African colonies. colonies in africa

European colonization affected not only the North and South America, Australia and other lands, but the entire African continent. From the former power of Ancient Egypt, which you studied in the 5th grade, there is no trace left. Now all these are colonies divided among different European countries. In this lesson, you will learn how the process of European colonization took place in Africa and whether there were any attempts to resist this process.

In 1882, popular discontent broke out in Egypt, and England sent its troops into the country under the pretext of protecting its economic interests, which meant the Suez Canal.

Another powerful state that extended its influence to the African states in modern times was Omani empire. Oman was located in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Active Arab traders carried out trading operations along almost the entire coast indian ocean. As a result, numerous trade trading posts(small trading colonies of merchants of a certain country on the territory of another state) on the coast of East Africa, on the Comoros and in the north of the island of Madagascar. It was with the Arab traders that the Portuguese navigator encountered Vasco da Gama(Fig. 2), when he managed to go around Africa and pass through the Mozambique Strait to the shores of East Africa: modern Tanzania and Kenya.

Rice. 2. Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama ()

It was this event that marked the beginning of European colonization. The Omani empire could not stand the competition with the Portuguese and other European navigators and collapsed. The remnants of this empire are considered to be the Sultanate of Zanzibar and a few sultanates on the coast of East Africa. By the end of the 19th century, they all disappeared under the onslaught of Europeans.

The first colonizers who settled in sub-Saharan Africa were Portuguese. First, the sailors of the XV century, and then Vasco da Gama, who in 1497-1499. rounded Africa and reached India by sea, exerted their influence on the policy of local rulers. As a result, the coasts of countries such as Angola and Mozambique were explored by them by the beginning of the 16th century.

The Portuguese extended their influence to other lands, some of which were considered less effective. The main interest for the European colonizers was the slave trade. It was not necessary to found large colonies, countries set up their trading posts on the coast of Africa and were engaged in the exchange of European products for slaves or conquest campaigns to capture slaves and went to trade them in America or Europe. This slave trade continued in Africa until the end of the 19th century. Gradually, different countries banned slavery and the slave trade. At the end of the 19th century, there was a hunt for slave-owning ships, but all this was of little use. Slavery continued to exist.

The conditions of the slaves were monstrous (Fig. 3). In the process of transporting slaves through Atlantic Ocean at least half died. Their bodies were thrown overboard. There was no record of slaves. At least 3 million people, and modern historians claim that up to 15 million, Africa lost due to the slave trade. The scale of trade changed from century to century, and it reached its peak at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries.

Rice. 3. African slaves are transported across the Atlantic Ocean to America ()

After the appearance of the Portuguese colonialists, other European countries began to claim the territory of Africa. In 1652, Holland showed activity. At that time Jan van Riebeeck(Fig. 4) captured a point in the extreme south of the African continent and named it Kapstad. In 1806, this city was captured by the British and renamed Cape Town(Fig. 5). The city still exists today and bears the same name. It was from this point that the spread of the Dutch colonialists throughout South Africa began. The Dutch colonizers called themselves Boers(Fig. 6) (translated from Dutch - “peasant”). Peasants made up the bulk of the Dutch colonists who did not have enough land in Europe.

Rice. 4. Jan van Riebeeck ()

Rice. 5. Cape Town on the map of Africa ()

Just like in North America, the colonists clashed with the Indians, in South Africa, the Dutch colonists clashed with the local peoples. First of all, with the people scythe, the Dutch called them kaffirs. In the struggle for the territory, which received the name Kaffir Wars, the Dutch colonists gradually pushed the native tribes further and further to the center of Africa. The territories they captured, however, were small.

In 1806, the British arrived in southern Africa. The Boers did not like this and refused to submit to the British crown. They began to retreat further north. So there were people who called themselves Boer Settlers, or Burtrekers. This great campaign continued for several decades. It led to the formation of two independent Boer states in the northern part of present-day South Africa: Transvaal and the Orange Republic(Fig. 7).

