ColonizatioColonization of n of

AfricaAfricaCecil RhodesCecil Rhodes

ColonizationColonization::• The act of

colonizing; the establishment of colonies

• In Africa:In Africa:

• European powers setting up colonies to secure raw materials and markets for European products…

Africa: Post Berlin Africa: Post Berlin ConferenceConference18841884•Which two European Countries are the two most important colonial influences?

Tin TinTin Tin• Describe the

scene

• How are African’s portrayed?

• What is the intended audience?

This map of indigenous African empires is not exhaustive. It spans two thousands years from 500 B.C. to 1500 A.D., so these empires were not concurrent; some existed centuries apart. But it shows that, like with North America and perhaps even more so, sub-Saharan Africa was rich with vast and powerful empires long before the Europeans arrived. (One of the biggest, Ethiopia, was actually unusually and perhaps uniquely successful in resisting European imperialism.) The Songhai Empire, at its peak in the 14th century, was a global center of culture and learning, based in the still-famous mosques of Timbuktu.

What Africa might look like if it had never been colonizedHistorical counterfactuals aren't much more than informed speculation, but this one is still awfully interesting. Made by the Swedish artist Nikolaj Cyon, the map asks what Africa would look like today if colonialism had never happened. (Africa's present-day borders were determined largely by colonialism, which continues to create lots of very big problems.) Cyon drew these boundaries based on a study of political and tribal units in 1844, the eve of Europe's "scramble for Africa." He oriented it with south at the top to subvert the traditional Europe-on-top orientation. 

Berlin Conference Berlin Conference 18841884• German Chancellor Otto Von BismarckOtto Von Bismarck called Western Powers

together to negotiate European control over Africa.– 14 European Nations14 European Nations (US DID attend)– No African NationsNo African Nations present– Goals:

• UK: Cape to Cairo• Congo and Niger river mouths neutral

• Africa was thus divided into IRREGULAR European zonesIRREGULAR European zones of control– Ex: The Gambia/ France and UK

• Europeans grouped Africans from different ethnic groups– Ex: Rwanda/ Sudan

Leopold Sedar Senghor—Leopold Sedar Senghor—Snow in ParisSnow in Paris

• The white hands firing the rifles that crumbled our empires

• The hands that once whipped slaves, and that whipped you,

• The snowy white hands that slapped you,• The powdery white hands that Slapped me,• The firm hands that led me to loneliness and to hate,• The white hands that cut down the forests• Of straight, firm palmyra trees dominating Africa,• In the heart of Africa, like the Sara men,• Handsome as the first men born from your brown hands.• They torn down the black forest to build a railroad,• They cut down Africa’s forests to save Civilization,• Because they needed human raw materials.