Decolonisation of Africa

The Decolonisation of Africa followed World War II, when colonised people agitated for independence and colonial powers withdrew their administrators from Africa.

Background
[[File:Colonial Africa 1913 map.svg|thumb|Areas of Africa controlled by European colonial powers in 1913, shown along with current national boundaries.

]] The ‘scramble for Africa’ between 1870-1900 ended with almost all of Africa being controlled by European states. Racing to secure as much land as possible, but wanting to avoid conflict amongst themselves, without regard to local differences leaders divided up the continent, formalising it in the Berlin Agreement in 1885. By 1905, control of almost all African soil was claimed by Western European governments, with the only exceptions being Liberia (which had been settled by African-American former slaves) and Ethiopia (which had successfully resisted colonisation by Italy). Britain and France had the largest holdings, but Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Portugal also had colonies. As a result of colonialism and imperialism, a majority of Africa lost sovereignty and control of natural resources such as gold and rubber. The introduction of imperial polices surfacing around local economies led to the failing of local economies due to an exploitation of resources and cheap labor. Progress towards independence was slow up until the mid-20th century. By 1977, 57 African countries had seceded from European colonial rulers.

External Causes
During WWI and WWII, African soldiers were conscripted into imperial militaries. This led to a deeper political awareness and the expectation of greater respect and self-determination, which was left largely unfulfilled. During the 1941 Atlantic Conference, the British and the US leaders met to discuss ideas for the post-war world. One of the provisions added by President Roosevelt was that all people had the right to self-determination, inspiring hope in British colonies.

On February 12, 1941, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met to discuss the postwar world. The result was the Atlantic Charter. It was not a treaty and was not submitted to the British Parliament or the Senate of the United States for ratification, but it turned to be a widely acclaimed document. One of the provisions, introduced by Roosevelt, was the autonomy of imperial colonies. After World War II, the US and the African colonies put pressure on Britain to abide by the terms of the Atlantic Charter. After the war, some British considered African colonies to be childish and immature; British colonisers introduced democratic government at local levels in the colonies. Post-war, the US and African colonies pressured Britain to abide by the Atlantic Charter’s terms. Britain was forced to agree but Churchill rejected universal applicability of self-determination for subject nations. He also stated that the Charter was only applicable to German occupation states, not to the British Empire.

Furthermore, colonies such as Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana pushed for self-governance as colonial powers were exhausted by war efforts.

Internal Causes
For early African nationalists, decolonisation was a moral imperative. In 1945 the Fifth Pan-African Congress demanded the end of colonialism. Delegates included future presidents of Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and national activists.

Colonial economic exploitation led to European extraction of Ghana’s mining profits to shareholders, instead of internal development, causing major local socioeconomic grievances. Nevertheless, local African industry and towns expanded when U-boats patrolling the Atlantic Ocean reduced raw material transportation to Europe. In turn, urban communities, industries and trade unions grew, improving literacy and education, leading to pro-independence newspaper establishments.

Indeed, in the 1930s, the colonial powers had cultivated, sometimes inadvertently, a small elite of leaders educated in Western universities and familiar with ideas such as self-determination. In some cases where the road to independence was fought, settled arrangements with the colonial powers were also being placed. These leaders came to lead the struggles for independence, and included leading nationalists such as Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya), Kwame Nkrumah (Gold Coast, now Ghana), Julius Nyerere (Tanganyika, now Tanzania), Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal), Nnamdi Azikiwe (Nigeria), and Félix Houphouët-Boigny (Côte d'Ivoire).

One of the leaders Nkrumah strived towards independence and pan Africanism. Under British colonization and influence from indigenous elites, Nkrumah endured innumerable challenges towards full liberation. In 1947 the elites established United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) with the influence of British government. Through the UGCC, Nkrumah revealed his opposition towards the British by setting up newspapers, schools, and youth organizations in order to gain support from the community. After verbal and political attack from the UGCC, Nkrumah created his own movement known as the Convention Peoples Party (CPP). Through his nonviolent movement and his legislative victory in 1951, the British soon realized that Nkrumah will continue to fight towards full decolonization. Through the issues of neocolonialism, the United States suggest for Ghana and other independent states to align with them economically and politically in order to suppress colonialism. Although Nkrumah efforts towards black unity, economic and political success was his goal, different views from fellow elites, a large amount of debt, and armed forces against decolonization became evident issues constructed from the European nations. In 1972, Nkrumah died of cancer and his plot towards Ghana's full independence withered away as well during his passing.

