Colonial Settlements in Kenya and Southern Rhodesia - Thesis Example

? Colonial Settlements in Kenya and Southern Rhodesia from 1900-1965 Introduction The colonization started in Africa in the later part of the 18th century. Great Britain almost captured the major part of the continent before the First World War. As the colonial ruler it claimed to have brought in civilization, Christianity and ultimately liberal democracy in the African colonies. The shipping of slaves from the continent of Africa was stopped but that did not stop them from extracting natural resources from the land. The acquiring of the land was initially done by Britain to protect the slave traders of her nation. It took Britain several decades to build up its empire in Africa and thereby colonizing it, but after the Second World War, she had to declare independence to those colonies.1 The paper focuses on a comparison between the impacts of colonial settlements in Kenya and Rhodesia. Kenya During the periods of war the Imperial design adopted by British for Kenya proved to have a paralyzing effect between the opposing demands of ‘West coast’ and a ‘South African Policy’ which is referred to as “the conflicting requirements of peasants and settler political economy”. The late Nineteenth century imperialism as demonstrated by the British rule on Africa was the final sortie using which the capitalist system of the world occupied the last continent to remain partly beyond its pale. The system comprised of different types of production modes which were connected at the level of exchange and these all were dominated by the most advanced forms of capital.2 The scuttle for colonies in Africa reached its highest pitch in 1884 when Africa was decided to be partitioned after the Berlin conference among the European colonial rivals. The Brtish acquired the land which is known as Kenya today.3 As the railway project concluded, white settlement was initiated in Kenya in the early 20th century led by Lord Delamere, Pugnacious a gentleman farmer from Cheshire, England. Lord Delamere was not familiar with the characteristics of the land- its pests and wildlife; hence he faced disasters in his initial ventures. But by 1912, Delamere along with his followers was able to earn a profit by starting mixed agricultural farms which made other Europeans follow suit. They relocated to the highlands near Nairobi. The process of colonization was interrupted by the World War I as two thirds of the 3000 white settlers in the region formed impromptu cavalry units and started searching the Germans in the neighboring places like Tanganyika. After the war was over the settlement process again resumed where the veterans were offered subsidized land in the highlands around Nairobi. The net effect of it was an increase in the white Kenyan population in the area. The population rose from 9000 in 1920 to 80000 in the 19504. The white settlement at the fertile region of Kenya ignited grievances among the natives of the land, which grew stronger day by day and in the year 1930 the Kikuyu people spearheaded demonstration against the British to reclaim Kenya under the leadership of Johnstone Kamau, who later came to be known as Jomo Kenyatta and eventually became the first president of Kenya. Initially Kenyatta joined the East Africa Association whose major campaigns were based on issues like land reform, better wages, education and medical facilities for the residents of the country. At the period of British rule it was obvious that these issues will be addressed but will be limited for the region where the Whites were settled and not for the natives. And in the all white legislative council it was difficult to make them hear the interest of the original resident of the land. Therefore Kenyatta soon joined a more forthright association, the Kikuyu Central Association which was eventually banned for its demonstration and campaigns against the White rule. It was in 1929; Kenyatta set out for London with the help of the money supplied by the Indian communists to appeal the case of Kikuyu with the British Colonial Secretary. As can be predicted his invitation for the meeting was declined. While residing in London, Kenyatta came in touch with the group called League Against Imperialism where he was taken to Moscow and Berlin and then he was taken back to Nairobi. After that he was again taken back to London where he resided for the next 15 years. During his stay at London Kenyatta built his oratory skills on the crowds of Trafalgar square and studied their revolutionary strategy and formulated the Pan African Federation with Hastings Banda who later became the president of Malawi and Kwame Nkrumah, who went on to became the President of Ghana later. Kenyatta returned to Kenya in 1946, as a leader of the authentic Kenyan liberation movement. Utilizing his influence as a leader he ascended to the top spot of the Kenya African Union (KAU). KAU was a pro independence group that had considerable support from the African war veterans who was pressurized to fight the World War II for the British.5 Economic and Social Impact of the colonization: Three types of central places were introduced in Kenya between the period 1900 to 1960 which included the town or “boma”- the urban centre of the region with over 2000 population in the area, the trading centre and the periodic market. The only new introductions were the “boma” and the trading centre as the periodic markets already existed in different forms in various parts of the country before its colonization. The trading centre proved to be an engine of rapid social and economic changes in the country. The trading center acted as an important linkage between the rural areas that is the periodic markets and the modern urban based sectors of the space economy. Inspite of the trading center being the commercially viable places, it was the most untidy and unplanned place and still remains the same till today. The reason behind the unplanned structure was mainly due to the lack of governing control from the colonial