Rice. 7. Independent Boer States: Transvaal and Orange Free State ()

The British were unhappy with this retreat of the Boers, because she wanted to control the entire territory of southern Africa, and not just the coast. As a result, in 1877-1881. The first Anglo-Boer War took place. The British demanded that these territories become part of the British Empire, but the Boers strongly disagreed with this. It is generally accepted that about 3,000 Boers took part in this war, and the entire English army was 1,200 people. The resistance of the Boers was so fierce that England abandoned attempts to influence the independent Boer states.

But in 1885 in the area of modern Johannesburg, deposits of gold and diamonds were discovered. The economic factor in colonization was always the most important, and England could not allow the Boers to benefit from gold and diamonds. In 1899-1902. The second Anglo-Boer War broke out. Despite the fact that the war was fought on the territory of Africa, it took place, in fact, between two European peoples: the Dutch (Boers) and the British. The fierce war ended with the fact that the Boer republics lost their independence and were forced to become part of the South African colony of Great Britain.

Together with the Dutch, the Portuguese and the British, representatives of other European powers quickly appeared in Africa. Thus, in the 1830s, active colonization activities were carried out by France, which captured vast territories in North and Equatorial Africa. Actively colonized and Belgium, especially during the reign of the king LeopoldII. The Belgians created their own colony in central Africa called Free State of the Congo. It existed from 1885 to 1908. It was believed that this was the personal territory of the Belgian king Leopold II. This state was only in words m. In fact, it was inherent in the violation of all the principles of international law, and the local population was driven to work on the royal plantations. A huge number of people on these plantations died. There were special punitive detachments that were supposed to punish those who collected too little rubber(sap of the hevea tree, the main raw material for the manufacture of rubber). As proof that the punitive detachments had coped with their task, they had to bring to the point where the Belgian army was located, the severed hands and feet of the people they were punishing.

As a result, almost all African territories by the endXIXcenturies were divided among the European powers(Fig. 8). So much activity European countries by the annexation of new territories, that this era was called "race for Africa" or "fight for Africa". The Portuguese, who owned the territory of modern Angola and Mozambique, counted on the capture of the intermediate territory, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, and, thus, on the creation of a network of their colonies on the African continent. But it was impossible to implement this project, since the British had their own plans for these territories. Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, based in Cape Town, Cecil John Rhodes, believed that Great Britain should create a chain of its own colonies. It should start in Egypt (in Cairo) and end in Cape Town. Thus, the British hoped to build their own colonial strip and stretch the railway along this strip from Cairo to Cape Town. After the First World War, the British managed to build the chain, but the railway was unfinished. It doesn't exist to this day.

Rice. 8. Possessions of European colonialists in Africa by the beginning of the 20th century ()

In 1884-1885, the European powers held a conference in Berlin, which made a decision on the question of which country belongs to this or that sphere of influence in Africa. As a result, almost the entire territory of the continent was divided between them.

As a result, by the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, Europeans had mastered the entire territory of the continent. Only 2 semi-independent states remained: Ethiopia and Liberia. This is due to the fact that Ethiopia was difficult to colonize, because one of the main tasks of the colonizers was the spread of Christianity, and Ethiopia since the early Middle Ages has been a Christian state.

Liberia, in fact, was a territory created by the United States. It was on this territory that former American slaves were taken out of the United States by decision of President Monroe.

As a result, the British, French, Germans, Italians and other nations began to conflict in England. The Germans and Italians, who had few colonies, were dissatisfied with the decisions of the Berlin Congress. Other countries also wanted to get their hands on as much territory as possible. AT 1898 year between the British and French occurred fascist incident. Major Marchand of the French army captured a stronghold in modern South Sudan. The British considered these lands their own, and the French wanted to spread their influence there. As a result, a conflict broke out, during which relations between England and France deteriorated greatly.

