Category Archives: Development

The Might of European Colonization

Posted on October 9, 2014 by | 2 comments

European power has truly impacted the world. It is amazing to contemplate the might and dominance Europe has imposed on the globe for centuries through colonization. Growing up, one of the many ways my father would explain the difference between brawn and brains was to use the analogy of tiny Britain and its prior influence and colonization of many great nations. Today, I am still amazed that a small country such as Britain was able to control many great nations such as Africa, the Americas, and Asia. As strange as it seems, European colonization and imperialism has shaped the world and its history.  African and American colonization are huge examples of the influence and might of European colonization.

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The histories of Modern Africa and the United States of America/the Americas have the shared experience of colonization and imperialism from European nations Such as Spain, Portugal, France, and Britain and other prominent European nations. Both Continents shared similarities of exploitation by a hungry and greedy Europe. After the first few waves of explorations to the Americas, Spain became envied by its other European brothers because of the riches it received from exploration and colonization of large Native American populations such as the Incas and the Aztecs. This inspired the settlement and colonization of English men into America with the first settlement of Jamestown in Virginia 1607. The Englishmen sailed to America in hopes of finding riches and gold but would grow disappointed after months and years of exploitation of the land. They would soon realize that there was no gold in the land they settled in. This lust for gold and riches is exactly what lead European nations to seek and exploit African lands leaving only two nations to not be colonized; Ethiopia and Liberia.

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Both Continents experienced the dominance and imperialism of Europe. However, it seems as through present Africa has still not recovered from the colonization and imperialism that Europe imposed. I often wonder what has caused Africa to be so behind in economical and agricultural development. Time, slavery,  cultural exploitation,and land exploitation have played a huge role in the present day development and standing of Africa. Although America experienced European colonization and imperialism, it has had many centuries to grow and develop into a super power. Africa on the other hand is young and has not had as much time to develop into the nation that it has the potential to be. But why is that? Africa is known to have immense riches even more than America but it is still experiencing growing pains. This is because Slavery and land exploitation for riches has had an instrumental impact on Africa. Due to slavery and slave trade, Africa lost many of its population that were necessary to reproduce and thrive, and to take care and protect their land. This affected many African nations because many great potential leaders were lost.

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Furthermore, African land and culture were exploited. In the quest for riches and the abundant resources, colonization of Africa lead to subjugated lands from over mining and even stealing from African chiefs. The country Ghana, formerly known as the Gold Cost experienced a lot of cultural exploitation and robbery from European leaders who would steal the gold and prized jewels from many chiefs and leaders of villages. Today many Ghanaian villages are under a lot of poverty because of lost riches from colonization that occurred years ago. I find this very shocking because this occurred years ago but people are still experiencing the short hand that colonization has dealt them.

European Colonization has affected the whole world. However, Africa of present still suffers from past imperialism that was imposed on her. It will defiantly take time for Africa to recover from the effects European Imperialism has had on the continent. Although it is presently behind the rest of the world, Africa continues to grow and develop economically and politically. I truly believe that with time Africa has the potential to be a very prominent and powerful nation with its immense wealth.

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Colonization: Africa vs. United States

Posted on October 8, 2014 by | Leave a comment

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The colonization of Africa differs from the Unites States colonization in many distinct ways. For the United States, European nations first came to America with the intent of increasing their wealth and boarding their horizons. The Spanish were then the first to settle what is now we call the United States. In 1607, the first colony in the US was founded in Jamestown, Virginia. Many people that came to settle in the new land came to get away from religious problems in their former countries. In 1620 was when The Pilgrims, founders of Massachusetts, arrived and settled on the new land. In both of these new found places, the colonist made it through with some help form some Native Americans. They then survived off of corn that kept them from starving and tobacco then became a valuable cash crop. In the early 1700s is when slavery began and Africans made up a big percentage of the colonial population. Finally, by 1770, there were more than 2 million people in the population in the 13 North American colonies

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African colonization was extremely different and a lot harder than it was for the United States. Europeans had and increased fascination with Africa starting into the late 18th century. The 3 men that had importance of the begging of African colonization are James Bruce, Mungo Park, and David Livingstone. James Bruce who was a Scottish traveller was the one who was interested enough to seek the source of the Blue Nile and traced its origins. Mungo Park is the man who was responsible for discovering the interior of Africa and along the River of Niger along and crossed the whole contention from east to west. David Livingstone discovered the sources for the River Nile and was also anti-slavery crusader.

