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TOPIC ONE (1)

ESTABLISHMENT OF COLONIALISM IN AFRICA
Background
In around 1750s, many European nations had gone industrial revolution. In this period, industrialization
started in Britain. Later on in the last quarter of 19 th century particularly around 1870s, many other
European nations such as Germany, Italy, Belgium, France and Netherlands and America had reached
an advanced stage of capitalism called monopoly capitalism. This event emerged from the
contradictions within industrial capitalism caused by political, social, economic and technological
advancement. The changes brought about many effects to imperialists such as Overproduction in
industrial sector, inadequate industrial raw materials, inadequate markets for selling industrial goods
and Overpopulation. Under this circumstance, the Europeans started acquiring colonies in Africa and
elsewhere so as to solve such problems. The Europeans believed that the land, labour, raw materials,
areas to invest capital, and areas for markets could cheaply be obtained in Africa.
However, the European nations did not come to Africa directly. They were preceded by the three
groups known as colonial agents, namely Explorers, Missionaries and Traders. These agents came to
safeguard the interests of the European capitalist nations. The work they did led to stiff competition
among the European nations leading to scramble for and partition of Africa in the 19th century.
Stages of colonisation or process of colonization
The colonization of Africa was not an overnight event, rather a slow process that was well organized.
The process of colonialism was fundamentally of three (3) main stages namely,
1. The first phase was the penetration of the agents of colonialism namely explorers, missionaries and
traders who are in other words referred to as the forerunners of colonialism or agents of industrial
capitalism
2. The second phase was the intensive scramble for and partition (division) of Africa amongst the
imperialist powers from Europe in particular. This time was characterized by rivalries and conflicts,
things which led to summon of the Berlin Conference (the Feast of the Beasts) from November
1884 to February 1885 under the then German Chancellor Edward Otto Von Bismarck to divide
African continent among the imperialists
3. The third phase was the establishment of colonial rule from 1880’s to 1900. This phase was
characterized by the establishment of company rule, establishment of colonial economy and
suppression of African resistances against the colonial rule.

THE SCRAMBLE FOR AND PARTITION OF AFRICA.

Scramble simply means fighting for something or struggle for something normally by many in order to
get it before others. The word partition means dividing something into small portion
Generally, the Scramble for Africa by the European powers was the process of fighting for annexing
colonies in Africa among the European capitalist nations, which took place in the second half of 19 th C.
On the other hand partition of Africa was the division of African continent among the European capitalist
nations in the last quarter of the 19th century. The scramble for and partition of Africa covered period
from 1880 to about 1900. It involved the occupation of the interior of Africa by European nations except
Ethiopia (Abyssinia) and Liberia which were not colonised in the whole continent. Scramble and
partition were characterised with quarrels and conflicts, things which led to the calling of Berlin
conference of 1884/1885
Scramble for and partition of Africa involved the great European powers such as Germany, France,
Britain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy and Spain.
This event later on led to the complete confiscation of African independence and sovereignty to the
European powers, a thing which was done during Berlin conference
Factors for the scramble for and partition of Africa.
There are two (2) main school of thoughts (views), which explain the motives (reasons) behind the
scramble for and partition of Africa among the European powers, namely

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i. Eurocentric school of thought. These were the ideas advanced by European scholars and
historians arguing that Europeans came to Africa in order to civilize Africans, spread
Christianity, and abolish slave trade and slavery. It combines social and political factors and
ignored economic motives
ii. Afro-centric school of thought. This idea was propounded by African scholars and believers
who cemented on the economic changes (industrial revolution) in Europe from 1870s up to
1900 leading to scramble for and partition of Africa. However, economic factors are
considered as the main causes of scramble for and partition of Africa
1. Economic factors
a) Industrial Revolution in Europe. This was the primary factor, which led to the scramble for and
partition of Africa and later on total colonization of Africa. The Industrial Revolution was the
drastic change in the industrial production system that firstly occurred in Britain in 1750. This
period was characterized by inventions of machines and mushrooming of industries in Europe.
The industrial revolution led to the construction of many industries in Europe something, which
led to industrial competition to acquire five (5) major capitalist demands such as raw materials,
areas for investment, cheap labour, areas to settle the surplus population and markets for the
European manufactured goods. All these demands led to the scramble for and partition of Africa
in order to obtain them, hence total colonialism.
b) Strategic reasons. The scramble for and colonization of Africa was also motivated by strategic
areas. Some areas were considered more attractive than others economically. Thus, the
scramble for and partition of Africa. Such areas included those which had potential minerals like
gold, diamond, and copper, areas which had accessibility to the interior, fertile soil and enough
people to supply labour power in the colonies
2. Social factors
a) European superiority. In this context, the Europeans claimed that Africans were colonised
because of European social superiority and complexity stemming from the Darwin view of the
survival for the fittest. That is to say that Europeans considered themselves as superior race
while the African one as inferior race. Hence ratification of the theory to rule others (Africans).
b) Expansion of European civilization. Some European scholars argue that the scramble for and
partition of Africa was for civilizing Africans who were considered to be barbaric. Europeans
considered African content as dark since it practiced awkward culture such as polygamy, female
genital mutilation, killing of the newly born twin babies and albinos and giving human sacrifices.
The Europeans also considered Africans as illiterate. They wanted to enlighten them
c) Abolition of slave trade and slavery. By the 19 th century Africa was still practicing human
trafficking. This was seen by Europeans as an evil against the will of God and illegal activity
against humanity. Therefore, Europeans like France, came with the ideas of fraternity, equality
and liberty of human beings. Britain became the first to campaign the abolition of slave trade.
However the aim of terminating slave trade was to exploit African resources in form of human
labour and material resources.
d) The spread of Christianity. This notion originated from the humanitarians in the 19 th century. The
evangelical doctrines were spread to parts of West Africa, North and West Africa to counter
attack the Islamic faith and African traditional worshiping (paganism). A good example, was the
Gold Coast where by European missionaries established the Salem system for African converts.
3. Political factors
a) Prestigious reasons. Prestige means having high status, respect before others. In this context,
European powers claimed that possessing many colonies was a sign of greatness and respect
for a nation. Thus, the nation’s might and power was determined by a number of colonies a
nation possessed in overseas territories. The more colonies one country had, the more
powerful it was considered. For example, it is claimed that Germany, Italy and Belgium kings
struggled for colonies for national prestige.
b) State unification and rise of nationalism; before 1850, Germany and Italy were young nations
with more sovereign political states each under with its political mandate. Later on between
1860s and 1870s these states were unified by their leaders hence became strong politically
and economically. Germany was under King William Kaizer I who united more 300 small

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sovereign states and Italy under Victor Emmanuel. Therefore, these nations wanted to show
their maturity and strengths before other powers like France and Britain to scramble for
overseas territories
c) European balance of power. The issue of balance of power was considered to be one amongst
the main reasons for the scramble for and partition of Africa. Following the European
nationalism. For example, German nationalism in 1870’s led to the need of balance of power.
For example after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 to 1871, France lost its two potential
provinces of Alsace and Larraine to Germany. As the result, France looked for Tunisia and
Morocco in Africa as a way of balancing the power, hence the scramble for and partition of
Africa.
d) Russian-Turkish incidence of 1877 to1878. In this period, Russia had interest to expand her
empire in Turkish territories. This caused quarrels between two powers. In 1878, the two
powers agreed that there should not be any expansion within Europe. This decision arouse the
interest of European powers to look for other territories abroad. For example, France, Britain,
Germany and Italy expanded to Africa, Far East and America while Russia expanded to central
Asia.
e) The role of colonial agents particularly explorers. These colonial agents were sent by their
home governments to search information about African ethnic groups and economic
potentialities such as presence of mountains water bodies and natural virgin land. For example,
British rushed to Zambia and Zimbabwe due to the work of John Moffatt. France rushed to
Congo due to work of Pierre de Brazza. German rushed in Tanganyika due to the work of Carl
Peters
Factors which made some areas in Africa to experience more intensive scramble than others.
a. Easy accessibility to the interior. Areas like Egypt and the Nile valley and the course of Congo
and Niger basins have easy access to the interior since the areas have big rivers, which made
navigation easier during the colonial era. European powers which showed much interest here
included Portugal, Belgium and France.
b. Presence of fertile land: Those areas which had proven soil fertility ensured both growth and
development of agriculture for cash crops such as palm oil, cotton, coffee, sisal and rubber.
Some of these areas were Shire highlands in Malawi, Kikuyu highlands in Kenya and
Mozambique. Other areas with fertility soil were Niger basin, Congo basin and Nile valley.
c. Presence of mineral deposits: Those areas, which were naturally endowed with minerals such
as gold, diamond and copper, experienced more scramble than others. These areas were
essential for the provision of raw materials to feed their hungry industries. For example, Angola,
Nigeria, Gold coast, (Ghana) and Congo (DRC) attracted capitalists like Belgium, Britain,
France and Portuguese.
d. Areas with high population. Those areas, which had dense population, were mostly preferred
because they ensured constant supply of labour. The dense population also acted as the
source of market for finished goods from Europe. Those areas included Cameroon, Senegal,
Gold coast, Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria. The powers involved include Germany, France and
Britain.
e. Presence of foreign agents. Some areas that had been visited by colonial agents such as
missionaries and traders prior to colonial period attracted much attention of scramble. For
example, in Buganda under Henry Morton Stanley, in Congo by French explorer called Pierre
de Brazza and Cecil Rhodes in South Africa
f. Availability of thick forests and animal products. Thick forests attracted Europeans in order to
obtain materials like timbers for finished goods. For example Congo forest and some parts of
Tanzania attracted the foreigners. Also availability of animal products such as skins and horns
provided European industries with raw materials for producing finished goods such as glue,
shoes, bags, and belt and body glycerine.

Some parts of Africa that experienced intensive scramble

a) Egypt and Nile valley. The powers involved were Britain and France with the control of Suez
Canal. French was the first to contact with Egypt in 1798. This intention simulated British

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occupation of Egypt since it could make them benefit from the canal as it was a shortcut and
gateway to the British colonies in India and Far East through Red Sea. In 1859-1869, French
constructed the Suez Canal alone, therefore, never wanted the Suez to get lost into hands of
Britain. In 1882, British managed to control Egypt since France had political problems at home. This
crisis between Britain and France over the control of Egypt and Nile valley became to be known as
Egyptian Question of 1880s. The Suez Canal route became to be known as the British Lifeline
Why did Egypt experience stiff scramble between France and Britain?
i. Possession of substantial population, which could provide cheap labour and market in the
capitalist investments. Cheap labour in Egypt was expected to maximize profit
ii. Egypt had the Nile River served for Agricultural purpose in which both food for industrial workers
and raw-materials for European industries could be easily obtained. Above all, Nile River would
serve for navigation purposes.
iii. Egypt served as attraction to tourists due to its historical significances such as the presence of
pyramids of king Pharaoh in which many people were attracted to visit them. It was expected to
be of great benefits.
iv. The presence of Suez Canal which acted as gate way and short cut to British colonies in Asia
v. Egypt was the stepping stone towards controlling other colonies. For example, by occupying
Egypt and Nile valley big powers like French and British could control Sudan and Uganda which
are the sources of Nile River.
vi. The place is regarded as the ancient place of different European civilizations like Greeks,
Romans and many others passed here. Hence taking this area meant that the given powers
were expected to learn many things to them.
vii. Technological background. This is because different technological discoveries were made in
Egypt. Also various scientists who discovered different discoveries originated from Egypt. Some
technologies included discovery of calendar and numeracies, iron technology and
mummification. This area provided a forum through which European regarded it as strategic
area.
b) Niger Delta. This area lay in the availability of palm oil and navigation potentialities. British, French
and Germany had the interest in the region. The British lord George Tubman Goldie declared wars
against French in 1882. This situation proclaimed the Germany protectorate over Togo, Cameroon
and Namibia. This necessitated the call for Berlin conference by German Edward Otto von
Bismarck.
c) Congo Basin. This area was scrambled by Belgium, Britain, France and Portugal because of its
navigation. Each of the capitalist nations wanted to use the river to get into interior of Africa since
there were no roads and railways to link coastal and interior parts of Africa. There was also
availability of good soil for rubber production and immense mineral resources like copper. Initially,
Congo was the British sphere of influence. In 1876 king Leopold II of Belgium became interested
with the company called International African Association (IAA) through Henry Stanley, the
explorer. It was formed in 1879 aiming to abolish slave trade in the region and open up research
centres in Africa. However, in 1882 French claimed Congo through signing treaties with chief
Makoko through De Brazza. The treaty placed Makoko’s territory under French. This caused enmity
between king Leopold II and de Brazza. Hence necessity for the call of Berlin conference
d) River Zambezi and central Africa. Central Africa by then comprised of Nyasaland, Zimbabwe,
Zambia, Mozambique and Angola. Therefore, river Zambezi was scrambled for by British and
Portuguese. The Portuguese had already established themselves in Mozambique and Angola
before the 1880s scramble time. When the scramble started Portuguese developed an ambition to
connect the whole south-central Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Angola
and Mozambique. In Zambia and Zimbabwe British under the representative called Cecil Rhodes
and his companions like Charles Rudd, François Coillard and Robert Moffatt had signed treaties
with local chiefs under BSACo. This caused the clashes over Zambezi basin. However, the conflicts
were resolved through the Anglo-Portuguese Agreement of 1891
e) South Africa. This area was scrambled for by British and Dutch as they were interested over the
cape of South Africa. Between 1780s and 1840s British began to show the interest in colonizing the
cape because they wanted to make it their military base to defend their interest in India, they

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wanted to use the cape as the gate way to the interior part of northern South Africa because it had
good harbours, they wanted to control trade at the cape.
Later on this caused the Boer Trek of 1830s-1840s. From the 1860s onwards, British wanted to control
diamond and gold mines discovered by Boers in Transvaal and free orange state. This situation led to
the emergence of two Anglo-Boers wars. The first being 1880-1881, and the second being 1899-1902
f) East Africa. This area covered the territories of Tanganyika, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda
and the islands of Zanzibar. Powers involved: British and Germany. The reasons to scramble for
East Africa include:
 Presence of good physical features like mount Kilimanjaro and Kenya, lakes Victoria and
Turkana
 British wanted to control Uganda as it was the source of Nile River. British claimed that if
Germany controlled Uganda would divert Nile River and turn Egypt into desert.
 British wanted to control east African trade using Kenya and Zanzibar
 Germany also wanted to take the whole east African since had already signed treaties with local
chiefs like KABAKA MWANGA OF BUGANDA in 1889 and that of Chief Mangungo of
Musovero in Kilosa, Morogoro Tanzania in 1884. The work was under Carl peters, using the
Arab translator called RAMAZAN. The treaty between Mangungo and Carl Peters was known
as Treaty of Eternal Friendship. This was under the Germany colonization society.
 Moreover, British and Germans wanted to stop Belgium from controlling the areas from the east
African coast to the Congo basin from 1878 to 1889. All these events forced the two powers
enter into clashes to protect the area of east Africa.

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Areas that experienced intensive scramble in Africa

THE BERLIN CONFERENCE OF 1884/1885
The Berlin Conference was the imperialistic meeting, which was held in Berlin, the capital city of
Germany aiming to divide Africa continent peacefully among the capitalist nations. It was held from
Sunday, 15 November, 1884 up to Thursday, 26 th of February, 1885 under the leadership of the
Germany Chancellor Edward Otto Von Bismarck. Bismarck ruled Germany until 1898. The conference
was firstly proposed by Portugal due to its claims over Congo and West Africa. It was attended by 14
signatories namely Austria-Hungary, Belgium, France, Britain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Netherlands,
Spain, Turkey (Ottoman empire), Russia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and United States of America.
Africa was not represented in the Conference.
Nevertheless, Denmark and the United States of America attended the conference as observers only
since they had no sphere of influence and never involved in the scramble for Africa. Also Netherlands
attended the meeting but never got an area of influence in Africa after concluding the resolutions.
NOTE: Berlin conference had different names due to different reasons:
The first was West Africa Berlin conference, it was named so since it was held in order to solve the
scramble between Germany and British over the Niger Delta in 1882 in West Africa.
Secondary, Congo Berlin Conference because king Leopold II of Belgium was the first European
power to request for call of conference in claiming Congo Empire as his territory or protectorate over
the Congo basin against Britain and France

Events that led to Berlin Conference of 1884/5

The imperialist activities of scramble for Africa among the European powers for a long time brought
about the everlasting conflicts which brought about a need to divide African content peacefully. The
following were the events which led to the holding of the Berlin Conference:-
a) Anglo-French conflict over occupation of Egypt due to its strategic nature. British wanted to control
Suez Canal as it was the short route to India. British wanted to link Uganda to Egypt with railway
from the Cape of Good Hope to Cairo-Egypt. This idea was proposed by Sir Cecil Rhodes. On the
other hand French wanted to establish an East-West empire from Dakar in Senegal via central
Africa to the Red Sea and Sudan to Uganda and Kenya. This caused a lot of quarrels. At the end in
1898, the two powers met at a place called FASHODA, in Sudan where the military generals of
both sides adopted diplomatic approach to end the conflicts. This is what was called FASHODA
INCIDENT, which was the climax or end of the disputes between French and British over the
control of east African territory in 1898. This incident sometimes is known Fashoda Crisis.
b) Conflicts over Congo basin among Belgium, France, Portugal and Britain. Belgium was the first to
operate in Congo with the presence of King Leopold II of Belgium under the representative Morton
Stanley. This annoyed various European powers and pulled forward their attention. For example,
France in 1879, sent the explorer Savorgnan Pierre de Brazza in the river Congo. British and
Portuguese became angered about de Brazza also. This situation also angered France and
Germany too, a thing that increased the possibility of the occurrence of war. Therefore, Berlin
conference was a solution.
c) British and French competition over the Niger valley. In 1879 France began constructing the railway
from Dakar to join Senegal and the Niger valley to widen market control in West Africa. The
conflicts over West Africa made Bismarck proclaiming German control over Togo, Cameroon, and
South West Africa. All these rivalries indicated the outbreak of war, hence the call of Berlin
conference to rescue the situation.
NOTE:
The Berlin conference paved the way to the colonization of African continent through the
introduction of the principle of effective occupation of colonies and partition of African continent
among the European powers peacefully.

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Imperialist representatives in Berlin conference discussing about the partition of Africa

Why was the Berlin Conference held in Germany?
1. Germany unification made Germany the most powerful and influential nation, not only in Europe but
also in the world by 1870s.
2. German industrialization which made Germany to be in need of colonies for source of raw-materials
and areas for investment. That is why Germany responded to the request of Portugal as quickly as
possible in order to serve German demands
3. The role and personality of Chancellor Edward Otto Von Bismarck. He was very ambitious leader
who wanted recognition by other European leaders. so, he called the Berlin conference to show his
ability and prestige
4. The hostility between France and Germany. The conflict is rooted from the Franco-Prussian war of
1870-1871. Germany summoned the conference in order to countercheck the French revenge
movement and expansionism in Africa.
5. German is at the central part of Europe. This is different from Portugal and Spain which are in
southern west Europe and Britain which is in North West Europe. This served the cost in term of
finance and time
6. The request of Portugal for the call of the Berlin conference. Portugal was the first country to
request European powers to call Berlin conference in order to protect his Congo territory.
Therefore, Bismarck responded immediately to fulfil his demands
The objectives of the Berlin Conference of 1884 to 1885.
1. The first and foremost objective of the Conference was to divide Africa amongst imperialist powers
peacefully because the process of scramble and partition of Africa generated hatred/hostility
amongst themselves.
2. Portugal’s request for the conference in order to check for its claims in the Congo Basin and West
Africa, thus the request by Portugal was one of the agenda which necessitated the summon of the
conference in 1884.
3. To abolish slave trade and slavery in Africa and establish the so-called legitimate trade.
4. It was called in order to discuss the European balance of power amongst the European nations.
5. Bismarck aimed at intervening the French hostilities, after its defeat during the Franco-Prussian war
of 1870/71
6. To redefine the spheres of influence so that European nations should not claim them again. For
example, Congo was legally given to king Leopold II of Belgium and became his protectorate

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7. To discuss and settle the existing territorial disputes over the Congo and Niger basins as well as
other parts of African continent.
8. To discuss the issue of European balance of power. Those powers which had few colonies wanted
to have more colonies in Africa as other powers like Britain and France for balance of power. This
was mostly claimed by Germany, Italy and Portugal which had few colonies.
9. To avoid military confrontation among the imperialist powers that came in after the joining of
Germany as a late comer in the process when he took over colonies in Togo, Cameroon, South
west Africa (Namibia) and what came to be known as Germany East Africa the present Tanzania,
Burundi and Rwanda.
The terms/agreement/ principles/resolutions reached during the Berlin Conference 1884 – 1885.
i. The Congo Free State (Zaire) of king Leopold of Belgium had to be confirmed as the private
property of king Leopold II and it would finally become the Belgian colony.
ii. Freedom of navigation. The Niger River and Congo basin should be free for trade and
navigation to all imperialist nations. However, the administrative power of Congo basin was left
to king Leopold II and the river Niger basin was under Britain. The basins were made
International Commercial Highway
iii. They agreed that strong and sophisticated military weapons should be prohibited to be brought
in Africa.
iv. They allowed light weapons to be used in Africa. This was to maintain security in the colonies
v. They agreed that effective occupation should be implemented by the imperialist nations. This
was through setting Administrators such as judges and clerks, and military institutions in the
colonies who were to supervise tasks of colonial exploitation. This had to be associated with
the construction of transport networks in order to annex natural resources
vi. The principle of non-collaboration. Capitalists agreed that in case of the resistance by Africans
to the colonial occupation, no any European country should give help to the Africans to fight
fellow European.
vii. They agreed that all colonial powers should take initiative measure to abolish slave trade and
slavery in their colonies and to allow free access to the colonial agents in the interior as to
campaign against slave trade and spread civilization in the interior.
viii. Principle of peaceful resolution of conflict. The Europeans agreed that in case of any disputes
among the imperialist powers they should solve it peacefully without the use of force
ix. Principle of notification. It was agreed that if a nation occupies a coastal area would have to
inform other signatory powers to avoid misunderstandings or coalitions another colonial master.
x. Principle of notification, it was agreed that any power requiring any part of Africa was supposed
to inform another power in order to escape misunderstanding among the powers.
xi. The principle of considering prior Berlin conference treaties.it was agreed that areas in Africa
already proclaimed as protectorate by European nations before conference should remain in
their hands. For example, Congo under king Leopold II and those territories which Germany
had annexed like Togo, South West Africa (Namibia) and Tanganyika as well as British treaties
in Zimbabwe under John Moffatt.
xii. It was agreed that there should be the protection of colonial agents from attack particularly
missionaries who had the special duty of civilising Africans through western religious activities
and education

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European colonial possessions in Africa after the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885

The effects of the Berlin Conference of 1884/5 on Africa.
1. It partitioned Africa amongst the European nations into the colonial possessions and fixed
boundaries in their interests. For instance, Britain got 27 colonies, France got 12 colonies,
Germany got 9 colonies and Belgium got 2 colonies.
2. Loss of Africa’s independence and sovereignty to the European nations, which established colonial
rule.
3. Abolition of slave trade and the introduction of legitimate trade, which was of course beneficial to
the imperialist powers.
4. Much suffering amongst African people under the colonial administration especially when they
(Africans) resisted against colonialism.
5. Deviding the ethnic groups in Africa into separate boundaries something, which implanted the spirit
of disunity amongst them. For example, the Makonde in Mozambique and Tanganyika, the Luo in
Kenya and Tanzania and the Maasai in Kenya and Tanzania
6. Preparing grounds for the outbreak of the First World War (1914 - 1918) and the Second World
War (1939 - 1945) because the conference did not satisfy the ambitions and interests of some
nations, which is dissatisfaction in territorial arrangements in Africa. For example, Germany was not
satisfied by the conference for other powers like Britain got the Lion’s share.
7. European nations introduced new systems of administration in Africa. The German and British
employed direct rule and indirect rule respectively in their colonies, while the French and the
Portuguese used the assimilation and later on association policy to administer their colonies in
Africa.
8. The Berlin conference marked the beginning of colonialism in Africa. Many European powers took
control of various parts of Africa, forcing African to work for them.
9. It led to the introduction of foreign European languages in Africa to ease colonial administration in
the colonies. For example, Francophone the French-speaking countries such as Senegal, Mali,

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Ivory Coast and Benin. Anglophone (English-speaking) countries such as Kenya, Zimbabwe,
Zambia, Ghana, and Nigeria and Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) countries such as Angola,
Guinea Bissau and Mozambique.
Assessment or evaluation of the Berlin Conference
i. Although Congo basin and Niger basin were declared free trade zone for all signatories, few
dominated the power. For Leopold II Congo and Britain of Niger basin set up monopolistic barriers
that excluded others as they considered them as their protectorate.
ii. Although the abolition of slave trade was agreed by all imperialist powers in during the Berlin
conference, few European powers took active role while others like France and Portugal being
neutral.
iii. Although European powers managed to divide the African continent, Africans were not
represented. This later led to the total loss of independence in the hands of colonial masters.
Hence official colonization
iv. The berlin conference introduced effective control for total colonization of Africa during the
conference of 1884-1885. But this was not achieved until the period between 1900 and 1920
v. Although Europeans achieved to divide African content among the imperialist powers, other
territories were not clearly marked or defined until the bilateral agreements were conducted later.
For example, in east Africa the treaties include Anglo-German treaties of 1886 and 1890
respectively. Anglo-French treaty of 1891 over Egypt, Anglo-Portuguese treaty of 1891 over
central Africa in Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
vi. Africans inherited political boundaries created by berlin conference, but these boundaries were
created without considering the backgrounds of ethnic groups. Some communities were divided
into two countries or regions. For example, Maasai were divide n Tanzania and Kenya, Luo in
Uganda and Tanzania, Makonde in Tanzania and Mozambique. The poor demarcation of
boundaries have also caused border conflicts between the African neighbouring nations like that t
of Uganda and Tanzania in 1978/79 (Kagera war) at Mutukula.
THE PROCESS OF SCRAMBLE FOR AND PARTITION OF EAST AFRICA (1884-1890)
The scramble for and partition of East Africa (Tanganyika, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the
islands of Zanzibar) involved three powers of Germany, Britain and Sultan of Zanzibar. It took place
between1884 and 1890. It was completed into two (2) agreements or treaties which are described
below
The Anglo-German (Delimitation) agreement of 1886.
This was the first agreement between Britain, Germany and the sultan of Zanzibar. The reason for this
agreement was Germany’s recognition of Carl Peters’ treaties. On arriving back in Berlin from East
Africa in February 5th 1885, Carl Peters presented his treaties to Chancellor Bismarck and King Kaizer
William. Kaizer granted him the imperial charter. The area was by then to come under the German
colonization Society. The society came to be known as German East African Company. The Germany
recognition of Carl Peters’ treaties threatened Britain’s interests and provoked the Sultan who protested
and appealed to Britain for intervention. Another reason is that the British and German companies
interfered with each other, thus causing rivalry. The agreement was held in mid-October in London, UK
between the officials in charge of colonial affairs of German Dr Fredrick Kraul and British sir Percy
Anderson.
The terms of the Delimitation Treaty of 1886
a) The Sultan’s spheres would be Zanzibar, Pemba, Lamu, Kismayo, Pate, Mafia, Bravo, Merka,
Mogadishu and the 10 miles coastal strip on the Tanganyika mainland.
b) The German spheres of influence would be; the present day Tanganyika, the present day Dar –
es-Salaam and Witu, the harbour on the coast of eastern coast of Kenya.
c) Britain part would be roughly the today’s Kenya. But Uganda was not recognised to any power.