Naturally, the Africans resisted the European colonizers, but the forces were unequal. Only one successful attempt can be singled out in the 19th century, when Muhammad ibn abd-Allah, who called himself Mahdi(Fig. 9), created a theocratic state in Sudan in 1881. It was a state based on the principles of Islam. In 1885, he managed to capture Khartoum (the capital of Sudan), and even though the Mahdi himself did not live long, this state existed until 1898 and was one of the few truly independent territories on the African continent.

Rice. 9. Muhammad ibn abd-Allah (Mahdi) ()

The most famous of the Ethiopian rulers of this era fought against European influence. MenelikII, who ruled from 1893 to 1913. He united the country, carried out active conquests and successfully resisted the Italians. He also maintained good relations with Russia, despite the significant remoteness of these two countries.

But all these attempts at confrontation were only isolated and could not give a serious result.

The revival of Africa began only in the second half of the 20th century, when African countries began to gain independence one after another.

Bibliography

1. Vedyushkin V.A., Burin S.N. History textbook for grade 8. - M.: Bustard, 2008.

2. Drogovoz I. The Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. - Minsk: Harvest, 2004.

3. Nikitina I.A. Capture of the Boer Republics by England (1899-1902). - M., 1970.

4. Noskov V.V., Andreevskaya T.P. General history. 8th grade. - M., 2013.

5. Yudovskaya A.Ya. General history. History of the New Age, 1800-1900, Grade 8. - M., 2012.

6. Yakovleva E.V. The colonial division of Africa and the position of Russia: the second half of the 19th century. - 1914 - Irkutsk, 2004.

Homework

1. Tell us about European colonization in Egypt. Why didn't the Egyptians want the Suez Canal to open?

2. Tell us about the European colonization of the southern part of the African continent.

3. Who are the Boers and why did the Anglo-Boer Wars break out? What were their results and consequences?

4. Were there attempts to resist European colonization and how did they manifest themselves?

The history of Africa is calculated for thousands of years, it is from here, according to the scientific world, that mankind originated. And here, too, many peoples returned, however, already in order to establish their dominance.

The proximity of the north to Europe led to the fact that Europeans in the 15-16th century actively penetrated the continent. Also the African west, it was controlled by the Portuguese at the end of the 15th century, they began to actively sell slaves from the local population.

The Spaniards and the Portuguese were followed by other states from Western Europe: France, Denmark, England, Spain, Holland and Germany to the "dark continent".

As a result, East and North Africa came under European oppression, more than 10% of African lands were under their rule in the middle of the 19th century. However, by the end of this century, the size of colonization reached more than 90% of the mainland.

What attracted the colonists? First of all, natural resources:

wild trees of valuable species in in large numbers;
growing a variety of crops (coffee, cocoa, cotton, sugar cane);
precious stones (diamonds) and metals (gold).

The slave trade also grew.

Egypt has long been drawn into the capitalist economy on a world level. After the Suez Canal was opened, England began to actively compete, who would be the first to establish his dominance in these lands.

The British government took advantage of the difficult situation in the country, prompting the creation of an international committee to manage the Egyptian budget. As a result, an Englishman became Minister of Finance, a Frenchman was in charge of public works. Then difficult times began for the population, which was exhausted from numerous taxes.

The Egyptians tried in various ways to prevent the establishment of a foreign colony in Africa, but over time, England sent troops there to take over the country. The British were able to occupy Egypt by force and cunning, making it their colony.

France began the colonization of Africa from Algeria, in which for twenty years it proved its right to dominate by war. Also, with prolonged bloodshed, the French conquered Tunisia.

Agriculture was developed in these lands, so the conquerors organized their own huge estates with vast lands, on which Arab peasants were forced to work. Local peoples were convened to build facilities for the needs of the occupiers (roads and ports).

And although Morocco was a very important object for many European countries, it remained free for a long time thanks to the rivalry of its enemies. Only after the strengthening of power in Tunisia and Algeria did France begin to subdue Morocco.

In addition to these countries in the north, Europeans began to explore South Africa. There, the British easily pushed back the local tribes (San, Koikoin) to deserted territories. Only the Bantu peoples did not submit for a long time.

