Decolonisation of Africa Totally Explained

Everything about Decolonisation Of Africa totally explained

The decolonization of Africa followed World War II as colonised peoples agitated for independence and colonial powers withdrew their administrators from Africa.

Background

During the Scramble for Africa in the late nineteenth century, European powers divided Africa and its resources into political partitions at the Berlin Conference of 1884-85. By 1905, African soil was almost completely controlled by European governments, with the only exceptions being Liberia (which had been settled by African-American former slaves) and Ethiopia (which had successfully resisted colonization by Italy). Britain and France had the largest holdings, but Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Portugal also had colonies. As a result of colonialism and imperialism, Africa suffered long term effects, such as the loss of important natural resources like gold and rubber, economic devastation, cultural confusion, geopolitical division, and political subjugation. Europeans often justified this using the concept of the White Man's Burden, an obligation to "civilize" the peoples of Africa.

Causes

World War II saw the colonies help their colonial masters fight against an unknown enemy, but with no mention of independence for African nations. Future Prime Ministers Henrik Verwoerd and B.J. Vorster of South Africa supported Adolf Hitler while most French colonial governors loyally supported the Vichy government until 1943. German wartime propaganda had a part in this defiance of British rule. Imperial Japan's conquests in the Far East caused a shortage of raw materials such as rubber and various minerals. Africa was therefore forced to compensate for this shortage and greatly benefited from this change. Another key problem the Europeans faced were the U-boats patrolling the Atlantic Ocean. This reduced the amount of raw materials being transported to Europe and prompted the creation of local industries in Africa. Local industries in turn caused the creation of new towns, and existing towns doubled in size. As urban community and industry grew so did trade unions. In addition to trade unions, urbanization brought about increased literacy, which allowed for pro-independence newspapers.
In 1941, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met to discuss the postwar world. The result was the Atlantic Charter. One of the provisions in this document that was introduced by Roosevelt was the autonomy of imperial colonies. Therefore after World War II, there was pressure on Britain to abide by the terms of the Atlantic Charter. When Winston Churchill introduced the Charter to Parliament, he purposely mistranslated the colonies to be recently captured countries by Germany in order to get it passed. After the war, African colonies were still considered "children" and "immature" therefore democratic government was only introduced at the local levels.
By the 1930s, the colonial powers had carefully cultivated a small elite of leaders educated in Western universities and familiar with ideas such as self-determination. These leaders, including some major nationalists, were Kenyatta (Kenya), Nkrumah (Gold Coast, Ghana), Senghor (Senegal), and Houphouët-Boigny (Côte d'Ivoire) came to lead the struggle for independence.

Effects

In most British and French colonies, the transition to independence was relatively peaceful. Some settler colonies however were displeased with the introduction of democratic rule.
   In the aftermath of decolonization, Africa displayed political instability, economic disaster, and debt dependence. Political instability occurred with the introductions of Marxist and capitalist influence, along with continuing friction from racial inequalities. Inciting civil war, black nationalist groups participated in violent attacks against white settlers, trying to end "white minority rule" in the government.
   Further violence occurred with disagreements over the partitions made during the colonization. Despite widespread acceptance of these partitions, border disputes such as those between Chad and Libya, Ethiopia and Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, and Nigeria and Cameroon are nursed even today.
   Decolonized Africa has lost many of its social and economic institutions and to this day shows a high level of informal economic. In another result of colonialism followed by decolonization, the African economy was drained of natural resources with no opportunity to diversify from its colonial export of cash crops. Suffering through famine and drought, Africa struggled to industrialize its poverty stricken work force without sufficient funds.
   In an attempt to influence the Third World to adopt the ideology of either capitalism or Communism, the United States and the Soviet Union loaned food and money to Africa. To feed, educate, and modernize its masses, Africa borrowed large sums of money from various nations, bankers and companies. In return, the lenders forced the African countries to devalue their currency and attempted to exert political influence within Africa. The borrowed money, however, didn't rehabilitate the devastated economy. Since the massive loans were usually squandered by the mismanagement of corrupt dictators, social issues such as education, health care, and political stability have been ignored.
   The byproducts of decolonization, including political instability, border disputes, economic ruin, and massive debt, continue to plague Africa to this present day.
   Due to on-going military occupation, Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara), was never fully decolonized. The majority of the territory is under Moroccan administration; the rest is administered by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Timeline