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East Africa after the Delimitation Treaty of 1886

The Anglo-German agreement of 1890 (Helgoland Treaty).
This was the second agreement between the two powers; German and British. The sultan of Zanzibar
was not involved because he proved to be powerless to both Germany and Britain. However, the 1886
Anglo-German treaty did not complete the partition of east Africa. There was a need to call another
agreement of 1890 due to the following reasons.
 The spheres of Germany on western part of Tanganyika such as Rwanda and Burundi were not
clearly fixed
 The western part of Kenya as the territory of British was also no fixed well.
 Kenya was not clearly defined since it was share by two powers. For example, Witu in the coast
of Kenya was recognised to Germany while the rest costal parts like Lamu, Mombasa were under
sultan of Zanzibar
 The question of Uganda. Uganda which was the sphere of British was not recognised to neither
British nor Germany. This caused high competition between Germany and Britain over Uganda.
Why Uganda experienced stiff competition?
a. Good soil fertility
b. High population
c. Karl Peters had already been in Uganda to make treaties for German colonization with
Kabaka Mwanga
d. Uganda was the source of Nile valley, therefore Britain wanted to protect valley through
controlling Uganda

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e. Religious conflicts between Christians and Muslims, and traditional believers under Kabaka
Mwanga in 1890. This caused massive killing of missionaries and Christians. For white
fathers mission appealed to Germany government while the Anglican missionaries requested
British government to colonize Uganda in order to rescue the issue
Terms of the Helgoland Treaty
a) British spheres would be Zanzibar (1890) Kenya (1894) and Uganda (1894). This area became to
be known as British East Africa.
b) German sphere would be Tanganyika and an island in the North Sea called HELGOLAND in
German, which was exchanged with Witu. That is why this agreement is sometimes referred to as
the Helgoland Treaty of 1890 in which Germany gave up the claims to Witu, Rwanda and
Burundi. The area became to be known as German East Africa.
c) The sultan of Zanzibar would be given 200000 pounds as compensation for losing east African
coastal spheres such as Lamu, Pate, Kismayu

East Africa after the Helgoland Treaty of 1890

Effects of scramble for and partition of east Africa

a. Creation of boundaries that are still used by three countries of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda
b. The end of supremacy and fame of the sultanate in Zanzibar since his spheres were shared by
Germany and Britain
c. East Africa was put under colonial exploitation through effective colonization

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d. British got the Nile valley as it was her prior interest to control it from Uganda via Sudan to
Egypt
e. The war that would occur in east Africa due to scramble among British, German and sultan was
solved during the 1890 Anglo-German agreement
f. Eruption of border conflicts due to poor demarcation of colonial boundaries after independence.
For example Kenya vs Tanzania in Namanga border, Tanzania and Uganda in 1978-79
g. Exposure of east Africa to external capitalist system. For example after partition of east Africa
in 1890, Dar es Salaam and Mombasa were made the main ports of colonizers linking the
interior of east Africa with railways to transport raw materials from interior to the coast for
shipment in Europe.

ESTABLISHMENT OF COLONIAL RULE IN AFRICA

Immediately after the Berlin Conference on 26th February 1885, which partitioned African continent, the
European powers managed to establish their rule and control over Africans. The establishment of
control was made effective between 1885 and 1912 when African countries became under the colonial
rulers.
Colonialism is a situation where by a powerfully or strong nation invades and dominates a weak nation
in all aspects of life. It can also refer to the direct subordination of one country by another country,
politically, socially and economically with the aim of exploiting her resources For example, European
nations such as Britain, France, Portugal, Belgium, Italy and Germany invaded and dominated Africans
the weak nations in the 19th century. The country, which dominates the other, is known as a
COLONIZER whilst those, which are colonized, are known as COLONIES. The people who dominate
the weak nations are known as COLONIALISTS
By and large, colonialism was not accepted in Africa with open arms, thus, it was not easy to establish
colonial rule in Africa, hence various techniques/tactics were used to establish colonial rule in Africa.
Techniques/tactics/approaches used by colonialists to establish colonial rule in Africa
a. Use of diplomacy. This was practically done through signing agreements or treaties between
African chiefs and capitalist representatives. The treaties signed were bogus; hence, many African
chiefs lost power and independence. Example Carl Peters signed a treaty with Chief Mangungo of
Msovero in Morogoro in 1884; Johnson Hurry signed a treaty in 1900 with Daudi Chwa of Buganda,
chief Lobengula of Ndebele signed treaties with Charles Rudd of BSACo in Zimbabwe and Pierre
De Brazza with chief Makoko in central Africa in Congo, and Italians with Menelik II in Ethiopia.
b. Gunboat diplomacy. This was done through infringing through intimidation or fear among the
Africans in order to force them accept the white mission. This technique was mostly used in the
areas where chiefs seemed to be reluctant to offer their areas to the colonialists. The colonialists
exposed military weapons and conducted military exercise in public. They also publicly hanged
Africans to death like that of Bwana Heri and Omar bin Makunganya at the coast of Tanganyika.
For example, Sultan of Zanzibar surrendered a treat to Carl Peter of German because that
technique, Captain Fredrick Lugard in Nigeria used the same approach against Jaja of Opobo.
c. Military conquest. The colonial powers used military attack in areas where diplomacy failed and
where Africans resisted against the colonial rule; such tactics were used to suppress Chief
Mkwavinyika of the Hehe (1891-1898). Mkwawa hanged himself in June 1898 when he was only
left with his two servants. Sergeant Merkel of German cut off Mkwawa’s head and dispatched it to
Germany for Governor Von Liebert when he had offered 5,000 rupees to the person who would
bring him Mkwawa’s head. The skull was finally returned to Tanganyika on 9 th July 1954. Othet
chiefs who were conquered were Isike (Nyamwezi), Kabalenga (Bunyoro), Koitolel Arap Samoei
(Nandi). Another was seen in Madagascar when French removed from the power Queen
Ranavalona III and her Prime Minister Rinilaiarivony and exiled them to Algeria. French also fought
against Samori Toure of Mandinka from 1891 to 1898. Being defeated he was captured and exiled
to Gabon where he died in 1900

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Colonial soldiers invading (conquering) Africa

d. Collaboration. This was the colonial system of administration that created alliances between groups
of Africans with the colonial masters against other African groups. Such a situation occurred when
two (2) African communities were in conflicts. Thus, the weaker one cooperated with Europeans in
order to get protection and support against its enemy. Examples of the African rulers who used
collaboration method were Mangi Mandara of Moshi who cooperated with Germans against Mangi
Sina of Kibosho in 1891, Chief Merere of Sangu and Bena who collaborated with the Germans
against Mkwawa of the Hehe, Shona with British versus Ndebele in Zimbabwe, Herero with
Germans versus Nama in Namibia, Kabaka Mwanga of Buganda with British versus Mukama
Kabarega of Bunyoro, Fante with British versus Asante empire in Ghana.
e. Ideological methods/tools. In this tactic, the colonialists introduced western ideologies to soften the
hearts and minds of Africans to accept colonialism. Those ideological tools include Christian
religion, education, racism and racialism
Christian religion. For example, the Christian missionaries introduced Christianity, which went
hand in hand with the provision of colonial education, which was of course offered, to the sons and
daughters of African chiefs only. As a result, those who were converted to Christians became loyal
to the colonialists, hence colonialism. That’s why some historians argue that “colonialism came with
two armed weapons one in each hand, the Bible in the left was presented first and the Gun later”
Education. This was introduced by colonialists to make or prepare Africans as agents of colonial
administrative subordinates such as chiefs, clerks and foremen.
Racism and racialism. This was the ideology, which internalized the belief that a certain race was
superior to other races. The African black colour was insulted to be the colour of the devil, which
was always painted in black colour, and angels in white colour as Europeans are. This brought
inferiority complex amongst African. Both racism and racialism were used to legalize European
domination over Africans.
f. Administrative techniques. These were different colonial administrative systems used by
colonialists in order to achieve their targeted goal by putting Africans under their control. For
example, Britain used indirect rule in Nigeria, Uganda and Ghana in order to do away with African
resistances, France used assimilation and later on association policies to administer its colonies.
Germany used direct rule in its colonies of Tanganyika, Togo, Cameroon and Namibia
g. Divide and rule approach. Here colonizers divided and ruled Africans on tribal lines, economic lines,
religious lines. For example in Uganda, the Ganda tribe was given education and white collar jobs
while the northerners were to provide cheap labour. The Catholics also were segregated in the
British colonies and all leadership posts were given to the Protestants. Such acts kept African
disunited and easy to be ruled.

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h. Use of colonial agents such as explorers, missionaries and traders and their companies with their
roles in colonizing Africa.

AFRICAN REACTION OR RESPONSE TOWARDS COLONIAL RULE

Etymologically, the term resist comes from a Latin word “RESISTENTIA” from the verb resistere which
means hold back in Standard English language. By and large, resist means to refuse to accept
something and try to stop it from happening or to fight back when attacked. One can define the term
resist as dislike or opposition to a plan, idea.
African resistance means negative reaction or response of Africans against colonialism that involved
the use of weapons by African societies. It was the phenomenon whereby Africans became hostile to
European encroachment. Before and during colonialism Africans started to resist against Europeans.
This is due to the naked fact that colonialism was not accepted in Africa by both hands. The African
reaction or response against colonial rule was determined by factors or nature which were in form of
political, social and economic position of a particular society.
Factors that determined a kind of African reaction towards colonialists (active, passive,
collaborative)
i. Military structure and strength of a society. For example, Hehe, Nyamwezi, Mandinka, Nandi and
Ndebele became active to fight against colonialists because they had strong military compared to
Maasai, Sangu, and Shona who had weak military force.
ii. Nature of leadership. Some societies such as Myamwezi, Hehe, Mandinka resisted European
intruders actively since they had strong leaders like Isike, Mkwawa and Samori Toure respectively
while those with weak leaders like Gogo, Sukuma, Sangu, Bena Shona and Haya collaborated
with intruders and acted passively due to powerless leaders.
iii. The nature of colonial exploitation and oppression. For example, in areas where colonialists were
too exploitative Africans resisted actively. They included areas like Mozambique, Zimbabwe,
Kenya and South Africa and Tanganyika under German. The areas like Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda
many people collaborated since exploitation and oppression were less
iv. Economic level of a certain society. For example, societies like Maasai, Haya, and Mwera, and
Makuwa collaborated and acted passively due to poor economic base while the Hehe, Nyamwezi,
Mandinka fought actively because of being economically strong.
v. The nature of colonialist either being aggressive or friendly. For example, in Mozambique, Angola,
Congo, Tanganyika, Zimbabwe colonial masters were very aggressive as direct rule was applied,
while in Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi, Gambia colonialists were friendly with the application of indirect
rule. Therefore collaboration was possible
vi. The level of interference in economic, social and political interests. For example, king Jaja of
Opobo of Nigeria fought actively against British when his trade control in palm oil was interfered.
In West Africa, many Africans resisted against French as they were forced to abandon their
cultural practices such as polygamy, Islam, and vernacular languages. This was contrary to
Uganda, Nigeria and Zambia where traditions and customs were allowed to be practiced by the
natives.
vii. The role of missionaries. The areas where missionaries softened minds of Africans alliance was
possible. For example, Chief Semei Kangunguru of Bunyoro. Also Northern and eastern Uganda
people collaborated while among the Hehe, Nandi and Mandinka active resistance was possible
due to less mission impacts.
viii. The nature of population or African societies. This include size, unity and cooperation. For
example, Nyamwezi, Mandinka, Hehe and Ethiopians were very large and cooperative against
their invaders.
ix. Ideological and faithful belief. There’re were some African societies and people who believed in
traditional medicines against the Whiteman. For example Prophet Kinjekile Ngwale of Ngarambe
village in Rufuji believed to use water from river Rufuji as a proof of bullets against Germans
during Majimji war of 1905-1907. This encouraged him and his people to fight actively towards
Germans.
x. Geographical location of a certain society. Physical features like valley, rivers, mountains, forests
determined the kind of African resistance to be applied. For example, Ethiopians, Chagga of

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Kilimanjaro and Hehe of Iringa are notable societies found in mountainous regions which helped
them to fight against the intruders. But the Gogo and Sukuma could not be actively because are
found in plane regions.
WAYS OR METHODS OF AFRICAN REACTION OR RESPONSE WERE TWO
1. Resistance
2. Collaboration (adaptation)
AFRICAN RESISTANCE
This refers to action in which Africans fought to oppose the imposition of colonial rule in Africa since the
Africans never wanted to lose their economic, social and political power in the hands of Europeans. The
resistance started during the imposition of colonial rule and continued even after the establishment of
colonial administration like the Majimaji war of 1905-1907 and MAUMAU resistance of 1950s.
Reasons for African resistance against the imposition of colonial rule
i. To restore the political sovereignty and freedom, which was highly threatened by colonial
rulers. African rulers like Mkwawa, Samori Toure, Menelik II were actively defending their
empires.
ii. To defend economic interests such as trade and mining. For king Jaja wanted to defend trade I
palm oil across trans-Saharan trade. Also the Yao under Chief Machemba wanted to defend
their trade route in southern Tanzania.
iii. Imposition of colonial exploitative acts. These included forced taxes, forced labor and
production of cash crops. For example, Matumbi people of Lindi in eastern south of Tanganyika
fought against the introduced tax and forced cotton production by Germans in 1898. This also
happened in Namibia among the Nama and Herero.
iv. Colonial harsh treatment, and social discrimination and segregation. For example, Germans
used direct rule in their colonies such as Tanganyika, Cameroon, Togo and Namibia. Also
Britain used it in Zimbabwe. Therefore Africans such as Nama and Herero in 1904-1907 in
Namibia, and the Majiamji war in 1905-1905 in Tanzania and Shona and Ndebele in 1896-1897
in Zimbabwe fought against the colonial maltreatments
v. The Africans believed themselves to be strong and firm. This motivate African societies and
their leaders to oppose colonialists actively. For example, chief Machemba of Yao in southern
Tanzania and chief Mkwawa of Hehe disobeyed German governor Wissman because they
were strong.
vi. Interference of African culture. European whites destroyed many African cultural values and
morals such as polygamy, traditional worshipping, languages, and female genital mutilation.
Therefore, leaders such as Mkwawa of Hehe, Samori Toure of Mandinka, King Jaja of Opobo,
became active against colonialists to defend their cultural values.
vii. Confiscation of African natural wealth. For example, land, minerals and cattle in Zimbabwe,
Angola, Namibia, and Kenya were highly taken and exploited by colonialists. Land alienation
among the Nandi and Ndebele in Kenya and Zimbabwe respectively was predominant. Mineral
exploitation in South Africa and Angola were too predominant.
viii. Introduction of oppressive laws and ordinances to Africans. For example, Kipande System in
Kenya in 1921. This was the colonial law that required a person to carry an Identity Card which
displayed personal particulars like home residence, age and job status. This law limited the
freedom of movement of Africans in their country. Another law was the land ordinance in Kenya
and master-servant ordinance in Tanzania of 1924. Land ordinance gave more land to settlers
and forced Africans to leave for the whites while master-servant ordinance required African
workers not leave the work place without the permission of her or his boss or employer
ix. Recognition of the bogus treaties. Some African local leaders became aware of the treaties
which they signed with Europeans representatives without knowing. Hence they started
disobeying and breaking them. Some leaders include Samori Toure of Mandinka people
against French in 1882-1885 and 1891-1898. Another was King Menelik II of Ethiopia in 1895-
1896

Name of resistance Period Leader Colonizer Place

Nyamwezi 1891-1894 Isike German Tabora, TZ

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Yao 1890-1894 Machemba Mwene German Ruvuma and

Mtwara
Zigua 1889-1890 Bwana Heri German Saadan-Bagamoyo
Abushiri 1888-1889 Abushiri German Pangani, Tanga
Swahili 1890-1895 Omar bin German Kilwa kivinje,
Makunganya
Mazrui dynasty 1895 Sultan British Zanzibar
Hehe 1891-1898 Mtwa Mkwawa German Iringa, TZ
Chart showing resistances against colonialist Tanganyika

Other resistances include

Bunyoro resistance under Omukama Kabalega in 1893-1899 against British
Jaja resistance of 1889-1891 of Opobo kingdom in Nigeria against British. King Jaja’s full name is Jubo
Jubhoga. Tukolor resistance of 1880-1883 in Senegal under Ahmadu Seku against French
Asante resistance of 2874 and 1896 under Asantehene against British when Fredrick Hadson a British
governor wanted to control golden stool, which was a symbol of leadership and power in Asante
empire.
Urabi resistance of 1879-1882 in Egypt against British.
Libyan (Bedouin) resistance in Libya versus Italians
Malagasy resistance of 1885-1905in Madagascar against French
Ovibundu resistance in Angola versus Portuguese.
Mahdist resistance in Sudan versus British.
Zulu resistance of South Africa versus British at the Battle of Isandlwana in 1879.
Chilembwe resistance of 1915 against British.
Nandi resistance of 1896-1905 versus British under Koitale

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The map of showing early African resistances against colonialists in East Africa

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Examples of African resistances against colonial rule in African continent

Types of African resistance
A. Active resistance
B. Passive resistance
ACTIVE RESISTANCE
This was the African reaction that involved weapons to fight against the Europeans. Some societies
include Nyamwezi under Isike, Hehe under Mkwawa, Yao under MACHEMBA, Mandinka under Samori
Toure Nandi under Koitale and the Majimaji and Chimurenga wars.
Factors for active resistance
 Economic strength. Some societies that were strong economically like Baganda, Nyamwezi, Hehe
and Mandinka had acquired weapons from regional trade which enabled them to fight against
colonial intruders.
 Strong political systems. Some African societies that had strong and centralized political structure
like Ndebele of Zimbabwe under King Lobengula, Baganda under King Kabaka, fought actively
 Possession of strong military systems. The societies that had that kind of military structure used it
directly to confront colonial rule in their territories. For example, Zulu warriors of South Africa
defeated British at the battle of Isandlwana in 1879, Mandinka of Guinea under Samori Toure at the
battle of Bisandugu, Hehe under Mkwawa with Ngoni soldiers defeated Germans at the battle of
Lugalo in 1891.
 Strong unity of the society. For example, Hehe, Nyamwezi, Mandinka, and Ethiopians imply the
societies which were well united against their enemies.
 Strong leadership. The societies that had strong leaders were well mobilized, organized and
motivated to fight against colonial rule. These leaders include Samori Toure of Mandnka, Mtwa
Mkwawa of Hehe, and Isike of Nyamwezi

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 Imposition of colonial exploitative acts. These included forced taxes, forced labor and production of
cash crops. For example, Matumbi people of Lindi in eastern south of Tanganyika fought against
the introduced tax and forced cotton production by Germans in 1898. This also happened in
Namibia among the Nama and Herero.

Image showing African fighters against colonial soldiers (active resistance)

PASSIVE RESISTANCE
This was the form of African resistance against colonial rule that did not involve physical confrontation
or attacks. It was peaceful or non-violent method which avoided physical contact with intruders. People
used forms like hiding or running away, pretending sick, boycotting (refusing to accept or do the
colonial tasks). Other societies boiled seeds before planting them showing their dissatisfaction with
colonial unjust treatment. The societies include Pogoro of Tanganyika who refused to pick cotton,
Maasai, Haya, Makonde, Makua, Mwera, Nyambo, Ha, Sukuma and Fipa of Tanganyika.
Reasons for passive resistance
 Poor fighting weapons and techniques. For example, the Matengo of Mbinga District in Ruvuma
under Mandawa hid themselves. When German soldiers came in Mandawa’s village, they found the
whole village empty.
 Natural disasters such as diseases like floods, droughts, and volcanic eruptions. For example,
Haya, Nyambo, and Ha acted passively due to jiggers, malaria and small pox
 Weak leadership and political structure. For example, the Maasai, Makuwa, and Mwera people
were based on age-set system and clan organization. Also the Swahili of Kilwa Kivinje and Bahaya
had poor leadership.
 Poor economic base. The societies that had poor economic base such as Maasai, and Makua
acted passively because they could not endure the long time fighting against colonial soldiers.
 Fear and insecurity. Africans reacted passively because colonial military forces like police and
armies made them fear through arresting and killing them. Soldiers also were carrying guns in
public. For example, during Majimaji war of 1905-1907, the Ha of Kigoma responded passively.
Other societies that responded passively were the Chiefs Lewanika and Lozi of Zimba people in
central Africa.

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 Less brutality of the colonial state. In areas where coloial sate was not brutal and harsh Africans
reacted passively. For example, in Kigoma, Rukwa, Sukuma land and Karagwe people never so
the reasons of confronting the colonialists since the colonialists had no much effects

1. COLLABORATION/ADAPTIVE REACTION
This was the way or method of reaction applied by African societies and leaders to make or form
alliances or friendship with European intruders against their fellow Africans. This was due to presence
of long conflicts between the two neighbouring communities. This was mostly predominant among the
Bena, Sangu, Chagga, Shona, Nama, Baganda, Maasai.
a) Wrong perception, many African chiefs had wrong perceptions about the colonialists that were just
visitors who would go back soon to their homes. When they realized that they came to stay they
changed the resection. For example, Kabaka Mwanga of Buganda
b) Existence of missionaries. Missionaries brainwashed the Africans and fooled them to accept
colonialism through Christian indoctrination and mission the education that softened African hearts
and minds. “Resistance means backwardness”. Hence, such societies collaborated with the
whites. This was experienced in Zimbabwe under the role of Charles Rudd, in Uganda and
western, Southern and northern zones of Tanganyika like Kagera, Kilimanjaro and Ruvuma where
Christian religion was predominant. For example, John Moffatt in Zimbabwe and Zambia under
BSCo.
c) Existence of enmity between two or more local African tribes. For example, the Sangu and the
Bena collaborated with Germans to fight against the Hehe. Mangi Ringi of Mioshi collaborated with
Germans such as Johnston, General Mathews and Juhlke against Mangi Sina of Kibosho, Shona
allied with Germans against Ndabele and Nama of Namibia allied with Germans against Herero
d) Military motives. Some African societies collaborated with the Europeans with the motives of
acquiring weapons to use them in future. For example, Menelik II in Ethiopia deliberately
collaborated with Italians to acquire weapons. Also Kabaka Mutesa of Buganda collaborated with
British under the same reason.
e) Source of commerce and trade. Some African societies collaborated because they regarded
Europeans as the source of commerce and trade by collaborating with them they would become
rich. For example, Baganda.
f) Ignorance. Africans allied with Europeans without knowing their intention. They were convinced to
sign treaties without being aware. For example, king Lomagundi of Shona allied with British
against king Lobengula of Ndebele due to ignorance.
g) Possession of weak militarily. Some societies allied with the foreigners because they were
incapable to fight against the invaders and they saw that it was fruitless as they were weak
militarily.
h) Impacts of natural calamities. Some African societies also made alliances with the whites because
they had suffered greatly from natural calamities. For example, small pox, jiggers, drought, famine
and so forth.

Types of African resistances according to size or scale

1. Small scale resistances
These types of resistances involved one tribe fighting against the colonialists and they basically
covered a small area. They include
Hehe of Mkwawa Vs. Germans in 1891-1898, Jaja of Opobo Vs. British in Nigeria, Mandinka (under
Somari Toure) vs. French, Nyamwezi vs Germans, Zigua resistance of Bwana Heri Juma vs
Germans, Nandi resistance of Koitale in Kenya vs British
2. Large scale resistances. They were types of resistances that involved more than one tribe fighting
in unity against colonial rulers. They covered a large part. Examples
Majimaji war (it involved the Yao, Matumbi, Bena, Sangu, Mbungu, Ngoni, Zaramo, Sangu and
Bena and other tribes on the southern part of Tanzania by then Tanganyika who resisted against
the Germans in 1905-1907, Ndebele and Shona against the British, which is known as
CHIMURENGA WAR of 1896-7 in Zimbabwe, Nama and Herero resistance of 1904-1907 in
Namibia, and Mandinka resistance of 1891-98 in Guinea.