As a result, in the 70s of the 19th century, the English colonies occupied the southern coast, without penetrating deep into the mainland.

The influx of people to this region is timed to coincide with the discovery in the valley of the river. Orange diamond. Mines became the centers of settlements, cities were created. The formed joint-stock companies have always used the cheap power of the local population.

The British had to fight for Zululand, which was included in Natal. The Transvaal was not fully conquered, but the London Convention provided for certain restrictions on local government.

Germany also began to occupy these territories - from the mouth of the Orange River to Angola, the Germans declared their protectorate (southwest Africa).

If England sought to extend its power in the south, then France directed its efforts inland in order to colonize the continuous strip between the Atlantic and Indian oceans. As a result, under French rule was the territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Guinea.

The British also owned some West African countries - mainly the coastal territories of the Gambia, Niger and Volta rivers, as well as the Sahara.

Germany in the west was able to conquer only Cameroon and Togo.

Belgium sent forces to the center of the African continent, so the Congo became its colony.

Italy got some lands in northeast Africa - huge Somalia and Eritrea. And fot Ethiopia was able to repel the attack of the Italians, as a result, it was this power that was practically the only one that retained its independence from the influence of Europeans.

Only two did not become European colonies:

Ethiopia;
Eastern Sudan.

Former colonies in Africa

Naturally, foreign possession of almost the entire continent could not last long, the local population sought to gain freedom, since their living conditions were usually deplorable. Therefore, since 1960, the colonies quickly began to be liberated.

This year, 17 African countries became independent again, most of them - the former colonies in Africa of France and those that were under the control of the UN. Lost colonies in addition to this and:

UK - Nigeria;
Belgium - Congo.

Somalia, divided between Britain and Italy, united to form the Somali Democratic Republic.

While most Africans became independent as a result of mass desire, strikes and negotiations, wars were still waged in some countries to gain freedom:

Angola;
Zimbabwe;
Kenya;
Namibia;
Mozambique.

The rapid liberation of Africa from the colonists has led to the fact that in many created states, the geographical boundaries do not correspond to the ethnic and cultural composition of the population, and this becomes a reason for disagreements and civil wars.

And the new rulers do not always comply with democratic principles, which leads to massive dissatisfaction and the deterioration of the situation in many African countries.

Even now in Africa there are such territories that are controlled by European states:

Spain - Canary Islands, Melilla and Ceuta (in Morocco);
Great Britain - Chagos Archipelago, Ascension Islands, St. Helena, Tristan da Cunha;
France - Reunion, the islands of Mayotte and Eparse;
Portugal - Madeira.

European colonization affected not only North and South America, Australia and other lands, but the entire African continent. From the former power of Ancient Egypt, which you studied in the 5th grade, there is no trace left. Now all these are colonies divided among different European countries. In this lesson, you will learn how the process of European colonization took place in Africa and whether there were any attempts to resist this process.

In 1882, popular discontent broke out in Egypt, and England sent its troops into the country under the pretext of protecting its economic interests, which meant the Suez Canal.

Another powerful state that extended its influence to the African states in modern times was Omani empire. Oman was located in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Active Arab traders carried out trading operations along almost the entire coast of the Indian Ocean. As a result, numerous trade trading posts(small trading colonies of merchants of a certain country on the territory of another state) on the coast of East Africa, on the Comoros and in the north of the island of Madagascar. It was with the Arab traders that the Portuguese navigator encountered Vasco da Gama(Fig. 2), when he managed to go around Africa and pass through the Mozambique Strait to the shores of East Africa: modern Tanzania and Kenya.

Rice. 2. Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama ()

The conditions of the slaves were monstrous (Fig. 3). In the process of transporting slaves across the Atlantic Ocean, at least half died. Their bodies were thrown overboard. There was no record of slaves. At least 3 million people, and modern historians claim that up to 15 million, Africa lost due to the slave trade. The scale of trade changed from century to century, and it reached its peak at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries.

