African Imperialism: Violence And Violence In Africa

Africa is typically thought of as being a continent full of violence and revolution. This concept may have originated from the poor treatment of Africans by the rest of the world through colonization, forced labor in Africa, and the enslaving of Africans in other regions of the world. The danger and violence that stemmed from many countries gaining independence and experiencing political upheaval has been thwarted by peacekeeping efforts from outside agencies, like the United Nations. Africa has had a violent past, but only because of the exploitation by the Europeans, and eventually Americans. Ultimately, their ethnocentrism led to violence and the stereotype of danger in Africa. In order to determine whether or not there is a still a strong

When Europeans began to colonize Africa, they enforced the idea whites were superior over other races, and treated the native Africans as inferiors. Historians David Olusoga and Casper W. Erichsen explained it by saying “The white races had claimed territory across the globe by right of strength and conquest. They had triumphed everywhere because they were the fittest; their triumphs were the proof of their fitness..” () This quote exemplifies the idea that white Europeans took over the continent by force (“strength and conquest”), and because of this, they regarded themselves as the superior race. This mindset did not lead to peaceful cohabitation of the continent. Instead, it gave way to an era of violence and

Approximately 12 million Africans were traded across the Atlantic, however, the number of slaves originally bought was much higher. The passage from Africa to North America had a very high mortality rate. () If Africans reached their destinations alive, they were used to fulfil a labor shortage in the new American colonies. Because many crops could not be grown in Europe, agriculture was a necessary industry in the colonies, and this required more labor than the colonists could supply. Unsurprisingly, forcibly removing someone from their homes and enslaving them to work on another continent, if they did not die on the dangerous trip there, does not foster peaceful relationships. This tension, built upon hostilities over colonization, and other poor treatment of African people, has helped contribute to the violence in Africa in the past. Furthermore, it is clear Europeans, and in turn, Americans, have always had a superiority complex towards Africans. This would lead to views of Africans as being inferior, which can lead to ideas of them being less civilized, and more dangerous. This compounds on the actual violence in Africa, and results in the world viewing the entire continent as violent and