Examples of Imperialism in Africa

1800s: Europeans rarely left coastal trading posts.

Therefore, Africa was mysterious/uncivilized.

This justified Euro mission to civilize Africa(ns).

"The White Man's Burden" - Rudyard Kipling.

Evangelical Christians in Africa assumed non-Muslim Africans had no religion!

Determined to give Africans Christianity.

Created written script for African languages.

Translated bible and taught Africans to read it.

Euros taught Africans that their way of life was wrong.

The European puritanical way was correct: no nudity, no polygamy, etc

African Christians often rebelled against European Missionaries' strict ideals.

Africans set up their own independent churches with African leaders.

They blended their beliefs.

Early-mid 1800s, Euros explored African interior.

Goals: curiousity, to learn, fame, fortune.

African guides helped explorers.

Mid-1800s, explorers now better armed and greedy.

1885: Berlin Act chopped up Africa into colonies.

Led by Britain, France, Germany, Portugal.

No Africans invited.

2 types of colony:

Settlement (Kenya, Rhodesia)

Exploitation (Nigeria, Congo)

Which one is better?

Rapid social, economic and political change in Africa.

Population urbanized = loss of community

Euro goal: PROFIT @ the expense of people and place.

Europeans demanded Africans pay tax.

Tax had to be paid in cash.

Cash only made by working for Euros!

Oppression and Resistance

Insert recording of Redemption song?

Oppression & Resistance in North America

• Some slaves would play dumb, pretend not to understand what their masters wanted, work incredibly slowly, sabotage equipment or even damage the master’s home.

• By 1619 an estimated 28,000 slaves worked on tobacco/cotton plantations.

By 1775 it was estimated that 255,000 slaves were taken from Africa to the colonies.

Fight for Britain: Lord Dunmore (Virginia) proclamation any slaves who fight for Britain promised their freedom.

Abolition & Aftermath

Colonialism

• The Black Patriots were slaves who spied for the rebels. The most famous of these spies was James Armisted.

• The Civil Rights movement
• Black Power
• Malcolm X
• Dr. Martin Luther King JR
• Montgomery Bus Boycott December 1955 (Alabama)
• Little Rock Nine 1957 (Arkansas)

Slaves would be bought and sold as if they were animals.

• Quakers: Group of people who began opposing slavery. Started in Britain and eventually came to North America.

Racial hatred lead to the creation of the Jim Crow laws.

• Nat Turner lead a slave revolt on August 21st, 1831. Freed hundreds of slaves, and killed 57 white owners. It took 3,000 State militia to stop this revolt.
• He was captured, executed, and dismembered on November 1st, 1831.

Underground Railroad helped to transport thousands of free slaves to Northern States or Canada.

Rise of Ku Klux Klan 1866

What does this all lead to?

1833 slavery abolished in Britain and British colonies.

In the US not until January 1st 1865.

More slaves flee to Canada.

The use of symbols was crucial to the Underground.

"Swing Low Sweet Chariot" signaled the approach of a conductor

"Follow the drinking gourd" direct runaways north using the big dipper

Blacks still faced extreme racism and segregation. Stereotypes still used to describe Blacks in both the US & Canada.

• Harriet Tubman most famous and successful "conductor" of the Underground Railroad.
• From 1850-1860 she made 19 trips into the deep South, aided over 300 men, women, and children to freedom.

• 1850 Fugitive Slave Law: Any runaway slave who escaped and was captured even in a free state will be returned to their masters and punished. This lead to more slaves seeking refuge in Canada.

The abolition movement lead to the Civil War.

Southern States (Confederacy) wanted the economic benefits.

For the Northern States (Union) the war was to preserve the country, not free slaves.

NAACP founded by William Du Bois (1868-1963) 1st Black American to get his PhD from Harvard. Was also mixed race.

Dark Continent

January 1st, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln passes Emancipation Proclamation to encourage Southern slaves to join the Northern army.

Slavery formally abolished January 1st 1865.

Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) "Great Accommodator" preached Blacks should stay in the South and help rebuild. Non-violent approach, racial equality will take time.

Segregation was found in Canada.

Viola Desmond (1914-1965) in Nova Scotia: dragged out of a movie theater because she refused to give up her seat which was in the "White" section.

Impact of Colonialism

1885: Invention of machinegun tipped power balance.

Crushed resistance.

Within decades of colonialism, more damage was done to traditional African society than during the 100s of years of slavery!

Imperialism in Africa

Exploration

Resistance

Origins: Trans-Atlantic Slavery

Some African leaders submitted immediately.

Some made defensive alliances.

Some fought, majority got crushed.

Euros had better weapons, technology and more money.

1903-1907: In Namibia, the Nama and Herero people rebelled against German settlers and troops.

Germans crushed them.

75% of these people were killed/murdered in fighting, detention camps or exiled into desert.

First genocide of 20th Century!

Oppression in the Caribbean, Latin American, & Brazil

Congolese people rebelled against Belgian King Leopold.

The King (who authorised atrocities) gave Congo to Belgian government. Life improved, somewhat.

Origins

Trans-Atlantic Slavery

1896: Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II led his troops to victory. Crushed Italy.

Ethiopia avoided colonialism.

A source of pride to Africans everywhere!

1882-1898: Samori Toure fought French expansion in NW Africa.

He lost.

Fueled by European discovery of Americas.

Labourers needed, local populations dead.

