Author Archives: Yihan Cao

According to the definition, colonialism means “ the control over a dependent area or peple by a powerful entity by force or arms”. Colonialism, after all, is a political system in which an external nation takes complete control of a territory in another area of the world. Moreover, the colonized people do not invite the colonial power, nor do they have any say in how they are governed. Colonialism is by definition and practice un-democratic! Unfortunately, Africa and American both experienced the colonialism long time ago. The unpleasure experience brings them a lot of similarities, and the same time, it brings them some differences as well. In the following statement, I will demonstrate the similarities and the differences.

Africa and America have the similarities on what the same invaders wanted from them—the natural resouces. Both fo them were colonized by the European. Why did the European pick Africa and Ameica? For Africa, Colonial regimes concentrated on finding and exploiting the most profitable natural resources in each colony. In mineral-rich colonies, the emphasis was placed on mining. In other territories, the colonial power identified agricultural products suitable for export to Europe. In either case, the emphasis was on developing the resources for export, not for local use or consumption. Profits from the export of mineral and agricultural goods were also sent to Europe. Profits that could have been used to promote social and economic development in the colonies were not available. The small taxes levied on exports went to support colonial rule. For America, European imported the squashes, pumpkins, and corns etc so that their health standard grew higher. The Europeans also loved fur, so beaver pelts were one of the exchange items as well. And later, the three continents fell into a trangle trade system, which involved three journeys each with the promise of a large profit and a full cargo. In reality, the journey was more complicated with ships travelling from all over Europe carrying manufactured goods to different ports along the African coast to trade for slaves. The ships from Africa then sailed across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and Americas to trade the slaves for raw materials. Finally the ships from America returned back to Europe with raw materials such as sugar, tobacco, rice and cotton.

Africa and America are different in the way that the colonialism developed. To Europeans, Africa was more like a method in the trading system. They not only got the natural resources from it, but also used the people there as the free labors. Mining of minerals and the production of crops for export necessitated a ready supply of inexpensive labor. Consequently, colonial governments exerted considerable effort “recruiting” labor for these endeavors. In almost all situations, Africans labored in poor working conditions, for long hours, with inadequate pay. To improve the pay and working conditions of the labors would have lessened profits. The demand for labor also resulted in large-scale movements of people from areas that were not involved in colonial production to areas, including new urban areas, where colonial production occurred. In the end, the Europeans left the Africa continent, like they never came before. In opposite, America developed in a totally different way. European started to move their families into the continent and continue making their lifes there. Their culture and language have been influencing America even until now.

Reference:

N.p., n.d. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.studyzone.org%2Ftestprep%2Fss5%2Fc%2Fimpactl.cfm>.

“Triangular Trade.” ***. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. <http://www.landofthebrave.info/triangular-trade.htm>.

“Unit Two: Studying Africa through the Social Studies.” Exploring Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. <http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m7b/activity3.php>.

Sorry, this is my blog post #4, for some reason, it was never posted, instead, it was saved as the draft.

Oussama Mellouli, one of the best American-trained swimmers never to swim for the U.S., won a gold medal for Tunisia in the men’s Olympic 10-kilometer open-water swim. At the 2008 Games, Mellouli won gold in the 1,500-meter event. According to his official Olympic biography, that medal made Mellouli the first African male to win an individual Olympic swimming gold medal. His medal Friday represented only the third gold medal ever for Tunisia, whose total medal haul of three at the London Games is a record for the country.

Oussama Mellouli was born on 16 Feburary, 1984. He is a Tunisian freestyle and individual medley swimmer and is among the world’s leading athletes at distance ranging from 200m to 1500m. Mellouli left his home country Tunisia at the age of 15 to study in France, before moving on to the University of Southern California to further his studies and his swimming career with coach Dave Salo and the USC Trojans, with whom he enjoyed considerable success. His first taste of major international success came at the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, where he earned a bronze medal in the 400m IM. In 2004 he made his first Olympic appearance in Athens, and while he did not medal, he broke African records in the 400 ml IM final (finishing fourth) and in both his heat and the semi-final of the 200m IM. Later in the year he won his first major international gold medal in the 400 m IM at the Indianapolis World Short Course.

When we are thinking of the Beijing Olympic Games for swimming, we will think about Michael Phelps, the outstanding American swimmer famoused for his most decorated Olympian of all time, with a total of 22 medals. USA has been famous for its outstanding atheletes. It is excellent at not only the swimming field, but also in tracking field. In opposite, when we think of African athelets, we think they are only good at marathon, because we always imagine them running on the wild areas. Obviously, what we thought is absolutely stereotypes. Oussama, the best example, can prove that Tunisia has someone can just as good as the Americans.

Of course, there are many other people like Ossama Mellouli that make Tunisia proud. Claudia Cardinale, the actress from the movie Once Upon a Time in the West , was an outstanding actress in Italy. Tarak Ben Ammar is an international movie producer and distributor, He is the owner of French production and distribution company Quinta Communications. He is famous in taking interest in artistic movies, especially when they are related to Mediterranean culture or require North African settings during shooting. His credits include the Franco Zeffirelli film adaptation of La Traviata. They show us that the success never just belong to the people from developed countries.

