Lecture 1: Slavery, Trans-Saharan and Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade:

1. Slavery:
Long before Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World, various forms of slavery flourished in Europe and Africa.
But, those Old World practices differed in important ways from the types of slavery that developed in the Americans after
the institution of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in the 1500s. The New World’s slavery was a racialized institution in which
slaves were black and slave owners were whites. In contrast, owners and slaves in the Old World were generally from the
same race. For instance, the Greeks enslaved people whom they considered barbarians, and both Christians and Muslims in
the Middle Ages enslaved people whom they regarded as infidels. Slaves were seen as outsiders who lacked a social identity
in their new community (outcasts).
A. Reasons for Slavery before the Encounter with the Europeans:
 Labor: They were kidnapped to augment the labor and to produce food by working in agriculture; they also took the
strong ones to be soldiers in wars and rebellions.
 Juridical Condemnation: They were captured as a result of juridical condemnation for dept, criminal acts, out of
revenge, etc. For instance, kings and tribe leaders got slaves in order to show prestige (the more a king had slaves, the more
prestigious he became. Thus, it was more important to kings to seize slaves than territories.)

Captives were normally sold to African slave merchants and traders who took them far enough from their homelands that
they couldn’t easily return. But, they didn’t travel long distances because of the cost of feeding and guarding the captives.
The major exception was the slave trade across the Sahara (Trans-Saharan Slave Trade), where high prices made the journey
profitable. For example, The Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta crossed the Sahara along with a caravan (Camels and Horses)
that included 600 enslaved women bound for Morocco.

Arabs have transported about 4 million slaves from Africa for 12 countries. However, this number is considered to be
marginal (minor) compared to the later Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade because of the lack of the means of transportation and
because it was less-institutionalized.

Thus, slavery existed in Africa way before Columbus, but the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade turned it into a very different
institution. Slaves were exchanged for a different set of goods and commodities and were assigned different missions; they
were cultivators of crops, miners, artisans, carriers on the trade roads, soldiers, retainers, etc.
A slave is a man or woman who was owned by some other person, whose labor was regarded as having economic value, and
whose person had a commercial value.

2. The Trans-Saharan Slave Trade Versus. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade:

There were 2 major forms of Slave Traders in Africa: The Trans-Saharan Slave Trade & The Trans-Atlantic or Triangular
Slave Trade:

A. Tran-Saharan Slave Trade:

The Trans-Saharan Slave Trade is by far the oldest type of slave trade documented in Africa, which represent the
enslavement that was responsible for the transportation of over 4 million Africans across the Sahara to Egypt, Syria and other
parts of the Middle East for 12 centuries. It dates as far as 1000 B.C.E. although the desert was so large that it was referred to
as the sea of sands by early historians. In addition to slaves, who were not the only commodity, salt, gold and other
commodities were carried along the roots by the Arabs.

The Arab merchants conducted their business between Northern African States in the West and the Persian Gulf and sub-
Saharan Africa. In return, they brought weapons, fabrics and other precious items to sell to the North Africans and even
down towards the West. This needed cheap men power that was later found in slaves.

The slaves endured the scorching sun, cold nights, sand storms, the poisonous reptiles, famine, dehydration, diseases, and
even pirate attacks. Sick and feeble ones were left behind to die and the rebellious ones would be killed while the strong ones
were kept as soldiers, protectors and used as shields to protect their masters. Women either became sex slaves or concubines.
Whatever happened, they all had a common destiny, which was to be sold as slaves to the highest bidder once the desert
has been crossed.
Pirates/Nomads: people who had no fixed place to live in or an activity to sustain their lives. Therefore, they attacked
caravans of merchants to take what they contained.

a. Rise of Islam Late 7th century:

The spread of Islam in West Africa especially in areas close to the Sahara bridged the communication gap between traders
of African and Arab origin.
The Trans-Saharan slave trade became more exhaustive especially with the Islamic expeditions, which represent the
Muslims intention to fulfill their purpose (spreading Islam).
Muslim expeditors faced some resistance during their journeys to spread Islam. Hence, they put certain conditions:
Whether these people embrace their religion (Islam) and become a fellow brother (as it is forbidden to enslave a fellow
 Muslim brother) or they had to pay a ransom (‫ )فدية‬and keep their own religion. And therefore, Muslims would sustain and
protect them from attacks. If none of the two conditions was fulfilled, a war would take place.
Muslims at that time were at the top of their strength, so they had many slaves. Yet, these slaves were different from any
other kind of slaves as they enjoyed many rights such as the right to get married, have children, property, and also to buy
their freedom.
These slaves were taken into war as armies (‫ )الجيش االنكشاري‬accompanied by religious men to spread Islam and teach
Arabic.
b. Mansa Musa:
One king that is important to be known during these times and around 1324 was the king of Mali Empire, who was the
richest man who even lived and ruled. This king is: Mansa Musa; the 10 th emperor of Mali.
Before Mansa Musa became king, the Mali Empire extended up to the current day Shana, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania and
Gambia and the modern day Nigeria. As a king, he expanded it through a series of conquests of weaker and rebellious states.
He was so rich in gold that on his pilgrimage to Mecca, he went with 60,000 (sixty thousand) men all wearing expensive
Persian silk and 12,000 slaves who carried luggage of gold across the Sahara and 80 camels.
Some historians believed that he deliberately wanted to devalue the Egyptian market of gold by causing economic crisis in
Alexandria, Egypt. Others said that it was a show-off to make of Timbuktu, the capital of Mali, famous and he did. This is
the only time recorded in history that one man directly controlled the price of gold in the Mediterranean.

B. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade:

Mansa Musa made Timbuktu so famous that the news of his pilgrimage caught the attention of Europeans. Many European
explorers sailed through the Atlantic Ocean from France, Portugal, England, Germany, and Spain to see by themselves what
was in Africa, and a number of them landed in the West African ports. These events led to the realization of the vast wealth
of Africa by the Europeans which later gave birth to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and later the colonization of Africa.

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade occurred from the mid of the 15 th century (1444) to the mid 19th century (4 centuries). It
brought more than 10 million Africans to the Americas. Its affected these slaves, their descendents in addition to the
economies and histories of large parts of the world. It started with the Portuguese colonies in West Africa and Spanish
settlement of the Americas shortly after.
The grown crops in the New colonies (in America) such as sugar cane, tobacco, cotton, etc were labor intensive and there
were not enough slaves (American natives who were enslaved) to cultivate al the land. Furthermore, the practice of slavery
revealed to be promising. Therefore, to meet the massive demand for labor, the Europeans looked to Africa.

Slaves were transported/ loaded as any other commodities onto ships destinated for the Americas. They were crammed
below decks; others were thrown overboard for being sick or for rebelling. Some committed suicide or starved themselves to
avoid further suffering from the white men. Those who survived were completely dehumanized and harshly treated. Women
and children were kept above deck and abused by the crew. This was later known as the Middle passage. It was called so as
it was the second of three parts of what is known as the Triangular Slave Trade. The first leg of the journey carried cargo
like textiles, iron, alcohol, firearms, and gunpowder from Europe to Africa’s western coast where the cargo was exchanged
for people (slaves). From there, ships made their way to the Americas where the enslaved Africans were sold and exchanged
for goods like sugar and tobacco before the ships made their way back to Europe.

Many of the enslaved Africans were captured and sold to Europeans by other Africans for a range of different goods.
Men slaves who made it to the Caribbean were washed, powdered in order to have skin scents and hide scars, bruises and
wounds and to avoid contaminations if there were any. They were also oiled to catch the eye of the merchants by their
muscles as they were sold in auctions. Women were sold at auctions as well. Yet, some of them were kept by their masters to
fulfill their desires and to serve as sex tools. Kids were mostly unwanted commodities and considered as a burden which was
unneeded by the masters. Thus, they were given as bonuses for those who bought men or women slaves.
As families were separated, each one had to fulfill certain tasks: Men worked in mines and forced to do harsh jobs when
few were lucky to work in shop, restaurants or houses.

a. The African Diaspora:

African Diaspora is the term commonly used to describe the mass dispersion of peoples from Africa during the
Transatlantic Slave Trades, from the 1500s to the 1800s. This Diaspora took millions of people from Western and Central
Africa to different regions throughout the Americas and the Caribbean.

b. The Effects of the Trans-Saharan and Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (on both Africans and Europeans):
 Cultural Effects:
Africans were separated from their families and spread in all continents, which formed the African Diaspora all over the
world. Meanwhile, Africans lost their traditions and melted in the New World as they had to adopt the new traditions and
attitudes in order to survive. With this transportation of Africans from their home lands, the world witnessed the
depopulation of Africa and the growth of population in Europe and the New World. For instance, in Lisbon, there were
around 1 million slaves.
 Therefore, the New World and Europe witnessed a diversity of people, cultures, religions, traditions and even languages.
New languages emerged in America due to the need of Africans to communicate with their masters. This need to a common
understanding led to the establishment of a code of communicate between the master and the slave, which is known as
Creole and Pidgin.
Racial segregation existed before and went deeper with the practice of human trafficking.

 Economic Effects:
 The economy developed in Europe thanks to the free laborers from Africa (the slaves) whereas the African economy
declined due to the decrease of the number of farmers.
 Africa lacked soldiers who defended the lands and tribes from different attacks.
 Women and children took the tasks of farming and defending the tribes in order to sustain their families.
(The Trans-Saharan helped to boost the economy in Africa; yet, the Trans-Atlantic didn’t as it was more exploiting.)
 The establishment of the new commercial roads to the Gulf of Arabia and to the Western World (the Caribbean, Europe
and the New World).
 Since slavery and trading in slaves became profitable and since Europeans provided kingdoms with weapons in exchange
of slaves. African kings started declaring war against each other in order to acquire more slaves and expand their
territories. (Weapons =conflicts and wars more slaves and territories).


 Religious Effects:
 The spread of Islam in North West and Central Africa (Trans-Saharan Slave Trade) and Christianity in North East of
Africa (Trans-Atlantic Slave trade). In order to embrace Islam, Africans had to read Quran in Arabic, which led to
acquiring the language, traditions and customs. This also led to the loss of some traditions as Africans lost some religious
traditions such as worshiping the spirits and many gods.
(The spread of Islam and Christianity on the expense of the loss of African traditional religions.)

 The new generation of slaves born in America considered themselves more Americans and Europeans than Africans.
They knew nothing about Africa except for the stories told by their parents and grandparents. This is why elite was
formed to fight for their rights as Americans thanks to the education given to them (some Africans benefited from
education thanks to some jobs offered by Europeans-working in stores, for instance, or restaurants. They had to know
how to write and count and read). Those Africans found refuge in churches where they were educated and taught the
bible; they were also taught at least how to read and write. In addition to the work of missionaries in the coasts of Africa
to spread Christianity, schools were built where children were taught and even some African children later became
priests. Therefore, those educated elite later defended Africans’ rights and collaborated with the African Diaspora (the
black movement or the Para-African movement).

c. Trans-Saharan Vs. Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade:

While comparing the two slave trades, our focus is directed to the Trans-Atlantic one as it is more aggressive and more
documented because it was more recent. The historians wrote a lot about it; however, we knew little about the Trans-Saharan
Slave Trade as no credible documentation is taken into consideration. Therefore, documentation played a role in spending
and making the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade more aggressive than the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade.
 Both of them spread religion (whether Christianity or Islam)
 Both of them were established for commercial objectives.
 Both of them were aggressive and deadly for the slaves.

