The Role Of Colonialism In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

“Sometimes when things fall apart they might actually fall into place,” said author, Chinua Achebe, from “Things Fall Apart”. Before the Europeans, there was no written history of South Africa. In order to find anything on South Africa pre-colonization scholars must study ancient artifacts. Colonialism is the practice at which you take political control over another country.(Kicza, “Colonialism”). Due to colonialism Africa got put on to the maps, however it caused many issues for Africa. Europe was colonizing in Africa and other colonies to become more powerful through imperialism. Imperialism is the policy at which you make a country more powerful through military.(Vontz, “Imperialism”). In fact 7 different countries took part in taking over

In fact in order to find anything scholars had to study ancient artifacts.(Saunders, “South Africa, History of”). “Most scientist have concluded the earliest human beings lived around 2 million years ago in Africa.”(Iweriebor, “The Colonization”). In addition to finding that out,“In the A.D. 200’s people who spoke various Bantu languages began to move into the area that is now eastern South Africa…...They raised cattle, grew grain, made tools and weapons out of iron, and traded among themselves.”(Saunders, “South Africa, History of”). With that said, Europeans colonized in Africa for economic, political, and social reasons. For example, “As a result of industrialization, major social problems grew in Europe: unemployment, poverty, homelessness, social displacement from rural areas, and so on.”(Iweriebor, “The Colonization of Africa”). This shows many Europeans were going into debt, and needed places to live and to gain money off of. Europeans were going to be able to make a profit off of Africa, so they colonized there. Africa had many resources such as, gold, diamonds, ivory, and spices.(Desanker, “Africa”). Due to those resources the Europeans set up trade routes along the coast of Africa to trade with other nearby colonies. According to Christopher Saunders, “European interests in South Africa began in the 1400’s, when the Portuguese explored the African coast in search of gold and a sea route to

Iweriebor states, “Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, and Spain were competing for power within European power politics. One way to demonstrate national preminance was through the acquisition of territories around the world, including Africa.”(Iweriebor, “The Colonization of Africa”). This led into the Berlin Conference, the meeting of 14 nations to discuss territorial disputes in Africa.(Garfield, “Berlin Conference”). This shows due to so many European countries wanting to settle in Africa, they were able to seperate the land between them. However, do you really think that African people were happy about this? No, In fact Europeans created a treaty to trick the Africans, but after signing Africans realized and resisted.(Iweriebor, “The Colonization of Africa”). However, they were not as powerful as the Europeans were. For example, “African forces in general fought with bows, arrows, spears, swords, old rifles, and cavalries; the European forces fought with deadly firearms, machine guns, new rifles, and artillery guns.”(Iweriebor, “The Colonization of Africa”). As can be seen Africans didn’t have a chance against the Europeans, they were too modernized compared to them. In addition to having weak equipment to fight with Europeans with, Ehiedu Iweriebor also states, “Consequently, African societies were in a state of flux, and many