The Colonial Policies in Africa - Essay Example

Concretely, Colonial Policies in Africa were driven by Economic Factors and not by concerns about the Type of Society Colonial Rule would bring about. Name Course Name Course Instructor Date of Submission Concretely, colonial policies in Africa were driven by economic factors and not by concerns about the type of society colonial rule would bring about. Introduction Towards the late 1700’s, colonialism seemed as a thing of the past. Great Britain had already lost its 13 American colonies, Portugal and Spain had lost South America while Holland had difficulties with the East Indies1. One hundred years, a new colonialism wave swept across the world. In a period of twenty years, between 1880 and 1900, each corner of the globe, from the Himalayas to the Pacific islands and the Antarctica, were claimed by a European power. The continent which suffered most was Africa. It was partitioned like a cake being split by greedy European nations. This is what came to be known as the "Scramble for Africa". Many historians debate on the reasons as to why European nations rushed to establish colonies and territories in Africa, finding it hard to agree upon a single cause. One thing is very clear though; the colonial policies in Africa were driven by economic factors and not by concerns about the type of society colonial rule would bring about. Concretely, colonial policies in Africa in Context Colonialism, whether it was by the Belgian, British, German, French or any power was not supposed to be a kind enterprise. The reason behind colonialism was one: exploitation of human labor and economic surplus accumulation. Consequently, capitalism did not spare labor exploitation even if it took spilling blood so as to fulfill the agenda. Britain developed and became a post-industrial nation with financial services increasingly becoming important in its economy. The financial exports kept Britain going, especially its capital investments based outside Europe. The surplus capital was profitably invested not in Britain but overseas, where abundant raw materials, limited competition, and cheap labor made bigger premiums possible. Imperialism inducement arose due to raw materials demand, unavailable in Britain and Europe. These included rubber, copper, tea, cotton, and tin. In Africa, the European’s capital investment was relatively little compared to the other continents. The companies which were involved in commerce were not relatively big, apart from De Beers Mining Company owned by Cecil Rhodes, who carved out north and south Rhodesia for himself and his company, as did King Léopold II with the Congo Free State and later Belgian Congo. Europe was experiencing an economic depression during the late 1800’s.as a result, the colonial governments did not have enough for spending on economic development, political administration, and social programs in their new colonies. A policy was formulated for the colonies to “pay for themselves.” In each colony, the administration was in charge of raising revenue to cater for all the expenses which included the colonial police force and army. Africa is very rich in minerals. In colonies with large mineral deposits, colonial authorities exploited the minerals. Belgian Congo (DRC) and Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) are examples of such colonies. In such colonies, the colonial authorities initiated policies which forced African farmers to become mine workers. In colonies in Southern and East Africa with attractive climates, European settlers owned large scale farms. 2Examples include Kenya (tea, coffee), Southern Rhodesia/Zimbabwe (beef, tobacco), and Angola (coffee). In such systems, the European settlers needed labor and land. As a result, the colonialists instituted policies which took good farm land away from the locals and forced them to work as casual laborers on the settler farms. Some African colonies did not have large mineral deposits, or the climate to attract European settlement. In such cases, the colonial authorities made farmers grow certain cash crops which would be sold overseas and raise revenues. The cash crops were peanuts/groundnuts (Nigeria, Senegal), coffee (Uganda, Rwanda, Tanganyika), cocoa (Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Ghana), tobacco (Malawi), and cotton (Sudan, Niger, Mali). The colonial governments sometimes instituted policies which encouraged physically fit men to migrate to distant areas in the same or neighboring colonies to work large farms or in mines. Commercial farmers and mine owners paid recruitment fees to the colonial government. For example, the colonies of Basotholand (Lesotho), Bechuanaland (Botswana), Swaziland, and parts some of Malawi and Mozambique became sources of labor for the large farms and mines of South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, and Northern Rhodesia. The policies which were employed by various European powers in Africa were different in name. The Portuguese used “Civilizado” or “Assamilado.” the French, the Germans, and the British used both “direct rule” and “indirect rul.” The Belgians used “Paternalism.” However the French used “assimilation” in Senegal. These variances existed only in implementation and name. They had the same purpose; to exploit African resources both natural and human3. To realize the exploitation agenda, all the colonial administrations are on record to have shown features similar to a police state. It was through the repressive and arbitrary exercise of power that this was manifested. Forced labor, taxation and