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Basil Davidson, “Modern Africa”,
Chapter Five: Colonial System and the Great Depression
This section of the book examines the emergent strains on colonialism after 1930. Davidson claims that while in the 1920s colonialism appeared stronger than ever, as all resistance had failed and only Liberia and Ethiopia had their own governments, several factors in the years between 1930 and 1945 served to change this. ...
By the 1920s, most of Africa had been drawn into the world market. Large numbers of Africans were employed in mining and agricultural production for export, with African Colonies and South Africa producing 56 per cent of the worlds gold, 16. ... This production for export represented a shift from reliance on African labour for export (the slave trade), to exploiting slave labour “on-site” in Africa itself (48). It was also reflective of the increasing dependence Africa had on the outside world. Davidson explains, that so long as the outside world prospered and continued to buy products from Africa, then African families could make a living. ... Dependence of this kind continued throughout the 1920s, while the colonies transferred vast amounts of wealth from Africa to the outside world. ... For example, Davidson claims that approximately half of all the profits made from mineral export in the Gold Coast (Ghana) between the early 1920s and end of the colonial period left the country (50). ... The Great Depression, which was characterised by the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, bank failures, and immense job loss in Europe and North America, was equally disastrous for Africa. ... In most colonies across Africa export-import trade fell by almost half between 1929 and 1931. ... As Davidson notes, South Africa represented the one exception to this rule due to its large-scale gold production. ...
Although the Great Depression was at its worst in the 1930s, Davidson claims that it lasted until the 1940s in some African colonies. ...
Davidson points out that although spending patterns varied between colonies, one general trend could be observed: the cost of colonial government, whether in salaries to European officials or in policing and security services, was high, while the funds directed to social services was correspondingly low (53). ... Any benefit of such development for the African people, Davidson claims, was incidental, and often came at a great cost in the form of forced labour, as foreign companies generally tried not to invest their own money in infrastructure (53). ... Davidson claims that although such protests did not “oust the Italians, they were among the roots of a stronger movement of anti-colonial nationalism which would now emerge in many colonies” (60). ...
Although fighting only occurred in two regions of Africa, the Horn and North Africa, the Second World War affected all of the continent. ... These African troops drove the Italians out of Somalia, and then in brutal fighting across Eritrea and Ethiopia, defeated the remaining Italian fascist armies in East Africa. ...
Africans also fought in North Africa, where the British were defending their positions in Egypt from Italian, and later German, armies. ... Shortly afterward, other British and American armies landed in Algeria and ended fascist resistance in Tunisia, marking the end of the war in Africa (63).
The Second World War had much the same affect on Africa as the first--productive labour was taken from the villages for the war effort. ... French West Africa was blockaded by the British because French colonial rulers had allied themselves with Nazi Germany. ... This pattern served to strengthen Europe’s economic control over Africa (63).
According to Davidson, the Second World War did have one unintended positive effect for Africa— the increase of anti-colonial protest. ... As Davidson states, “The war made colonial Africa still more dependant in the economic filed. ...
Another threat to the colonial system in place in Africa was the growing independence movement in Asia. ... Davidson suggests that the success of this independence movement provided encouragement to African nationalism (66). ... Upon winning the war, Churchill claimed that this declaration did not apply to the colonised peoples of Africa, but rather, only to those in occupied Europe. ...
Chapter Seven: Towards Modern Politics
Davidson calls the year between 1930-1945 the ‘middle colonial period’ or the ‘middle years’, where anti-colonial resistance began to take shape. ... Davidson claims that this process took many shapes, including accepting the colonial process of creating ‘modern’ tribes (69). ... According to Davidson, this had two results: one was that several communities were often combined together under a single chief, or what was often called a ‘paramount’. ... In short, Davidson claims that the invention of chiefs led to the invention of tribes, and that “a good deal of modern tribalism was born in this way” (70). ... In the beginning they were concerned with helping their members, education and cultural events, but as younger members assumed leadership roles a new interest in politics began to take shape, spurring the ideas of modern nationalism (72). In many cases modern nationalism was already initiating the formation of new political parties, who, in turn, looked to the unions for support (72). ... As Davidson explains, “each new tribe or grouping, as well as older states or communities which had long existed before, naturally tried to advance its own interests. ... Such was the case in South Africa where the Zulu were organised against the Basuto, and similarly in many other parts of colonised Africa. ... According to Davidson, “this contradiction between modern tribe and modern nation was going to be one of the hardest of the legacies left to Africa by the colonial period and by Africa’s own pre-colonial past” (74). ... On the contrary, they believed that they would hold onto them long into the future, and with the exception of West Africa, for the rest of the twentieth century or longer. ... Looking to the war as an example, many Africans saw that Europeans had not been very successful at managing their own affairs, and thus began questioning their ability to manage Africa (88).
Approximate Word count = 4837
Approximate Pages = 19.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
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