Name: Muhaye Briget

Reg. Number: 421-053011-20726

Course unit: Constitutional History
Session: Year 1/Sem 1
Programme: Weekend

Question:
Briefly discuss the role of the following groups in the promotion of colonialism in Africa and
creation of the first African states. (Arab Traders, European Explorers and European
Missionaries)

Colonialism in Africa
Colonialism refers to a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or
areas often by establishing colonies and generally aim of economic dominance. In the process of
colonialization, colonizers may impose their religion, language, economics and other cultural
practices.

Arab Traders Role

Throughout the history of their involvement in black Africa, the Arabs have been both
conquerors and liberators, both traders in slaves and sources of new ideas. Trade and Islam have
been companions throughout with the crescent following the commercial caravan, the muezzin
calling believers to prayer from the market place. European colonial rivalries in Africa is not a
subject in vogue today, while the Arabs are still largely viewed as invaders and slavers.
The fact that the British separated the Sultanates of Muscat and Zanzibar is reflected in European
research so that historians have little grasp of the geographic, tribal and religious continuum that
persisted between overseas empire and the Omani homeland.
Arabs were involved in the Slave Trade in Africa during the East African Arab Slave Trade
which began around the 19th Century as Muslim Arab and Swahili Traders began to dominate the
Swahili Coast. The Muslim Arab and Swahili Traders entered the African interior largely in
Tanzania, Mozambique and Kenya where they captured the local people or Zanj whom they
would transport to Slave Markets on the East African Coast
Initially, a colonial contact was a two-way process where Africans were far from helpless
victims in the initial encounter. Colonial contact was not simply a matter of Europeans imposing
themselves upon African societies. For their part, African rulers saw more benefits in a
relationship with Europeans.
The growth of trade in slaves in plantations crops and in exports to America and Caribbean
colonies led to a growth in shipping which paved way for colonization
Arab trade involved a large percentage of people being taken captive in Africa which gave a path
for European missionaries through their preaching against it to be much liked by Africans hence
easing their branch of colonialism
This trade generated great wealth for many individuals, companies and countries which was a
benefit to Europe which was going through a stage of capitalism and needed more resources to
facilitate the growth.