government at that time and most importantly the trading centre have not been considered to be secure by both the Africans and the non Africans which lead to lack of investment all the more. But the urban centers which were formed during the colonial rule did not contribute to the economic development of the hinterland which remained largely unplanned and unorganized. The colonial administration did establish ports, stations and other minor central places for their own trading interest but this consolidating factors could not transmit the growth to the hinterlands as the trade in these areas were restricted to specialized trading. Moreover the introduction of the Western Industrial technology restricted the growth and development of the traditional craft industry of the country. The traditional industry experienced a blow when the Europeans started importing better and cheap products which were preferred by the people because of the inexpensiveness of the products. The problem of diminishing traditional industry also aggravated by the emergence of new distribution pattern and exchange system which was possible due to the introduction of cheap transport and money economy. 6 Since the colonial era the education facilities in Kenya had been skewed in favor of heavily populated agricultural communities. The missionaries mostly managed thee educational system of the country. The main aim of the missionaries was to overcome the then prevailing illiteracy in the country as that would help them in their evangelic work of converting the Kenyans, because converting would require the masses to be able to read the bible. They also felt the need of literate African teachers and evangelists, inquirers, catechumens and other workers to help them spread Christianity. So the missions took up the work of education in order to expand Christianity in the country. “Their aim was not to educate African to compete with the white man, but rather to equip them to become useful subjects of the crown”7 The Africa Inland Mission (AIM) continued to educate the masses of the country only to get them read the bible, so the quality of education provided to them was not more than that of the third standard and hence they opposed the establishment of the Protestant Missions’ Alliance High School in 1926. However the education provided by the missions was shallow and it needed to be carried to advance levels. But the measures taken by the missionaries did not proved to be fruitful as they did not understand the value of education and were afraid of the conversion. It was during the World War I that school enrollment increased. Some were of the opinion that the enrollment rate increased in the school among the young men as a way to take refuge in the missions’ school in order to escape from going to the war front, while the children enrolled in the school out of curiosity and the women attended the school to escape the continued hard work.8 Southern Rhodesia The white settlement in Southern Rhodesia which is now known As Zimbabwe has witnessed a significant development which stands as an exceptional episode in the history of colonial Africa. The colonization of the Southern Rhodesia was characterized by shocking conflict, an economic turmoil and a reorganization of original society predicted on bringing in the benefits of European progress. The combined economic and strategic factors like the gold deposits in the Witwatersrand within the Boer ruled South African republic of Southern Africa had intensified the British interest in the land. The colonial policy of Britain usually follows the inexpensive “indirect rule” model of administration by involving the local elites in the process which made the settler colonialism and specially the settler rule very exceptional. But in Southern Rhodesia a small group of white colonists assumed political power after 30 years of its initial occupation in 1890. The development of this area created a clear distinction between the white Rhodesians and the indigenous Africans. The island of white comprised of white Rhodesian from various socio- economic backgrounds and it quickly ignited strong interests among its local, which made it acquire the responsible government from Britain in 1923, which was the first step for obtaining the greater political sovereignty as a dominion status. The enduring sense of themselves among the white settlers in the land made them resist the black majority rule during the decolonization era. Southern Rhodesia declared unilateral independence in 1965 as the chances of getting the freedom under the white rule remained unfulfilled. This declaration pushed the government into 15 years of civil war against African nationalists that ultimately ended with the defeat of the White Rhodesians. In January 1960, the National Democratic Party was formed. The main aim of the party included higher wages, improvement in the housing facility, improvement in the educational system, abolition of certain land acquisition acts. The rallies organized by the association were joined by about 10000 people in the urban areas. The main intention of the organization was to stop the black opposition in the country. 