The Trans-Atlantic took about 12 million people (slaves) in about 4 centuries (from the mid-15 century till the 19 th century)
because it had more resources compared to the Trans-Saharan while the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade took about 4 to 5 million
slaves in 12 centuries because of the lack of the means of transportation.

Lecture 2: Colonialism (Colonization of Africa)

Until the 15 century, Africa was unknown for Europeans. At that time Spain and Portugal wanted to establish sea roads to
Asia in order to control the commerce of silk and spices. That’s why Spain sponsored Christopher Columbus to do that and
he accidently met America while the Portuguese sponsored Vasco de Gama to do the job and he made it in 1498 where he
found the way to join Asia by Africa. During his journey, he had to rest on the West Coast where he made acquaintance with
Africans and started a long process of human trafficking business, a profitable one for both sides (African kings and leaders
& Europeans). So, Portugal dominated the silk and spices commerce while it started to define its sphere of dominance (the
places they dominated). Therefore, the Spanish turned their attention to America and started to establish their colonies there
(Latin America).

In 1580, Castilla (Spanish Kingdom- ‫ )قشتالة‬occupied Portugal. Netherlands in the meanwhile took advantage of that
colonization and seized Portuguese Camps and commercial centers in Africa and Latin America.
 In 1640, Portugal regained its independence and tried to regain their colonies and commercial centers in Africa; however,
they faced some competition because the quest to Africa was not only exclusive at that time to Portugal and Spain; England
joined the quest in addition to Denmark, Sweden, Prussia and France. Thus, it wasn’t easy to dominate again.

All European countries benefited from that slave trade and all of them practiced it. By the mid 18 th century, some anti-
slavery movements arose that wanted to end slavery, and that led to the fall of this business of human trafficking (slavery).
As a result, laws were passed. In 1807, the American Congress passed the law of banishing slavery and in 1808, England did
the same. Years later, France joined them. Britain sent troupes and boats to fight illegal ways of slavery, and in the USA,
there were a project to repatriate slaves to their home through sending them to a little country in the North of Africa called
Liberia, which was already inhabited by former slaves who escaped from the journey to America. The USA later declared it
as a free county in 1847. However, those descendents considered themselves no more Africans, but Americans and
Europeans. Hence, many refused to be repatriated while others were forced.

Liberia is of two lands not to be colonized by Europeans because it benefited from American protection in addition to
the fact that it was not worth colonizing because it is a mountainous region with no resources.

In 1869, with the fall of slavery, the Europeans started looking for another business to replace/substitute it, so France
inaugurated Egypt’s Suisse Canal as a shorter way to Asia.

1. Ethiopia & Menelik II:

The second country not to be colonized in Africa by Europeans was the kingdom of Abyssinia, called now Ethiopia,
because it was led by a smart educated leader called Menelik II.

At that time, competition was at its peak (top) among European countries in order to prove itself and show its power.
Menelik II engaged in long discussions and treaties with the Italians avoiding facing the Italina Armas (Armies), which
benefited with modern weapons and trainings. So, he had to think long before engaging in that. In the meanwhile, he made
treaties with the Germans and French in which he bought some modern weapons with them (also from Russians) and went
further to bring French and German officers to train his army and to teach them about military strategy. As a result, he gained
time with the treaties with the Italians. In 1890s, it was high time for war and Menelik II defeated Italy in 1896. Hence, that
long process of negotiations and treaties ended by the 90s when he were prepared with well-equipped army to face Italy in
the Battle of Adwa in 1896. Therefore, he defeated them and pushed them away to Eritrean and Somalian borders which
were already colonized.

However, Ethiopia could not stand longer before being colonized by Italians who were back in 1936 under the rule of
Mussolini and colonized it this time with Menelik II already gone (Dead).

Menelik II benefited from that spirit of Nationalism and sense of competition among the Europeans to turn the European
countries one against the other.

Another resistance worth talking about was the resistance of the leader of Genia, Samori Toure. He resisted the Britons for
almost 2 decades (16 years: 1882 – 1898) and in 1898, he was captured by the enemy and sent to exile to what we know
today as Gabon, where he died 2 years ago.

For the Suisse Canal inaugurated by British and French in 1869, which was a short way (an artificial canal) to Asia, some
years after, 1875, the French lost their control over the canal over the interest of the British because building the canal
needed so many expenses that the French and the Egyptians were indebted to the British. Thus, not capable to pay their
debts, they had to give their stacks (shares/‫ )أسهم‬to the British to pay them. Thus, British were in control of the Suisse Canal
with Egyptians having a minor percentage on it.

At that time, with industrialization happening in Europe and the need for more raw materials and commodities, Europeans
had a strategy where some African lands were prevented from industrialization while others were industrialized. Some lands
were kept for farming in order to produce more cash crops for European markets (From Slavery to Agricultural exploitation
to mines). Decades later, the concern of Europeans shifted to South Africa because of diamond and gold. Thus, they wanted
to establish mines there. Many Africans were taken from Central and North Africa to the South in order to work in mines.
This made a future migration of Africans and racial conflicts.

2. Leopold II and the Congo Massacres:

Also, in South Africa, there was a rivalry in order to get more resources; to do that, force were used (Such as Leopold II
massacres in Congo.)