European Explorers’ Role

Explorers’ travels also helped pave the way for European conquest but the explorers themselves
had little to no power in Africa for much of the century. They were deeply dependent on the
African men they hired and the assistance of the African Kings and rulers who were often
interested in acquiring new allies and new markets.
One scholar of Portuguese imperial history has suggested that the Portuguese were moved by “a
crusading zeal, the desire for Guinea gold, the quest for the mythical Christian kingdom of
Prester John, and the search of spices. Another scholar suggested Prince Henry’s penchant for
hazardous travel abroad, real thirst for adventure in the name of acquiring knowledge.
However, the following are three broad reasons for European exploration of the African
continent, which later led to colonization
The first reason has to do with the need to gather scientific knowledge about the unknown.
Africa, then referred to as the “Dark Continent,” provided just the right kind of challenge. It held
a lot of mystery for European explorers, who traveled and observed and recorded what they saw.
Many of the early explorers of Africa were geographers and scientists who were beckoned by the
mysteries and exotic qualities of this new land. Expeditions of people like Samuel Baker, Joseph
Thompson, Richard Burton, John Speke, and others in the 19th century, conducted in the name of
science and knowledge, served to attract Europeans to Africa. They discovered rivers, lakes, and
mountains. They studied the African people and wrote about them.
The second reason stemmed from European ethnocentrism or racism, itself rooted partly in
Western Christianity. Implicit in the Christian doctrine as well as in Islam, is the requirement
that followers of the faith spread the gospel (or the Koran) to others and win converts. Since
much of Africa followed their own traditional religious beliefs, Europeans felt that there was a
definite need to evangelize and convert Africans to Christianity. In the early years of both
Christianity and Islam, evangelical work was often carried out with military campaigns.
Individuals like Dr. David Livingstone were able to combine missionary activities with extensive
scientific research and geographic investigations. To this day, Africa remains a favorite
destination for missionaries.
The third reason was based on imperialism, the desire by European patriots to contribute to their
country’s magnificence by laying claim to other countries in distant lands. Imperial Germany’s
Karl Peters’ adventures secured Tanganyika for his Kaiser. Britain’s Cecil John Rhodes’ exploits
yielded a huge chunk of central Africa for his king. Henry Morton Stanley’s expeditions to
Africa paved the way for the Belgians’ King Leopold to acquire Congo which he ironically
named “The Congo Free State.” And Portugal’s Prince Henry and others who followed founded
an early Portuguese empire in the Indian Ocean, Estado da India, “the first Portuguese global
empire, upon which the sun never set.”
EUROPEAN MISSIONARIES
The missionary effort was a major part of and a partial justification for the colonial efforts of
European powers such as Spain, France and Portugal. Christian missions to the indigenous
peoples ran hand in hand with the colonial efforts of Catholic nation.
European missionaries especially from Portugal, France, Britain and Germany went to Africa
under the premise of going to convert the locals to Christianity. Some of them stuck to their
mission others however, aided in the colonization of Africans by Europeans capitalist conversion
and the plunder of African resources.
Through a variety of methods Christian missionaries acted as the religious arms of the imperialist
powers of Europe.
In southern Africa most of the leaders who participated in the fight for independence were
educated by missionaries or schools built by missionaries.
Many missionaries built clinics and brought in medicine that improved the infant mortality and
immunizations which saved countless millions of black lives.
In course of humanitarian and civilization work they played a great role as agents of colonization
in Africa. They were strong instruments towards the establishment of colonial rule in Africa. As
they fought ignorance, poverty and creation of infrastructure those were a conducive
environment or atmosphere in Africa in which colonialists operated specifically played the
following roles.
1. They appealed for home government protection, in the name of “protection” they came
claiming to be protected against the Africa hostility like in central Africa resistances staged
by Lobengula of Ndebele, in Buganda by Kabaka Mwanga and religious conflicts of 1883-
1893, in Northern Nigeria threats created by Islamic chiefs among others, all of them made
missionaries feel insecure in Africa. For the sake of their safety and continuation of
evangelical enterprise they appealed to their home governments for protection which was
followed by colonization of specific territories where the missionaries operated.
2. Missionary role in signing fraudulent treaties, missionary role in interpretation and
propaganda contributed towards the colonization of Africa like the role played by Bishop
 Tucker as an interpreter in the signing of Buganda Agreement. It is against this background
that Sir Harry Johnston a British representative in signing of Buganda agreement,
missionaries like Rev. Moffat in Central Africa was also instrumental in securing their
treaties for British Government should not be left out.
3. They involved in Africa politics like supporting one group against the others hence creating
puppet leaders. It is only Menelik 11 of Ethiopia who refused to sign the Italian version and
survived colonial rule.
4. Missionaries participated in the intensive exploration of Africa which improved European
knowledge about the African continent. Krapf, Rebmann and Livingstone the pioneer
missionaries in Africa got heavily involved in the exploration exercise. There is no doubt that
the travels of David Livingstone in East Africa and Central Africa raised the European
curiosity in the area. The reports of Krapf, Rebman and Erhardt too led to the exploration of
Eat Africa. The struggle to discover the source of the most important river was partly a result
of missionary activity like Livingstone assertion that the Zambezi was God’s high way to the
