Africa’s Colonization and Alien Races’ Contribution Essay

Introduction

In A History of the Colonization of Africa by Alien Races, author Harry H. Johnston surveys the history of Africa from the point of view of permanent control. The reason for this is the campaigns of the European and Arab races, which lined up the colonies. In 525 BC Egypt was conquered by the Persians in 332 by Alexander the Great. ¹ In 323 BC Egypt went to his commander Ptolemy Lag, who in 305 BC declared himself a king and Egypt became the state of the Ptolemies.² Endless wars undermined the country, and by the 2nd century BC. Egypt was conquered by Rome. ³ In 395 AD, Egypt became part of the Eastern Roman Empire, from 476 as part of the Byzantine Empire.⁴ At the stage of the ancient world and antiquity, the conquests did not end, but only served as the beginning of a long chain of colonization of the mainland.

Negative Consequences and Continuation of Colonization

In the Middle Ages, Europeans made new attempts to develop African land. During the twelfth century, the crusaders conquering actions led to a significant economic decline, which later caused the lack of some resources and materials. This led to a series of disasters for the Africans and their subsequent development as a separate civilization (Duiker and Spielvogel 2019). The agricultural production had shifted focus on the cereals, dates, olives and horticultural crops. The significant territories were occupied for cattle breeding.⁵ Most of North Africa could have been compared to the desert soil type, which negatively affected the agriculture of the region.⁶ This resulted in the disappearance of a large number of local populations, as well as cities and shopping centers.⁷ Feudal and tax oppression, the deteriorating environmental situation led to negative consequences.

Islamic authorities had no power to control the negative sentiments of the public and eliminate the political and other external threats simultaneously. Johnston notes that at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, the territories of North Africa were captured by the Spaniards, the Portuguese and the Order of St. John. ⁸ There are two main types of colony circulation – “direct” and “indirect” control. This was due to differences in the interests and capabilities of the metropolitan countries and in the intensity of their penetration into Africa. This led to the first positive consequences for the African population, which needs to be analyzed in more detail.

Control Types

The first type “direct” control was characteristic of the colonies of France, Portugal, Belgium and Germany. It provided for the creation of a centralized administrative system modeled on metropolitan areas with the concentration of power in European administrators. Great Britain, on the other hand, applied “indirect” control, retained traditional African political institutions, which continued to govern the internal life of local societies (Duiker and Spielvogel 2019). Such actions were positive in terms of establishing more trustful relationships with the Africans. The pre-colonial structures were restructured, and new leaders had many renovated duties and responsibilities. ⁹ Authorized persons turned into civil servants of the colonial administration while maintaining control over them by British officials.

With any method of governing the colonies, the local leaders of the tribes and the top of the society of the conquered peoples did not act as defenders of the rights of the indigenous inhabitants. They usually tried to adapt to a new way of life, while receiving any advantages and benefits. ¹⁰ Collaborationism, the cooperation of the colonialists and local elites, was quite widespread. Later, a mixed system appeared in Africa, in which most of the British colonies were “indirect” rule. At the same time, it was the colonial administration that exercised power in the most advantageous areas for Europeans. At the same time, in some countries of Southern Africa, such as the current South Africa, such zones accounted for most of the country’s territory.

Development of Administration

Features of colonial administration influenced the situation with the protection of human rights in the colonies. Direct rule itself was already a violation of the civil rights of the indigenous population, who had lost the possibility of state building by the members of their society.¹¹ The colonial seizure and the regime of strict direct control slowed down the process of creating their own independent states by local peoples. Despite the differences in the systems of colonial administration and economic methods, the mother countries pursued the goal of creating favorable conditions for the exploitation of the natural and human resources of the continent.

In relation to the human rights of the indigenous peoples of Africa, the position of the British, on the one hand, and the Latin peoples, on the other, was different. The French, Spaniards and Portuguese have long pursued a policy of assimilation based on the dual postulate of the equal value of all people and the superiority of European civilization.¹² This policy lasted until the end of the colonial era. The French Constitution of 1946 declared that the natives retain their personal status if they do not renounce it.

The situation in the Belgian Congo was not much different; the principle of respect for native customs was confirmed earlier in this country. In the Belgian Congo, as in the French possessions, assimilation had the character of a normal completion of civilizing actions, and the metropolis directly took control of the country. ¹³ By the time the colonialists arrived, African tribes and states were dominated by customary law, which protected human rights in the understanding of the local population. ¹⁴ Traditional law reflected, in a variety of ways, the concept of society held by a village or a tribe. However, it was not suitable for adapting with the necessary speed to the type of new society that was being established in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Human Rights and Law

Therefore, the reception of modern law took place here, affecting primarily those areas where the transition to a new civilization was especially felt. On the other hand, one can note the transformation of customary law even where it provided complete regulation. This happened because the colonizing power did not consider it as sufficiently civilized. In the African colonial countries of Great Britain, the so-called “colonial law” was formed, which was different from the law of the mother country.¹⁵ Its formation took place under the influence of British legislation, which, to a certain extent, was adapted to the legal systems of the colonies. However, the positive law emerging in the colonies largely ignored the natural rights of man and citizen. Thus, despite the almost permanent colonization and dependence, one cannot characterize European influence as only negative. Nevertheless, Johnston correctly noted that almost the entire history and path of development of Africa is a set of actions of races alien to the continent.

Bibliography

Duiker, William J. and Spielvogel, Jackson J. The Essential World History, Volume II: Since 1500, Ninth Edition. Boston, Mass.: Cengage Learning, 2019.

Johnston, Harry H. A History of the Colonization of Africa by Alien Races. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Footnotes

1. Harry Johnston, A History of the Colonization of Africa by Alien Races (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 16.
2. Johnston, A History of the Colonization of Africa, 21.
3. Johnston, 23.
4. Johnston, 43.
5. William Duiker and Jackson Spielvogel, The Essential World History, Volume II: Since 1500, Ninth Edition (Boston: Cenegage Learnin, 2019), 190.
6. Duiker and Spielvogel, The Essential World History, 192.
7. Johnston, 85.
8. Johnston, 87.
9. Duiker and Spielvogel, 196.
10. Duiker and Spielvogel, 198.
11. Duiker and Spielvogel, 193.
12. Duiker and Spielvogel, 194.
13. Duiker and Spielvogel, 193.
14. Johnston, 89.
15. Duiker and Spielvogel, 194.