torture, brutal land excision, were universal features in a colonized state. Through such brutality, the lives of Africans were lost in colonial roads, mines, plantations, and railways4. Such mercenary impulse implied that production would increase, technology would expand, domestic and external market would grow, and ultimately the political control and annexation of other territories5. Tribal groups and leaders who hindered the process were pacified, in colonial terms. Apart from creating itself more problems, the policy towards inhabitants of the colonies had been guided by domination, Trinitarian doctrine-atomization, and exploitation. The British had a policy which encouraged investments only in those areas of a colony with forest resources and minerals. This investment pattern brought about considerable variations in regions in terms of infrastructural development like social services, roads, and railway lines. Colonialism critics maintain that the colonial system left Africans poorer than they used to be before the invasion. Not only was the African human resource and minerals super-exploited but the continent’s develop capacity was undermined as well. Under colonialism, the only what developed most was underdevelopment and dependency. 6According to some critics, the biggest positive development was when colonialism was ended. Under the imperial rule, the African economies were highly structured to dependent on their foreign masters. By disrupting pre-colonial systems which worked for the Africans and imposing their alien models, the colonial powers had sowed political crisis seeds7. By redrawing the map of Africa, putting diverse people in one country without the consideration of the established borders, tribal and ethnic conflicts were born which are destabilising the African continent even today. The new nations were artificial with some too small for viability. Less than a third of African countries have a population less than ten million. Nigeria, which is the major exception, was imbued with proper self-destruction ingredients. It was party politics, introduced by colonial administrators, which triggered ethnic and tribal conflicts in Nigeria8. Colonial rule was imposed alien rule. Whatever its pluses and minuses were, colonialism was dictatorial and denied peoples the right to self determine. It brought pain, humiliation, and death to the millions of victims9. A certain notion about colonialism being a mission for civilisation is a myth. The system was designed and propelled by European political and economic self interest. To meet their administrative and economic needs, colonial powers put on some infrastructure like roads and railway to carry commodities, air and sea ports, educated few Africans for help in running the colonies. Nowhere in the African continent were positive contributions documented at a substantial extent. Such countries like Ghana and Nigeria considered among the most endowed were left with a few thousand graduates, rail lines, and rudimentary infrastructure. The Portuguese used to leave very little for their colonies. At independence, Mozambique and Angola had very few graduates. 10The Western domination legacy has left Africa crippling with poverty, disease, and hunger. The continent has a $829 gross national per-capita income, below the 1950s and 1960s. The average life expectancy is fifty years. Sixty two percent do not have access to standard facilities of sanitation, and two-thirds of the HIV/AIDS population lives in Africa. Africa is the continent with the highest amount natural resources, but tend to enrich only a few of African rulers as well as and foreign capitalists. Conclusion Fro five centuries, beginning with slave trade, European nations have ruthlessly exploited Africa. The capture and enslavement of over ten million Africans was just the beginning. During the late 1800’s, in the infamous “scramble for Africa,” the African continent was carved arbitrarily into colonies. This happened in Berlin, Germany and it involved the leading European super powers at that time. As a result, the people of Africa were exposed and the rich natural resources plundered. In the era of post-independence, African countries became weaklings in the global economy. They were subjected to Cold War rivalries and their developmental path was blocked by their colonial past. Recently, the former colonial maters have choked Africa using a debt regime which is a onerous. This has forced many nations in to paying more in interest the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank than on education, health care, infrastructure, among other vital services. References Alice, C., ‘Colonialism and Human Rights, A Contradiction in Alice, C., Colonialism and Human Rights, A Contradiction in Terms? The Case of France and West Africa, American Historical Review, 103/2 (1998), 419-442. Accessed 06 Dec. 2012. American Historical Review, 103/2 (1998), 419-442. Accessed 06 Dec. 2012. Arup, S., ‘Conflicts in Africa-Introduction.’ [web page] (2010) http://www.globalissues.org/article/84/conflicts-in-africa-introduction Accessed 06 Dec. 2012. Roberts, D., Cambridge History of Africa (Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 986), 15. Terms? The Case of France and West Africa, 1895-1914’, The Tuade, O., ‘The Myth of Neo-Colonialism.’ [web page] (2008) , Accessed 06 Dec. 2012. Unesco.org, ‘General History in Africa’, [web page] (2012) Accessed 06 Dec. 2012. Unesco.org, ‘General History of Africa - Volume VII - Africa under Colonial Domination 1880-1935’[web page] (2012) Accessed 06 Dec. 2012. Read More