African History
Africa was destroyed by the Europeans and Americans. They
continue to subjugate and castigate the people of Africa and refuse to consider
recompense for their barbaric actions. Africa’s wealth was stolen and an entire
generation of the most productive and vibrant youth were transported and
enslaved. The economies, laws, cultures and political systems were
systematically and deliberately torn apart, not just at the national level but
also at the community, tribal, village and even family level. The Europeans and
Americans blame African tribalism for its current woes when in reality it
killed the countries and continues to make sure that it cannot rise from the
ashes.
Mankind, homo sapiens sapiens originated in Africa. One
theory is that plate tectonics made the climate unstable putting pressure on
homonids to adapt. This theory is valid for the rift valley but the oldest
known humans come out of South Africa and Namibia.
Be that as it may, the Africans formed small bands separated
by dense jungles, rivers deserts, and plains. They thrived on primitive
technology through the stone age and into the iron age. The bands untied often
forming kingdoms and empires. These empires were impressive and long lasting.
The best were in Sudan, Nigeria and Mali.
These kingdoms lasted for centuries and with them the mores,
cultures, laws and traditions became deeply ingrained. The Africans were expert
farmers, hunters and miners and skilled craftspeople.
One tradition that was emphasized by Europeans and Americans
was slavery. Villages on the fringes of a kingdom or Empire would break away to
form new kingdoms and in so doing, invade other villages and enslave the
inhabitants. Slavery has been misrepresented by European. The slaves were
skilled and valuable and usually kept their old jobs just with new masters.
They were also much more like Medieval serfs or crofters than slaves, being
able to marry as they wished, buy their freedom and sell their wares. However
the bulk of their labour benefitted their new masters rather than their old
masters or villages. As the boundaries of the Empires and kingdoms ebbed and
flowed the populous would go in and out of slavery and see a succession of
masters. This did little to change their daily lives and the laws and cultures
remained steadfast.
When the white man penetrated the jungle he often came
across cities and kingdoms that surpassed those in Europe. The kings possessed
a public bravado designed to impress and intimidate visitors with a show of
power and strength. However, they never made guns which the European possessed
from the early 18th century onwards.
The Africans traded with the Europeans through Morocco,
Algeria, Tunisia and so on via trade routes across the Sahara doen into cetral
Africa. They began trading earlier with the Arabs out of Egypt, Ethiopia and
West Africa. The Arabs were savvy merchants and expert sailors and African goods
such as ivory and gold was popular throughout the Middle and Far East.
The French in particular found African gold very useful and
invaded Morocco overthrowing the northern Empire and establishing colonies
along the southern Mediterranean. In Angola and Mozambique the Portuguese
founded a small colony which they extended deep into the interior destroying
villages and cultures with reckless abandon.
The real demise of Africa was due to the European need for
gold to fund their wars and the European and American need for slave labour.
The Spanish raped South America to fund their attempts to invade England,
Portugal and as much of Europe as they could.
The other European countries turned to West Africa for its
gold. Meanwhile the Americans had virtually exterminated the indigenous native
who, they complained, tended to die too much to be of much use as slaves. The
Africans on the other hand were expert craftsmen, superior farmers to the
Europeans and their death rate was only around 25%. Having seen the English use
the African slaves to build up their colony in the West Indies they turned to
Africa.
Enslaving West Africans relied initially on trade and later
on deception and trickery. At first the Americans bought slaves, cloth, iron
goods and so on from the costal West African kingdoms. These kingdoms obliged
with the slaves found in the outlying villages. The Americans paid the Kings
with guns but forbade their local manufacture.
The demand for slaves quickly outstripped the supply and the
Kings sent raiding parties upriver and across the land deep into the jungles to
capture more slaves. Several Kings saw the writing on the wall and refused to
cooperate. However their neighbours quickly earned more guns and overthrew
these Kings and thus the American push for slaves quickly decimated the West
Africa of its young, strong and productive populous.
At the same time the raiding parties destroyed village
cultures and laws and the downward spiral of millennia of culture penetrated
deep into the centre of the continent.
Meanwhile, the Europeans, in particular the French and
English decided that what they really needed was colonies so that they could
have a steady income stream from Africa. The destruction that the Portuguese
had started the other Europeans soon quickly turned into a rout. Under the
guise of “civilizing the savages” the Europeans systematically took apart the
entire African way of life utterly destroying the rules, laws and traditions
created over thousands of years. This callous and calculated destruction left
the Africans very vulnerable. The laws and traditions were vital to their very
survival, without them they were open to bandits, thugs and robbers and without
storing their harvests of grain and produce they were susceptible to starvation
and disease. Further, with the bulk of their youth transported and enslaved the
very old and very young were too feeble to fight back.
The rape of Africa is particularly severe in the case of the
Belgian colonization of the Congo. Africa’s biggest and most productive river
had supported thriving communities along its bank and tributaries. These were
cruelly exploited by the Belgians, thus the rule of law and order was replaced
by guns and warfare.
The Europeans never once made any attempt to “civilize” the
Africans. There was no repayment for the theft and atrocities visited upon the
natives. Right up to 1985 South Africa insisted that migrant workmen leave
their families for years at a time and live in enclosed communities near their
workplace. This effectively broke families apart. Ironically, the men had no
work in their home countries because the Europeans had utterly destroyed their
economies, infrastructures and political systems.
It is time for the perpetrators, Europe and America, to pay
for their crimes. Africa deserves an extensive programme of recompense,
something that would put the Marshall plan in the shade. Descendants of slaves
can be compensated. Stolen gold and artifacts can be returned but how can the
culture and traditions, the heritage of centuries be restored?
