Back in early African history, Europeans colonized and infiltrated African civilizations in order to make a profit and to be known as a superior nation. By doing this, European colonists messed up the traditional African lifestyle. Africans were willing to let the colonists join them, but the Europeans went too far when they took over governments and tried to rule over the Africans. This colonization led to many problems in Africa, that still affect modern day Africa. First of all, the problem can only be explained about where the colonists were located. According to the European Colonization map, it shows that France and Great Britain ruled most of the Northern Part of Africa. France and Great Britain ruled other parts of Africa in the South, but not nearly as much as up North. Meanwhile, Germany Portugal, and Belgium ruled most of the Southern part of Africa.
Now, to talk about the Government of Africa, Ill have to explain the two different types of governing. There was direct rule (French) and indirect rule (Great Britain).
The difference between these two different types of governing was that indirect rule was when a local chief or leader ruled the colony, but was used as just a messenger from a higher power of authority. In this case, the British. The British would make the laws for the ruler to enforce, and he would do it. In the case of direct rule, the country that colonized the country, ruled it. The French ruled their colonies in Africa and enforced their own rules, rather than let a local leader do it.
The Term Paper on Prevalence of One Party Rule in African States
... Africa was divided up between the colonial powers; France, Britain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Netherlands. Under colonial rule, the African ... of Africa, the colonists set up educational institutions and government infrastructure. Also, unlike the other African countries, ... a European past. Liberia was created through a private American enterprise to house freed African American ...
In African civilizations, indirect rule worked better for the Africans because they were able to keep their old traditions and not have to adapt to new ones. In the French colonies, Africans had to convert to French in order to be considered French. If they were considered French, then they could run for politics and be considered as an equal to a French person. This all leads to the main point of this essay, the conflicts between the countries. As you can see from the Conflict map and the European Colonization map, the independence of the countries took place after WWII. After the Africans fought in the war for the British and French, they decided that they wanted to be independent countries.
In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, African colonies rebelled and the rulers of the countries surrendered because they thought it wasnt worth a war just to keep a colony. So within those 20 years, Africa went through many changes, but because of this colonization, Africa does not have the potential economy it could have had, if the Europeans hadnt invaded. European colonization didnt only affect the economy of Africa, but also affected their way of living. The economy is very important to Africa because of their abundance of natural resources. If the Europeans had not colonized Africa, then the continent may be in a different state of living at this present time, and may be more technologically advanced because of it.
