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Maafa
Maafa
is a Kiswahili term for "disaster" or "terrible
occurrence.” It is used to describe more than five hundred
years of exploitation of Africa through slavery, colonialism,
and imperialism. A colony is a settlement in one land supported
by another land, and imperialism is the practice of building
empires to support trade.
The
barbarous “triangle trade” began shortly after Europeans
began exploring the west coast of Africa. Ships leaving Europe
first stopped in Africa where they traded weapons, ammunition,
metal, liquor, and cloth for captives taken in wars or raids.
The ships then traveled to America, where slaves were exchanged
for sugar, rum, salt, and other island products. The ships
completed the triangle loaded with products popular with the
European people, and were ready to begin their journey again.
The
Europeans explored the interior of Africa to expand trade.
By the 1880s a “scramble for Africa” occurred. Five
European powers--Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, and Italy
colonized almost the entire continent by 1900. They exploited
the great mineral wealth of Africa and sought to expand their
borders by moving into the continent.
The
colonial rulers were often cruel and had little regard for
the Africans. King Leopold II of Belgium obtained personal
title to the Congo in central Africa. He forced the native
people to work under cruel conditions in his rubber plants.
Every village was required to donate four people a year to
work for Leopold. Villagers who failed to complete their duties
were flogged; others had their hands or their heads cut off.
When the Belgian government learned what was happening, they
took Leopold’s grotesque colony from him and made reforms.
France attempted to annex Algeria in the 1830s, but made little
effort to understand the Muslim Berbers who lived there. The
Algerians resisted, often violently. The French finally withdrew
from the colony in 1962 after the Algerians voted 6,000,000
to 16,000 to ask the French to leave.
The End of African Colonialism
Colonialism
ended surprisingly quickly and quietly in most of Africa after
World War II. The British granted Gold Coast independence
in 1957. The indigenous government of the former colony reached
into Africa’s glorious past to rename itself Ghana. These
factors contributed to the end of colonialism in Africa:
•
Mohandas Gandhi’s successful campaign to end British
colonial rule in India inspired many African leaders.
•
The United States and the Soviet Union became military “superpower”
nations after the war. Both sides sought to influence Africa
by encouraging nationalist movements.
•
The colonial governments educated an elite class of Africans
in western universities. The educated Africans saw how the
colonial rulers exploited their nations.
•
Much of Europe’s economy was destroyed in the Second
World War, and the European governments could not afford to
send armies to Africa to suppress nationalist movements.
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