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Types of resistance according to timing

1) Primary resistances. African resistances against Europeans at the early stages of colonial rule in
Africa before berlin conference of (1885-1885). They include Asante’s resistance of 1874 vs British,
Mandinka resistance of 1882-1885-The first resistance. The second resistance erupted in 1891-
1898, Tukolor resistance of 1880-1883 vs French in Senegal, The first Ndebele resistance of 1883-
1887 vs British in Zimbabwe.
2) Secondary resistances. Africans against Europeans fought these resistances during the colonial
era (after 1885). Example of secondary resistances in Africa involve Ndebele and Shona resistance
vs. British in 1896-7, Nama and Herero vs. Germans in 1904-7, Somori Toure (Mandinka vs.
French) in 1891-1898, Jaja of Opobo vs. British, Majimaji war in Tanganyika vs. Germans in 1905-
7, Mau Mau Resistances vs. British in 1950s-1960, Nandi resistance in 1896-1905, Yao resistance
in 189-1899 vs Germans, Nyamwezi resistnce of 1890-1899, Makunganya (Swahili) resistance of
1894 and Abushiri and bwana Heri resistance of 1888-1889

CASE STUDY ON AFRICAN RESISTANCES AGAINST COLONIAL RULE IN AFRICA

MANDINKA RESISTANCE AGAINST FRENCH (1882-1885 and 1891-1898)

Mandinka or Malinke are people living in southeastern Guinea-Conakry. The empire of Mandinka was
created by Chief Samori Toure, a great warrior in 1852-1882. Toure was bone in 1830 and he was a
Muslim religious leader and trader who fought with French in order to defend the commercial centres
and trade routes along the trans-Saharan trade such as Taghaza, Bilma, and Timbuktu. The Mandinka
resistance versus French can be traced to the scramble for and partition of Africa when French began
to enter West Africa and penetrate Sudan and border of Toure’s Empire. There two period os of
resistances: The first was between 1882 and 1885 (First Mandinka resistance). This conflict ended in
the treaties of 1886 and 1887. However, the second war re-erupted in 1891 at the Battle of Bisandugu
the capital of Mandinka Empire and ended in 1898, when Toure surrendered. He was deported to
Gabon where he died in 1900.
Why the Mandinka resistance took longer?
i. The role of ambitious and strong leadership of Samori Toure. For example, he formed the
Mandinka Empire, he united hid people under one faith-Islam, he organized his army and he
offered solders with rewards.
ii. Possession of strong army called SOFA. This was well equipped with Europeans weapons
such as rifles and muskets. The army was also well trained by Samori Toure who was a
professional trained soldier.
iii. The strong unity of the Mandinka people. The empire was brought about under one religion
known as Islam under the leadership of Toure.
iv. Possession of sufficient army supply. Toure had approximately 12000 war fighters and about
90000 reserve force. The reserve could be taken in emergence to help the permanent force.
v. The use of good fighting tactics. For example, Mandinka’s army used the ‘’scorched earth
tactic’’, which was the war technique of destroying every important feature in order to weaken
French firm. For example, Mandinka’s army burnt villages, crops, offices which could be used
by French. Mandinka also used guerrilla techniques of surprises and ambushes.
vi. Possession of economic strength. Toure controlled gold and cattle trade in trans-Saharan
trade. For example, he controlled trade routes such as Taghaza, Bilma and Timbuktu. He also
controlled palm trade.
vii. Possession of strong and sufficient fire arms. Toure received fire arms from trade exchange
from the coast and French traders, he had a workshop for manufacturing and repairing
weapons. He also in 1890 signed treaty with British to purchase weapons through his
craftsmen.
viii. Toure’s army experience with French army. Mandinka’s soldiers had great experience of
fighting Fresh colonialists. They were the former solders of king Ahmadu of Tukolor Empire in
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ix. Possession of good wealth like food supply. The wealth was used by Toure to reward the
soldiers after winning the battle. This motivated soldiers to fight strongly and for a long time
against French troops.
However, the war took longer but at the end Mandinka and their leader Toure failed due to the internal
opposition from non-Muslims who were not ready to be converted to Islam, the capture and deportation
of Toure to Gabon, the possession or more strong weapons by French men and depletion of food due
to long fighting.
Impacts of Mandinka resistance
 Laid the foundation African nationalism. Other African resistances took place in future. For
example, Majimaji war of 1905-1907, Nama and Herero resistance of 1904-1907, Nandi
resistance of 1896-1905
 French changed the administrative system. For example in 20 th century, French switched from
assimilation policy to association policy due to high resistance.
 Destruction of economic setup such as trade and mining activities. For example trade routes and
centres like Timbuktu, Taghaza and Bilma were blocked, palm oil trade also became less famous.
The gold mining also collapsed.
 The capture and deportation of catalyst leaders like Samori Toure who captured by French
soldiers and deported to Gabon in 1898.
 Loss of many lives due to war
 Destruction of properties like crops and house due the used of scorched-earth method.
 Displacement of people. Many people from Guinea became refugees in neighboring countries like
Senegal.
 Mandnka later became the colony of French, hence loss of freedom in hands of French.
Ndebele and Shona resistance against the British in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)
Introduction:
Shona and Ndebele are societies that are found in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). The Shona carries
its origin in Southern Rhodesia while Ndebele can be traced to further parts of South Africa from among
the Ngoni people who migrated due to the Mfecane war of 1830s under Mzilikazi. As they reached
Southern Rhodesia, they met the Shona. They built relationships with the Shona and in the end, the
Ndebele turned Shona into their servants.
The 1889 was a time when Europeans under the B.S.E.C with Cecil Rhodes and several missionaries
reached Southern Rhodesia. Among the famous missionaries involved was Rudd Moffat who stayed in
Southern Rhodesia for not less than 30 years. Europeans in Southern Rhodesia started to collaborate
with Shona while being against Ndebele.
During the time of Lobengula, who started to control Southern Rhodesia in 1880s, a position he took
over after the death of Mzilikazi, his father in 1868. He succeeded the power in 1870. He signed a
treaty with B.S.E c. In this treaty, he was promised to be given gift (LAND). In the end, Lobengula
gained nothing. Hence in 1883-1887 was the time when Ndebele under Lobengula started resisting
against the British. Up to this time Shona still collaborated with the British. This was the first Anglo-
Ndebele war.
In 1896-1897, Shona joined hand Ndebele to fight the British. This was the second Anglo-Ndebele
resistance and first Anglo-Shona resistance. This resistance was known as CHIMURENGA UPRISING.
Chimurenga is the Shona word for a ‘’Revolutionary Struggle’’. Shona were under leaders Nehanda
Charwe Nyakasikana and Sekuru Kaguvi while Ndebele were under Lobengula.
Factors for Shona-Ndebele resistance (Chimurenga war of 1896-1897) against British
i. The role of local in traditional beliefs. For example, Mwari and Mlimo” cult were religious beliefs
that influenced the chiefs and their people to resist colonialists with the assurance of immunity
and victory against the British bullets.
ii. Cultural interference - the British started to help Shona from being punished by Ndebele leaders,
before the British rule, Ndebele chiefs were allowed to punish Shona.
iii. Failure of the treaty between Lobengula and the British, the British did not meet the agreement;
they did not give Lobengula all that they had promised him particularly land.

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iv. Land alienation the British under B.S.Ec. started to take land from the Africans for opening their
economies. The alienated were pushed to the Gwai and Shangani reserves which had no water,
hence the alienated Africans started to fight to regain their land.
v. Loss of local leaders’ power. For example, the local leaders had the power over land allocation.
The British refused to recognize the power of Indunas and Matebele on land distribution
vi. Introduction of taxes - Africans were forced to pay cash tax an action that Africans were against
as a result they started fighting more. For example, hut tax was introduced in 1894 which was
collected brutally
vii. Forced labor with less pay (conscription) - Africans was forced to work on colonial economies,
without being paid or with little pay, (hence Africans started to fight).
viii. Harsh treatment/maladministration from the colonial government as coercive forces continued to
harass Africans hence Africans resisted against this situation.
ix. Cattle confiscation - Europeans started to take cattle from Ndebele by force hence resulting into
resistance. The population of about 250000 herd of cattle was confiscated in 1893 from Ndebele
leaving them with about 50000 affected by diseases.
Effects of Chimurenga war
a. Destruction of properties to both natural and artificial like crops and infrastructures like houses.
b. Death of both Africans and Europeans even though the death for Africans was much higher.
c. The British colonial masters were forced to change their administration style to reduce resistance
from Africans.
d. Eruption of hunger for the Africans since Africans had no time to engage in production
e. The war ended with the Shona and Ndebele being defeated and colonized.
f. It resulted into the decline of economic activities for both sides, Africans (Ndebele and Shona) It
led to insecurity and lack of peace and harmony.

NAMA–HERERO RESISTANCE AGAIST GERMANS (1904 – 1907)

The origin of Nama and Herero can be deduced in South West Africa (Namibia). Nama was under the
leadership of Hendrick Witbooi and Herero under Samuel Maherero. Nama were the pastoralists
Before the intrusion of Europeans in South West Africa, Nama and Herero were in good relations.
Starting from 1880s Germans began to increase in large number in South West Africa and they decided
to collaborate with Samwel Maherero (leader of the Herero). This action led to the conflict between
Nama against Herero societies. The war ended when Hendrik Witbooi and Jacob Morenga, were
assassinated in 1905 and 1907 respectively by Germans
Factors for Nama – Herero resistance against germans
 Germans started to take land from the Africans while opening their agricultural projects.
 Africans were forced to work in colonial economic activities while being paid very little.
 Europeans introduced taxes in form of cash something that Africans rejected. This form of cash
taxes were different from the forms used in pre-colonial times.
 Harsh treatment from the colonial administrators: nature of German administration treated
Africans badly.
 Cattle confiscation: German colonial masters started to take cattle from the Africans by force
 Loss of political power. Nama and Herero fought trying to regain their power from the German
Colonial government.

MAJIMAJI RESISTANCE (1905-1907)

This was the massive resistance in southern Tanganyika against Germans which took place in 1905-
1907 under the leadership of Prophet Kinjekititile Bokero Ngwale of Ngarambe viilage near Rufiji River.
The war started in Matumbi and Ngindo in Ruvuma region and spread to other societies such as
Luguru, Ngoni, Matengo, Zaramo, Mbunga, Bena, Pogoro, Makonde and Yao. About twenty tribes
engaged in war. The war started with the movement known as JUJILA. In 1904, the prophet Kinjeketile
started to mobilize people under the use of local belief. He introduced the use of the magic water in
which some traditional medicine powder like millet had been added, as a weapon against the Germans.

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By 1905 he mobilized a pilgrimage in Ngarambe. He believed that the water could be used to defeat the
Germans and turn the German bullets into water. The word Maji comes from the Matumbi vernacular
“Mashe” which means water in English Language.
After the pilgrimage, on Monday, 31st July 1905 the war started and later on Germans hanged Kinjekitile
due to treason on 4th August 1905. Other leaders like Abdullah, Mpwande and Gama of Ngoni
continued mobilizing their people against Germans. The war ended in 1907, leaving a lot of impacts.
KINJEKETILE amongst the Matumbi means KIMENIITIKIA in Kiswahili language.

Some of the societies that participated in Majijmaji War (1905-1907) in Tanganyika

Factors for Majimaji uprising
1. Africans were forced to grow cash crops e.g. Cotton in the southern part of Tanganyika.
2. Introduction of hut tax (being in cash it affected many Africans as a result they decided to resist.
3. Harsh treatment from the colonial Government e.g. Africans were highly punished by the German
colonial government Askaris.
4. Colonial government used coercive forces like police, army to force Africans to work in the colonial
plantations as a result Africans resisted. For example Africans were forced to work in cotton
plantations in Lindi
5. Africans were against Arabs, Akidas and the Jumbes who were appointed by colonial government
to supervise the colonial economic activities.
6. Exploitation of the colonial Government. Colonial Government tended to export a lot of natural
resources with high value from Africa while importing less value goods.
7. The hatred of the Jumbes and Akidas who were quite unpopular.
8. The German Askaris slept with the Ngido wives something, which embarrassed the Africans.
9. The influence of Kinjekitile Ngwale who was charismatic and religious leader. Through his
intelligence, he mobilized his fellow Tanganyikans to fight against Germans.

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10. Cultural interference by the Germans. The Christian missionaries in particular who set on fire the
African’s traditional sacred hut
Effects of Majimaji resistance
1. Destruction of properties for example, Cotton plantations, railways and houses in Lindi.
2. Depopulation occurred due to death of several Africans and a few Europeans.
3. It taught the colonial government a lesson. Germany changed the system of administration;
instead of using force, they started using negotiation.
4. At the end, Africans were totally defeated and colonized
5. Spread of disease. This resulted from German military forces like Nubians, Rugaruga and
Arabs, the askaris who forced African girls to have sexual contact with them.
6. Unification of many societies. Majmaji involved about twenty societies of southern Tanganyika
7. Beginning of other African resistances like Maumau resistance of 1950s and 1960 in Kenya.
8. Prevalence of fear and insecurity in the societies.
Why the failure of Africans on Majimaji resistance?
1. Lack of experience in fighting wars compared to Europeans.
2. Poor weapons compared to those of Europeans.
3. Disunity among the Africans.
4. False belief in water that could be used as a weapon
5. Poor economic base among the Africans; meant they could not fight for a long time.
6. Poor organization amongst Africans due to poor leadership

MAUMAU RESISTANCE (1952-1960)

Maumau was a secret or underground movement of Africans in Kenya against the white British. It was
started by Kikuyu tribe. At large Maumau movement had three class struggle being colonial
Government, settlers who were Europeans and Asians and Africans. To the large extent Maumau war
was a result of the first and second world wars, which led to birth of ex-soldiers who started to organize
their fellow Africans to resist against European colonial masters. Those ex-soldiers include Dedan
Kimathi, Musa Mwariama Warihui Itito and Stanley Mathenge. The British military commanders were
Ian Henderson, Kenneth Kennedy O’connor, Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan.
Maumau was referred to military title called Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA). Maumau
originated from Kikuyu word UMAUMA which means get out get out. Later on it was coined into Swahili
meaning Mzungu Aende Ulaya Mwafrika Apate Uhuru-Let the foreigner go back abroad let the African
gain independence.

Factors for the MauMau movement (rebellion) in 1952

1. Africans were restricted to grow coffee in Kenya highlands thus, they resisted.
2. Colonial government took land from the Africans giving it to the settlers. This was done through
Crown Land Act of 1919. In this Act, land was granted to the Queen of England for 999 years from
the hands of Kikuyu.
3. Introduction of several taxes such as hut tax, matiti tax and head tax to the Africans resulted in the
negative response from the Africans
4. Introduction of forced labor. The colonial government used force to get Africans to work on the
settlers’ plantations.
5. The use of laws and ordinance. For example, Colonial Government introduced Identity Cards for
Africans known as “Kipande” system in 1921. The identity card was to show one’s place of
occupation and jo status
6. The role of ex-soldiers like Dedan Kimathi and Musa Mwariama.
7. Intensive racial discrimination. In Kenya there were three classes: white settlers, Asians and
Africans. Therefore Africans were given the last rank and being discriminated in all aspects of life
Effects of MauMau resistance
1. It led to death of many Africans. Almost 3,000 people died.
2. The destruction of properties had a great financial impact to the colonial government. It is estimated
that it cost almost £50,000 to restore destroyed property.

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3. It taught a lesson to both Africans and Europeans. Europeans started to change the system of
administration.
4. It raised Kenyans’ awareness and consciousness about their freedom and at the end of the day
Kenya regained its independence in 1963 under Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
5. It led to imprisonment and assassination of radical movement leaders. For example, Dedan kimathi
was assassinated in 1956 while several others were imprisoned like Jomo Kenyatta.
6. Declaration of state of emergence in 1952 by British colonial state which was associated with the
arresting of leaders like Jomo Kenyatta, detainment of movement members in camps, and killing
many people. Also roads and unnecessary night movements were prevented

ETHIOPIANS RESISTANCE 1895-11896 and 1936-1941

Ethiopia came under leadership of Menelik II following the death of Emperor Johannes IV in 1889, who
was Menelik’s internal enemy Menelik. In 1895 Italian troops invaded Eritrea which was the province of
Ethiopia to countercheck French expansion while expanding to Tigray the northern part of Ethiopia.
This event alerted Menelik II against Italians, as a result Menelik resisted and finally Italians were
defeated in 1896 at the Battle of Adowa that made Menelick II become most popular leader among the
Ethiopians. In October 1896, the Italians signed the treaty of Uccialli that recognized Ethiopia as full
sovereign state (independent state) under Menelik while Eritrea was ceded to Italy
In 1913 King Menelik II died and was succeeded by Emperor Haile Selassie. However in 1935 Italians
invaded Ethiopia. They took Addis Ababa in 1936, the capital of Haile Selassie’s country. Selassie was
able to drive out Italians with the help of British in 1941.
NOTE: Technically, it cannot be concluded that Ethiopia was not colonized, it was colonized for short
time roughly five years (1936-1941). This is because there were a lot of resistances. In short, Ethiopia
and Liberia escaped from colonialism because were not involved in scramble for Africa in 1870s.
Liberia also was the Home of Freed Slaves from America since 1822.
Why Ethiopians were not colonized in the 19th century?
i. Strong unity under common religious faith. Ethiopians shared single Christian religion which
united them against their enemies. The religious denomination was known as orthodox.
Therefore the Ethiopians had the spirit of nationalism and unity to defend their country
ii. Presence of talented and ambitious leadership. In this case leader like Menelik II from 1889-
1913 and Haile Selassie in 1913-1941. These leaders were able to mobilize their fighters and
became frontline to fight Italians.
iii. External diplomatic relations. Since 18th C Ethiopia had diplomatic relations from Europeans
such as Italy and Portugal. This helped Ethiopia to acquire weapons. Due to this, Ethiopia
captured some Briton or British in 18th century when they invaded its territory.
iv. Impact of the Uccialli Treaty of 1896 between Italy and King Menelik II. After Ethiopians had
defeated Italians at the Battle of Adowa of 1896, Menelik II and Italians agreed that Ethiopia
should be under Menelk II protectorate while Eritrea should be under Italy.
v. Geographical position of Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a mountainous country with deep valley and
caves, which helped warriors from being seen by their enemies. Enemies also were seen at the
further distant area. This situation became obstacle to Italian fighters and advantageous to
Ethiopian fighters to wage guerrilla warfare.
vi. Ethiopia possessed a very stable, efficient and well-organized army compared to any other
African experience and knowledge in wars before the scramble for Africa. This made them able
to defeat their enemies.
vii. Possession of little economic motives. For example, Ethiopia lacked mineral potentials and
fertile land. Ethiopia also is located in semi-desert zone with long droughts. These made
Europeans to remove their interest to colonize the country.
viii. Ethiopia was not involved in scramble among the imperialists in 1870s. Therefore, during the
Berlin Conference of 1884/85, Ethiopia was not recognized to any imperialist power. This made
Ethiopia unknown and less famous. It had not been visited by the agents of colonialism before.
Reasons for the failure of African resistances

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a) Europeans used modern war techniques that made them easily attack the Africans. Africans
depended on their closed forts, which were the main targets of attacks from the white enemies. For
instance, Makunganya used Fort at Kilwa while Mkwawa used Fort at Kalenga which were
destroyed by Germans in 1894.
b) Europeans had quicker means of mobility that enabled them to penetrate the heart of Africa such
as the Congo forests and other areas easily. For instance, in West Africa colonialists used horses,
while along the coast of East Africa Germans used steamboat to attack Abushiri at Pangani.
African fighters depended on natural pathways.
c) Europeans had much knowledge of the heart of Africa, strategic areas and the nature of various
people of Africa and their location. White missionary-explorers, conveyed all such information to
them and traders who visited Africa earlier thus it became easy for them to defeat Africans.
d) The Europeans had strong and stable economies that enabled them to fight for a longer period,
unlike Africans who were still in the subsistence economy that could not sustain them.
e) The Europeans had common interest and unity of colonizing Africans in their fights unlike African
societies who lacked unity and were sometimes fighting each other or one another. For instance,
the Sangu and Bena were attacking the Hehe, while Mangi Rindi attacked Mangi Sina.
f) Africans had wrong superstitious beliefs. For example, the people of Southern Tanganyika were
made to believe in the idea that water from Ngarambe Pool would change the white man’s bullets
into water, ‘Majimaji’, which was not true. As a result, many people were killed by the German
armed forces.
g) The capture and execution of African leaders. A good example was the capture and execution of
Kinjeketile Ngwale on 4th August 1905 and Mpanda of Southern Tanganyika, during the Maji Maji
uprising. Other fighters who were captured and executed were Makunganya of Kilwa and Abushiri
of Pangani at the coast of Tanganyika.
h) Africans were destabilized by natural calamities because of the war; these included famines and
infectious diseases such as smallpox and others. Good example is the Maasai society which
suffered from malaria in 1879 to the extent that they failed to fight violently.
i) Africans lacked good leadership. This occurred, as some of the leaders were reluctant to cooperate
with others. Hence, each tribe entered the war on its own. As a result, it was easy for the
colonialists to defeat them.
j) Though Africans were defeated by the Europeans, their reaction against colonial invasion was
marked as the early nationalist reaction in Africa and made them gain self-respect and were
considered to be heroes of Africa.
Significance of African resistance to African people
 Africans learnt the lesson of unity against enemy. For example, during the coming of whites in
Africa some African societies collaborated while others became active against them. This made
Africa to be defeated. This is a lesson that unity is very important
 Colonial masters changed the mode of administering Africans. For example, Britain changed from
direct to indirect rule in 1925-1931 under Donald Cameroon while French changed from
assimilation to association policy in her colonies in West Africa.
 The beginning of African nationalism. For example, between 1920s and 1940s African states
started to demand their political independence and later on in 1960s many African states like
Ghana, Tanganyika and Nigeria had received their sovereignty. All these are the results of African
reactions
 Africans learnt the lesson of peaceful means of struggle. Violent means of reaction led to
bloodshed, disabilities and permanents scars and injuries. Later this method was adopted by
Tanganyika, Ghana and Nigeria to demand their independence.
 Africans gained recognition and respect. For example, Mkwawa, Makungaya, Isike Toure, Jaja,
Menelik II, Kinjekitile and Abushiri are remembered in Africa and other parts of the world as the
heroes and patriots of Africa.
 African interests and demands were put into consideration by colonial masters. For example, after
long time of resistance, colonial masters reduced working hours, increased salary and wage,
forced taxes were changed. In brief, the African rights and duties were transformed into positive
forms.

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 Africans also learnt that negotiation cannot uproot enemy. Many African countries had seen the
weakness of negotiation that Europeans never left the colonies. Hence during nationalism
between 1970s and 1980s countries like Angola, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe applied armed
struggle to remove their colonialists

………………End of Topic 1…………………….

TOPIC TWO (2)

THE COLONIAL ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS IN COLONIAL AFRICA
By 1900 Europeans had almost occupied African continent and established their domination. Thereafter
it was the duty of colonialists to transform the African political systems and organization, and establish
colonial systems of administrations that could enable the acquisition of their demands. The colonial
powers such as Britain, Germany, French, Portugal and Belgium introduced different administrative
systems such as Indirect Rule, Direct Rule, Assimilation and Association policy. This chapter will be
discussed by looking at two areas: Colonial Administrative Systems and colonial legal and Military
Institutions and their contribution in the colonization of Africa.
A. COLONIAL ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS
These were the ways or approaches used by colonialists to ensure effective control of their colonies.
They were the mechanisms adopted by colonialists to maintain and consolidate colonial rule in colonial
Africa. The major colonial administrative systems include Indirect Rule, Direct Rule, Assimilation and
Association policy. Although European powers had the same economic goals of occupying the African
continent, they did not use uniform approaches in establishing their colonial administrations. For
instance, the Portuguese, French and Belgians applied assimilation policy in their colonies and later
used the association policy. On the other hand, the British employed indirect rule in many of her
colonies except Zimbabwe where they applied direct rule. Likewise, the Germans in Tanganyika,
Cameroon, Togo, and Namibia used direct rule as their system of administration.
The reasons why colonialists used different approaches of administering their colonies.
 The nature of people in the colonies. That is being cooperative, strong, weak and military force
 Challenges encountered during imposition of colonial rule such as resistance and collaboration
 The character of colonial power itself. For example, Germany preferred direct rule, French
preferred assimilation and British mostly indirect rule.
 Landscape of the colony. For example, valleys, rivers and mountains
Reasons why colonialists introduced administrative systems
i. To change the African traditional administrative systems so as to fit with colonial systems
ii. To ensure effective control or occupation of the colonies politically, socially and economically
iii. To maximize the profit through exploitation of African resources
iv. To ensure peace and harmony in the colonies by suppressing African resistances

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v. To prepare the suitable environment for establishment of colonial economy

vi. To fulfil the agreement reached during the Berlin Conference of 1884/185, on the principle of
effective occupation of colonies
INDIRECT RULE
This was the colonial system of administration, whereby African traditional rulers were involved in
administering their fellow Africans at the local levels on behalf of the colonial governments while the
colonial officials and administrators were at top. The pre-colonial African chiefs were maintained to rule
the local areas under the command of District commissioners. It was most applied by British in colonies
of Nigeria, Tanganyika, Ghana, Cameroon, Zambia and Uganda.
Origin of indirect rule
Sir Fredrick John Lugard, father of indirect rule who was the British High Commissioner and governor-
General to Nigeria in 1900-1906 initiated the indirect rule in northern Nigeria where Fulani people and
rulers seemed to be reluctant. Later it spread to other parts of South Nigeria, East Africa and Central
Africa.
To show the validity of the indirect rule in colonies, Lord Lugard in 1922 wrote the book titled Dual
Mandate in British tropical Africa. Therefore, indirect rule was practical and successful in Nigeria. In
northern Rhodesia (Zambia) indirect rule was officialised in 1930 while in Tanganyika it was introduced
by British governor Donald Cameroon from Kenya in 1925-1931, ceasing the direct rule of Horrance
Byatt, the first governor (1920-1925).
In Buganda for example, British signed the Buganda agreement in 1900 claiming the power to Kabaka
to rule Buganda kingdom. In the same year, the agreement was also signed to recognise the power of
Mukama Kasagama to be the ruler of his people. All these are the results of indirect rule.
Hierarchical structure of British indirect rule
1) Colonial secretary stayed in London
2) Governor who was appointed in UK and hired in colonies. He was responsible in his colony
3) Provincial commissioner was the British white in the region of each colony
4) District commissioner was the British white who lived with people in local areas and gave them
order through local chiefs.
5) Local chiefs were the British appointed local rulers who were ordered to by PC, and DC to
supervise daily activities.

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Hierarchical structure of British Indirect Rule

The motives for the application of indirect rule

1. Shortage of manpower. For example, in1900, British had only 42 officials in Nigeria.
2. Presence of dense population in colonies. Big population acted as obstacle to land alienation.
Therefore, colonial masters used African rulers to avoid conflicts. This was witnessed in Nigeria
among the Fulani and Uganda among the Baganda.
3. Physical difficulties of the colonies. Some areas of the colonies like Nigeria and Uganda, local
rulers were applied due to remoteness of the area with presence of thick forests, valleys, tropical
diseases and mountains. In north Tanzania like Kilimanjaro Mountains acted as obstacle.
4. To avoid direct resistance from Africans. For example, the Fulani of Nigeria and Baganda in
Uganda were very reluctant. Therefore, the use of local chiefs was the alternative
5. The assumption Europeans to civilize the Africans. This was done through blinding Africans with
gifts, appointing them to different posts, giving those salaries, accommodation and free education
to sons of chiefs.
6. Language barrier. Many Africans were not used to foreign language like English and English and
the vice versa, English and French were not experienced to African vernaculars hence failure of
communication between the administrators and the subjects.
7. Effectiveness of indirect rule. British had applied it in other colonies before being implemented in
Africa. For example, it was applied in Burma and India. Therefore, it was found successful and
useful and inspired British to use it in Africa.
8. The failure of direct rule. For example, the British colonial government decided to use indirect rule
in Tanganyika to avoid what happened to the Germans during the Majimaji rebellion in 1905-
1907. But also in 1920-1925, British used direct rule under the first governor called Horrance
Byatt and failed to operate.
9. Cheapness of the system. It was cheap since African local rulers were paid low wages, no
representatives were to be sited in colonies to supervise production. This motivated British
colonize to use it.

