pre-colonial African economy?
References
Bohanan, P. and Curtin, P. (1988), Africa and Africans, Illinois: Waveland Press
Inc.
Fage, D. and Tordoff, W. (2002), A History of Africa, London: Routledge.
Oliver, R. (1991), The African Experience: Major Themes in African History from
Earliest times to the Present, Icon Editions.
Shillington, K. (1995), History of Africa, London: Macmillan Education Ltd.
Tarimo, E.C.J. (2004), An Introduction to African History to 1880, OUT.
UNESCO, General History of Africa Vols. III – IV
Zeleza, P.T. (1993), A Modern Economic History of Africa: The Nineteenth Century,
Vol. I, Dakar: CODESRIA.
Themes in African History 33
34 Themes in African History
LECTURE 4
Political Developments in
Pre-colonial Africa
4.1 Introduction
In the preceding lecture, we examined economic and technological developments
in
pre-colonial Africa. We saw that the pre-colonial societies had developed complex
economic systems and had also achieved quite advanced technology.
In this lecture, we will examine political developments in pre-colonial Africa. Our
examination will focus on pre-state and state political organisations. In the case of
the state organisations, the ancient Egyptian kingdom, Ghana kingdom and the
Great Zimbabwe state will be taken as case studies.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you will be able to:
Identify and explain various types of pre-colonial political organisations;
Define a state and explain the conditions for its existence;
Discuss and periodise the rise and collapse of Ancient Egyptian kingdom, Ghana
kingdom and the Great Zimbabwe state;
Explain the political and administrative systems of these states.
4.2 Meaning of Political Organisation
Political organisation can be defined as an act of ruling or controlling people by
guiding and regulating their daily lives, activities, and behaviours in accordance
with the set norms and protocols whether consented by the people or imposed by
the rulers. This implies the exercise of power and authority over a community or
group and it is normally done by a political elite (a small group of people which
places itself above the community by consent or otherwise to be its rulers).
Themes in African History 35
In modern societies, political power is normally exercised by the state. But the
state has not always existed in human history. It arose at a certain point when
conditions favoured its existence. The pre-state societies however were also
organised politically whether in clan or age-set system as will be discussed in the
lecture.
Let us start by examining what constitutes the state and what conditions lead to its
rise.
4.3 State
The term ‘state’ has various definitions, but in the context of this lecture it is
simply defined as ‘the ruling power in society’. The state has the following
essential elements.
1.
Population: A state cannot exist in a vacuum. It must have the people to
rule. These people will exist in a territory or a political space.
2.
Boundaries: A state must have defined boundaries, which are recognised
and respected by other states.
3.
Sovereignty: A state is a sovereign entity vested with power to formulate
policies and legislations which are binding on its citizens and which
determine its relations with other states.
4.3.1 Organs of the State
The state has the following important organs:
1.
Government: This include government administration (the executive) the
legislation and the judiciary.
2.
Coercive instruments: They include the army, militia, police and prisons.
3.
Ideological instruments and instrument of propaganda and mobilisation:
Included here are religions institution, the education system, the mass
media, political parties, civic organisations, etc.
All states, big and small, ancient or modern possess these elements and organs in
one form or another. The only difference is that in the ancient states these organs
were rudimentary while in the modern states they are more advanced, elaborate
and sophisticated.
It is also important to note that there are several factors which favour state
formation. These include existence of sedentary (settled) population which is big
36 Themes in African History
enough to support the state, a certain level of the development of the productive
forces to facilitate production of surplus to maintain the state machinery, existence
of social classes, etc. In the absence of these factors a state cannot develop.
Activity 1
1.
Explain the meaning and components of the state.
2.
What conditions lead to the emergence of the state?
4.4 Pre-state Systems of Political Organisation
in Africa
Not all pre-colonial societies had attained the level of state formation. Hunters and
gatherers did not form states. Their communities were too small and thinly spread,
and their productive forces too undeveloped for state formation. Most pastoralists
did not form states either because of the nature of their economic occupation.
Those who did, took it over by conquest from the sedentary agriculturalists, as was
the case in the interlacustrine region (e.g. Rwanda and Burundi Kingdoms). Even
among the agriculturalists, the basis for state formation was the level of material
development of a given society and environmental determinants such as climate,
soil, presence of precious metals such as gold and iron, access to trade connections,
etc. These acted as catalysts for state formation.
The pre-state societies were organised politically in clan or age-set systems. The clan
comprised of people who shared common ancestry. Clans were organised under clan
heads. The clan head was the leader of the clan and custodian of the land and
property of the clan. His duties included distribution of land to clan members,
settling disputes arising from the clan members, presiding over religious and cultural
ceremonies and celebrations of the clan. He also controlled the surplus produced in
the clan and determined its redistribution. The clan leader was thus, in every respect
a political-cum religious leader.
The age-set system was mainly found among the pastoral societies such as the
Maasai. In this system, society was organised on age criteria. In this case political
leadership was based on age seniority. One of the most senior elders in the society
and who also possessed wisdom was appointed the head of the tribe. In the case of
the Maasai, such a person was the custodian of the tribal land, cattle and other
properties of the tribe. He resolved tribal disputes. He was also a spiritual leader
presiding over all religious and cultural ceremonies. He also commanded young
men into war and cattle-raiding expeditions.
Activity 2
What do you understand by clan and age-set systems of political
organisation?
Themes in African History 37
4.5 State Organisations
Africa experienced formation of states since very early period. The earliest of this
was the Ancient Egyptian kingdom which emerged in the end of 4th millennium
BC. Other ancient states were the kingdoms of Kush and Axum. In the medieval
period (the period contemporaneous with Medieval Europe several states such as
the Western Sudan kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhai, the Great Zimbabwe
state, and the East African coastal states emerged.
From 14th century onwards, Africa experienced what can be termed a revolution
in the process of state formation. Many states – big and small – were on the rise
across the continent. Among these included the forest states of West Africa, Hausa
and Mossi Kingdoms of West Africa, the Congo Zambezian kingdoms of Congo,
Luba Lunda, Kazembe, Mwene Mutapa, Rozwi, Torwa and Malawi and the
interlacustrine kingdoms of East Africa. Other kingdoms in East Africa included
those of the Hehe, Shambaa, Chagga chiefdoms, Ntemi chiefdoms, etc. Most of
these states rose up due to internal dynamics and had no influence whatsoever
from outside the continent.
By 19th century most African societies were thus organised in states of varying
sizes and complexity of the structures of their organisation. Most states were
hereditary monarchies characterised by divine kingship and supported by feudal
systems and structures. Depending on their expansiveness and the complexity of
their organisational structures, these states could be categorised into chiefdoms,
kingdoms or empires. In this lecture, we will examine three states. These are the
Ancient Egyptian kingdom, Ghana Empire and the Great Zimbabwe state.
4.5.1 The Ancient Egyptian State
Ancient Egypt owes its civilization to the Nile valley. The drying up of the Sahara
between 7000 and 5000 BC forced the Saharan populations into the Nile valley. As
they settled, these populations became adapted to crop cultivation using the Nile
water for irrigation. The Nile River was useful to these settlers for two major
purposes. Firstly, it provided water for irrigation and other uses. Secondly, it
provided silt from the Ethiopian highlands which renewed soil fertility every
season.
Between 5000 and 4000 BC, there had been established permanent settlement of
full-time farmers in the Nile valley who had developed various farming techniques
adapted to the river’s annual floods. These included clearing land for cultivation,
draining swamps, building dykes against the incursion of the floodwaters and
building of canals from the river to irrigate the adjacent lands. These farmers also
acquired the arts and skills of writing, calendar, astronomy, architecture and stone
construction. They also learnt the use of metals such as copper and gold.
The need for knowledge and skills led to separation between mental and manual
labour. Some people withdrew from direct production, specialising in other fields
38 Themes in African History
such as astronomy, architecture, mathematics, geometry, writing and recordkeeping. These people lived on the surplus produced by the agricultural producers,
a situation which eventually led to private control of the surplus by few,
particularly the organisers of labour (political leaders).
Private surplus appropriation by few eventually extended to private control of the
land by the same. In this way the Egyptian society became broken into classes of
producers and appropriators and in the event the Egyptian state emerged.
The process of state formation began with the rise of several small states in the
Nile delta and in the upper Nile; then these small states got unified into two
kingdoms, one in the lower Nile (Nile delta) and another in the upper Nile. This
development is said to have taken place in the 4th millennium BC. In about 3200
BC, these two kingdoms were unified into one kingdom by one Menes, the King
of Upper Egypt founding the Pharaonic dynasty in Egypt. Pharaoh was the title of
the Egyptian rulers. This marked the beginning of 3000 years long civilisation of
Ancient Egypt – the most remarkable and longest lasting civilisation in human
history.
Activity 3
Account for the rise of Ancient Egyptian state.
1.
The Ancient Egyptian Economy: The Egyptian economy was based on
agriculture as its mainstay and the peasantry constituted the main
producing class. It produced the agricultural surplus upon which the
wealth, power and fame of Ancient Egyptian civilisation was built
(Shillington, 1995:22).
The major crops cultivated included wheat and barley. Others were flax,
vegetables, fruits, figs and grapes. Cattle and goats were also kept. They
were mainly used to pay tax to the Egyptian rulers. Most of the
agricultural surplus was also appropriated by the state as tax. The peasants
were left with a bare minimum to subsist. The agricultural surplus was
stored by the government in huge storage structures (granaries) and was
used to support the Pharaoh, his family and the entire ruling class, which
lived in great luxury and comfort at the expense of the exploited labouring
classes. The surplus was also traded outside the kingdom in exchange for
other luxury items and scarce commodities.
Metal products, particularly gold and copper, were another important
component of Ancient Egyptian economy. Gold was obtained from Nubia
and the Arabian deserts and was used for various purposes particularly
decoration. Copper was mainly imported from Asia and was used for
making utensils and ornaments.
Themes in African History 39
Activity 4
2.
1.
What constituted the mainstay of the Egyptian economy?
2.
What was the role of metals (gold and copper) in the Egyptian
economy?
The Political System and the Social Structure: The Egyptian kingdom was
a centralised Monarchy characterised by divine kingship. The Pharaoh was
the supreme ruler. He was regarded as superhuman supposed to have
descended from the gods (At times the pharaohs claimed themselves gods).
The Pharaoh was the sole priest, sole warrior, sole judge and sole producer.
All credits for success and victory were his.
Thirty Pharaonic dynasties are recognised in Ancient Egyptian long
history covering the period from 3200 BC to 352 BC. Again there are three
recognised major periods of Ancient Egyptian history. These are the Old
Kingdom (2685–2200 BC) the Middle Kingdom (2040–1785 BC) and New
Kingdom (1570–1085 BC). Though Pharaohs came and went and dynasties
and kingdoms rose and fell, the basic system of centralised government and
divine kingship remained intact throughout most of 3000 years of Ancient
Egyptian history.
In the execution of day-to-day functions of the state, the Pharaoh was
assisted by a chain of officials and functionaries. These included the Vizier
– the chief executive of the state, governors, clerks, scribes, tax collectors,
army commanders, artists and technicians.
The Ancient Egyptian society was highly stratified having sharp class
divisions characterised by high inequality in wealth distribution. The
primary function of the Egyptian state was to control the classes and
regulate the exploitative relations which existed.
The ruling class comprised of the pharaoh, his family, the nobility, i.e.
governors and provincial administrators, priests, court functionaries and
other officials. Others were the scribes, astronomers, architects,
mathematicians and artisans. This was the exploiter class. It lived in
affluence at the expense of the labouring classes.
Below the ruling class were the peasants and unskilled labourers who toiled
in the fields and workshops to produce the wealth which made Ancient
Egypt so renowned. At the bottom were the slaves. They provided heavy
manual labour in digging canals, building the magnificent stone structures
such as the pyramids, palaces and statues and also worked in the fields.
They were essentially the property of the state.
40 Themes in African History
Activity 5
Describe the social structure of the Ancient Egyptian society.
3.
The Decline of Egypt: During the New kingdom (around 1550 and 1200
BC) Ancient Egyptian Empire reached its zenith of power and influence,
having expanded its control to as far as River Euphrates in Western Asia
and Nubia in Sudan.
However, in the years after 1100 BC, the empire began to weaken due to
attacks from outside. By 1050 BC, Palestine and Nubia broke out. This was
followed by a series of foreign invasions starting with Nubia 750 BC,
Assyrians 660 BC, Persians 530 BC, Greeks 332 BC, and ultimately
Romans 30 BC. With these invasions, the Egyptian empire crumbled
leaving the pyramids as its memorial monuments which still survive today.
Activity 6
Account for the decline and collapse of Ancient Egyptian kingdom.
4.
The Egyptian Legacy: Ancient Egypt has made great contribution to
human civilisation. We have already stated that the Egyptians were the
first people to invent the art of writing. They were also the first to invent
the calendar based on 365 days and twelve months in a year. They
discovered astronomy, knowledge of medicine and surgery, mathematics,
architecture, etc. This body of knowledge has been passed down to our
generations and our time and constitute an important foundation upon
which the present human knowledge is built.
Activity 7
In what ways did Ancient Egypt influence human civilisation?
4.5.2 Ghana Kingdom
The kingdom of Ghana emerged in the Western Sudan region. This region is
located in West Africa between the forest region and the Sahara. It is a savannah
grassland region, but it extends to the Sahel semi-desert region in the north and to
the forest region in the south.
The origin of Ghana kingdom is traced back to the 5th century AD. It was found
by the Soninke tribe of the Mande-speaking people. Information about the
kingdom of Ghana is obtained from oral traditions and from the writing of the
Themes in African History 41
Arab
travellers
El-Zubir, Al-Masoud and Al-Bakri.
1.
including
Factors for the Rise of Ghana: Several factors are attributed to the rise of
Ghana kingdom. The most important are the following.
(a)
Agriculture and livestock-keeping: The Soninke people were
sedentary farmers who practiced mixed farming (agriculture and
livestock-keeping). This facilitated production of surplus – an
essential factor for state formation. The sedentary nature of the
population also called for state form of political organisation.
(b)
Acquisition of iron technology is another important factor. The
people of Western Sudan developed iron technology way back to
the closing centuries before the Christian era. Iron technology
improved cultivation and hunting efficiency and it was also a factor
of military strength due to application of iron weaponry.
(c)
In as far as Ghana was concerned trade was of particular
importance to the growth of the kingdom. The Soninke people
were spatially located at the centre of Trans-Saharan trade
network. Occupying the area between the Sahara and forest region
the Soninke found themselves assuming the middleman’s role in
the trade between the traders of the forest region and those of the
Sahara.
(d)
Gold was another important item which gave Ghana its power and
influence. Gold was obtained from the forest region particularly at
Bure and Bambuk. It became the most important article of trade in
the Trans-Saharan trade. This was particularly so from the 9th
century onwards owing to the rise in demand for gold in the
Muslim states of North Africa and the Middle-East for minting
coins.
The kings of Ghana assumed direct control and regulation of gold
trade in order to keep its prices up. They imposed high tariffs on
the item and other merchandise that left or entered the kingdom.
They also owned and controlled the mines and participated in the
gold trade themselves. This gave them great wealth and power and
made Ghana kingdom very powerful.
(e)
The use of camel transport is also considered an important factor
for the rise of Ghana kingdom. The camel was introduced in the
region in the third century of the Christian era. By fifth century, it
had become the most important pack animal in the region. It was
also used for military conquest and expansion of the Kingdom.
Activity 8
42 Themes in African History
Discuss the factors for the rise of Ghana Kingdom.
2.
Ghana’s Administration and the Military: Ghana practiced decentralised
system of administration. The king exercised little direct authority over the
provinces save for tribute collection. These provinces were ruled by
hereditary chiefs who enjoyed high autonomy from the centre. Their
obligation to the king was loyalty and tribute payment. In return, the king
was supposed to protect all the people in the kingdom from possible
external invasion.
Ghana had a strong and highly organised military. It could put up in battle
up to 200,000 warriors well-equipped with iron weapons such as arrows,
swords and daggers.
Activity 9
Explain the administrative system of Ghana kingdom.
3.
Expansion, Decline and Collapse: At its height Ghana had expanded to
cover all the area between the upper Niger and Senegal rivers to the south
and the Sahara desert to the north.
Ghana started experiencing decline following the invasion by the
Almoravids from Morocco in 1062, who managed to capture Ghana’s
capital Kumbi Saleh in 1076. The Almoravid invasion weakened the TransSaharan trade, the basis of the wealth and power of the kingdom. Slowly
Ghana began to crumble, breaking into small independent tribal units.
Activity 10
Account for the collapse of Ghana kingdom.
4.5.3 The Great Zimbabwe State
The Great Zimbabwe state developed around 1200 AD among the later Iron Age
communities of the Zimbabwean plateau. These communities were engaged in
cultivation and livestock-keeping since the first millennium AD. They developed
techniques of terracing the hillside of the plateau by stone walling in order to
control soil erosion. Stone walling was a distinctive feature characterising the later
Iron Age communities of the southern African region. It was also employed in
Themes in African History 43
house construction and building of compounds encircling the homesteads for
protection and defence.
The people of Great Zimbabwe were able to produce surplus, which supported the
state and was traded in long distance trade with the coast. These people also
engaged in gold mining and trade since 10th century AD. The western plateau was
rich in gold resources. The mining process involved digging of narrow shafts of the
depth of up to 30 metres deep till the water table was reached. The gold-bearing
rocks were cracked by alternate heating and cooling by using fire and water. Once
brought to the surface, the ore was crushed and the gold was panned-out in
running water in nearby streams. Most of Zimbabwean gold was traded in the long
distance trade to the coast particularly at Sofala and Kilwa. It is this gold which led
to the rise of Kilwa into the richest and most prosperous city-state at the coast
between 1300 and 1450 AD.
1.
The Identity of Great Zimbabwe: The Great Zimbabwe state derives its
name from the stone architecture characterizing the state. Zimbabwe
means stone buildings. As already noted in the introduction, the use of
stone walling for enclosure and housing construction was nothing unusual
among the people of southern Africa. What was unique about the Great
Zimbabwe however was the elaborate and grand stone structures found at
the hilltop and the valley around the headquarters of the state. The stone
masons of the Great Zimbabwe had developed their craft to a fine art. The
ten-metre high wall of the Great enclosure of the Kings Place, situated at
the valley of the plateau, is a vivid demonstrative evidence of this art. The
Great Zimbabwe was also characterised by craft industries. The people of
Zimbabwe worked gold and copper into fine jewellery. They also forged
iron into a wide range of tools and were also excellent cotton cloth
weavers.
2.
The Economy of Great Zimbabwe: The Great Zimbabwean economy was
dependent on cultivation and cattle-keeping. The upland and lowland areas
of the plateau provided sufficient grazing land for cattle and other
livestock. The well-watered fertile soils of the plateau supported cultivation
of a variety of crops. There was plentiful supply of timber for firewood
and building purposes. The wild game like elephants also existed in
substantial population. The elephant was useful for its ivory, which was
traded in the long distance trade. But the most important aspect of the
economy of Great Zimbabwe was the long distance trade. The Great
Zimbabwean capital was placed in a strategic position with regard to trade
connection. Standing at the head of the Sabi River, it was situated at the
trade route from the coast to the gold-bearing western plateau. Taxation
from the trade was indeed the major source of revenue for the state.
Another source was the collection of tribute from the local chiefs in the
form of ivory, gold and food supplies.
44 Themes in African History
With the wealth derived from agricultural surpluses, trade and tribute
collection, the rulers of Great Zimbabwe were able to reward their
supporters, feed their dependents and lead great luxurious life judging by
the standards of those days.
Activity 11
Explain the basis of the economy of Great Zimbabwe state.
3.
Political Administration: The Great Zimbabwe state was a monarchy
characterised by hereditary rule and divine kingship. The king ruled the
provinces through the use of local hereditary chiefs who paid allegiance to
him. Fage summarises the development towards the divine kingship as
follows:
Through the exploitation of the available agricultural and mineral
resources and with the stimulus provided by the growing trade with the
coast, some traditional leaders who combined chiefly and priestly functions
began to acquire the status of divine rulers. The culmination of this process
came from about the twelfth century onwards, so that in the 14th century,
virtually all the gold-bearing highlands may have been under the rule of
one great king–priest at Great Zimbabwe or kinglets who gave allegiance
to him. (Fage and Tordoff, 2001: 131-132)
Devine kingship was a characteristic feature of virtually all central African
kingdoms such as Congo, Luba Lunda, Mwene Mutapa, Rozwi, Marawi,
etc.
Activity 12
Why do you think divine kingship was preferred by most ruling
dynasties in pre-colonial Africa?
4.
Decline and Collapse: By 1450, the Great Zimbabwe state had collapsed
and its capital abandoned. This is attributed to the exhaustion of the
agricultural and grazing land as well as diminishing of timber resources,
making it difficult for the region to support a large population. This led to
migration of people to new lands with plentiful resources further north.
Another factor is attributed to the shift of the long distance trade towards
the Zambezi River to the north. This denied the state the revenue it
enjoyed from the trade.
With the collapse of the Great Zimbabwe state, the process of state
formation shifted to the north and at this time it was the turn of Mwene
Mutapa, Torwa and Rozwi states to dominate the scene.
Themes in African History 45
Activity 13
What were the reasons for the collapse of the Great Zimbabwe state?
Summary
In this lecture, we have observed that the pre-colonial societies were organised in
state or pre-state systems.
The pre-state systems involved clan and age-set organisation. In clan system, the
clan head was the political leader of the clan while in age-set system one of the
most senior persons in age and one with wisdom was chosen a political leader of
the community group.
The state system, on the other hand, entailed the existence of state machinery in
various degrees of elaboration, complexity and territorial expansion. These could
be categorised into chiefdoms, kingdoms or empires.
The lecture has also examined the Egyptian kingdom, Ghana kingdom and the
Great Zimbabwe state as case studies of these state systems, which emerged in
different regions at different periods of African history. While the rise of the
Egyptian state is traced back to the 4th millennium BC and it survived for three
thousand years, the Ghana kingdom had its origin in the 5th century of the
Christian era and survived until the end of the eleventh century AD. The Great
Zimbabwe, on the other hand, emerged in the extreme south of the continent in
the beginning of the 13th century AD and survived until mid-15th century AD.
Factors for the rise and collapse of these kingdoms, their political and
administrative systems have also been discussed in the lecture.
Exercise
1.
