The Azania Sankofa Project: The Historical Context Lesson I: Project LEAD Study Abroad to South Africa Facilitator: Samuel T. Livingston, PhD

The Azania Sankofa Project: The Historical Context

Lesson I: Project LEAD Study Abroad to South Africa

Facilitator: Samuel T. Livingston, PhD

Overview

– Introduction & Key Concepts

– The African Pre-Colonial Context

– The Evolution of South African Colonialism

– The Impact of South African Colonialism

– The Evolution of Apartheid

– The Anti-Colonial Struggle

– The Emergence of Modern South Africa

Key Concepts– Azania – a Zulu term for the land of South Africa – Sangoma – a traditional healer of the Ndebele Swazi, Xhosa

and Zulu cultures akin to the Okomfo of the Akan and Shaman of Native Americans.

– Sankofa – Asante Twi concept of the importance of the past. Literally, “go back and fetch it.”

– Ethnicity – group identity based on common national, cultural, religious, linguistic origin or background

– Race – a group of people who come from the same continent and share common genes, appearances, languages, history and culture

– Apartheid - the South African governmental policy of racial separation from 1948-1990

Key Concepts

– Nationalism - the goal of achieving an independent state or enhancing an ethnicity's life-chances

– integration - the goal of eradicating al barriers to racial coexistence

– Pan-Africanism - the goal of cooperation between African people to achieve political, economic, social and cultural unity.

– Cape - an extension of land jutting out into a body of water

– Transvaal- the 19th century Boer state around Pretoria

– Bantustan - an often too-small plot of land on which African ethnic groups were forced to live under the Grand Apartheid.

Azania: Pre-Colonial Context

– South Africa• KhoiSan, Kung Hunting

& Gathering People are the oldest population in South Africa (150-50,000 years ago)

• Bantu groups - iron-working, farming and cattle-raising groups settled the region from the North at time of the rise of Nile Valley civilization (@3000bce)

South Africa– Early developments

include iron smelting, terra cotta sculpture, and settled agriculture.

– Region jumped from stone to iron ages with few examples of bronze artifacts

– Bantu migrations carry knowledge of iron working and settled agriculture

Azania: Pre-Colonial Context • Ancient History

• Mining - The following timeline traces the history of African mining and metallurgy during the Paleolithic era:

• 43,000 BCE Ngengwa, Swaziland 300,000 artifacts found in a pit used to mine specularite (hematite), the ore that yields iron. The pit was dubbed Lion Cavern and over 100,000 lbs. were mined from it.

• 28,000 BCE Chowa, Zambia thousands of manganese/stone tools were found in a manganese mine; manganese was used predominantly for cosmetic and spiritual purposes

Gold-plated rhino, Mapungubwe


Ancient History– Mining

• 10,000 BCE Nile Valley (Upper Kemet/Lower Ta Nehasi) Badarian (Black Nilotes) work heavily in copper.

• 400 C.E. Castle Cavern, Swaziland it appears that forms of hematite were mined continuously until @ 400 C.E.

Mapungubwe, site of an ancient and medieval civilization (c.500-1400 CE)


Ancient History– Stone architecture

• Mwene Mutapa

• Mapungubwe

South Africa was populated from the North by Bantu groups related to the: – Ndebele

– Sotho Tswana

– Xhosa At right massive wall ruins

from Great Zimbabwe


– African ethnic Groups migrated and settled various parts of South Africa by 1000 BCE:

• KhoiSan/Kung Groups

• Ndebele

• Xhosa

• Zulu

• Swazi

Xhosa women in ceremonial clothing

Ndebele women in traditional clothing


Interactions between the groups of Azania

• Co-existence• Conflict

– Mfecane & Difecane

• The Rise of the Zulu Empire– Dingiswayo (1808-18)– T’shaka (1818-28)– Cetswayo (1873-84)

At right, the only historically-accurate drawing of T’Shaka, Nkosi of the Zulu

Review: The Pre-colonial Context1) Southern Africa was originally populated by two

groups of African people; identify them.

2) Review the age of the Chowa and Swaziland mining sites. How does their age alter Western notions of civilization in South Africa?

3) Identify four of the major ethnic groups in pre-colonial Southern Africa.

4) What was the Mfecane/Difecane? How did it transform South Africa’s history?

The Evolution of South African Colonialism

Europeans “discover” South Africa late– The Portuguese seek a short route to India & China

• Vasco de Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in 1497

– The First Europeans (Dutch) to settle Africa arrive in 1647

– British take control around 1800

– British-Dutch conflict in Boer War

– British maintain harsh Dutch policies toward black South Africans

• 1913 Native Land Acts restrict Africans to 13% of land

• 1948 Apartheid established

The Evolution of South African Colonialism

The Dutch Arrive in 1647 accidentally settling the Cape– A Substantial Dutch settlement in 1652– British gain control from Napoleonic

Wars Treaty• Brits abolish slavery (1834) but claim

best land• Restrict vote and pass Masters and

Servants Act

– Dutch Boers go on Great Trek to avoid British customs and freeing KhoiSan slaves (1837-38)

– Zulu under leaders like Cetswayo resist British control & Voertrekker incursions


Azania & the Scramble for Africa– Labor Issues: Coercion and Unionization

• 1913 Native Lands Act:– excludes Africans from 87% of South African land– Eight Major Bantustans created under this act:

• KwaZulu -Bophuthatswanaland• Lebowa -Venda• Swazi -Gazankulu• Basotho Owaqwa -Ciskei

• Need for miners in South African gold and diamond mines leads to low pay and the break up of families that can’t afford to move to the mines

• Trade union membership restricted to white workers• Race trumped free market capitalism and labor solidarity

The Impact of South African Colonialism

Germans follow Boer example in Herero Massacres (1904-06)

South Africa less important to Europe after Suez opens– Displacement of the

KhoiSan, Kung, Herero– Indians brought in by British– Coloreds emerge as a racial

class At right, a Nama woman

and map of Southern Africa by British colonizers.