1. Leopold the 2nd and the Congo Free State (1885-1908):

The Belgian King, Leopold the 2nd’s mission was to suppress the East African Slave Trade, guarantee free trade with the
colony and promote humanitarian policies. However, this was to justify his ambition on the Congo. He ended up claiming it
as his personal property from which he gained profit.
 At that time, the world was demanding rubber for the growing bicycle and automobile industry. Therefore, the king was
determined to make of the land as commercially profitable as possible. Thus, he founded the ‘Abir Congo Company’. On
the surface, the company was devoted for free trade of rubber and the suppression of the slave trade. Withal, the King
ignored the fact that slavery was banned and put the local people to work and collect the rubber where they met inhumane
treatment and impossible instructions. If these quotas were not met, these people were to be beaten, whipped, mutilated and
even killed. He even asked his soldiers to bring him parts of Congolese body if they don’t bring Ivory, gold, etc. If not, the
soldier was killed at once. So, as a result of that Leopold’s quest for diamonds and ivory, about 8 million people were killed
in Congo according to historians. By1908, over half of the population of Congo had died Therefore, the Belgian
government forced the king to end his rule over the Congo Free State and gave the land to Belgium.

3. The Berlin Conference (Nov 1884 – Feb 1885):

The Berlin Conference took place in Berlin because at that time, Berlin was not a great (strong) country. Germany was a
neutral country and had no problem with other European countries that were in conflicts (Britain vs. France / Portugal vs.
Spain); this is why, Bismarck (a German chancellor –prime minister-) suggested to host the conference, and he did that
because:
 He wanted to play an international role in managing an international conference.
 He wanted a share from the other European countries.
 He wanted to play the European countries one against the other (increase hostility between them). For the interest of
his country to benefit from more colonies in Africa.

The conference took place from November 1884 to February 1885, nearly 4 months, and hosted 14 European countries +
USA and no African ruler was invited.

A. Reasons of the Berlin Conference:

 It was organized to avoid conflicts between European countries as a war was to be declared between some countries because
of the use of commercial navigations like in the Congo River. Those rights were exclusive to Portuguese who came first and
who controlled its access, Britain had no problem with that since no rivalry was between the two, and they were friends. But,
France and the other countries had to pay taxes in order to have access to that river. Therefore, the French sent their own
explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza in order to discover another access in Congo River except of the one of the Portuguese.
In 1878, he discovered another way through a small River called Ogooué River to access the Congo River; he succeeded to
make a French access in 1882. He left some soldiers there in order to protect it and to be back later with more troupes and
make exclusively French access from it. This was to make war between those European countries, and the British were
behind the Portuguese while other countries were behind the French. Thus, the conference came later to stop and prevent this
armed conflict.
The conference didn’t take place to start occupation of Africa as the lands were nearly all already occupied. And it was a
direct consequence of the Congo dispute (the Congo Basin).

 France joined the conference because they wanted to make better relations with Germany and hoping they would make
them forget about Lois and Lorraine lands; lands plenty of resources and mines and they were originally German lands taken
by the French during the war between the two.
The German did not forget and got them back during the World War.

B. The results of that conference was through the Berlin Act 1885 produced by the Berlin Conference:
What did it discuss?
 It insured free navigation through the Congo River; it made it neutral in times of war (Congo basin).
 It insured free navigation through the Niger River.
 The abolishment of Slave Trade in Africa (they promised more efforts to support it.)
 The drawing of colonies’ borders in Africa. They drew every border of every European country’s colonies.

European Countries Colonies

British South Africa (took colonies from the Dutch) / Rhodesia Kingdom (Zimbabwe) / Botswana /
British protectorate in Kenya and Egypt / Some major parts of Sudan for its cotton.
French Algeria/ Tunisia / Morocco / Parts of Sudan / Mali / Niger
Germany Congo land (Congo and Ghana now) / Cameron (Cameron and Nigeria now) /South West
Africa (Namibia) / East Africa (Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania)
Italy Eretria / Parts of Somali land / Tripoli (Libya now)
(It failed to conquest Ethiopia – this last regained its independence in 1941-).
Belgium Large territories in Congo
Portugal Angola and Mozambique

By that time, nearly all African lands were occupied by a European country or another except for: Ethiopia and Liberia.
 The way those European countries ruled their colonies reflected the way they ruled back home:
 Direct Rule: It is a centralized type of administration which led in the future to a violent separation within their colonies. A
century later, with decolonization movements, the separation from the colonies were violent (freedom was called). European
countries that adopted this way of colonizing are: France, Belgium, Portugal, and German.
 Indirect Rule: Like Britain did; it encouraged local leaders to rule for them (on their behalf). It gave more advantages and
authority to those local leaders. This led later during the process of decolonization to gradual transfer of power. There were
mainly no fights or armed conflicts but just negotiations and treaties.

C. The European Interest in African Lands:

The European interest in African lands was classified under 3 different classes: economic, political and cultural interests:
Economic Interests:
 After the abolishment of slave trade, Europeans had to look for another profitable business in order to substitute it.
 The industrial revolution created the need for more raw materials and more markets and there was no better continent to
provide that but Africa (perfect target to acquire raw materials and provide markets).
 European businessmen in Africa called for other countries’ protection because they established their business and small
industries in those African lands and they were afraid to lose their privileges and businesses if another country intervenes
(interferes).

Political Interests and Motives: (competition and rivalry):

 The struggle for power among European countries (Britain vs. France / Portugal vs. Spain)
 The rise of the spirit of nationalism (every country wanted to prove itself and its worth as powerful.)
 The rise of superpowers like Italy, Germany, USA which made the other European countries afraid to lose their privilege,
prestige and power.
 The belief of gaining more territories and colonies was a common point between African leaders and European leaders.