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10. Number of colonies. For example, British had many colonies in Africa and Asia like Burma, India,
and Pakistan. With limited workforce British was forced to apply indirect rule system to rescue the
situation. British had three quarter of colonial world.
11. To divide and rule Africans easily as they were divided into classes of rich and poor, leaders and
civilians, educated and no-educated. This created disunity in the common society hence easy
colonization.

How indirect rule was indirect

Indirect rule was indirect through the duties that were performed by African local chiefs on behalf of
their colonial masters. Therefore, indirect rule was indirect in the following ways.
i. British used local rulers to organize and supervise various colonial economic activities such as
cash crop production and building colonial infrastructures such as railways and roads on their
behalf.
ii. The British colonialists used local African rulers in administering punishment to their fellow Africans
iii. The British colonialists used African local rulers to resolve disputes (conflicts) where the conflicting
individuals were African natives
iv. The British government used African local rulers as intermediaries between the ruled Africans and
colonial government. The local rulers received order which was implemented at the local level.
Thus African rulers had no independence in decision-making.
v. British used local chiefs to collect taxes and tributes from the subjects or civilians
vi. British used local rulers as informers. The local chiefs acted as puppet who provided information
about the trouble societies to colonial officials such as district commissioners for further actions
vii. African local chiefs were used to maintain law and colonies smoothly.
Strengths of indirect rule
1. It avoided African resistances by appointing traditional rulers to rule on their behalf. Hence, all
complaints were directed to the traditional African rulers.
2. It was cheap as local chiefs were used to mobilize their people to pay taxes and work as forced
labourers.
3. Africans escaped from colonial sufferings such as torture and deaths. Africans were not whipped,
forced to provide labour and pay taxes by colonial officials. This duty was under local chiefs who
mobilized the civilians
4. The problems of language obstacles was solved. This was successful since local rulers acted as
bridge of communication between African civilians and white officials like provincial and district
commissioners.
5. African rulers enjoyed the power of leadership. This was witnessed when the pre-colonial African
chiefs were allowed to head the local areas. For example Kabaka of Buganda and Sokoto of
Nigeria among the Fulani
6. Some African children received western education which later became catalyst in demand of
African independence. The sons of local chiefs like J.K Nyerere, the first president of Tanganyika is
a notable example.
7. Land alienation was not much practiced under indirect rule. This is because the land was under the
control of local rulers who distributed it to subject farmers for production. This was witnessed
among the Fulani in Nigeria, Baganda in Uganda, Chagga, Haya and Nyakyusa of Tanganyika.
8. Africans got social services particularly in areas where farmers became more progressive. For
example, Bukoba, Kilimanjaro and Buganda got services such education, health care, and
transport and communication networks.
9. Africans were less prone to hunger and starvation. This is because African peasants under their
local chiefs were permitted to grow both food and cash crops.
Weaknesses/limitations of indirect rule
1. Creation of imbalanced development amongst African states. Areas which had local chiefs
assisting the colonial government had development in social services like schools, hospitals and
roads while those which had no chiefs in their areas had no or inadequate social services.
2. Racial discrimination. The African local rulers were favoured in all aspects of life as opposed to
ordinary Africans. For example, the colonial education was given to the sons and daughters of the

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chiefs only while the sons, and daughters of poor families had no access to such an important
social amenity.
3. It divided Africans along religious and ethnic segments, something which made Africans fell into
hands of colonialists as easily as possible.
4. It created social classes amongst Africans. The chiefs’ families and royal families got privilege of
getting social services such as education, hospitals and many more while the rest of the community
were not getting such facilities. This led to rich (royal) and poor (loyal) classes in the society
5. Tribalism developed as an impact of indirect rule. African chiefs who were entrusted to rule on
behalf of the colonialists considered themselves superior to others in their land. For example,
Kabaka Mwanga of Buganda created disunity amongst Ugandans when he declared the Buganda
kingdom independent in 1960.
6. African chiefs became puppets of the colonial administrators and did not serve their people. Hence
founding the fertile ground for neo-colonialism in Africa, which is still practiced in Africa.
7. The indirect rule cemented centralized bureaucracy with the district commissioners. The African
rulers’ power was swallowed by the command from district commissioners.
8. Africans were economically exploited through forced labour, land alienation and tax payment
9. Africans were segregated in all aspects of life. The white settlers were favoured much in land
distribution, employment, representation in legislative council and areas for settlements. They were
also given loans for developing or opening settler farms compared to Africans who never got
theses favours
Problems that faced indirect rule in Tanganyika under Donald Cameroon, Uganda and Nigeria
 Absence of traditional administrative system. Some areas like Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba land of
Nigeria, central Tanzania and southern Uganda had been run under clan head system
 Impact of direct rule. In Tanganyika Africans had been ruled under Germany direct rule.
Adopting indirect rule became challenge
 Opposition from the local rulers who were unwilling to work with the appointed chiefs. British
chose the puppet chiefs who were to serve their interests, hence being resisted by local African
rulers
 Harsh British policies. Some of the British indirect rule were harsh. For example, forced
taxation and labour were new and unpopular hence were reacted by Africans like the Igbo
 Poor infrastructure in Tanganyika, Uganda and Nigeria
 Hugeness of the colony. Nigeria and Tanganyika are larger. This became so difficult to travel
from one place to another for the campaign.
 Language barrier between local rulers and colonial officials like district and provincial
commissioners
 Tropical diseases and harsh climate
 Illiteracy of the masses. Some of the societies in Nigeria, Uganda and Tanganyika such as
Yoruba, Abeokuta, Buganda and Haya organized to oppose the system.
DIRECT RULE
This was the colonial system of administration whereby European officials ruled their subjects directly
using the white and African appointed and trained officials. For example, Germany in Tanganyika used
governors at the top while Arabs, Akidas, Liwalis and Jumbes ruled colonies at the bottom. The
Germans preferred this system of administration in their metropolitan country to other methods of
administrations.
Direct rule was applied by Germans in Germany East Africa (Tanganyika, Burundi and Ruanda), Togo,
Cameroon, and Namibia (South West Africa). Britain also used direct rule effectively in Zimbabwe
(Southern Rhodesia) and other colonies of South Africa and Kenya. Direct rule was dictatorial and
ruthless in its operation.
Introduction of direct rule in Tanganyika.
Direct rule in Tanganyika was introduced and popularised by German governor called Carl Peters in
1885. Carl peters was at the top, receiving the order from the secretary of colonies situated in German
home country. Below Peters there were assistants like the council of advisors and district
commissioners. Below the district commissioners, there were the appointed officers who received the
order of doing day to day colonial activities like collecting taxes, supervising labourers, ensuring peace

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and security, and reporting any unusual issues related to colonial matters. Liwalis, Akidas, and Jumbes
were appointed from Arabs and Swahili from the coast. Others were recruited from Sudan like Nubians.
Liwalis acted as the advocates or principal judges
Akidas were the town governors assisting Liwalis
Jumbes acted as local chefs of local areas. They had the responsibilities like that of village headmen.
Secretary of colonies in Germany
(Berlin)
The General governor situated in
Dar es Salaam
Advisory council to governor
created in 1804
District commissioners
Liwalis (principal judge)
Akidas (Town or Locality Head)
Jumbes (village headmen)
Hierarchical structure of Germany direct rule
Reasons for Germans to use direct rule in her colonies
i. It was believed as the only means that will meet the colonial interests through administering the
colonies. Colonizers believed that Africans could betray and resist them. Therefore, they opted
to infringe fear among the Africans and force them to engage in colonial productive activities
ii. To promote European culture and civilization. Europeans believed that African were not ready
to adopt European modern ways of life such as religion and civilization willingly. Forcing them
was the alternative
iii. Early European sufferings from African resistances. Germans and other colonialists
experienced much riots during the imposition of their colonial rule. For example, in Tanganyika,
Hehe, Nyamwezi, Zigua and coastal societies imposed a lot of resistances. Therefore,
Germans opted to force them
iv. Fear of administrative expenses. The Germans feared the cost of training Africans before
taking them over administration. This is because Africans had not been experienced to
leadership courses. This could twist the German budget to prepare African chiefs.
v. To solve the problem of unemployment. After industrial revolution in Germany population
increased leading to scarcity of land and social services. This caused high rate of
unemployment in Germany. Therefore, Germans came in Africa as the strategy to curtail
unemployment.
vi. Possession of sufficient workforce. Germans in Africa came in large number. For example
there were several governors in different phases such as Carl Peters (1885-1891), the first
governor and Heinrich Schnee (1912-1918), the last governor assisted by the commissioners
and appointed officials like Liwalis, Akidas and Jumbes.
vii. Absence of chiefs and existence of unfaithful and powerless chiefs. This situation forced
colonizers to use the hired administrators like Liwalis, Akidas and Jumbes.
Features of direct rule
 It was based on excessive oppression and suppression. Coercive apparatus such as armies
and police forces were used
 The African colonies were made the crown lands of white settlers. For example, Zimbabwe was
made part and parcel of British mother land.
 Enactment of laws and orders was common in colonies. Laws such as land ordinance and
marriage ordinances were created in order to prohibit Africans from owning land and having
interracial marriages.
 The pre-colonial African rulers were not considered. They were replaced by the appointed
officials like Liwalis, Akidas and Jumbes.
 African elites were neglected in colonial administration. This later led to formation of African
armed struggle to demand freedom and independence in later years.
 It was applied in areas with African sparse population

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 It was preferred in areas where the traditional leadership was very weak like Zimbabwe, Kenya
and Tanganyika
 The presence of white republics in the colonies

BRITISH DIRECT RULE IN ZIMBABWE (Southern Rhodesia)

Zimbabwe became the British colony in 1890, formerly known as Southern Rhodesia, the name that
originated from the British governor called Cecil Rhodes; under the British South Africa Company
(BSCO-1889). Rhodes, the father of direct rule in Zimbabwe established it in 1893 among Shona and
Ndebele people. Zimbabwe got her independence from British in 1980 from British rule.
Reasons for British introduction of direct rule in Zimbabwe
 Presence of white large population compared to Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda
 Constant African revolts. For example, Ndebele and Shona under the leadership of Lobengula
became very reluctant to British rule. Hence the use of coercive apparatus to compel subjects
to exploitation.
 Presence of abundant natural resources. For example, Zimbabwe had the deposits of gold and
fertile oils. This influenced white settlers to come and settle in Zimbabwe.
 Many settlers were stationed in Zimbabwe. Settlers were assured of employment to serve the
administrative purposes of the colony.
 British considered Zimbabwe as their overseas colony. As they considered it as their
permanent empire, they never thought of granting independence. Hence ruling the colony
directly.
 Presence of sufficient manpower. The British personnel in Zimbabwe had come in large
number. This helped to administer the colony effectively.
 The Europeans lost trust in African traditional leadership after the Chimurenga uprisings of
1896 – 1897.
 Absence of local chiefs in country sides. This forced British government to use the appointed
chiefs to supervise the colonial production.

Strengths of direct rule

i. The system solved the problem of unemployment in Europe since many white settlers came
and settled in colonies
ii. Colonial masters safeguarded their interests through suppressing African resistances. For
example, Abushiri in 1888-1889, Nama and Herero in 1904-1907, Shona and Ndebele in 1896-
1897
iii. The system helped Europeans to exploit African natural resources; materials and humans by
infringing fear among the Africans
iv. Security and peace prevailed as the Africans were intimidated by the colonial military soldiers
through suppression.
v. Where direct rule was applied, colonial projects were effectively done to quicken exploitation.
For example, in Tanganyika the construction of central railway was done by African labours
under the supervision of German engineers and surveyors.
vi. The spread of European culture and civilization was achieved since Africans were forced to
adopt the new ways of life like religion and the spirit of hard working.
Weaknesses of direct rule
1. Source of many sufferings of the Africans that included death and imprisonment. This occurred due
to use of harsh and brutal means to make Africans to meet colonial demands such as production of
raw materials and paying taxes. For example, chief Makunganya was killed, Mkwawa hanged
himself due to long fighting against German soldiers.
2. It undermined the pre-existing African traditional rulers. For instance, the German administration in
Tanganyika removed the African traditional rulers, replacing them with Arab Akidas, and Liwalis
from the coastal areas.
3. It created bad relation between Africans and Europeans. This happened since the colonial officials
were not able to communicate with Africans due absence of middlemen like the native rulers.

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4. The system was expensive since the colonial officials had to be maintained in terms of salaries,
accommodation and medical facilities.
5. It had elements of dictatorship because there was excessive use of force against Africans. This
happened in Kenya, Zimbabwe where Africans were evicted from their fertile land.
6. Influx of many white settlers in African colonies. For example, in Tanganyika under Germany rule,
Zimbabwe and Kenya, white settlement became rampant
7. Subjection of Africans to exploitative actions. Africans were forced to pay taxes, provide labour,
without their ability to do so. This occurred in Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Tanganyika where taxes
were collected mercilessly
8. The delay of independence in some African countries due to this system. Africans tried to fight for
independence without success. Later years they received independence. For example, unilateral
declaration of independence in Zimbabwe delayed independence in Zimbabwe until 1980. Namibia
in 1990 and South Africa in 1994.
Similarities (comparisons) between direct rule and indirect rule
 Both systems utilized coercive apparatus like police, army, the prisons and the judiciary to
suppress the Africans who would resist against them.
 Both had racial discrimination because whites were favoured and considered superior race than
Africans. Thus encouraged racial segregation over the Africans. All high-ranking jobs in the
government were reserved for Europeans while Africans held the lower positions of jobs in their
local areas.
 Both were coercive in nature, German administration employed the use of harshness in its ruling
the same to Britain. In the whole process of the collection of taxes, forces became common to
intimidate Africans
 Both were imperialist instruments aimed at exploiting the colonies to the maximum so as to meet
the demand of capitalist industries. This is because in all levels land, labour and raw materials
were taken from Africa.
 Both the system were from Europe and received order and command from the home
governments under the secretary of the colonies for implementation in Africa. This caused
bureaucracy
 Both supressed African assistance in the process of promoting colonial exploitation. For example,
British indirect rule used local African chiefs. German direct rule made use of Akidas and Jumbes.
 Both encouraged conflict to Africans. That is why later on they failed to persist in Africa.
 In Both systems African traditional officials were bound to district commissioners’ order for
implementation. Therefore, the appointed Africans were powerless.
The differences between direct and indirect rule
 The direct rule did not use traditional African chiefs as their intermediaries while the indirect rule
used African chiefs. For instance, in Kenya the British used some Kikuyu chiefs as paramount
chiefs, like Chief Koinange wa Mbiyu and many others. Germans used direct rule in her colonies in
Africa including Tanganyika.
 The indirect rule practiced by the British did not experience great enmity from the Africans because
African traditional chiefs were involved in the colonial administration and their subjects were loyal to
them. This was not the case with direct rule employed by the Germans, since they experienced
frequent resistances due to their harsh and brutal treatment of Africans.
 It was easy in indirect rule to convince African traditional chiefs to mobilize their subjects to
participate in various colonial tasks while the direct rule administration encountered difficulties in
mobilizing Africans to perform their colonial duties and as a result opted to use force to make
Africans participate in their various colonial duties. For example, the Germans in Tanganyika force
southern people to work in their cotton plantations.
 The indirect rule system of administration had less costs of administration unlike the direct rule that
required many Europeans to perform all tasks of administration hence high costs of administration.
 Direct rule was characterized by the use of force and racial superiority. For instance, the Germans
considered themselves superior to other races. Brutality was also another characteristic of direct
rule, whereby colonial administrators handled Africans brutally. On the other hand, the indirect rule

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system of administration used African local chiefs in handling their people and at the same time
performing colonial duties.
 Direct rule was applied in areas where population was very sparse like Tanganyika, Namibia and
Togo while indirect rule was applied in areas with dense population like Nigeria, Uganda.
 Direct rule faced language barriers since it never used middlemen while indirect rule solved the
problem of language blockage since local chiefs were maintained to run the localities.
 Periodically, direct rule was applied by Germans in Tanganyika in 1885-1918 and British in
Zimbabwe in 1893-1980 while indirect rule was mostly applied by British in her colonies since 1900
starting from Nigeria to other African colonies. For it was introduced in Tanganyika by the second
British governor called Donald Cameroon in 1925-1931 and continued till 1961.

THE FRENCH ASSIMILATION POLICY

The term assimilation means ‘similar to. It is derived from the French word ‘’assimiler’’ which means
cause to resemble. Assimilation refers to a French system of administration that aimed at creating
French Black Africans amongst the West Africans who would be French citizens. It is also the French
administrative system that aimed at transforming or turning Africans into Frenchmen or citizens. It was
the French ruling system where by Africans were taught to think, behave and act like French people.
The assimilated person was called assimilator or assimilee.
The assimilation policy was first used in Indo-China and Algeria and later put into practice in Senegal
by the French governor called Lewis between 1854 and 1865. The assimilation policy proved to be
successful in Africa when it was applied in Morocco. The French assimilation in French colonies went
hand in hand with the introduction of French cultural values such as language, laws, religion, customs
and institutions. Therefore, the assimilator or assimilees in colonies were supposed to follow the French
culture

ASSIMILATION POLICY IN SENEGAL

Assimilation was introduced in Senegal by French governor called Lewis in 1854-1865 in four
communes. Communes refer to the models of towns and villages in which French assimilation policy
was applies in Senegal. They include Dakar, Goree, Rufisque and Saint Louis.
Reasons for introduction of French assimilation policy in Senegal
 The four communes of Senegal consisted of high percentage of the French mulattos. This
resulted from trade contact with French at Saint Louis in 1659. The number of mulattoes was
about 90%
 Africans in the four communes of Senegal were quite familiar with white traders in their areas.
Thus it was easy for them to adopt the policy
 The four communes of Senegal had higher percentage of the converted Christian Africans. It
was easy for Christian converts to accept the French assimilation policy
 The role French governor in Senegal called Lewis. He mobilized and coordinated the
introduction of the polic in Senegal
The assimilation policy was also used by other European nations and the assimilated had different
names as shown below
Power Colonies Name of
assimilated
French Senegal, Algeria, Morocco, Guinea, ivory coast, Mali, Assimilator/assimilee
Niger..
Portugues Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau Assimilado
e
Belgian Belgian-Congo Evule

Origin of French assimilation

The French assimilation policy originated from the French revolution of 1789, when the autocratic or
dictatorial rule of King Saint Louis was overthrown, which had been running French empire since 1774.
The French people under the leadership of Jean Jacques Rousseau formed the democratic
government with its elements of EQUALITY, FRATERNITY and LIBERTY. Therefore, French wanted to
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advocate all these ideologies to all people including her colonies regardless of their colour, status and
ethnic line.

The map showing the French West African Federation

The three dimensions or levels of assimilation policy
A. Personal or cultural dimension. In this section, the French attempted to change the culture of the
educated group of their subjects in order to make them behave, act and think like Frenchmen
B. Political or administrative assimilation. Inn this way, there was identity between and the France in
political or administrative aspects. The administrative units in colonies were set in the same way
in France. Therefore, the overseas colonies could send their members of parliament to
metropolitan parliament.
C. Economic assimilation. There was economic integration between French home government and
the colonies. For example, French currency called Franc was used in colonies. Also groundnuts
economy established in Senegal was congruent to French economy
The hierarchical structure of French administration in the French West African federation
(FWAF)
French West African federation refers to colonies in West Africa where assimilation policy was applied
by French to rule them. It comprise of eight (8) colonies such as Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Morocco,
Algeria, Benin, Niger and Ivory Coast. All the colonies were governed from Dakar in Senegal as the
headquarters of the General Governor of the colonies in FWAF.
The French administrative structure is as follows:-
1) The minister of the colonies stationed in Paris. This was the overall in charge to all French
colonies in Africa.

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2) Governor General. He was accountable to minister of colonies and in charge to the West African
French federation colonies. His headquarters were in Senegal Dakar.
3) Lieutenant Governor. This was in charge of the constituent or each colony in Africa. Each colony
was divided into four provinces (cercles) headed by commander de cercle
4) Commander de cercle or province. This was the official responsible to province or region. He
was the provincial or regional commissioner
5) Chef de subdivision. This the French official responsible to subdivision or district level
6) Chefs de canton. These the African chiefs or local rulers, equivalent to those used by British in
her colonies under indirect rule. They were the successors of pre-colonial African chiefs
responsible to location
7) Chefs de village. These were the village headmen who had the duty of maintain law and order in
localities, collecting taxes, and supervising public works in their areas.

Minister of colonies in Paris

Governor-General in charge of federation
or all colonies (in Dakar, Senegal)
Lieutenant-Governor in each colony
Commandant de Cercle in charge of
province
Chef de subdivision in charge of District
Chefs de canton in charge of location.
Successors of pre-colonial chiefs
(equivalent to British chiefs)
Chefs de village (village headmen)
Civilians
Hierarchical structure of French administration in West Africa

The reasons or motives for the application of assimilation policy

1. The French believed that their culture was superior in the world, and that they had to enlighten their
colonies with their rich heritage of civilization. In brief, they wanted to spread French superiority to
their colonies
2. The French considered their colonies as overseas provinces. On this ground they aimed at
transforming black men into French men because the colonies were considered the part and parcel
of the French homeland
3. The French revolution of 1789, which came with the democratic ideas like equality, fraternity and
liberty. Therefore, Frenchmen wanted to spread these elements throughout the world including her
colonies in Africa regardless of their colour in relation to expanding their culture
4. The French wanted identical administrative policies to be implemented in all of her colonies in the
world. She wanted to be unique from her counterparts of German and British administrative
systems.
5. The French aimed at making a class of Africans to help them in international politics. This was so
especially after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871 in which the French provinces of Alsace and
Lorraine were annexed by Germany. So the French wanted to create its allies in African colonies
for their future interests.
6. The French intended to create or establish a group of African Frenchmen who would assist France
to facilitate colonial economic progress through exploitation
7. To divide and rule Africans. The Frenchmen wanted to encourage disunity for easy control of
Africans. For example, the assimilees and non-assimilees, leaders and civilians, rich and poor,
Christians and non-Christians. This made Africans confused when they were demanding their
freedom
8. To reduce resistances from Africans. This was so because the assimilees were expected to be
loyal and submissive to French authority.

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Characteristics of assimilation policy

1. The French regarded their colonies as their overseas provinces, thus the colonies were closely
attached to France.
2. African citizens within the French colonies enjoyed the privileges and rights that were given to
any French citizen in metropolis, particularly the assimilated people. Those privileges and rights
include the following
 Right to appeal in the court of law. A person could have access to court of law either
seeking for advocate and appeal.
 Scholarship. The assimilated was given scholarship to peruse higher studies in France
 Citizenship. the assimilated was permitted to registrar for citizenship and settle in France
 One was appointed in any French ruling department like legislative council and local areas.
 Being excluded from colonial land alienation and forced taxes
3. The African colonies under the French rule were represented in the French Lower House of
Parliament. This showed that there was political integration of the Africans with France.
4. There was a close economic relationship between France and her colonies in Africa. The French
currency was used in the colonies, an indication that the colonies were integrated to the
metropolis country.
5. Africans were obliged to be good citizens through dictatorship. Africans were forced to learn
French language, follow the French laws, apply French civil and political systems, and adopts
French customs and traditions.
6. French considered their culture superior than the African culture. Therefore, they despised the
African culture as they termed it as inferior one. This caused many difficulties among Africans.
The qualifications for the African to be assimilated or to be assimilated citizen.
For the African to be regarded as fully assimilated the French colonial masters set a certain conditions
in which whoever who could qualify has to be given full French citizenship, such conditions are as
explained here below:
 Must be an adult person over 18 years and a Christian in faith.
 Must practice monogamous (marry one wife).
 One must be born in one of the four communes of Dakar, Goree, Rufisque and saint Louis
 Must have passed and qualified military services
 Must abandon his or her culture and adopt the French culture
 Must be fluent in French language both written and spoken.
NOTE: An African who complied with all above condition he / she was given French citizenship.
However, the Assimilation Policy in French West African federation never lasted longer. In the 20 th
century particularly between the 1920s and 1940s the policy declined. In Portuguese colonies the
system started to decline in 1960. This was due to colonial internal and external factors. Under this
circumstance, the colonial masters decided to introduce new policy of administration which came to be
known as association policy/mature assistance by incorporating Africans in administrative structure
Impacts and weakness of French assimilation policy
 Destruction of traditional African authorities. The French replaced African rulers with the
appointed colonial officials
 Creation of economic and political dependency in former French colonies. For example, after
independence, France has become the major exporter of raw materials and importer of
manufactured goods in West Africa.
 Spread of French language in French former colonies. For example, after independence these
countries are using French language as their official language. The countries include Ivory
Coast, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mali and Congo Brazzaville. These countries are known as
Francophone
 The catalysis to the struggle for independence. For example, the assimilated Africans who
acquired French education became frontline to demand their independence. For example,
leopard Sedar Senghor of Senegal, and Felix Houphouet Boigny of Ivory Coast and Ahmed
Sekou Toure of Guinea.

