African American Imperialism In The 19th Century

Towards the close of the nineteenth century and the start of the twentieth century, European imperialist governments in their quest to expand their territories for various reasons aggressively scrambled and invaded the African continent. Initially, the gullible African societies, most of which were decentralized, welcomed the foreigners but after realizing the stakes some mounted resistance (Johnston,43). As expected, the more sophisticated imperialist governments prevailed in most of the colonies and subdued the natives. The effects of the foreign presence were monumental, and it would take more than half a century for these colonies to free themselves from the oppressive rule and become independent governments. Until the late 1800’s,

Encroachment of European powers into Africa had started long before the Berlin Conference of 1884 but it is after this summit that colonization became both legitimate and formal (Johnston,30). The European powers boasted of advanced military prowess and weapons compared to the machetes and spears as well as other archaic weaponry the Africans used. Their armies had the experience of fighting in many wars. With this kind of military background and technological advantage, the Africans stood no chance, and even accessibility was easier and more troops could be shipped overseas. Also, medicinal advancement had acquired solutions for some of the challenging diseases found in the African jungles that the whites were susceptible to. The spreading Christianity was a sandwich served to the Africans in that it preached of a forgiving God and the need for redemption on one side and brought education to the children of the natives on the other side while in between it taught about respect for authorities and at the same time requested government protection which was never kind. Some of the new Christian converts began rebelling against their traditional authorities hence making it easier for the colonizers beside the fact that most African chiefdoms were decentralized and easy to conquer

Political parties were formed as a consequence, and Pan-African ideologies became engraved in the hearts of the young leaders. Struggle for independence took either passive or active stances and violence was not very far from this struggle. Diplomatic emissaries would champion for the independence of colonized countries through negotiation and networking among the elite African leaders (Nunn, 162). Violent resistance was mounted by guerilla warfare in East Africa, and most of the leaders were detained for years. School children participated in resisting apartheid in South Africa before independence was achieved in 1994 (Ozler and. Hoogeveen, 101), the last of the lot to achieve independence. Most nations attained their independence shortly before and after 1960, a year that had been declared the ‘Year of Africa’ (Johnston,30). The transition between the new and the old governments was normally peaceful and in some countries cooperation with the colonial masters continued even after achieving