A Scrolling History of African Independence
Who were the Colonizers?
It doesn't take a history buff to not that much of the colonization of the african contiennt was attributed
to the Europeans who went out into the world is such of resources and cheap labour. But who were the real forces
driving the mission??
It turns out whilst Britain was defintely a leader in the pack controlling 21 nations, france was equally an equally dominant force
taking 20 nations. Spain and Portugual also played a key role amoung others. As we look into the timeline below we can learn more about what this looked like.
What and Where?
According to the webster dictionary the definition of colonization is:
The subjugation of a people or area especially as an extension of state power
In the 1800’s European nations had a desire to get a lead to widespread imperialism in Africa.
Why? Well besides the belief that, at the time, they were better than everyone else there were 2 main reasons:
Expansion of territory with the limited land potential in europe, the opportunity to acquire land and natural resources was very appetizing
and of course...Money. And so the scramble for Africa began, it got so intense at times that there was fear that war between Eurpean nations.
In the infamous words of Edwin starr "war...what is it good for, absolutely nothing".
So to avoid the potential for war The Berlin Conference came to be in Feb 26, 1885. In this meeting, the Europeans divided up the land of africa,
determining who owned which territory (the people living there currently obviously did not count), creating the map of Africa we see to day. Excluding
Ethipoia and Liberia every African nation that we now know to day was put under the rule of a nation.
Stirring the Pot
1847 - 1941
Our Timeline starts in 1847 and jumps to 1910. At this point it is fair to say there wasnt
really refined understanding of national sovereinity for nations. But this all changed during
the American Civil war which catelyzed the liberation of Liberia and awakened the world
to what is possible outside of the house of the colonizers
The Bridge
1951 - 1958
I call this, the bridge! It's in this period of time that the concept of the independent nationstate
got popular and everyone wanted a piece of it. Not just on the African continent but all across the colonized World
Theese were just the eary adopters before the main flood began
