Colonialism in Africa

1. COLONIALISM IN
AFRICA
BY MAKOLA MM

2. WHAT IS COLONIALIM/IMPERIALISM?
The policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country,
occupying it with settlers and exploiting it economically.
Colonialism is seen when one power exerts control over a dependent area or people.
It occurs when one nation subjugates another, conquering its population and
exploiting it, often while forcing its own language and cultural values upon its people.
Colonialism and imperialism are terms that can be used interchangeably.

3. TYPES OF
COLONIALISM
Settler colonialism involves a large-
scale immigration, often motivated
by religious, political or economic
reasons.
Internal colonialism is a notion of
uneven structural power between
areas of a state. The source of
exploitation comes from within the
state.

4. TYPES OF COLONIALISM
• Exploitation Colonialism describes the use of force to control
another country for purposes of exploiting its population as
labor and its natural resources as raw material. For example,
Colonists would establish political and economic
administration, but they would rely on indigenous resources for
labor and material.

5. TYPES OF COLONIALISM
• Surrogate colonialism involves a settlement project
supported by a colonial power, in which most of the
settlers do not come from the same ethnic group as
the ruling power.

6. COLONIALISM IN AFRICA
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

7. • Colonialism existed from the very beginning of
mankind’s history.
• From 1870, the industrial powers carried out an
astonishing expansion, building up worldwide
empires.
• In 1870, only 10% of Africa was under European
powers but by 1914, European powers had 90% of
the African Continent.
• It is only Ethiopia and Liberia that were still
independent.

8. • By 1914, Great Britain
dominated the breadth of the
African Continent from Egypt
to South Africa, as well as
Nigeria and the Gold Coast, the
French occupied vast expanses
of West Africa, the German
boasted control over modern
day Tanzania and Namibia, the
Portuguese exerted full control
over Angola and Mozambique.
a
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

9. • Till the middle of 19th century, the Europeans had
little interest in establishing colonial power in
Africa.
• Between the 16th and early 19th century, they used
Africa for slaves. Slaves were taken from Africa
and sold off in America. They mostly worked at
sugar plantations.
• Some powerful colonies like England used
important parts of African coast like the Cape of
Good Hope to halt and refreshes supplies to their
ships on their way to India and China.
• These countries felt that Africa had little to offer
to the colonial powers in terms of trade.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

10. EXPLORATIONS OF ‘DARK CONTINENT
• Europeans had called Africa a ‘Dark continent’ as
they had very little information about the interiors of
the continent.
• European traders avoided going into the interior
regions because the entire continent was on a high
plateau with a very narrow coastal region and most
rivers flowed through the plateau and reached the
coasts through narrow gorges and steep waterfall.

11. • In the 1850s and 1860s, Richard Burton,John Speke
and James Grant located the great central lakes and
the source of the Nile.
• By the end of the 19th century, Europeans had
charted the Nile from its source, traced the courses
of the Niger, Congo and Zambezi rivers. It was then
that they realised the vast resources of Africa.
• After 1850, industrialisation increased in different
countries of Europe like England, France,
Belgium,Germany and Italy therefore they also
needed markets for their products in Africa.

12. • They now realised that Africa had many important
industrial raw materials to offer like copper, tin,
rubber, palm, oil, cotton, tea and cocoa thus the
European manufactures saw Africa as a major
market for their produce.
• Africa was the only continent with a large population
and natural resources which was left for Europe to
colonise.

13. WHAT ARE THESE PICTURES
ILLUSTRATING?
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

14. WHAT MADE
CONQUEST
TO BE EASY
FOR THE
EUROPEAN
STATES?
European states held the technological
and armament advantage because of
previous agreement not to sell modern
weapons to Africans in potential colonial
areas.
There were rivalries between African
leaders. These kings and chiefs were
competing to be richest and most powerful
within their tribes of which caused them
to sell out their own enemies to the
Europeans in exchange for power.