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In 1807 the African Slave trade was finally over thanks to Great Britain. It was extremely hard for them to make a transition form slave trade to trading things such as palm oil and groundnuts. This then allowed people the Europeans to increase their mark on Africa because of their trading companies. Later after all of the countries were somewhat colonized Africans became increasingly involved in the worlds economy with getting cash for crops and begging to mine for diamonds and gold. Africans began to get a sense of identity because of the colonialism thought the continent.

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World War II was the begging of the Africa political awareness. Shortly after the United Nations was then created with leaders from all around the world. Ghana became the first African nation to gamin independence and then the European settlers made it much harder for places like Kenya and other east Africa nations to gain independence. The Pan African Movement was then started in order to try to get Africans to stick together and think of themselves as unified. Africa had many ups and downs, but all of it made it what it is today and is still a work in progress

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I think that the history of Africa plays a huge role on my present day life and it will for the rest of my life. Being a black woman in society is often very hard, but it can never be used as an excuse. Yes, we may have to work twice as hard and be twice as good, but it ultimately makes you appreciate life and everything you have worked for. We have come along way, even being allowed to be at a school like Penn State is history that has been made and continues to be made with African Americans who come here and are able to succeed. I am proud of who I am and how far my people have come and it is just a stepping stone for what shall come in the future.

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Posted in Development, History, Uncategorized

Colonization: the enemy of mankind.

Posted on October 8, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Colonization spread around the world before the World War II began to start. It was an industrialization era started in England and continuously proliferated into other European countries. This industrialization allow the countries to produce many products in high quantity as well as power. To produce these mass products, it needed a great number of resources to put into system. And after the product had been produced it needed the market to distribute and make money from it. Colonization is the result from these great demand. European countries conquered so many countries and in almost every continent around the world as well as trying to find new land to provide resources for the system of European industry. America and Africa are among the colonized countries at that time.

Starting the colonization period of each place. America was habited by the native and the European migrated to the continent of America. The first one to found this continent is Portugal Amerigo Vespucci. Starting from the east side, European gradually migrated to the whole continent, it had been divided into partial of area as the territories of the owning countries. Almost of the area was conquered by Spanish, British, Portuguese, France, and more. The migrated European poached the native dwellers time by time until the native people almost gone. The whole continent is the territory of European countries as their colony. Unlike Africa, it was started from the west side of the continent. There was a little bit of occupation by European (in the America it’s the main action). The European used former African leader or the honors to dominate the areas by giving him interests. Many leader that didn’t cooperated was eliminated and appointed the new one. But the same thing is that British, Spanish, and French are the main role of this raids for colonies.

The colonization of America came from the exploration for “new land” to expand the country area. The space that was plentiful and valuable resources for the European wealth. While in the Africa colonization came from slavery, the hunt for man labor. The reason for this labor hunting was for developing a new territory (America), it needed so much labor to build the whole new community. As you can see the people in American colony was the former European while the African colony it was still African people. This was how the “Triangular trade” established. It looked like buying slaves from Africa (sometime hunted) and transferred them to America then used them as a resources to produce primary productions then shipped those to Europe for secondary productions and made more value from them. After the final products had been released, they had to find new place to sell and that followed the new colonization. It was loops of raid back then, nightmares that came from development.