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 Africans were appointed in the representative body. For example, in 1914, Blaise Diagne
defeated six European candidates and was elected into the French National Assembly.
Theoretically, Africans were involved in decision making concerning their well-being.
 Undermining the African culture. This happened when the western religion, marriage, and
cultural values were forced to be adopted. For example, polygamy and Islamic and traditional
worshiping styles perished due to introduction of monogamy and Christian religion
 The policy caused imbalanced development in colonies and regions. The areas in which
assimilation was more practical economic and social infrastructures were installed compared to
those became resistant. For example, the four communes of Senegal such as Dakar, St Louis,
Rufisque and Goree were highly provide with good infrastructure.
 It caused African exploitation. This is because the assimilated were bound to colonial
oppressive law. It was associated with forced taxation, land alienation and labour.
 It created difficulties among Africans when demanding their independence. This is because the
Africans were divided into different classes. This situation caused delay of in acquiring freedom
from colonizers.
Differences between direct rule and assimilation policy
i. Direct rule considered colonies as separate. Colonies were detached from metropolitan
government while assimilation policy considered the colonies as (federation) part and parcel of
metropolitan government. That is why they were given some privileges
ii. Laws governing colonies under direct rule were passed by legislative council in the colonies
while the laws enacted in French colonies were passed in metropolitan governments
iii. Assimilation policy African subjects to be the French citizens and enjoyed all privileges while in
the direct rule the citizens remained subjects to colonial powers
iv. French colonies were integrated in the metropolitan economy. For example, French currency
was used in French West African federation while German used local currency like Indian
rupees.
v. Direct rule under German rule the use of vernaculars was supported like Kiswahili in
Tanganyika while assimilation policy was concerned with the use of foreign languages like
French
vi. Assimilation policy allowed African representatives in French Lower House of Parliament. For
example, in 1914, Blaise Diagne was elected in the National Assembly while direct rule
administered colonies without African representation
vii. Assimilation policy to some extent did not put Africans under harsh treatment compared to
German direct rule that used brutal mercenaries like Jumbes, Akidas and Liwalis to administer
at the local areas.
Differences/disparities/contrast between indirect rule and assimilation policy
i. French assimilation policy had the centralised system in the colonies. For example, the
headquarters were in Dakar Senegal held by governor general over all the colonies while under
indirect rule each colony had its own governor
ii. They had different attitudes about Africa. French considered colonies as overseas territories or
provinces while British under indirect rule colonies were regarded as the separate colonies.
That is why Africans had no representatives as it was in French colonies
iii. French policy designed Africans to the French citizens and were given all privileges like
Frenchmen whereas in the indirect rule Africans were designed to be exploited since they were
not the part and parcel of colonial masters
iv. British allowed the pre-colonial African rulers like chiefs and clan head to remain in their local
areas while French assimilation appointed new rulers who replaced the local African leadership
v. Management of the revenue wa different. While the French collected the and sent revenue to
her headquarters of colonies in Senegal for colonial development in all colonies distributed by
governor general British indirect rule revenue was collected from a particular colony and spent
in itself
vi. French assimilation to some extent destroyed the indigenous culture since the subjects were
obliged to abandon their cultural values such as religion, polygamous marriage, language

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education and dressing code and follow the French ones but in indirect rule the African cultural
heritages like language, marriage and initiation ceremonies were not much distorted
Similarities among the Direct rule, indirect rule and assimilation policy
i. All the three system used Europeans at the top while the Africans were ruling at the bottom.
This implies that the systems swallowed he power African rulers and ignored them. For
example, German used the appointees such as Liwalis and Jumbes, who replaced African
traditional local rulers
ii. All the three systems ensured the subjection of Africans to colonial exploitative acts such as
forced labour, taxation and land alienation in order to maximize profit
iii. All the systems aimed to exploit African resources in form of humans and labour
iv. All the systems introduced western civilization and culture inn Africa. For example, they
introduced language, religion and education
v. In all administrative systems coercive apparatus were used in the colonies. For example,
police, prisons, soldiers and judicial systems were applied in order to ensure security and
peace in the colonies.
vi. All the systems experienced resistances from Africans. That is why later on they granted
independence to Africans in the 1960s. Particularly French and British masters.
vii. All the administrative systems had negative attitude about Africans. They considered African
cultural values like religion, polygamy, education and dressing code as inferior or awkward and
praise their as superior ones.
THE FRENCH POLICY OF ASSOCIATION
Assimilation policy was the French administrative system that aimed to involve subjects in
administration especially at the lower levels. Indigenous elites who were trained in French education
were to be used as administrators to mediate between fellow Africans and the French officials.
It was also a French colonial policy in which French had to respect the cultures of her colonial peoples
and allow them to develop independently rather than forcing them to adopt French civilization and
culture. Africans were allowed to practice their cultural valued such as polygamy, rituals, and Islamic
religion. Africans also were allowed to elect their representatives in the French government, to have
free trade free press and form political parties like Ressemblement Democratique Africain (RDA). The
policy emphasised cooperation between the colonized and colonizers.
The association policy started to lose its supremacy from 1914 and came into practical in 1945
following the abandonment of French assimilation policy. Generally, Association policy aimed at making
participatory administration between Africans and French in the colonial administrators. Africans were
supposed to supply military services, labour, pay taxes, while the French had to provide technical
knowledge. Therefore, Association Policy was the French Indirect Rule system of administration,
which came in with the major purpose of creating mutual economic development for both Africans and
Frenchmen.
Dimensions in which Africans were involved in colonial administration under Association policy
1. Political Dimension. The French respected political institutions of Africans and African rulers
were involved in the lower level of administration. Africans were also supposed to be recruited
in the colonial army and defend the colonial interest.
2. Economical Dimension. Africans were supposed to get involved in economic development
voluntarily. For example, paying taxes, supply of labour, construction of schools and hospitals
were done voluntarily instead of colonial force.
3. Social Dimension. Africans were allowed to practice their culture freely. Europeans were
supposed to respect African cultural practices such as polygamy, Islamic religion, initiation
ceremonies and other related cultural values.
The main factors / reasons for the change of assimilation into association policy. Or reasons for
the failure of the French assimilation policy
i. Resistance from Frenchmen in France. The French scholars and politicians expressed their views
that it was unwise and unrealistic for Africans to be transformed into Frenchmen. For example, they
argued that, it could not be easy to exploit Africans since they were given privileges like citizenship
in French homeland. French philosophers also criticized this system as they said that the system
brought a burden to the French tax payers, that they benefited others, the Africans. Furthermore,

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the French people feared that African representatives in the National assembly were likely to highly
influence the whites in policy and decision-making.
ii. The policy was expensive and difficult to implement because the colonial government had to use
much funds to finance the project. For instance, building schools, buying textbooks written in Frenc,
employing teachers of French language for training Africans. The colonial masters failed to
implement this, thus decided to adopt new policy.
iii. The policy encountered opposition from African natives especially the Muslims such like Mandinka
under Toure of Guinea and Tukolor of Senegal. This is because their religion allowed marrying
more than one wife
iv. The French legal system was based on French civil law whereas the Africans had to diverse
customary laws and traditions like marriage, worshipping styles and educational models, things
which made the policy implementable.
v. The spread of Islamic religion in West African communities. This became an obstacle to the spread
assimilation policy since the system encouraged people to be converted to Christianity. For
example people from Mali, Guinea, Morocco and Senegal resisted Christianity to defend their faith.
vi. Hard conditions for qualifications. Many African could not comply with the conditions given by
french government for the one to be regarded as real assimilated in relation to African culture
vii. Poor infrastructures in the colonies. This made poor implementation of the policy since it was
difficult to penetrate in the interior to reach the targeted colonial subjects. Thick forests, valleys, and
mountains made communication more impossible in the interior.
viii. Language barrier. Many Africans got difficulties in learning the French language and at the same
time many French administrators could not speak African local languages. This created gap
between colonizers and the colonized.
Difference between French assimilation and Association policy
i. Under the association policy, African traditional cultural values such as polygamy, Islamic religion,
vernaculars and initiation ceremonies were preserved while assimilation policy intervened all those
African cultural values.
ii. African colonies were detached from their colonial masters. The colonies were regarded separate
entities while under the assimilation policy African colonies were regarded as the part and parcel of
colonial masters. They were considered overseas territories.
iii. In association policy Africans were regarded as the second-class citizens. That is why they could
not enjoy the privileges and rights like Frenchmen. But under assimilation policy, Africans
(assimilated) enjoyed privileges from colonial government like citizenship and being appointed in
colonial administrative posts
iv. Association policy aimed to create mutual relation and economic development for both Africans and
French people. This was witnessed when Africans were voluntarily involved in economic
development like paying taxes, construction of infrastructures like roads, rail ways and provision of
labour through bargaining. This was different in assimilation where by Africans were subjected to
French oppressive law.
v. Assimilation policy entertained the African customary laws while assimilation emphasized French
civil and criminal laws in colonies.
vi. Association policy incorporated African local rulers and elites in colonial lower house of parliament
while assimilation policy used the appointed officials to supervise colonial production. For example,
in 1914, Blaise Diagne appointed into the French National Assembly
vii. Association prepared Africans for self-rule and independence while assimilation created Africans
for being dominated and exploited for long time. That is why the colonies were regarded as the
permanent homes of colonial masters. Independence for Africans during assimilation policy was
not considered by colonial masters.
Advantages of Association Policy to Africans as it was applied by both French and British
 Africans were allowed to practice their local cultural values. This was different from assimilation
which forced Africans to abandon their culture and adopt French culture
 African local leadership was preserved and respected. Therefore, African native rulers enjoyed
political power. In assimilation African leadership was replaced by the appointed administrators

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 Some Africans were involved in colonial administrative body at the Lower House of Parliament.
Others were recruited in colonial army and defence of colonial interests
 African languages were restored. For example, Africans were permitted to use both foreign and
local languages. In Senegal, Africans used French and vernacular while in Tanganyika Africans
used Kiswahili and English. Under assimilation Africans were to be fluent in French language
 Africans developed economically since the aim of association was to develop both Africans and
Frenchmen. Africans were involved in economic development voluntarily. In assimilation Africans
became less developed since they were subjected to colonial exploitative acts.
 Africans were free and detached from colonial masters under association. They were prepared for
future self-rule. This championed the African acquisition of independence in 1960s from French.
Under assimilation policy Africans were made the overseas provinces. Therefore granting
independence was impossible.
 Association or indirect rule increased employment opportunities to Africans. For example, Africans
were recruited in army, police and lower representative body
 African resistances were reduced since the system was friendly to Africans. This avoided
unnecessary African bloodshed. This was so because Africans were not subjected to colonial
forced labour, land alienation, and tax payment. Assimilation policy caused a lot resistances since
the natural way of life was interfered and exploitative acts were common

COLONIALISM NEVER INTENDED TO DEVELOP AFRICA

There is no doubt even among the bourgeoisie writers, that colonialism was a system that functioned
well in the interest of the colonialists who were the European powers. But unfortunately some ill-fated
historians do argue and say that colonialism had a lot of good that it brought in Africa for the benefit of
Africans. That is completely false and misleading; colonialism had only one hand; it was a one-armed
bandit. It had no any intention to develop Africa, whatever was done in Africa was to serve their
interests. Africans just picked the remains that would not have been avoided.
Since its inception, colonialism had never intended to bring any development in Africa. In fact, even the
capitalism, as mode of production that was introduced was not like that existed in Europe. From the
very beginning the tendency of European nations was one of competition elimination and create
monopoly.
If in any case Africans benefited from colonial services, just coincidentally as it can is
expounded below:
1) Some social amenities like residential houses, recreation grounds, water and electricity were
established for the white settlers and expatriates who wanted to maintain the standard of living like
that of the bourgeoisie or professionals in the metropolis. They were more determined to have
luxurious life in Africa because so many of them were surplus population that had been created by
the industrial revolution
2) In colonial plantations, facilities like hospitals, schools, staff quarters, running water and electricity
were established for European economic investment. Minimum maintenance of the workers’
healthy was necessary for exploitation of agricultural raw material s from plantation centres
3) Means of communication like roads and railway, ports and harbours were not constructed in the
colonial period so that Africans could visit their relatives and friends. They were laid down to
facilitate imperialist trade within African commodities and colonial agricultural firms. They were for
white settlers to transport their exports from Africa to the coast and eventually to the metropolis
4) Financial institutions like banks and insurance companies were put in place, to develop European
bourgeoisie. The banks like Barclays did little to lend the local people. In British East Africa, an
ordinance was passed in 1931 restricting financial institutions from lending the native people. It was
for lending white settlers and colonial companies only
5) Schools and religion were used as tools to divide Africans and spread European culture. Africans
benefited them accidentally
6) The introduction of money. The money used by colonialists also came from the Africans
themselves. African workers and peasants who made cash payment for the European governments
7) Provision of western. Education that was provided to few African children aimed to get supervisors
of colonial production. Therefore western education never intended to develop Africans at all

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8) Establishment of the processing and import-substitution industries. These were aiming at reducing
the cost of transporting raw materials from Africa to Europe especially processing industries.
Import-substitution ones aimed to get necessary consumable goods like salt, soap, and beef for the
white settlers in colonies. Africans never benefited from those industries

THE COLONIAL STATE AND COERCIVE APPARATUS

Background
Colonial state refers to the colonial extension of the metropolitan state in colonies. Or it was the
administrative machinery which was established by capitalists in their colonies in order to protect and
supervise their interests. The colonial state was the first established after the scramble for and partition
of Africa and was followed by the establishment of colonial economy.
The colonial state was to protect the bourgeoisie interests in the colonies. Therefore, the primary
objective of colonial state was to create colonial economy that would respond to demands of
metropolitan economies. Thus violence was to be used to introduce colonial economy.
Colonial state involved three branches such as
1. Executive (administrative hierarchy), which comprised of officials like governors, provincial and
district commissioners and other appointees
2. Military institutions, which include armed forces like police, armies and prisoners
3. Legal or judicial systems, which comprised of professionals like judges, clerks and magistrates.
In this part, colonial military institutions and legal institutions will be discussed.
How the colonial was state violent?
1. Colonial conquest, the violence of the colonial state was initially demonstrated in the process of
colonial conquest itself. Most African societies put up stiff resistance against the colonial
establishment, however the colonialists used all kinds of violent means to suppress African
reactions against them
2. Destruction of African handcrafts. Capitalist money economy was manifested when it embarked on
destruction of Africa’s handcrafts throughout the colonial state the traditional handcrafts of Africans
were declared illegal. In the Belgian colony of Congo, artisans had their limbs cut off when caught
engaging in handcrafts.
3. Collection of taxation. Violence and force was very rampant during the collection and enforcing the
taxation. The defaulters were tied up their hands together and humiliated in the face of the public.
Those who failed to pay totally were jailed to provide hard labour.
4. The liquidation of African trade. This was applied by the colonial state to break the backbone of
African self-sufficient and sustaining economy. Africans violently were denied to participate in trade.
For example Jaja of Opobo and Nana Olum in Nigeria were crushed ruthlessly and deported to
West Indies as to stop them from engaging into palm oil trade.
5. Annexation of African wealth. Land alienation and cattle confiscation was implemented violently.
African arable land was simply grabbed coercively by the colonists to make Africans as mere
suppliers of cheap labour to the colonial plantations and white settler’s farms to earn the meagre
wage that were given to them.
6. In searching and mobilizing for cheap labour to work in colonial productions. The colonial state
demonstrated maximum violence. Africans were forced to work in mines, plantations and on
colonial infrastructures. Corporal punishment were applied so as to ensure maximum exploitation of
African labour force.
7. Administering punishment to Africans. For example, Nubians and Rugaruga, the mercenary solders
of Germany in Tanganyika were merciless in punishing Africans. Africans were whipped, forced to
have sexual intercourse and sometimes women and girls were raped. This was the king of
humiliation and dehumanization

COLONIAL MILITARY AND LEGAL INSTITUTIONS

These were the colonial state coercive apparatus which were introduced in Africa for keeping and
maintaining law, order and security in colonies. These were the super structure of colonialism known as
arms of colonial state. They were established aiming to achieve the colonial objectives and goals.
Military institutions comprised of body of soldiers from both Europe and Africa, police and prisons while

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legal institutions had the code of laws and courts, operated by judges, clerks, magistrates and council
of elders. Colonial military and legal institutions worked together with the colonial administrative
systems for effective control of Africa.
A. Colonial Military institutions
This refers to the colonial state armed forces established in African colonies to maintain law, order and
security. This was the backbone of colonial rule in spreading colonialism. It applied brutality and cruelty
of the highest order ever seen in the world. It tortured the people and it happened that it created a big
gap between them with the civilians. It had three categories such as armies, police and prisons. The
major responsibility of the armed forces was to defend the colonial territories against internal and
external threats.
British established their military forces in East, Central and West Africa. For example, the East African
Rifles (EAR) operated in Kenya and Uganda; Central African Rifles (CAR) operating and stationed in
Malawi. The two military forces were joined in 1902 and formed King’s African Rifles (KAR) that had
battalions in every British territory. The KAR headquarters were established in 1919 in Tabora,
Tanganyika. It recruited soldiers from Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika and Nyasaland.
In West Africa, British established the armed force in 1900 called British Royal West African Frontier
Force (BRWAFF), which was responsible in British West African territories of Nigeria, Gold Coast,
Sierra Leone and Gambia. In 1928, it received royal support and became to be known as the Royal
West African Frontier Force (RWAFF)
Characteristics of Colonial Military Forces
1. Most of the recruits were illiterates, it was believed that the more illiterate a soldier was the better
he was, thus basing on that notion many colonial military men were completely illiterate. They could
serve the interest of their masters without questioning.
2. They depended on orders and commands from the top colonial military without questioning
anything thus they lacked professionalism
3. Soldiers were of mercenary, that is, they were hired from outside colonies so as to be coercive and
merciless while executing their functions. For example, the Sudanese soldiers and Somalis were
brought in East Africa
4. They were selected from unproductive regions where cash crops or mining did not exist especially
in labour reserves like in northern Uganda and western Tanganyika in Kigoma and Rukwa
5. They survived on meagre/low wages and sometimes without salaries so that they become more
royal and obedient to the colonial bosses
6. They were separated from the public, they lived in barracks and military quarters in order to keep
them away from civilian experiences. The aim was to create a gap between the civilians and the
military forces
7. They applied forceful and coercive means to fulfil colonial interests like land alienation, collection of
taxes mobilization of labour and suppression of resistance. On top of that the higher posts were
embraced by Europeans soldiers.
NOTE: The major aim of recruiting military forces from foreign land was that they proved to be very
strict and successful when implementing the colonial interests. That is why Germany had temporary
and weak (unstable) military force because she depended much on mercenary soldiers. She had not
her own permanent armed force.

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Image of British military force known as Kings African Riffles (KAR)

Role of military forces in consolidating colonialism in Africa
i. Defending the colonial state from internal and external threats. For example, the British military
force called KAR fought in WW1 in Ethiopia, Burma, Sudan and India to defend colonies
ii. Administering punishment to African leaders and their people who were stubborn to colonial
state by deporting, jailing and killing. Tax evaders also were arrested. This was implemented by
police and prisons
iii. Alienating land from the indigenous people Africans. For the colonial plantations and white
settlers.
iv. Providing protection and security to the colonialists living in Africa like the settlers,
missionaries, traders and colonial officials.
v. Collection of the taxes from the subjects. The aim was to increase national revenue
vi. Suppressing African uprisings against colonial domination and the spread of colonialism in
region. For example, the early resistances like Nyamwezi, Mandinka, Hehe were suppressed
vii. Supervising colonial production and other projects like plantations, mines and construction of
quarters, roads and railways. This was most fulfilled by the police men
viii. Implementing colonial conquest during the penetration and occupation of interior parts of
Africa.
ix. Ensuring recruitment of cheap labour from African population. This was achieved using forces
against Africans in order to obtain them.
B. Colonial Legal Institutions
These were the coercive colonial state apparatus which dealt with legal or judicial matters during
colonial period. In the British colonies, the legal institutions comprised of Legislative Body (LEGCO), a
council of elders and courts. They were managed by European judges, clerks and magistrates. The
council of elders was directly employed by the British and adopted in British colonies because it was
common practical in British home society.
Three departments of colonial judicial systems
i) Criminal investigation department. This performed the task of investigating or exploring all
criminal cases or reports for justification

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ii) Motorised company. This performed the task of suppressing the strikes and revolts from trade
unionists (public workers) such as teachers, lawyers, doctors and engineers.
iii) Militia. This organ was responsible to collect taxes and arrest Africans who failed or evaded to
pay taxes
Functions of colonial legal/judicial institutions
 Advising colonial government on judicial matters
 Receiving people’s claims through the courts and council of elders. Council of elders dealt with
African cases while the courts and legislative council handled the African and European claims.
 Providing guidelines and legal aid. For example, referral.
 Educating society and guiding it on the procedures to follow about their claims
 Suggesting amendment of laws, acts and ordinances in order to suit with colonial daily needs.
For example, the Kenyan Resident Native Labour Ordinance of 1918, amended 90 days a year
that a worker had to provide labour in settler farm and raised to180 days a year. Also, the
Crown Land Ordinance of 1915, offered the land to white settlers in highlands of Kenya for 99
years.
 Interpreting and enforcing laws
 Administering judgement and sentence to those proved guilty
Impacts of colonial military and legal institutions in Africa
i. African traditional and legal systems were undermined. For example, the Maasai Laiobon unit
under age-set system and Ntemiship system among the Nyamwezi under Mtemi were
destroyed.
ii. Exploitative acts were introduced. For example, forced labour, taxation and land alienation. All
these were implemented by legislative body, courts, soldiers and police forces.
iii. Promotion of racism. Europeans and Asians had had top and middle positions in legal and
military departments while the lowest ranks were captured by Africans
iv. African employees in legal and military departments became submissive. The order and
commands were implemented without questions. This was seen to the African mercenary
soldiers from Sudan, Uganda and Somalia.
v. Many African soldiers remained illiterate. This is because education in military camps was
highly discouraged so as to become muscular oriented.
vi. Prisoners became the colonial source of cheap labour. This is because the prisoners were
transferred from one place to another in colonial projects like mining and plantations.
vii. Amendment of laws, acts and ordinances was very oppressive and discriminative. For
example, the Master and Servant Act of 1924 in Tanganyika stipulated that a worker should not
break contract and he should show loyalty and obedience to the employer
viii. Prevalence of insecurity in the African society. This resulted from daily attacks, suppression
from colonial military forces in the community residences

COLONIAL STATE AND CLASS FORMATION

The term class refers to a large group of people distinguished by the position they occupy in the
system of social relation. This appears in the means of production, the role in the organization of labour
and the share of the social wealth. Colonial class was the group of colonial workers which was
created for meeting the colonial interests in the colonies; that is maximizing exploitation in the colony. It
comprised of African, Asian and European workers
The classes that were created by the colonial state included
1) Wage earners. These comprised unskilled labour force that worked on colonial plantations, mines
and infrastructures. They were paid low wages and worked in poor working conditions.
2) Peasant class. This was the backbone of colonial agriculture mostly based in rural areas and
engaged in small scale agriculture as the major economic activity. They lived in vicious poverty
since most of their output was bought on low prices.
3) Salaried workers/petty bourgeoisie. These were colonial civil servants that included administrators
and professionals like medical doctors, teachers, lawyers, engineers, clerks, judges and
magistrates. They were most of the European, Asian professionals and few Africans.
How classes were formed by the colonial state

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1. Introduction of cash crop production in the colonial state. In the areas where cash crop was grown
stratification was formed while areas where cash crops were not cultivated became labour reserves
for productive areas.
2. Through colonial subsides to some peasants while abandoning others, the colonial government
gave material support to the peasants who were able to cultivate more than 20 acres and those
who would cultivate more than 10 acres of land. Doing so it created stratifications among the rich
peasants, middle class peasants and poor peasants.
3. Trough land alienation African fertile soils were taken away by the colonialists and distributed it to
the white settlers. This made Africans to become the class of cheap labour who would supply their
labour force to colonial plantations and settlers’ estates.
4. Selective way of giving loans. Loans and credits were given only to the Asians and Europeans
leaving Africans on the margins. This caused Africans remain cheap labour provider or wage
earners in colonial projects
5. Inequality of Colonial education. This was instrumental in bridging social and economic classes in
colonial Africa. The colonial education was only provided to few Africans while leaving the majority
with totally no education to make them chief suppliers of labour in the colonial projects.
6. Racist policy. This was a colonial state policy to segregate the Africans basing on the colour of their
skins. It was the Europeans and Asians that were given top priority in economic, political and social
aspects making African the third class.
General assessment of colonial state
Colonial state was not organized to meet the interests of Africans but to meet the capitalist interests.
Through its implementation of its goals it caused a lot problems on Africans. Therefore, it affected
Africans in the following ways
i. It instilled inferiority complex among the Africans
ii. It led to the subordination of Africans to the foreigners
iii. It led to the intensive exploitation of human resources since many Africans were paid law
wages
iv. It integrated Africans in capitalist economy under colonial bureaucracy
v. It promoted racism among the Africans where by only the European and Asians were
considered more than the Africans.
vi. It created stratification among the Africans alienating some Africans from their societies

………………………End of Topic 2……………………….