Distinguish between state systems and pre-state systems of political
organisation.
2.
Trace the rise and collapse of the Ancient Egyptian kingdom.
3.
Discuss the legacy of ancient Egyptian civilisation on human history.
4.
Assess the contribution of trade to the economy of Ghana kingdom.
5.
The emergence of the Great Zimbabwe state has been attributed by some
historians to foreign influence. Do you agree? Discuss.
46 Themes in African History
References
Bohanan, P. and Curtin, P. (1988), Africa and Africans, Illinois: Waveland Press
Inc.
Fage, D. and Tordoff, W. (2001), A History of Africa, London: Routledge.
Oliver, R. (1991), The African Experience: Major Themes in African History from
Earliest Times to the Present, New York: Icon Editions.
Shillington, K. (1995), History of Africa, London: Macmillan
Tarimo, E.C.J. (2004), An Introduction to African History to 1880, Dar es Salaam:
The Open University of Tanzania.
Themes in African History 47
LECTURE 5
Africa’s Contact with the Outside
World: The Transatlantic Slave
Trade
5.1 Introduction
African societies experienced three major types of foreign contacts, namely
religious and trade contacts and foreign settlement. Religious contacts involved the
penetration of the world’s two major religions, namely Christianity and Islam.
Christianity penetrated into Egypt, North Africa, Nubia and Ethiopia in the early
centuries of Christian era, forming a Christian stronghold for several centuries in
North Africa, only to be overrun by Muslims in the 7th century onwards.
Christianity penetrated much later in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the 16th century, the
Portuguese attempted to introduce it along the coast of West Africa, Kongo
kingdom, Angola and Mozambique with very little success. The most successful
Christian mission enterprise in Africa was carried out by European Missionaries in
the 19th and 20th centuries, which was accompanied by European colonisation of
Africa. This is however beyond the scope of this lecture.
Islam has its origin in Mecca in the Arabian Peninsula. Founded by Prophet
Mohammed in the 7th century, it spread quickly to the Middle East, Egypt and
North Africa. By 9th century it had penetrated the Sudan region of West Africa,
the Banadir coast, Somali coast and the coast of East Africa and the Indian Ocean
Islands. As already stated, the Christian Egypt and North Africa were quickly
overrun by Islam. The Christian Nubia was the latest to be conquered. This
happened in the 16th century. Only Ethiopia survived Islamic conquest. It
remained a Christian Island in the heart of Islam.
By foreign settlement we refer to the settlement of people from other continents
on the African continent. This process started in the period before Christ and has
continued for all the centuries to the present. Foreign settlers came into the
continent for various reasons. Some came as traders and eventually decided to
settle. Some came for the purpose of propagating religion. Others came as
emigrants escaping religious persecutions in their mother countries. For instance,
the Arabs and Persians who settled on the Banadir coast and the coast and islands
of East Africa between the 9th and 11th centuries were escaping Islamic religious
persecutions in their countries. Some came for the sole purpose of settling in order
to find their fortunes in the continent. This applies to the Boers (Dutch settlers)
48 Themes in African History
who settled in South Africa in mid-17th century onwards and the white settlers
who rushed to Africa in the end of the 19th century and beginning of 20th century
following colonisation of the continent by the European powers.
Trade contact with the outside world dates back to the period before Christian era.
The Egyptian empire had a flourishing trade connection with the Middle East for
most of its three thousand years of existence. North Africa traded with the
Mediterranean lands many centuries before Christ. This trade continued to
flourish in the Christian era. The early trade contact was not only confined to
Egypt and North Africa. There is evidence of trade contact between the people of
the East African coast and the merchants from Mediterranean lands and Asia,
dating to the beginning of Christian era. Another famous trade contact was the
Trans-Saharan trade which was conducted across the Sahara between the people of
West Africa and North Africa. This trade was destined to Europe and Asia.
The Transatlantic slave trade was the most outstanding trade contact. This trade
began in the 16th century involving three continents namely Europe, Africa and
America. It is this trade which is the subject of discussion in this lecture because of
its uniqueness in dealing with human merchandise and the effects it produced on
Africa and the other continents.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you will be able to:
Establish the origin and causes of Transatlantic slave trade;
Explain its operation and magnitude;
State the effects of the trade on Africa, Europe and America.
5.2 What is Transatlantic Slave Trade?
The Transatlantic slave trade was the trade conducted across the Atlantic Ocean in
which human beings were the dominant tradable articles. This trade is also known
as triangular trade as it involved three continents namely Europe, Africa and
America, forming a triangular shape.
Themes in African History 49
EUROPE
Raw materials
(cotton, tobacco, tea,
coffee, sugarcane
and silver)
Finished Products (cloths,
beads, spirits, guns)
(Slavesand Gold)
AMERICA (North,
South and the
Caribbean islands)
AFRICA
(Slaves)
Figure 5.1: The Triangular Structure of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
The pattern of the trade was that Europe supplied finished products to Africa and
America while Africa supplied human article (slaves) for American plantations and
mines as well as domestic slaves, slave dockers and coolies to Europe. America, on
the other hand, supplied raw materials to European industries.
5.3 Background of the Trade
The Transatlantic slave trade was a product of mercantilism, i.e. an economic
system dominated by trade across continents in which the European merchants
were the dominant players.
Mercantilism developed to assume intercontinental dimension following the
successful voyages of exploration carried out by the Portuguese and Spanish sailors
in the 15th century. The motive for exploration in which Portugal took the lead
was basically to find out a sea route to Asia through circumnavigation of the
African continent in order to access the Asian spices.
Others were to outflank the Muslim power in the Mediterranean and to locate the
Christian kingdom of Ethiopia in which Portugal might ally herself in her crusade
against Islam. Another was to control gold trade from West Africa, which up to
this time was under the control of the Muslims. The development of marine
technology was also an important factor for the successful accomplishment of these
voyages.
The first bold initiative to undertake the exploration was made by the Portuguese
Prince Henry, the navigator. He himself made the first expedition to Cape Verde
and Guinea coast in 1444. Thereafter, he financed several other expeditions and by
the time of his death in 1460, his captains had reached the Sierra Leonean coast.
Several other expeditions were conducted by Portuguese explorers, which by 1471
had taken them to the Gold coast and São Tomé islands. In 1482 another
Portuguese, Diago Cao pushed the expedition further south to the Congo River.
Here he met King Nzinga Nkuwa of Kongo kingdom. In 1488, Bartholomew Dias
50 Themes in African History
managed to reach the cape of South Africa. In 1497–98 Vasco da Gama completed
the exploration scheme round the continent of Africa by passing through East
Africa to Calcutta (now Kolkata) in India where he arrived in May 1498.
Then he went back to Portugal through the same route. With Da Gama’s
accomplishment, the sea route to Asia had been opened for European operation.
But the most spectacular event of these voyages was the journey made by a Spanish
sailor Christopher Columbus, which unintentionally landed him to the coast of
Mexico in 1492, thus opening the new world for the first time to European
knowledge adventurism, settlement, colonisation and exploitation as will be
discussed later.
The Portuguese exploration was followed by trade and settlement by the same. In
the West African coast, the Portuguese established trade bases along the Gold
Coast in order to control the gold trade. The famous of this settlement was Elmina
castle (Elmina means the mine). São Tomé and Príncipe were also settled by
Portuguese planters who opened sugar plantations in the islands using slave labour
drawn from the Niger delta and Kongo Kingdom. Other Portuguese trading bases
were in the Kongo Kingdom and Angola. Also the entire coast of East Africa form
Sofala in the south to Malindi in the north fell under Portuguese occupation and
control. The East African coastal city-states were conquered and the flourishing
trade with Asia was oriented to Portugal and eventually it collapsed.
The Portuguese also strove to occupy Muscat in Oman, the gateway to the Gulf in
order to have a firm and exclusive control of the Western Indian Ocean trade.
Another and the most important base was established at Goa in India for similar
objectives and the fulfilment of the purpose for which these voyages were
conducted.
Sooner or later, however, the Portuguese were challenged by other European
trading competitors. The earliest of these were the Dutch who in the beginning of
the 16th century ousted the Portuguese from their trading bases at Gold coast and
took control of the gold trade. They also established trading bases in the cape of
South Africa and the Far East lands of Indonesia and Malaysia. They formed two
trading companies. One was the Dutch East Indian Company which operated in
the Indian Ocean. It traded in spices and other Asian articles. The other was the
Dutch West Indian Company, which operated in the Atlantic ocean, trading in
slaves from West Africa to America and raw materials from America to Western
Europe. For few decades, the Dutch became the major trading merchants in the
West African coast and the Far East. However they were soon challenged by the
British and the French.
These last two powers came to dominate the Atlantic Ocean trade in the entire
18th and 19th centuries up to the time of colonisation of Africa. They also
exercised a dominating influence in the Indian Ocean trade.
Turning to 0041merica, the opening up of the continent to European knowledge
by Columbus was a turning point in the history of Europe, Africa, America and
Themes in African History 51
indeed rest of the world. It created the opportunity for European settlement and
colonisation of the entire American continent and the Islands form Alaska to the
Falklands, From Boston to Los Angeles and from Rio de Janeiro to Lima. It also
led to forceful migration and settlement of the African population as slaves in the
new world. It led to the obnoxious Transatlantic slave trade whose operation scale
and impact is the subject of discussion in this lecture.
Activity 1
1.
What do you understand by voyages of exploration? Who
made the voyages?
2.
Why were the voyages made? How successful were they?
5.4 Causes of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
The European settlers who rushed to America following its discovery were
fortune-seekers who were interested in exploiting its resource potential. They were
mostly attracted by two main fortunes, namely mining and plantation agriculture.
Others however resorted to looting the accumulated wealth and property of the
American natives. Commercial plantations of coffee and sugar were opened in
Latin America and the Caribbean while the southern states of USA specialised in
tobacco, cotton and tea plantations. Gold and silver mines were opened in various
places of Latin America, particularly in Brazil.
The opening of plantations and mines necessitated great demand for labour.
Initially, the American planters and miners experimented with the labour of the
Native Americans. However, very soon it proved a failure as the population of the
latter suffered death to near extinction from the European diseases which they
hadn’t yet developed immunity in their bodies. Also, mistreatment and the new
economic system in which they were subjected into but were unused to
contributed substantially to this drastic population decline. In Mexico, for
instance, the population of the local inhabitants dropped from the estimated figure
of between 18.8 and 26.3 million people in 1500 AD to about
1.1 million people in 1605. This trend was also experienced in most of the places of
America where the Europeans colonised. Shillington argues that the population of
the American natives dropped by 90 per cent. The European indentured labour
was experimented as an alternative source with very limited success. It proved too
expensive and utterly inadequate. Many of them also died of tropical diseases.
Africa turned out to be the only reliable alternative source of labour. The African
slaves had been used to work in agricultural plantations in southern Spain and the
Atlantic Ocean islands of Madeira, Canary and Cape Verde. Also important was
the Portuguese experimentations with African slave labour in São Tomé sugar
plantations in the 15th and 16th centuries. Africans had strong immunity to
tropical disease owing to living in similar climatic conditions with those of Central
52 Themes in African History
America, and they had been used to agricultural way of life. The geographical
proximity of Africa to the new world was an added advantage. These factors
prompted the forceful migration of African people as slaves to the new world of
such high record ever experienced in world history.
Activity 2
Explain the causes of the Transatlantic slave trade.
5.5 The Operation and Scale of the Trade
The Transatlantic slave trade developed slowly from 15th century onwards when
the Portuguese became involved in buying slaves for the plantations in Southern
Europe and the Atlantic islands of Madaira, Canry, Cape Verde and São Tomé. At
this time the number of slaves bought and transported was quite small. Maliwist
puts the figure of slaves transported from West Africa between 1451 and 1600 at
274,000. Among these 149,000 were destined to Europe and the Atlantic islands
while 75,000 went to Spanish America (Argentina and Chile) and 50,000 went to
Brazil. (UNESCO, 2000:5)
However, the massive shipping of slaves to the Americas started in mid 17th
century following the opening of the Caribbean sugar plantations. At this time the
Dutch, French, British, Danes and other Europeans traders became actively
involved in the trade. The entire coast of West Africa from Senegal to southern
Angola became the sources of this human traffic trade, with high concentrations in
the coasts of Senegal, Gold Coast, Slave Coast (Western Coast of Nigeria) and
Angola.
The European traders did not penetrate in the interior of West Africa to buy or
capture slaves themselves. That was the work of the African intermediaries and
rulers who benefited from it. They brought the slaves from the interior and sold
them to the European traders at the coast.
War captives were the major source of slaves. Since the African rulers were
beneficiaries in the trade they made unnecessary internecine wars in order to
capture slaves. The supply of guns from European traders intensified warfare
making it a business activity and a means for political expansion. This caused a
serious loss of productive population of the region. Other sources were the selling
of criminals, outcasts and slave raiding.
The age category of those who were preferred for sale into slavery ranged from 1435-years. These were the most active, energetic, productive and reproductive
members of society. The sex ratio was two men to one woman for those destined
to the Americas, while for those who were taken to Arabia where the demand for
concubines was high, the sex ratio was two women to one man.
Themes in African History 53
Once captured, the slaves were deprived of their human dignity. They were treated
like domestic animals or like a property of low value. Shillington has this
description to make on the appalling and disgraceful conditions the slaves were
subjected into.
Whatever its effect in terms of depopulation or distorting the development of the
continent, the greatest evil of the Transatlantic trade in people was the extent of
human suffering involved, and the callous disregard for human life and dignity
displayed by those who dealt in slaves. When a person was captured in the interior
and dispatched to the coast for sale, it marked the beginning of a short remaining
life of appalling degradation and suffering. Captives were no longer treated as
fellow human beings but rather as property, like domestic livestock to be herded
together, examined and bartered over.
Captives were chained together and marched to the coast where they were locked
up in wooden cages to wait the arrival of the next European trading ship. They
were then stripped naked, men and women together, and examined minutely to
see if they were fit, strong and healthy. Once a deal had been struck between
African middlemen and European slave merchant the most terrible part of their
voyage began. On board ship they were chained together in rows and forced to lie
on specially constructed decks, which were arranged like shelves barely half a
metre one above the other. This made it impossible for a person to sit up straight
or to move freely. They lay like this for weeks on end, suffering in the stench of
their own excreta and urine and given barely enough food and water to keep them
alive. Those that died were simply thrown overboard.
On average between 15 and 30 per cent could be expected to die from diseases,
maltreatment or exhaustion during the three to six weeks of the Transatlantic
crossing … On occasion disease would spread so rapidly in the terrible conditions
below decks that it wiped out a whole shipload of captives …
In this manner tens of thousands of Africa’s fittest young men and women were
removed from the continent every year, all in the name of profit for European
merchants and plantation owners. (Shillington 1995:176 – 177)
The operation of the trade by the European merchants took a triangular form.
First the trading ships set out from Europe to Africa loaded with cheap
manufactured goods mainly cotton cloths and metal ware, especially guns, in
exchange for slaves. From Africa, slaves were shipped to Americas. Normally,
slaves in America fetched two to three times or more the buying price from West
Africa. From the America, the trading ships loaded raw materials such as
sugarcane, cotton, tea, tobacco or minerals sailed back to Europe.
In all these destinations the European merchants made huge profits, which were
invested in Europe thereby transforming its economy from Agrarian to modern
industrial capitalist economy. For instance, it was the profit from the triangular
trade, which accounted for the rising wealth of the major European seaport cities
such as Bristol and Liverpool in Britain; Bordeaux and Nantes in France and
Amsterdam in Holland. The accumulated merchant capital moved into banking
and ultimately helped to finance the capitalist factory system which propelled the
54 Themes in African History
industrial revolution starting in Britain in mid-18th century and spreading to
mainland Europe and USA in the 19th Century.
There is still unfinished debate as to the number of the Africans who were
uprooted from Africa and taken to other continents from 15th century onwards.
For those destined to the Americas, Curtin has estimated to be between 8 and 10.5
million people (Iliffe 1995:131) On the other hand, Inokori argues that Curtin’s
figure is too conservative for he relied only on the available recorded statistics
which are quite limited, for many slaves landed to the Americas and elsewhere
unrecorded. Inokori therefore raises the figure by 40% to 15.4 million. This figure
excludes those destined to Asia and elsewhere. Some historians have also estimated
the number of the victims of death from captivity, transit to the coast and the
Atlantic crossing to be equal to the number of the Africans who reached alive. If
this estimate is accepted then the number of the Africans who were uprooted from
Africa to America and those who died in the process could reach 30 million and
above. Note that these figures are only for the Atlantic Ocean trade. This mass
removal of the productive young people from Africa must have produced
disastrous consequences to population growth, development of the productive
forces and economic growth of the continent. Next in discussion are the effects of
this trade on the three continents.
Activity 3
Who were involved in the Transatlantic slave trade? How was the
trade organised?
5.6 Effects of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
The following discussion elaborates the effects of slave trade on three continents
and other related issues:
5.6.1 Effects on Europe and America
The effects of the transatlantic trade on Europe have already been discussed. But in
summary and as a matter of emphasis, the merchant capital from the trade
facilitated accumulation of bullion (gold reserves) – a phenomenon that dominated
the economic life of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It facilitated the
expansion of domestic market, promoted employment opportunities, stimulated
population growth and raised people’s income levels. But the most important was
the investment in industry, which spearheaded industrialisation process and the
inception of industrial capitalist production starting with Britain and eventually
spreading to inland Europe and the USA. The industrialisation process in the USA
started in the northern states (initially northern colonies), which had specialised in
commerce and industry since the beginning of white settlement in the region. The
southern states, which had specialised in production of raw material (cotton,
Themes in African History 55
tobacco, rice, tea, etc.) for the northern states and Europe, with reliance on slave
labour, the industrialisation process was slower and was, in fact, a matter of the
20th century.
Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean did not exhibit industrial capitalist
development as in USA. Instead it experienced underdevelopment and dependence.
The reasons are clear enough. The specialisation in plantation economy, mining
and export trade undermined industrial growth (note the case of the Southern
colonies of USA).
Even after the independence of Latin American territories and the Caribbean
islands in the 19th century the independent governments failed to alter the
structural economic arrangements that had been firmly put in place. The industrial
development in Europe and USA in the 19th century led to decrease in the cost of
production thus cheapening the prices of the commodities produced and exported
to Latin America. This stifled more and more the possibility of Latin America and
the Caribbean countries to carry out industrialisation process. By 19th century
therefore, the economy of Latin America and the Caribbean had become
structurally underdeveloped and dependent on the capitalist economy of Western
Europe and USA, a phenomenon that still prevails today.
Activity 4
1.
Who benefited from the Transatlantic trade and how?
2.
What was the impact of the trade on Latin America and the
Caribbean islands?
5.6.2 Effects on Africa
By 15th century when the Europeans arrived in the continent, African societies
had undergone significant developments in political, economic, technological and
socio-cultural spheres. The Igbo Ukwo artefacts and the Great Zimbabwe ruins are
just few demonstrative examples of such developments, which were taking place in
various places across the continent. However, this process of change was still at its
primary stage and most societies were still engaged in subsistence economies with
rudimentary and undeveloped infrastructures. The population was still sparse in a
large continent whereby people lived in pockets separated by large tracts of
uninhabitable and sometimes impenetrable landmass. The presence of the Sahara
Desert separating North Africa from Black Africa denied the black people the
opportunity to trade with the outside world in a variety of commodities, for many
centuries, except gold, salt, and slaves because of the communication barrier.
The beginning of trade between Europe and Africa through the Atlantic Ocean in
the 15th century was seen as a possibility of overcoming this bottleneck and that it
would promote economic and social transformation, long awaited in Africa. Gold
trade expanded, agricultural and forest products such as pepper, ivory and gum
56 Themes in African History
began to be exported. There was also great impetus on the development of African
textiles in places such as Yoruba and Benin, which were traded to the Portuguese
and Dutch who, in turn, exchanged them with other commodities elsewhere on
the West African coast.
However, this positive development did not last long. As it turned out, the
opening of the New World plantation and mining economy converted Africa into
a pool of slave labour recruitment for the American plantations and mines. For
three centuries that followed, millions of Africans were uprooted from the
continent to supply labour power to the new world and elsewhere. This greatly
retarded the economic and technological progress which was already being
experienced, and in its place the foundations for underdevelopment and
dependence characterising the African continent today were laid. In short, the
effects of the Transatlantic slave trade on Africa could be categorised into
demographic, political, economic, technological and social as discussed below:
1.
Demographic Consequences: The greatest consequence of the transatlantic
slave trade on the African continent was depopulation. This was more
severely experienced in areas most afflicted by the trade. Such places
included the coasts of Senegal, Gold coast and Angola. It has already been
explained that more than 30 million people are estimated to have been
uprooted from Africa to the new world or met their death in the process.
But to establish the extent to which population growth was retarded by
this event, it is important to analyse it from the number of reproductive
young women who were removed from the continent. Basing on the ratio
of 1 woman to 2 men for those slaves who were destined to America plus
those who died in the process, the figure would be 10 million. Those
destined to Asia and elsewhere, whose ratio was even higher are not
included in this computation. The removal of these reproductive young
women from a continent which was still striving to build up its population
was a great demographic disaster and it must have contributed greatly to
retardation of population growth and economic development of the
continent despite some arguments to the contrary.
2.
Political Effects: The transatlantic slave trade contributed to the rise and
collapse of kingdoms. Dohomey and Asante throve on slave trade while
Benin, Oyo and Kongo collapsed because of the effects of slave trade. Slave
trade stirred interstate wars and militarism in West Africa. Rulers resorted
to fighting one another so as to secure captives for sale. The supply of the
European guns intensified warfare and militarism in the region.
3.
Economic and Technological Effects: There was general decline of
agricultural production in the entire West Africa region. This was caused
by the removal of the productive young people who were taken into
slavery or died. Another reason was the state of insecurity caused by slave
raiding and kidnapping. This state made people unable to engage in
production. The handcraft technology was undermined by the
Themes in African History 57
introduction of European goods, which became more preferred to the
locally produced ones. Also, some of the craftsmen became victims of
enslavement while others abandoned their craft industries for insecurity
reasons.
4.
Social Consequences: Devastation of villages, dislocation of families,
insecurity and lack of trust among people were important social
consequences of the slave trade. Kings turned out against their people
selling them into slavery. People were convicted into slavery for false
accusations. Sacrificing human life also became a common practice among
the rulers in many places of West Africa and the slave captives were the
main victims.