After almost everywhere was conquered, the military power of the ‘giant’ countries” were decreased because it was a long time ‘war’ and it was the time to return. The costs for wars that took so much time were very expensive. Taxes were the solution for the costs. Back then, former Europeans were now American because of time that took them parallel to each other and significantly different. They didn’t find any good for paying taxes to Europe. North America was the first to repelled European power out from their ‘country’ using force (if needed) and money (if could). There were many important events following the ‘Boston Tea Party’ (initiation of resistance to European power) and finally the day of independence came. But there still existed the ‘African’ slavery in America and Europe. African people, following the independence of America, started to beg for their treat. There were protests and peaceful action then, some of the ‘Europeans’ didn’t want to release because it was their own interests and wealth. Luckily, the day of ignorance finally over, the end of slavery came. Africans were free.

—–Colonization is now over and the world is back to peace again. No one can do this bad thing to his brother but a man himself. Let’s hope the colonization idea won’t be back again ever. The day of ignorance is perished, but memories and evidences still exist in the world of ‘humanity’ where ‘human’ is ‘human’ and a man can be treated as a ‘human’ equally.—–

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Posted in Conflict, Development, History

COLONIALISM: BEFORE AND NOW

Posted on October 8, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Social creatures is what best defines us as humans. Our history bears proof of this. We have lived in communities for as long as we can remember. We co-operate with each other both on the individual and community level. Just like a family, each community needs a head, these community heads are those who represent our interests when it comes to inter community relations. A well organized community structure is one that thrives and benefits in all facets of inter community interaction. Like individuals, groups tend to take undue advantage of other groups. This often leads to issues and can breed never ending conflicts, or on the other hand undeserved servitude for generations, these last so long it becomes the norm. The world has seen more than enough of such behaviour from the so called powerful nations. From the days of slavery through to colonialism and imperialism. It is ironical when the history of the current powerful nations of the world is scrutinized. It appears they have all been subjects to another authority of some sort one way or the other.

No matter how you look at it, I do not share the notion that colonization has any advantages. There are so many effects of colonization and in my opinion they leave nothing but whole generations dependent on others for their well being. Those however being looked up to have not the slightest interest in the well being of those they have subdued, they are indulging in self preservation.

MEANING AND HISTORY OF COLONIALISM
Colonialism is the process or policy where a state or group of states acquire political control of another state or states either through military invasion or diplomatic ways. The number one reason for this is economic, and it is resource (natural and human) based. Current political and economic ties between most nations stem from colonialism. Although it stretches far back into human history, destructive colonialism as I prefer to call it started in the 15th century when Europeans started to travel the world in the name of discovery, these trips were pioneered by the Portuguese and Spanish exploration of the American continent, and the coasts of Africa, the Middle East, India, and East Asia. Even the mere mention of discovery sparks another debate, as most of these lands were already inhabited upon their arrival, however, this is a topic for another day. Upon their arrival, they were astounded by the wealth, order and diversity they found in these places. Most of these explorations were financed by the crowns of their respective states, so it was mandatory that they claim the “new found land” in the name of the crown. During the 16th and 17th centuries,England, France and the Dutch Republic had established empires overseas and were competing with each other. Evidently, this was taking on a competitive dimension. All colonies were property of the crown, that is to say the royal family of the colonialists owned the lands they had colonized, as strange as it sounds this was the order of the day. It must be noted that not all colonies fell without a fight. Some of them fought back and were killed almost to the point of extinction.