9 Social and Economic impact The Africans definitions of useful knowledge and schooling changed in the early twentieth century as they were improving fast in learning English, acquiring literacy and adopting European sponsored skills and values. They were taking in more interest in education not to oppose the traditional way but to seek new ways and innovations that would enable them to build a meaningful community inspite of the increasing pressure from the segregationists group. They rejected the segregationist logic of African being inferior to the whites. Education helped them build new selves and made them associated with the groups as schools associations, teachers associations and that made them understand the colonial institutions well. New social, cultural and political middle grounds were created which gave birth to a new section of people who challenged the segregation of white and black in the land. The schools were a result of the new policy taken up by the government which felt the need of educating the masses for implications of some social policies as these policies demanded an elementary training and education. Initially the Christian Missionaries were contacted for delegating the responsibility on them, but they were ready to do it on the promise of getting the lands and possible converts back. So they were given the work of establishing schools and strengthening the education system of the region, hence between 1908 and 1920, the schools expanded from 4 to 100 and got scattered across the country. The education system was split into the central boarding schools and outschools. The central schools were used by the missionary to train the corps of African leaders and outschool mainly imparted knowledge of basic literacy necessary for baptism and acted as a recruiting pool for substantive schools. The ideal teacher student ratios in these schools were set by the officials at 1 teacher for every 50 students. These outschools often used the vernacular medium for teaching and the standard was never higher than the standard 1 whereas the central boarding school used English as a medium of teaching. In the 1920s, the African teachers who were trained in the central schools improved the conditions of the village schools. The period 1920-1930 was marked by the expansion of the Native development schools and the missions’ schools were criticized.10 The multi-racialists, that is the group of African elites and moderates the educationlists led the Southern Rhodesian Prime Minister Edgar Whitehead to bring into action a new constitution in 1961 which would ensure 15-16 seats for the black in the white parliament. In the year 1962, nearly 2600 black natives of the country participated in the election process.11 Comparison The colonial settlement in Kenya and that of in Southern Rhodesia were different. In fact to elaborate the colonial settlement in Southern Rhodesia was different from that of the rest of the colonies under the British imperialism. In Kenya the colonial settlement was under the British rule where the main objective was to suppress and oppress the natives of the land and extract there resources. While in Southern Rhodesia the whites were driven by the natural resources of the land. The lucrative goldmines attracted them and hence they decided on settling in the land. While the region of Kenya was under the colonial imperialism of the Whites, the Southern Rhodesians were given autonomy under the Dominion Status. Both the countries had demonstrated rebels against the whites and tried driving them out, but in southern Rhodesia they have actually co habited with the natives. In Kenya the education system did not prove beneficial for the community as people feared of the conversion and the quality of education imparted on them was not better than quality of education of a third Standard. The enrollment in the schools did not show progress in the community, whereas, the people Southern Rhodesian used the tool of education to improve their conditions. The Christian missionaries in Kenya had mainly used education for the conversion of the natives there to spread their religion. They had tried to use education not for the development of the people of the region but to make them realize the importance of Christianity; education was mainly imparted to them for making them able to read the Bible. In Southern Rhodesia the natives of the land had been smart enough to use the tool of education against the British imperialism. They elite Africans who got trained in the Central Boarding schools made an effort to improve the conditions of the village schools thereby imparting quality education to the rural areas also. This enabled the people to generate awareness for their own good and wipe out their distress to an extent so that they were able to contest the country election and get there places in the Legislative assembly of the Whites. Conclusion It can be well inferred from the preceding discussions on the two different colonization of the continent that both the country has been affected in its social and economic sphere by the effect of colonization. The imperialist rule of Great Britain had enabled the country develop some reforms brought about by the British rule at the same time it has wiped away the original culture of the country. It on the one hand had initiated development in the under developed regions of Africa and made them aware of their rich natural resources on the other hand it has plagued the country with the ills like segregation. References: 1. “A Brief History of Kenya”, AFRICAN HISTORY, 2011, available at: http://africanhistory.about.com/od/kenya/p/KenyaHist.htm (Accessed on May 4, 2011) 2. Bonello, Julie. “The Development Of early settler Identity in Southern Rhodesia: 1890-1914”, International journal of African historical studies, (2010) 43.2, 341-342 3. Communities and States in Tropical Africa, Taylor and Francis, n.d 4. Leaver, John David “Multiracialism and Nationalisms: A political retrospective on 1950s Southern Rhodesia”, Journal of Third World Studies, 17.2 accessed on May 5,2011: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3821/is_200610/ai_n17195885/ 5. Lonsdale, John and Bruce Berman, “Coping with the Contradictions: The Development of the Colonial State in Kenya”, 1895-1914, Journal of African History, (1979) 20.4, 487-505. 6. Parkinson, Tom, Philips, Max and Will Gourlay, Kenya, Kenya: Lonely Planet, 2006 7. Summers, Carol. Colonial lessons: Africans’ education in Southern Rhodesia, 1918-1940 James Currey Publishers, 2002. 8. Ochieng’, William Robert and Robert M. Maxon, An economic history Of Kenya, Africa : East African publishers, 1992 9. Wamaggatta, Evanson N. “Changes of Government Policies towards mission education in the Colonial Kenya and their effects on the missions: The case of the Gospel Missionary society”, Journal of Religion In Africa 38(2008), 3-26 Read More