Review: The Colonial Context

1) By the 19th century CE, Southern Africa was originally populated by three major racial groups; Identify them.

2) Relate the history of European colonization of South Africa.

3) What was the Mfecane/Difecane? How did it transform South Africa’s history?

4) What 3 effects did the Native Land Act of 1913 have on South Africa?

5) Compare and contrast the people depicted in the pictures at right: what historical and cultural factors help to explain why these groups conflicted in the 19th century? Which of their cultural traits may lead to reconciliation?

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.



The Evolution of Apartheid

– As South Africa became increasingly multi-racial, the white minority decided how power would be kept in their hands only to the exclusion of all others.

– The Answer was apartheid


Apartheid Formally Declared (1948) after the Afrikaner National Party is elected over the British South African party; – this was a move from moderate to extreme white

supremacy. • Internally, pass laws and petit apartheid kept social order in

place – Grand apartheid - formal separation of the races and ethnicities

into Bantustans and segregated communities – Petit apartheid- pass laws and customs that demonstrated a white

supremacist state similar to Jim Crow in the American South


South African Apartheid– African National Congress (1913)– Global anti-apartheid movement urges racial

liberalization (1950s)• Pan-African movement against Apartheid• European nations call for sanctions

– ANC pursues strikes & protests (1960s)– Government cracks down & jails leaders including

Nelson Mandela (1964)– By 1980s South Africa is last holdout in drive toward

racial justice


• Regionally, the Union of South Africa (USA) tries to intimidate its Black neighboring states (Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, North & South Rhodesia, etc.) into accepting a Regional economy dominated by the South African economic engine.

• The Republican Union of South Africa (1961) is declared in response to African liberation movements

The Evolution of Apartheid The “Frontline States:” Mozambique, Angola, & Guinea

– Portugal resists loss of colonial power– Calls these colonies “overseas provinces”– Revolts in all three by 1961– Military coup in Portugal creates government that grants

independence to these colonies– Even among colonizers, colonialism no longer considered an

appropriate relationship– 1985 Angola’s MPLA defeats South Africa, USA & Congolese

leads to South Africa’s loss of position as regional superpower

Anti-Colonial Struggles

– South Africa's Historic Struggle is classed into three main movements:

• the nationalists

• the integrationists

• and the Marxists,

• though they all wanted to abolish Apartheid and end White-only Rule

– Leaders of the ANC: Nelson, Winnie Mandela and Walter Sisulu

Anti-Colonial Struggles

Domestic resistance movements

• Pan-African Congress• African National Congress• Umkhonto we Sizwe• Joe Slovo & the Marxists

1976 - Black youth in Soweto and other Townships protest over the pass laws and being forced to learn in Afrikaans (Boer-Dutch)

Steve Biko, Azanian Black Power Activist; slain by the Apartheid government



Anti-Colonial Struggles From the 1960s to the early 1990s,

there was staunch resistance to South Africa’s Apartheid System – An international anti-Apartheid

movement – Continental Resistance– The Armed Struggle in the Frontline

States– In the African Diaspora

– ANC pursued political integration – Pan-African Congress, a Black

nation-state in a unified Africa– Inkatha - a Zulu group seeking end of

apartheid through alliance with the ANP

– Marxists - a communist South Africa in a global Socialist community

Modern South Africa Emerges

South Africa under pressure– South Africa a regional

economic power– Sanctions worked over time

despite strong economy– Ban against ANC lifted in 1990

by de Klerk; Mandela released from prison

– Truth & Reconciliation Commission created to heal wounds of 30 years of conflict

– Multi-racial elections held in 1994; the ANC takes the reins of governmental power



Review: Apartheid & the Anti-colonial Struggle

1) What effect did the Afrikaner National Party have on South Africa’s history?

2) What was going on globally when the ANP established Apartheid? Explain what this new policy meant for Azania.

3) Compare and contrast the African National Congress and the ANP in terms of their political goals.

4) Identify two major leaders of the ANC. Why was 1964-1990 a pivotal period?

5) What different and common goals did the anti-apartheid activists pursue?

Conclusion: South Africa Today Multi-racial elections held in

1994 leading to the ruling ANC today

– Nelson Mandela– Thabo Mbecki– Jacob Zuma

Blacks still struggle economically Whites own the vast majority of

wealth Land Reform remains a goal, but

not a reality for most Black Africans

The Possibility of Democracy inspires many Azanians today



Documents

The Azania Sankofa Project: The Historical Context Lesson I: Project LEAD Study Abroad to South Africa Facilitator: Samuel T. Livingston, PhD