There
were various reasons
why some Africans
Chiefs and Individuals
collaborated with the
colonizers during the
imposition of colonialism. Some of
those reasons were
as follows:
i.
Expectations
of Africans. Some Africans were ignorant of
the colonizers ambitions. They hoped
to be protected
by the colonialists
against their rivals
to revenge against
their enemies. This made them
collaborate with colonizers. For example, The
Sangu collaborated with
the Germans against
the Hehe who
were attacking them
everyday
ii.
Physical
Factors. Factors like diseases, drought and
shortage of food
made some societies
to collaborate with
the colonizers For example, the Maasai by the time
of Colonial intrusion
were seriously affected
by Cholera, rinderpest which
killed their cattle
and weak economy. This
made them to
collaborate. Also the Haya , Ankole
and Ha were
seriously affected by
jiggers something which
made them not
to react militarily, instead they
decided to collaborate.
iii.
Individual
interests. Some
Africans Chiefs wanted
to defend their economic
and political positions. Therefore they
decided to collaborate
with colonizers fearing
that the whites
would remove them
from powers.
iv.
The
role played by Missionaries. The penetration
of missionaries and
their preaching made
the Africans to
refrain from resisting
and decided to
collaborate. Fighting was regarded
as a sign
of backwardness according
to the missionaries. Also fighting
was considered to
be against Christians
beliefs.
v.
Presence
of Traditional conflicts. Some
African Societies had
internal conflicts with
each other’s whish
were traditionally.
Therefore Africans tended
to welcome Europeans
as allies against
their rivals for
political domination. A good
example Chief Lenana
of Maasai against
his brother Sendeyo.
vi. The Desire of wealth. Africans also collaborated with
colonialists as they
hoped to gain
more wealth from. This
was due to
the fact that
Europeans had many luxurious
goods which attracted
many Africans. A good
example was Apollo
Kagwa in Uganda.
vii. The need to participate in colonial
government. African
Chiefs also collaborated
with the colonizer
because they hoped that
colonialists would include
them in their colonial governments. A good example
was Semei Kakunguru In
Uganda
REASONS FOR AFRICAN RESISTANCES AGAINST
COLONIAL RULE
There were
several reasons why
Africans resisted against
the imposition of
colonial rule In
their areas. Africans reacted against
the imposition of
colonial rule due
to the following
reasons.
a) The desire to protect their culture. Some societies
in Africa resisted
because they wanted to
preserve their religion
and culture.In some parts of
Africa, Islamic culture was
deeply rooted and
was accepted as
a society religion.For
instance the Coastal people in
Tanganyika resisted against
the Germans in
East Africa due
to religious motives.Germans who
were Christians seemed
to jeopardize the
interests of the Muslims.Therefore Abushiri
and Bwana Heri
led the Coastal
people in resisting
against the Germans
for this reason.
b) They wanted to protect their land. Some African
societies resisted because they
wanted to protect their
economic interests such
as land.For instance: the Nandi, Shona and
Ndebele and the
MajiMaji uprisings were
waged so as
to protect the
economic interests of the people
in those areas.
c) They wanted to defend Social and
Political Sovereignty. Some African chiefs
resisted against colonial
rule because they
realized that, their power
and position would
be destroyed after
the arrival of colonizers.For exampleSamoreToure of the
Mandika empire, Mkwawa of Hehe, Kabarega of
Bunyoro etc.
d) They wanted to prove their strongest in
political and military. Other
societies fought because
they believed to
be politically and militarily
strong. Worse enough, they
were ignorant of the
European military capability.They had an experience
of war in
their localities, which made them
to be confident
for any fight.A good
example were: SamoreToure of
Mandika Empire, believed
that his
forces could defeat
the French, The Nandi in Kenya
believed to be
strong enough to
defeat I.B.E.A.CO forces etc.
e) They wanted to preserve their trade monopolies. In
other areas the chiefs
mobilized their people
to resist so as to
preserve their trade
monopolies. Some societies had a big
monopoly on trade
that was conducted
in their areas for
example, The Yao and
the Nyamwezi had
a strong hold
to the East
African Long distance
trade, therefore they resisted
the Germans due to
this reason, King Jaja
of Opobo and Asante
people of West
Africa fought against
the British for
the purpose of
safeguarding their economic
interests( trade) etc.
f) They resisted because of their
ideology(belief). Other societies fought because of
their belief that
cultivate ( instilled) the
sense of unity and
confidence to them. For
example, the MajiMaji was
fueled by the use
of the magic
water in which
the people built
confidence that it
could enable them
to win the
war. This was due
to the people
beliefs that once
the whites attempted
to shoot them, the
bullets would turn
into water. This made them
to have confidence and
resist the Germans.
They resisted because of
Colonial exploitation and oppression. Africans united to resist
against the foreigners due to
Colonial exploitation and oppression. Africans were
not happy with
taxation, forced labor, land
alienation and cattle
confiscation. For example,
the MajiMaji resistance in
Tanganyika and the
Nama and Herero
resistance in Namibia
were both fueled
by colonial exploitation
and oppression.
Tags
HISTORY