African perspectives on European colonial rule and the importance of taxation on africans by the european

Name
Instructor
Course
Date
African Perspectives on European Colonial Rule
In 1884 the Berlin conference was apprehended to come up to terms on how to subdivide Africa among the European powers peacefully. In this meeting, various countries attended including Britain, Germany, France Italy and Belgium. After the conference, these countries embarked on a mission to acquire territories in Africa. To acquire territories in Africa, they used various methods such as the signing of treaties with the local leaders, military conquest, divide and rule policy, Use of companies, diplomacy, and enticing leaders with gifts. Various factors motivated Europeans to come to Africa. These include economic, social and political factors. Economic factors included searching raw materials for their industries in Europe, looking for a market for the European manufactured goods, availability of cheap labor and finally desire of the entrepreneurs to invest surplus capital (Rodney, 43). Some of the political factors that encouraged Europeans to acquire territories in Africa were prestige, high, military capability among the European powers, public opinion and unification of Germany under Otto Von Bismarck. Social motivations for acquiring colonies in Africa were to protect the Christian missionaries, to look for a place to settle surplus population and desire to stop slave trade and introduce legitimate business.
Africans reacted differently to European colonization. Some communities resisted the colonial rule and their leader’s organized war.

For example, there was Maji Maji rebellion in East Africa, Mandinka resistance in West Africa and Ndebele resistance in South Africa. Among all the resistances against the colonial rule, Maji Maji rebellion was the most significant. The rebellion was led by Kijeketile Ngware and it comprised of several communities such as Zaramo, Matumbi, Bena, Ngindo, and Ngoni. (Giblin, 72)
There were several reasons for the outbreak of the rebellions. First, the Germans who had already established control over the region used violence to control the large population. Kings who resisted the occupations of the Germans in the region were killed while others were sent to exile. Thus the Africans had no any other alternative, and they rebelled due to the cruel, harsh and ruthless rule of the Germans.
Africans also protested against forced labor by the Europeans powers. Europeans came to African to look for raw materials for industries back to their countries. When they came in Africa, they established coffee, sugar and cotton plantations. In all these agricultural plantations needed labor, and in return, they forced Africans to work. For example in Tanganyika they employed the services of the Akindas to recruit laborers among Africans. Those Akindas treated African harshly and inhumanely (Giblin, 54). In the effort to stop forced labor, they organized rebellions against the colonial rule.
The Africans lamented that the Europeans had no respect for African culture. In Tanganyika, for instance, they raped women, committed fornication and adultery. All these crimes were totally evil among African society and even punishable by death. Additionally, they failed to respect holy and sacred places such as under Mugumo tree among the Agikuyu. They also discouraged traditional practices of female circumcision, witchcraft and polygamy. The lack of respect towards the African cultures led to rebellions to restore the dignity of the African culture.
Europeans alienated African land in the process of establishing plantations and construction of the railway line. African lost their land to European hence they were forced to move out of their land to reserves. To acquire food and other necessities Africans had no any other alternative than to provide labor to the Europeans. The massive loss of land by Africans led to the rise of rebellions such as Mau Mau in Kenya and Robengula in Zimbabwe.
Other reasons why Africans resisted towards colonial rule was the desire of the leaders to protect their independence. African leaders wanted to maintain their leadership roles, and hence they mobilized their subject to fight against the Europeans. For example in West Africa Samori fought against the French so as to protect his empire and the religion. Samori Toure was a staunch Muslims hence he could not allow Christians to their land.
When Europeans came in Africa, they introduced compulsory taxation to Africans. Africans had no money and hence they were forced to work for the Europeans so as to get money and pay taxes. The taxes imposed on Africa’s were collected in a very brutal manner. The Europeans introduced various types of taxes namely poll tax, hut tax, and breast tax. Africans were polygamous in nature, and this increased breast and hut tax. The tax imposed introduced Africans to a money economy. Africans had to fully depend on the Europeans so as to get money to pay tax. The tax also ensured a regular supply of labor to the Europeans. The money acquired in the process of taxation was used to run the colonial economy; colonies could no longer depend on their mother government. Each colony had to have an economic benefit to the mother country and thus it was the responsibility of the colonial government to ensure that the objective is achieved.
Racial segregation was another reason that made African rebel against the Europeans. Racial discrimination was witnessed where there were separate schools and hospitals for the Europeans. Moreover, there was special work for both Africans and Europeans. For example, in South Africa, there were special buses, restaurants, and hospitals for the Europeans. In Kenya, on the other hand, they came up with the white highlands where only Europeans owned land. Also, Africans were not allowed to grow some cash crop due to fear of competition.
There were various consequences of rebellions among different African communities. First is that there was massive loss of lives. When Maji Maji rebellion broke out about 15 Europeans, 389 African worries and approximately 100,000 insurgent died. The role of women are transformed, and they became the head of their families (Anderson, 32). Furthermore, African lost the most productive age groups leaving the aged to cater for their young ones. Some of the African leaders were captured and killed hence demoralizing the fighters. For example among the Agikuyu of Kenya leaders such as Dedan kimathi and Koitalel Arap Samoei of the Nandi were murdered by the British. Kimathi led the Agikuyu during the Mau Mau war while samoei led the Nandi to revolt against the construction of the railway by the British.
During rebellions, there was massive destruction of properties in forms of houses, food, and animals. Most of the African communities depended on crops and their animals for food. The Europeans used scorched earth policy during surprise attacks hence massive destruction of properties. Scorched earth policy was a method of fighting whereby Europeans attacked and destroyed everything that is beneficial to man. This policy, in the long run, contributed to hunger and famine among the fighting communities.
