Anti-Colonial Movements, Sub-Saharan Africa

Anti-colonial movements rose in opposition to colonial rule throughout sub-Saharan Africa from the onset of colonialism. They varied considerably over time, reflecting specific constellations of indigenous institutions, colonial policy, local leadership, social change, and opportunity. Variables included the character of colonial imposition, the indigenous perception of the effectiveness of such imposition, the structure of the society being defended, the political abilities of the leaders, and access to modern arms and organizational strategy. Initially, resistance took the form of armed rebellion, but as colonial administrations became entrenched, it also took the form of strikes, tax evasion, black market activity, boycotts, and migration to a colony with less-oppressive laws. Equally important was mental resistance expressed through song, dance, religion, art, and everyday insubordination. All forms of rebellion sought to reclaim lost freedom and self-assertion, to reform government policy, to air grievances, or sometimes to expel the Europeans.

Between 1884 and 1914, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, and Spain conquered African states and polities and incorporated them into national empires. Only the empire of Ethiopia in northeast Africa and the Republic of Liberia in West Africa escaped takeover. Their existence as independent states became a symbol of hope and possibility for African anti-colonialists until Africans regained their autonomy in the independence and revolutionary movements that dominated the continent's history after the 1950s.

Widespread resistance rose against the imposition of European colonial rule throughout the continent. African states mobilized armies that waged scores of wars of resistance during the 1880s and 1890s. The most successful were organized by professional military leaders. The Malinke general Samori Toure fought the French from 1888 to 1898 over a vast terrain from what is now Guinea and southern Mali to Ivory Coast (now Côte d'Ivoire) and Ghana. In East Africa, Khalifa, the Sufi head of the Mahdist state in Sudan, campaigned against the British from 1885 to 1898. Ultimately, these armies were defeated by the superior weaponry of the European armies, and their leaders died in battle or were exiled. Resistance was not always led by professional soldiers. In 1896–1897, spirit mediums linked to ancestral cults in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) led the Shona in a fierce rebellion against the British that became known as the First Chimurenga. Across the continent in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1900, a woman chief, Yaa Asantewaa, led the Asante against the British in an effort to restore political autonomy and bring back the king from exile.

Although military resisters failed, these resistance wars revealed the strength of African sociopolitical organization, the scope of religious ideas and leadership, and the power of women as last-ditch defenders of their communities. These elements shaped future anti-colonial movements, as Africans continuously reinterpreted traditional ideas and institutions in the changing colonial situation. The resistance leaders became the heroes of the nationalist movements, regarded today as founders of their nations.

Prior to the imperial conquest, some of these nations had established small coastal commercial outposts. Early interaction between Europeans and Africans in these enclaves resulted in the rise of [Page 142]educated Eurafrican elites, who became influential mediators between the small European settlements and the larger African populace. In West Africa, Eurafricans held high positions as colonial government servants, Christian clergy, merchants, journalists, educators, and lawyers and regarded themselves as the intelligentsia. Often educated in Europe, they had the requisite skills and knowledge to deal with the new colonial administrations at their own level. Indeed, they had initially aspired to be part of the new colonial setup. Whereas the policy of assimilation resulted in the evolués of French West Africa and Afro-Portuguese being included in the new administrations, the educated elite in British West Africa quickly realized that the rise of racism and institutional inequality excluded them from participation in the colonial government. Resentment about exclusion from the new order compelled them to organize the first modern colonial pressure groups to preserve indigenous rights, to reform colonial policy, and to agitate for greater participation in colonial public bodies. They also took up their pens from which emanated a stream of books and pamphlets, petitions and memoranda, and newspaper articles voicing opposition to colonial rule, including methods of conquest, new legal codes, and land and labor laws—laying the intellectual groundwork for future anti-colonial and nationalism movements.

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