There was widespread use of slaves in agricultural plantations owned by
the ruling classes in West Africa. Women slaves were most preferred for
the purpose of production and reproduction to replenish labour shortages.
Polygamy and the keeping of concubines became a common practice in
kingdoms such as Asante and Dahomey in order to raise children to
replenish population losses.
Activity 5
How was Africa affected by transatlantic slave trade?
5.6.3 Slavery and Development of Racism
The enslavement of the Africans by the whites bred racism and racial prejudices of
white superiority. The whites felt that they were created by God – a superior race
with the right and duty of enslaving other races, particularly the Africans so as to
‘civilise’ them and lead them to God through Christianity. This racist attitude
came to be more reinforced by the scientific and technological breakthrough of the
18th and 19th centuries in which Europe was again the dominant player. Racism
came to justify colonisation of Africa in the end of 19th century just as it justified
enslavement of the African people in the preceding centuries. Indeed racism still
exists today.
Activity 6
1.
How did racism originate?
2.
Do you think racism is still in practice today? How? Give
evidence.
5.6.4 Blames on the Africans
58 Themes in African History
Africans have been blamed by some of the European scholars, as being responsible
for the transatlantic slave trade. The claim goes that Africans sold their folk into
slavery thereby giving the opportunity for the European buyers to have a free
hand on the slaves. In other words, it is claimed that were it not for the role of the
Africans of supplying slaves to the Europeans, the slave trade could not have been
there. This claim is advanced to try to shift the blame for this trade from the
whites and make it rest squarely on the Africans. Such a claim is erroneous and
utterly nonsensical as it tries to evade the causative principle, as the transatlantic
slave trade was caused and necessitated by the demand for labour by the plantation
and mining economy in the Americas. In the absence of this, there could have been
no slave trade across the Atlantic. Trading in slaves is not a unique ‘sin’ of the
Africans. It is the question of demand and supply of labour prompted by its
scarcity. The European society has had the worst record of enslaving and selling its
folk into slavery, a practice dating back to the Greco Roman times. This practice
continued in parts of Europe until 16th century AD only to be ended by the
supply of African slaves which replaced European slaves, but did not end slavery as
an institution and slave trade as a means of securing labour in Europe. The fact that
enlightenment (awareness that slavery and slave trade were evil practices) was to
wait for three more centuries until the inception of industrial revolution is vivid
proof of how Europe was entangled in slavery and slave trade as the most reliable
means of labour supply.
Activity 7
Discuss the irony in the argument that Africans were responsible for
the transatlantic slave trade.
Summary
The transatlantic slave trade laid the foundation for the development of a strong
capitalist economy in Europe and North America. Put in other words, the
economy of Europe and North America was built by the blood and sweat of the
African slave.
In Latin America and the Caribbean islands, the mercantile economic system
produced underdevelopment and dependence. It laid the foundation for the
export–import economy based on the production of primary products. This came
to be reinforced by the theory of comparative advantage, and the economy of the
region has remained underdeveloped to date.
The African continent was the most disadvantaged by this economic system. It lost
a great number of its population to other continents particularly to the Americas.
Its productive forces were retarded and the structures for underdevelopment and
dependence were laid. This was to be reinforced by colonialism that was yet to
Themes in African History 59
inflict the continent. Africa’s present backwardness and marginalisation in the
world system has to be traced from this origin.
Enslavement of the Africans by the whites bred racism and this prejudice still
lingers on.
Exercise
1.
Explain the types of contact made between the African societies and the
people of other continents.
2.
What do you understand by transatlantic slave trade? How did it originate?
3.
Examine the operation and scale of the transatlantic slave trade.
4.
Discuss the consequences of the transatlantic trade on Europe, America
and Africa.
5.
What is racism?
6.
How did the enslavement of the Africans by the whites breed racism?
7.
Who are to be blamed for the transatlantic slave trade?
References
Bohannan, P. and Curtin, P. (1988), Africa and Africans, Illinois: Waveland Press
Inc.
Fage, D. with Tordoff, W. (1995), A History of Africa, London: Routledge.
Iliffe, J. (1995), Africans: The History of a Continent, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
Oliver, R. (1991), The African Experience: Major Themes in African History from
Earliest Times to the Present, Icon Editions.
Shillington, K, (1995), History of Africa, London: Macmillan Education Ltd
Tarimo, E. C. J., (2004), An Introduction to African History to 1880, Dar es Salaam:
O.U.T.
UNESCO (2000), Historia Kuu ya Africa Juzuu la V: Africa Kuanzia Karne ya Kumi
na Sita Hadi ya Kumi na Nan., Dar es Salaam: TUKI.
60 Themes in African History
LECTURE 6
The White Settlement and the
Mineral Revolution in South Africa
6.1 Introduction
This lecture surveys the white settlement and the mineral revolution in South
Africa. It explores the history of South Africa since the Whites set their feet at the
cape to the ascendance of the apartheid system in 1948.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you will be able to:
Explain the nature of Dutch occupation of the Cape and its effect on the
indigenous societies;
Assess the impact of the British occupation of the cape in the beginning of 19th
century;
Discuss the impact of the mineral revolution on South African economy and
society;
Analyse the ascendancy of apartheid.
6.2 The Dutch Settlement at the Cape
Until its collapse in 1994, the apartheid regime in South Africa claimed that the
pioneer white settlers at the cape occupied an empty land meaning that there were
no local inhabitants living there by then. This claim, which is factually incorrect
and utterly nonsensical, suited their purpose of economic and political domination
of the Africans. Archaeological findings have however revealed the existence of
prehistoric man in various places of South Africa including the cape region. There
is also evidence of widespread existence of early Iron Age communities dating back
to the early centuries of the Christian era (Tarimo 2004:169).
By the end of 15th century AD, when the Portuguese set foot at the Cape, the
entire South African subcontinent was occupied by various African communities
belonging to Khoisan and Bantu stocks. The Khoisan comprised of KhoiKhoi
Themes in African History 61
pastoralists and San who were hunter gatherers. The Bantu stock comprised of the
Sotho, Tswana and Nguni speaking communities (Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi, Tsonga and
Thembu). The Bantu speakers were mainly agriculturalists and were organised in
clan systems. However, by 19th century many of them such as the Zulu, Swazi,
Sotho and Tswana had developed strong centralised political states (Tarimo
2004:169).
The earliest Europeans to set foot at the Cape were the Portuguese starting with
Bartholomew Diaz, who reached there in 1487 in search of a sea route to India. He
however ended his journey there and returned to Portugal. He was followed by
Vasco da Gama who rounded the Cape in 1497 and proceeded to India through the
East African coast and then back to Portugal using the same route.
For the next 150 years, the Cape became a resting place for white sailors going to
and from India, the East African coast and the Far East. Here they interacted with
the Khoikhoi and the San communities, trading with them in cattle and other food
supplies in exchange for European products.
However, there was no permanent white settlement established at the Cape until
1652 when the Dutch East India Company established a fort at Table Bay in order
to secure constant supply of food and fresh water to replenish the stocks of the
ships sailing to and from the Far East.
Initially, the company used its own employees to produce fresh foods such as fruits
and vegetables around the fort and traded with the KhoiKhoi in cattle in exchange
for metal goods, tobacco, beads and alcohol.
However, the growing demand for food called for the introduction of white settler
commercial farmers at the cape. In 1657 settlers from Holland and Germany were
attracted to settle, given land and other material assistance by the company until
they were firmly established. These farmers came to be known as ‘Boers’ after the
Dutch name Boer, meaning a farmer. The settlers enslaved the KhoiKhoi to work
in their farms.
The seizure of land and enslavement of the KhoiKhoi led to the reaction by the
latter leading to the first Khoi–Boer war in 1657-60 in which the company won
and claimed for more land by the right of conquest (Tarimo 2004:171). This led to
vigorous seizure of land and cattle confiscation from the KhoiKhoi by the settlers
leading into the second Khoi–Dutch war of 1673-77. Such struggles continued
between the two groups as more and more land and cattle were appropriated by
the settlers until the KhoiKhoi surrendered and migrated to north into the Karoo
plateau while some remained as squatters in the settler farms.
As the settler population continued to increase, land shortage was experienced at
the Cape leading to Boer migration into the interior. By 1700 pastoral trekboers
started penetrating into the interior for settlement. They moved on their ox-ridden
wagons hence the name trek, a Dutch word meaning ‘to pull a wagon’. Avoiding
the dry land to the north, they moved towards north-east – the land inhabited by
62 Themes in African History
the Xhosa. On reaching the Fish River, they encountered the Xhosa who were also
moving southwards across the river in search of pasture and arable land due to
population pressure.
The Xhosa resisted bitterly the encroachment of the Boers into their territory. A
series of the so-called frontier wars were fought between the two groups from 1779
to the second half of the 19th century as the Xhosa struggled to confront the Boers.
The last four wars were fought with the British who came to occupy Natal
province from 1843 onwards (Tarimo 2004:172-173).
Activity 1
Discuss the Dutch occupation of the Cape of South Africa.
6.3 The British Occupation of the Cape and
the Great Boer Trek
The British had coveted the Cape of South Africa for a long time but could not
annex it for fear of provoking war with the Dutch. The opportunity came in 1795
when they occupied the Cape in the pretext of retaliating against the Netherlands,
which supported France against the rest of Europe in the Napoleonic Wars of
1795-1815. In 1806, the British assumed full political control of the Cape and in
1815, at the Vienna Conference which ended the Napoleonic Wars, the Cape
colony was formerly handed over to Britain.
The Boers were irritated by the British occupation of the cape and much more by
their administrative policies and rules which denied them the political, economic
and social privileges they had hitherto been enjoying. The British anti-slavery
campaign, which denied them the slave labour supply, was the most disturbing. As
a consequence, the Boers trekked into the interior in great numbers culminating
into the great Boer trek of 1836. In the interior, they established the independent
Boer republics of Natal, Orange Free State and Transvaal. In this process they
confronted with various African societies such as the Zulu, Thembu, the Sotho,
Swazi and Tswana as they encroached Boer land. A series of wars were waged with
these societies in an attempt to occupy their territories. These wars weakened the
Boers very much.
No sooner however the Boers were pursued by the British into the interior. The
British annexed Natal province in 1843 in order to deny the Boers access to the sea.
Later on again, following the discovery of diamonds at Kimberley and gold at
Witwatersrand the British moved to occupy the Orange Free State and Transvaal
Boer republics culminating into the Anglo-Boer war of 1899-1902.
Activity 2
Themes in African History 63
Why did the Boers escape British control at the cape?
6.4 Mineral Revolution and Capitalist
Transformation in South Africa
The period from 1867 onwards was a turning point for the South African history.
This was a year when diamonds were discovered at Kimberley. From this time
onwards, thousands of people, black and white from all over Southern Africa as
well as miners and speculators from Europe, America and Australia converged in
the region. The British, on the other hand, struggled to add this valuable territory
into their colonial possession. This goal was attained in 1871 when Britain annexed
the territory and added it to its Cape colony.
Initially, there existed open-cast mines in which thousands of individual small
miners – mostly white but also a number of them black – staked out tiny claims of
minefields and worked them using African hired labour and simple digging tools.
With the passing time, however, the mines became increasingly deep necessitating
the use of large and expensive equipment and more sophisticated technology. It
became increasingly difficult for the small miners to engage in the enterprise. Only
large companies with large capital could sustain. De Beers Company owned by
Cecil Rhodes rose from a small and simple company into a giant mining company
by exploiting the fortunes of Kimberley diamonds. This company came to
dominate all other mining companies at Kimberley. Cecil Rhodes was a British
mine-speculator who came to South Africa to seek for the mineral fortunes and
eventually prospered to become a powerful mining magnet and an unrivalled
imperialist of the 19th century. He had an ambition of colonising the whole of the
African continent for Britain from Cape Town to Cairo but eventually managed to
only colonise the present Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi by using his imperial
British South African company. His dreams were to secure another Rand in
Central Africa particularly Zimbabwe where gold mining activities existed several
centuries earlier. However, to his disappointment, his dreams proved an illusion.
By 1889 the De Beers Company had bought out all its rival companies and
obtained a complete monopoly of the diamond mining at Kimberley.
In 1886 the mineral revolution in South Africa entered a new and more decisive
phase following the discovery of huge quantities of gold at Witwatersrand in
Central Transvaal republic. Almost overnight it dwarfed the diamond mining at
Kimberley and shifted the economic centre of South Africa from the British
colony to the heartland of the Boer republics. As the Witwatersrand gold was deeplevel mining, it required huge quantities of capital and equipment to work it. Only
powerful companies could venture into this mining activity. Again De Beers
Company seized the opportunity.
64 Themes in African History
Activity 3
Analyse the mineral rush to South Africa in the second half of the 19th
century.
6.5 Impact of the Mineral Economy
The contribution of mining to the South African economy was great. In a short
period the South African economy became transformed from its poor agrarian
state in the end of 19th century to an industrial capitalist economy by 1930s.
Mining economy generated capital for investment in other sectors of the economy
such as industry, transport and agriculture. This stimulated the fast growth of
those sectors as we shall see later. Mining economy developed local white
capitalists who invested their capital within South Africa and the profits generated
were retained in the country. Such an opportunity did not exist anywhere else in
colonial or post-colonial Africa.
6.5.1 Industrial Growth
Mineral economy was a great catalyst to South African industrialisation. From
1930 onwards, South African industrial sector had grown to assume an upper hand
even to surpass the mining sector making South Africa an industrial giant in SubSaharan Africa. By 1950 manufacturing and construction contributed R 1757
million to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to R 834
million from mining and R 648 from agriculture, forestry and fishing.
The mining economy contributed immensely to this growth as follows:
Firstly, it provided capital for the industrial sector in form of government revenue
collected from mining and directed to industry. Another was direct mineral capital
invested in industry by the entrepreneurial capitalists. Secondly, the mining
equipment workshops provided the basis of the development of engineering
industry. Thirdly, the process of urbanisation created by mining activity provided
a ready market for industrial consumer goods such as clothing, shoes, and
foodstuffs which motivated the development of import substitution industries.
However, the state had also a great role to play in the process of industrialisation.
From 1920s to 1940s, following the Great Depression and the World Wars, the
South African state took deliberate policy and strategy of supporting
industrialisation.
It promoted industrialisation in the following ways.
(i)
It protected its manufactures against foreign competition in the domestic
market.
Themes in African History 65
(ii)
It channelled the mining surpluses and domestic savings into industrial
development.
(iii)
It created parastatals such as the Board of Trade and Industry (1921), the
Iron and Steel Corporation (1928) and Industrial Development
Corporation (1941) to facilitate industrialisation. The state participated
actively in the development of iron and steel, petrochemicals, fertilisers,
nuclear energy and military-related industries. The South African
government also encouraged and promoted foreign investments and new
technology by guaranteeing the availability of cheap African labour and
repatriation of profits. The result of these measures was the creation of a
strong self-sustaining industrial economy – a ‘miracle’ that was never
experienced anywhere else in Africa.
Activity 4
To what extent did the mineral revolution contribute to industrial
growth in South Africa?
6.5.2 Transport and Communication
The modern transport and communication infrastructures in South Africa owe
much of their existence to the mineral revolution. Before the discovery of mines,
porterage and horse-drawn wagon were the predominant mode of transport.
With the discovery of minerals however, the transport sector was revolutionised.
Railroads were laid to connect the mineral areas with the ports of Durban, Port
Elizabeth and Cape Town. By 1919, there were already 47,000 miles of railroads in
South Africa. The railroads ended the economic isolation of South African
interior, integrating it into the international capitalist economy. It provided cheap
and reliable transport and facilitated the modernisation of the economy. Road
infrastructures were also developed in the similar speed such that today South
Africa possesses the most modern roads on the continent. Airways and airports
also experienced rapid growth. Today Johannesburg possesses one of the most
modern airports in the world. The South Africa Airways is also one of the leading
airlines in the world. The development of this sector to this level has its base in the
mineral revolution.
Activity 5
Assess the role of mining in the development of transport and
communication infrastructure in South Africa.
66 Themes in African History
6.5.3 Urbanisation
Urbanisation is another important consequence of the mineral revolution in South
Africa. This was due to the influx of African and white workers into the mining
industry. The population of Kimberley grew from zero in 1867 to 30,000 in the
1880s and that of Johannesburg grew from the scratch to 166,000 in 1900. Today
South Africa has many cities of World standards with high population
concentrations such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban, Port
Elizabeth, and Bloemfontein.
However, the unplanned urbanisation was accompanied by social problems such as
lack of adequate housing, existence of slums, absence of water and public health
and sanitation facilities, shortage of food, rise in crime, alcoholism, drug abuse and
prostitution. These problems still persist even more severely in the South African
cities today, particularly in the African townships.
Activity 6
How significant was mining industry to urbanisation in South Africa?
6.5.4 Agricultural Transformation
The growing urban population created a growing demand for food. This led to
commercialisation of agriculture in South Africa and its transformation into largescale capitalist farming. The notable example was the maize triangle in Transvaal
which produced maize meal for the mine workers in the Witwatersrand and the
growing urban dwellers of the city of Johannesburg.
Activity 7
What was the contribution of mineral revolution to agricultural
transformation in South Africa?
6.5.5 The Labour Question
Labour was another important aspect of the mineral revolution. Initially, the
mines at Kimberley and Witwatersrand were worked by using African labour
drawn from South Africa and the neighbouring regions. However as the mining
industry expanded, particularly after the Witwatersrand discovery, it became
necessary to recruit labour from far distant places in the Southern African subcontinent and from outside Africa, particularly India and China. This led to the
rise of migrant labour – a unique characteristic of the South African mineral
economy. Many colonies in the sub-region such as Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia,
Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland became suppliers of migrant labour to the South
Themes in African History 67
African mines. For Mozambique, a special contract labour agreement was
concluded between the South African government and the Portuguese colonial
rulers to supply 100,000 labourers annually to the mines in South Africa. In return
the South African government would pay the Portuguese colonial authorities in
Mozambique an agreed amount of money to run the colony. In another move,
labour recruitment agencies were established by the mining companies to recruit
labour in the South African region. These included the Native Labour Association
and the Native Labour Recruitment Corporation among others.
Another strategy used to ensure constant supply of labour was the uprooting of the
South African blacks from their land making them solely available for labour supply.
The whole process started in the 1880s by dismantling the share-croppers and labour
tenancy in the Boer white farms which later culminated into the enactment of the
most discriminatory Land Act of 1913 which legally declared 87 per cent of the
South African land as white property while the African majority were reserved only
13 per cent of the marginal land. With this act the Africans were denied access to
their own land which was the most important means of their economic survival and
independence from white control. Again in 1922, Pass Laws were enacted to control
labour movement. By these laws the Africans were forced to carry passes all the time
indicating their tribes and the names of their employers. If one was found without a
pass, he was arrested, fined or jailed and then forced to sign a lowly-paid work
contract with a white employer or expelled to some remote reserves. Again in 1922 a
colour bar legislation was enacted to restrict the blacks to unskilled low-paid jobs.
The skilled jobs were reserved for the white workers.
Activity 8
Discuss various methods employed to recruit labour for the mining
industry in South Africa.
6.5.6 Plight of the Migrant Labourer
Migrant labour was a kind of neo-slavery. The labourers were tied to their
employers by labour contracts covering a definite period of time ranging from six
months and above. One had to serve this contract permanently without a leave or
rest. Yet, he was paid a bachelor’s wage barely enough to keep his body and soul
together. There was no extra income to take back home for his family or any other
personal expenditures.
The working and living conditions were deplorable. Many suffered tuberculosis
and other deadly diseases in the mines and the living compounds, and a significant
number of them died. Those who survived and managed to complete their
contracts often carried with them the ‘gift’ of those diseases to their families back
home. Again, as from 1980s HIV and AIDS was added into the list. This was the
68 Themes in African History
plight of the migrant labourer. This is the true meaning of the migrant labour
system which has come to characterise the South African economy and society
today.
Activity 9
Explain the plight of migrant labourer.
6.5.7 Political Impact of the Mineral Revolution
The mineral revolution, particularly the Witwatersrand gold rush, rescued the
Boer republics from their state of poverty and backwards to become the most
powerful states in South Africa. This was due to the huge revenues they collected
from taxing the mining companies and associated enterprises. This marked a shift
of balance of political and economic power from the British colonies to the Boer
states. However, the political gains of the republics, notably Transvaal, were
compromised by the influx of foreigners (uitlanders) into the mine areas. These
were foreign mining investors, businessmen, workers and other entrepreneurs
most of them British who came to settle in the Witwatersrand. They began to
interfere into the social, economic and political life of Transvaal.
For the British, the mineral revolution marked the beginning of fresh imperial
expansion in South Africa and beyond. They revived their plans of creating a
federation of British states in South Africa.
In this move they launched military expeditions against Transvaal in 1877 and
Zulu land in 1879. Although they withdrew from Transvaal in 1881, they did not
abandon their plan of controlling the Boer territories.
The discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand in 1886 created fresh impetus for their
imperial expansion in the region. Consequently, in 1880s and 1890s they
conquered Bechuanaland (present Botswana), Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi in
the anticipation of discovering another rand in the region (note the Cecil Rhodes
dreams). The British expansion in the region intensified the tension between the
British and the Boer republics culminating into the South African war.
For the Africans, the discovery of minerals marked a decisive phase of the
establishment and consolidation of white domination and supremacy in the region
and the end of the political and economic independence of the African societies
and kingdoms.
Activity 10
Assess the political impact of the mineral revolution.
Themes in African History 69
6.6 The South African War and the Union of
South Africa
The South African war, also known as Anglo-Boer war, was a product of
mounting tension and conflict of interest between the British who were struggling
to control the Boer republics so as to get hold of the gold-mining economy in
Witwatersrand and ultimately attain British supremacy in the region on the one
hand, and the Boer authorities under their leader Paul Kruger who wanted to
retain political independence of the Boer republics and have effective control of the
Witwatersrand mines in Transvaal, on the other. Another cause of the war was the
struggle by the uitlanders (foreigners) to have an influence in the politics of the
Transvaal government as well as their complaints of heavy taxation from the
Kruger regime.
The war was fought between 1899 and 1902. The interesting thing about the war
was the mutual exclusion by both parties of the Africans from the war. They
feared that if the Africans were involved in the war and allowed to shoot the white
men they would no more accept their subordinate position, and that would be a
great mistakes to both the British and Boers who wanted to ensure that the
Africans remained in their position of labourers for the white man. However, the
Africans still participated as porters and auxiliary servicemen.
