Africa continent has been the destination place for the Western world. Their colonization dated back as far as 1870. Colonization is when the colonizer settles in another country, becoming the rulers of the new country, and living in the new country (Wikipedia, 2021). The British colonized most African countries especially, those in the West, such as Nigeria, Ghana. Ivory Coast, Gambia, South Cameroon, and Sierra Leone; East Africa countries include Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. To the South include South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Lesotho, Botswana, and Swaziland.
My thesis is, for a country to impose her doctrine, philosophies onto another country, should do so without causing more harm than good to such territories. They must be treated with respect and dignity.
I will be analyzing some of the impacts that colonization has on Africa Countries. Though the negative impacts underpin the positive ones, it is important to recognize that some benefits have been achieved for African countries.
Despite, other European countries also colonized Africa ( French assimilation policy), I will limit it to the British. British Colonialism aimed at exploiting African natural resources to feed their manufacturing industry. The resources include timber, gold, diamond, bauxite, coal, cocoa, ivory, salt, rubber, and many more.
They do so by using a system called an indirect rule through the chiefs. They were used as the intermediary between the people and the colonial master. ’’Great Britain used the indirect rule to control their colonies’’ (Esri, n.d). Because the British wanted to minimize cost, they appointed some local leaders to work side and side with them while living in their home country. The British claim they don’t want to destroy the native culture by imposing their English language onto the people but, that was never the case. ‘’Thus, British did not attempt to make English persons out of Africans’’. However, they succeeded in destroying the indigenous cultures and exploited their resources. As a result of cross-cultural differences, communication was a problem in the dissemination of information to the colonized African countries. They see the chiefs as more educated to break that communication barrier. Hence they became their mouthpiece.
The negative impact British colonialism brought on Africans is that it destroyed the culture of the people. They make them believe that their culture is superior to theirs. The British rule caused a lot of Africans to lose money, homes and more, (Esri, n.d). Because African leaders at that time were mostly ignorant and uneducated, they headed to their request. They have succeeded in exploiting most of their natural resources. The colonizers took advantage of their lack of civilization, evident in the people’s way of life, (Abilson, 2020). While this affects the African countries negatively, it boosts the British economy strongly. They also enslaved most Africans and taking away from their families to work on their farms as laborers.
Despite all these negative impacts endured by these African countries, they relied on their colonial masters for their economic needs, such as improved health care, infrastructure development, political development, literacy through education, and more. Since most African uses primitive ways of health care, infant mortality was high. But the colonial master was able to enlighten the people through its educational programs and that reduces the infant death rate significantly. ‘’ The infant deaths were resolved, with the discovery of both the causes and the solutions to the problem’’ (Ablison, 2020). The infrastructure sector was expanded, roads, rails, and electricity, etc., received much attention. That set African countries on the industrialization path. It has encouraged trade and economic development among member countries across the region.
According to Ablison, most Africans would walk long distances, and therefore, could delay in achieving different agendas.
It is important to note that, British colonialism is still seen today in most colonized African countries. They succeeded in enforcing on Africans their English language. That became the official language and recognized by the people. My country Ghana uses British English as its official language and has been enforced at educational institutions as a syllabus. I remembered vividly during my early school age where we were prohibited from speaking our local dialect at school but instead encourage to speak British English. You will be punished severely for speaking vernacular. According to ESRI, English is the official language of Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, and Kenya. Because of more resistance and fight against the colonial master, a new form of modern colonialism emerged where African countries are given either grant or loan with strain conditions attached. Neocolonialism uses economics, globalization, cultural imperialism, and conditional aid to influence African countries instead of the previous colonial method (Wikipedia, n.d).
To conclude, we have to admit that colonialism has seriously impacted African culture extensively. However, we cannot ignore its benefits. It is, therefore, important for African leaders to unite and against foreign imperialism.
References:
Encyclopedia.com. (n.d) Africa: British Colonies. Retrieved on 23 March 2021 from. https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/africa-british-colonies
Esri (n.d).British Colonization Africa. Retrieved on 23 March 2021 from. .https://www.ArcGIS.com/apps/MapJournal/index.Html?appid=e8f24a9c56404e67b209dfcdfb37bc82
Ablison Energy, (Feb 3, 2020).21 important Pros and Cons of Colonialism. Retrieved on 23 March 2021 from. https://www.ablison.com/pros-and-cons-of-colonialism/
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