Europeans attack towards Africans led to the suffering of too many people in the form of injuries and loss of their loved ones. Many clans were evacuated from their homes and forced to stay in concentrated camps. In these camps, the living conditions were very bad due to the outbreak of diseases and lack of necessities such as food and clean water.
Leaders lost their independence and resigned to the colonial master’s authorities. The colonial government established their systems of administrations such as direct and indirect rule and the policy of assimilation. Appointed leaders in the British system of administration reported directly to them and they no longer represented African affairs and grievances.
Rebellion against the British undermined African beliefs of their traditional religion. Kijeketile Gware during the Maji Maji rebellion assured his warrior’s protection against German bullet after smearing them with water from River Ruvuma (Anderson, 105). However, the water did not prevent them. Hence the Germans killed many of the African soldiers.
In contrast, some communities collaborated while others had mixed reaction. For example, the communities that collaborated included the Masai of East Africa and the Lozi of South Africa. Other communities that had mixed reaction included the Kikuyu and the Luo of Kenya. The communities that collaborated were used by colonialist to fight the ones that resisted. Most importantly, they received western education, health services, and their leaders were made paramount chiefs. They also received modern weapons that they used to protect their territories from external invasion.
Mixed reaction among African communities created disunity. The collaborators were seen as traitors hence raising bad feeling among Africans. Most of them were killed for instance among the Agikuyu during the Mau Mau war Chief Waruhiu Itote was murdered by the resistors, and this prompted the declaration of a state of emergency in 1952.
Various systems of administration were used by Europeans to administer their colonies in Africa. British used direct and indirect rule; French used the policy of assimilation and association while Portuguese used the assimilation policy. Indirect rule is the system of administration which the British recognized and empowered African political systems to rule their territories. The British used an indirect rule where there were few Europeans, for example, Kenya and Nigeria. The policy was significantly favored since it reduced the possibility of African resistance, and also it reduced the cost of administration. The senior positions in the British system of administration were occupied by the Europeans while others were reserved for the Africans. The colony was headed by colonial secretary based in Britain. The colonies were subdivided into provinces led by the provincial commissioner. The provinces were further divided into districts led by district commissioner. Districts were composed of many divisions which were led by division officers. The smallest unit was the location headed by African chiefs.
Indirect rule experienced many challenges since it was only practical to only those regions that had centralized systems of administration. Also, Chiefs this system of administration lacked legitimacy hence, the subjects constantly revolted against them when they tried to impose some colonial policies. The mode of communication between Europeans and chiefs was not effective since it faced a language barrier. Africans saw most of the Chiefs as an agent of colonial oppression.
In comparison, direct rule was the system of administration in which the Europeans replaced indigenous political units of governance. Hence in this African policy leadership was replaced by Europeans. The Europeans used this system in areas that had a significant population of the Europeans such as Zimbabwe. Various reasons motivated the British to use the direct rule in Zimbabwe. First, the British wanted to give effective control over the economy of Zimbabwe, thus to maximum benefit from the profits. Moreover, in Zimbabwe, there was no centralized political system to be used in the process of administration. The country was also massively endowed with essential minerals and fertile soils.
French used the policy of assimilation to govern their colonies. The plan aimed at converting Africans to be French men. Assimilation policy was much influenced by the French revolution of 1789, which mostly encouraged equality of all human beings. For one to become a French man he had to undergo a particular cultural transformation. Assimilated person was to, learn and communicate the French language. He had to practice French legal system and be able to apply the French political and civil systems. He had to be converted to Christianity and observe all French mannerism that includes eating and dressing habits.
The French system of administration was very centralized when compared to the British direct and indirect rule. All the French colonies in West Africa were put into the confederation of French West Africa. The capital city of this federation was based in Dakar; Senegal. It was headed by a league governor general who deputized French minister of colonies, who was stationed in Paris, France. Lieutenant Governor led every colonial unit. All French colonies in Africa were regarded as over sea provinces of France. Each oversea province of France sent a representative to the French parliament or chamber of deputies. Assimilated Africans enjoyed various privileges (Maddox,89). First, they were allowed to work in France and also exempted from forced labor and paying taxes. Also, they had trading rights hence they would transact business with indigenous white men. They had right to participate in French elections and protected from arbitrary arrest.
The application of the assimilation in African context failed since the traditional rulers resisted and they never wanted to lose their authority. The Muslims objected the idea of being converted to Christianity. The native Frenchmen saw assimilation as their tax burden, and finally, they opposed Africans as equals.
There are various similarities between British and French systems of administration. Both methods emphasized Europeans as superior to Africans, and they were meant to help the colonialist to administer their territories effectively. Also, both systems came up with exploitative economic measures such as forced labor and taxation. Africans in British and French systems of administration both collaborated and resisted in a hostile manner. They led to the loss of independence among African countries.
The main differences between British and French systems of administration include the French aimed at civilizing and converting Africans to be white men while the British system appointed leaders from the native communities. Colonies under French assimilation were grouped as a federation while in the British systems each colony was administered individually. Indirect rule preserved African cultures while French assimilation policy assimilation undermined them. Each colony in British indirect system had its parliament, but in assimilation policy, it was only one based in Paris.
Works Cited
Anderson, David. Histories of the Hanged: Testimonies from the Mau Mau Rebellion in Kenya. London: Phoenix, 2006. Print.
Collins, Robert O., James McDonald. Burns, Erik Kristofer. Ching, and Robert Historical Problems of Imperial Africa. Princeton: M. Wiener, 1994. Print.
Giblin, James Leonard., . Maji Maji: Lifting the Fog of War. Leiden: Brill, 2010. Print.
Maddox, Gregory. Conquest and Resistance to Colonialism in Africa. New York: Garland, 1993. Print.
Rodney, Walter, A. M. Babu, and . How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Washington, D.C