Europeans started their colonization in late 16th century due to the fast development in European countries, especially in England and France. Both America and Africa was colonies of Europe in the past. However, the colonial experience of Africa was not quite similar to that of America even though they share some similarities.
The colonization of America started in late 16th century when several major European countries launched their colonization in north America. After many years of settlement, the colonization ended since American people fought for their independence. In 18th century, the United States of America established. The establishment of United States gradually ended the colonization of Europeans. Another place far away from America, Africa, also suffered from the European colonization. The colonization of Africa started roughly in the late 18th century and early 19th century because of European growing fascination with Africa. In the name of exploration and religious mission, the Europeans started their colonization in Africa.
There are several similarities in these two colonization. The settlers in both America and Africa were from Europe and most of them were from England and France. Besides this basic fact, the biggest similarity of these two colonization is that the colonization effected that region in a lot of ways and some of the effects have remained until nowadays. The colonization shaped the society in a huge way. The way people lived, the way government ruled and the way a country developed. Some of those effects were bad but some effects actually promoted the development in general. For example, colonization brought both America and Africa into world economy and promoted the trade. But meanwhile, the Europeans used all local workers but took nearly all the profits of the trades.
However, there are also differences between the colonization of Africa and that of America. One of the differences is the slavery system. In America, the very first slave was brought to Virginia in the 17th century from Africa. After that, numerous slaves were brought to America for many years. The slaves in America were the major work forces at that time. They worked mostly at plantations in the South and did heavy jobs. Those slaves helped to develop the plantation economy in the South and gradually made the plantation become the biggest industry in the South. On the contrary, the slavery situation was different in Africa. Numerous African free people were transformed to slaves and then were brought to Europe, America and other places. The slave trade was prosperous at that time. Men, women and children were all involved in the big slave trade.
The trade of slaves from Africa to America was called Atlantic slave trade. Slaves once became the only “crop” to export from Africa. The Atlantic slave trade gradually became a “triangle trade”. First, Europeans traded cheap industrial products and munitions to some Kings or leaders in African countries for slaves or sometime they just “hunt” for slaves illegally. Then they sold slaves to the owners of plantations in North America in order to get minerals and crops. Last, they sold American minerals and crops in Europe to get profits. Almost every step in the triangle trade brought merchants numerous profits. As a result, the trade developed and expanded. For instance, in 1709, there was only one ship used for slave trade in Liverpool. Then in 1730, the number of ship became 15. Growing so quickly , in 1792, there were 132 ships used for slave trade just in Liverpool.
The slave trade brought African people pains and sufferings. African people never stopped fighting for themselves even though European countries promote so-called “peace trade”. Nobody wanted to become slave so that almost every slave in Africa tried to fight. There were several groups of people in Congo and Angola formed armed group to attack those tribes or villages which were involved in slave trade in order to free the slaves. Fortunately, in late 18th century and early 19th century, European countries started to abolish the slavery system. Britain abolished the system in 1807, then United States in1808, France in 1818 and Brazil in 1825. Although the abolishment was published, the slave trade hadn’t stopped until the Berlin Conference in 1885 and the Brussels Conference in 1890. The 4-century-long slave trade gave Africa people irreversible and huge lost.
Although the colonial histories are different in Africa and in America, there’s one truth always existing that colony brings sufferings and pains to people. We are so lucky that we live in a humane society right now and we hope that the colonization will never happen again.
