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I am not intending this is be a flame war. I am asking a real question and seeking opinions. I hear many people out there who believe that colonialism and the slave trade was a good thing for Africa. I look at it from a historical and human perspective. From what I have read, the end results of the slave trade and colonialism have left its mark, and in many ways, a bad thing. I still believe the slave trade/colonialism was a bad thing. I have read the books and see that it was motivated by greed and was never meant to benefit the persons in Africa. There are those people out there who think Africa needed it. I know this is a controversial thread and there will be opposing views, but I would appreciate it if personal insults were not used.
You're mixing two very different issues here (slavery and colonialism). Although slavery was (and still is) a savage barbaric practice it was the backbone of the African economy for thousands of years, until the invention of the steam engine replaced human labor as the primary source of industrial power. When the Tartars and Mongols took captives on the Russian Steppes, they sold them in Addis-Ababba. When the first modern Europeans entered the slave trade in the 1500's (the Portugese) they bought their first slaves at a slave market that had stood on the same spot for 5,000 years. I would not go so far as the say the effect was "beneficial", but I know that in the Geopolitic sense the effects were so insignificant as to be unmeasurable. Africa was more than up to dealing with it with indifference.
Colonialism, on the other hand, brought "partition", which became set in stone after WWI. This cut across tribal populations and boundaries, and devastated African culture and economic viability. Mother Africa has not yet recovered from its 20th Century vivesection.
The history of Africa is full of stories of great empires, Sonhgia, Mali, Ghana, complete with falls an rises of cultures not unlike the western world. great kingdoms with goverments, sciences , and advanced societies and Christianity, before the white white man came. like the rise and fall of Rome an other western empires who's to say we would not have something akin to Italy or Greece or France in Africa had they been seen as contemporaries of western powers and not of a lower race due to their color. Trading with a continent as rich as Africa could of been problematic because they were so rich in natural resourses. I am not sure what sea going vessels could of picked up along the trade wind routes that would be so valuble to a continent as rich as Africa. Rape,pillage and plunder would of been inevitable. I can imagine the image of an African King draped in Gold, diamons, rubies, and fine cloth shaking his head no at every thing the white would try to trade him for. They prolly knew better than to trade weapons with Africans.
You're mixing two very different issues here (slavery and colonialism). Although slavery was (and still is) a savage barbaric practice it was the backbone of the African economy for thousands of years, until the invention of the steam engine replaced human labor as the primary source of industrial power. When the Tartars and Mongols took captives on the Russian Steppes, they sold them in Addis-Ababba. When the first modern Europeans entered the slave trade in the 1500's (the Portugese) they bought their first slaves at a slave market that had stood on the same spot for 5,000 years. I would not go so far as the say the effect was "beneficial", but I know that in the Geopolitic sense the effects were so insignificant as to be unmeasurable. Africa was more than up to dealing with it with indifference.
Colonialism, on the other hand, brought "partition", which became set in stone after WWI. This cut across tribal populations and boundaries, and devastated African culture and economic viability. Mother Africa has not yet recovered from its 20th Century vivesection.
I don't deny that slavery has been practiced worldwide. What stands out in the African slave trade is that many of the slaves were used to make money for another nation without reaping the benefits of it and it continued the longest. There was some self-destruction in Africa. With that said, the interior of Africa was a subsistence society. They were interested in trying to take over the world. That may have been part of the reason Africa dealt with some of it with indifference, at first. The slaves stayed in Africa, until they started being traded for other goods. In other cases, people were literally kidnapped and taken away. The first slaves to come out of Africa were the Berbers though. Many of the Berbers spoke of black African slaves in Africa and wealth in Africa. Explorers from Portugal went back to Africa to find black Africans.
Colonialism was a way the other nations could control resources not belonging to them. The school of thought was that "if I can't get the gold because it's not on my land, then I will take their land and pillage their gold".
The reason colonialism stopped after a while is because people started fighting for independence. Some of the former colonial powers felt like they no longer needed what was in Africa and let go. Portugal was the slowest to let go of it's colonies.
The reason colonialism stopped after a while is because people started fighting for independence. Some of the former colonial powers felt like they no longer needed what was in Africa and let go. Portugal was the slowest to let go of it's colonies.
And some still haven't! The British actually never let go of Hong Kong; the lease they signed for the New Territories there (actually, the lease they imposed on China in 1897) expired, and of course China wasn't about to renew it. That also led directly to the end of Portuguese colonialism in Macao. But France still holds onto French Guiana, the only state in South America not to have achieved independence.
