INTRODUCTION TO AFRICA SINCE 1884

Except for Liberia and Ethiopia, all African countries had been colonized and all efforts at
regaining independence squashed by the 1920s. Our study of African History should stem
from our conviction that we will better understand and appreciate the present world by
studying the myriad forces that have shaped that world. The analytical emphasis will help us
become active, engaged learners, rather than passive readers of historical facts.

For a long time, all kinds of myths and prejudices concealed the true history of Africa from
the world at large. African societies were looked upon as societies that could have no history.
In spite of important work done by such pioneers as Leo Frobenius, Maurice Delafosse and
Arturo Labriola, as early as the first decades of the 20 th century, a great many non-African
experts could not rid themselves of certain preconceptions and argued that the lack of written
sources and documents made it impossible to engage in any scientific study of such societies.

(START) Although the Iliad and Odyssey were rightly regarded as essential sources for the
history of ancient Greece, African oral tradition, the collective memory of peoples which
holds the thread of many events marking their lives, was rejected as worthless. In writing the
history of a large part of Africa, the only sources used were from outside the continent, and
the final product gave a picture not so much of the paths actually taken by the African
peoples as of those that the authors thought they must have taken. Since the European Middle
Ages were often used as a yardstick, modes of production, social relations and political
institutions were visualized only by reference to the European past. Furthermore, the
continent of Africa was hardly ever looked upon as a historical entity. On the contrary,
emphasis was laid on everything likely to lend credence to the idea that a split had existed,
from time immemorial, between a 'white Africa' and a 'black Africa', each unaware of the
other's existence.

The Sahara was often presented as an impenetrable space preventing any intermingling of
ethnic groups and peoples or any exchange of goods, beliefs, customs and ideas between the
societies that had grown up on either side of the desert. Hermetic frontiers were drawn
between the civilizations of Ancient Egypt and Nubia and those of the peoples south of the
Sahara.
It is true that the history of Africa north of the Sahara has been more closely linked with that
of the Mediterranean basin than has the history of sub-Saharan Africa, but it is now widely
recognized that the various civilizations of the African continent, for all their differing
languages and cultures, represent, to a greater or lesser degree, the historical offshoots of a set
of peoples and societies united by bonds centuries old.

Another phenomenon which did great disservice to the objective study of the African past
was the appearance, with the slave trade and colonization, of racial stereotypes which bred
contempt and lack of understanding and became so deep-rooted that they distorted even the
basic concepts of historiography. From the time when the notions of 'white' and 'black' were
used as generic labels by the colonialists, who were regarded as superior, the colonized
Africans had to struggle against both economic and psychological enslavement. Africans
were identifiable by the colour of their skin, they had become a kind of merchandise, they
were earmarked for hard labour and eventually, in the minds of those dominating them, they
came to symbolize an imaginary and allegedly inferior Negro race.

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This pattern of spurious identification relegated the history of the African peoples in many
minds to the rank of ethno-history, in which appreciation of the historical and cultural facts
was bound to be warped. The situation has changed significantly since the end of the Second
World War and in particular since the African countries became independent and began to
take an active part in the life of the international community and in the mutual exchanges that
are its raison d'être. An increasing number of historians has endeavoured to tackle the study
of Africa with a more rigorous, objective and open-minded outlook by using - with all due
precautions - actual African sources. In exercising their right to take the historical initiative,
Africans themselves have felt a deep-seated need to re-establish the historical authenticity of
their societies on solid foundations.

********* The efforts of the peoples of Africa to acquire or strengthen their independence,
secure their development and assert their cultural characteristics, must be rooted in historical
awareness renewed, keenly felt and taken up by each succeeding generation.

NB: The History is viewed essentially from the inside. Although a scholarly work, it is also,
in large measure, a faithful reflection of the way in which African authors view their own
civilization. While prepared in an international framework and drawing to the full on the
present stock of scientific knowledge, it should also be a vitally important element in the
recognition

In conclusion, it is worthwhile to note that at a time when the peoples of Africa are striving
towards unity and greater cooperation in shaping their individual destinies, a proper
understanding of Africa's past, with an awareness of commonalities among Africans and
between Africa and other continents, should not only be a major contribution towards mutual
understanding among the people of the earth, but also a source of knowledge of a cultural
heritage that belongs to all mankind.