Cultural Motives:
 Europeans believed that the European race is superior to other races and that their colonization of Africa Is justified and
that they have a divine duty to come educate those savages. This was referred to as the White en’s Burden, it was named like
so after the British and Indian-born writer, Rudyard Kipling, wrote a poem, which was well spread representing / showing
that the Europeans had a divine mission to civilize other inferior races. He also wrote “The Jungle Book”.
 This justification also found its reasoning / echo in the biologist’s Charles Darwin’s theory of Natural selection, which means
that the struggle between races and species would end by the survival of the fittest and European politicians adopted that
theory and said that the nations which fit better have the duty to rule over those who fit less. For them, African nations fit
less; they are primitive, non-educated, savages, need a religion and illiterate.

D. Factors that Facilitated the Colonization of Africa:

There were some factors that facilitated the colonization and occupation of Africa:
 The Kwining Drug (vaccine): Europeans were afraid to go to the continent in order not to be contaminated by African
diseases), which protected Europeans from diseases like Malaria, etc.
 New developments such as the creation of telegraph and new railroads and new steam boats insuring the communication
and transport between the colonies and the Europeans.
 Technological advances due to industrialization.
 The invention (creation) of new automatic machine guns, which insured military superiority.

Two other elements also facilitated that conquest:

 Missionaries and Explorers:
- David Livingstone: A Scottish missionary who explored Africa and convinced many Africans to convert to Christianity. He
wrote books on Africa. He was reported lost in 1871, then found by Henry Stanley.
- Henry Stanley: A welsh American explorer and reporter in Africa who explored the Congo River and the Victoria Lake (which
was named as such – after queen Victoria - after his explorations).
-Karl Peters: A German explorer in Africa who organized the German’s colonial expansion. He convinced and pushed
Bismarck to East Africa to get more colonies (in Tanzania).
-Cecil Rhodes: A British explorer in Africa. The African country “Rhodesia” now known as Zimbabwe was named after him at
that time. He was also a British businessman and politician in South Africa. He established the British South African company
and he was the architect of British imperialism and control in Africa. He was also the prime minister of Cape Colony in South
Africa.

The work of explorers was to write books and deliver reports and drawing maps about Africa, its fortunes, the placement of
mines, fertile lands and resources. Also, they wrote about the people and tribes (which ones are more/less resistant, which
ones have the commercial spirits or not, etc.) In general, they wrote about their explorations of roads, rivers, lands, etc.
Therefore, their work was mainly strategic and technical as it was a field work.
 Missionaries also had a task as they had to prepare people in order to facilitate the contact with the foreigners. With their
contact with Africans, they did not directly ask them to convert to Christianity. However, they spread the religion through
helping people, building some medical centers, bringing new medical cures and medicines, building schools, etc. Hence, this
showed the Africans, at least some of them, or made them believe that the foreigner is not a danger, but can be profitable to
them, that they were not there to harm them but to help. Thus, they started showing some acceptance (giving a positive
image about the Europeans). Therefore, many Africans were welcomed to the church and even some of them became priests
in churches.

E. The Results of Colonialism:

Positive Effects Negative Effects
 Improved sanitation.  The killing of millions of people and the depopulation
 Building of hospitals and educational centers which led of Africa (Leopold 2 alone killed about 10 million in
to less literacy rates, the rise of African elite (who later Congo).
fought for the independence of their countries) and the  Robbing Africans’ natural resources which destroyed
rise of consciousness among Africans. the African economy to the expense of the development
 Building of railroads, establishing telegraph and of the Europeans’ economy.
telephone lines.  The loss and breakdown of traditional religions,
 Improvement of infrastructures. cultures, traditions, and lands and the spread of
 The emergence of African markets and products which Christianity over African religions.
established future international commercial contact.  The Europeans’ establishment of boundaries among
 The introduction of currency. African tribes and kingdoms which led to racial and
ethnical groups’ conflicts.
Some think that Africa would have been more developed without colonization and that it just added another page of
suffering and misery, i.e., it led to its underdevelopment. However, others think that it was a necessary pain for Africa to
make shifts from a primitive Africa to a modern one even though it cost much.

F. The Decolonization of Africa:

Decolonization of Africa started after the World War II. Why? Many Africans participated in the war in which they were
pushed to the front lines by the Europeans to fight for them, and those Europeans militarily trained them to do that. So,
Africans got experience and that military experience they got from the war benefited them in their future rebellion against
their colonizers.

Africans were given fake promises as a reward for their participation in World War II. After the war, many Africans went
out in order to protest and claim those promises given to them by their colonizers. Those colonizers stopped those
manifestations (like the manifestations of May 8th, 1945 where Algerians were killed and arrested, which made them realize
that freedom that was taken by force can only be regained by force.)

In 1941, there was the Atlantic Charter. It was a charter signed by the allies of World War II, which started the Principle
of Self-determination (every individual have the right to determine whether to be free or not; to decide for their destiny).
The charter, led by the American president Roosevelt in USA, pushed and forced the European countries to sign their
European charter and give their colonies their freedom for the interest of the European countries and not the African
colonies’ interest (with the backup of the Soviet Union).

European countries reacted to that step from the USA and the Soviet Union and tried to do reforms in their colonies
(democratic reforms = giving people more rights such as the right of education, to vote, to be representative in parliament, to
establish parties and associations.) hoping to impress people of their colonies and make them believe that staying under their
authority is better than to claim their own freedom. Then, a series of referendums were organized asking their colonies
whether they wanted to stay under their colonization or to be free of it. Many of European countries expected from the
referendums to get the approval from their colonies to stay colonized since they made many reforms, and many rights were
given to them. However, they got disappointed when all Africans signed for their freedom and independence

In 1948, there was the Universal Declaration of Human rights (December 10th 1948), which is another charter that nearly
all nations signed for the right of every human being to be free in his religion, opinion, expression, no distinction between
races & colors, the right of free speech, and to have different economic rights such as the right to work and political rights
like the right to form parties and associations and social rights and cultural rights; none of these rights could be retrieved
without the freedom of the land. This also led to the wave of decolonization of Africa.

