MODERN AFRICAN HISTORYHONORS NON-WESTERN STUDIES

MR. TUMINO

Prentice Hall World History Textbook Readings

Chapter 12, section 2Chapter 16, section 2Chapter 23, sections 1-4

RESISTANCE TO COLONIAL RULE

Those who had lost their lands to Europeans sometimes squatted, or settled illegally, on European-owned plantations.

In cities, workers began to form forbidden labor unions.

Western-educated Africans criticized the injustice of imperial rule.

Socialism found a growing audience. In Kenya, the Kikuyu protested the loss of

their land, forced labor, heavy taxes, and required identification cards.

In Nigeria, Ibo women denounced British policies that threatened their rights and their economic role.

In South Africa, a vital nationalist movement demanded rights for black South Africans.

Opposition to imperialism grew among Africans. Resistance took many forms.

RISE OF NATIONALISM

During the 1920s, a movement known as Pan-Africanism emphasized the unity of Africans and people of African descent around the world.

Marcus Garvey preached “Africa for Africans” and demanded an end to colonial rule.

W.E.B. DuBois organized the first Pan-African Congress, which called for a charter of rights for Africans.

French-speaking writers in West Africa and the Caribbean expressed pride in their African roots through the négritude movement.

Senegalese poet Léopold Senghor celebrated Africa’s rich cultural heritage and later became Senegal’s first president.

THE COLONIAL LEGACY

After liberation, the pattern of economic dependence established during the colonial period continued.

During the colonial period, Europeans undermined Africa’s traditional political system.

Colonial doctors addressed some diseases, such as yellow fever, smallpox, and malaria. Colonial governments did not emphasize general health care, however.

At independence, African nations inherited borders drawn by colonial powers. These borders often caused immense problems.

Western imperialism had a complex and contradictory impact on Africa. Some changes brought real gains. Others had a destructive effect on African life that is felt down to the present.

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A GROWING SPIRIT OF NATIONALISM

Most were western educated. Leaders organized political parties, which published newspapers, held rallies, and mobilized support for independence.

After the war, most Europeans had had their fill of fighting.

In response to growing demands for independence, Britain and France introduced political reforms that would lead to independence.

Japanese victories in Asia shattered the West’s reputation as an unbeatable force.

Africans who fought for the Allies resented the discrimination and second-class status they returned to at home.

Nationalist LeadersThe Global SettingImpact of World War II

In 1945, the rising tide of nationalism was sweeping over European colonial empires. Around the world, liberation would follow this tide.

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ROUTES TO FREEDOM

Muslim Algerian nationalists used guerrilla warfare to win independence from France.

During eight years of fighting, hundreds of thousands of Algerians, and thousands of French, were killed.

In 1962, Algeria won independence.

Before World War II, Jomo Kenyatta became a spokesman for the Kikuyu, who had been displaced by white settlers.

Radical leaders turned to guerrilla warfare.

The British imprisoned Kenyatta and killed or imprisoned thousands of Kikuyu.

In 1963, Kenya won its independence.

Kwame Nkrumah tried to win independence for the British trading colony Gold Coast. He organized strikes and boycotts.

Nkrumah was imprisoned.In 1957, Gold Coast won independence.

Nkrumah named the new country Ghana, after the ancient West African empire.

ALGERIAKENYAGHANA

During the great liberation, each African nation had its own leaders and its own story.

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THE COLD WAR AND AFRICA

By supplying arms to rival governments, the superpowers boosted the power of the military in many countries and contributed to instability.

Cold War rivalries affected local conflicts within Africa. The Soviet Union and the United States supported rival groups in the liberation struggles.

Weapons supplied by the superpowers enabled rival clans, militias, or guerrilla forces to spread violence across many lands.

African nations emerged into a world dominated by rival blocs led by the United States and the Soviet Union.

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BARRIERS TO UNITY AND STABILITY

Once freedom was won, many Africans felt their first loyalty to their own ethnic group, not to a national government.

Civil wars, some of which were rooted in colonial history, erupted in many new nations.

Faced with divisions that threatened national

unity, many early leaders turned to a one-party system.

When bad government led to unrest, the military often seized power.

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ECONOMIC CHOICES

Lenders required developing nations to make tough economic reforms before extending new loans.

In the short term, these reforms increased unemployment and led to higher prices the poor could not pay.

Many governments kept food prices artificially low to satisfy poor city people. As a result, farmers used their land for export crops or produced only for themselves. Many governments neglected rural development in favor of industrial projects.

Governments pushed to grow more cash crops for export.

As a result, countries that once fed their people from their own land had to import food.

Many new nations chose socialism. Some nations set up mixed economies, with both private and state-run enterprises.

SOCIALISM OR CAPITALISM CASH CROPS OR FOOD

URBAN OR RURAL NEEDS THE DEBT CRISIS

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CRITICAL ISSUES

The AIDS epidemic spread rapidly across parts of Africa. In 1998,it was estimated that more than 21 million people were infected with the virus.

Once forests were cleared, heavy rains washed nutrients from the soil and destroyed its fertility.

The rising population put a staggering burden on Africa’s developing economies.

In the 1970s and 1980s, prolonged drought contributed to famine in parts of Africa.

POPULATION EXPLOSION DROUGHT AND FAMINE

DEFORESTATION AIDS

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POPULATION PYRAMIDS

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Kenya

Nigeria

South Africa

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Males Females

Males

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Population Pyramids

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DESERTIFICATION IN AFRICA

Desertification is the spread of desert areas.