(START) LECTURE 2 European scramble, partition and subjugation of Africa: an overview

Never in the history of Africa did so many changes occur and with such speed as they did
between 1880 and 1935. Indeed, the most fundamental and dramatic - though tragic - of these
changes took place in the much shorter period from 1890 to 1910, the period that saw the
subjugation and occupation of virtually the whole continent of Africa by the imperial powers
and the establishment of the colonial system. The period after 1910 was essentially one of
consolidation and exploitation of the system. The pace of this drama was truly astonishing,
for as late as 1880 only very limited areas of Africa had come under the direct rule of
Europeans. In the whole of West Africa, only the island and coastal areas of Senegal, the
town of Freetown and its environs (now in Sierra Leone), the southern parts of the Gold
Coast (now Ghana), the coastal areas of Abidjan in Ivory Coast and Porto Novo in Dahomey
(now Benin) and the island of Lagos (in what is now Nigeria) had come under the direct rule
of Europeans. In North Africa, it was only Algeria that had by 1880 been colonized by the
French. Not an inch of the whole of East Africa had come under the control of any European
power, while only the coastal stretches of Mozambique and Angola of the whole of Central
Africa were being ruled by the Portuguese. It was only in Southern Africa that foreign rule
had not only been firmly implanted but had even been extended a considerable distance
inland. In short, by as late as 1880, about as much as 80% of the continent of Africa was
being ruled by her own kings, queens, clan and lineage heads, in empires, kingdoms,
communities and polities of various sizes and shapes.

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However, within the next thirty years, this situation underwent a phenomenal and indeed a
revolutionary change. By 1914, with the sole exception of Ethiopia and Liberia, the whole of
Africa had been subjected to the rule of European powers in colonies of various sizes which
were generally much larger physically but often bore little or no relationship to the pre-
existing polities. But it was not African sovereignty and independence alone that had been
lost at that time. It represented also an assault on established cultures. As Ferhat Abbas
pointed out in 1930 in reference to the French colonization of Algeria, for the French,
colonization was 'simply a military and economic venture defended thereafter by the
appropriate administrative regime'. But for the Algerians, it was 'a veritable revolution,
overthrowing a whole ancient world of beliefs and ideas and an immemorial way of life.
It confronts a whole people with sudden change. An entire nation, without any
preparation, finds itself forced to adapt or perish. This situation is bound to lead to a
moral and physical disequilibrium, the barrenness of which is not far from total
disintegration." The nature of colonialism depicted here is true not only of French
colonialism in Algeria but of European colonialism throughout Africa; the difference
being one of degree not of kind, one of style not of substance. In other words, then,
during the period 1880 to 1935, Africa did face a very serious challenge, the challenge of
colonialism. The generation following 1880 witnessed one of the most significant historical
movements of modern times. During this period Africa, a continent of over 28 million square
kilometres, was partitioned, subjugated and occupied effectively by the industrialized nations
of Europe. Africa was the last continent to be subdued by Europe. What is most remarkable
about our period is the co-ordinated manner, speed and comparative ease - from the European
point of view - with which the occupation and subjugation of so vast a continent was
accomplished. Nothing like it had happened before.

PERTINENT QUESTIONS

What gave rise to such a phenomenon? Or, to put it another way, why was Africa partitioned
politically and systematically occupied in the period that it was? And why were Africans
unable to keep their adversaries at bay? These questions have exercised the skills of
historians of the partition and of the new imperialism since the 1880s. No generally
acceptable explanation exists; on the contrary, the historiography of the partition has become
one of the most controversial and emotive issues of our time. It presents the historian with the
awesome task of making sense of an extraordinary phantasmagoria of conflicting
interpretations.

THE PARTITION OF AFRICA AND THE NEW IMPERIALISM: A REVIEW OF

THEORIES

There is need, therefore, to bring sanity to the jumble of theories regarding this crucial
movement in African history. They may be conveniently categorized as follows: economic,
psychological (Social Darwinism, evangelical theories, Social Atavism), diplomatic (national
prestige, power of power, GLOBAL Strategy), and the African
Dimension theory.