15. WHICH
MOTIVES
CAUSED
COLONIALISM
?
ECONOMIC
MOTIVES
• Industrial nations needed raw
materials/natural resources.
• Markets to sell industrial products.
• Overseas investments(constructing
railways and ports).
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

16. WHICH MOTIVES CAUSED COLONIALISM?
POLITICAL CAUSES
• National prestige: to be the best and have the
biggest empire.
• Different national reasons: France to forget the
defeat in 1870, Germany and Italy to become great
powers.
• New rivalries: US vs Japan

17. WHICH
MOTIVES
CAUSED
COLONIALISM
?
GEOSTRATEGI
C CAUSES
• Great Britain fought for controlling the
seas by acquiring strategic enclaves.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

18. WHICH MOTIVES CAUSED COLONIALISM?
IDEOLOGICAL CAUSES
• Belief in European Superiority.
• Racism, Social Darwinism: conflict between nations and
races leads to social progress as superior races
outcompete inferior ones.
• Spreading Christianism.
• Western civilization undertook the mission of civilizing
the world( Rudysrd Kipling’s White Man Burden).

19. WHICH
MOTIVES
CAUSED
COLONIZATION?
• Technological superiority.
• Steam engine and railroads allowed
easier travel.
• Quinine to protect Europeans from
Malaria.
• African and Asian diversity made it easy
to encourage rivalries between different
groups.

20. •WHAT ARE THE OTHER
FACTORS THAT YOU
THINK CAUSED
COLONISATION?

21. COLONIAL MISSIONARIES
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

22. THE EXPERIENCE OF COLONISATION
SOME CASE STUDIES
SOUTH AFRICA
• The English had established an outpost in the Cape
of Good Hope to help the passing ships to rest and
replenish food supplies.
• Some Dutch farmers had settled in this area to
cultivate and sell the produce to the passing ships.
• They started having conflicts with the local African
people.

23. • They tried to drive the Africans away from their
lands.
• These Africans were called Boers.
• When the British began to increase their control over
the area, the Boers were dissatisfied.
• So, they migrated to new areas and even established
independent republics.
• When gold and diamond mines were discovered in
these new areas(1869 and 1886), many people from
Europe and Africa and India started migrating to

24. • South Africa.
• They wanted to earn money from the mining boom.
• The British government now wanted to end the
independence of the Boers and establish British power
over the mining regions.
• They fought two bitter wars, known Boer Wars, to gain
control over South Africa.
• These wars ended in 1902 and the British consolidated
all the regions of South Africa into one ‘Union of South
Africa.

25. • By this time, South Africa had a mixed population of
European migrants(mainly English and Dutch), Black
Africans, Indians and Chinese.
• The British developed a government system which
favoured the Europeans who were called Whites(20% of
the total population).
• This new system discriminated against the Africans
who were known as Blacks(75% of population) and
Indians(5% of the population).

26. • Native Africans had to pay heavy taxes, and had to
live in a very small demarcated land.
• They were not allowed to acquire land in any other
areas which were reserved for the whites.
• Thus,whites had about 90% of all lands.
• This policy of discriminating against the majority of
the population based on racial differences called
apartheid.

27. SOUTH AFRICAN MAP
DURING
COLONISATION.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

28. QUESTIONS?
Find other case studies of African
countries that talks about colonisation
experience.

29. POSITIVES OF
COLONISATIO
N
• Increased African optimisation within
the global trade-system.
• The development of technological
infrastructure.
• Successful campaigns against pre-
existing African health concerns.

30. REFERENCES
• Chimaobi, A.(2009). Causes and Effects of Congo Colonization.
Slideshare.https://slideshare.net/causes-and-effects-of-congo-colonization.
• Do my paper UK.(2023).The positives of
colonialism.Slideshare.https://slideshare.net/the-positives-of-colonialism.
• Dumitrache,G.(2016).Scramble For
Africa.Slideshare.https://slideshare.net/scramble-for-Africa.
• Juan,o.(2014).Colonialism and
imperialism.Slideshare.https://slideshare.net/colonialism-and-imperialism.

31. • Sanz, K.(2018). Colonialism and Orientalism.
Slideshare.https://slideshare.net//colonialism-and-orientalism.

32. •Thank
you.