Country

Colonial name	Colonial power	Independence date	First head of state	War for independence
Ethiopia	establishment as the Kingdom of Aksum		1st century BC	Menelik I	-
Liberia	Commonwealth of Liberia	American Colonization Society	July 26, 1847	Joseph Jenkins Roberts	-
Libya	Libya	Italy	December 24, 1951	Idris	-
Egypt	Egypt	Britain	1922/1936/1953	n/a	Urabi Revolt, Suez Crisis
Sudan	Sudan	Britain	January 1, 1956	Ismail al-Azhari	-
Tunisia	Tunisia	France	March 20, 1956	Muhammad VIII al-Amin	-
Morocco	Morocco	France	April 7, 1956	Mohammed V	Rif War, Ifni War
Ghana	Gold Coast	Britain	March 6, 1957	Kwame Nkrumah	-
Guinea	French West Africa	France	October 2, 1958	Sékou Touré	-
Cameroon	Cameroun	France, Britain	January 1, 1960	Ahmadou Ahidjo	UPC rebellion
Togo	French Togoland	France	April 27, 1960	Sylvanus Olympio	-
Mali	French West Africa	France	June 20, 1960	Modibo Keita	-
Senegal	French West Africa	France	June 20, 1960	Léopold Senghor	-
Madagascar	Malagasy Protectorate	France	June 26, 1960	Philibert Tsiranana	Malagasy Uprising
DR Congo	Belgian Congo	Belgium	June 30, 1960	Joseph Kasa-Vubu	Congo Crisis
Somalia	Italian Somaliland, British Somaliland	Italy, Britain	July 1, 1960	Aden Abdullah Osman Daar	-
Benin	French West Africa	France	August 1, 1960	Hubert Maga	-
Niger	French West Africa	France	August 3, 1960	Hamani Diori	-
Burkina Faso	French West Africa	France	August 5, 1960	Maurice Yaméogo	-
Côte d'Ivoire	Côte d'Ivoire	France	August 7, 1960	Félix Houphouët-Boigny	-
Chad	French Equatorial Africa	France	August 11, 1960	François Tombalbaye	-
Central African Republic	French Equatorial Africa	France	August 13, 1960	David Dacko	-
Congo	French Equatorial Africa	France	August 15, 1960	Fulbert Youlou	-
Gabon	French Equatorial Africa	France	August 17, 1960	Léon M'ba	-
Nigeria	Nigeria	Britain	October 1, 1960	Nnamdi Azikiwe	-
Mauritania	French West Africa	France	November 28, 1960	Moktar Ould Daddah	-
Sierra Leone	Sierra Leone	Britain	April 27, 1961	Milton Margai	-
Tanzania	Tanganyika	Britain	December 9, 1961	Julius Nyerere	-
Rwanda	Ruanda-Urundi	Belgium	July 1, 1962	Grégoire Kayibanda	-
Burundi	Ruanda-Urundi	Belgium	July 1, 1962	Mwambutsa IV	-
Algeria	Algeria	France	July 3, 1962	Ahmed Ben Bella	Algerian War of Independence
Uganda	British East Africa	Britain	October 9, 1962	Milton Obote	-
Kenya	British East Africa	Britain	December 12, 1963	Jomo Kenyatta	Mau Mau Uprising
Malawi	Nyasaland	Britain	July 6, 1964	Hastings Kamuzu Banda	-
Zambia	Northern Rhodesia	Britain	October 24, 1964	Kenneth Kaunda	-
The Gambia	Gambia	Britain	February 18, 1965	Dawda Kairaba Jawara	-
Botswana	Bechuanaland	Britain	September 30, 1966	Seretse Khama	-
Lesotho	Basutoland	Britain	October 4, 1966	Leabua Jonathan	-
Mauritius		Britain	March 12, 1968		-
Swaziland	Swaziland	Britain	September 6, 1968	Sobhuza II	-
Equatorial Guinea	Spanish Guinea	Spain	October 12, 1968	Francisco Macías Nguema	-
Guinea-Bissau	Portuguese Guinea	Portugal	September 24, 1973	Luis Cabral	Guinea-Bissau War of Independence
Mozambique	Portuguese East Africa	Portugal	June 25, 1975	Samora Machel	Mozambican War of Independence
Cape Verde		Portugal	July 5, 1975		influenced by Guinea-Bissau War of Independence
Comoros		France	July 6, 1975		-
São Tomé and Príncipe		Portugal	July 12, 1975		-
Angola	Angola (also known as Portuguese West Africa)	Portugal	November 11, 1975	Agostinho Neto	Angolan War of Independence
Seychelles		Britain	June 29, 1976	James Richard Marie Mancham	-
Djibouti	French Somaliland	France	June 27, 1977	Hassan Gouled Aptidon	-
Zimbabwe	Southern Rhodesia	Britain	April 18, 1980	Robert Mugabe	Rhodesian Bush War
Namibia	South West Africa	South Africa	March 21, 1990	Sam Nujoma	Namibian War of Independence
Eritrea	Eritrea	Ethiopia	May 24, 1993	Isaias Afewerki	Eritrean War of Independence
South Africa	South Africa	South Africa (apartheid)	April 27, 1994	Nelson Mandela
Sahrawi Republic ¹	Spanish Sahara / Moroccan Sahara	Spain / Morocco	February 27, 1976 / Currently	El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed /	Western Sahara War / Saharawi Intifada

¹ The Spanish colonial rule de facto terminated over the Western Sahara (then Rio de Oro), when the territory was passed on to and partitioned between Mauritania and Morocco (which annexed the entire territory in 1979), rendering the declared independence of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic ineffective to the present day (it controls only a small portion east of the Moroccan Wall). Since Spain didn't have the right to give away Western Sahara, under international law de jure the territory is still under Spanish administration. However, the de facto administrator is Morocco (see United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories).

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