Rice. 3. African slaves are transported across the Atlantic Ocean to America ()

Rice. 4. Jan van Riebeeck ()

Rice. 5. Cape Town on the map of Africa ()

Just as in North America, the colonists clashed with the Indians, in South Africa, the Dutch colonists clashed with the local peoples. First of all, with the people scythe, the Dutch called them kaffirs. In the struggle for the territory, which received the name Kaffir Wars, the Dutch colonists gradually pushed the native tribes further and further to the center of Africa. The territories they captured, however, were small.

Rice. 7. Independent Boer States: Transvaal and Orange Free State ()

As a result, almost all African territories by the endXIXcenturies were divided among the European powers(Fig. 8). The activity of European countries in annexing new territories was so great that this era was called "race for Africa" or "fight for Africa". The Portuguese, who owned the territory of modern Angola and Mozambique, counted on the capture of the intermediate territory, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, and, thus, on the creation of a network of their colonies on the African continent. But it was impossible to implement this project, since the British had their own plans for these territories. Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, based in Cape Town, Cecil John Rhodes, believed that Great Britain should create a chain of its own colonies. It should start in Egypt (in Cairo) and end in Cape Town. Thus, the British hoped to build their own colonial strip and stretch the railway along this strip from Cairo to Cape Town. After the First World War, the British managed to build the chain, but the railway was unfinished. It doesn't exist to this day.

Rice. 8. Possessions of European colonialists in Africa by the beginning of the 20th century ()

Liberia, in fact, was a territory created by the United States. It was on this territory that former American slaves were taken out of the United States by decision of President Monroe.

Rice. 9. Muhammad ibn abd-Allah (Mahdi) ()

But all these attempts at confrontation were only isolated and could not give a serious result.

The revival of Africa began only in the second half of the 20th century, when African countries began to gain independence one after another.

Bibliography

1. Vedyushkin V.A., Burin S.N. History textbook for grade 8. - M.: Bustard, 2008.

2. Drogovoz I. The Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. - Minsk: Harvest, 2004.

3. Nikitina I.A. Capture of the Boer Republics by England (1899-1902). - M., 1970.

4. Noskov V.V., Andreevskaya T.P. General history. 8th grade. - M., 2013.

5. Yudovskaya A.Ya. General history. History of the New Age, 1800-1900, Grade 8. - M., 2012.

6. Yakovleva E.V. The colonial division of Africa and the position of Russia: the second half of the 19th century. - 1914 - Irkutsk, 2004.

Homework

1. Tell us about European colonization in Egypt. Why didn't the Egyptians want the Suez Canal to open?

2. Tell us about the European colonization of the southern part of the African continent.

3. Who are the Boers and why did the Anglo-Boer Wars break out? What were their results and consequences?

4. Were there attempts to resist European colonization and how did they manifest themselves?

On the eve of European colonization, the peoples of Tropical and South Africa were on various stages development. Some had a primitive system, others had a class society. It can also be said that in Tropical Africa, a sufficiently developed, specifically Negro statehood did not develop, even comparable to the states of the Incas and Maya. How can this be explained? There are several reasons, namely: an unfavorable climate, poor soils, primitive agricultural technology, a low level of labor culture, the fragmentation of a small population, as well as the dominance of primitive tribal traditions and early religious cults. In the end, highly developed civilizations: Christian and Muslim differed from African in more developed cultural and religious traditions, that is, a more advanced level of consciousness than Africans. At the same time, remnants of pre-class relations persisted even among the most developed peoples. The decomposition of tribal relations was most often manifested in the exploitation by the heads of large patriarchal families of ordinary community members, as well as in the concentration of land and livestock in the hands of the tribal elite.

In different centuries, both in the Middle Ages and in the New Age, various public entities: Ethiopia (Aksum), dominated by the Christian Monophysite Church; a kind of confederation called Oyo arose on the Guinean coast; then Dahomey; in the lower reaches of the Congo at the end of the 15th century. such state formations as the Congo, Loango and Makoko appeared; in Angola between 1400 and 1500. there was a short-lived and semi-legendary political association - Monomotapa. However, all these proto-states were fragile. Europeans who appeared on the coast of Africa in the XVII-XVIII centuries. launched a large-scale slave trade. Then they tried to create their own settlements, outposts and colonies here.