Consequences of the War
The war settlement concluded the following among other resolutions.
(i)
The establishment of South African union. This was attained in 1910.
(ii)
British recognition of Boer authority in Transvaal and Orange Free State.
(iii)
The Transvaal government to grant political rights to the uitlanders
including the voting right.
The war bred very strong Afrikaner nationalism that persisted throughout 1920s
and 1930s culminating into the rise of apartheid state in 1948. The rise of the South
African Union in 1910, which was in essence a white union, marked officially the
end of the African political independence. The Africans experienced a new kind of
internal colonialism in their own country.
Activity 11
How did the South African war shaped the future political destiny of
South Africa?
70 Themes in African History
6.7 Afrikaner Nationalism and the Rise of the
Apartheid State
We have already noted that the South African War and its aftermath stimulated
strong Afrikaner nationalism among the Boers of South Africa. This nationalism
was instrumental in shaping the future political destiny of South Africa including
the rise of apartheid in 1948. Afrikaner nationalism was a political, cultural and
economic movement with clear ideology, objectives and strategies to attain
Afrikaner control of the political, economic and social spheres of South Africa.
The ideological content of Afrikaner nationalism was based on the Calvinist
doctrine of the chosen people propagated by the Dutch-reformed Church. The
Afrikaner believed themselves to be the elect of God.
Secondly, it was based on racial exclusion and belief on racial inequality. To them
the Africans were inherently inferior to the Whites and as such they were
supposed to be their servants. It called for racial separation to prevent racial
contamination through miscegenation. They believed that blood-mixing between
the races, particularly the black race would bastardize the white race to extinction.
Thirdly, it believed on republicanism of South Africa. This meant that South
Africa should be free from the control of the British and determine its own
political destiny as an independent republic. The unionisation of South Africa in
1910 was the first step in this direction but complete fulfilment of republicanism
was attained in 1960 when South Africa withdrew from the British
Commonwealth.
The Afrikaner nationalism was built on three worries, namely fear of British
imperialism, fear of African majority rule and fear of communism. With the postSouth African war settlement and the attainment of South African Union in 1910,
the fear of British imperialism was neutralised. It was replaced by the fear of the
growth of African nationalism. To them the African majority rule was something
they were not prepared to entertain at whatever circumstances. Another was fear
of communism. This however was more of a pretext to carry out repression
against the African nationalists under their claim of being used to spread
communist ideas in South Africa.
The major objectives of Afrikaner nationalism were as follows. Firstly, was to
contain British imperialism. This was partially fulfilled with the attainment of
Unionism of South Africa but became completed with the South Africa’s
withdrawal from the British Commonwealth in 1960.
Another objective was economic emancipation of South Africa from foreign
domination. They did this by encouraging Afrikaner dominance in businesses such
as banks, insurance companies and manufacturing industries. They set up state
corporations to promote industrial development in the interest of the Afrikaner
Themes in African History 71
community. You should note the vigorous efforts made by the South African state
to promote industrialisation explained earlier.
The third objective was to assume complete Afrikaner political control of the
South African state. To them state power control by the Afrikaner would protect
and enhance their political interests. This objective was achieved in 1948 when the
Afrikaner National Party came to power through the ballot box. With that
victory, the apartheid system was officially instituted.
Activity 12
Explain the ideology and objectives of Afrikaner nationalism.
Afrikaner Victory and the Ascendance of Apartheid
The year 1948 was a turning point to the Afrikaner nationalists. In this year they
obtained full control of the South African state following the victory of the
exclusively Afrikaner National Party (NP) in the South Africa’s exclusive white
elections. During campaigns the NP promised to institutionalise apartheid system
in South Africa. Following its victory the apartheid system was instituted.
Apartheid generally meant separate development of different racial groups in South
Africa but the major goal was indeed to tame the Africans and confine them in
their reserves. The reserves were designated Bantustans or homelands and were
categorised according to tribes. As from this time onwards all Africans living in the
white areas were moved into their respective reserves according to their tribes. The
pillars of apartheid were the legislations which were enacted to reinforce it. They
included the following among others, Population Registration Act (1950). This Act
classified people according to their races dividing them into white and non-white.
The non-white included the blacks, coloured, Indians and other non-white races.
The blacks were again sub-classified by their tribes such as Xhosa, Zulu, Tswana
Venda, Sotho, etc. The Bantustans created were also classified in this way.
Another was the Group Areas Act (1950). This act determined the areas in which
the racial groups would live. This was the basis for the creation of the Bantustans
in the rural areas and black townships in the South African cities. These two
legislations formed the cornerstone of the apartheid. There were several other
legislations. The following are worth mentioning:
1.
Mixed Marriage Prohibition Act: It aimed to prevent bastardization of the
white race through miscegenation.
2.
The Bantu Education Act (1953): It instituted a separate education system
for the Africans with a syllabus designed to reinforce ethnic division and to
provide skills barely needed to work for the whites. Other moves taken by
the apartheid regime included banning the African nationalists movements
72 Themes in African History
such as the ANC and PAC, and imprisoning the nationalist leaders e.g.,
Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu and others.
Activity 13
Analyse the pillars of apartheid.
Summary
The South African region was inhabited by indigenous people since prehistoric
times. By the beginning of the Christian era, the Khoisan occupied the western
area from the Cape to Namibia while the Bantu stocks occupied the eastern
lowveld and the highveld. The coming of the whites into the region marked the
beginning of marginalisation of the Africans in that region.
The discovery of minerals was a turning point for the history of South Africa. It
transformed the country from an agrarian to an industrial capitalist economy. It
also marked complete white hegemony in the political, economic and social
spheres. The Africans became tenants in their own country.
The South African politics have been characterised by racial exclusion of the
African black majority in the political, economic, and social spheres through the
apartheid system of racial separation.
Exercise
1.
What were the effects of the Dutch occupation of the cape of South Africa
in 1652?
2.
Discuss the British encroachment of South Africa in the 19th century.
3.
What was Boer trek? What were they trekking from?
4.
How revolutionary was the mineral revolution to the history of South
Africa?
5.
Analyse the contribution of the African labour to South African economy.
6.
‘There is no mixing of blood lest the White race becomes extinct through
bastardization’. Analyse the relevance of this statement to the Afrikaner
nationalism and to the civilised world.
7.
Explain the pillars of the apartheid policy.
Themes in African History 73
8.
Discuss the impact of the apartheid system on South Africa.
References
Fage, J. D. and Tordoff, W. (2002), A History of Africa, London: Routledge.
Iliffe, J. (1995), Africans: The History of a Continent, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Magafu, J. and Macharia, M. (1992), History of South Africa to the Present,
University of Nairobi.
Oliver, R. (1991), The African Experience: Major Themes in African History from the
Earliest Times to the Present, New York: Icon Editions.
Shillington, K. (1995), History of Africa, London: Macmillan Education Ltd.
Tarimo, E. C. J. (2004), An Introduction to African History to 1880, Dar es Salaam:
OUT.
74 Themes in African History
Themes in African History 75
LECTURE 7
Colonial Conquest and African
Reactions
7.1 Introduction
This lecture surveys the colonial conquest of Africa. Focus is made on explaining
the theories of imperialism in relation to colonisation of Africa, followed by a
survey of colonial conquest and African reactions.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you will be able to:
State the reasons for colonisation of Africa;
Explain the process of colonisation and African responses.
7.2 Explanations on the Reason for
Colonisation of Africa
There have been various explanations on the reasons for colonisation of Africa.
One explanation subscribes to civilising mission. This argument holds that
colonisation of Africa was propelled by the need to civilise and Christianise the
Africans and to end slave trade. Many Eurocentric scholars have subscribed to this
argument.
The second explanation attributes colonisation of Africa to national prestige. This
means that the European colonial powers scrambled to acquire colonies in Africa
for the sake of prestige. Colonial possession was, according to this theory, a
prestigious status.
The third explanation attributes colonisation of Africa to the Darwin’s theory of
‘survival of the fittest’. This means that the European society was the fittest race
and had a reason to colonise other races by virtue of its fitness.
Another explanation subscribes colonisation of Africa to social atavism. According
to this theory, human beings have an atavistic tendency of dominating and
76 Themes in African History
controlling others. Therefore, the European society in the 19th century developed
atavistic tendency of dominating other societies for the sake of domination.
The last but more important is the economic theory. It holds that colonisation of
Africa was necessitated by the economic demands of monopoly capitalism in
Europe. These included the demands for raw materials, markets and investment
areas. To fulfil these demands colonisation of Africa became necessary.
The economic argument has been most appealing in explaining the motive force
for colonisation of Africa. The colonisation of Africa was basically propelled by
the European capitalist demands of raw materials for their industries, markets for
their manufactured goods and areas for investment of the surplus capital generated
by the industrial economy in Europe. This argument is concretised by the
activities of the colonial states in Africa which were geared at extracting African
resources such as raw materials and minerals, creating a market among the colonial
subjects and mobilising capital for investment in the production sectors of the
colonial economy such as agriculture, mining, processing industries, among others.
7.3 Scramble and Partition
The scramble for Africa became real in the beginning of the 1880s. It manifested
itself by French expansion in the Senegal to the upper Niger, Benin coast and
equatorial Africa. She did this by constructing a railway from Dakar on the mouth
of Senegal River to Bamako on the upper Niger in 1879. Again in 1882, she made
two moves. Firstly, she staked a claim of port Novo, a port at the coast of present
Benin. Also she used her traders to sign treaties with the local leaders of lower
Niger coming into conflict with the British who had established themselves in the
region. Secondly, by using her traders such as Savorgnan de Brazza she cultivated
influence in the mouth of river Congo and the equatorial region. Here again she
conflicted with King Leopold of Belgium who had claimed the Congo basin using
his newly established International African Association. It should also be noted
that the Portuguese were also interested in the Congo and had already established
their informal empire at Angola since 16th century. Britain, in response, supported
the Portuguese claims in the Congo and Angola against those of the newcomers.
Watching these developments with interest and worry, the German Chancellor,
Otto Von Bismarck, moved in to claim the area of Togo, Cameroon and South
West Africa (present Namibia). It should be noted also that the British had already
occupied the cape province of South Africa and they were struggling to get control
of the Boer republics following the discovery of diamonds in 1867 at Kimberley
and later on gold at Witwatersrand in 1886.
But the British occupation of Egypt in 1882 produced bitter rivalry with France
and precipitated what Oliver and Fage have called international hysteria. Bismarck
took this opportunity to convene the famous Berlin conference (1884-85) for the
Themes in African History 77
purpose of partitioning the African continent peacefully among the European
powers.
The conference made three major resolutions. Firstly, it settled the Congo
question by recognising King Leopold’s claim of the region but allowing freedom
of trade for other powers. Secondly, it recognised all spheres of influence (informal
empires) staked by different nations in various parts of Africa but insisted on their
effective occupation. Thirdly, it allowed for freedom of navigation in the major
rivers such as Niger, the Congo and the Nile, as these were the gateways to the
interior. It should be noted that no African ruler was represented in this imperialist
conference for slicing the African continent among European imperialist powers.
The conference had made the paper partition; what followed after was the actual
partition on the ground, a process which accelerated the scramble and eventually
culminated into colonial conquest of the entire continent.
Activity 1
Explain the scramble and partition of Africa.
Partition on the Ground
The Berlin conference was followed by a rush for acquisition and occupation of
colonial territories. Britain declared a protectorate over the Niger delta extending
to Igboland, Benin and Yoruba thus bringing under her control most of what is
now Nigeria. She also took Asante, Gold Coast and Sierra Leone. France occupied
Dahomey, Ivory Coast and the entire upper Niger region extending from the edges
of upper Niger and Senegal to Lake Chad basin. She also took most of the
equatorial region of West Africa extending from river Congo to the Cameroon.
North eastern Africa witnessed British, French, and Italian struggles to colonise the
region. Britain was more concerned with the security of Egypt. Fearing France
advance to Ethiopia she encouraged Italian invasion of Eritrea and the Christian
kingdom of Ethiopia. The Italians managed to occupy Eritrea but were utterly
defeated by King Meneliki-II of Ethiopia at a battle of Adawa when they attempted
to occupy his kingdom. This was the greatest African victory against the European
colonial invaders in the 19th century, and with this victory Ethiopia remained
uncolonised until 1939-41, when she was briefly occupied by the Italians.
Britain occupied Sudan in 1898 having destroyed the Mahidist forces at
Omdurman. In a bid to protect river Nile from falling under rival powers she also
moved to occupy Kenya and Uganda.
Southern African region was mainly occupied by Britain. This occupation resulted
from the British ambition to contain Boer expansion and the personal initiative of
78 Themes in African History
Cecil Rhodes who occupied the Rhodesia (Southern and Northern Rhodesia) and
Malawi.
Portugal made effective control of her old spheres of influence. These were
Mozambique, Angola, São Tomé and Guinea Bissau. German moved to stake her
claims of South West Africa, Togoland and Cameroon. She also took control of
the German East Africa. This territory was brought under German sphere of
influence by Carl Peter’s efforts to secure treaties from the local rulers placing
them under German rule and protection. In general, the scramble and partition
was so forceful and thorough so that by the beginning of the First World War the
entire continent of Africa, with the exception of Ethiopia and Liberia, had been
conquered by Europe.
The partition process was done through negotiations and signing of bilateral
treaties among the competing powers, which defined the territorial boundaries
between them. Sometimes clashes did occur here and there but were easily
contained in the spirit of the Berlin conference.
Activity 2
How was Africa partitioned?
7.4 Colonial Conquest and African Reactions
The colonial conquest and African reactions to colonial conquest have been
discussed in detail under following headings:
7.4.1 Colonial Conquest
It is important to note that the colonial invaders came to Africa to conquer and to
stay as rulers. No one invader came with an intention in mind of submission and
withdrawal in the face of resistance however strong it might be.
In order to fulfil this aim, different conquest techniques were employed. These
included diplomacy, alliances and military conquest. Diplomacy involved
negotiations and concluding treaties with the local rulers with the intention of
subjecting them under colonial domination. Since most rulers were illiterate they
signed the treaties without knowing their content and real implications. They were
simply told that the treaties were of friendship, economic or trade cooperation and
protection in case of an invasion. To their surprise things turned out the opposite.
Sooner or later the ‘friends’ became rulers.
The second technique was that of making alliance with some of the African rulers
against their more powerful rival neighbours with an intention of bringing the
latter under subjection but in the end both of them lost. The allies also found
Themes in African History 79
themselves under colonial domination. The so-called collaborators such as chief
Mandara of Moshi and Merere of Usangu in Tanzania fall within this category.
The third and ultimate strategy was armed conquest. This was applied where active
resistances were experienced or where the invaders felt the threat of being resisted
by arms. This strategy was labelled ‘pacification,’ African mercenaries were
employed to carry out the pacification process, commanded by European officers.
The maxim gun was the weapon commonly used by the conquerors. This was the
latest and most technologically advanced weapon of the time with capacity to fire
several bullets in one instance. Most African rulers except Menelik-II of Ethiopia
had not yet accessed this weapon. It was this weapon, which aided King Menelik-II
to defeat and repel the Italians at the battle of Adawa in 1896.
The pacification process was not done in a rush and at once. It was gradual. It
involved conquering one society then another. This strategy served two purposes.
Firstly, it denied the Africans the opportunity to unite and organise themselves
militarily for a stronger armed resistance. Secondly, owing to the few military
personnel, the process could only proceed in stages.
The pacification process was accompanied by other strategies of intimidation and
threat. These included ‘scorched earth method’ (burning of crops in the fields,
houses and granaries), public execution of the captured resisting leaders and
mutilation of the war captives. All these were done as an intimidation to force the
resisting groups to surrender.
Activity 3
Discuss the colonial conquest process of Africa.
7.4.2 African Reactions
African reactions to colonial conquest varied from one society to another
depending on many factors such as the type of socio-political organisation of
society, military capability, material development of society, earlier experience
with the invaders, etc. Iliffe tells us that ‘constrained by technological inferiority,
Africans had to decide whether to fight or to negotiate with the invaders ... it was a
question of tactics but the objective was the same to preserve as much
independence and power as possible in the circumstance’ (Iliffe 1995:193).
Most active resistances were experienced among the state societies. This was
because in the face of an invasion the rulers could easily mobilise their forces
(warriors) to fight and the already accumulated weapons were at their disposal. But
the most important thing is that the rulers felt their political and economic
interests threatened. Faced with such challenges, they had no choice but to fight.
Leaders such as Abushiri, Bwanaheri, Mkwawa, Isike (Tanzania), Samori Toure of
80 Themes in African History
Mandinka Empire and Jaja of Opobo were faced with such a challenge and opted
to fight.
Other African leaders tried diplomacy first, thinking that the invaders were just
interested in friendship and economic cooperation. But when they realised the real
motive of the newcomers they felt cheated and therefore resorted to armed
resistance. King Lobengula of Matabeleland is a case in point. When he realised the
real intentions of British South Africa Company (BSAC), he remarked the
following to Father E. Helm.
Did you ever see a chameleon catch a fly? The chameleon gets behind the fly and
remain motionless for sometimes then it advances very slowly and gently, first
putting forward one leg and then another. At last when well within reach, he darts
his tongue and the fly disappears. England is the chameleon and I, that fly (Tindal
1967: 166).
Lobengula, having realised this, was faced with only one choice – to fight – and
eventually he was defeated.
However, military resistances were not a total monopoly of the state societies.
Many stateless societies resisted actively. This happened particularly when they had
fully realised the implications of being colonised. This was when the colonialists
had imposed their rule and started subjecting them under colonial exploitation and
oppression. The Maji Maji war, which engulfed most societies of Southern
Tanzania, started amongst the stateless societies. The stateless Matumbi, having
experienced colonial exploitation and harsh treatment of the Germans, organised
themselves under their spiritual leader Kinjikitile and championed the strongest
resistances ever experienced in East Africa.
Some societies, owing to their poor economic base and military technological
inferiority, saw the futility of fighting the invaders and decided to remain passive.
Others who had an earlier experience of the military might of the invaders
preferred submission. The Asante of Ghana are a case in point. Having experienced
the might of the maxim gun in the 1874 Anglo–Asante War, they accepted
submission to the British in 1896.
Some African leaders collaborated with the invaders against their powerful
neighbours who had subjected them under their authority. The cases of chief
Mandara of Moshi and Merere of Usangu have already been given. Such instances
were experienced in many places of Africa. It should be noted however that the
collaborators had no intention of welcoming colonialism. They were simply
ignorant of the intentions of the invaders. They thought that the invaders were just
passing and in most cases were interested in friendship and trade cooperation. To
their surprise and regret they eventually realised their calculations to be faulty
when it was already too late. They had served to welcome alien rule. In the case of
Mandara of Moshi, having committed the mistake of helping the Germans to fight
his rival chief Sina of Kibosho and eventually welcoming German colonialism, his
son and successor Meli decided to fight against the Germans with the intention of
Themes in African History 81
driving them away from Moshi but it was already too late. He was eventually
captured and faced execution.
Activity 4
How did the Africans resist the establishment of colonial rule?
7.4.3 Why was Africa Conquered?
The Europeans managed to conquer Africa because of technological superiority of
their military over that of the Africans. The African spears and technologicallyoutdated guns could not compete with the Maxim gun. The other factor was the
economic strength of the invaders vis a vis that of the African societies. While most
of the European states had attained a high level of industrial development and had
reached the stage of monopoly capitalism characterised by high production and
capital accumulation, most African societies were still in their communal stage of
development, engaged in subsistence economies which could not sustain strong and
protracted resistances. Many of them had also been severely weakened by slave
trade and foreign diseases (European diseases such as small pox, jiggers, syphilis,
etc) for which they hadn’t developed immunity.
Lack of unity among the Africans has been explained as an important factor for the
easy conquest of the continent. However, unity or its absence was determined by
many circumstances. Both the colonial conquest and the African reactions were
based on complex calculations. The invaders strove to divide and stir conflict
among the African leaders in order to conquer. The Africans, on the other hand,
had to weigh the strength of the invaders vis a vis theirs before deciding which
kind of reaction they should take. Ignorance of the intention of the invaders also
made some of the societies to respond by welcoming the invaders or remaining
passive.
However, the conquest was not that easy. The invaders were never given a free
hand. Instead they received stiff resistance, which they hadn’t anticipated. These
resistances provided a lesson to some of the colonial masters as to the kind of
future relations they should forge with the conquered people in order to minimise
bitterness.
Activity 5
Why were the Africans conquered?
Summary
82 Themes in African History
Several explanations have been given on the reasons for colonisation of Africa.
They include the civilising mission, national prestige, and survival of the fittest
theory, social atavism and economic explanation. Among all these reasons, the
economy theory is the most convincing argument.
The scramble for Africa can be explained as a rough rush by European powers to
acquire colonies in Africa. The scramble was regulated by the Berlin Conference
which laid the ground for peaceful partition of the continent.
The partition of the continent started with the paper partition in the Berlin
Conference which then took form of the actual partition on the ground.
The colonial conquest of Africa was forceful, determinate and thorough with the
sole purpose of bringing the continent under European colonial domination.
Although many African societies put up very strong resistances, they were
eventually brought under colonial submission. The only exception was King
Meneliki-II of Ethiopia, who managed to defeat the Italians and drove them away
from his kingdom.
Exercise
1.
Account for the scramble and partition of Africa.
2.
Discuss the methods and techniques employed by the European powers in
conquering Africa.
3.
Account for varied African reactions against the imposition of colonial
rule.
4.
Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the African resistances against the
establishment of colonial rule.
References
Anene, J.C. and Brown, G.N. (1970), Africa in the Nineteenth and Twentieth
Centuries, Lagos: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd.
Ayandele, E.A. et al., (1972), The Growth of African Civilization, The Making of
Modern Africa: The Late Nineteenth Century to the Present Day, Vol. 2, London:
Longman Group Limited.
Boahen, A. (ed), (1985), General History of Africa: Africa from 1880 to 1935, Vol.
VII. UNESCO.
Themes in African History 83
Fage, D. and Tordolf W. (1995), A History of Africa, London: Routledge.
Kaniki, M. H. Y. (ed) (1980), Tanzania Under Colonial Rule, London: Longman
Group Ltd.
Oliver, R. and Fage, J. D. (1973), A Short History of Africa, Penguin Books Limited.