COLONIES
The world as we know it today has been shaped by events of the past, notably colonization. Countries are labeled either as french, english or spanish speaking,this is a direct result of colonization. Most Asian, African and middle eastern countries were colonies of one western power or the other. At one point in time, the queen of England was known as the largest land owner in the world. The most interesting colony based on its history and current policies is the United States of America. America was a british colony that completely severed all political control from england with the help of the french. This help was motivated by a longstanding rivalry between the french and english. It was a way of redeeming french pride from their defeat in the seven year war, and also heavily influenced by econmic gains should the enterprise succeed.
In the case of Africa, because there were a lot of players in the division of Africa, and the potential for Africa to be a break away colony, no western country aided in the independence of any African country. After all they all gained from the loot, and there was no reason to stir the boat. Even after independence, most countries still had to battle the political hurdles that were placed before them. That is where the concept of Neocolonialism comes in, this is simply indirect colonization or imperialism. Colonial masters still wanted a say in the politics of independent nations. America was a front runner in these practices. A CIA declassified document outlines these plans though not to the exact detail. There is however an admission of involvement. An example is the CIA “backed” coup that over threw Ghana’s first president.

EFFECTS OF COLONIZATION
The effects of colonization is evident today in many forms. It includes the extinction or near extinction of tribes,economic dependence, stymied development, corruption ( brought on by more modern forms of colonization), wide spread poverty, change of cultures and a loss of self esteem and identity. Most of the colonized territories were forced to change their way of life and to adapt that of their masters. The French for instance had the policy of assimilation, this was an ideological basis of French colonial policy in the 19th and 20th centuries. The French taught their subjects that, by adopting French language and culture, they could eventually become French. This led to the demise of various cultures within current french speaking countries of Africa. Economically, the colonists exploited the natural resources of the colonies after they had taken political control of them. A close study of the colonial transportation systems of West Africa reveals just that. Railways were laid from resource rich areas to the coast for transport to the west. All of these resources were taken free of charge, and they continue to be taken today for next to nothing. When the colonialists were finally thrown out, they ensured that they held a political influence on their old lands. This they did through various means, including but not limited to murder, espionage and economic hits. The new born countries were denied their rightful place in the modern trade of resources, the buyers fixed the prices of both the raw materials and finished goods. In a speech to the british parliament on 2nd February 1835, Lord Macaulay said “I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.”the bristish therefore developed methods to achieve just that. They referred to natives where ever they conquered as savages and bushmen. And where the people refused to be governed, they were subdued militarily. This trend persists today in the part of west africa where I come from. Anything european is considered better than its indigenous equal. This method is applied to materials as well as humans. All the third world countries can be found in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the middle East. Most or all of these countries were once colonies of one power or the other. Today African countries that are rich in natural resources are surprisingly dependent upon western powers. This defys common sense.

MODERN DAY COLONIALISM
Today, quite contrary to what most believe, colonialism still exists, but in more subtle forms. They come in the form of military co-operation, economic partnership and other forms that create the impression of trying to help. Like the popular american saying, “there is nothing like free lunch”. However most of the leaders of the third world do not realize this, or are coerced into accepting such programs. America is believed to be in the fore front of modern day colonization. Coming from a colonial past, you think they would know better. In his book “Confessions of an economic hit man1”, John Perkins outlines an intricate plan to form a global empire, this is identical to colonialism as we know it. It however takes on a complex form that can range from bribery of political leaders to mass murder through conflicts. Many of the current global political crises have their roots deeply embedded in modern day colonialism and rebellion.

Colonialism has its winners and losers. However you look at it, it is a bad practice that has profited many if not all the countries in the western world. It has worked to the detriment of the the victim countries. It still continues today albeit in different forms and under several guises. Many have suffered and continue to suffer because of this.
1. Perkins, J. (2004). Confessions of an economic hit man. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

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Posted in Development, History, International Relatons, Politics

Colony in Africa and in America

Posted on October 8, 2014 by | Leave a comment

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.