Another thing that matter is that after World War II, many European countries were totally distracted by the results of the
war and needed resources and money in order to spend more money on the colonies especially that managing colonies in
Africa was an expensive thing.

Another fact is that those Europeans were believed to be invincible; however, they were not because many countries were
defeated in the world war. Germany, France, Italy were all defeated. France faced failure in the Indo-china defeated Vietnam
in small guerillas led also to the breakdown of the superpowers.
 Therefore, these constitutional backup (the charters) made by America and the Soviet Union pushed the European
countries to give freedom and independence to their colonies. This also led to a serious competition between those two
powers as they both were interested to put these new free independent nations under their umbrella. So, they pushed and
sustained revolutionary movements in Africa with money, weapons and in international conferences in order to have their
independence.

G. Resistance:
Within the background of having a legal charter and the international circumstances with the fall of super-powers, this
image of ‘superpowers’ in the African minds was broken and built the possibility for them to think that they can be engaged
in Armed conflicts. In addition, Asian and Latin countries’ independence such as the independence of Pakistan and India in
1947 gave a push to Africans to ask for their own independence. This resistance was seen in different forms:

- Political Resistance: This included the formation and legalization of parties and associations after they were considered as
illegal.
- Economic Resistance: This included different types of strikes in factories, farms, mines and ports to ask for several rights.
- Religious Resistance: Behind those movements of resistance, there were also some religious backup as some religious men
were behind many movements of independence. Some of them were Christian priests who were raised by European
missionaries (church men) in Africa who considered their fights on the basis and principles of Christianity such as principles
of equality, freedom, fairness, etc. For example, in the Mau Mau Movement, many leaders were priests (in Kenya).
- Mass Protests: There were also some mass protests. For instance, the protests of the 8 th of May 1945 by the Algerians after
the WW II where many people came out and claimed their right of independence on the basis of France fake promises before
the war. Another example takes place in 1929 in Nigeria, where mass protest of workers and thousands of people were killed
(for the sake of the promises that were not fulfilled). So, within those circumstances, the spirit of Nationalism and
Parafrancalism rose.

These countries, most of them at least, got their independence by the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s while
some few counties got it by the 1970s. The last country that had its independence was Namibia in 1990 which was colonized
by South Africa (that was under the authority of the British until 1992; this was like the renewal of their independence,
which has already been taken in 1910).

African Countries: Independence: From:

Ghana (the 1st country that had its independence) 1957 Britain
Guinea 1958 France
Senegal Togo Mali Madagascar Chad Central African Republic 1960 France
Benin Ivory Coast Burkina Faso Gabon Mauritania Congo
Brazzaville (Republic of Congo) (Congo Kinshasa was
colonized by Belgium)

Nigeria, Tanzania, Cameron 1961 Britain

Rwanda 1962
Guinea Bissau 1973 Portugal
Angola Mozambique 1975
Zimbabwe 1980 Britain
Namibia 1990 South Africa

H. Problems after independence:

 Literacy: very few educated people. For instance, in Belgium Congo, there were only 50 graduated people from university.
In Zimbabwe, a high school teacher was appointed as a president because he was considered as elite at that time. Few other
countries were educated and graduated from universities. Thus, no elite was found in order to lead the nations.
 New nations were divided between following Capitalism or Communism (USSR vs. USA) and being under their umbrella.
 No knowledge about political governing system and ruling system (how to organize elections, governments) which led to
dictatorships and authoritarian regimes, i.e., a total dominance of the countries’ resources.
 Spread of corruption
 Spread of diseases like yellow fever, Ebola, HIV, Cholera, etc due to the lack of sanitation.
 Identity Crisis: with the arbitrary division of boundaries made by the colonizers, there were no respect to ethnic groups
which led to ethnical conflicts, civil wars and racism.
 The failure to build an economy which led to famine and hunger and poverty as many economic resources were seized by the
colonizer and those countries were left poor economically and they had no technology, tools or knowledge to dig for those
resources, so they went to get some loans from different countries, even their ex-colonizers, which kept them dependent on
those other countries.
 The lack of communication due to the more than 800 languages in Africa, which led to confusion in choosing the country’s
direction and identity.
 No infrastructures as many of them were destroyed by the colonizers when leaving the countries and those left were lacking
experience in administration and management and even tools to govern.

I. The Beginning of the New Nations:

Those countries had no choice but to join one part or another (communism or capitalism). There were 3 eras of
independence:
 1950s – 1960s: The period of several countries’ independence (decolonization by armed conflicts or negotiations)
 1970s – 1980s: The period in which military men ruled and a balance between USSR and USA took place. The inability to
build their nations led to political and economic dependency. Thus, military regimes took place (dictatorships).
 1990s: The fall of the Soviet Union and more opening to the USA and multi-party system (democratic principles took place).

These new nations could not get detached from their ex-colonizers due to the new way of colonizing. Politicians were
replaced by generals who sustained and continued to reign and rule by force and established authoritarian military regimes,
which were dependent either on USA or USSR and sometimes both of them because it was that era of the cold war between
the two.