Shillington, K. (1995), History of Africa, London: Macmillan Education Ltd.
Tindal, P.E.N. (1967), A History of Central Africa, London: Longman Group
Limited.
84 Themes in African History
LECTURE 8
Colonial Situation
8.1 Introduction
In the previous lecture, we examined the explanations given on the reasons for
colonisation of Africa. We also surveyed the process of colonial conquest and the
African responses. In this lecture, we will examine the colonial situation with a
focus on colonial administration, colonial economy, and finally, the impact of
colonialism.
After colonial conquest, the colonisers were faced with three important tasks. The
first was to establish their administration. The second was to establish colonial
economy and the third was to make the colonies pay for their own administration.
To carry out these tasks the colonialist capitalised on the colonial subjects. The
colonisers had realised from the very beginning, of the importance of the African
natives in their colonial enterprise. There were various reasons which led to this
thinking.
Firstly, the Africans had proved to be useful allies in the European enterprise of
Africa from the time of traversing the continent in the 19th century to the colonial
conquest. The Africans acted as guides and porters to the missionaries, traders, and
explorers who traversed the continent in the 19th century. They were also
employed as mercenary soldiers and porters during colonial conquest. Indeed, had
it not been for the African mercenaries the process of European conquest of Africa
would have been much more difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish.
Secondly, the colonisers lacked enough manpower to administer effectively the
vast colonies they lustfully curved out.
Thirdly, only few areas proved suitable for European settlement. These were the
southern tip of the continent, i.e. South Africa, and the northern strip of the
continent bordering the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Atlas Mountains. The
strip comprises of the northern parts of present Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
Other areas were the highland areas bordering the rift valley in East Africa. The
rest of the continent, particularly the tropical lands were prone to tropical vector
transmitted diseases such as malaria, sleeping sickness and yellow fever of which
the Europeans had not yet acquired immunity and there were no effective drugs to
combat these diseases yet.
Learning Objectives
Themes in African History 85
At the end of this lecture, you will be able to:
Explain the colonial administrative systems and structures;
Analyse the colonial economy;
State the political, economic and social impact of colonialism.
8.2 Colonial Administration
During colonial conquest and in the early period of the establishment of colonial
rule some European powers such as Britain, Germany and Portugal relied on
chartered companies to administer their colonies. These were trading companies
given legal powers to conquer and administer the colonial territories on behalf of
the metropolitan governments.
In the case of Britain, such companies include the Royal Niger Company (RNC),
which later on was renamed United Africa Company Ltd. This company
conquered and administered the Lower Niger. The other company was the
Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC), which conquered and
administered Kenya and Uganda. Another was the British South Africa Company
(BSAC) which conquered and administered Southern and Northern Rhodesia and
Nyasaland. Due to lack of sufficient capital to carry out administrative
responsibilities of the conquered territories, these companies became excessively
repressive, subjected the Africans into forced labour, forced cultivation of cash
crops and taxation. However, this strategy fuelled more and more African
resistances. This forced the British government to take over the administrative
responsibilities of the colonies from the companies in the 1890s. It was only BSAC
which was left to administer Southern Rhodesia until 1923.
The Germans employed Germany East Africa Company (GEAC) to conquer and
administer German East Africa (Presently Mainland Tanzania, Rwanda and
Burundi). The conquest and initial administration of South West Africa (present
Namibia) was done by Germany South West Africa Company (GSWAC). These
companies also relinquished their administrative responsibilities to German
government in the 1890s.
The Portuguese also employed chartered companies such as Niassa Company
which administered Manica land and Mozambican Company which administered
Sofala up to the Zambezi valley. These companies continued to rule up to 1929 and
1942 respectively. Their long rule was due to Portuguese inability to take charge of
administration of her colonial territories due to her economic backwardness as
well as the fear of her colonies to be taken over by other European competitors.
Activity 1
1.
Why were the Africans regarded so important to the
European Colonial enterprise?
86 Themes in African History
2.
Why did some European powers prefer company rule in
administering their colonies?
8.3 Administrative Systems of the British and
The French – Case Studies
Initially, the colonisers had no clear policy or system of administering their
colonies. Policies or systems were invented from practice in the course of
administration. In this lecture, we will discuss the administrative systems of the
British and the French.
8.3.1 British System
The British applied both direct and indirect rule systems in administering their
colonies. In the direct rule system, the British used hired personnel to administer
the local subjects. These personnel comprised of Africans brought from distant
lands – far from the colony they were employed to administer. Conditions were
that they should have the basic literacy of reading and writing, they should be able
to communicate with both the colonial masters and the native subjects, and the
most important yardstick was their loyalty and readiness to serve the colonial
government at whatever cost and in whatever circumstances.
In East Africa, the Swahili from the coast were most preferred as they possessed
some basic literacy, while in West Africa the coastal people, particularly the exslaves who had been in contact with the whites for a long time and many of them
had attended mission schools, were most preferred.
The British direct rule system was applied in areas of white-settler dominance such
as Southern Rhodesian and Kenya. In these colonies the colonial governments
were convinced that the African political institutions needed to be thoroughly
dismantled so as to prevent possible organised resistances against white rulers.
Direct rule was also necessary to subject the colonial people to forced labour to
serve the settler economy.
As opposed to direct rule, the indirect rule system involved retention and use of
local chiefs and local political institutions to administer the local subjects but under
colonial hegemony. It was a means of controlling the Africans by using their own
rulers. In places where there were no chiefs, chiefs were created. The indirect rule
system was applied in many colonies where there was no settler dominance and
strong active African resistances. It became most successful in places such as
Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and Tanganyika, the latter was handed-over to Britain
from Germany after the First World War. Under indirect rule system, the chiefs
were supposed to serve the interest of the colonial masters and transmit orders of
the same to their colonial subjects. This made them increasingly alienated from
their people. They became colonial stooges rather than leaders and protectors of
Themes in African History 87
their people. They supervised tax collection and labour recruitment. These duties
made them very unpopular to their subjects.
The structure of colonial administration based on indirect rule system was as
shown in figure 8.1:
The Governor was the head of the Colonial state. He was answerable to the
Secretary for Colonies in London. In the execution of his duties he was assisted by
heads of departments such as Agriculture, Natural Resource, Minerals, Education,
Health, Transport, etc. Another important organ created particularly in 1930 to
assist the Governor was the Legislative Council (LEGICO). This was a body for
the formulation and enforcement of colonial policies and ordinances. It was purely
an instrument to serve colonial interests and not those of the Africans. In most
colonies, Africans were not represented in this organ until 1940s and 1950s due to
the pressure of African nationalism.
SECRETARY FOR COLONIES
GOVERNOR
COLONIAL
DEPARTMENTS
LEGISLATIVE
COUNCIL
PROVINCIAL COMMISSIONER
DISTRICT COMMISSIONER
LOCAL ADMINISTRATION
(CHIEFS)
NATIVE
COURTS
NATIVE
TREASURY
VILLAGE HEADS
COLONIAL SUBJECTS
(PEASANTS)
Figure 8.1: The Structure of British Colonial Administration
Colonies were sub-divided into provinces and districts headed by provincial and
district commissioners respectively who were all Europeans. Below in the
hierarchy were the local authorities. It is here the chiefs and the native political
institutions were located. Below the chiefs were the village headmen and below
them were the colonial subjects. It should also be noted that the colonial state
comprised of coercive organs such as police, prisons and the army. The functions
88 Themes in African History
of these organs were basically to keep law and order and to tune the colonial
subjects to comply with colonial instructions.
8.3.2 French System
The French system of colonial administration comprised of two types; namely
assimilation, a form of direct rule, and association, a kind of indirect rule.
Assimilation policy was practiced during the early colonial period but was
abandoned after the First World War in favour of association. It was experimented
mainly in Algeria and the Senegalese coastal communes.
Assimilation was a political and cultural policy. At the political level, it meant the
establishment of centralised system of government descending from Paris to the
colonies. The French colonies were supposed to be overseas provinces. In this case
the African political institution were dismantled and subordinated to the civilised
French political system. To this effect all the West African centralised states such as
the kingdoms of Dahomey, Mandika, Tukolor, Segou, Futa Jalon, Mossi and
Sikasso were thoroughly dismantled and in their place colonial allies were installed.
This form of administration had a chain of command descending from Colonial
Ministry in Paris through the Governor General at Dakar to the Governors of
individual colonies and then to provincial commissioners and lastly to district
officers. All this personnel comprised of Frenchmen and mainly military officers.
The Africans came last into this hierarchy of administration either as office
auxiliaries or as village chiefs. The village chiefs were subordinated to the French
district officer deriving their authority from him and not otherwise, and
continuing in office only as long as they retained his confidence. Shillington has
this observation to make on the status of chiefs in French West Africa.
District and village chiefs were dismissed at will by Provincial French
administrators. It was the duty of these appointed ‘chiefs’ to collect taxes, recruit
labour, especially forced corvee labour, and to suppress rural African opposition.
And those who failed to perform to French satisfaction were replaced. As a result
many of these so called chiefs had little, if any, ‘traditional’ chiefs title (Shillington
1995:354).
At the cultural level, assimilation meant to mould the Africans into ‘black
Frenchmen’ – a necessary condition to attain French citizenship. To quality for
French citizenship certain conditions were necessary. These included, inter alia,
acquisition of an acceptable level of French education, having performed military
service in the French army, being employed in the civil service, practicing
monogamy and a renunciation of African traditional and or Muslim laws and
customs. The French colonial subjects were thus placed in two classes. There were
the citizens, i.e. those who had attained French citizenship. These were very few.
By 1939, out of about 14 million Africans in French West Africa only about 80,000
had attained the qualification of French citizenship. These were mainly located in
Themes in African History 89
the Senegalese communes. In the French Equatorial Africa it was just a dream for
an African to qualify for French citizenship.
The second class was that of the colonial subjects. This comprised of the vast
majority of the population who did not qualify to become French citizens.
Having attained the status of French citizenship one had the right to vote or be
voted into the French parliament. However, this was more theoretical than
practical.
After the First World War, the French increasingly abandoned the policy of
‘assimilation’ in favour of ‘association’. The latter policy was based on the
recognition of African political institutions and cultures. It was a reversal of
‘assimilation,’ which sought to disregard African cultures and institutions and
sought to ‘civilize’ the Africans into ‘Black Frenchmen’.
The association policy simply categorised the Africans in French colonies as
subjects who were supposed to run their own affairs and develop in their own way
basing on their customs and traditions under the umbrella of the French colonial
authority.
Activity 2
Describe the British and French colonial administrative systems.
8.4 Colonial Economy
The establishment of colonial rule was accompanied by the establishment of
colonial economy. Colonial economy was established with two important motives.
Firstly, to exploit the resources in the colonies; this was to fulfil the basic purpose
of colonialism. The second was to make the colonies generate revenue to pay for
their own administration. This was done by orienting the colonial subjects to
participate in the money economy. People were forced to pay tax in cash. In order
to get money to pay tax there were two options, i.e. to grow cash crops for
exchange or to provide labour service in the colonial economy in such sectors like
settler and plantations or railway and road construction. Another and the most
important means for revenue generation was from export and import duties. Thus,
colonial economy became necessarily export–import oriented to fulfil, inter alia,
this basic purpose.
Colonial economy was anchored on five important sectors, namely agriculture,
mining, processing industries, commerce and transport. These sectors were
interdependent and reinforced each other.
8.4.1 Agriculture
90 Themes in African History
Agriculture was the primary sector of colonial economy. Three types of
agriculture were established, namely settler economy, plantation economy and
peasant cash-crop economy. The cash-crops encouraged included cotton, rubber,
palm oil, cocoa, coffee, tea, pyrethrum, tobacco and sisal.
Settler economy was established by the white settlers in the colonies they settled,
such as Southern Rhodesia, Algeria, Tunisia and Kenya. Settler economy was
characterised by extensive land alienation whereby Africans were forcefully
removed from their land to give room to settler farming. There was also forced
labour and discouragement of peasant cash-crop production in order to release
African labour for settler farming.
Plantation economy was practiced in French Equatorial Africa, Belgian Congo and
the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola. In these colonies
concessionary companies were contracted to establish large plantations of tropical
cash crops such as rubber and coffee. Many of these companies had their bases in
the metropolitans. They employed managerial personnel to man and operate the
plantations on their behalf. The companies were also given the right to recruit
labour in collaboration with the colonial state. The concessionary companies,
particularly in French Equatorial Africa and Belgian Congo, were very ruthless
and excessive in their exploitation particularly with regard to recruitment and
management of labour. In the French Equatorial Africa the brutality exercised on
the African labour by these companies reduced the population of the region from
the estimated 14 million at the time of colonial conquest to 2.8 million in 1921
(Fage and Tordoff, 2001:407). In Belgian Congo, the population dropped from
estimated 22 million at the time of colonial conquest to 12 million in 1920s.
Plantation economy was also established in parts of Germany East Africa
(Tanganyika) particularly in Tanga and Morogoro regions.
Peasant cash crop production found favour in most colonies particularly in places
where there was no settler dominance. In some of the colonies as in West Africa,
the Africans, particularly in the coastal lands, had already been oriented to cash
crop production by legitimate commerce practiced since 19th century. Here, there
was no difficulty of persuasion to engage people in cash crop production. In Egypt
cotton production had been introduced by Muhammad Ali since early 19th
century as part of his modernisation attempts of Egypt. It was only a matter of
encouraging its production for export.
In other colonies such as in East and Central Africa, people had to be persuaded
and were often forced to plant cash crops. The missionaries played an important
role of persuasion through practical demonstrations in their mission stations.
Taxation was another instrument used to make people take up cash crop
production. In order to earn money to pay tax, people had to either engage in cash
crop production or to pay labour service in the settler farms and plantations.
Often, the Africans preferred the first option. Force was often used to engage
people in cash crop production as in Sukumaland Tanzania where the Germans
forced the Sukuma to grow cotton.
Themes in African History 91
As the money economy penetrated into the society, people participated willingly
in cash crop economy in order to earn money to purchase European goods, to pay
tax, and to pay school fees for their children. In some of the colonies such as
Uganda, Gold Coast and Senegal, peasant cash crop production became very
successful. In Uganda, for instance, peasant production output surpassed by far that
of the settlers in neighbouring Kenya in both quantity and quality.
It should also be noted that the process of establishing colonial economy involved
simultaneously destroying the African subsistence economies on which the African
societies depended for their existence. This included destruction of the traditional
craft industries which produced different goods for the societies’ needs such as
hoes, knives, sickles, etc.
Activity 3
How was colonial agriculture established?
8.4.2 Mining
Mining was the second-most important sector of colonial economy. A lot of efforts
were made by the colonisers to prospect for minerals in most colonies. However,
not all colonies were endowed with these resources. Mining was the most
profitable investment in colonial Africa but it also required huge capital
investment for its exploration and exploitation. As such only big companies with
sufficient capital could venture into this enterprise.
The colonial authorities assumed all rights over the mineral resources in their
colonies and leased them to the companies with ability to exploit. For instance, the
British took over the goldfields of Asante and the tin mines in the Jos Plateau in
Nigeria.
The Katanga region of Belgian Congo and the Copper belt of Northern Rhodesia
were the richest mineral areas of tropical Africa outside South Africa. The Katanga
copper minerals came under exclusive control of the Belgian Union Minière
Company while the copper belt of Northern Rhodesia was brought under the
control of British companies.
Activity 4
Establish the importance of mining sector to the colonial economy.
8.4.3 Processing Industries
92 Themes in African History
Processing industries constituted another important sector of the colonial
economy. The cash crops produced needed to be processed to remove the
unwanted rubbish so as to reduce their weight and bulkiness. Similarly, the
minerals needed to be processed to remove the rock waste before being exported.
This would lower transport costs and freight charges. Cash crop- and mineralprocessing industries were thus established to add value to these primary products
before being exported to the metropolis for manufacturing.
Activity 5
What was the role of processing industries in the colonial economy?
8.4.4 Transport Infrastructures
During the imposition of colonial rule only waterways and land routes existed,
leading into the interior of the continent. Realising the transport bottlenecks for
effective exploitation of the colonial resources, the colonial masters ventured into
railway construction. Railways were constructed in different colonies to connect
earmarked economic zones with the ports along the coast. The railways also served
political and administrative purposes such as transporting colonial administrators,
military personnel and military ware as well as labourers from one part of the
colony to another. Later on, following the discovery of automobiles, road
construction came to dominate the scene particularly from 1920s onwards. As
from this period onwards the road and the automobile came to revolutionise the
transport sector in colonial Africa.
Activity 6
What was the importance of transport infrastructure to the Colonial
economy?
8.4.5 Commerce
Commerce was the engine of the colonial economy and money was its lubricant.
Colonial economy was import–export-oriented. It was basically an exchange
economy.
The introduction of cash nexus in the colonial economy served to dismantle the
traditional subsistence economies of the Africans thereby engaging them fully into
the exchange economy. They produced export crops and provided labour services
in order to get money to buy the imported European commodities. People were
crazy for money as it came to dominate the economic and social life of the colonial
society. Slowly, the Africans in colonial Africa found themselves producing what
they did not consume and consuming what they did not produce. In this way,
Themes in African History 93
money and exchange relations engulfed the entire colonial and post-colonial
society. It laid the structures of our present dependence syndrome and
underdevelopment.
Activity 7
Why was commerce regarded as the engine of colonial economy?
Summary
The colonial powers capitalised on the colonial subjects to fulfil the goals of
colonialism.
The British applied direct and indirect rule systems in administering their colonies
while the French employed assimilation and association policies.
The establishment of colonial rule was accompanied with the establishment of
colonial economy to fulfil the basic purpose of colonialism and that was
exploitation of the colonial resources. The colonial economy was based on
production of primary products for export; the dominant sectors being agriculture,
mining, processing industries, transport infrastructures and trade.
Exercise
1.
Discuss the role of the Africans to the European colonial enterprise.
2.
Analyse the British and French systems of colonial administration.
3.
Examine the role of cash crops and minerals to the colonial economy.
4.
Differentiate between plantation agriculture, settler farming and peasant
cash crop production.
References
Boahen, A. (ed) (1985), General History of Africa: Africa from 1880 to 1935, Vol.
VII, UNESCO.
Bohannan, P. and Curtin, P. (1988), Africa and Africans, Illinois: Waveland Press
Inc.
Fage, D. and Tordoff, W. (1995), A History of Africa, London: Routledge.
94 Themes in African History
Iliffe, J. (1995), Africans: The History of a Continent, Cambridge University Press.
Shillington, K. (1995), History of Africa, London: Macmillan Education Ltd.
Themes in African History 95
96 Themes in African History
LECTURE 9
Nationalist Struggles and
Decolonisation
9.1 Introduction
In the previous lecture you learnt about the colonial situation. You also knew how
colonialism transformed the African societies. In this lecture, you will learn how
the African people reorganised themselves and struggled to regain their
independence. You will notice that in some colonies the struggles were rather
peaceful, whereas in others they were complicated by the problems of tribalism
and regionalism while in others they involved prolonged wars of liberation.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you will be able to:
State the meaning of the terms nationalism and decolonisation;
Explain the reasons for the rise of African nationalism and the factors for
decolonization;
Explain the process of decolonisation in Africa.
9.2 Definition of Terms
Nationalism originates from the term ‘nation’, meaning a large group of people
with the following characteristics.
1.
People living in a territory with defined boundaries
2.
Having common language
3.
Sharing common culture
4.
Having common history
5.
Having a common destiny, i.e. facing the future together
6.
Having a sovereign state.
Themes in African History 97
The term ‘nationalism’ originates from 19th century Europe whereby people with
common culture, language and history claimed to be nations and struggled to form
nation states. These movements took different forms. For Britain, it was a matter
of unifying the territories of Scotland, Wales, Great Britain and Ireland into one
nation – the United Kingdom. For Germany and Italy it was a question of bringing
the German-speaking people and Italian-speaking people together. For Poland and
Yugoslavia it was a question of breaking into smaller entities.
In the context of Africa, nationalism meant to bring the colonial subjects together
as one people and foster a sense of common identity and common goal. It was a
question of uniting different ethnic groups together to determine their political
destiny, which was independence. In other words, nationalism in the African
colonial context meant the desire and struggle by the colonised people to end
colonial rule and attain self rule. This desire united them together to fight for their
common course, i.e. independence.
Decolonisation can be defined as the process through which colonial rule is ended,
colonial institutions are dismantled and colonial values and styles abandoned.
Theoretically, the initiative for decolonisation can be taken either by the imperial
power or by the colonised people. However, often and in reality, decolonisation is
usually forced by the struggle of the colonised.
Activity 1
Define the terms ‘nationalism’ and ‘decolonisation’.
9.3 Origins of African Nationalism
Some historians trace African nationalism to primary resistances against the
establishment of colonial rule.
They argue that these struggles symbolised nationalism since these people were
resisting foreign domination. This conception however has been criticised. The
argument is that the primary resisters were resisting individually at the level of a
tribe or ethnic groups and not as a united group. Also, these resistances were
mainly
carried
out
for
self-interests of the rulers. For instance, Abushiri and Bwana Heri resisted the
Germans in German East Africa in order to protect their trade interests and the
like.
Another school traces the origin of African nationalism to the emergence of
territorial socio-political organisation from 1940s onwards. They say that at this
time a sense of territorial consciousness had emerged. People shed their parochial
tribal and ethnic affiliations and forged a sense of national consciousness in
confronting a common problem, i.e. the colonisers. The political organisations
98 Themes in African History
such as the United Gold Coast Convention and Convention People’s Party in
Ghana, National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons in Nigeria, Tanganyika
African Association and later Tanganyika African National Union in Tanganyika,
Kenya African Union in Kenya, etc. are sighted as cases of this national
consciousness, and therefore they symbolised a sense of nationalism.
Activity 2
Which position do you hold between those scholars who trace African
nationalism to primary resistances and those who trace it to the
emergence of territorial-wide political organisation?
9.4 Factors Leading to Nationalism and
Decolonisation
The factors leading to nationalism and decolonisation can be divided into internal
and external factors.
9.4.1 Internal Factors
Internal factors included the following:
1.
Role of the Educated Elites: These are the people who had received their
education in the colonies and in the metropolitans, i.e. Europe and
America. They had been exposed to such liberal ideas and literature as
democracy, freedom, human rights, etc. Some of them e.g. Kwame
Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta and Hastings Kamuzu Banda, while in their
studies abroad, had participated in the Pan-African Congress held in
Manchester in 1945 which put forward the agenda of the decolonisation of
Africa.
