Postcolonial Africa

• Nationalism a European export

• Rise in Africa between WWI & WWII

• African involvement in WWII was catalyst for completion of independence

Transition to Independence

• “In 1950, apart from Egypt, only Liberia, Ethiopia & white-controlled South Africa were sovereign states.”

• “By 1980 no African state (with the exception of two tiny Spanish holdings on the Moroccan coast) was ruled by a European state, although South Africa & Namibia continued to be white-dominated.”

Kwame Nkrumah-Ghana

At the stroke of midnight, March 6, 1957, Kwame Nkrumah proclaims Ghana's independence.

(NARA, 306-RNT-57-18116)

Julius Nyerere-Tanzania• When Tanganyika became

independent in 1961, Nyerere was Prime Minister.

• In 1964 Tanganyika joined Zanzibar to form the Republic of Tanzania, and Nyerere became the new country's first President.

• He was re-elected President three times, and he resigned in 1985.

• Nyerere adopted socialist policies, which were only partly successful. Tanzania remained one of the poorest countries in Africa, but it was politically stable and it had one of the highest literacy rates in Africa.

Patrice Lumumba-CONGO•1959 - Belgium begins to lose control over events in the Congo following serious nationalist riots in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa)•1960 - Congo becomes independent with Patrice Lumumba as prime minister•Congolese army mutinies; Belgian troops sent in ostensibly to protect Belgian citizens and mining interests; UN Security Council votes to send in troops to help establish order, but the troops are not allowed to intervene in internal affairs•President dismisses Lumumba as prime minister •Lumumba arrested•1961 - Lumumba murdered, reportedly with US and Belgian complicity

Transition to Independence

• Many times frought with bloodshed• Instability plagued new states due to lack of

economic & political infastructure, haphazard political boundaries & people ill-prepared for self=rule

• Not enough educated, trained & experienced citizens

• Corruption in new governments, military coups, failed socialist leadership, civil wars, border struggles

Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970)

•1960 Independence from Britain

•1967 – 1970 conflict caused by the attempted secession of the South-eastern (Christian) provinces of Nigeria as the self-proclaimed republic of Biafra from (Muslim) north

•notorious for the starvation in some of the besieged war-bound regions & genocide

South Africa• 1948 Afrikaner-led National Party in

power• Governed under apartheid, white

minority rule• Citizens divided, white (Afrikaners,

colored (Indian, mulattos), and black (African)

• Whites isolated the country, withdrew from British Commonwealth of Nations

• Built “homelands” for blacks to live in, carried passes like foreigners to go to work

• International community did not acknowledge homelands as separate countries

• Zulu chief Albert Luthuli (1960s) and Anglican bishop Desmond Tutu (1984) received Nobel Prize for anti-apartheid work increased international attention

South Africa• 1978 Pieter Botha, NP President

who limited apartheid• 1980s violent guerilla violence

between gov’t troops & blacks• 1986 international sanctions &

global attention• 1988 2 million black workers strike• Botha resigns, replaced by NP F.W.

de Klerk• De Klerk lifts ban from African

National Congress activities, releases Nelson Mandela from prison, & repeals Separate Amenities Act

• 1992-67.8% whites voted to grant constitutional equality

• 1994 Mandela elected president in first open elections

Africa Today

• Incredible diversity

• Urban boomtowns

• Looming poverty

• Famine (Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan)

• AIDS epidemic

• Civil strife (Congo, Rwanda)

• Conflict over resources

• Lasting colonial influence

Cape Town, South Africa

Rwanda

French Sign in Senegal

Mt. Kilimanjaro

Nile River in Cairo

Sahara Desert