TOPIC THREE (3)
COLONIAL ECONOMY
Colonial economy refers to the capitalist system of production, consumption and distribution of goods
and services that was established by colonialists in their colonies during colonial era. In other words, it
was the imperialist economic system that was established in African colonies aiming to serve the
capitalist interests, through exploiting African resources in form of humans and raw materials. It was
established following the colonial sate particularly in the 1900s. Colonial economy had different sectors
such as Agriculture, colonial labour, industries, mining, transport and communication systems, financial
institutions and trade.
Principal Powers in establishing colonial economy include Britain, France, Belgium, Portugal, Germany
and Italy
Objectives/aims of colonial economy
Colonial interest was to maximize super profit in Africa and introduced colonial economy in order to
meet the following objectives
i. Ensuring constant supply of raw materials from Africa to the European industries
ii. Exploiting cheap African labour through forcing them to work long hours but under meagre
wages

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iii. To get areas for the investment

iv. To search areas for settlement of European surplus population
v. To ensure that there is a market for surplus production of European goods.
vi. To increase metropolis national revenue. That is why Fines and taxes were introduced in Africa
From the above objectives of colonial economy we can judge that, colonial economy never aimed to
benefit Africans rather Europeans. This evident by looking into its features which in typically relied on
European benefit.
The characteristics/features of colonial economy
a. Use of coercive apparatus. Colonial state instruments like colonial army, police, prison as well as
courts were accompanied with colonial economy to ensure that colonial production run smoothly
b. Construction of transport and communication networks like railways, roads and ports to facilitate
production, distribution and exportation of products from interior to the coast ready for shipment to
European countries.
c. Land alienation was common in areas where plantations and settlers economies were dominant. In
this case, many Africans were forced to be out of their fertile land and taken to the marginalized
(unfertile) land.
d. Use of labour-intensive economy as it depended heavily on both migrant labour whose duty was
only to provide their labor power in plantations and mines.
e. Money-oriented economy. This was simply because, money used only as a medium of exchange in
the colonies, and also the use of money facilitated capitalist exchange and colonial exploitations
f. Limited number of industries in Africa. Africans were kept dependant to European finshed goods.
Capitalists killed African industries and technology by introducing processing industries like oil
refineries and cotton ginneries
g. It was export-import oriented. Whatever was produced in Africa in a form of cash crops like cotton,
coffee and sisal and mineral raw-materials were transported to European hungry industries.
Manufactured goods from Europe also were Imported to Africa in markets for consumption
h. It was based on Monoculture. A single cash crop was specialized in one region or farm in order to
increase productivity. For example, Sisal in Tanganyika, Coffee in Kenya, Cocoa in Ivory Coast and
Palm oil in Nigeria.
i. It was characterized by taxation. Africans were forced to pay taxes in terms of poll, hut and cattle
taxes. In turn Africans became unsecured since European powers used force to collect taxes from
Africans.
j. Cash crops were most maintained than food crop production. This caused hunger and starvation in
Africa
k. The colonial economic sectors were dominated by European officials under companies and white
settlers. For example, trade and large estates were supervised, owned and controlled by European
companies such as Imperial British East Africa Company and Royal Niger Company

TECHNIQUES/METHODS/TACTICS USED TO ESTABLISH COLONIAL ECONOMY IN AFRICA

The Africans themselves did not accept introduction and establishment of colonial economy in Africa
because of its nature of the colonial state in introducing colonial economy like forced taxation, land
alienation, discrimination, low wages, and exploitation. Africans reacted negatively against this
economy. This forced the colonialists to use some methods and tactics to make their economies to be
accepted. There were three major categories of these methods as shown below:-
A. CREATION METHOD
B. DESTRUCTION METHOD
C. PRESERVATION METHOD
CREATION
In this technique colonialists introduced or created some new structures that had not existed in Africa
before. Among the things which were created include: -
i. Establishment of transport and communication infrastructure: Roads, railways and harbours were
built to facilitate exploitation of African natural resources

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ii. Western education: Colonial education was introduced to few Africans so as to get few of them
who could assist in administration. It also aimed at creating puppets.
iii. Introduction of cash crops like coffee, tea and cotton. These were introduced in Africa so as to
solve the problem of raw materials.
iv. Introduction of money economy: The imperialists introduced money in Africa so as to facilitate the
exploitation Africans. Different European currencies were brought in Africa. For example, France
used Franc currency, British used Indian rupees as the major medium of exchange in their
colonies
v. Land alienation. People were pushed from their fertile land to less fertile land so as to provide the
chance to open up plantations. This was common in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mozambique and South
Africa
vi. Introduction of taxation. Various taxes were introduced in order to force Africans to supply labour
in colonial projects. For African person to get cash taxes one had to seek low labour job.
vii. Introduction of new form of labour. For example, migrant and forced labour were created. In
productive zones, labour reserves were created. Other Africans were obliged to provide labour
without payment.
DESTRUCTION
The colonialists destructed all former means of African indigenous economy which did not give the
chance to the growth and development of colonial economy in Africa. The techniques used include
i. Destruction of African Local trade: The colonialists destroyed all African local trade systems like
long distance trade. For example, King Jaja of Opobo in Nigeria was prohibited from engaging in
palm oil trade
ii. Demolishment of African Local Industries (technologies): The colonialists aimed to make African
continent backward technologically. Pottery, carpentry and cloth-making were undermined. Under
this, those handcraft men were prohibited to involve in local industries. If found their hands were
chopped off. This was serious in Congo-Belgian. This also was done through introducing
European manufactured goods in Africa
iii. Destruction of African traditional way of production. For example, the old system of communal
mode of production was transformed into capitalist mode of production based on private
ownership. The land was put into enclosure system and monoculture
PRESERVATION
The colonialists maintained or preserved some of the pre-colonial existing economic elements in Africa.
These elements were maintained so that they could support production of raw materials in colonies.
The following methods were used.
i. Family remained as the basic unit of production especially where peasantry economy was
practiced. It was common in areas where peasant agriculture was practical like Uganda, Nigeria
and some parts of Tanganyika such as Mbeya, Kilimanjaro and Bukoba
ii. Preservation of primitive and crude tools: The means of production like hand hoes, axes, and
pangas were left to be used since the colonialists aimed at making Africans backward
technologically.
iii. Production relations like Feudal system which was based on private ownership in pre-colonial era
were maintained. The system was under the control of local chiefs like in Uganda under Kabaka
(Busulo and Mvunjo), in Nigeria among the Fulani under Sokoto, in Kilimanjaro (Kihampa) under
Mangi and Bukoba (Nyarubanja) under Omukama
Why preservation method was preferred by colonialists in colonial Africa?
i. The presence of poor technology. African peasants were using poor tools in farming. Therefore,
transforming them could be costly to colonial masters
ii. Absence of enough land for establishing colonial estates. Due to dense population land alienation
became very difficult to get it. This forced colonial masters to use preservation technique
iii. Availability of good traditional labour system. Some African societies had stable family labour
since they were polygamous. This helped colonialists not incur the cost of distant labour supply
iv. Prior experience of Africans on permanent and cash crop production. For example, the Baganda
and Nigerians had the knowledge on production of cocoa, coffee, palm oil and banana
respectively.

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v. Conservativeness of people. In some areas Africans were too primitive that they could not adopt
new economic system. Under this circumstance colonialist opted to use preservation.
vi. Presence of high resistance. For example, among the Fulani and Baganda in Nigeria and Uganda
respectively. Also in Tanganyika among the Hehe, Chagga and Nyakyusa people.
vii. Ignorance of some Africans. In some areas many Africans never had the skills of scientific
production since western education was introduced. Therefore, colonialists had to allow
preservation in order to avoid cost of running or operating
Why and how did the colonialists make Africans backward technologically?
Reasons/why?
 To make Africans remain the source of raw materials
 To make Africa remain the main source of market for the European manufactured goods.
 To create dependent economy amongst the African countries
 To make Africans the importer of technology from outside.
 To make Africans to depend on experts from their colonial masters
 To avoid stiff/heavy competition in development between Africa and Europe.
How/in which ways?
 Destruction of local industries
 Introduction of notorious labour system
 Preservation of local productive forces
 Land alienation
 Introduction of various taxes
 Introduction of colonial education
 Introduction of small industries in the colonies for processing and ignoring of manufacturing
industry

SEVEN SECTORS/PRACTICES/TYPES OF COLONIAL ECONOMY

i. Agriculture
ii. Mining
iii. Transport and communication infrastructure
iv. Trade and commerce
v. Industries
vi. Financial institutions
vii. Colonial labour
COLONIAL AGRICULTURE
Since the colonies were meant to produce raw materials the main sectors emphasized were mining
and agriculture. The colonial agriculture was designed to serve the colonial objectives to the
imperialist countries. The production was largely for raw materials in form of cash crops such as cotton,
coffee, cocoa, rubber, palm oil, and sisal.
The colonial agriculture was in three main branches or practices
a) Settler agriculture
b) Plantation agriculture
c) Peasantry agriculture

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Colonial agricultural practices in East Africa

SETTLER AGRICULTURE
This was the large-scale form of colonial agriculture whereby the European farmers (settlers) settled in
African colonies and established agricultural undertakings. The settlers’ farms were owned and run by
individual white settlers. This form of agriculture was very dominant in the colonies of Kenya, Southern
Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Namibia, Mozambique, Angola and South Africa.
Characteristics of settler agriculture
i. The production was for export; whatever produced by settlers in the colonies was exported as
raw material to metropolis. Raw materials were exported to the European industries. The African
people did not benefit from these large scale plantations
ii. Establishment of large-scale farms. For example, in Zimbabwe settlers owned 44,952,000 acres
of the best land out of the total 4,900,000 land. The 230,000 settlers were able to establish large
plantations.
iii. Growth of monoculture. There was high specialization. Usually each company specialized in the
production of a specific commodity. In Liberia rubber plantations were established, in Kenya
huge coffee and tea.
iv. Huge capital was injected in agriculture. Capital was used to develop infrastructure, to pay
labourers, to construct squatters.

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v. The settlers had strong links with the metropolis and always exerted critical influence on the
colonial state. Any policy taken with respect to colonial production had to take into account the
interest of the settlers.
vi. Use of massive unskilled or cheap labour in the production. The colonial state ensured constant
supply of African labour through passing laws that required the Africans to provide labour to the
settlers like introduction of adult tax to every man
vii. Private ownership of estates by the European settlers and legitimizing African land through
alienations. In Kenya, for example, the crown land Ordinance of 1915 gave the settlers 99 years
lease for rural land; the lease was later extended to 999 years that the settlers would claim the
land in progress.
viii. Practice of racism. European settlers made Africans inferior, their work was to supply cheap
labour on the plantations. For example, Africans were not allowed to establish commercial
agriculture.
ix. Establishment of transport and communication network in the areas where settlers dominated.
For example, roads, railways and banking systems
x. It was dominated by migrant labourers who worked on the plantations seasonally.
xi. Taxation was common. Africans were forced to pay taxes particularly labourers in plantation
zones
How the colonial state favoured the flourishment of settler agriculture
i. The colonial state formed land ordinances, which ensured the availability of enough fertile land
for the settlers. For example, the colonial state in Kenya passed land Acts which strictly
prohibited Kenyans from procuring land, which was potentially, preserved for the white settlers
ii. Ensuring of constant supply of cheap labour from Africans. This was made by passing
legislations and laws. For example the master and servant native Act of 1906 in Kenya made
Kenyans to provide their labour power in the colonial settler farms, the crown land Act of 1915
in Kenya and the Kipande system increased the number of days from 90 to 180 days for
Kenyans to work in settler farms per annum.
iii. The colonial state offered loans with dear interests to the settlers. Furthermore they were given
subsidies as a means of encouraging them to expand their agricultural activities in large scale.
iv. The colonial state ensured security to the settlers against African resistances.
v. The colonial state allowed the settlers to form political organizations and trade unions,
vi. They were provided with compensation (remedies) in case of loss or poor agricultural
production due to either poor climatic conditions or inflation
vii. The settlers were given the monopoly power of growing certain types of cash crops that
Africans. This was meant to avoid competition between Africans and Europeans in terms of
production.
viii. The colonial state left the settlers to determine the prices of their crops. At times when the
colonial state set prices, they set high prices for their crops than those given to the ordinary
African peasants.
ix. The colonial state extended reliable physical infrastructures to the settlers’ farms. For example
the Mombasa-Kisumu railway was constructed in 1895, the Nairobi –Thika line in 1918.
x. The white settlers were provided with better social amenities and extension of services such as
water and electricity supply. The settlers were given the best social services such as transport,
hotels, health care and recreational centres, clubs while Africans were deprived of such
services.
xi. The colonial state exempted the settlers from paying taxes as a result, the burden fell on
Africans
SETTLER AGRICULTURE IN KENYA
Background
Kenya became the British colony in 1890. In Kenya, the establishment of colonial economy started after
the completion of the Kenya-Uganda railway in 1902. Before that time, Kenya was regarded as a
stopping place where British had to pass to the rich and strategic areas of Uganda to obtain tea, cotton
and minerals. Settlers in Kenya started to appear in Kenya by 1890s. British settlers came from Britain

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and South Africa. Among the earliest settlers to arrive in Kenya was Lord Delamere. Settler agriculture
was introduced in Kenya by British governor called Charles Eliot. Other few settlers came from New
Zealand, and Canada
Therefore, the imperialists started to argue that in order to pay back the expenses incurred in building
the railway line and for the line to be self-supporting, the Kenya’s interior should be opened for settler
agriculture.
British viewed their east African protectorate which was renamed in 1920 as potential colony for white
settlers. From the mid of 1900 white settlers were brought from Britain and South Africa with
determined effort of turning the high lands into a white man’s home.
Some of the factors that favoured Kenya to become the hub of white settlers included.
1. Conducive climatic condition of Kenya especially in the central high lands which had cool humidity.
Climate favoured the Europeans to settle in Kenya without any problem
2. Fertility of the soils in Kenyan high lands. This situation favoured large commercial agriculture for
European settlers to maximize the production of raw materials.
3. Kenya did not have strong traditional political system that would resist land alienation from the
Europeans
4. Availability of labour force to work in the plantations. In Kenya, labour reserves were created to
produce migrant labour, this resulted from different legislations like the master and servant act of
1906, which asked Africans to sell their labour force for 90 days per year for 3 rupees as a wage
per month.
5. Kenya had less tropical diseases like malaria. Due to the cool climate in the high lands as
compared to other areas like southern Tanganyika, Uganda and Burundi.
6. The political set up of Kenya during colonialism. Kenya was a crown colony and not a protectorate
like in Uganda and Tanganyika. So the white settlers were ensured permanent stay in Kenya.
7. Availability of enough land to establish large plantation of the settlers. Some areas in Kenya were
sparsely populated that enabled the colonialists to acquire big chunk of land for large plantation
8. Absence of active resistance during the establishment of colonial rule. This ensured absence of
violence and riots, which could destroy the plantations and tools.
9. Topography of Kenya favoured the establishment of infrastructure to transportation of bulk raw
materials. For example, the Mombasa to Kisumu railway, had just been completed in 1895.

The impacts/effects of settler economy

i. It led to severe land alienation simply because Africans were forced to move out of their fertile
land
ii. It caused exploitation of African labour in a sense that Africans were forced to work in settler
farms for long hours while receiving very low pay
iii. It led to the establishment of different laws in Kenya. A good example is that of 1915, which
forced Africans to surrender their fertile land to white settlers. Other law was that of 1906 and
1921, which forced Africans to work to settler farms for about 180 days respectively.
iv. It stimulated African strong resistance which aimed at regaining the lost freedom. Good
example is Maumau war that erupted in 1950s in Kenya, Shona and Ndebele in Zimbabwe
from 1896–1897.
v. It encouraged un-even development in the colonies in a sense that, areas that were occupied
by white settlers were more favoured by the colonial State in terms of provision of social
services compared to those areas where settlers did not settle
vi. It resulted to the loss of African freedom as they came to be under the control of the white
settlers. Africans had no freedom at all in socio-political and economic matters
vii. Construction of transport networks. For example, roads and railway lines were laid down like
Mombasa-Niarobi railway of 1892-1899, and Nakuru-Jinja railway of 1928
PEASANTRY AGRICULTURE
This was the small scale farming practiced under the control of African families. Africans were allowed
to grow both cash and food crops in their own plots of land. This agricultural practice was very
dominant in the British and French colonies. For example, British West Africa (Nigeria, Gambia, Gold

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Coast and Sierra Leone) and British East Africa (Tanganyika, Uganda and Nyasaland). French West
Africa in Algeria and Senegal. French governor called Louis Faitherb introduced groundnut farm in
Senegal.
However, in east Africa the peasant agriculture was dominant in Uganda. Tanganyika was dominated
by both peasant and plantation agriculture.
Characteristics or features of peasantry agriculture
i. It was small scale form of agriculture. No much investment was incurred. This made it cheaper
than other forms of agriculture
ii. It was based on the production of both cash and food crops.
iii. African peasants owned and run the farming system
iv. A family was regarded as the main source of labour that is the basic unit of production
v. No land alienation was practiced since there were no large estates established
vi. The social amenities around the farm areas were very few and poor since the whites did not
settle there.
vii. Simple tools such as hand hoes and axes were used in the production process.
viii. It was practiced in densely populated areas like in Uganda and Nigeria
Factors for adoption of peasant agriculture in colonial Africa
i. High population density. This situation made land alienation difficult. This was witnessed in
Uganda, Mali, Niger Nigeria and Gezira plains of Sudan between the Blue Nile and White Nile
ii. Presence of strong centralized political systems. These systems had strong resistances. Good
examples include Uganda among the Baganda under Kabaka and Northern Nigeria among
the Fulani people
iii. Presence of adverse or bad climate. For example, Belgian Congo (Zaire), Uganda and Nigeria
had thick forests and difficult terrains which were hostile to Europeans.
iv. Pre-existence of cash crop production. Some parts of Uganda, and southern Nigeria among the
Igbo people missionaries had established coffee and palm oil production under peasants.
Therefore, British encouraged th e continuation of peasant farming
v. Lower cost of production. Peasants produced their own food and cash crops using hand-hoes
and family labour compared to settler and plantation agriculture that depended on intensive
migrant labour. Also, administration and monitoring was done by peasants and African local
chiefs
vi. The trust sheep or mandate nature of the colony. In the colonies that were under UN-Trust
sheep or mandate system the colonial states invested little the plantation and settler
agriculture. This is because, the colonies could gain independence before any profit had been
obtained by colonial masters
vii. The relief of the land. Some areas especially in western Uganda and southern Nigeria among
the Igbo, it was mountainous and having swamps. It was very difficult and expensive for
Europeans to establish infrastructure in case of other type of Agricultures like plantation and
settler farming.
Reasons for peasant agricultural practice in Uganda
Uganda practiced peasant agriculture producing both cash crops like cotton and coffee and food crops
which were introduced by missionaries. However, in 1903 new cotton seeds were imported in Uganda b
colonial state. By 1914 cotton became a major export in the colony. It was grown in Buganda and
Busoga.
The British were successful in establishing agriculture Agriculture in Uganda due to the following
reasons
i. Geographically, Uganda is a landlocked country. It has no easy access to seaways something
which discouraged the whites from settling in Uganda.
ii. Hostile/harsh climate in Uganda. This discouraged the whites from settling in Uganda. For
instance, by that time Uganda had been hit by malaria, which was a threat to the white’s
settlement in Uganda
iii. The presence of strong centralized feudal states like Buganda and Bunyoro acted as threats to
the colonialists’ settlements. Thus in order for the whites to do away with resistances that could
be raised by such states they decided to opt for peasantry.

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iv. Dense population. Uganda had many people at the time when the colonial economies were
being established. This is due to the fact that Uganda is geographically small (area 241038km 2)
compared to Kenya and Tanganyika. Therefore, it could be difficult to practice land alienation in
Uganda.
v. Readiness and willingness of the Ugandans. Many Ugandan peasants were willing to accept
colonial economy as opposed to Kenya and Tanganyika.
vi. The Buganda agreement of 1900. This granted land to the Kabaka and his local chiefs who
distributed it to the loyal subjects as tenants. In this agreement, colonialists agreed not to take
any land for white settlement and introduced a system of private land tenure. This meant that
much of the agricultural land of Buganda became the privately-owned estate of the Buganda
chiefs and peasantry as their tenants
vii. Existence of infertile soils especially in northern Uganda discouraged the establishment of
plantation or settlers because of low productively
viii. Profitability, it maximized exploitation since the price of raw materials were fixed by the
colonialists and were very low. They did not pay wages since there was the application of
workers based on family labour
ix. The cost factor. It was very cheap to use peasant agriculture, peasant provided their own
packing, transport, and tools, labour and colonial government did pricing. The only cost incurred
by the colonial government was to provide seeds and market.
x. The nature of the colony. Uganda was just a protectorate of Britain as per the 1894 agreement
the British government and the Buganda representatives unlike Kenya which was a crown
colony
xi. Many natives had some experience and knowledge relating to the cultivation of the permanent
crops. For example, In Tanganyika the natives of Kagera had the knowledge of growing coffee
even before, the Buganda had the experience on cotton and coffee production.

The role or strategies of colonial state in maintaining peasant agriculture

1. Introduction of taxation. Various types of taxes were introduced to force the Africans to produce
cash crops for payment of colonial taxes
2. Provision of seeds and seedlings of cash crops like coffee and cotton in Uganda, cocoa in Nigeria
and gold coast respectively to the peasants
3. Importation of European industrial goods as a motivation and a force to make peasants grow more
cash crops, for example, footwear clothes, and bicycles
4. Creating marketing boards and peasant cooperative unions so as to make and advice the peasant
on the production of cash crops
5. Use of local chiefs to instruct the Africans to produce cash crops. For example the British governor
called Hesketh Bell allied with Apolo Kagwa in Buganda to mobilize Africans to produce cotton
6. Creation of social and transport networks in the areas where the peasants were located. For
example schools, health centres and water supply were established. Roads and railways were also
set up like the building of Kampala-Jinja railway line in 1928 to serve the cotton growers of Busoga
ad Buganda
7. Providing technical skills, especially to the progressive peasant who established large plantations.
For example, peasants were taught to use pesticides and irrigation schemes.
8. Establishment of processing industries like the cotton ginneries in Uganda
Impacts of peasant agriculture
1. Regular occurrence of famine because of over concentration on cash crops and ignoring food crop
production.
2. Accessibility of colonial education. The peasants who were progressive were given chance to send
their children to colonial schools as a motivation factor to continue production
3. It led to the development of nationalistic ideas. Through peasant cooperative unions of Africans
discovered the exploitation of Europeans, hence started struggling for their freedom. Also the sons

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and daughters of African chiefs who were sent to school became conscious and rose the idea to
struggle for independence
4. It led to classification among the peasants according to the capacity of their production. For
example, progressive peasants were more favoured by colonial state followed by middle class
peasants and then poor peasants who received last priority.
5. It improved the workers’ welfare. After the establishment of some social infrastructures like medical
care, schools and roads.
6. It led to the intensive exploitation of African resources through provision of low prices for their
products. This led to general underdevelopment of African societies.
7. Undermining Africa self-sustaining industries. The importation of finished European industrial goods
like cloth and metal goods overwhelmed African local technologies, thus promoting de-
industrialization
8. Exhaustion of land and eruption of famine. This is because there was no crop rotation of land
preservation since one type of crop was intensively grown. Famine also erupted because food crop
production was highly discouraged by colonial state. For example, cotton was produced in Uganda,
cocoa in Ghana and groundnuts in Gambia
9. It led to regional imbalance. Some regions which were producing cash crops had good
development of social infrastructures like roads, schools and medical centres while in regions
where cash crop production did not take place such development did not occur.
THE PLANTATION AGRICULTURE
The colonial plantations were the largest agricultural farms with a single production unit that is
monoculture. Plantations were either owned by the colonial governments or states or by the capitalists
abroad who sent representatives or hired/employed manager to manage the production. The
colonialists did not establish their settlement where the plantation agricultural production was
undertaken.
This form of the colonial agriculture had been practiced in the colonies of Zaire-rubber, the Central
African Republic, and Tanganyika-sisal. Guinea-bananas, Sudan-cotton, Senegal-groundnuts, Ivory
Coast-coffee, Zanzibar-cloves, Liberia-rubber, Mauritius and Madagascar-sugarcane.
The main aim of plantation agriculture was to produce enough agricultural raw materials to feed
European industries.
Features/characteristics of plantations agriculture
1. It was based on large-scale plantation, which covered large areas. For instance 100 acres and
beyond.
2. It was owned and supervised by the colonial state or capitalists from abroad who sent
representatives or hired mangers. For example Germany used the Jumbes and Akidas to supervise
the production process in the sisal plantations in Tanga and Morogoro regions in Tanganyika.
Colonialists did not settle in colonies
3. There was the employment of unskilled labourers who were recruited from different areas to work
and supervise the production process and they were poorly paid (low wages)
4. The plantation agricultural practice was monoculture in nature. It specialized in single crop in a
single farm. Cotton and sisal were grown in the given plantations separately
5. Investment of huge capital in the establishment of the colonial plantations was incurred. For
example, the strong physical infrastructures were put in place in order to facilitate the transportation
of the crops from the interior where they were shipped after transported to the coast.
6. This system of practice went in hand with coercive means especially when it came on searching for
labour. Force was applied to comply long working hours, land alienation, taxation. For instance the
Germans employed the Jumbes and Akidas and German askaris to supervise the corporal
punishment,
7. Creation of labour recruitment agency. For example SILABU (the Sisal Labour Bureau) in
Tanganyika, SWANLA (South West Africa Native Labour Association) in Namibia and WNLA
(Witwatersrand Native Labour Association) in South Africa
8. Plantations were scientifically managed and involved application of heavy machines to produce
high yields

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9. Plantations were highly linked with the establishment of infrastructure especially roads and roads to
ensure smooth transportation of products to the required places especially to the coast for
shipment in Europe,
10. Migrant labour and conscript labourers that included forced labour and indentured labourers
attended the plantations. However, migrant labour was more preferable than other forms of labour
Factors which favoured plantation agriculture during the colonial economy in Africa
1. Harsh climatic conditions, hot climate did not favour the settler’s settlement in the colonies. This
made them to practice the plantations without settling in the colonies.
2. The availability of vast land. This is due to the fact that plantations required large areas. For
instance, plantation agricultural system was highly preferred in Tanganyika to other East African
colonies because of the vastness of its area. Tanganyika covers the area of 945,090km 2 while the
other East African countries cover 580,36km2 (Kenya), 241,038 km2 (Uganda)
3. Plantation agriculture was the main source of market for the European manufactured goods. The
plantation centres whereby the migrant labourers lived, finished goods like clothes, radios, alcohol,
chocolate, clothes, blankets and cigars were consumed.
4. The threat from the tropical diseases such as malaria, small pox, jiggers did not favour settlement
for Europeans, thus they opted for plantation agriculture.
5. The presence of scattered fertile land in the colonies. For example in some parts of Tanganyika
some areas had fertile soils while others like central parts were drier.
6. The existence of labour reserves. This situation provided manual labourer especially the migrant
labour, which was highly preferred to work on the plantations. In Tanganyika for example, migrant
labour was obtained in Kigoma, Rukwa and Tabora
7. Plantations served as source of revenues for the colonial government. Colonial officials would
easily collect or deduct taxes from labours’ wages, thus establishment of plantation to attract the
migrant labourers
8. The existence of strong political organizations in some areas. This would adopt active reaction twist
establishment European settlers, then they encouraged plantation agriculture
9. The colonial policy of divide and rule. Some Africans were made inferior to provide cheap labour
while others were made administrators for plantation.
10. Colonial master’s policy. Britain preferred settlers and peasant agriculture while Portugal and
France preferred plantations and settler’s agriculture
Strategies used by colonial state to favour of plantation
i. Maintenance of physical infrastructure like roads and railways like the Mombasa-Nairobi railway
line, the Dar es Salaam-Kogoma railway in Tanzania
ii. Introduction of various taxes. For example, in Zimbabwe, Tanganyika, ivory coast poll taxes, head
taxes, and hut taxes were introduced by colonial states
iii. Prohibition of food crop production. Only cash crops were produced like the sisal plantations in
Chalinze Tanga and Morogoro
iv. Mechanization was supported by the colonial government. Machines and fertilizers were applied.
Processing industries also were established for reducing he bulkiness of the raw materials for
easy shipment to European industries
v. The plantations were subsided with huge capital. Sufficient money was highly invested in order to
support the production of enough raw materials
vi. Land alienation was common to ensure availability of land for establishment of large farms. The
colonial state apparatus such as police, armies and prisons were very hostile to push Africans
from their land.
vii. Sending mangers and officials in plantation centres to train and supervise production
viii. It ensured the constant supply of labour by using different forms of labour such as migrant labour,
forced labour and contract labour. However, migrant labour
Impacts of plantation agriculture
1. Africans were exploited intensively through the provision cheap labour and payment of low wages
while they worked for long working hours, this brought vicious poverty in Africa.
2. It led to the development of trading centres, which were located near the plantations that acted as
source of European finished goods. For example, Morogoro, Tanga and Chalinze in Tanganyika.