Key Players in this global partnership:

African traders; Euro Traders; Colonists in Americas.

British North America (Canada)-1793

No more slaves allowed into BNA.

Existing slaves remained slaves until 19th century.

Africa 1885

19th Century, Asante people fought hardest against colonialism (Britain) in West Africa.

Brits won and claimed Gold Coast.

Circa 700CE, International trade in Africans starts on East Coast. (8-17 Million slaves)

Circa 1500CE, International trade in Africans starts on West Coast. (11-20 Million slaves)

Islam had opened up new trade routes for both goods and slaves.

Girls = sex slaves (Harems).

Men = labourers.

Boys = Eunuchs (castrated), they guarded Harems.

East African slavery ended in 20th Century because it became unprofitable!

Some Africans resisted, some traded.

Guns for slaves was deciding factor.

Portuguese started it all in 1441.

Spanish bought from Portuguese.

Dutch took control in 1600s.

British used powerful Navy to gain control in 1800s.

Middle Passage and Resistance

Abolition

1781, British ship "Zong".

Disease spread through slaves.

Captain threw sick slaves into ocean.

He made an insurance claim!

Insurance didn't pay, went to court.

Court ruled slaves were people not cargo therefore not insurable!

This started the Abolitionist Movement.

Took centuries of resistance, rebellion, moral persuasion to start Abolition Movement.

1783, Brits found Abolitionist Committee. (run by religious leaders, social reformers, artists, politicians, former slaves).

Educated Europeans, showcased torture.

1807, Brits ban slave trade, others follow slowly.

British Royal Navy hunt/attack slave ships.

Economic factors ended slavery (new technology, drop in sugar prices)!

1833, Brits abolish slavery, others follow. USA last (1865).

July 1839, Ship "La Amistad".

53 Africans took over slave ship by force.

Sailed to USA, charged with mutiny.

Beat the charge in court, became free men.

1841, Ship "Creole"

Africans took over ship by force.

Sailed to Bahamas (British Island).

Became free men (Brits had abolished slavery).

Impact/Legacy

African humans replace African resources. Therefore African production of resources collapsed.

Europe and North America got wealthier and stronger.

Abolition & Aftermath

African culture spread to Americas (stories, music, art, dance).

African innovation stopped during this time.

Worldwide discrimination and racism towards Africans increased.

Paved the way for European colonization of Africa.

But...should Africans get compensation?

Divided Africans, increased conflict, destroyed local economies. Millions died.

Plantation owners compensated for loss of slaves.

Blacks got the short end of the stick.

British Emancipation Act August 1, 1834.

Oppression & Resistance

The cost of putting down rebellions lead to news on the poor treatment of Blacks.

Calls to abolish slavery began.

Resistance came in the form of identity in which women played a vital role in. Slaves recreated African instruments (ex: drums, tambourines, flutes etc...)

Passing on oral histories and heritage from Africa

would also create a language mixing African and European words so the masters would not understand.

• 1500’s saw Caribbean being ransacked for gold and silver.

By mid 1500’s began to focus on sugarcane.

Rise of tension between Blacks and Whites.

Blacks wanted equal rights and citizenship.

Whites wanted to hold onto power.

Did so by saying Europeans were superior to all others.

Jamaica 1944: Norman Manley & Alexander Bustamante won independence from Britain.

Other British colonies followed suit.

Rise in education lead many in the Caribbean to become famous writers.

Promoted their own cultural identity.

In 1854 all colonies for Spain gained independence and freed slaves.

1917-1919 riots and massive strike movements.

Protesting poor working conditions, low pay.

Trade unions created.

Brazil in the 1600s saw creation of quilombos.

Famous quilombo “Palmares” contained 30,000 people. Lasted for 100 years until finally overthrown by colonists.

St. John’s Island November 1st, 1733 Danish forces overpowered by slaves. The slaves were crushed six months later.

In Jamaica, slaves calling themselves the Maroons posed a serious threat to British Jamaica.

This lead to the Maroon Wars 1731-1740, 1795-1796 British finally won, expelled 600 slaves to Nova Scotia.

Latin America today: Multicultural area filled with people from all walks of life.

• By the 1700's Britain had control of the "Sugar Revolution".

The largest producer of sugarcane was Jamaica, Britain's crown jewel.

Pan-Caribbean movement formed by veterans of WW1.

Latin American countries denied Black immigration.

Kept Blacks at lowest end of the social structure.

Between 1519 and 1870: more than 5 million Africans were kidnapped from their homes and shipped to Latin America and Brazil.

1950s West Indies Federation formed to unite colonies under one government.

Failed in 1961. None could agree on political representation and financial responsibility.

By 2009 only handful of islands still under foreign rule.

1791, Haitian revolution inspired by the

French Revolution.

500,000 slaves revolted and attacked the French colonists.

January 1st 1804 Saint-Dominque renamed independent state of Haiti. This was only the beginning!

By 1871 mounting international pressure made Brazil pass a law allowing children of slaves to be free.

May 1888 slavery abolished.

If slaves were caught running away, stealing, etc...they were cruelly punished.

Slave revolts in Caribbean and Latin America:

1805: Trinidad

1816: Barbados

1831: Argentina

1832: Bahamas

Caribbean Independence Timeline

Coartacion (Esp.): Domestic slaves (women) could buy their freedom. Once they were free, their children were free.

Describe the impacts Colonialism had on Canada.

List as many as you can.