Overgrazing and farming remove topsoil and speed up the process of desertification.

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OLD AND NEW PATTERNS

Messages of reform based on Islamic traditions and the call for social justice were welcomed by many Islamic Africans.

In some areas, it stimulated deeper religious commitment.

Christianity has grown since its introduction to Africa centuries ago. Christian churches often combine Christian and traditional African beliefs.

As men moved to cities, rural women took on the sole responsibility of providing for their children. Most constitutions promised women generous rights. In reality, most women’s lives continued to be ruled by traditional laws.

Urbanization contributed to the development of a larger national identity.

However, it weakened traditional cultures and undermined ethnic and kinship ties.

In Africa, as elsewhere, modernization disrupted old ways.

URBANIZATION WOMEN

CHRISTIANITY ISLAMIC REVIVAL

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PRESSURES FOR CHANGE IN NIGERIA

At independence, Nigeria drew up a constitution to protect various regional interests. The system did not work and ethnic rivalries increased. When Ibo leaders declared the independent state of Biafra, civil war broke out. By the time Biafra surrendered, almost a million people had died.

During the 1970s oil boom, Nigeria set up industries and borrowed heavily from the West.

Between 1960 and 1985, rural people flooded to the cities. While the cities grew, Nigeria ignored its farmers. Once a food exporter, Nigeria began importing expensive grain.

When oil prices fell, the economy almost collapsed.

During Nigeria’s debt crisis in the 1980s, General Ibrahim Babangida imposed harsh economic reforms to restore economic stability.

In 1993, elections were held, but Babangida and his military successors set aside election results and cracked down on critics.

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DICTATORSHIP IN CONGO

After World War II, Belgium was determined to keep the Congo and did nothing to prepare the colony for freedom.

In 1960, Belgium suddenly rushed the Congo to independence.

With some 200 ethnic groups and no sense of unity, the new nation quickly split apart.

Civil war raged for almost three years.

In 1965, Mobutu Sese Seko seized power and renamed the country Zaire.

For the next 30 years, Mobutu built an increasingly brutal dictatorship.

In the late 1990s, ethnic violence in neighboring countries spilled into Zaire. Mobutu was at last overthrown.Continuing power struggles within the country led to continuing violence.

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Tanzania’s first president, Julius Nyerere, sought to improve rural life, build a classless society, and create a self-reliant economy.

To carry out his programs, Nyerere embraced “African socialism.” Nyerere claimed that this system was based on African village traditions of cooperation and shared responsibility.

Under African socialism, rural farmers were encouraged to live in large villages and farm the land collectively. Under this arrangement, Nyerere believed farm output would increase.

Nyerere’s experiment did not work as planned. Many families had to be forcibly moved to the village collectives, farm output did not rise, and high oil prices, inflation, and a bloated bureaucracy plunged Tanzania into debt.

Nyerere’s successor, Ali Hassan Mwinyi moved Tanzania toward a market economy. These moves brought some improvement.

TANZANIA’S EXPERIMENT IN SOCIALISM3

WHAT CHALLENGES FACED ZIMBABWE?

In 1980, Southern Rhodesia became the nation of Zimbabwe. The new nation faced severe challenges after years of war:

International sanctions had damaged the economy. Droughts had caused problems. Recovery was slowed by a power struggle between nationalist leaders, Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo. When Mugabe prevailed and became president, he called for a one-party system and tolerated little opposition. In 2000, tensions over land ownership led to renewed violence.

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SOUTH AFRICA’S LONG STRUGGLE

In the late 1980s, President F. W. de Klerk abandoned apartheid, lifted the ban on the ANC, and freed Mandela. In 1994, Mandela was elected president in South Africa’s first multiracial elections. Mandela welcomed longtime political foes into his government.

From the beginning, black South Africans protested apartheid. In 1912, the African National Congress (ANC) was set up to oppose white domination. Nelson Mandela mobilized young South Africans to take part in acts of civil disobedience against apartheid laws. As protests continued, government violence increased.

In 1910, South Africa won self-rule from Britain. Over the next decades, the white minority government imposed apartheid, a system of racial laws which separated the races and kept the black majority in a subordinate position.

APARTHEID BLACK RESISTANCE TOWARD REFORM

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OTHER NATIONS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA

Portugal was unwilling to relinquish its colonies in Angola and Mozambique. In 1975,after fifteen years of fighting, Angola and Mozambique won independence. After independence, bitter civil wars raged, fueled by Cold War rivalries. The United States and South Africa saw the struggles in southern Africa as a threat because some of the liberation leaders were socialists. The end of the Cold War helped stop the conflict.

Instead of preparing the territory for independence, South Africa backed the oppressive regime run by the white minority.

By the 1960s, the Southwest African People’s Organization (SWAPO) turned to armed struggle to win independence.

The struggle became part of the Cold War, with the Soviet Union and Cuba lending their support to the independence movement.

When the Cold War ended, Namibia was finally able to win independence.

PORTUGUESE COLONIES

NAMIBIA

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OUTLOOK AND GAINS

In literature, film, and the arts, Africans made major contributions to global culture.

Africa has enormous potential for growth.

With free-market reforms, countries such as Ghana enjoyed economic growth.

Most African nations sought to improve health care and created family planning programs.

Governments recognized the profound effect population growth had on standards of living.

As governments set up more schools, literacy rates rose.

Universities trained a new generation of leaders.

A few countries promoted higher

education for women.

Despite many setbacks, African nations have made progress.

EDUCATION HEALTH CARE

ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY CULTURE

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