Portugal didn't want to leave their colonies at first until the people got fed up with the wars, then they abruptly split, leaving a gaping power vacuum that Portuguese African nations suffer from to this day. That's part of the problem. Once colonized, the decolonization process should have been more well thought out and more orderly in many places. No one in the modern world likes the idea of colonialism, but the pressure to abruptly end it, from all sides, was premature.
Portugal didn't want to leave their colonies at first until the people got fed up with the wars, then they abruptly split, leaving a gaping power vacuum that Portuguese African nations suffer from to this day. That's part of the problem. Once colonized, the decolonization process should have been more well thought out and more orderly in many places. No one in the modern world likes the idea of colonialism, but the pressure to abruptly end it, from all sides, was premature.
Part of it stems from the fact that the nations that did colonize had no intentions of letting go of their colonies, therefore, there was no plan to help the nations make a transition from colonialism to independence. It is a similar issue with the former Soviet nations. Moscow had no intentions of letting go. What happened? It didn't make plans for a transition into independence, so the nations weren't as prepared for independence. Slavery works the same way. The slave doesn't like being a slave, but the slave doesn't know much else. One way to keep a slave a slave is to keep that slave intellectually noncompetitive(in short, slaves were not allowed to know how to read). The idea of freedom is long enduring, but the reality is fleeting, unless that slave is prepared to venturing into the world as a free person. That was the sad part of the American slave system. Because slaves were not taught how to read or write, thus keeping them away from important knowledge. The slave owners had no intentions of teaching their slaves how to read because they were never going to let go. What happened? The Civil War happened. Slavery ended when the war ended. It took a war to end slavery. When slavery ended, there was very little planning. The former slaves wanted to be free, but what could they do if they couldn't read or write or didn't have the financial benefits. Many of the former slaves would go back into a state of bondage through the sharecropping. That is what I compare the chaos in Africa to. There was no plan to de-colonize Africa so when colonies became independent, there was alot of chaos and government issues. The same went for slavery. When the slaves were free, they couldn't do much for themselves because they weren't given the tools to survive as a free person.
Can you imagine the European kingdoms, capable of sailing ships to heathen continents, NOT colonizing them and enslaving their inhabitants and stealing their resources? That is about as inevitable as it gets.
Well, kindoms, nah. I agree... it was inevitable for them to pillage. But individuals, maybe not.
I could see myself sailing about the south pacific and just wanting to meet new cultures without any need to profit otherwise.
Well, kindoms, nah. I agree... it was inevitable for them to pillage. But individuals, maybe not.
I could see myself sailing about the south pacific and just wanting to meet new cultures without any need to profit otherwise.
And that is how it should have been. It should not be a matter of pillage and taking over. Unfortunately, sometimes it was greed that drove people to travel to other places.
I do alot of reading and studying at times and I have read about the horrors of the American slave system. The colonialism in Africa was very disturbing to stay the least. Colonialism was used to take control of resources that were wanted. I call it stealing. There are many people who would tell me that such acts are inevitable among nations. This doesn't make these acts any less wrong.
I do alot of reading and studying at times and I have read about the horrors of the American slave system. The colonialism in Africa was very disturbing to stay the least. Colonialism was used to take control of resources that were wanted. I call it stealing. There are many people who would tell me that such acts are inevitable among nations. This doesn't make these acts any less wrong.
It certainly WAS wrong, no question about it. But by today's standards, probably 95% of ALL human endeavour beyond the 'immediate tribal' level in the past was "wrong".
People didn't set out across oceans to "help" each other..they set out to help themselves. Traders didn't seek to profit others; they sought to profit themselves. Tribal cultures didn't try to think of ways to 'uplift' their neighbors; they thought of ways to uplift themselves...OR to bide their time in temporary 'truces' until they had an advantage, so they could THEN uplift themselves. Immigrants didn't travel abroad to 'help the locals'..their aim was to REPLACE the locals, by means of exterminating them, putting them to work, or simply pushing them aside.
By today's standards, the vast bulk of the activity of the past among ALL groups was 'unaceptable' by today's standards..it consisted of efforts to control, 'bleed', or take advantage of others.
That small "other" part? The altruism ?....the 'helpers' and missionaries?...the 'good' human interactions?....those who ventured abroad purely for purely 'scientific curiosity'? Those few DID exist....and 90% of THEM originated in 'Western' societies.
In summary, YES, slavery and colonialism were "bad". So were most OTHER things throughout history.
Last edited by macmeal; 04-19-2009 at 09:13 PM..
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