Colonialism which is the policy or practice of acquiring political control and dominance over another country started since the beginning of the 17th century. It happened because the European states wanted to expand their territory and to get raw materials for their industries back in Europe. The colonial states presented themselves as missionaries to civilize the Africans in which they imposed their economies, religion and culture on the African people.
It however developed well in the 19th century after slave trade collapse, there was the high demand for raw materials and market for the European goods, this led to the establishment of settler-colonies in different countries in Africa. This essay will therefore discuss some of the ways colonialism has affected the African continent ranging from, exploitation, loss of sovereignty, dependency on the western countries even till date and some of the positive impact of colonialism. Firstly, one of the ways colonialism has affected the African continent is in relations to Exploitation. This is the greatest negative impact of colonialism in Africa as the continent was robbed off of its resources without benefitting the local people. The African vegetation was tampered with as there was a high rate of deforestation to get timber to build ships and houses and industries back in Europe. This led to opening the African soil to direct sunlight, reduced the amount of rainfall and the season in Africa became altered, the Europeans tampered with the vegetation that affected climate in the continent which made it difficult for the farmers to predict the weather which affected the production of food.
Furthermore, many African nations gained independence in mid 20th century but is noted that colonialism never left as there is an indirect colonialism in which African counties are still connected with their colonizers and dependent on them. Example is the French colonies in Africa, they all still use the French central bank as their countries central bank. There are secret deals going on for example Israeli businessman Dan Gertler was granted a near monopoly by the DR Congo’s president to export the nations diamonds, In Angola, the country has been exploited of its petroleum, Zimbabwe of its Diamond and many more African counties has lost its national resources which were shipped in large quantity to Europe.Furthermore, colonialism also brought loss of sovereignty and right of the Africans to control their own destiny.
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When the European countries moved to Africa to colonize the continent there was power tussle between the European states and they quarreled on territories and area of domination in Africa. This led to the Berlin conference of 1885 in which the African continent was divided among the colonizers without taking into consideration of many factors, which includes the culture of the people, religion and politics of the people. In the northern part of the continent straight lines were drawn to divide the region into countries in which many African countries are still being affected till today, example is Nigeria which is comprised of over 778 tribes, they were all merged together, which has led to numerous civil wars in the country.
Moreover, this also led to genocides in Rwanda in 1994. Coercive and repressive state rule was used by the colonialist which eroded the system of leadership that was present in the continent before they went in, in that the communities were stable, they had their well-structured traditional system which worked fine for them that was used to handle business in the communities. The colonialist imposed their own system in the continent through the use of divide and rule which brought a division to a once united and codified community, there was subdivision of lands instead of communal land ownership.
Capitalism was introduced to Africa and after independence, these made African leaders really corrupt since capitalism is a system of wealth accumulation, the leaders accumulated wealth for themselves neglecting the needs of the masses and it has been an issue in the African continent since independent till date as colonialization changed the system that formally existed.
However, colonialism also set the way for infrastructural, educational and social development in the continent. Some infrastructures were introduced such as railways, seaport, airports, the health sector improved as local herbs were replaced with tablets which are more efficient and predictable, hospitals were built by the colonialist. In addition, the educational sector was also improved as schools were built which educated the members of the community, they began to read and write and vocational training was also introduced for people to master their crafts. The economic aspect was also reformed through colonialism as the colonialist taught the people some way to Ernest economy, how to refine, store and process some of their product which further helped the farmers and traders involve in exporting of those product which increased capital and the standard of living of people. Machines to make planting and harvesting were also introduced to make agriculture easier than what it used to be. Moreover, there was the social development as which was introduced during colonialism in which many social amenities were introduced which includes running water for the people and security (Boahen, 1974.)In conclusion, colonialism which began in the beginning of 17th century happened because of the European states interest in expansion.
This had many effects on the continent which ranged from exploitation of Africa’s resources, which includes gold, diamonds, timber cocoa spices and they have all been shipped to Europe. After counties become independent, because of the close ties with the colonialist, may African countries are still being exploited of their fund example is Cameroon which uses the French’s central bank instead of its own, Talented Africans leave the continent to look for better opportunities in Europe because the colonialist took almost everything from the continents. In addition, there was the loss of sovereignty as the continent was divided and rule in the wishes of the colonialist not considering the wish of the people.
However, colonialism has the good effects which include infrastructures which include rail ways, seaports, airports. The economic and agricultural aspect improved and there was social improvement too.