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3. It led to unbalanced development in Africa. Social infrastructure concentrated where production

took place leaving other places with nothing. In colonial Tanganyika all rail lines and roads run
perpendicular to the coast. For example, northern and eastern Tanganyika were highly provided
with good social services compared to western and eastern parts.
4. It led to the occurrence of frequent famine in Africa because the African agricultural practices were
abandoned, something which caused shortage in the supply of food.
5. It led to the introduction of capitalist cash crops in Africa. For example, sisal in Tanganyika, rubber
in Liberia and Congo-Zaire, and groundnuts in Ivory Coast and Gambia.
6. It promoted divide and rule in the colonial economy where by some tribes were preserved to supply
cheap labour in the plantations while others were left for administration.
7. It led to land alienation. This was conducted so as to acquire the land for establishing plantations.
This made many Africans to become landless and settle on squatters.
8. It created market for European finished goods and despising African local markets for African
products such as pots, baskets, and furniture

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Map showing areas that produced cash crops in East Africa during colonial era

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COLONIAL TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURES

These were the physical network systems established by colonialists in their colonies in order to
facilitate exploitation of African natural resources. These networks were accompanied with the
establishment of colonial economy in the second half of the 19 th century. They also aimed at fulfilling
the policy of effective occupation as agreed during the Berlin Conference of 1884 to 1885. These
included roads, railways, harbours, airways and internet cables.
Examples of railway lines in colonial Africa particularly east Africa
Usambara railway starting from Tanga (1893) to Mombo (1907) reaching to Moshi (1912). This was the
northern railway line under Germans. The central railway in Tanganyika starting from Dar es Salaam
(1905) to Tbora (1912) via Morogoro (1907) and Dodoma. Later on it was extended by British after the
First World War from Tabora to Mwanza via Shinyanga and another branch reached Mpanda in 1928.
British also constructed Kenya-Uganda railway from 1896. It started from Mombasa reaching to Nairobi
in 1928. It was extended by Indians to Jinja and Kampala in Uganda in 1913.

The map of East Africa showing the railway networks during colonial rule

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NOTE: All railway lines in the colonies were running perpendicular to the coast from interior of Africa.
This is because they aimed to transport raw materials from agricultural and mining centres to the coast
for shipment to Europe for feeding industries. The vice versa was the transportation of European
finished goods from coast to interior of Africa where markets were available. The rail construction was
accompanied with the laying down feeder roads.
Pattern of colonial transport and communication infrastructures
 Setting up of the roads and railways started from the coast to interior to areas that produced raw
materials such as cotton, coffee and minerals. For example, northern Rhodesia was linked with
Beira port in Mozambique on the Indian Ocean coast. Southern Rhodesia railway was linked with
Beira port in Mozambique and Cape Town and Durban ports in south Africa
 There was no inter-territorial railway except the colonies that belonged to one colonial master like
Kenya and Uganda which were under British in East Africa
 Feeder roads and railways were built to exploit resources from the interior parts. For example,
the feeder railways from Tabora branching off to Mwanza and Mpanda
 The roads and railways were constructed using forced labour and financed through taxes and
revenues collected from Africans. But migrant labour was more used since local labourers were
not readily available in the natural areas
 They were constructed discriminatively. They were extended to producing centres of raw
materials like plantations and mining, white settlements, military camps and administrative
centres. The areas with no such qualifications were ignored
 Ports or harbours were constructed at the terminals of the railways for shipment to metropolitan
government. For example, railway terminals include Dar es Salaam, Mombasa and Tanga in east
Africa, Lagos (Nigeria) and Beira (Mozambique).
 Each colonial government built the railway using its own gauge or standard.
 Railway construction was under the supervision of colonial government or agents. For example
Imperial British East African Company (IBEACo) was responsible to the construction of Kenya-
Uganda railway
Functions or roles of colonial infrastructures in consolidating colonialism in Africa
1. Carrying materials from production areas to the hourbor. That is why railways and road networks
started from the coast to the interior
2. Transportation of labourers from labour reserves to different productive areas. For example
migrant labour was transported from Tabora, Kigoma and Mpanda to Kilimanjaro, Tanga and
Morogoro via central line in Tanganyika.
3. Distributing colonial administrators from quarters to working areas such as mines and plantations
4. Transportation of European manufactured goods from the harbours to the interior for marketing.
5. Transporting troops to different areas so as to suppress African resistances.
6. Transporting missionaries going for evangelization and Christianization to interior parts of Africa.
7. Carrying different working tools to work places like machines, and spare parts
8. Simplification of communication between the colonial states in Africa and the metropolitan
government. This was achieved by telegrams and telephone wires
9. Transporting working tools and incentives such as machines, pipes, ploughs and industrial
fertilizers to the work stations in the colonies.
Impacts of colonial infrastructures
1. It facilitated maximum exploitation of Africa’s wealth like Minerals
2. It led to the effective occupation of the colonies, hence total colonialism.
3. Creation of uneven development, which can be seen up to this moment since it concentrated on
productive regions than in unproductive areas.
4. Attraction of more settlers in the colonies due to the fact that colonial state ensured them with
easy transport and communication network systems. For example Kenya as the white settler’s
republics
5. It helped those landlocked countries to be accessible. For example, Uganda, Malawi and Zambia
for easy transportation and communication with the outside world.

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6. Undermining the precolonial African caravan routes. For example the central route of Nyamwezi,
northern route of Kamaba and the southern route of Yao were disrupted by the railways.
7. Urbanisation developed. For example, the harbours like Mombasa, Tanga and Dar es Salaam
developed into towns. Other railway stations like Moshi, Nairobi, Morogoro, Kisumu and Jinja
developed into towns also. In southern Africans towns such as Durban, Beira and Cape Town
developed too.
8. Railways and roads were inherited after colonialism. They are today used by independent African
states. For the central railway of Tanzania from Da es Salaam to Tabora branching off to Mwanza
and Mpanda and straitening to Kigoma
9. Increase of interaction among the African ethnicities. The roads and railways helped Africans
travel from one region to another.
10. Emergence of new traders. For example, Allidina Visram from Asia used the transport
infrastructures to conduct trade in east African region
Construction of Kenya-Uganda Railway
This railway was constructed by British from 1896 in Mombasa under the engineer George Whitehouse.
In 1899 the project reached Nairobi. In 1928 it was extended to Jinja and Kampala by Indians. It railway
was extended to coffee and tea plantations from Uganda to Mombasa port.
The Kenya-Uganda railway faced the following challenges
 Shortage of skilled labour. It depended on skilled labourers from India. For example over 3200
Indians were employed. These constructors demanded higher wages. This forced British
government to import settlers to supervise construction and farm works
 Shortage of water and food. As the construction went far interior between Nairobi and coast
food and water became scarce since interior parts were dry.
 Tropical diseases such as malaria and small pox afflicted the constructors
 Threats from wild animals such as man-eating carnivorous. These include lions and cheetahs
at Tsavo
 Resistance from Africans. For example, Nandi resistance of 1896-1906. They vandalized
copper wires and metals.
COLONIAL MININING SECTOR
This sector aimed to extract and exploit minerals needed to feed European industries for
manufacturing. The minerals extracted included gold, copper, diamond, oil, tin and zinc. The need for
precious metals gained momentum after the discovery of Diamond in Kimberley (1867) and Gold in
Witwatersrand (1886) by Boers in South Africa. The racing of extracting minerals was under British
governor known as Cecil Rhodes with the company called BSACo.
Mining centres or areas include
 Katanga-Congo rich in copper under Belgian company; the Union Meniere du Haut-Katanga
(UMHK)
 Zambia (northern Rhodesia). The copper was mined under Anglo-American company (AACo)
and the Rhodesian selection trust (RST). BSACo acted as landlord in southern Rhodesia to
extract gold and coal.
 In Tanganyika, gold was discovered in Mwanza (Geita), Shinyanga and Musoma.
 In Angola Diamond was exploited at Kbinda region under Angola Ming Company
 Gold and diamond were extracted in South Africa under Anglo-American Mining Corporation
and De Beers Consolidated Mines.
 Oil was mined in Nigeria. Ghana was rich in gold deposits. Copper was seen in Uganda at
Kimbe.

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Map of Africa showing the mining centres during colonial rule

Features of colonial mining sector

 It preferred more migrant labour. South Africa recruited labour from Mozambique and
Botswana
 Mines were owned and run by European companies like De Beers company in south Africa
 Different taxes were introduced as a way of mobilising Africans to provide labour power
 Land alienation was more practical at mining centre. For example at Kimberley and
Witwatersrand, people were forced to leave land for extraction of minerals.
 Exploitation of minerals was associated with the importation of foreign capital and expertise.
This was because the Africans had no ability to exploit them
 Construction of transport features was so common. This was so for transporting minerals from
mining centres to coast for shipment. For example, Tabora-Mwanza railway transported gold
from Gieta and Shinyanga to Dar es Salaam port via Tabora and Dodoma
 Other projects were established close to mining centres. For example, chemical
pharmaceutical factories were installed
 Poor working conditions. African miners worked under very poor working conditions. Therere
were frequent accidents that injured African workers and killed them in the mines like copper
belt in northern Rhodesia
Impacts of mining during colonial period
 Many Africans were kicked out of their land. This was seen at Kimberley and Witwatersrand in
South Africa. In angola and Nigeria where diamond and oil were extracted land alienation was
too common
 Construction and extension of transport infrastructures. For example the extension of railway
from Tabora to Mwanza via Shinyanga in Tanganyika in 1928 by British
 Increase of forced labour. This was associated with the enactment of several labour acts like
the Labour Act of 1910 that compelled Africans to provide labour in mines
 Rise of Urban centres like Geita, the then region of Mwanza in Tanganyika, Kimberley,
Johannesburg and Durban in South Africa
 Emergence of social evils such as prostitution and drunkenness

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 Rural-Urban migration. Many people in country side started flowing to mining centres seeking
job opportunities. This caused family sufferings as males moved to towns and mines leaving
wives and children alone.
 Massive shipment of minerals. This activity left Africa with exhausted or unproductive land for
future development
 It resulted into environmental degradation. Land, air and water pollution became rampant
COLONIAL INDUSTRIES IN AFRICA
Industrial sector in colonial Africa was very little. It was the smallest of all sectors of the colonial
economy since it was highly discouraged by colonial masters. The lighter and simple industries were
established in colonies. The following industries were established in colonial Africa
i. Processing industries purposely to reduce the bulkiness of raw materials for easy export. For
example, spinning mills, cotton ginneries and mineral refineries. For example, copper refineries
were established in Northern Rhodesia and Belgian-Congo while cotton ginneries were set up
in Uganda, Sudan and Nigeria. In Nyasaland, tobacco curing factories were established
ii. Import-substitution industries. This aimed to produce consumer goods needed for colonial
ruling class, settlers and missionaries like soap, beverages, wine, cigarette and canned beef.
Industries established include food canning and bottling factories and beverage processing
industries. For example, Dar es Salaam breweries were established in 1924
iii. Luxurious industries. These were mainly established in settler based areas to produce the
luxurious goods for white settlers
Features or characteristics of colonial industrial sector.
 Industries were lighter and simple purposely to produce raw materials that were needed to feed
various industries in Europe.
 They had weak labour force who had little education and who were paid low wages and worked
under poor condition
 The industries were highly smallest of all the sectors. In brief, the industrial sector was
discouraged in order to retain Africans producers of raw materials and the consumers of
European manufactured goods.
 The industries established were supervised and operated by the European personnel who had
the knowledge and skills on motor operation
 Industries were unevenly distributed. The settlers’ republics and mining centres were provided
with industries while the peasant and labour reserve zones were not considered.
Methods used by the colonialists to de-industrialize Africa
De-industrialization was the colonial policy aiming to destroy the development of industries in Africa.
Europeans did this in order to make Africans the source of raw materials for their metropolitan
industries. The methods used to kill African industries were as listed here below. How Africa was de-
Industrialized
i. Direct prohibition of Africans from engaging in local industries. For example, in Belgian-Congo and
French-Senegal, Africans found engaging in local industries their hands were cut off.
ii. Importation of European manufactured goods in order to discourage African produced goods such
as iron smelting, weaving, basketry, pottery and carpentry
iii. Imposition of migrant labour and forced labour policy. This policy had negative effects to Africans
simply because local African industries lacked labour as most of them were concentrated on
colonial production.
iv. Provision of poor colonial education. Western education was provided to very few Africans who
were not linked to develop African local industries as they were prepared to serve to the colonial
production as clerk and messengers. Colonial labourers were not given practical education.
v. Effecting land alienation. The areas where Africans were engaging in local industries such as
Makonde and Ngoni in east Africa. In central Africa of Zimbabwe, Angola and Northern Africa in
Meroe and Axum Africans were pushed out of their native land.

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vi. Paying low wages to African workers and manual labourers in colonial projects. This made Africans
remain backward in economic sector
vii. Introduction of various taxes. This also made African remain poor in economic development since
the Africans did not have excess to develop themselves. They were made to provide colonial
labour forever.
Why colonialists discouraged the development industries in Africa?
 To make Africans the source of raw materials and the consumers of European manufactured
goods
 To avoid competition between local African goods and the European finished goods
 To make Africans providing cheap labour in colonial projects such as mines and plantations
 To make Africans dependent on experts, technology and assistance from Europe during and after
colonialism
 To make Africans remain poor during and after colonial period. This made Africa remain inferior
to the Europeans
 To make Africans unskilled on the European technology. This was done through importation of
European experts as operators of mining and processing machines
The effects of de-industrialization process in Africa
i. Local African technology declined. For example, basketry, iron smelting, carpentry and pottery
collapsed.
ii. African labour force was heavily exploited through low wages and long working hours.
iii. It prepared African continent for the under development whereas Africans still depend on foreign
imports.
iv. Emergence of inferior complexity in the mind of Africans. Africans still undermine any goods
produced in Africa and praise those produced in Europe.
v. Africans were made dependent from colonial era to post-colonial era. For example, Africans are
still depending on loans and grants from their former colonial masters.
COLONIAL TRADE OR COMMERCE
Trade in Africa was introduced by European merchants in the 19th century in order to meet the colonial
interests. It was poured into colonies to facilitate the circulation of industrial imports as well as the
collection of raw materials and the marketing of European manufactured goods.
Characteristics of colonial trade
 It was supervised and managed by the metropolitan governments and European imperial
companies. For example, IBEACo in Kenya and Uganda by British, GEEACo in German east
Africa, United African Company and the african and eastern trading corporation (A.E.T.C) in British
West Africa, the Societe Commerciale de I’Afrique Occidental (S.C.I.O) was introduced by France
in west Africa. Other companies in east Africa were Smith-Mackenzie and Company limited
 It was accompanied by middlemen traders. They played a role of distributing imported goods from
Europe. They also collected raw materials produced by peasants from interior parts. The
middlemen were from Asia such as Lebanese and Syrians in west Africa and Arabs and Indians
(Banyans) in East Africa
 It was import-export oriented. It exported raw materials from colonies to metropolitan homes and
imported manufactured goods from Europe to colonial territories
 It was discriminative. African traders were not given loans and trade licences while the Asians were
subsided. In short African traders were prohibited from operating trade transactions as it was to
Asians.
 The producers of raw materials in Africa like peasants were paid low prices. The colonial trading
board set up prices for products which was irrelevant to value of products.
 Trading activities were mostly concentrated in towns. This was so because the money economy
consolidated itself in towns. Also European and Asian bourgeoisie and Africans lived in urban
centres.
Impacts of colonial trade in Africa

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 African produced goods were ignored. Africans were subjected to consume European finished
goods and ignored traditional goods like bark clothes, baskets, pots and iron tools
 Some African merchants were pushed out of their business. For example, Machemba of Yao and
Abushiri of Swahili people at the coast of Tanganyika as well as Chief Kivoi among the Kamba in
Kenya lost trade power.
 Emergence of urban centres and expansion of the existing ones such as Mombasa in Kenya, Dar
es Salaam in Tanganyika, Lagos in Nigeria, Beira in Mozambique and Freetown in south Africa.
This is because these areas were used as the trading centres
 Exhaustion of traditional trade routes which existed in pre-colonial era. For example, in east Africa
the northern trade route of Kamaba, the central route of Nyamwezi and southern route of the Yao
demised due to introduction of European legitimate trade. The routes were killed by the placement
of roads and railway lines
 Africans were able to interact during trade transactions. Urban and rural areas interaction increased
hence the creation of god relations and experiences between urban and rural dwellers. This later it
catalysed the emergence of nationalistic struggle and movement for independence
 Spread of artisan skills. For example, Africans acquired the trading skills from the trade middlemen
such a Lebanese, Syrians, Arabs and Indians from Asian continent.
COLONIAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
These were the European economic systems based on introduction of European currencies under the
financial sectors such as banks. The currencies aimed to replace the traditional system of commodity
currency like salt, gold, silver and copper. For instance, in 1912, the British established the West
African Currency Board to apply their currency in Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Similarly
French introduced the French Bank of West Africa to serve Francophone in issuing money. From 1924
some banks were operating in colonial Africa. For example, the Banque Commerciale de L’Africa
operated in French colonies. Lyon Bank of London financed the British Bank of West Africa
In east Africa, Standard Bank was introduced in Kenya by British in 1895. Germany established
German East African Bank in 1905. In 1919 when the British took over German territory (Tanganyika)
they established the East Africa Currency Board (EACB). The board established the pound/shilling
system of exchange. Generally, nine foreign banks existed in east Africa after the First World War. The
two big banks being Standard Bank and Barclays Bank
Features of colonial financial institutions
i. Most of the financial institutions were under metropolitan companies. For example, standard
bank in East Africa was the branch of British Standard Bank. French in West Africa
established the Banque Comerciale de L’Afrique as the branch of French Bank Credit
Lyonnais. Another bank was Barclays Bank
ii. The financial institutions operated discriminatively. African peasants and workers in the
colonies did not enjoy the provision of loans and other financial services compared to Asian
middlemen
iii. They were few in number but large scale in their operation. They controlled every economic
activity in the colonies such as industries, agriculture, trade, construction and mining. In short,
the financial institutions acted as the sponsor of all colonial economic sectors.
iv. The currencies and banks in the colonies were of the metropolitan in nature. For example,
France used Franc currency in French west Africa Federation, British on the other hand
introduced Indian rupee currency in British East Africa
v. There was no central bank in colonial Africa. Foreign reserves of the colonies were kept in the
colonial masters’ home country, using them for their own development not for African
development.
vi. Africans were highly exploited. The loans given to Africans were repaid with high interests.
Sometimes other Africans were not given loans at all compared to Asian middlemen who were
exempted from loan interests. This prevented Africans from accessing loans for running
business.

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vii. Banks were operated by foreign expertise. For example, Europeans and Asians acted as
middlemen and bankers. Africans had no access to bank operation
Differences/disparities between colonial and pre- colonial African economy
i. Means of transaction. European economy used coins and paper money as medium of
exchange while African economy used commodities as money value. Commodities include
ivory, gold, clothes and salt
ii. The mode of production. European economy practised private ownership of major means of
production. The land was owned by capitalists with the act of land alienation while African
economy practised old system of property ownership. The land was owned by all members of
the society and sometimes by landlord who distributed it his members among the feudal
societies.
iii. The nature of labour force. Colonial economy depended on the African migrant labour and
forced labour while African economy depended labour from family level which was free and
collective
iv. The pre-colonial economic sectors such as mining, industries, trade and transport were
primitive and done with low skills while capitalist economies were scientifically operated. Strong
machines and industrial fertilizers were applied
v. The aim of the economy. Capitalist economy aimed at maximizing profit through intensive
exploitation of African resources for metropolitan development while the pre-colonial economy
aimed to use the natural resources such as land, labour and water bodies for development of
future generation
vi. Supervisors and dominators. Capitalist economy was supervised and dominated by whites and
chartered companies such as Imperial British East African Company under William Mackinnon,
German east African Company under Carl Peters and Royal Niger Company under George
Goldie. These companies supervised trade. But African economies were supervised by
Africans themselves under their local rulers such as clan heads and local chiefs. For example,
Nyamwezi under Mirambo, Maasai under Laibon
vii. The scale/size of economy. Capitalist economy was practised on large scale farming for cash
crop production. Large farms were established like sisal plantation in Tanga and Morogoro in
Tanganyika while pre-colonial economy was practised on small scale farming based on
subsistence
viii. Capitalist economy was monoculture. That is the single crop was grown in a single estate while
pre-capitalist economy was based on mixed farming and intercropping production.

Similarities between colonial and pre- colonial African economy

i. Both economies were practiced in Africa by both Africans and European imperialists. Africans
practiced it before the coming of colonial rule and died during colonial period and Europeans
practised it during colonial period
ii. Both economies developed trade systems. European trade was based on legitimate trade. It
involved money-commodity exchange. African economy was based on barter system
iii. Both economies had industries such as iron working, salt-extraction, basketry, carpentry and
cloth-making
iv. Both economies depended much on African labour. European economy recruited migrant and
forced labour. African economy recruited it from family level
v. Both systems developed agricultural practise such as peasant and settler agriculture. For
example, African families under clan head practised shifting agriculture and feudal segments
practised settler farming under feudal lords

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vi. Both economies needed education. For example, capitalists needed education that would help
to get supervisors or officers of production while pre-colonial education was given to young
generation for future use or practical orientation
vii. Both economies developed mining although in different standards
viii. Both had means and networks of transport European economies used transport networks such
as railways, roads, harbours and transport means such as ships, cars, trains and horses.
Africans also used canoes and natural caravan routes
COLONIAL LABOUR
The colonial labour means the group of Africans who were recruited by colonial state to provide their
labour in the colonial sectors such as economies, offices and social arenas. For example, African
labourers served in agriculture, mines and construction of quarters, administrative offices, railways and
roads.
Types of colonial labour
i. Obligatory or forced labour: The colonial government passed different laws and regulations in the
colonies to force Africans provide their labour. For example, Kipande system in Kenya was enacted
in 1921 to force African labourers to carry identity card. Obligatory labour was so common in
settlers’ economy, plantations and mining centres. It was recruited without the consent of Africans
ii. Contract labour/conscript labour. This was the colonial labour in which a worker was required to
sign a contract or agreement with the colonial master to do works for specific period of time either a
week, month or a year. Breaking the contract a labour was obliged the punishment and
imprisonment. It involved Civil Service labourers such as clerks, lawyers, drivers, messengers,
teachers and nurses. This kind of labour was under the labour recruiting board or agency like
WNLA-Witwatersrand Native Labour Association in South Africa, SILABU (Sisal Labour Bureau) in
Tanganyika. One of the contract ordinance was the Master and Servant Act of 1924 which stated
that ‘’for a labour to break a contract was obliged punishment’’
iii. Peasant labour: This was colonial labour that provided their labour power in the colonial economy
from Peasants themselves and sold their crops to the colonial government at lower prices. This
sometimes was called family labour. It was common in areas where peasant agriculture was
practised like Uganda, Nigeria and some parts of Tanganyika
iv. Indentured labour. This was the kind of colonial labour force recruited from the class of criminals
who were sentenced to jail. Prisoners were supposed to provide labour on colonial projects as part
of their punishment without payment.
v. Migrant labour. This was the colonial workforce obtained from far distant areas. The labourers were
mobile. That is they were transferred from one place to another. They were obtained from the
created labour reserves. For example, in Tanganyika migrant labourers were obtained from Rukwa,
Mtwara, Lindi, Kigoma and Tabora to sisal plantations of Morogoro, Tanga and Lindi.
Migrant labour was more preferred by colonial government in projects like mining, plantations
and construction due to the following reasons
a. It was the source of European markets for finished goods. In plantations, goods like iron
sheets, wines, sugar, shoes and clothes were consumed by labourers
b. Source of government revenue. The migrant labour were burdened with the tax payment.
Labourers also were paying the house rents and bills for water.
c. It ensured the constant supply of labour. This is because the labourers were kept available in
the camps. Therefore, labour camps were established in Tanga, Kilosa, and Iringa.
d. Distant labour had no resistance, this is because were taken from different ethnic backgrounds.
It could be difficult for them to unite against their colonial master
e. It was easier to exploit migrant labour compared to contact labour since the labourers were
unskilled. They were not given western education due to their temporary nature of employment
f. It was had high productivity. Labours were in large number and spent their table fixed by
colonial masters. They worked for long time for more than 12 hours because they could not
turn to their homes.
g. The labour was so cheap. They were paid low wages, they lived in camps and were accessible
when needed. Hence easy to mobilize and control

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Conditions or features of colonial labour

i. It was subjected to low wages and salaries which were not proportional to what they produced
ii. Poor working and living conditions. They lived in overcrowded camps with no important
services like water, electricity, telephone and so on
iii. Labourers were obliged to pay taxes, although were paid low wages
iv. Labourers were mobile. They could be shifted from one area of work to another. For a labour
could be transferred from plantation to mining centres according to wish of colonial master.
v. Colonial harbours remained technologically unskilled so as to avoid competition with the
whites.
vi. They worked for long hours and they were not paid overtime or any relief.
vii. They were also oppressed, exploited, humiliated and discriminated in their own motherland.
They did semi-skilled works compared to white workers. They were not given compensation in
case of injuries or deaths. For example, between 1914 and 1924, the gold miners who died in
Ghana were paid only three pounds as compensation to their families.
Methods and tactics which were used to obtain labourers
i. Introduction of land alienation. The colonial government alienated the Africans from their fertile
land so as to force them to provide their labour power in colonial plantations
ii. Introduction of different taxes. The colonial governments in different parts of Africa introduced
taxes so as to force the Africans to provide their labour in colonial economy’s sectors.
Examples of such taxes included, hut tax, head tax and matiti tax.
iii. Introduction of Foreign Goods. This is because Africa was made a Market of finished goods
from Europe. These goods had to be obtained for cash and cash could be obtained only by
selling their labor power.
iv. Creation of labour reserves. Some areas were made to act as a source of colonial labour. For
instance Kigoma, Ruvuma, Rukwa and Dodoma were made labour reserves to serve
plantations in Morogoro, Tanga and parts of Kilimanjaro. In Uganda especially northern region
was made the labour reserve.
v. Introduction of colonial education: The colonial education was provided purposely so as to get
few Africans who could help in colonial administration in facilitating exploitation.
vi. Formation of labour recruitment organizations or agencies: The colonial governments formed
some special organizations for recruitment of labour from different parts of colony or Africa. For
example the SILABU (Sisal Labour Bureau) was a typical example of such organizations, which
dealt with recruitment of sisal labourers in Tanganyika. Bureau du Travail du Katanga in
Belgian-Congo
vii. Paying low wages and salaries to workers: The colonial government gave the Africans low
wages and salaries so as they could not accumulate wealth and leave the job.
viii. Creation of labour ordinances and acts. For example, Introduction of Kipande system in 1921 in
Kenya. This was used in Kenya where Africans were forced to directly provide their labour in
settlers’ plantations
ix. They destroyed the Africans Economies. Colonialists destroyed African local economies such
as industries and replaced them with European imported goods. At this time, African self-
sufficient economy was destroyed and replaced by system of buying goods in cash.
x. Transformation of slave labour into wage labour. This was done in two ways: The first way was
to hire slaves from their slave masters. The second way was to buy slaves from slave owners
like the Yao of southern Tanganyika and Arabs of Zanzibar
Impacts of colonial labour
i. Intensification of poverty resulting from much exploitative actions like law wages, high taxes
and lad annexation
ii. Disruption of rural life. This is because the strong manpower was taken to colonial plantations
and mines
iii. Emergence of the elements of nationalism in Africa. Labourers began to react against the
colonial exploitation through the formation of labour unions

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iv. Spread of diseases such as tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections. These diseases
erupted in labour camps since they were sleeping in environment with poor conditions. But also
some labourers had the sexual relations with foreigners leading to spread of sexually
transmitted diseases like HIV
v. Colonial labour centres became the dumping markets for the European used and consumer
goods like clothes, blankets, salt and beefs.
vi. African labourers remained unskilled since their education was highly ignored and restricted.
Only few contract labourers like teachers and nurses received western education
vii. The experience of unbalanced development during colonial rule and even in post-colonial
centuries. This is because labour reserves were less provided with social networks compared
to productive zones
viii. African interaction was made easy. This is because labourers from different zones in rural and
urban met together. This reduced the so called tribalism and suspicion of one tribe and another
ix. Acquisition of trading ad farming skills. For example, labourers in plantations got the knowledge
of using fertilizers in production and others received the skills of trade from Asians and
European merchants

……………….End of Topic 3……..………….

