historical understanding i colonial history days 1-2

Historical Understanding IColonial History

Days 1-2

Africa

Standard:SS7H1Students analyze continuity and change in

Africa leading to the 21st century.

a. Explain how European partitioning across Africa contributed to conflict, civil war, and artificial political boundaries.

AFRICAHistorical Understanding

Agenda Message: After-school tutoring is today from 4-5p. Pop-Quiz on African History & Geography is Friday March 20th. BYOT Thursday for Kahoot review.

Standard: Explain how European partitioning across Africa contributed to conflict, civil war, and artificial political boundaries.

Essential Question: Wednesday, March 18th; European colonialism drew artificial boundaries to manage Africa’s natural resources. What was the result?

Warm-up: What is Pan-Africanism?

Today We Will:

1. Africa Geography Quiz Make-Up

2. Start African History (Colonies & Natural Resources)

FIRST FIVE

E.Q. Answers for Wednesday March 18th: Artificial boundaries led to conflicts & Civil War

Warm-Up:

1. The Pan-African movement began as a reaction to the terrible experiences of European colonial rule.

2. The desire for people of African descent, no matter where they lived in the world, to think as Africa as their homeland.

3. It sparked the independence movements that helped to end colonial rule.

ANSWERS

Agenda Message: Pop-Quiz on African History, Geography, & Environmental Issues is Friday. Today we will have Kahoot Review.

Standard: Explain how European partitioning across Africa contributed to conflict, civil war, and artificial political boundaries.

Essential Question for Thursday March 19th: After independence, why did modern African nations have difficulty establishing stable governments?

Warm-Up: Name the two main reason European countries were interested in Africa?

Today We Will:1. Start African History2. Kahoot review

FIRST FIVE

E.Q. Answer for Thursday 3/19/15:Even after independence, modern African nations had difficulty establishing stable governments because of the artificial boundaries drawn by European powers. These boundaries often in one sense divided ethnic and religious groups and on the other hand forced groups to live together who had been enemies for generations.

Warm-Up: Protection of trade routes and Africa’s natural resources

ANSWERS

Review of European Imperialism

Europeans in the nineteenth century saw colonies as a measure of national power or importance and a key part of the system was known as imperialism.

A strong country was supposed to have colonies to provide raw materials and markets to increase its wealth and importance in the world.


European Imperialism in Africa

Some countries, like Britain, wanted to control areas of Africa to protect the transportation routes to British Empire territories in India and Asia.

~Egypt was on the Suez Canal.

~Cape Colony overlooked the southern tip of Africa, protecting the sea route around the continent.


Africa’s Rich Natural Resources

1. Gold, platinum, and diamonds were discovered in South Africa.

2. Iron ore, coal, and eventually the element uranium were found in other areas.

3. The Congo produced rubber, a key part of industrial production in Europe.


European Colonist & Religion

1. Another key factor was the work of Christian missionaries. They saw European colonization of Africa as a way to bring Christianity to a “uncivilized” land.

2. Their work gave the colonizers another excuse to do whatever they wanted to do in Africa.


European Colonial Structure & Organization

1. Some European powers allowed large companies to come into the area of Africa they controlled, organizing the African population in whatever ways would guarantee the most efficient work force.

2. Others set up colonial governments. They forced the African population into going along with colonial demands for work and using natural resources.


African colonies were divided into administrative districts and put under the power or control of European officials. These administrators were expected to keep the peace, get the work done, and help “civilize” the African people.

Nearly all Europeans working in Africa felt the local people were backwards and in need of Europe’s civilizing influence. Most knew nothing of the great cultures that were part of Africa’s past.


Life as Part of a ColonyIndirect Rule

Some European powers like the British used indirect rule. They appointed local chiefs to be their enforcers, to collect taxes, run businesses the British wanted, and put down any trouble that began to emerge.

Africans were lured into jobs with promises of wealth, power, and influence.


AssimilationThe French took a more direct approach,

encouraging Africans to become French citizens, a policy known as assimilation.

The French forced those they had conquered to give up their own customs and adopt French ways. Many people in African colonies controlled by France began speaking French and several applied for and were granted French citizenship.


After World War II

Though they worked to keep order in their African colonies few European powers did much to improve the lives of the Africans themselves, unless doing so would increase profits.

This neglect remained largely the rule until after World War II.


By the 1950’s however, change was in the

air. Many Africans were openly opposed to continued European control of their countries. They realized that colonialism was not equality for all.


The European powers had more rights and more comfortable lives than their African subjects.

The Europeans were taking advantage of African land and labor, and they saw the African people as second class citizens.


World Wars I and II had opened Africa to the rest of the world. They had fought on the side of Europeans, and they now began to demand freedom for themselves.


Slowly the European powers began to liberate their African colonies. By 1960, there were 27 independent African countries. By 1975, over 47 were independent.

Even so, independence came at a high cost.


When the European countries established their colonies, they paid little attention to the traditional loyalties and kinship groups of the people they were ruling.

Boundaries between colonies were decided according to colonial practice rather than what made sense in terms of the different groups who lived in the areas being divided.


Artificial boundaries brought together people that had previously belonged to separate tribes or countries. In addition, ethnic groups that had historically been united were split. What a mess!

As a result the European division of Africa caused conflict and destroyed many African traditions.


These new boundaries often followed old colonial boundaries, with little concern for the ethnic and religious groups that lived there. These artificial boundaries often resulted in conflict and civil war.


Even after independence, modern African nations had difficulty establishing stable governments. It was especially difficult working within the boundaries Europe had set.


Conflicts and Civil Wars

Two examples of independent African conflicts and civil wars that related to the artificial boundaries established by Europe are Rwanda and Nigeria;


1. The Tutsi and Hutu had lived as neighbors before the Belgian colonization, but it was the artificial boundaries merging them into Rwanda that caused far-reaching trouble. The civil war in 1994 was devastating. The Hutu-controlled army killed between 500,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsi.

2. Thirty years of civil war scared Nigeria following independence in 1960. Conflict occurred between Nigeria’s hundreds of ethnic groups as the country was subdivided into regions .


historical understanding i colonial history days 1-2

Documents

areas of africa

artificial boundaries

south africa

africa geography quiz

european partitioning

african history geography

southern tip of africa

european colonialism