interior granted an insatiable curiosity about the Nile and the Congo.
5. The missionaries were also instrumental in the development of a cash crop economy
(legitimate trade) wherever they went. In a bid to provide an alternative to slave trade,
missionaries engaged in pilot attempts in cash crop production which in turn formed a basis
for an export-import economy of Uganda. The crops produced were to remain key foreign
exchange earners though at the same time their production turned Africa into raw material
producing ground to imperial Europe and confined Africans to the land and not politics. And
also due to the promotion of legitimate trade, in process, the missionaries paved way for the
coming of their home traders who later formed trading companies and played an important
role in the colonization of Africa.
6. Through their evangelization missions, missionaries attacked and condemned African culture
and customs as barbaric and satanic practices like polygamy, witch craft, female
circumcision, throwing away of twins and deliberately sought reforms in African society and
this made the Africans to believe that European institutions were better. The reforms
eventually led to a decline in the influence of African Traditional Religion. Shrines were
replaced by churches while traditional leaders gave away for church priests and clergy. As a
result the individual Africans who became a Christian saw the reason for the existence in
his/her relationship with God rather than to his/her family, clan or ethnic group. Also
resisting a missionary or any European for that matter was considered being anti-progress
and this weakened the African spirit of resistance making things easy for colonialists.
7. Missionary education created a class of Africans who served as an efficient instrument in the
establishment of colonial rule. Like in Central Africa Chief Lewanika had attained some
education from those schools, Semei Kakungulu in East Africa who colonized Eastern
Uganda not for missionary but for colonialists, were all products of those missionary schools
like Bshop Ajayi Crowther.
8. Closely related to above, missionary education system was responsible for a linguistic
revolution in Africa. The products of missionary education would speak and write English,
French, Germany, Dutch and their own local languages. This study of languages removed the
language barrier which would have disturbed the establishment of colonial rule.
9. The missionaries also undermined the basis of traditional African authority. This was done
by de-mystifying the powers of the then Traditional Leaders. A case point of Kabaka
Mwanga the King of Buganda whose authority was partly derived from his religious cultural
functions. The coming of Christian missionaries in Buganda brought a division of loyalties
between Kabaka and the new faith. This created a group of Baganda that were ready to
challenge the Kabaka and welcome colonialization.
10. Missionaries were involved in trade and some missionaries groups formed trading groups
such as the Basel trading company which was formed by the Basel missionary Group. In
most cases, the missionaries and the traders could not easily be distinguished because they
were similar in color, language and carried out similar activities. Missionaries of a given
country excluded traders of other countries and welcomed traders of their even countries to
establish monopolies which colonization later came to protect.
11. They were also development in formal education in Africa something the Europeans were
less interested in providing to Africans in Kenya for instance, Alliance High was formed, in
Uganda protestant missionaries established Mengo SS, Kings College Buddo while the
Catholics put up SMACK and Namilyango College for their converts. In the end, the
education missionaries introduced ideological wing of imperialism and trained people to play
subordinate roles during colonial rule that is mostly being house boys/girls and clerks.
12. Missionaries ere fore runners of imperialism, they consciously or unconsciously facilitated
infringement of colonial rule in Africa. In this role, missionaries facilitated the drawing of
spheres of influence in their Metropolitan Governments.
13. They also formed chartered companies like the IBEACO, GEACO, and CMS where they
also acted as the foot.
14. Through their policy of conversion to Christianity they embarked on intensive preaching and
spreading of the gospel of Christ to the heathen. As a result, missionaries won supporters to
constitute a new order, a new set of civilization and new social out-look. In final analysis, the
Christians cross became an intimate bed fellow of the national fag by which Africa was then
conquered
15. Closely linked to the above was the way missionaries spread their gospel where they were
two religions i.e; Protestants and catholic missionaries who divided Africans on religious
grounds and so by the time of colonization, it paved easy because the Africans were divided
and could not easily fight back to the missionaries or colonialists. This weakened the African
unity and so could not fight the common enemy.
16. Religious divisionism, African resistances against colonialism was further weakened by
disunity caused by religious factions like in Buganda in 1883-1893, there were religious wars
between the Muslims, and Protestants (Wangeleza-Wafaransa wars) which led to a lot of
instability and by the coming of colonialists into Buganda natives could not unite against
them because of these religious divisions.
17. The missionaries aimed at stopping slave trade and this necessitated uprooting it from the
interior. This increases European penetration in Africa and in so doing, Africa was opened to
European influence and later colonization
18. They established the original social and economic infrastructure which enabled colonialists
to penetrate the interior with ease. These economic infrastructures like roads also facilitated
the spread of colonial rule and colonization of Africa.
19. Missionaries also pacified Africans, those who embraced Christianity saw the white man as a
good person, a judgment based on the hypocritical conduct of the missionaries. In some
cases, the missionaries treated Africans or offered material goods like clothes, shoes, mirrors
and guns. Every white man was then considered as god as a missionary and would therefore
be welcome. This definitely facilitated colonization.