In southern Africa, at the Cape of Good Hope, the site of the Dutch East India Company-Kapstadt (Cape Colony) was established. Over time, more and more settlers from Holland began to settle in Kapstadt, who waged a stubborn struggle with local tribes, Bushmen and Hottentots. At the beginning of the XIX century. The Cape colony was captured by Great Britain, after which the Dutch-Boers moved to the north, subsequently founding the republics of Transvaal and Orange. European Boer colonists increasingly developed southern Africa, engaging in the slave trade and forcing the black population to work in gold and diamond mines. In the English zone of colonization, the Zulu tribal community led by Chuck in the first third of the 19th century. managed to consolidate and subjugate a number of Bantu tribes. But the clash of the Zulus, first with the Boers, and then with the British, led to the defeat of the Zulu state.

Africa in the 19th century became the main springboard for European colonization. By the end of this century, almost the entire African continent (with the exception of Ethiopia) was divided between Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium. Moreover, the first place in terms of the number of colonies and the native population belonged to Great Britain, the second to France (mainly to the north and south of the Sahara), the third to Germany, the fourth to Portugal and the fifth to Belgium. But small Belgium got a huge territory (about 30 times larger than the territory of Belgium itself), the richest in its natural reserves - the Congo.

The European colonialists, having done away with the primary proto-state formations of African leaders and kings, brought here the forms of a developed bourgeois economy with advanced technology and transport infrastructure. The local population, experiencing a cultural "shock" from meeting with a civilization that was fabulously developed at that time, gradually joined modern life. In Africa, as well as in other colonies, the fact of belonging to one or another metropolis immediately manifested itself. So, if the British colonies (Zambia, Gold Coast, South Africa, Uganda, Southern Rhodesia, etc.) were under the control of an economically developed, bourgeois and democratic England and began to develop more rapidly, then the population of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea (Bissau) belonging to the more backward Portugal, more slowly.

Far from always, colonial conquests were economically justified, sometimes the struggle for colonies in Africa looked like a kind of political sport - by all means bypass the opponent and not let yourself be bypassed. Secularized European thought during this period abandoned the idea of spreading the “true religion” -Christianity, but on the other hand she saw the civilizing role of Europe in the backward colonies in the spread of modern science and education. In addition, in Europe it became even indecent not to have colonies. This can explain the emergence of the Belgian Congo, German and Italian colonies, from which there was little use.

Germany was the last to rush to Africa, nevertheless managed to take possession of Namibia, Cameroon, Togo and East Africa. In 1885, at the initiative of German Chancellor Bismarck, the Berlin Conference was convened, in which 13 European countries took part. The conference established the rules for the acquisition of still independent lands in Africa, in other words, the remaining lands still unoccupied were divided. By the end of the 19th century, only Liberia and Ethiopia retained political independence in Africa. Moreover, Christian Ethiopia successfully repelled the attack of Italy in 1896 and even defeated Italian troops in the Battle of Adua.

The division of Africa also gave rise to such a variety of monopolistic associations as privileged companies. The largest of these companies was the British South Africa Company, established in 1889 by S. Rhodes and having its own army. The Royal Niger Company operated in West Africa, and the British East Africa Company operated in East Africa. Similar companies were created in Germany, France, Belgium. These monopoly companies were a kind of state within a state and turned the African colonies with their population and resources into a sphere of complete subjugation to themselves. The richest African colony was South Africa, which belonged to Britain and the Boer colonists from the Transvaal and Orange republics, since gold and diamonds were found there. This led the British and European-born Boers to start the bloody Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, in which the British won. The diamond-rich republics of Transvaal and Orange became British colonies. Subsequently, in 1910, the richest British colony, South Africa, formed the British dominion, the Union of South Africa.