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Posted in Conflict, Congo, Development, History, International Relatons, Natural Resources, Physical Geography, Politics, Religion

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Airlines saving lives with trashed leather

Posted on September 3, 2014 by | 1 comment

Article source: http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/29/travel/airlines-saving-lives-with-trashed-leather/index.html?hpt=iaf_mid

In the novel, Americanah, (Ngozi Adichie, 2013) the main character thinks to herself, “To hear Nigeria and good in the same sentence was a luxury.” This is the perspective of a Nigerian woman who has been living in Princeton, New Jersey for several years. Though it is a simple statement, it holds a lot of weight. From my perspective, a Caucasian, American male and with the risk of over-assimilating myself, I would argue that her statement applies to not only Nigeria, but also to numerous African countries. Adichie’s words beg the question: When was the last time I read or heard anything positive about an African country in the mainstream US media?

The truth is that I can’t recall coming across an article that represents the diversity, complexity and beauty of any African country. Thus the reason why, upon my arrival in Africa seven months ago, I was shocked to discover the sheer magnificence of the area. As I explored Cape Town, South Africa, I couldn’t help but notice the blatant contrast between a newfound reality and an old illusion. Rather than encountering the stereotypical, impoverished, helpless Africa that our media makes the continent out to be, I was greeted by a lavish city full of a hustle and bustle that could match New York City.

These observations were not exclusive to Cape Town, but most cities I visited in South Africa. Upon returning back to the US, the question I received the most from people besides “did you see any lions?” was about poverty. More often than not, the questions addressed Africa in its entirety, rather than South Africa specifically. I have also been asked several times if I was there “to help”. I have even been told that I wasn’t in the “real Africa” because my pictures did not reflect the correct image of poverty that people expected. Though I can’t blame those who asked these questions. In fact, seven months ago, I would have asked the same questions.

Where were the questions that concerned the beauty of Cape Town or the astonishing architecture of Grahamstown? The reasoning for this is the same reason why it is a rarity for the main character in Americanah to come upon a positive statement concerning Nigeria. It is because African cultures, at different scales, lose their respective identities and complexities in the American media. They become a single character synonymous with poverty and a lack of progress— a single place that is constantly in need of help from the outside world.

A recent CNN article I came across captures the idea of media outlets reducing Africa to the vulnerable continent it is often depicted as. The article, by Daisy Carrington, is titled, “Airlines saving lives with trashed leather.” It is an interesting article that covers a cool idea: Southwest Airlines finding a useful way to directly recycle mass amounts of discarded leather seats from airplanes. The leather is going to Kenyan orphanages that in turn are making shoes to directly combat foot parasites and soccer balls, which are sold to raise funds for healthcare research in the area. The issue immediately comes into play in the first caption: “Southwest Airlines recently launched Luv Seat, an upcycling initiative that aims to repurpose 80,000 used leather seat covers. Rather than simply donating the materials, Southwest has partnered with NGOs in Africa that will use them to provide job training and health education.” This was the first text after the title in the first, non-Ebola, article I saw about Africa on the CNN website. NGO’s, Africa, donating, job training, health education. It’s this type of discourse that leads to the mythical view of helpless, homogenously impoverished Africa.

To be fair to the author, the rest of the article does a decent job of pointing out that this initiative is targeted specifically at orphanages in Kenya. Unfortunately, the specific references come after more helpless Africa discourse: “the airline started looking towards Africa for recipients of the used leather”. It is stated like it is the only obvious place for Southwest’s old leather.

Southwest’s creativity is doubtlessly commendable, but are they the heroes of the story that CNN makes them out to be? The answer is no. They are not the ones “saving lives with trashed leather” as the title proclaims. They are simply donating their trash. The people directly saving lives are the Kenyans who are making products out of the leather and spreading the resources. This is a great story about Kenyans helping Kenyans. Sadly, the story has been written in a way that gives the glory to the Southwest Airline Corporation. Told this way, the story becomes an all too familiar narrative of heroic Western superiority saving helpless Africa.

Stories told in this fashion warp our idea of an entire continent. Articles like this make it so that it is a surprise for the main character in Americanah to hear something positive about Nigeria in New Jersey. This type of discourse is the reason people ask me if I went to South Africa to “help”.

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