In order to solve the economic problems, many countries had to seek help from their ex-colonizers or international
associations like the World Bank (FMI). Those loans made them more independent and in order to pay back those debts,
there were some conditions imposed such as letting those superpowers interfere in their affairs, exploit resources like armies
and ports, manage the big companies settled in those lands, etc. That forced Africans to be under the mercy of those
organizations and big nations.

Within the principle of democracy, rights were given to women and more freedom was given to political parties. These
democratic reforms were demonstrated as a phase to the international world to show the help they were giving, but this
wasn’t the real reason/objective which in reality was for exploitation. However, Africans were still living in poverty, famine,
and hunger and still fighting each other. These reforms were not enough to get them out of unemployment, social problems,
famine, injustice, corruption of their leaders who only served their personal interests. It made the economic crisis more
obvious, in addition to social problems, but with the access to media, many people revolted and many uprisings took place
which was called: The Arabic Spring (The Internet Revolution).

Lecture 3: The Arab Spring:

It is a series of uprisings, protests and riots against unjust governments in the 2000s in order to ask for more freedom and
democracy and more reforms. It was named as such by Western journalists and reporters to refer to these uprisings in the
Arab world that happened due to the circumstances (economic crisis, human rights’ violations, etc.) that they lived under.

The main reason was the economic crisis especially with the decrease of the prices of oil and petroleum, which led the
government to impose more taxes on people leading to hostility policy (policy used by government in order to reduce public
money spending on projects, etc.) led by most of Arab governments who count a lot on their exportation of petroleum. These
policies led to fewer jobs, less participation of government in building houses, financing education and the mass products of
the mass people. Many people found themselves jobless, homeless, poor, having no resources to feed their families. This led
to a series of uprisings, economic and social unrest. Without forgetting corruption that most Arab and African countries
faced as they were left with undemocratic leaders who have been in power:
 Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (Tunisia) 1987- 2011 (23 years)
 Ali Abdallah Saleh (Yamen ) 1978-2011 (33 years)
 Mouammar Kadhafi (Lybia) 1969-2011 (42 years)
 Hosni Moubarak (Egypt) 1981-2011 (30 years)
 Hafez al-Assad (Syria) 1970-2000 (30 years) + Bachar el-Assad 2000 till now.

Those dictators turned their countries into a private property and many of them started to employ their families and friends
in high positions of power like ministers, ambassadors, etc. This led to corruption, nepotism, money laundering, and bribery
on the expense of the populations. For instance, in Tunisia, most of Layla Trabolsi’s family members were in high positions
of power. Layla Trabolsi ran the country along with her husband, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and gathered millions in foreign
accounts. Later, all of this led The Arab populations to rise up and ask for their human rights. In Egypt, President Hosni
Moubarak was also over pushed out of his position. In Lybia, the government was dissolved by civil war.
In Syria, Bahrain, and Yemen, civil uprisings took place against the government despite some reforms. In Oman and Kuwait
some political reforms were implemented. In some countries, many movements took place before the Arab Spring but many
of them were oppressed like in Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia.

A. The beginnings of the Arab Spring:

In Tunisia:
It all started in December 2010 with the death of Mouhamed Bouazizi in Tunisia whose merchandise was seized by a
police woman. He was humiliated and set fire in himself (self-immolation) in January 2011. By his death, a popular anger
and uprisings took place, which led the people to go out and ask for reforms, so the President, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali,
promised political reforms, but this was not enough to stop the uprisings and riots that spread all over Tunisia. Weeks after
(in late January and after weeks of protests), he resigned and was forced to stop ruling, so he fled to Saudi Arabia. On June
2011, he and his wife were sentenced to 33 years of jail by the court of Tunisia in absentia.

In October 2011, the Nahda party won the first country’s democratic elections, but it didn’t reign for long as it faced much
opposition, and some years later, a university teacher, Kais Saied, encouraged by his students won the presidential elections
and promised a more democratic country and a prosperous one. Yet, this was not an easy task to be accomplished and
fulfilled, and still, Tunisia is facing hardships. Hopes that were put on his shoulders were or are not yet fulfilled.

During this time, the Tunisian Arab Spring was seen as a success by other countries, which led to the downfall of many
presidents. Yet, in reality, it brought nothing to Tunisia but a new democratic president who ended up committing
undemocratic acts (resolving the Parliament with no legal right), and no economic success. He justified his act by saying that
the parliament was doing nothing but accepting briberies while some analysts said that he was forced by outsider parts to
dissolve the Parliament.

What started in Tunisia spread rapidly due to social media and ended up questioning the governments in Egypt, Libya,
Algeria, Yemen, etc. and this spread of movements is known as the Domino Effect (The Chain Reaction).

In Egypt (January Revolution or the 2.0 Revolution):

In June 2010, a young man called Khaled Saeed was beaten to death by police. That act was filmed and spread in mass
media and a facebook page (We Are All Khaled Saeed) along with a hashtags gathered many unsatisfied people by the
corruption of Hosni Moubarak and his family. However, their protests were oppressed. A million protests were in el Tahrir
Square gathered by social media and internet in Capital Cairo. Hosni Moubarak who had been in presidency left after 18
days of protests. Egyptians organized peaceful protests and launched media calls to all Egyptians to gather in the Tahrir
Square in order to ask for a new Egypt. Hosni Moubarak found himself forced to leave the county by February 2011. He has
been put on trial for killing protesters and other cases as he pushed some of his followers in order to oppress those protesters
and to divide them. In prison, he faced health issues till his death.

Egypt at that time stood under the military rule/authority in the transition period (Mouhamed Hocine El Tartaoui) till the
end of 2012 and they promised presidential elections and people chose an Islamist president, Morsi, who faced a coup d’état
led by (Ahmed El Sisi) and later, he was put in jail and assassinated in prison. Yet, still Egypt is facing corruption.

