1. Decolonization of Africa

2. What is Decolonization?
Decolonization: the process of becoming free of colonial status and achieving statehood
Between WWI and WWII, movements for independence begun in earnest in Africa and Asia
Dominance of colonial powers seemed at odds with Allied goals in WWII.
Call for national self-determination – fight for independence.
Empires reluctant to let colonies go.

3. Why Decolonization Occurred

4. Steps to African Independence
Nationalism grew in the different African countries after WWII.
Most Europeans were reluctant to fight to hold onto overseas colonies.
African leaders began to use the cry of “Africa for Africans”.

5. Steps to African Independence
African leaders organized political parties and staged strikes & boycotts.
Organization of African Unity - Formed in 1963 to promote peace and independence
Pan-Africanism – calls for the unifying of all of Africa

6. Impact of WWII Post-WWII - a focus on self-determination in Europe
Colonialism seemed to contradict the spirit of the Allies fight against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy
Over 200,000 Africans had fought in Europe and Asia for the Allies’ freedom and democracy – most noticed the contradiction
Many Africans returned home to find they had only fought for the European’s

7. Impact of WWII
Surge of anti-colonial nationalism after Leaders used lessons in mass politicization and mass mobilization of 1920’s and 1930’s.
Three patterns:
Violent Revolutions and
Civil War (China, Algeria,
Angola, Vietnam)
Non-Violent, negotiated
independence (India, Ghana,
Turkey)
Both violent and non-violent
methods (Kenya, Congo,
Egypt, South Africa)

8. Impact of the Cold War
Soviet pushed anti-colonial movement - offered assistance
United States wanted access to African markets (why were they closed before?) AND to prevent the spread of communism.
When West refused to help nationalists, they turned to the Soviet Union

9. End of an Empire?
“The wind of change is blowing through this continent, and whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it, and our national policies must take account of it.”
- British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in 1960 to the South African Parliament
What is the significance of this statement to the British Empire?

10. Colonial Rule and Independence in Africa

11. In the 1950s & 1960s, African colonies experienced decolonization & gained independence
The first sub-Saharan African colony to gain its independence was Ghana in 1957

12. Phases of Decolonization in Africa

13. Phases of Decolonization
Phase One: roughly (most of West and East Africa)
Phase Two: roughly (mostly Southern/Central Africa)

14. Phase One---The 1960s: Optimism and Compromise
Some violence, but it included many examples of a peaceful, smooth transfer of power
Colonial powers maintain some control over the terms of decolonization

15. Phase Two of Decolonization
Violence was far more common than in the first phase of decolonization
Decolonization tended to be grounded in the propaganda rhetoric of liberation and social transformation
Tied closely with the Cold War---were allied with USA or USSR

16. Independence: Three Routes/Paths
Three major routes:
Peaceful / Negotiated Independence
Typically achieved in non-settler colonies, ex = Ghana
Violent
Typically occurred in settler colonies, ex = Kenya, Algeria
Incomplete
White settler minority population given political power in decolonization, ex = S. Africa

17. Results of Decolonization

18. Varying Transitions of Freedom in Africa
For the most part, decolonization in the parts of African that had been British and French went smoothly.
Both Britain and France prepared their colonies for freedom by educating native elites, allowing greater native representation in transitional governments, and minimizing the possibility of interethnic conflict.
The worst transitions to independence were made by Belgian and Portuguese colonies who had been exploitative and did not prepare colonies for independence.

19. Overall Internal Challenges
Tribal allegiances
Illiteracy / under developed education system
No tradition of ongoing political leadership in modern times
Religious differences
Diverse geography and climate
Established social hierarchies

20. Results: Genocide in Africa
U.N. Peacekeeping Interventions,

21. Among the worst examples of violence in Africa is the genocide (mass killings) in Rwanda & Sudan
Link to video on Rwandan genocide (3.00)
In Darfur, the Sudanese gov’t killed up to 400,000 Muslims in an attempt to destroy an anti-gov’t rebel movement
In Rwanda, ethnic conflict between rival clans led to the Hutus massacring between 500,000 & 800,000 Tutsi in 1994
Link to video on Darfur genocide (5.00)

22. Results: Economic Issues
Economic dependence on West coupled with political corruption cripples attempts to diversify economy
Stuck in cash crop agriculture & extraction of resources
Large loans to modernize economies squandered by those in power - leave little progress, lots of debt
The same pattern being a dependence on a cash crop or western control of the extraction of a resource (gold, diamonds, etc.)

23. Results: Corrupt Political Parties and Leaders
Nationalist parties & African elites gain power
Use anti-colonial legacy to maintain power & cloud ineptitude & favoritism
Initial political parties reflected ethnic, regional, or religious groups - few true national parties
Power often gained by corrupt African “strongmen” (dictators) who ignored the social needs of people
The same pattern being a dependence on a cash crop or western control of the extraction of a resource (gold, diamonds, etc.)

24. Conclusions
Decolonization was sometimes a violent process- dependent in large part on how many settlers had come to the colony.
In many parts of world, decolonization was not revolutionary. Power passed from one class of elites to another. Little economic and social reform occurred.
Significant challenges faced independent nations.
Western economic dominance of the global trade system continued unabated. WHY?

25. Decolonization of Africa
MrsArmstrong7808
Published on Jan 28, 2015
Running Time of 3: 37 Minutes
Crash Course Decolonization of Africa clip

27. Africa: States of independence - the scramble for Africa
Al Jazeera English
Uploaded on Sep 2, 2010
Running Time of 44:54 Minutes---But Decolonization Starts at 19:00 Minutes
You must go directly to YOUTUBE. It would not insert.
Seventeen African nations gained their independence in 1960, but the dreams of the independence era were short-lived.
Africa states of independence tells the story of some of those countries - stories of mass exploitation, of the ecstasy of independence and of how - with liberation - a new, covert scramble for resources was born.
[September 2, 2010]

28. Congo and Africa's World War: Crash Course World History 221
Published on Jan 16, 2015
Go to separately in YOUTUBE. Insert would not work.
In which John Green teaches you about the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which used to be Zaire, which used to be The Belgian Congo, which used to be the Congo Free State, which used to be the region surrounding the Congo River Basin in central Africa. So the history of this place is a little convoluted. The history of Congo is central to the history of central Africa, and the Congo Wars embroiled neighboring countries like Uganda and Rwanda. John will talk you through the history of Congo and the region.