Economic legacy
The economic legacy of colonialism is difficult to quantify but is likely to have been negative. Modernisation theory emphasises that colonial powers built infrastructure to integrate Africa into the world economy, however this was built mainly for extraction purposes. African economies were structured to benefit the coloniser and any surplus was likely to be ‘drained’, thereby stifling capital accumulation. Dependency theory suggests that most African economies continued to occupy a subordinate position in the world economy after independence with a reliance on primary commodities such as copper in Zambia and tea in Kenya. Despite this continued reliance and unfair trading terms, a meta-analysis of 18 African countries found that a third of countries experienced increased economic growth post-independence.

Effects of debt
The debts of African economies are external and one-sided. While the USA and the UK have gross external debts of 95% and 400% respectively, these debts are balanced by the countries being major lenders. This is not the case for African nations which do not own as many assets or debts to balance the burden. The debt situation in sub-Saharan Africa means that the world’s poorest countries were transferring $3 billion US dollars to developed countries between 1995 and 2000. This is exacerbated by interest and principal arrears which made up over 27% of total external debt for sub-Saharan nations in 1998. This causes two main problems: firstly, servicing the debt means less money is available for importing goods, secondly debt creates uncertainty and risk which puts off investors and reduces business confidence. This has held back African countries from developing after decolonisation.

Language
Over 2,000 distinct languages are spoken in the continent. Along with Africa’s indigenous dialects - Afro-Asiatic, Kordofanian and Khoisan languages, many colonial languages are spoken today. For example, English is spoken in Ghana, Gambia and Kenya, French in Benin, Burkina-Faso and Cameroon, and Portuguese in Guinea-Bissau, Angola, São Tomé and Príncipe. Scholars including Dellal (2013), Miraftab (2012) and Bamgbose (2011) have argued that Africa’s linguistic diversity has been eroded. Language has been used by western colonial powers to divide territories and create new identities which has led to conflicts and tensions between African nations.

Land
Today, 93% of South Africa’s land is still owned by ‘descendants of white settlers’ despite the political negotiation of the Native Land Act in 1913. King (1990) argued that ‘space’ is a mode of segregations, creating forms of inclusions and exclusions. Evidence is represented through different architecture designs, and distinct segregation of spaces (Zonification) in cities are still a feature in the colonial present. For example, the new development of the business improvement district in Cape Town portrays a similar image of the colonial era with embedded struggles in class, race, ethnicity and hierarchical differences. Decolonisation marks one of the historical moments in which African countries increased its autonomous status from the impetus Western colonial powers. Echoes of the colonial past are still visible in the African society today because Ferguson (2006) stated there are still widespread social stigmas associated with the continent such as phrases of ‘darkness’ and ‘troubled’. The representation of Africa, therefore, reveals the continual Western legacies of the colonial past and the struggles embedded in the countries.

Difficulties in transition
The transition to independence in many postcolonial countries is often fraught with political and ethnic tensions. In Rwanda and neighbouring Burundi, the move from colonial to independent rule led to violence. Racialised policies under colonial rule led to rivalries between ethnic groups and was a major contributor to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. The first Presidential election in Rwanda, 1962 was won by Grégoire Kayibanda, leader of the Parti du Mouvement de l'Emancipation du Peuple Hutu (Party for Hutu Emancipation) which sustained the backbone of his government policy. Following this, many Tutsis left the country as they became increasingly ostracised in Rwandan society. There had always been tensions between the Hutus and Tutsis, but the animosity between them grew substantially under Rwanda’s transition to independence and many serious Hutu-Tutsi conflicts ensued.

Timeline
This table is the arranged by the earliest date of independence in this graph; 58 countries have seceded.