Author Archives: Aisha Alzaabi

So throughout the semester I have been searching about Zimbabwe and what I found interesting is that they have a high percentage of unemployed graduates which is 95% in 2009 however now it is getting better so in 2014 it is 80%.

Colonization of Africa by European countries was a monumental milestone in the development of Africa. The Africans consider the impact of colonization on them to be perhaps the most important factor in understanding the present condition of the African continent and of the African people. Therefore, a close scrutiny of the phenomenon of colonialism is necessary to appreciate the degree to which it influenced not only the economic and political development of Africa but also the African people’s perception of themselves. Slavery in America began when the first African slaves were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, to aid in the production of such lucrative crops as tobacco. Slavery was practiced throughout the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, and African-American slaves helped build the economic foundations of the new nation. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 solidified the central importance of slavery to the South’s economy. By the mid-19th century, America’s westward expansion, along with a growing abolition movement in the North, would provoke a great debate over slavery that would tear the nation apart in the bloody American Civil War (1861-65). Though the Union victory freed the nation’s 4 million slaves, the legacy of slavery continued to influence American history, from the tumultuous years of Reconstruction (1865-77) to the civil rights movement that emerged in the 1960s, a century after emancipation. The political motivation for the colonization has to do with the political rivalry among European states for dominance in the international system of the eighteenth century. These states believed that colonial possessions con- ferred prestige and status. Even today, one can argue that possessions and wealth still bestow a great deal of status on those who have them. Large countries still compete for influence among small states. The competition between the United States and the former Soviet Union in the so-called Third World in the Cold War era rested in part on the drive for leadership and dom- inance in world affairs. Interventions during the past forty years in Vietnam (by the United States) and in Afghanistan (by the former Soviet Union) had as much to do with assisting an ally as projecting the interventionists’ power and hoping to acquire clients in the process. The nearly unilateral invasion of Iraq by the United States in 2003 against the advice of the United Nations Security Council and European allies such as Germany and France is remi- niscent of imperial behavior of the past. Acquiring an empire was a short-cut to a world power status. Just imagine the pride and the psychological self-importance felt by tiny Belgium in acquiring the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country nearly ninety times the size of Belgium. Or take the case of Britain which, at the zenith of its imperial power, controlled, in Africa alone, an area that was more than forty times its own size. Beyond the psychological satisfaction of being a great power, acquisi- tion of a colony also provided a large reservoir of manpower to be drawn upon in time of war. It is reported, for example, that during World War I—“the war,” according to President Woodrow Wilson, “to make the world safe for democracy”—nearly 1 million soldiers of African descent fought on the side of the Allied powers. In World War II, about 2 million Africans—and 1 million African Americans—served, again, on the side of those who were fighting against tyranny and oppression. All told, the pos- session of huge colonies provided manpower that held out the promise of imperial powers getting richer and growing stronger by being able to wage successful military campaigns anywhere in the world. There was one more geopolitical advantage to holding certain areas in Africa during armed conflict. For instance, at the beginning of the nine- teenth century, Britain decided to seize the southern tip of South Africa in order to have a tactical advantage in its war against France. By controlling the Cape of Good Hope, Britain was able to effectively conduct naval oper- ations against France in both the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. The Strait of Gibraltar, the small entrance into the western Mediterranean Sea, was the scene of intense military campaigns in World War II as the combat- ants sought to control it. Whoever controlled the straits gained access to certain areas, which could influence military outcomes of conflicts taking place in those areas. There are other areas of the world that have been scenes of strategic confrontations between imperial powers, such as the Straits of Magellan at the tip of South America, the Straits of Malacca in the Indonesian Islands, the Suez Canal, and the Panama Canal. Strategic secu- rity was one of the reasons behind colonization but, after certain areas had been claimed, it became necessary to protect them not only against their rightful owners but also against other rival imperial powers.

http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery

http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205208606.pdf