The Impact of Colonialism on Africa

Introduction 

I would not hesitate to point out the effects of constant interference of Africa by the European colonial powers. These interruptions have resulted from the poor European colonial policies which are still a threat to the Africans countries until today. During the years of the 1870s and 1900, the European colonialists invaded Africa hence making these countries to face imperialist aggression, military invasions, conquest and colonization. This lead to several cases of resistance against colonialism, however, eventually the Europeans succeeded and imposed foreign domination. By the end of the early 20th Century, only Ethiopia and Liberia had not faced colonization by these European colonialists. These European powers had interests in exploiting Africans economically, politically and socially. I agree with various scholars that this expansion appetite developed after the abolition of the slave trade during the 20th Century. The European colonial masters also had an interest in expanding their capital industrialization, and this made them demand for raw materials and market outlets prompting them to scramble and partition Africa. The larger effects of colonization led to continuous warfare in Africa, Political struggles, resource exploitation, decolonization and neocolonialism. 

1. The constant warfare 

I can attest that African countries have experienced the worst scenarios of violence and conflicts due to colonization. In fact, the dominant story in the media is the bad news of one atrocity after the other in the continent of Africa. In the year 2014 was when a lot of conflicts were experienced in Africa which was said to have formed almost 50% of the global conflicts. The African countries only form the 16% of the total world population, and due to this, I can guess the impact of these conflicts on the population. In fact, these chaotic cases cannot even be compared to the years of the post-cold War. These conflicts in Africa which have primarily been triggered by the neocolonialism include the aggressions which have been experienced in Mali, Algeria and Libya triangles. The majority of militia groups like Al Qaeda, Al Shabaab and Bokoharam are taking advantage of this vulnerability to cause a lot of conflicts in the continent. I can observe that Libya is the latest victim of this open civil war which is said to have been triggered majorly by the European powers. 

2. Political struggles 

I have to note that political battle for power has been witnessed in the form of violence outbreaks in some of the Su-Saharan African countries. This political warfare that occurs among the African countries in the shape of tribal and religious lines might have had their origins from the European colonial masters with the intention of taking advantage of the situation to further continue exploiting the continent politically. There have been several cases of these political struggles with Republic of Congo spending almost three days battling one another during last winter. Moreover, the same political action violence was witnessed in Senegal where nearly forty people who were opposing the government being detained. The same violence in the process of struggling for power has also been witnessed in Belgian and British colonies. These political struggles cases are frequently characterized with racial riots like the one which erupted in January in the capital city of Belgian Congo and led to the death of almost 200 Africans. The same cases have been witnessed during the Accra conference, the British furor in the Nyasaland disturbances and the Republic of Central Africa; however, the list is endless with Gambia might be the latest to experience such political struggles cases. 

3. Resource exploitation 

I still fail to understand the reason why the European powers are still interested in the African affairs after such a long time of operation. The colonial exploitation was experienced during the 19th and 20th Centuries when the Europeans invaded African with the intention of taking away their natural resources forcedly. During these days, the colonialists pursued their agenda by establishing the settler colonialism with the aim of relieving the pressure of population upon their economy and national territory. The impact of these was an extension of the colonial area and culture in many parts of the African continent. The European colonial powers engaged in this kind of exploitation with the aim of having an immediate financial gain due to the free extraction of raw materials. 

4. Decolonization 

Let me say that the process of decolonization began in some African countries territories almost after World War II. This happened since the African powers had received a lot of authority from their colonial masters who followed attainment of their independence. These influential African leaders worked tirelessly towards cultural, economic and political welfare to maintain the status quo left behind by the colonial master. However, I can note that some of these leaders continued working with the European powers to enable them to protect their interests and to create full control over the economic and political resources from their counterpart African enemies. This led to the decolonization of Africa since the colonial masters could still achieve their evil agenda through these selfish leaders. 

5. Neocolonialism 

I can describe neocolonialism as the constant exploitation of African continent by the European colonial masters either directly or indirectly. The African leaders have failed to realize until today that the constant interaction with their European colonial masters is continuously threatening their economic and political freedom. This is true since the colonial masters are still interested in retaining the continent by their continuous sphere of influence. The African leaders believe that this ongoing interaction with the former colonial masters can enable them to benefit, but the result is always tension among the people and their leaders.