On returning to the colonies, the educated elites formed political parties
modelled on the European parties and rallied the people behind them in
the struggle for independence. People such as Kwame Nkrumah, Julius
Nyerere, Milton Obote, Jomo Kenyatta and Kenneth Kaunda belong to
this category of leaders.
2.
Colonial Oppression and Exploitation: During and after the Second
World War, the colonial authorities intensified exploitation and oppression
of the colonial subjects to support the war efforts and thereafter to carry
out reparations of the war. While the prices of cash crops fell drastically,
the prices of imported commodities escalated. This led to fall in the real
incomes of the people. Again there was forceful recruitment of young men
Themes in African History 99
to
serve
in
the
war-front either as soldiers or carrier corps. Many Africans lost their lives
in the war, causing great losses and suffering to many families. Again there
was no compensation for the lost lives and the injured. After the war, the
ex-soldiers were not supported in terms of job opportunities or pension
schemes as promised. Ironically enough, the white ex-soldiers were given
job opportunities. In general, this situation led to anger and frustrations
and fuelled nationalist struggles. The Mau Movement in Kenya, for
instance, was organised by these ex-soldiers.
Again, several measures were introduced by the colonial masters to
intensify exploitation of the colonial resources after the war. These
included encouragement of more settler farming even in colonies with
fewer settlers such as the case of Meru Settler Scheme in Tanganyika.
Other measures were the introduction of agricultural schemes such as the
Gezira cotton scheme in Sudan, the Kongwa and Nachingwea groundnut
schemes in Tanganyika, etc. These measures intensified people’s anger and
fuelled more nationalist struggles. For instance, the Meru land case
prompted the nationalist struggles in Tanganyika.
3.
Improvement of the Means of Communications: As noted earlier, the road
and motor transport were introduced in 1920s. By 1940s road transport
was most widespread and surpassed all other means of transport. The
railway transport was also more widely spread than before. Air transport
had also been introduced by this time. Then there were newly introduced
news media such as newspapers, radio broadcast, etc. These means of
communication facilitated peoples’ mobility and contacts and spread of
information. Because of the news media, people from one part of Africa
were able to know what was happening in another part. They also knew
what was happening in Europe, Asia etc. The news about nationalist
struggles in Asia or West Africa, for instance, could easily reach the people
of East Africa. The ideas of self-determination advocated by bodies such as
UNO or countries such as USSR or even the progressive parties in Europe
could easily reach the people in the colonies.
4.
Spread of Literacy: Another important factor was the spread of literacy
among the colonial subjects. Though thinly spread, Colonial education
enabled a significant number of people to acquire enough literacy to be
able to follow up what was happening in the world and in their own
colonies. These people were therefore in position to understand and to
question the evils committed by the colonial system in their colonies, by
comparing notes with what was happening elsewhere.
9.4.2 External Factors
The external factors that led to nationalism and decolonisation are as discussed
below:
100 Themes in African History
1.
Role of the Second World War: The Second World War destroyed the
myth of white superiority. African soldiers fought side-by-side with the
white soldiers. They learnt that some of the white soldiers were coward,
others poor shooters compared with the African counterparts. They
realised that the white men were normal human beings like the Africans.
This understanding shed out the myth of white superiority among the
African servicemen.
The war propaganda included statements such as fighting against fascism,
fighting for democracy and justice, etc. The African servicemen questioned
about the conditions in the colonies where such ideals like democracy and
justice were not practiced. Then came the Atlantic Charter. This was an
agreement between the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and the
Unite States President, Roosevelt, on the principles to be followed after the
war. Clause three of the Charter stated that the British and USA
governments will respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of
government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign
rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly
deprived of them. When Churchill claimed that the clause did not apply to
Africa he was received by great resentment from the people in the colonies
who insisted that the clause indeed applied to Africa. From then onwards
the emerging political organisations in the colonies put in their agenda the
issue of self-determination and self-rule for the African people as their
central goal.
It is also important to note that in the northern African colonies where the
war was actually fought on the ground such as Libya, Egypt, Morocco and
Tunisia were the earliest colonies to liquidate colonialism. The
contradiction of the war necessarily led to quicker decolonisation of these
colonies, starting with the removal of the Italian occupation of Ethiopia by
the British forces in 1941; Egyptian independence in 1944; and then the
independence of Morocco, Tunisia and Sudan in 1956.
2.
Weakening of the European Control in Asia: After the Second World
War, the French were thrown out of Indo-China, i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia
among others. There was also the rise of nationalism in India and Pakistan
culminating into their independence in 1947. Then there was the spread of
socialism in China, Vietnam and Northern Korea. The Africans,
particularly the educated elite, were following these developments with
interest and determination to see similar developments taking place in
Africa.
3.
The Democratic and Anti-Fascist Posture of the United Nations
Organisation (UNO): This organ was established in 1945 after the Second
World War for the purpose of maintaining world peace. As a peacekeeping body, the UNO was against fascism and colonialism. It advocated
the idea of self-determination for all peoples, human rights, democracy and
Themes in African History 101
respect for sovereignty of all nations. In this respect it exerted pressure on
the colonial masters to decolonise. Among its important organs was the
Decolonisation Committee which was entrusted the role of overseeing and
supervising the decolonisation process of the colonial territories. Another
was the Trusteeship Council entrusted with the responsibility of taking
care of the Mandated territories of the defunct League of Nations till they
were ready for self rule. The UNO, therefore, became an important organ
in the liquidation of colonialism in Africa.
4.
Influence of Pan-African Movement (PAM): This was a movement started
in 1900 by the people of African descent in America. Prominent among
them was an Afro-American historian by name of William E. B. Dubois.
The aim of the Movement was to bring together the people of Africa and
those in diaspora in order to solve their common problems together. PAM
held many meetings but the most important in relation to African
decolonisation was the one held in Manchester in 1945. This conference
was attended by several would-be African nationalists such as Kwame
Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta and Kamuzu Banda, who were studying in
Europe and USA. The conference adopted the issue of African
decolonisation as its main agenda.
Many of the African participants as those mentioned above, on returning
to their colonies, formed nationalist political parties and waged struggles
for decolonisation of their countries.
5.
Impact of the Socialist Countries: The existence of the socialist block had a
great impact on the decolonisation process of Africa. In 1917 a socialist
revolution was carried out in Russia. The revolution created an extensive
state of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). After the Second
World War, the socialist block had extended to Eastern Europe and China
and later on to Cuba and North Korea. The socialist system was anticapitalism, anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism. It used the UN forum to
condemn colonialism and press for the colonial powers to grant
independence to their colonies. It gave moral and material support
including arms to the liberation movements in Africa.
6.
Intra-Imperialist Rivalry: After the Second World War, the United States
of America emerged as the strongest economy in the Western hemisphere.
She poured heavy capital into the European economies through the
Marshal plan, in order to put them once more on their rails. Through her
Open-Door Policy, she also pushed the European powers to decolonise so
that she can invest her capital in Africa. This would be a fair return for
revamping their economies.
In Western Europe, socialist parties had also emerged. These parties
extended moral support to the nationalist movements in Africa.
102 Themes in African History
7.
Rethinking Colonialism by European Colonial Powers: After the Second
World War, the economies of the colonial powers had weakened very
much. As such they had no ability of maintaining large colonial empires.
The measures to intensify exploitation in the colonies were part of the
solution to this problem to make the colonies run on their own.
The colonial powers were also questioning the rationale of holding on to
colonial empire while the economies of the colonies had already been
firmly tied to the metropolitan economies, and therefore economic
exploitation of these colonies could continue smoothly even if they were
granted independence. Moreover, if independence was granted the cost of
administration and development of the ex-colonies will no more be their
headache.
It is in this rethinking, the colonial powers started to prepare and train the
‘right people’ to take over administration of their countries upon
independence. Colleges such as the school of African and Oriental Studies
in the University of London were established to fulfil this mission. A
similar institution was established in Paris. Also universities were
established in the colonies such as those of Ibadan in Nigeria and Makerere
in Uganda to carry out similar mission.
Activity 3
Examine the internal and external factors that led to decolonisation of
Africa.
9.5 Decolonisation Process
As already stated earlier, the process of liquidation of colonialism started in North
Africa. Here, the Second World War spearheaded the process. In Black Africa
(Sub-Saharan Africa), however, Ghana was the pace-setter when she attained her
independence in 1957. She proved to the racist colonial rulers that even Black
Africa was capable of self rule. This section will be more concerned with
independence process in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The independence process in Africa could be divided into four categories. The first
category comprised of those countries whose independence process was rather
smooth and peaceful and included countries such as Ghana, Tanganyika, Zambia,
Malawi and the French West African territories.
The second category comprised of those countries whose independence process
was complicated by the problems of tribalism and regionalism. Such countries
include Nigeria, Uganda, Belgian Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. Then there were
those countries whose independence had to be attained after prolonged wars of
Themes in African History 103
liberation; included in this category were the Portuguese colonies and the settler
dominated colonies such as Algeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa.
The last category refers to Zanzibar case which attained majority rule by a
revolution. The following is an examination of four case studies.
9.5.1 Independence by Peaceful Means: The Case of Ghana
The independence process in Ghana was rather smooth. The whole process started
in 1946. In that year the British revised the Gold Coast constitution establishing
the African majority representation in the Legislative Council. Most of these
representatives, however, were to be nominated by chiefs. This meant the
exclusion of a small but influential body of the educated Africans who were
determined to win a greater share in government. The British still believed that the
transition to self rule in Africa would be done through the indirect rule
framework.
The Ghanaian experience however proved them wrong, and from then onwards
they came to realise that the future political destiny of Africa rested not on the
chiefs but the African educated elite.
In 1947, prosperous businessmen and lawyers formed the United Gold Coast
Convention (UGCC) to demand revision of the constitution to allow for increased
elected African representatives in the legislative council (LEGICO). Kwame
Nkrumah, who had just returned from studies abroad, was invited to become the
Secretary General of the party. Nkrumah, who had attended the Sixth Pan-African
Movement Congress in Manchester, saw this as an opportunity to chart out the
road to independence of Ghana in the spirit of the Congress.
In 1948, an event occurred which quickened the tempo of events. Police opened
fire on peaceful demonstrations of African ex-servicemen protesting against rising
cost of living and unemployment. The shooting prompted widespread riots in large
towns such as Accra, Kumasi and others. The colonial government arrested the
UGCC leaders including Nkrumah and remanded them for several months
accusing them of being responsible for the riots.
The riots however taught Britain a lesson. She reviewed the 1946 constitution
allowing for 50 per cent elected African representatives in the LEGICO. Nkrumah
also learnt the power of mass action. Upon his release, Nkrumah founded a new
more radical party, the Convention People’s Party (CPP). He pursued a vigorous
drive for widespread membership and demanded for quick independence of Ghana.
He carried out a campaign of positive action which involved peaceful
demonstrations and strikes countrywide. This again landed him in prison.
The colonial governments called for elections in 1951 in which CPP won majority
of the seats. Nkrumah was released from prison to become the leader of
government business in the Parliament. Nkrumah continued to press for 100 per
cent elected African representation in the LEGICO, which was granted in 1954.
104 Themes in African History
In 1954 new elections were held in which CPP won landslide victory. Ghana was
granted internal self-government with Nkrumah as the Prime Minister.
In March 1957 Ghana was granted independence, Nkrumah becoming her first
President. The smooth road to independence in Ghana was facilitated by the
following factors:
1.
Mass support of CPP
2.
Strong leadership of Kwame Nkrumah
3.
Absence of tribal and regional divisions
4.
Absence of white settlerdom
Activity 4
To what extent was the independence process of Ghana peaceful?
9.5.2 Problem of Tribalism and Regionalism: The Case of
Nigeria
The road to independence in Nigeria was complicated by tribalism and regionalism
as compared to Ghana. The nationalist initiative in this most populous territory of
Africa was taken by the National Council for Nigeria and the Cameroons
(NCNC) founded in 1944. Its leader was an outspoken journalist by name of
Nnandi Azikiwe. Though this party had its base among the Ibo of the south;
Azikiwe strove to make it a nationwide party. In 1949, however, two more
regional parties emerged. These were the Yoruba-dominated Action Group (AG)
and the Northern-based Northern People’s Congress (NPC). The formation of
these parties complicated and delayed the independence process of Nigeria as the
parties could not agree upon a suitable constitution to be followed by independent
Nigeria, whether unitary or federal. Eventually, a consensus was reached on a
federal constitution and Nigeria was granted independence in 1960. Nnandi
Azikiwe became the first President of Independent Nigeria and Abu Bakar Tafawa
Balewa of NPC became the Prime Minister.
The politics of independent Nigeria however remained shaky. In 1965, a successful
military coup was carried out marking the beginning of 30 years of military rule in
Nigeria up to 1999 when general elections were held leading to a return to civilian
rule. However, there was a short interlude of civilian rule in 1980-1982.
Activity 5
Highlight the problems of tribalism, regionalism and religion in
Nigeria’s independence process.
Themes in African History 105
9.5.3 Decolonisation through Armed Struggle: The Case of
Zimbabwe
The rise of nationalism in Southern Rhodesia (present Zimbabwe) went
concurrently with the rise of nationalism in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and
Nyasaland (present Malawi). The rise of nationalism in these colonies was first and
foremost centred on the opposition to the Central African Federation (1953 1963). This Federation, which was forced by the White settlers particularly those
of Southern Rhodesia for their political and economic interests, was severely
resisted by the Africans in all the three colonies.
The earliest political movement of Southern Rhodesia was the Southern Rhodesian
African Congress formed in early 1950s, but banned by the Federal government in
the effort to contain the opposition to the federation. In 1957 the movement was
revived by the trade unionist leader Mr. Joshua Nkomo, who renamed it
Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU) in 1962. The mounting opposition to
the federation forced the British government to see the futility of continuing to
support the white settler-dominated Central African federation. In 1963, the
federation was dissolved, followed with the granting of independence to Northern
Rhodesia (Zambia) and Nyasaland (Malawi) in 1964.
In Southern Rhodesia, the minority of White settlers remained firmly in
command, determined to resist all moves towards African majority rule.
Frustrated by Mr. Nkomo’s hesitation to commit his movement ZAPU into fullscale armed struggle, some radial members such as Ndabaningi Sithole and Robert
Mugabe left the movement and formed Zimbabwe African National Union
(ZANU) in 1963.
Poor vision poor planning, and rivalry between the two movements made them
unable to take the opportunity of the break up of the federation to push for quick
independence as it happened in Zambia and Malawi. The minority white settlers
under Ian Smith took the opportunity to declare unilateral independence for
Rhodesia in 1965; hence the famous Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI).
The UDI was condemned by Britain as well as the UNO and the international
community but very little was done to sanction the regime.
These developments forced the ZANU leaders into armed struggles in 1966 in
order to liberate their country. Guerrilla warfare tactics were used, target attacks
being made on settler farms and property, police posts and security forces.
Following the independence of Mozambique in 1975, the ZANU guerrillas were
hosted in Mozambique while ZAPU established its base in Zambia. Both
movements carried on armed struggles against Ian Smith regime from their bases.
In 1977 the war entered its decisive phase to become a full-scale war, liberating the
country phase-by-phase. By 1979 it was only the major towns such as Salisbury and
Bulawayo that were not under ZANU-ZAPU control.
106 Themes in African History
In 1978, in an effort to win the confidence of the Africans, the Smith regime
invited some of the prominent African religious leaders such as Abel Muzorewa to
share political power. Muzorewa was made Prime Minister of the dying regime.
The ZANU-ZAPU movements discarded these cosmetic reforms of leadership and
carried on the war with greater intensity. The mounting liberation struggle forced
the Smith-Muzorewa Regime into a negotiation table with the ZANU-ZAPU
leaders at Lancaster House, London in 1979, in which they agreed to end the war,
and the country be prepared for majority rule.
Elections were held in February 1980 in which ZANU won a landslide victory. In
18th April 1980, Zimbabwe was granted independence with Canaan Banana as a
ceremonial President and Robert Mugabe of ZANU as the Executive Prime
Minister.
Activity 6
1.
What do you understand by Unilateral Declaration of
Independence (UDI)?
2.
How did UDI affect the nationalist politics in Zimbabwe?
9.6 African Liberation Struggles and the
Collapse of Apartheid System in South
Africa
The development of Africa nationalism in South Africa is traced back to 1880s
when independent church movements mushroomed in various places of South
Africa in reaction against the segregative and discriminatory nature of the
European missionary churches. These were followed by proto-nationalist
movements reacting against white domination in South Africa, particularly the
denial of African participation in the political life of South Africa. For instance,
such movements questioned the exclusion of Africans in the political participation
of the country such as the voting rights in the 1909 Union draft constitution,
which led to the Union of South Africa in 1910. This demand was, however, not
granted. The proto-nationalist movements culminated into the formation of the
first political party in South Africa, the South African Natives Congress in 1912,
which was renamed African National Congress (ANC) in 1923.
With the ascendance of apartheid in 1948, African nationalism gained momentum.
During 1952, the ANC staged a defiance campaign against the apartheid system
refusing to carry passes and conducting peaceful demonstrations against the
segregative apartheid laws. Such campaigns were met with great repression by the
apartheid state organs.
Themes in African History 107
In 1955, the ANC joined with the Indian, Coloured and radical white political
groups to form Congress Alliance. They adopted the Freedom Charter, a blueprint
for the creation of a new non-racial South Africa. The government responded by
suppressing all opposition with the maximum force, accusing them of being Sovietsponsored communists. In 1956, the Congress Alliance members were accused of
treason charges. They were however acquitted for lack of evidence.
In 1958 the ANC split into two, some radical elements broke away to form the
Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) under the leadership of Robert Sobukwe.
The year 1960 was the year of independence for Africa, notably West Africa. But
for South Africa it was marked by intensified African nationalist struggles as well
as intensified government repression. In March 1960 at Sharpeville, the South
African police opened fire on unarmed peaceful demonstrators, killing 69 people
and wounding 180. Most of these people were shot on their back as they fled. The
Sharpeville Massacre marked a new phase of struggle for freedom in South Africa.
Mass anti-apartheid movements were organised countrywide. Fearing a possibility
of a revolution the government banned the nationalist parties of ANC and PAC
and arrested thousands of their members.
Having been banned, the ANC went underground. It formed an armed wing of the
party known as Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) to carry out sabotage
attacks. Having carried several successful attacks, the government reacted by
arresting the ANC leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Govan
Mbeki. These were tried and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Following this event, the ANC and PAC leadership and their armed wings went
into exile and organised themselves for more intense attacks on the apartheid
regime. They established their bases in the front-line states of Southern Africa to
launch their attacks against the white regime.
Within South Africa, the campaigns against the apartheid regime continued. The
Africans defied the pass laws and carried out frequent demonstrations, strikes,
pickets, and sabotaging the economic infrastructures without fearing for their lives.
Many were killed but there was no despairing. The excessive repression carried out
by the regime and the anti-apartheid campaigns led by front-line states and the
OAU forced the international community to respond by imposing economic
sanctions against the South African regime from 1980s onwards. By this time
South Africa became really ungovernable and the sanctions started to bite. This led
to white migration for fear of the unpredictable political future of South Africa.
There was also capital flight as the economic security became increasingly shaken
and because of declining profits. Again, foreign investments were frozen for the
same reasons. The domestic market became increasingly repressed because of low
purchasing power due to low incomes among majority of the population,
particularly the Africans.
The South African state responded to this situation by intensifying repression
against the South African black majority. On 16th July 1976, the South African
108 Themes in African History
police opened fire on students demonstrating against the inferior quality of black
education in the South West Township (SOWETO) killing a number of them.
This incidence provoked country-wide student demonstrations and increased
police force to break the demonstrations. In the event more than 600 students
notably children were killed and thousands wounded or remanded.
From 1980 onwards, the apartheid regime tried to arrest the situation by
introducing cosmetic reforms. In 1984, the regime made constitutional amendment
in which the Indians and coloureds were allowed limited representation in the
Parliament. At this point, however, it had become clear even to the regime that the
apartheid system need not be reformed but abolished. The coming into power of
Frederic W. de Klerk in 1989 became a turning point for the dismantling apartheid.
In 1990, to the astonishment of the world community, de Klerk declared the
abolition of the pillars of apartheid namely, the Population Registration Act and
Group Areas Act. In another move, he unbanned the ANC and PAC movements,
released the political prisoners including Mandela, Mbeki and Sisulu, and opened
doors for negotiations with the Black people to chart out the future of South
Africa. South Africa also withdrew from Namibia leading to her independence in
February 1990. This culminated into drafting a new constitution for South Africa
and holding of general elections in 1994 in which ANC won and South Africa
attained majority rule under President Nelson Mandela as the first black President.
(Fage and Tordoff 2000: 527).
Activity 7
1.
Trace the origin of African nationalism in South Africa.
2.
Discuss the African nationalist struggles for majority rule in
South Africa.
Summary
African nationalism rooted from the desire of the African people to end colonial
domination and self rule.
The decolonisation of Africa was influenced by both internal and external factors.
The independence process in Africa was complicated by problems such as
tribalism, regionalism, religion, settler dominance in some colonies and reluctance
by colonial powers such as Portugal to liquidate colonialism. The apartheid system
in South Africa also complicated the independence process in Namibia and the
majority rule in South Africa itself.
Themes in African History 109
Exercise
1.
How was independence in African countries achieved ?
2.
Why was the independence of Zimbabwe attained after prolonged armed
struggles?
3.
Analyse the internal and external factors for decolonisation of Africa.
4.
Examine the role of the educated elite in the decolonisation of Africa.
5.
The Second World War is regarded as the turning point for Africa’s
independence process. Do you agree? Discuss.
6.
Examine the struggles for majority rule in South Africa.
References
Bohannan, P. and Curtin, P. (1988), Africa and Africans, Illinois: Waveland Press
Inc.
Fage, D. and Tordoff W. (2000), A History of Africa, London: Routledge.
Mazrui A. (ed) (1993), General History of Africa: Africa since 1935, Vol. VIII,
UNESCO
Shillington, K. (1995), History of Africa, London: Macmillan Education Ltd.
110 Themes in African History
Themes in African History 111
LECTURE 10
Post-independence Developments:
Political Sphere
10.1 Introduction
Dear student, this lecture will carry us through the post-independence period in
Africa. It attempts to highlight Africa’s political experience since independence.
