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Colonial Africa
The eight European nations that invaded Africa and established colonies
there, left indelible marks on the language, cultures, and governments
of each African country. In many cases, the European language and governmental
systems supplanted the indigenous African language and traditional governmental
systems or at least curtailed or limited their influence.
Until about 1870, colonial invasion did not have much in the way
of intensity as the continent had not presented much economic or political
value to Europe. After 1875, competition for raw materials by the European
powers sparked bitter rivalry for conquest and expansion into the African
interior. The Berlin Conference of 1885 laid down the rules for partitioning
of Africa between the European powers. Pictured on the map as brown cross
hatch are the colonies held by Germany until its defeat in World War I
in 1918 when Togo and Cameroon went to France, and South West Africa, Tanganyika
(Tanzania) and the coast of Kenya went to England. The area shown as a
green cross hatch shows the sphere of Boer (descendants of Dutch settlers)
influence.
The African people, often exploited by this expansionism offered
valiant resistance which continued into the mid-Twentieth Century when
African Nations, one by one, won freedom and independence.
The two independent states were Liberia and Ethiopia. Liberia began
its independence in 1847 as a colony of liberated African-American slaves
on land belonging to the Kru, Bambara and Gola people. Ethiopia is an ancient
nation which maintained it's national independence except for a brief invasion
by the Italians under Mussolini from 1936 to 1941.
Bibliography
The Atlas of Africa
Regine van Chi-Bonnardel
New York, The Free Press [1973]
Atlas of African History
Colin McEvedy
New York : Facts on File, c1980
ISBN 0871964805
Historical Atlas of Africa
J.F. Ade Ajayi & Michael Crowder, Gen. Eds.
Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1985
ISBN 0521253535
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