Created \t02\/03\/2006 4:25 am<\/p>\n
\tAfrica’s colonial boundaries were decided upon in Europe by
\n\tnegotiators with little consideration for local conditions. The
\n\tboundaries cut through at least 177 ethnic “culture areas”
\n\tdividing pre-existing economic an social units and distorting the
\n\tdevelopment of entire regions. — The “thin white line” of
\n\tcolonial authority in Africa was tested at several points but
\n\tnever broken. The newly invented machine-gun was formidable
\n\tinstrument of colonial power, but the devastating onslaughts of
\n\tdrought, disease, and rinderpest (cattle plague) in the 1890s were
\n\tno less harmful. — Oppressive policies inspired rebellions
\n\tagainst German colonial rule in SW Africa and German East Africa
\n\t(present day Tanzania). Both were crushed, giving Africans a
\n\tsobering foretaste of the ruthless methods they would see employed
\n\tin the Boer War (1899-1902) and the FirstWorld War (1914-1918).
\n\t— acephalous group -headless<\/p>\n
\tBetween the First and the Second World Wars , colonial governments
\n\taccepted more responsibility for the welfare of the African
\n\tcolonies than ever before. Establishing effective administrations
\n\ttacitly amounted to redefining the continent, however. The
\n\tconstantly changing institutions of ono-literate societies were set
\n\tin the written word of law; origin myths were transformed into
\n\ttribal histories; socio-economic distinctions made one tribe
\n\tbetter than another. — the colonizers claimed that they were
\n\tmerely confirming the significance of existing traditions,but
\n\ttraditions in Africa and elsewhere are merely accepted modes of
\n\tbehavior that currently function to the benefit of society as
\n\ta whole. they persist so long as their benefit is evident and fade
\n\taway when it is not. no tradition lasts for ever. change and
\n\tadaptability is the very essence of human existence– nowhere
\n\tmore so than in Africa. The paradox is painfully evident: by
\n\tcreating an image of Africa steeped in unchanging tradition, the
\n\tcolonizers condemned the continent to live in a reconstructed
\n\tmoment of its past, complete with natives in traditional dress,
\n\twild animals and pristine landscapes. The paradox could not stand
\n\tunresolved for ever, but it hindered development for decades.<\/p>\n
\tethnic thinking: the perception of unity as the inevitable
\n\toutcome of common origin<\/p>\n
\tEducation stimulates people “to want what they do not have” In
\n\tAfrica, those whose aptitude qualified them for education to
\n\tuniversity level studied abroad, where contact with political
\n\tactivists taught them to want independence for their countries.
\n\tTheir numbers were small, but the gulf that education opened up
\n\tbetween the elite and the majority of Africans was very large
\n\tindeed. —<\/p>\n
\tan urban population amounting to 20 per cent o the total is an
\n\taverage for the entire continent (the precise UN figure is 18.4
\n\tper cent)<\/p>\n
\tThe second world war foreshadowed the end of colonialism in Africa,
\n\tthough experts believed that decades of preparation would be
\n\trequired before self-government was merited. In the event,
\n\tnationalist pressure and unrest (such as the Mau Mau rebellion in
\n\tKenya), brought independence much sooner–long before the
\n\tproposed[posed standards of preparedness had been attained.<\/p>\n
\t— The Belgian Congo was among the least prepared of th nations
\n\tthat became independent in the 1960s. Chaos and rebellion erupted
\n\twithin days of the independence ceremonies. But the Congo was
\n\tstrategically important, and America’s meddling in the Congo’s
\n\taffairs typifies the manner in which African countries thus became
\n\tpawns in the Cold War. CIA agents planned to assassinate the
\n\tCongo’s first prime minister, the Soviet-leaning Patrice Lumumba,
\n\tand US support for Joseph Mobutu was designed to frustrate Soviet
\n\tambitions in the region. — The dreams and Africa becoming a
\n\tcontinent of peaceful democratic states quickly evaporated. More
\n\ttan seventy coups occurred in the first thirty years of
\n\tindependence. By the 1990s few states preserved even the vestiges
\n\tof democracy. One-party states, presidents-for-life and military
\n\trule became the norm; resources were squandered as th elite
\n\taccumulated wealth and the majority of Africans suffered.
\n\tNigeria an Rwanda exemplify the nightmare; South Africa preserves
\n\ta flickering hope of transforming dreams into reality. — People
\n\tlive behind a mask, which the winds of history
\n\toccasionally blow aside,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Created 02\/03\/2006 4:25 am Africa’s colonial boundaries were decided upon in Europe by negotiators with little consideration for local conditions. The boundaries cut through at least 177 ethnic “culture areas” dividing pre-existing economic an social units and distorting the development of entire regions. — The “thin white line” of colonial authority in Africa was tested […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","spay_email":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}