This period is divided into two phases namely, 1960-90 phase and the phase after
1990.
The 1960-90 phase is the period in which all African countries achieved their
independence. The year 1960 is regarded as the year of independence for Africa. In
this year, 13 French territories attained their independence. Nigeria, Somalia and
Belgian Congo also attained their independence in the same year. The
independence process continued in high momentum so that by 1969 only few
territories, particularly the Portuguese colonies, the Comoro; Western Sahara,
Seychelles, Djibouti and the white-dominated colonies of Zimbabwe, Namibia and
South Africa had not attained their independence or majority rule. Portuguese
colonialism was liquidated between 1973 and 1975 in all her colonies while the
colonies of Zimbabwe and Namibia attained their independence in 1980 and 1990
respectively.
The period 1960-90 was also dominated by cold war politics whereby the world
was divided into two ideologically opposed camps namely, the capitalist camp led
by USA and Western Europe and the Socialist block led by USSR. Ideologically,
African countries found themselves leaning into either of the two blocks. Some
coined their own ideologies such as African Socialism, the case of Nyerere’s
Tanzania; Negritude, the case of Senghor’s Senegal; and Humanism, the case of
Kaunda’s Zambia. In terms of foreign policy most post-independence states of
Africa pursued non-alignment policy to refrain themselves from the cold war
politics.
The phase from 1990 onwards was a period which saw the disintegration of the
socialist block and the end of cold war. It also experienced the Western-driven
forceful multi-party democratisation process and economic liberalisation for
African countries. Another experience was the liquidation of apartheid and
attainment of majority rule in South Africa, completing the liberation process of
Africa and finally was the rigorous propagation of globalisation by the West. These
developments inevitably forced the African countries to redefine their ideological,
political and economic positions to conform to the new demands of the new era.
112 Themes in African History
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you will be able to:
Explain the political developments in Africa after independence;
State political problems confronting African countries;
Draw lessons from Africa’s political experience;
Chart out the course for Africa’s political future.
10.2 Political Experience (1960-1990): The
Political Legacy of Colonial Rule
African countries have often been accused by the Western countries as being
incapable of good governance, of being undemocratic and dictatorial. But in fact,
this is a product of a history imposed on them by the very critics. Many problems
facing African countries and their governments today are largely the product of
their history rooted in the colonial system of rule. Colonialism was virtually
established and sustained by force. Shillington tells us that the real political legacy
of the colonial system in Africa was that of an alien dictatorship prepared to crush
outspoken opposition at any time and at any cost. Many of the African nationalist
leaders had suffered periods of detention without trial, others faced life
imprisonment sentences, while others were tortured to death in the hands of
colonial state organs for the ‘mistake’ of daring to speak out against the unjust and
arbitrary nature of colonial rule (Shillington 1995: 407). This is the kind of ‘good
governance’ the African leaders learnt from their colonial masters.
The post-independence states of Africa inherited political institutions and
structures that were based and modelled on Western political systems and
structures. The government institutions such as the civil service, the presidency,
the parliament, the judiciary, political parties and constitutions were all alien
institutions in Africa. These institutions were retained without significant changes,
if any, and were made to function in the new African setting in the European style,
ceremonies and formality for this was the gesture of modernisation or
westernisation – the road for the newly independent states. Traditional political
institutions were discarded and labelled anti-modern and, therefore, outdated and
undesirable.
Themes in African History 113
The post-independent countries retained the boundaries created by the colonialist
for their political expediency. People of different ethnicity, were cobbled together
for European convenience. Ironically enough, the societies grouped together to coexist in one territory were again required to remain divided and to value and
promote their divisions and differences rather than their unity. This dual nature of
the colonial state has created a lot of problems of nation building in the postindependence period. The problems of regionalism and tribalism in many postindependence African countries have their roots in this historical past.
Another serious political legacy of colonialism was the standing army. We will
come to it later.
Activity 1
Analyse the political legacy of colonial rule.
10.3 Political Institutional Building and
Consolidation
On attaining independence African leaders found themselves grappling with the
challenges of nationhood and statehood. These included:
1.
Centralisation of political authority, i.e. state building.
2.
Creating unity among heterogeneous groups in the polity, i.e. nation
building.
3.
Providing avenues for political participation, i.e. promotion of democracy.
4.
Distribution of scarce resources, i.e. resource allocation.
10.3.1 State Building
Great efforts by independent African leaders were geared at consolidating the
powers of the state, i.e. state building. This included expansion and strengthening
of bureaucracy (civil service). However, there were no efforts to redefine its role.
The exception was in Tanzania where President Julius Nyerere re-refined the role
of bureaucracy in the context of Ujamaa ideology as to enable the Central
Government to reach and give guidance and assistance to local people as well as
check on their work, and to reduce red tape. (Mazrui 1993:448)
In some countries such as Nigeria and Uganda, traditional authorities were
retained while in others such as Tanzania they were dismantled in favour of
Central Government.
114 Themes in African History
Most countries of Africa moved away from parliamentary system of government
to executive presidency. For Tanzania it was executive presidency and party
supremacy under one party system of rule. While most African countries adopted
unitary systems of government, others which had experienced serious ethnic and
religious divisions such as Nigeria adopted federal systems.
Successful and surviving attempts at Pan territorial unity was only that between
Tanganyika and Zanzibar which gave birth to The United Republic of Tanzania.
Most African countries except those of North Africa, Tanzania and Kenya retained
the languages of the colonial masters as their lingua franca a great weakness indeed.
For North Africa, Arabic is the lingua franca, while for Tanzania and Kenya it is
Kiswahili. A national language is a symbol of state sovereignty and national
identity.
The greatest effort at state building in post-colonial Africa was that of
strengthening the military and the security system. However there were no efforts
to restructure and redefine the role of the military inherited from colonialism. This
may also explain its frequent intervention in the African civilian governments. The
exception here again was in Tanzania whereby following the army mutiny of 1964,
the colonial army was dismantled and a new army i.e. the Tanzania Peoples
Defence Forces was instituted. The Police Force also underwent restructuring, the
security system strengthened and the paramilitary force the National Service force
created.
The military and bureaucracy (civil service) have been the most parasitic
institutions in post-colonial Africa draining munch of the scarce resources of the
countries for their maintenance and sustenance.
Another weakness of the postcolonial African standing army was its frequent
interference into African politics. Army officers frequently moved forcefully from
the barracks to the state house. The period between 1960 and 1990s is full of sad
records of military coups and counter coups experienced in many countries of
Africa.
The worst record was in West Africa whereby in some of the countries such as
Nigeria, Ghana, Benin and Burkina Fasso it happened more than five times. Army
officers toppled each other accusing one another of government mismanagement.
Military rule, which had always been characterised by curfew orders, always
caused a state of insecurity and tension among the civilian population making
people unable to move freely, to associate and undertake their economic and social
activities in a peaceful atmosphere. In short, military rule greatly affected Africa’s
development process. Another sad episode which inflicted African countries was
civil wars, experienced in many countries such as Chad, Sudan, Somalia, Angola,
Mozambique, Congo Brazzaville, DRC (former Zaire), Rwanda, Burundi, Liberia,
Sierra Leone, Uganda, Ethiopia and more recently the Ivory Coast. Some countries
Themes in African History 115
such as Liberia, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Somalia, Chad and Sierra Leone were
utterly torn apart by such wars.
Activity 2
Why has the process of State building been so difficult?
10.3.2 Nation Building
The colonialists created colonial states in Africa by bringing together diverse
groups of people in a colonial territory under colonial authority but they did not
endeavour to create nations as a logical outcome of this process of state formation.
Conversely the African people were subjected into tribal, racial, religious and
regional divisions and they remained so divided for political expediency of the
colonial rulers. Initial attempts at nation building in these colonial territories were
those carried out by the African nationalist leaders as from 1940s onwards, when
they mobilised their people to shed their tribal, ethnic, regional and religious
affiliations, and unite together to confront the colonial masters.
After independence the process of nation building had not yet been completed.
Indeed it had just began. It needed to be nurtured with greater care. The diverse
groups of people in the ex-colonies were not yet one nation. They were more
identified by their difference; (tribal, ethnic, religious etc.) rather than by their
unity as nations. For instance the Baganda in Uganda felt more of being Baganda
than Ugandans. The Kikuyu in Kenya felt more of being Kikuyu than Kenyans.
The most important task of the post-independence rulers was to make these people
shed their parochial affiliations and cultivate a sense of belonging and identification
with their new nations. In some countries such as Tanzania, the process of forging
national unity by fighting vigorously against tribalism, racism, racialism, regional
and religious divisions proved successful. But in many countries, these problems
continue to haunt the post-independence governments to date. Vivid examples are
Nigeria, DRC (Former Zaire), Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Sierra
Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast, to mention but a few, leading to civil wars in some
of the countries as already discussed earlier.
The process of nation building also entailed other efforts like building a national
culture, developing a national language etc. Since the ex-colonies particularly the
Francophone and Lusophone countries were assimilated into the cultures of their
colonial masters at the expense of the African cultures, it has become difficult for
them to build their independent national cultures and have continued to embrace
the languages of their colonial masters as their lingua franca.
Another important aspect of nation building was that of correcting development
imbalances created by colonialism in the ex-colonies i.e. development imbalance
between town and country side and between one region of the country and
116 Themes in African History
another. Substantial efforts were made by the post-independence governments to
bring even development in their countries thereby cultivating a sense of belonging
to the nation by the less developed and disadvantaged groups, there was much
success in this endeavour. Again this created dissatisfaction among the people in
the more developed areas which were supposed to sacrifice for the sake of
advancing the backward areas.
Activity 3
Discuss the achievements and problems of nation building among
African countries.
10.3.3 Promoting Democracy
The new post-independence political elites inherited organs of participation which
were created to serve the colonial system. Organs such as the Legislative councils
in the British colonies were there to assist the governor to have effective control of
the colonial subjects. The ordinances which were passed by these organs were not
to serve the interests of the people in the colonies but to facilitate effective control
and exploitation of the subjects. Again membership in the councils comprised of
the governor’s appointees and not elected people’s representatives. As such these
were not organs of people’s participation and empowerment but of control.
At independence these organs were transformed into parliamentary institutions
which were supposed to be more democratic with a wider representation of the
public. In some countries such as Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia and Kenya, the
process of creating the institution of the Parliament functioned. In many countries
however, the rise of dictatorship governments and military regimes barred the
growth of parliamentary democratic institutions.
Another aspect of promoting democracy and participation in post-colonial Africa
was the party system. Most African post-independence leaders in the 1960s rejected
multi party system. They viewed it to be an alien institution which was
unworkable for their young nations. They argued that such a system would foster
tribal, regional and religious divisions instead of promoting national unity so
desired at the time.
They again argued that democracy was also possible under one party system of
rule. For the countries which professed socialist ideologies such as Tanzania,
Zambia, Mozambique and Angola the single party system became part and parcel
of the ideological framework and served to implement the socialist policies.
Practically, the single party systems achieved very little. In some countries such as
Tanzania and Kenya it was possible to institute competitive presidential and
parliamentary elections under a single party framework thereby allowing for
limited democratic participation. In many countries however the single party
Themes in African History 117
system led to abuses of power and dictatorial rule by the political elites thereby
creating conditions for military interventions and civil wars.
Activity 4
1.
Explain the goals of colonial legislature.
2.
Explain the efforts made by post-independence states to create
organs of people’s political participation.
3.
What were the advantages and disadvantages of single party
systems of rule?
10.3.4 Resource Allocation
At independence the new regimes were confronted with another important
challenge of how to make the new political system deliver in terms of promoting
even development and ensure equitable distribution of the scarce resources. This
entailed proper management of the economy and proper utilisation of the existing
resources for the benefit of the entire population in the country.
Given the fact that the economies of these countries were already tied to the
developed capitalist (metropolitan) economies in a dependence relationship there
were no short cut solutions to the development challenges encountered. Economic
exploitation of these countries continued as before.
The new economic plans, aid flows and investments patterns which were
externally manipulated and monitored, fostered further dependence and
exploitation. To worsen the situation, the African economies became severely hit
by unfavourable terms of trade from 1970s onwards. As such there was limited
surplus generation to carry out development projects which would benefit the
people directly such as education, health, communication, infrastructures, etc.
Added to this was the debt burden which reached crisis proportions in the 1980s
and 1990s.
Again many post-independence leaders became entangled in corruption, grabbing
the little cake that was available to enrich themselves. Rampant corruption was
experienced in countries such as Nigeria under the military rulers, Zaire under
Mobutu, Uganda under Idd Amin, Kenya under Moi etc. Corruption was so high
as to leave the countries with virtually nothing to execute development projects
and provide services to the people.
The net effect of this state of affairs was that by the turn of the century in 2000, i.e.
40 years after independence of most countries, there was virtually no tangible
economic and social development to exhibit in post-independence Africa. Poverty
and diseases continued to haunt the majority of the African people as in the
colonial days. Independence did not produce the expected fruits. It had become a
hopeless illusion.
118 Themes in African History
Activity 5
Why have African countries failed to exhibit any meaningful
development 40 years after independence?
10.4 Ideological Orientation
Another important political experience of post-independence Africa in the period
1960 – 1990 was that of ideological orientation. The leaders of independent Africa
differed greatly in their ideological outlook and vision of the course of
development their countries should follow. Their differences were rooted in the
nature of the anti colonial struggles of their countries, the extent of capitalist
penetration in a country, the background of a respective leader, his level of
education, ingenuity, and social upbringing.
While most leaders lacked political vision of any kind, others such as Jomo
Kenyatta of Kenya and Houphouet-Boigny of Ivory Coast preferred the capitalist
road of development. They envisioned capitalism as the best model of
development. They were opposed to colonialism but not the capitalist system
which bred it. Such leaders ensured that the capitalist structures inherited remained
intact and strove to build neo-colonial capitalist states.
Radical leaders such as Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana,
Leopold Senghor of Senegal, Ahmed Sekou Toure of Guinea and Kenneth Kaunda
of Zambia coiled their own brands of African socialism suited to the circumstances
of their countries. Such ideologies were opposed to neo colonial exploitation and
advocated disengagement from the Western capitalist system and pursuance of an
independent road of development based on African values and institutions. The
most articulate and which survived longer was Nyerere’s Socialism and Self
reliance which emphasised public ownership of the means of production, social
equity, self reliance, rural collectivisation and cooperative production. It sounded
appealing even in the Western capitalist circles.
The Portuguese ex-colonies made more radical departure by adopting the Soviet
led scientific socialism propounded by Karl Marx and V. ILenin. However all these
socialist experiments were unsuccessful and they all collapsed with the collapse of
the Eastern socialist block and the end of cold war in 1990.
Activity 6
Account for varied ideological orientations in post-independence
Africa.
Themes in African History 119
10.5 Political Liberalisation in the 1990s
The period 1990s experienced a wind of political liberalisation in Africa
symbolised by multiparty democratisation process.
At the beginning of the 1990s, only in the constitutions of Botswana, Gambia,
Senegal and Mauritius were enshrined multi party system of rule. However by this
time a number of pro multi party democracy movements were emerging in a
number of countries particularly those of sub Saharan Africa, socialist and
capitalist alike, civilian and military ruled.
These movements were boosted by the attitudes of the Western donors who
advocated multi party system, good governance and respect for human rights as
pre-conditions for aid. As the African leaders were desperate for aid and grants
from the West, they could not ignore these demands, since following the collapse
of the Socialist system; Russia and the Eastern block regimes could no longer
afford to support satellite states in Africa.
By early 1990s a chain reaction in favour of multi party democratisation had set in
across the African continent. The whole process started by the multi party
elections which overthrew the incumbent regimes in Benin and Zambia in 1991.
Matthew Kerekou of Benin lost to an opposition leader Nicephore Soglo, while
Keneth Kaunda of Zambia’s United National Independence Party (UNIP) was
defeated by Frederick Chiluba’s Movement for Multi Party Democracy (UMD).
Other countries followed suit to embrace multi party system of rule so that most
elections held in Africa in 1990s were based on multi party political competition. It
had almost become fashionable. The exception was in Uganda where President
Yoweri Museveni was still reluctant to embrace multi party system. The others
were the Monarchic states of Swaziland and Lesotho and the Islamic states of
North Africa such as Morocco and Libya.
The democratisation process in Africa also affected the South African minority
regime whose decadent apartheid policy had become an obstacle to economic
growth and social progress of the country. The coming into power by F. W. De
Klerk in 1989 opened doors for negotiations with the black majority for political
power sharing. This involved also the release of the Black political prisoners such
as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, and Govan Mbeki as already seen in lecture
nine.
Eventually in the 1994 general elections, South Africa attained majority rule under
the black led National African Congress (ANC). Nelson Mandela became the first
black President of the democratic South Africa (Fage and Tordoff 2000:527).
Although in many states which embraced multi party system, the incumbent
regimes were retained in their first multi party elections such as the case of
Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique, the process opened up avenues for wider
political participation by the public in those countries. The people could question
120 Themes in African History
what their governments were doing as opposed to the single party era where they
were just given orders without questioning. Under multi party system the
electorate emerged supreme. It demanded their governments to deliver in terms of
promoting economic and social well being of the people, good governance and
guarantee for human rights or else they stood the danger of being thrown out
through the ballot box. Free press, civil societies and human rights activists were
also emerging very strong in many countries and their influences could no more be
ignored by the political elite.
However, although the process of multi party democratisation has been embraced
fast enough by most countries, democracy and good governance are in practice still
lacking in many spheres. During elections the incumbent regimes have used the
state organs to their advantage to strangle the opposition. Incidences of rigging,
fraud and intimidation have often characterised the multi party elections making
them to be rated as unfree and unfair. Also aspects such as freedom of speech and
association, freedom from arbitrary arrest and other aspects of the rule of law,
transparency and accountability are still lacking in many countries. In short the
progress towards political liberalisation, democracy and respect for human right is
still limited.
On the other hand, the emerging opposition parties had their weaknesses. They
lacked strong leadership, they were often characterised by intra and inter party
conflicts. They lacked intra party democracy, resources, and effective political
penetration in the population. Some countries could be judged as performing well
in the multi party politics such as Botswana and Mauritius. Others however like
the DRC, Somalia, Sudan, Chad, Burundi and Sierra Leone were just a mess. It
should also be noted that military coups were not yet something of the past in the
1990s judging by the experiences of Gambia, Ivory Coast and the more recent
aborted coup in São Tomé and Príncipe.
However the hard line taken by the former Organisation of Africa Unity (OAU)
and its successor the African Union (AU) towards military coups and military
regimes in Africa has reduced substantially the incidences of their occurrences. The
multi party democratisation process, ballot box elections, free press and human
right movements prevailing in many African countries today have also helped
substantially to forestall the unconstitutional means of usurping power by military
juntas and selfish power mongers.
We can conclude by saying that despite the hurdles experienced, democratic
transition in African forges ahead and the prospects for effective democracy, good
governance and political stability are still high.
Activity 7
1.
What has been the cause
democratisation in the 1990s?
for
Africa’s
multiparty
Themes in African History 121
2.
To what extent has multiparty democratisation process
fostered good governance and political accountability in
Africa?
Summary
After independence countries of Africa instituted political institutions which were
modelled on the colonial setting. Such institutions needed to be reformed to serve
the needs of the newly independent states. However, such reforms were scarcely
done. This partly bred the political problems that started to confront African
countries.
The process of nation building in post-independence Africa has been constrained
by the colonial legacy of divide and rule, cultural assimilation, development
imbalances within the countries as well selfish struggles for power by the
independent political elites.
The single-party system of rule so much defended by post-independence leaders
largely failed to promote democracy among the African countries.
Dependent economies, unfavourable terms of trade, debt burden and corruption
have contributed to poor economic and social development in Africa 40 years after
independence.
In terms of ideological orientation, African countries up to 1990 could be categorised
into radical left-wing socialists, moderate socialists, conservative, neo-colonial
capitalists, and the undefined. By 1990 however the socialist orientation suffered the
wind of economic and political liberalisation in favour of market economy and neocolonial capitalism.
The multiparty democratisation process, which came to dominate African politics
in the 1990s onwards, has created more avenues for public participation in the
political sphere and has enhanced greater democracy, good governance and
political accountability. Although military intervention in civilian governments,
civil wars and other political crises are still prevalent in some countries, the
prospects for democracy, good governance and political stability are higher than
ever before.
Exercise
1.
Discuss the difficulties involved in state building in Africa.
122 Themes in African History
2.
Account for the prevalence of military coups and civil wars in Africa.
3.
Compare and contrast the colonial and post-colonial legislatures.
4.
Give reasons for the poor performance of single-party systems in Africa.
5.
Why have African political institutions been so fragile?
6.
“The struggle for scarce resources among political elites is the major factor
for Africa’s political instabilities.” Discuss
7.
Analyse the democratisation processes in Africa in the 1990s.
References
Bohanan, P. and Curtin, P. (1988), Africa and Africans, Illinois: Waveland Press
Inc.
Fage, J. D. and Tordolf, W. (2002), A History of Africa, London: Routledge.
Iliffe, J. (1995), Africans, the History of a Continent, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Mazrui, A. and Wondji, C. (eds) (1993), General History of Africa: Africa since 1935,
Vol. VIII, UNESCO.
Oliver, R. (1991), The African Experience, Major Themes in African History from the
Earliest Times to the Present, New York: Icon Editions.
Shillington, K. (1995), History of Africa, London: Macmillan Education Ltd.
Themes in African History 123
124 Themes in African History
LECTURE 11
Post-independence Developments:
Economic and Social Spheres
11.1 Introduction
Dear Student, this lecture examines the economic and social developments in
Africa since independence. It highlights the efforts made by post-independence
governments of Africa to achieve economic and social progress and the problems
encountered.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you will be able to:
Explain the economic legacy of colonial rule;
State the attempts made by post-independent African states to achieve economic
and social progress;
Explain the problems encountered in attaining economic and social progress;
Draw lessons for Africa’s future economic and social developments.
11.2 Economic Legacy of Colonial Rule
After independence, the African countries inherited structurally dependent and
underdeveloped economies based on production of primary products (agricultural
raw materials and unprocessed minerals) for export, and importation of
manufactured consumer and capital goods. The prices for the primary products
were set and controlled by the West (Europe and North America) and the terms of
trade were skewed in favour of the West. Africa exported more and more in order
to import less and less as the terms of trade continued to deteriorate. In other
words, Africa was made a net exporter of wealth to the Western World. The postindependence states made no attempts to restructure the inherited economic
system and structures. As in the colonial period, greater emphasis was placed on
the production of cash crops for export at the expense of food crops leading to
frequent food scarcity and famine in many countries.