In Lybia:
Within the reign of the president Mouammar Kadhafi until the coup d’état he had by the Algerian king of Libya (1952-
1969), movements that started in Libya 2011 led to riots and protests in all the country. Mouammar Kadhafi’s reaction to
these protests was harsh by opening fire on protesters. So, the revolt soon turned into an armed conflict splitting forces into
those loyal to him and those against him. This act of killing people directly led to the division of the army into 2 (loyal in
Tripoli and against in the Eastern city Benghazi). This turned into a civil war and in March 2011; the United Nation’s
Security Council authorized all means except shooting to protect civilians and correlation operations were led in attacks
against Libya. After 6 months of fighting, rebel forces took Tripoli in late August 2011. The Libyan president refused any
negotiations with the rebellions and promised to kill every one of them. Hence, thousands of people were eventually killed
during the attacks. Mouammar Kadhafi who lost his capital city fled and was captured and killed in October 2011.

Few years later, his son, Saïf al-Islam Kadhafi, and a chief of officers, Abdallah Snoussi, were captured when they were
trying to flee the country. The killing of Kadhafi and enjailement of his son and the chief of officers didn’t stop the civil war
in Libya and continued for many years and so far no democratic government was elected. This led to economic instability
and political crisis while Libya is still under economic unrest.

Though Arab Spring revolutions wanted to install and set up democratic leaderships and stop governments’ oppressions,
these uprisings led to armed conflicts and civil wars and economic unrest.

Fatnassi Meriem Imen

5yh year
Group 1
2021-2022
 Extra Information:
The European Motives for Colonization:
The Economic Motives
The European imperialist push into Africa was motivated by four main factors: economic, political, social and religious.
It developed in the nineteenth century following the collapse of the profitability of the slave trade, its abolition and
suppression, as well as the expansion of the European capitalist Industrial Revolution. The imperatives of capitalist
industrialization—including the demand for assured sources of raw materials, the search for guaranteed markets and
profitable investment outlets—spurred the European scramble and the partition and eventual conquest of Africa. Thus the
primary motivation for European intrusion was economic.

A. Sources for Raw Materials: The industrial revolution and mechanization of European industries ignited a demand for
natural resources rather than slaves. The wealth of raw materials available in Africa (such as rubber, minerals, and oil)
emerged as a solution to fuel the industry of European factories. This drove Europe into a race to claim territory and
obtain raw materials.

B. Markets for Finished Goods: The period between 1873 and 1896 was historically described as ‘The Long Depression’
for the fact that an economic depression was occurring in Europe and powerful countries such as Germany, France, and
Great Britain were losing money. As a result, Africa became an opportunity to be seized as it first provided raw materials
and second served as a captive market for finished goods (furniture, metal implements, clothes, etc). Ironically speaking,
Africa existed to be exploited by Europe in terms of raw materials and to be an import things from it helping the colonizer
to accumulate money and gain profit from the wealth of the continent.

C. The Relation between Capitalism and Colonialism: Capitalism introduced the proletarian (capitalist) class (the factory-
owning class), and it also impeded the diversification of the African economy, the example of cash crops, which Africans
were obliged to grow it while they were prohibited and not allowed to grow food crops. (As a realistic example of
nowadays, chocolate, grow in Africa; however, Africans import it from the European countries. The same happens with
clothes made of cotton, silk or leather, which originally are taken from Africa = Imperialism = Triangular Slave Trade).
Capitalism is commonly said that it, somehow, acted positively on Africa as it redeemed it to some extent from some
imperfections.

1. The Political Motives:

A. Nationalism (National Pride): It's important to remember that during this age of nationalism and imperialism, having a
lot of colonies and having a vast worldwide empire was understood as a symbol of power. So, those countries with the
most colonies were often perceived as the most powerful. This is why the European powers sought to snatch up regions of
Africa for themselves. Also, many European countries engaged in colonization and exploitation under the pretense of
'civilization.' Basically, this means European countries tried to tell themselves humanitarian reasons were the motive.

B. Geography: Beside the raw materials that Africa was rich of, it was of a geographical prestige as it offered strategic
access to the world through the sea.

2. The Religious Motives (Christianity):

Christianity was one justification that European powers used to colonize and exploit Africa. European nations such as
Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands sought to educate and reform African culture. Europeans were generally
convinced that their Christian society was with no doubt far superior to anything that Africa had produced. Unfamiliar
with the diverse cultures on the continent of Africa, European explorers viewed practices unfamiliar to them as lesser and
savage. Denouncing the religious practices of Africans as witchcraft and heathenism, European nations sought to convert,
and then exploit the indigenous peoples of Africa.

3. The Social Motives:

A. Social Darwinism: Social Darwinism reflects the idea of ‘The Survival of the Fittest’. It, therefore, reduces the meaning
of life to a struggle of survival. It is not only seen as something natural, but as something morally correct, too, as some
historians uses this theory to justify imperialism on the basis that the imperial powers were innately superior and their
control over other nations was in the best interest of human evolution. Therefore, the theory of Charles Darwin is regarded
as a cultural motive for the colonization of Africa. In other words, being white equals having the right to use and dominate
the black and being a European Westerner gives you the right to exercise authority on African backward nations. This is
also referred to as ethnocentricism.

B. White Man’s Burden: The White Man’s Burden presents the idea that it was the white man’s duty to bring education and
salvation to people around the world that he deemed uncivilized as he was chosen by God. This is the same view put on
Africans, which gave justification for its colonization. However, many people have described this concept as being racist.

The Effects of European Colonialism on their Colonies:

Artificially drawn boundaries
One-crop economies
Creation of economic dependence
Population relocation
Cultural suppression