Colonialism In Africa Essay

From the 1880s to the 1990s there was a Scramble for Africa, it was known as the imperialist period when Africa was partitioned, invaded and colonized by European powers. Colonialism can be defined as the “practice of domination which involves the subordination of one people to another” (Kohn, 2012). In this case the subordinate group was the Africans. By the 1900s the majority of Africa was under the control of the Europeans except for Liberia and Ethiopia. This sudden interest in Africa by the various European powers were due to a number of reasons. Some of these included; economic, political, psychological and religious. The Industrial Revolution was one of the catalyst for the Scramble. Due to this sudden advancement, Europeans needed to

However, this freedom was further diminished as colonialism was introduced. Colonialism acted as a catalyst for acts of resistance from the various African societies. Resistance in this context can be defined as the fight against the domination of the European powers in Africa. It is often thought that European colonialism was an easy process that lacked hitches. However, this was not the case as Africans fought courageously and strategically to maintain their sovereignty, religion and culture despite the continent being filled with people of different background, beliefs and practices. Resistance brought Africa together—somewhat—, as they were fighting for the same cause. Within Africa there were a number of different types of resistances that took place during this time, such as; religious, political, economic, cultural and

Under the leadership of Emperor Menelik II the Ethiopian forces fought against the Italians for sovereignty of their state. Menelik also had a number of disciplined soldiers his army had 100,000 men whilst the Italian army only consisted of only 17,0000 (Akpan, 1985, p. 272). He also gained access to European weapons which he imported from France and Russia. In addition to this, the local residents were in his