Themes in African History 125
Another poor legacy of the colonial period was the transport systems. The rails
and roads were constructed to connect the raw-material-producing zones with the
ports at the coast to facilitate export of the continent’s wealth to Europe. There
was no interlinkage of rails and roads except for the landlocked countries to
connect them to the ports. The telecommunication system was so inadequate that
it was easier to telephone Europe than to telephone from one African capital to
another.
The social services (medical and education) were very inadequate with high
concentration in the urban areas while the rural areas were virtually neglected.
Post-independence the vast majority of the African people were illiterate, they
lacked medical facilities, good housing and clean water.
11.3 Post-independence Economic Plans
The post-independence African countries charted out ambitious economic plans
with the motive to catch up with the advanced industrial societies of the West. The
plans were drawn on the Western model using Western experts (Shillington
1995:411). Such plans relied heavily on export crops and foreign aid as sources of
income to finance the development projects. As the 1960s were characterised by
temporary economic boom it gave great hopes and confidence to postindependence governments to execute the plans by relying on the revenues
generated from exports. It was also believed that the newly independent states
could extract resources from peasant agriculture and invest them in the modern
sectors such as industries and communication and social infrastructures. This
thinking appealed to most post-independence leaders. This led to great controls and
interventions in peasant agriculture by the state leading to its decline in countries
such as Ghana, Tanzania and Mozambique to mention but a few.
Ambitious economic and social service projects were executed with great emphasis
on industrial undertakings. As Nkrumah once remarked, ‘The vicious circle of
poverty…could be broken by a massively planned industrial undertaking’ (Iliffe,
1995:254). The reason was clear enough. The industrial growth would facilitate
economic takeoff. Import substitution industries were more emphasised to
produce the hitherto imported consumer goods. There was also an emphasis on
medium scale capital goods industries such as agricultural implement plants and
construction equipment plants. Other projects that were implemented include
hydroelectric power plants, electric installations, road and rail construction
networks, hospitals, health centres, clinics, dispensaries, schools and universities.
Sooner or later, however, the terms of trade became increasingly unfavourable.
Prices of export crops declined precariously while prices of oil and imported
capital and consumer goods continued to rise. The African countries were forced
to import more than they exported in order to implement the already laid-down
plans and projects. This necessitated heavy borrowing resulting into high debt
accumulation. Indeed, by 1980s it had become clear that African governments
126 Themes in African History
lacked enough resources to carry out such ambitious economic plans (Shillington
1995:412). Thus, as from 1980s onwards, with the advices from the World Bank
and International Monetary Fund (IMF), African countries embarked on Structural
Adjustment Programmes, which called for economic liberalisation. In this strategy,
governments abandoned centralised government planning strategies disengaging
themselves from economic undertakings in favour of the private sector. They
remained with their traditional roles of maintaining peace and order. Thus State
contraction* came to characterise the African politics, economies and society from
1980s onwards. The private sector and civil societies came to dominate the scene to
fill the vacuum.
* State contraction means state withdrawal from direct economic and social undertakings.
Activity 1
Why were post-independence African economic plans so ambitious?
Why did they fail?
11.4 Post-independence Economic Performance
Between 1960 and 1980, Africa experienced modest economic growth. The Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) grew at 1.5% at constant prices in the period (Iliffe
1995:252). Growth areas were, inter alia, agriculture, mining and industrial sectors.
The factors for the growth included the following. In Agriculture, the post-Second
World War economic boom continued to the 1960s, generating revenues for
investment in the other sectors. There was also expansion of acreage in most
countries notably in Ivory Coast and Kenya. Increased application of machinery
and chemical inputs in agriculture was another factor. It facilitated higher yields
per unit.
In the mining sector there was greater exploitation of the existing mines by
attracting more investments, securing more efficient equipment, etc. Then, there
was the opening of new mines such as bauxite in Guinea, iron in Liberia,
phosphate in Togo, manganese and uranium in Gabon, oil in Gabon, Congo
Brazzaville, Angola, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria and Libya, and diamonds in
Botswana.
Industry was the third growth area expanding by 7.2 between 1965 and 1980 –
thanks to the priority given to this sector by post-independence governments.
Nigeria’s industrial production, for instance, grew by 14.6% in the period.
This modest economic growth, however, slumped into a crisis during the late
1970s onwards. The reasons for the economic decline on the continental scale were
as follows:
Deterioration of the terms of trade: The Agricultural export prices fell to miserable
levels. Prices of sisal, for instance, fell sharply as the product competed with manila
Themes in African History 127
synthetic fibres from Asia. Other crops whose prices fell precariously included
cocoa, cloves, rubber, cashew nuts, etc. Coffee prices experienced fluctuations
owing to competition from Brazilian coffee. Indeed, since 1960, Africa’s exported
raw materials dropped in price 10-20 times in relation to the manufactured imports
(Shillington 1995:422). The prices of several minerals also fell. Copper prices fell by
three quarters during the 1980s leading to sharp decline of the economies of Zaire
and Zambia, which depended on the mineral. Prices of gold and diamonds also fell.
While the prices of export crops and minerals were falling, the prices of imported
consumer and capital goods continued to rise as already explained above. The rise
in the price of oil made matters worse. The prices of oil rose six fold in the 1970s.
This made African countries which depended on motor transport really
vulnerable. Tanzania, for instance, used 60% of its export earning to import fuel
and its transport system began to crumble in the 1980s. (Iliffe 1995:253) (Fage and
Tordoff 2000:505).
Increase of Public Debt: Another reason for the decline was the increase of public
debt which multiplied four-times in the 1980s and 1990s owing to heavy
borrowing to finance development projects in the 1960s and 1970s. As Iliffe puts it,
‘By 1991 Sub-Saharan external debt exceeded its annual Gross National Product.
Only half the servicing payments due were actually paid but their outflow still
exceeded the inflow of foreign aid and investment’ (Iliffe 1995:253).
State interference in peasant production, as already noted, also contributed to
economic decline. State marketing held down producer prices due to extraction of
the surpluses as revenue, a situation which discouraged the peasants to produce
more. Since African agriculture was and still is mainly peasant-based, contributing
more than 50% of export earnings in many countries and employing more than
70% of the population, its decline inevitably produced devastating effects on the
economy as whole.
Rapid Population Growth: Rapid population growth was also an important factor
for economic decline. In the period from 1960s to 1980s the African population
grew by 3% while the GDP grew by 1.5% and the farmland by 0.7% (Iliffe
1995:252, 266). The rapid rise in population outstripped food production (Fage and
Tordoff, 2000:505). It also meant more demands for services such as education and
health by the millions of the new children. Such demands absorbed the surplus
available for investment into other economic and social projects.
Natural hazards: Natural hazards, particularly drought, were another important
factor which hit the African economies hard in the period contributing to their
decline. Tropical Africa experienced increased rainfall from 1920s reaching its peak
in early 1960s. In 1961, Lakes Chad and Victoria had reached their highest levels of
the century. However, the rainfall started to collapse in late 1960s leading into
widespread drought in 1970s onwards (Iliffe 1995:268) (Fage and Tordoff 2000:508).
Environmental degradation caused by human factors such as deforestation as the
rising African population continued to colonise new lands, forest clearing for
timber and fuel, and overgrazing contributed partly to this state of affairs.
128 Themes in African History
Moreover, equally destructive was the destruction of the Ozone layer by industrial
smoke of the industrial societies of the north (Shillington 1995:424). We should
not, however, ignore the fact that the rising African cities have had similar effects
on the global scale.
Because of drought, many African countries suffered periodic famine from 1970s
onwards, causing massive importation of food which drained the little money
reserves of those countries. Ethiopia, for instance, suffered severe famine in 1973
and 1984-85, Northern Uganda in 1980, Somalia in 1984-85 and 1990 and Sudan in
1984-85, just to mention a few. Many countries suffered periodic hunger and
starvation of its people of varying degrees of intensity and spread due to drought
conditions. This is not to play down other disasters such as floods, locusts,
epidemics, plant diseases and other holocausts.
Activity 2
Discuss the factors responsible for poor economic performance in
Africa.
11.5 Structural Adjustment Programmes and
Economic Liberalisation
In the 1980s the Bretton Woods institutions (World Bank and IMF) forced the
African countries to adopt Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) as a measure
to arrest the economic decline and as a precondition for aid. The SAPs modelled
on the practices of the developed capitalist systems produced greater problems than
they solved.
The demands of SAPs included, inter alia, the following:
11.5.1 Balancing of Budget
Firstly, governments were required to balance their budgets. This meant that
budgets were to be strictly based on the revenues collected and that government
borrowings would be restricted. This entailed government disengagement from
economic and social practices. It meant divestiture of public enterprises with the
consequent layoff of workers. It meant drastic cuts in government expenditure on
social services such as education and health. It entailed removal of government
subsidies on peasant agriculture and on food for the urban dwellers.
The implementation of these conditions had the following consequences:
Peasant cash crop production declined for lack of inputs. Consequently, there was
a drastic rise in prices of food which greatly affected the urban dwellers.
The public sector collapsed.
Themes in African History 129
Health and education services declined.
Unemployment soared due to lay-off of workers.
This situation led to political crises in some countries. In Zambia, for instance, the
removal of subsidy on bread led to drastic increase in its price in late 1980s. This
cost Kaunda’s regime when it lost to the opposition in 1991 multiparty elections as
already seen in the previous lecture.
11.5.2 Currency Devaluation
The second dreadful demand was currency devaluation. This was meant to
promote agricultural exports as they would fetch better prices in the world market
and to discourage imports since they would cost higher.
Since the African peasant agriculture based on the hand-hoe was characterised by
technological, acreage and labour limitations as to be able to produce more for
export, this goal was not achieved. On the contrary, it led to soaring of the prices
of consumer goods particularly for the urban dwellers leading to crises as it
happened in Zambia.
11.5.3 Economic Liberalisation
Another important demand was economic liberalisation which meant allowing for
unrestricted private sector participation in the economy and in particular attracting
foreign investments and removal of capital flow controls. Indeed foreign investors
responded but they only invested in strategic sectors with higher returns such as
mines, banking and tourism.
Economic liberalisation has produced the following consequences:
1.
There have been high capital outflows than inflows.
2.
The African economies have been more ‘foreignised’ and have been more
vulnerable to external influences and manipulations than ever before.
3.
Economic liberalisation has bred a class of local petty capitalists who
cooperate with the foreigners to exploit the African resources on the one
hand, and a class of desperate and marginalised poor masses who suffer
hunger, poverty and diseases and have no hopes for a foreseeable better
future.
4.
Economic liberalisation has reduced the majority of the African people
into powerless spectators of resource transfers by foreign companies in
collaboration with handful local petty capitalists.
Activity 3
130 Themes in African History
To what extent were the structural adjustment programmes a panacea
for Africa’s economic problems.
11.6 Social Development
In the area of social development our focus in this lecture will be on the
development of education and health services in the post-independence period.
11.6.1 Education
The post-independence governments inherited an education system which was
grossly inadequate in terms of quantity and quality. It was elitist, racially biased
and discriminatory. The Africans were the least beneficiaries of this education
system whereby most of those who received any education ended at the
elementary levels. The education was also missionary-oriented and it served to
enforce colonial values, attitudes of subservience, and mental colonisation.
The African leaders post-independence realised the need for expanding and
reforming the colonial system of education. As Sekou Toure remarked, ‘We must
Africanize our education and get rid of the negative features of misconception
inherited from our education system designed to serve colonial purpose’ (Mazrui,
1993:685). Perhaps no other leader attempted to formulate a more comprehensive
philosophy of African education than Julius Nyerere. He aimed to achieve the
cherished goals of his philosophy of Socialism and Self-reliance enshrined in the
Arusha Declaration. In his Education for Self Reliance, Nyerere enlisted four
major education reforms namely:
1.
To integrate Western education into the life of the community
2.
To end the elitism of colonial education through a programme of universal
primary education
3.
To bridge the gap between the educated elite and the masses through better
appreciation of the accumulated knowledge and wisdom that existed
within traditional societies
4.
To inculcate the spirit of work and service to the community among the
educated (GHA, Vol VIII, 1993: 686).
The critical review of African education goes far back to 1961 at the heyday of
independence. At the Addis Ababa Conference convened by UNESCO in May
1961, representatives from 35 African independent and soon to be independent
countries met to review their systems of education and plan for immediate and
long-term development of education, by adopting the Addis Ababa Plan for
African education.
The plan set specific targets for expanding enrolment and the financing of
education. The plan recognised the dismally inadequate provision of education at
Themes in African History 131
the time both in terms of quantity and quality, noting that only 40% of the schoolage children secured space in the elementary schools, and the quality of education
was questionable.
Highlighting the prevailing situation of education at the time the conference stated.
The present content of education… is not in line with either the existing African
conditions, the postulates for political independence, the dominant features of an
essentially technological age or the imperatives of balanced economic development
involving rapid industrialisation ... It is based on non-African background allowing
no room for the African child’s intelligence, powers of observation and creative
imagination to develop freely and help him find his bearings in the World
(Mazrui, 1993:687).
The Conference, therefore, drew the following challenges to the independent
African governments.
African educational authorities should revise and reform the content of education
in areas of curricula, textbooks and methods so as to take account of the African
environment, child development, cultural heritage and demands of technological
progress and economic development especially industrialisation. (Mazrui,
1993:687)
In terms of quantity goals, the conference targeted that the ratio of 100:30:20 be
attained by 1980 whereby the primary level of education would be universal,
compulsory and free. Then 30% of those completing primary level of education
will secure a chance at secondary level and 20% of those completing secondary
education will proceed to University education.
Another conference on higher education was held in Tananarive in 1962. Since
then there had been periodic conferences of Ministers of Education to review
progress in educational sector in the continent. These conferences were held in
Nairobi in 1968, Lagos in 1976 and Harare in 1982. Each conference was built on
the experiences of its predecessors, rectifying, refining goals, gaining knowledge
and insight, expanding the visions and aspirations of the African people and their
governments on education and framing them into a system of coordinated planned
educational development on the continental scale.
An assessment of educational development in Africa in relation to these plans
shows that numerically the rate of growth was impressive. By 1980s the continent
had achieved the highest growth rate among the developing countries and had
achieved high literacy rate. However, the expansion of enrolment differed from
one country to another, some striking reckoned achievements while others
performing rather poorly. By 1980 some countries had attained 75% and above of
primary school enrolment ratios while others still had ratios of below 40%.
Women enrolment was, however, lagging behind in all the countries (Mazrui,
1993:690).
Growth rates at the secondary level were equally impressive. The overall
achievement of enrolment attained in 1980 was 20% but with variations ranging
132 Themes in African History
from 2.1 in some countries to as high as 82.2% in others. Again female enrolment
was also lagging behind at this level.
Higher education expansion was also impressive. By 1980s there were more than
80 universities and other higher learning institutions in the continent. Overall
enrolment rose from 140,000 in 1960 to 1,169,000 in 1980. By 1980, 3% of the
college-age population were enrolled in universities, exceeding the Addis Ababa
plan target of 2 per cent (Mazrui, 1993:695). However, the problem of underrepresentation of women was even more acute at this level. Very few women
attended university education and some of those who did, dropped on the way.
There was also more women concentration on social science disciplines.
The pattern of resource allocation on education vividly expressed the commitment
of the African governments on expanding this sector. For the years 1970 and 1978
the public expenditure on education in Africa was US$ 2,377 and US$ 11,144
billion respectively (Mazrui, 1993:690). This represented 3.8% and 4.8% of Africa’s
GDP, a percentage higher than that of the developing countries put together which
was 3.3% and 4.1% for 1970 and 1980 respectively (Mazrui, 1993:690).
By 1980 education claimed 25-35% of government’s recurrent expenditure in
Africa. Up to 1980s education claimed more resources than any other function of
government in Africa. However, the economic crisis experienced in Africa from
1980 onwards also affected the resource allocation to education. The adoption of
SAPs again cut down further government expenditure on this sector due to state
contraction. The encouragement of private sector participation in education,
however, filled the vacuum and the education sector sustained albeit economic
crisis and SAP measures.
Activity 4
Discuss the various efforts done by post-independence governments to
promote education in their countries.
11.6.2 Education and Social Change
Education enabled the attainment of manpower needs targeted by 1980. Most
independent African countries had by 1980s attained their manpower requirements
and this was due to education expansion. Education has produced strong
politicians, civil servants, diplomats, military personnel, scientists, engineers and
academicians of unequalled stature. Education has produced African
entrepreneurial businessmen, industrialists and commercial farmers.
Education has facilitated birth controls and this has resulted into birth rate decline
in the 1990s as compared to the earlier period. Education has enable people to be
aware of preventive healthcare, proper feeding, hygiene and sanitation, good
housing and clothing, etc. Such knowledge has enabled them to combat diseases
associated with lack of knowledge in these areas.
Themes in African History 133
Education has enabled people to know their political and civil rights and how to
fight for them. In general, education has transformed the African people from their
position of drawers of water and collectors of firewood, the status imposed on
them by colonialism, into active participants in economic, social, and political life
of their countries and the continent at large.
Activity 5
To what extent has education transformed the African societies?
11.6.3 Health Services Development
Health services were another priority area of post-independence governments.
Diseases were among the three enemies confronting the African people, which the
post-independence leaders resolved to fight and conquer. Others problem
confronting Africa were illiteracy and poverty.
Post-independence, the health services were very rudimentary. There were very
few hospitals which were concentrated in the urban areas. Health centres, clinics
and dispensaries were also very few and urban-based. The rural areas were virtually
neglected in terms of health services and served through few scattered mission
dispensaries located in the mission centres.
Although the colonialist fought vigorously against the African traditional
medicines and healing systems associating them with witchcraft and paganism, they
did not endeavour to replace them with adequate modern health services. Fatal
diseases such as small pox, malaria, yellow fever, sleeping sickness and measles were
still hitting the African population very hard. This is not to play down other
diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy. Preventive healthcare education was
unheard of in the colonial period. Life expectancy at birth in Sub-Saharan Africa
by 1960 was 39 years, and infant mortality rate was 120 per thousand.
Concerted efforts were put into health sector development by the independent
African governments in collaboration with religious institutions and charitable
organisations ranging from building hospitals (ordinary and referral) health
centres, clinics and dispensaries. Some countries such as Tanzania achieved the
target of having one or more hospitals in every district and a dispensary in every
village by 1980. Several Health Centres and Clinics were also scattered in every
district.
Training medical personnel was another vigorous campaign carried out by postindependence governments. In 1960 there was one medical doctor for 50,000
people. In 1980, however, it was one doctor to 20,000 people, a dramatic
improvement in 20 years. More dramatic was the increase in auxiliary doctors and
nurses.
134 Themes in African History
Preventive healthcare education was also carried out vigorously on campaign basis
by news media and in clinics, health centres and hospitals – particularly to the
pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. In Tanzania, for instance, there were radio
broadcast and newspaper campaigns such as Mtu ni Afya (literary meaning a
person is his/her health). Other campaigns were on issues such as good diet,
hygiene, etc. As a result of these efforts, life expectancy at birth in Africa rose from
39 years in 1960 to 52 years in 1980. Infant mortality rate was substantially
lowered.
As already noted, religious institutions, charitable organisation and the private
sector participated effectively with the African governments in developing the
health sector. Indeed as the economies of the African countries collapsed in the
1980s and the state contraction measures taken, the health sector sustenance rested
on these institutions. As in education they arrested the possibility of the sector to
collapse.
The health sector development in Africa, however, has a long way to go. Health
services are still far from reaching the people at large. Equipment are very
inadequate and drugs and medical services are costly and unaffordable to the
ordinary people. Diseases such as malaria are still killing large numbers of people.
Added to this is the AIDS pandemic, a more recent fatal disease of 1980s which has
claimed lives of millions of Africans particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Because of
this disease the life expectancy in Sub-Saharan Africa has dropped to 48 years.
More efforts need to be put into the health sector including more government
funding to make the sector more responsive to the people’s health and lives.
Activity 6
Discuss the achievements and problems of healthcare delivery in postindependence Africa.
Summary
African countries inherited externally-oriented export–import economies
dependent on foreign aid and investments. The post-colonial economic plans were
based on Western models of development with the goal to catch up with the West.
Ironically, they fostered greater dependence and underdevelopment.
In the first two decades of independence (1960s and 1970s) African countries
experienced modest economic growth, thanks to favourable agricultural prices
particularly in 1960s and the expansion of mining and industrial sectors. However,
by 1980 economic crisis had set in, caused by, inter alia, unfavourable terms of
trade, increased debt, state interference in peasant agricultural production,
population increase and natural disasters such as drought, and floods.
Themes in African History 135
The structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) and economic liberalisation
measures adopted to arrest the crisis fostered greater economic foreignization and
dependence, capital outflows, mass poverty and the growth of a handful local petty
capitalists.
African education has been greatly improved in quantity and quality since
independence. It has attained manpower needs and has fostered great social change
among the African people. The health sector has also greatly expanded and
improved to cater to the majority of the people. However, the education and
health sectors are still far from attaining the target of having universal education
and health for all, in conformity with the United Nations resolutions.
Exercise
1.
How realistic were the earlier post-independence development plans?
2.
Account for Africa’s economic crisis of 1980s.
3.
Evaluate the impact of Structural Adjustment Programmes on African
economy.
4.
Discuss the achievements and weaknesses of African education.
5.
‘African education is still elitist and discriminatory.’ Is this a fair
assessment of the education system in Africa? Discuss.
6.
To what extent has the African education been decolonised from its
colonial hangovers?
7.
Taking Tanzania as a case study, analyse the provision of health services in
post-independence Africa.
References
Bohanan P. and Curtin P. (1988), Africa and Africans, Illinois: Waveland Press Inc.
Fage J. D. and Tordolf W. (2002), A History of Africa, London: Routledge.
Iliffe J. (1995), African: The History of a Continent, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Mazrui A. and Wondji C. (1993), General History of Africa: Africa since 1935, Vol.
VIII UNESCO.
136 Themes in African History
Oliver R. (1991), The African Experience, Major Themes in African History from the
Earliest Times to the Present, New York: Icon Editions.
Shillington K. (1995), History of Africa, London: Macmillan Education Ltd.