TOPIC FOUR (4)

COLONIAL SOCIAL SERVICES
Colonial social services refer to the social amnesties or privileges that were provided in Africa by
colonialists purposely to accelerate colonial exploitation and improve the welfare of colonial
administrators. Such services include public health, education, transport and communication, internet
cables, water, housing and electricity. They were accompanied with the establishment of colonial
economy.
General objective or goals of colonial social services
1. To serve few Europeans operating in Africa like governors, provincial and district
commissioners, and evangelists and few civil servants like teachers and nurses.
2. To enable extensive exploitation of Africa’s wealth; human and material resources
3. To prepare few Africans who could assist the colonial production through supervising colonial
projects like agriculture. This was through provision of western education to sons of African
royal and ruling classes
4. To make African population healthy for colonial economic attendance. This was achieved
through establishment of health care centres such as hospitals, dispensaries and pharmacies
5. To protect European imported coercive apparatus. Health care, water supply and housing were
served to colonial state apparatus such as soldiers, police, prison wardens and judicial officers

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6. To suppress African resistance. For example, education divided Africans in the two classes of
elite and non-elite. This kind of service created disunity as the educated Africans became
submissive to colonial government law
7. To cure tropical diseases that could act as obstacle to colonial operation. For example, flue,
small pox and malaria were dealt perpendicularly
Factors that determined the distribution/ pattern of colonial social services
i) Presence of settlers’ republics in the colony led to the establishment of some social services so
as to meet white settler’s interest. Example, school and medical facilities were introduced in
such Kenya highlands, Southern Rhodesia and South Africa for this purpose
ii) Existence of economic potentiality. This means that some developments of social services
were established near plantations and mines so as to attract the labourers and facilitate the
production. For instance, copper mining in Uganda, Zambia and Congo, diamond and gold
mining in south Africa and Ghana attracted much accommodation and water supply
iii) Areas with availability of raw materials. Transport network such as railways and roads, were
laid down in order to facilitate the transportation of raw-materials to the coast. Example in
colonial Tanganyika all railways roads were running down to the coast from Morogoro,
Kilimanjaro, Kilosa and Tanga
iv) Presence of colonial agents. Features like schools, medical centres and houses were
established to help them and to convert the indigenous people into Christianity. For example,
Mengo School and Hospital in Uganda were established. In Tanganyika the areas with
missionaries included Morogoro, Kagera, Moshi and Songea
v) Status of the colony itself. This meant that, the colony that was under trust sheep of United
Nations like Tanganyika, few social services were considered. This was a case due to the fact
that the colonies were prepared for self-determination or rule. But it was contrary to mandatory
colonies which were considered the part and parcel of metropolitan governments like Kenya,
Zimbabwe, Namibia and Algeria
vi) Areas with migrant labourers, which were referred to as labour zones or reserves. In these
areas, infrastructures like railways, were established in order to transport labourers to the
areas of plantations. Example rail line from Kigoma to Dar es Salaam was built so as to carry
workers in sisal plantations of Tanga and Morogoro
vii) Existence of peasant agriculture like in Buganda and Kagera, This made possibility of
establishing social services like schools so as to encourage the peasants to carry out
agricultural activities.
COLONIAL EDUCATION
Education refers to as an endless process of transmitting knowledge, values, skills and experiences of
the society from one person to another or from one generation to another either formally or informally. It
is an activity of imparting knowledge and skills to people.
Education is of paramount importance in any society since it ensures the preservation of the lives of
its members and the maintenance of its social structure.
There are two main types/forms of education
Formal education
This is the type of education, which follows specific programs and maintains a clear division between
professional teachers and the students. It is offered in special designated institutions like schools,
colleges and Universities. It follows specific programs, syllabus and curriculum. It is further guided by
the rules and regulations of the state/government. This is the most preferable and colonial education
based on 3Rs (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic (Numeracy) provided in Africa during colonial rule
Informal education
This refers to a set of values that youths as members of the society acquire from the elders through
direct observations and imitations. It is mostly based on one’s experience in a natural setting. Informal
education does not follow specific programs; it has no syllabus, and curriculum as opposed to the
formal education. Informal education was predominantly practiced by every society in pre-colonial
African societies. It greatly based on the nature of the environment and the needs of the society.

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Now, Colonial education

This was the colonial system of transmitting knowledge, skills and values to Africans by colonialists
through western mode of instructions. It was the colonial formal system of transmitting western values
and experiences to Africans. It was determined by class interaction between African learners and
western teachers. Western elements such as language, religion, arts and crafts, traditions and customs
were imparted to children and adults of Africa

Image of African children in the classroom being taught colonial education

Objectives of colonial education
NOTE: The main objective of colonial education in Africa, was to enhance and pave the way for
colonization of Africa as the imperialistic interest and ambition.
The following were the aims of colonial education
1. Paving the way for the colonization of Africa. Those indigenous Africans who received western
education were prepared to become the supervisor of colonial production and exploitation
2. Destructing African culture and introducing the western one. Western culture was spread through
language, religion, marriage. African cultural practices such as worshiping styles, polygamy, and
female genital mutilation were discouraged and killed.
3. Preparing few Africans administrative purpose. It aimed to create African manpower to assist in
production. It produced administrators like teachers, clerks, nurses doctors and drivers
4. It also aimed at preparing puppet leaders who could be used in neo-colonialism. For example,
Kamuzu Banda of Zambia, Seseseko Mobutu of Zaire and Iddi Amini Dada of Uganda became
dictators in their independent countries to serve interests of whites
5. Creating classes amongst Africans so as to bring about disunity. This delayed Africa’s
independence. Colonial education aimed to divide Africans into classes for easy control
6. To increase colonial production. This associated with transmitting technical and agricultural skills
to African learners. For example, carpentry, masonry and agricultural irrigation and terracing were
provided in order to make colonial production multi-purpose or multi-cultural
7. To get few African converts who could assist to supervise evangelical activities. For example,
education imparted literacy to African converts who were used to read Player Books and Bibles in
churches and congestion during the mass.
Features of colonial education
1. It was pyramidal in structure. There were many students at the lower levels but the number
diminished as they went to higher classes due examination of the model of essessment
2. It was more theoretical than practical. This contributed to the decline of African technology.

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3. It was taught in foreign languages and not in African vernaculars especially at the secondary and
tertiary levels
4. It was discriminative in status and sex. Girls and children of the lower class were denied to acquire
education. It was only boys and children of the chiefs who had accessibility to western education
5. It was discipline oriented. It aimed at producing loyal and obedient students to the colonial
government. Those who received the education were supposed to obey without questioning.
6. The syllabus was foreign oriented. This is because whatever was taught was based in Europe,
nothing much concerned about Africa, students were taught mountains in Europe
7. There was a series of examinations set in Abroad; nobody could go to another stage without
passing the examination of the lower level
8. It was racial oriented based on colour. This was because, Europeans got higher level, followed by
Asians who got middle level, and Africans were the last who were in poor schools. There were
separate school for each race and the syllabus differed accordingly
9. It was religions biased. This was because, in the missionary schools non-Christians could not
attend the missionary school like Muslims and those who had not been converted to Christianity.
10. It was un-even distributed. This means that, areas where production was high education was
improved, where as in labour reserves schools were not established while regions that produced
cash crops for instance in Tanganyika r like, Tanga, Moshi got many schools.
11. It had specific syllabus unlike the informal education in Africa,
12. It involved professional teachers.

The content and structure of colonial education.

The structure of the colonial education consisted of four major levels, which were in form of a pyramid.
i. Primary education/elementary or basic education, which mainly prepared children to remain
peasants or cash crop producers or farm labourers. It started from standard 1 to 4 in Tanganyika.
It comprised of skills such as literacy, numeracy, hygiene and citizenship subjects. Medium of
instruction was Kiswahili
ii. Secondary or Middle school level. This was a post primary education consisting of only few
children who could offer services in colonial offices and industries as low wage earners. In
Tanganyika they built, Tanga School, Tabora boy’s school, Peramiho School in Ruvuma,
Tosamaganga (Iringa), Ndala (Tabora), Rutabo and Katoke (Kagera), Kilema (Kilimanjaro), St.
Andrew at Kiungani (Zanzibar), Minaki (Kibaha), Pugu (Dar es Salaam), Ihhungo and Khororo
(Bukoba) and Mzumbe (Morogoro). Secondary schools started at standard 5 up to standard 8. In
Uganda, Mengo day school and Kings College, Bodo and Kisubi were the middle schools. English
was the major medium of instruction.
iii. College education. It comprised of technical and teacher education which aimed to get
professional teachers and trainers in medicines, agriculture, carpentry and masonry. In East
Africa, Makerere technical college was built in 1921, to offer vocational training in medicine,
agriculture, mechanics, and carpentry and teaching professionals. Others were, Ukiruguru in
Morogoro in 1934, Achimoto in Ghana in 1924, Ibadan College in Lagos, Nigeria in 1934.
iv. Higher education (University level). This was provided by universities; in this level way few African
people who managed to get university education had to be taken abroad under scholarship. At
this level colonialists aimed to get African elite who could serve as puppets soon after
independence. That is why were taken to study in abroad so as to brainwash their minds. But this
became vice versa this education enlightened them hence demand their independence. For
example, Kwame Nkrumah, Julius K Nyerere, Robert Mugabe etc.
Differences between pre-colonial African education and colonial education
Pre-colonial African education Colonial education
A. Existed in Africa before colonialism A. Brought in Africa during colonialism 19th
C

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B. Was offered to all members of the B. It was offered to the sons of chiefs only,
society i.e. it was discriminatory on one’s status
C. African oriented C. Western oriented
D. It was more practical as it emphasized D. It was more theoretical it emphasized on
“learning by doing” three 3Rs
E. It prepared youths to be productive E. It emphasized on brain-washing and
members of the society prepared Africans who could become
loyal to the colonial governments
F. It was relevant to African culture since it F. It was irrelevant to African culture since it
emphasized on promotion of African was western oriented.
cultural aspects
G. Offered in African vernaculars G. Offered in Western languages
H. It had no specific programs, syllabus, H. It had specific programs, structure,
curriculum syllabus and curriculum
I. It was lateral as every member of the I. It was pyramidal in shape-many Africans
society accessed it. Every member of were at the lowest level while Asians at
education graduated the middle and Europeans at the top
J. No exams J. Examinations were used as the means
of reducing the number of students who
would ascend to the top level
K. It was based on the society’s culture and K. It was based on religion (Lutheran,
instructors were the African elders Catholic and Muslim schools.
L. Produced Africans to be able to L. It produced people for white collar jobs
undertake all forms of tasks especially or office clerkships
physical and practical tasks
M. It aimed at utilizing African resources for M. Aimed at exploiting African resources
community development both natural and human resources
N. Aimed to get future responsible leaders N. Aimed at creating puppet leaders and
and parents of the society elites who were to be loyal to the
imperialists

Similarities or comparison between pre-colonial African education and colonial education

A. Both aimed at imparting skills, knowledge and valves to the members of the society
B. Both were practiced in Africa, though in different periods. Informal education was practiced even
before the white invasion while western education was practiced during colonial rule in the 19 th
century
C. Both forms of education were accompanied by ceremonies upon completion of the specified
programs/level. In Africa-Traditional ceremonies/Graduation like initiations were conducted
D. Both forms of education had the instructors. For example professional teachers in western
education and elders and other experienced in the society took responsibility of instructions.
E. Both forms of education were based on creating disciplined adults. For the youths were taught to
be obedient, and loyal to elders or authority this was done the same in colonial education
F. Both forms of education had the place and time of instruction. For example, informal education
was provided at home, work place, night or morning. Informal education was provided at school
from 8:00 am to afternoon.
G. Both forms of education had medium of instructions. African education was provided through
vernaculars such as Kihaya, Kihehe and Kiswahili in Tanganyika. Western education was
instructed using foreign languages like French, English, and Portuguese.
Weakness of colonial education
i) It divided people into groups of educated (elites) and un-educated. This resulted to disunity
among Africans because educated Africans had a tendency of despising non-educated
Africans.
ii) It caused regional imbalance as it was provided in productive and white settlement zones

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iii) It promoted African underdevelopment. This was because colonial education abandoned
African education that was practical and based on African environment as a result Africans
were given education which had no application in their life.
iv) The colonial education introduced foreign culture like language and religion, which began to
distort the African values, and traditions. Africans were seen as pagans and un-civilized
v) The colonial education trained colonial collaborators who later helped the colonialists to
consolidate exploitation, since many educated Africans worked as clerks, office attendants,
messengers, and primary teachers
vi) Neglect of manual labour. This is because colonial education preferred white collar jobs. This
has caused the collapse of manual oriented sectors in Africa like agriculture. May African
graduates are idle since they think of office employment
vii) It was based on race and religion. This was because there were schools for the Africans and
other races. Muslims could not join the missionary schools.
viii) Many Africans were left with serious illiteracy. This is because many children of Africa were
not recruited in primary and secondary schools. Other learners were reduced by examinations
to go to next level since they were set in foreign languages. For example, during
independence, there were only two university graduates in Tanganyika: Julius Kambarage
Nyerere and Oscar Kambona who attended university studies in England
ix) The curriculum was on European countries, therefore the learners were taught geography of
Europe instead of geography of Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana or Senegal.
Strengths of colonial education
i. Africans acquired artisan skills such as carpentry, brick-making and agriculture.
ii. It contributed to the development of African nationalism in a sense that, colonial education
produced African elites who became aware and started to challenge colonialism example, J.K.
Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, Milton Obote, Jomo Kenyatta and many others.
iii. Creation of foreign employment opportunities. For example, today, African elites are seeking
employment in foreign continents like America and Europe due to fluency in international
languages such as English
iv. Collapse of some harmful cultural values in Africa. Western education was associated with
religion which blamed bad cultural morals such as FGM, polygamy, killing of newly born twins
and forced married
v. Improvement of international interaction. Nowadays Africans can travel into different
international zones like Asia, America, and Australia without stress due to the literacy in foreign
languages
vi. Some post-colonial African states have chosen foreign languages as their national and official
languages. For example, in former colonies of British and France, English and French
respectively serve that role
vii. Introduction of better hygiene practices among Africans. Provision of western education was
associated with studies of fighting against infectious diseases like cholera and other epidemics.
This improved health fitness of African dwellers.
NOTE: The missionaries played a key role in introducing western education in various parts of Africa.
They were the first teachers of western or colonial education and language. Others teachers who
played role in spreading western education in Africa were the freed slaves from west Africa particularly
in Creole (Sierra Leone). One of them was Bishop Samuel Crowther (1864). Other pioneers of western
education were the orphans and Africans who were affected by European culture
COLONIAL HEALTH SERVICES
This involved the provision of medical needs to the white men and colonial subjects. It was
accompanied with the construction of government and missionary hospitals, dispensaries and
pharmacies in the colonies. They mostly were found in colonial key stations like armed force stations, in
production areas and Urban centres. Health services aimed to cure and prevent diseases such as

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malaria, leprosy, yellow fever, small pox, hookworms, yams, meningitis, tuberculosis, typhoid, cholera
and sexually transmitted infections such as gonorrhoea and syphilis.
For example, medical centres during German rule were built in Bagamoyo, Iringa, Kilwa and Morogoro.
Others were built in Kilimanjaro, Tanga and Arusha.

Example of colonial hospital in Africa

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Africans being injected for curing diseases

Objectives of the colonial health services
 Giving medicine to African peasants, colonial employees and labourers in order to maintain the
labour power
 To improve the living standards of the whites since they received the best services than the other
races.
 Destroying the African medication services. African traditional healing systems were replaced by
European medicines with the importation of scientific expertise like nurses and doctors.
 Preventing and curing the white imposed diseases such as tuberculosis, sexually transmitted
diseases and African tropical diseases such as malaria, cholera and flue
 To create employment opportunities for Europeans. For example, European doctors, nurses,
searchers were brought in Africa to deal with a research on African traditional herbs.
 To serve the white settlers who had increased in settler colonies such as Kenya, Zimbabwe,
Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa.
 Treating colonial troops wounded in the wars against Africans and other physical difficulties.
 To serve missionary activities. Many hospitals and dispensaries were established in Nigeria in
1904 at Abadan. In Uganda at Mengo, Doctor Cook opened the church missionary society
hospital in 1901 to deal with sleeping sickness.
 To reduce mortality rate. This aimed to maintain population growth for the markets and labour in
colonies

Features of colonial health services

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 Many hospitals or dispensaries were built in urban areas, plantations areas and in areas which
had settler’s farms like Tanga, Kilimanjaro, Arusha and Bukoba
 Had racial discrimination. The whites received the best health services followed by Asians and
Africans became the last of all. For example, Europeans were treated at Ocean Road Hospital,
while Asians were treated at Sewa Haji Hospital (Muhimbili). Africans who served in military
forces and administration were treated at Mnazi Mmoja medical centre. In Nigeria Sacred Heart
Hospital in Abeokuta was under Roman Catholic missionaries.
 The hospitals/dispensaries only provided western medication. African traditional herbs were
ignored
 Highly medical personnel were the whites. The British, French, Portuguese, Belgians. Africans
served as dressing nurses, sweepers and other lower rank jobs
 They were religious based. There were catholic hospitals, Lutheran hospitals. For example,
Kagondo Hospital in Bukoba and Bugando Hospital in Mwanza were under religion
 The provision of health services was cost oriented. The services were sold. The patient had to
pay for treatment. This caused a lot of problems to poor Africans to access medical care
 The number of health services and personnel was very small compared to population of Africa
and Europeans.
Weakness or negative impacts of colonial health services.
 Expansion of the market for capitalist industrial products. Africans consumed various medicines
from Europe. Africa became the dumping area of European produced medicines
 They maintained the labour power for peasantry, settler and mining sector of colonial economy.
 They provided employment to their people in Africa. Experts and settlers were employed in Africa
to conduct medication.
 African herbs were almost replaced by the consumption of western medications. Therefore,
traditional healers were undermined
 Strengthened classes during the colonial period. The white civil servants, settlers and managers
got high quality of health services while the African received poor ones.
 Shortage of medical experts during independence. This is because the colonial state hardly
trained Africans in medical department
 Creation of inferior complex among Africans. The Africans were made to believe that European
medicines were more standard and superior than theirs.
 Exploitation of African resources particularly labour. This is because Africans were boosted by
health services in colonial production by treating diseases that could weaken the physical fitness
 Africans were prone to disease problem since they were not to pay chronic diseases that needed
operation. This is because the service had to be paid for.
 Inequality was practiced during provision of health services. For example, Africans received the
last grade while Europeans and Asians received the first and second grade respective.
Strengths of colonial social services in Africa
i. Reduction of infant mortality rate. This is because Africans were improved with health servants
such as midwives and nurses.
ii. Few Africans were employed as nurses, dressers and midwives. This improved living
standards of Africans
iii. Africans acquired medical skills. African trainees acquired medical kills like injection, provision
of medicines, child birth skills, and wound dressing. These trainees were used during post-
colonial period
iv. Expansion of town centres. Centres that had established health centres like Dar es Salaam,
Tanga, Moshi, Bukoba, Mwanza, Arusha in Tanganyika and Nairobi in Kenya experienced
massive population growth due to migration and improved health care to people.
v. Inheritance of colonial health services infrastructures. For example, African independent states
inherited hospitals, dispensaries and laboratory units which some are still used recently.
vi. Africans acquired the personal hygiene practices. This is because Africans were taught about
personal care. This has caused the population growth during colonial period.

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The role of health services in the promotion and consolidation of colonialism in Africa
i. The colonial health services such as hospitals and dispensaries ensured good health condition
to the African labourers who were working in various colonial economic sectors such as
Agriculture, mining. Hence consolidated and promoted for colonialism.
ii. The health services ensured good health condition to the colonial administrators who effectively
supervised various economic sectors. Thus promoted and consolidated colonialism.
iii. The colonial housing services helped the African labourers to attend the work at right time
hence promotion and consolidation of colonialism in Africa.
iv. The threats of tropical diseases such as malaria, flue and small pox were prevented and cured.
This prepared the friendly survival of Europeans and Africa workforce in Africa
v. African resistances were reduced. Those areas (quarters) where Africans were provided with
good health services like hospitals, Africans felt superior to civilians. This caused disunity
during demanding for independence
WATER SUPPLY, HOUSING, INTERNET AND ELECTRICAL SERVICES IN COLONIAL AFRICA
The nature of housing, water and electrical services during colonial era was determined by colonial
political administrative and economic activities. In early years of colonialism water, housing and
electricity were not offered to Africans and Asians until after 1945. This is because these services
never showed direct impact to colonial production activities.

Colonial electrical services

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Example of telecommunication services in colonial Africa

Objectives of colonial water, housing and electrical services
i. To facilitate Europeans to meet their interests of exploiting Africa. This made Europeans
accessing the productive areas from their quarters easier.
ii. To maintain colonial labour. Labourers in plantations and mines were served with water and
housing
iii. To serve African civil servants such as teachers, nurses, drivers and store keepers.
iv. To improve hygiene and sanitation of both European settlers and few African employees.
v. To encourage European settlement in Africa. Water, housing and electricity helped Europeans
feel comfortable in foreign land.
vi. To reduce African resistances. For example, workers who were living in quarters with good
water and electricity felt superior to the civilians. This cased disunity during demanding for
independence in Africa
vii. To serve colonial military forces for ensuring peace and security in colonies.
viii. To serve colonial agents to operate in exploring African continent in interior parts, for effective
colonization
Pattern distribution of colonial housing, water, and electrical services
i. Political, administrative and economic functions determined the nature of housing, electricity
and water services provided to the residents. Plantations, white settlements and military
centres; pipes, wells and housing were installed
ii. Services were provided based on racial lines. The Europeans and Asians had good services
compared to Africans. There were poor houses for African workers
iii. Conditions of living in the rural areas were becoming difficult especially in the white settler
colonies. Where a lot of African land was alienated.
iv. Improvement in transportation. This encouraged mobility to the urban centres. The introduction
of passenger buses and train coaches facilitated the movement towards the urban centres

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v. The services were unevenly provided. For example urban centres like Dar es Salaam Nairobi,
Kigali Kampala and Zanzibar had good water, housing and electricity while the rural areas had
poor ones
Role of housing, water and electricity services in colonial Africa
i. The colonial housing helped to reduce resistance from African since the labourers stayed in the
camp under close supervision of the European soldiers and police. Thus promoted colonialism.
ii. The colonial housing to some extent reduced expenses to the colonialists who regularly were
recruited as labourers from the distant areas which is very expensive, thus under this situation
the colonialists minimized expenses and maximized colonial production.
iii. The colonial electrical services provided in Africa facilitated exploitation in the colonies since
some of the colonial works were done at right time.
iv. The water supply attracted the Europeans to feel comfortable to live in Africa. For example,
Missionaries were served in order to maintain their work of evangelism in Africa
Impact of the provision of colonial water and housing services
i. Africans viewed urban centres as a place for temporary settlement after which one would go
back to the rural areas as most of the service was provided for the Europeans.
ii. They facilitated exploitation of African natural resources. This is because colonial officials like
governors, clerks were assured of life in supervision of colonial production
iii. Slums emerged due to lack of adequate shelter. In these houses, illicit activities such as the
sale of illegal liquor, theft and drug trafficking took place. All these contributed to the
emergence of nationalism against colonial injustice. Example, Maumau liberation war.
iv. Diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria affected Africans due to poor water
services and housing available for African communities and spread of sexually transmitted
diseases.
v. Widespread of social evils in urban centres such as banditry, robbery and prostitution. This was
caused by life hard ship in urban areas due to scarcity of social service
vi. Africans were denied of pure and clean water. The rivers and lakes found in Africa did not
benefit Africans
vii. Creation of social stratification. The provision of housing, water and electricity was based on
races. For example, in Tanganyika there were different areas with different names according to
nature of dwellers. For example, Uzunguni for whites, Uhindini for Indians and Uswahilini for
Africans.
……………………………….End of Topic 4……………………………..

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