Political Decolonization   Term Paper ID:44608 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Discusses Great Britain's colonization of South Africa and its use of religion and racial ...... More...

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Paper Abstract: Discusses Great Britain's colonization of South Africa and its use of religion and racial superiority to subjugate the Africans. Paper Introduction: Political Colonization in Africa Throughout the nineteenth century Africa was the focus ofcolonization by the European Great Powers which saw in Africa an excellentset of opportunities for territorial acquisition commercial activities exploitation of minerals and other natural resources and even anopportunity to facilitate the spread of Christianity Shillington A number of tools were used by the colonizing powers to achieve their goalof virtually total control over the regions they penetrated The policeand military Christianity and pseudoscientific racial ideas of Europeanor white superiority Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Shillington (2 5) recognizes that throughout the British colonies insouthern Africa, the colonial powers regarded Africans as an inferior raceof people who were unable to govern themselves efficiently and thereforewere in need of European oversight. (2 5). Oxford: Macmillan. (2 9). 339) as creating "a white man's country." Racialdiscourse in the era supported multiple efforts to diminish the autonomy ofAfricans. The policeand military, Christianity, and pseudoscientific racial ideas of Europeanor white superiority were among those tools (Pieterse, 2 9). The diamond fields were north of what was in 187 the British Cape Colonyin territory claimed by the Boer republics of the Orange Free State and theTransvaal and the rulers of local Griqua, Tswana, and Kora peoples. History of Africa. TheBritish annexed much of the territory and formed new colonies which existedalmost exclusively to exploit the diamond mines. Political Colonization in Africa Throughout the nineteenth century, Africa was the focus ofcolonization by the European Great Powers which saw in Africa an excellentset of opportunities for territorial acquisition, commercial activities,exploitation of minerals and other natural resources, and even anopportunity to facilitate the spread of Christianity (Shillington, 2 5).A number of tools were used by the colonizing powers to achieve their goalof virtually total control over the regions they penetrated. Farmers and herders lost their land, the Zulu lost most of theirlivestock which was the source of most of their wealth, animism suffereddefeat, Christianity helped to facilitate subordination, and the British,like other European powers, were willing to use scorched earth tactics andconcentration camps to control a rebellious African people (Shillington,2 5). White on Black: Images of Africa and Blacks in Western Popular Culture, pp. While the churches were not simpleextensions of the colonial states, they did serve as a source of supportfor the colonial regimes by imposing European, Christian values andpreaching a doctrine of European Christian superiority. As commercial interests came to dominate the colonies of southernAfrica, missionary activity continued. Pieterse (2 9) points out that themissionaries depicted themselves as heroes and used the church as apacifying actor that helped to reduce resistance on the part of nativeAfricans to the colonial enterprise. The goal ofcolonialism in places like southern Africa and Kenya was described byShillington (2 5, p. By combining many tools, including pseudoscientific attributions ofblack racial inferiority, the British and other European powers assumeddominance over a continent by also exploiting traditional rivalries betweenAfrican states. These Africanswere also characterized as squatters when they refused to leave the landson which they and their ancestors had lived for centuries. What made South Africa and the region around it particularlyappealing was the discovery of diamonds and gold there (Shillington, 2 5). Ongoing violent conflict withthese groups and principally with the Zulu occurred throughout the 188 swith the British ultimately gaining control and establishing a tax systemthat negatively affected both the Boers of the Transvaal and the indigenousAfrican tribal peoples. One regionthat was particularly vulnerable is contemporary South Africa where farmersand Zulu herders were particularly vulnerable to the forces of colonialism. In the war between the British and the Boers (the South Africanor Anglo-Boer War) the fear of African rebellion was such that neither sideallowed Africans to be armed or to participate because of a belief thatafter the war the Africans would no longer assume a subordinate position.Shillington (2 5) said that not surprisingly, Africans who gave theirsupport to the British were disappointed when the British victory did notensure for black people a more generally equal share in the political andeconomic life of the region. The southern Africans were regarded bythe British as fit workers in the mines and cotton fields that were anintegral element in the commercialization of the region. At the same time as thismineral revolution was occurring, the British used police and militarypower in an effort to amalgamate the white controlled states of southernAfrica into a British dominated federation. Particularly targeted were theZulu, the Xhosa, and the Pedi, tribal peoples who were engaged in herding,farming, hunting, and other activities. 68-91.Shillington, K. ReferencesPieterse, J.N. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.