After the whole sememster study about Africa, I totally changed my perspective on it. Before, Africa is so far away from me that I could only learn everything about it from the media medium. Yet, all the media shows is the proverty, disease,etc. To me, Africa was the place like hell. This class made me feel that I was so ignorant. Africa is just like the rest of the continent. The people can do as well as the rest as well. Stereotypes and rumors should stop. Media should stop making Africa look weak in order to make themselves look stronger, because Africa is not weak. Every single country of the Africa is not weak either! So does Tunisia!

Reference:

“CHOOSE YOUR COUNTRY.” OUSSAMA MELLOULI. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. <http://www.arenausa.com/athletes/oussama-mellouli_us_0_4_900.html>.

“Famous People Born in Tunisia…” Tunisia Holidays, Tunisian Life and Discussion : Tunisia.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2014. <http://www.tunisia.com/threads/famous-people-born-in-tunisia.2251/>.

“No. 5 Women, No. 8 Men At Texas Invitational.” Ous Mellouli Bio. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. <http://www.usctrojans.com/sports/m-swim/mtt/mellouli_ous00.html>.

“U.S.-Trained Tunisian Takes Gold in Open-Water Swim.” The Daily Fix RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. <http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2012/08/10/u-s-trained-tunisian-takes-gold-in-open-water-swim/>.

I have search online for the anti-colonialism revolutionary icon, there were not many famous people shown in the result for my country Tunisia. However,Habib Bourguiba is the only one that contributes to the anti colonialism in the Tunisia history. He leads a party called Destour, which demands complete Tunisian control of the government and administration of the country and full citizenship rights for both Tunisians and Frenchmen.

As we know that French controlled over Tunisia, achieved in 1881, brings to an end several decades of diplomatic jockeying between three colonials’ powers, France, Britain, and Italy. All three are officially involved in the region from 1869. The local dynasty of Beys has in recent decades spent lavishly to modernize their country, using funds borrowed in Europe. The program, accompanied by necessary attempts to increase taxes, creates profound local resentment. By 1869 it is clear that the province is bankrupt. France, Britain and Italy are placed jointly, by international agreement, in control of Tunisian finances. By 1878 France and Britain come to a quiet agreement that the British will allow Tunisia to be a French sphere of influence in return for French acceptance of the recently established British presence in Cyprus. The 1881 treaty of Bardo guarantees French protection for the bey’s territory and dynasty, but it also limits his authority to internal affairs. In 1907, The young Tunisian Party was created and it started Tunisia’s steps towards independence. They were consisted of nationalist and educate people. Habib Bourguiba later turned the Party into the Neo Destour.

Habib Bourguiba played a major role in Tunisia’s fight for independence. He recruited people to join in on the fight for independence. The French, of course, banned Neo Destour and sent Habib to a French prison. Bourguiba, spends about ten of the next twenty years in French prisons. But thanks to his organizational skills the French never come near to suppressing the movement itself. As members of the party executive are discovered and arrested, others are always trained and ready to take their place.World War II impinges in an improbable way on the Tunisian struggle for independence. Bourguiba, held in a prison in Vichy France and then moved by the Germans to captivity in Rome, comes under great pressure from both Germany and Italy to align the Tunisian independence movement with the cause of the Axis powers. He resolutely refuses to do so, but is nevertheless allowed to return in March 1943 to German-occupied Tunisia. Two months later the allies successfully conclude the North Africa campaign, converging on Tunisia from east and west to clear out the Germans. Bourguiba is now able to make direct contact with the Free French, the faction likely to become the colonial power after the war.He puts to them a plan for Tunisia’s gradual progress towards autonomy (gradualism, also known to Tunisians as ‘Bourguibism’, is a consistent characteristic of his political approach). But his proposals are given scant attention. The next ten years therefore see an escalation in the campaign for independence. There is another spell in prison for Bourguiba , during which his followers increasingly turn to terrorism. In June 1954 a socialist premier, Pierre Mendès-France, comes to power in Paris and introduces a new policy of partial French withdrawal from two of the nation’s most troubled colonies, Tunisia and Indochina. The result, in April 1955, is an agreement for Tunisia’s internal autonomy with only foreign affairs and defense remaining in French hands (in effect a return to the situation in 1881). Bourguiba makes a triumphal return to Tunisia and a Neo-Destour government is formed. Bourguiba refuses to accept his natural place at the head of the new Tunisian government until full independence is achieved. But in keeping with his policy of gradualism, he continues to negotiate the next stage with the French government. In this he is greatly helped by the onset of a more serious French crisis in Algeria and by French acceptance, in November 1955, of independence for Morocco. The same is achieved for Tunisia in March 1956. Bourguiba now becomes prime minister of the new nation, which in spirit is more inclined to republicanism than monarchy. In July 1957 the constitutional role of the bey is abolished. Bourguiba becomes head of state, as president, in addition to his role as premier.

Reference: The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Ali Bash Hamba (Tunisian Leader).” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2014. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/15275/Ali-Bash-Hamba>.

“HISTORY OF TUNISIA.” HISTORY OF TUNISIA. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2014. <http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/plaintexthistories.asp?historyid=ac93>.

“Independence/Important People.” Tunisian Imperialism. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2014. <http://tunisianimperialism.weebly.com/independenceimportant-people.html>.