10.4. Colonialism as a way of modernizing traditional societies. Pros and cons?

What are the reasons for the colonial success of Europeans in Asia and Africa? The main reason was the lack of a single national community of people in the countries conquered by Europeans, namely: the motley, multi-tribal and multi-ethnic composition of the population predetermined the lack of a single national consciousness, which is so necessary for uniting the people and fighting against foreigners. Most of the Eastern and African communities of that time were a loose conglomerate, divided along clan, compatriot, tribal and religious borders, which made it easier for the colonialists to conquer, leading the Roman rule: divide and rule.

Another reason was the desire of part of the elite, and especially the emerging national bourgeoisie, to join the benefits of Western civilization, which were carried and introduced by the colonialists. The Marxist assertion that the colonies were created for "naked plunder" by the mother countries and that, most importantly, robbery brought ruin to the colonies and aggravated their backwardness from Western countries, has long gone. Everything was much more complicated and ambiguous. Although it was naive to believe in the altruistic inclinations of the Europeans, who came to the East only to help the backward peoples and carry out the modernization they needed for their “happiness”. Of course not. Here we can recall the statement of the famous British imperialist Cecil Rhodes: ... we colonial politicians must take possession of new lands to accommodate the surplus of the population, to acquire new areas for the sale of goods produced in factories and mines. The European colonialists have repeatedly pointed to a direct connection with the successful solution of the social issue in their country, with successful colonial expansion and pumping out of " useful resources from the colonies to the mother country.

In the reading European society of that time, a certain romantic “fleur” of the colonial policy was formed in the countries of Asia and Africa. The works of such writers as Rudyard Kipling sang of the rude but honest warrior - the British colonial soldier to the jaded and effeminate urban dweller. G. Rider Haggard and many other Western writers captivated readers with stories about the unimaginable adventures of noble and courageous Europeans in the barbaric African and Asian colonies, bringing the light of Western civilization to these godforsaken corners of the planet. As a result of the massive replication of such literature in the West, the imperial ambitions and nationalist sentiments of the Europeans were favorably clothed in a masking "toga" of Western progressivism and civilizationalism, in relation to the backward East.

At the same time, it is wrong to present all the British, as well as other Europeans, as exceptionally rabid imperialists who only think about robbing the colonies. In British society itself, the attitude towards colonial policy was very different; from praising the civilizing mission in the spirit of R. Kipling, or the utilitarian imperialist approach of S. Rhodes, to the moral condemnation of this policy. For example, the British magazine "Statesman" at one time described the results of English "rule" in India as follows: our selfish total alienation of them from any honorable or profitable place in the government of their own country, is hated by the masses of the people for all the inexpressible suffering and that terrible poverty into which our domination over them plunged them.

Finally, in Great Britain, as well as in France, there were many people who believed that the colonial policy was extremely costly for the mother country and that "the game is not worth the candle." Today, more and more researchers in the West come to the conclusion that the colonial policy of Western countries was dictated by military-political and even ideological considerations that had nothing to do with real economic interests. In particular, P. Barok generally revealed a curious pattern: the colonizing countries developed more slowly than the countries that did not have colonies - the more colonies, the less development. Indeed, the maintenance of the colonies in itself was not cheap for the western metropolises. After all, the colonialists, in order to adapt the local economy to their needs, for example, to sell their goods, are sometimes simply forced to create production and transport infrastructure in the colonies from scratch, including banks, insurance companies, post office, telegraph, etc. And this meant, in practice, investing large material and non-material resources, first to develop the economy, then the necessary level of technology and education in the colonies. The interests of building a colonial economy gave impetus to the construction of roads, canals, factories, banks, and the development of domestic and foreign trade. And this, objectively, contributed to narrowing the gap between the traditional Eastern countries and the modernized Western powers. The last thing that the lagging East and the African colonies bestowed on the advanced West was advanced bourgeois-liberal ideas, theories that gradually broke into the traditional patrimonial-state structure. All this created conditions in the colonial societies for the transformation and modernization of the traditional world of the colonies and their involvement, albeit against their will, in the general system of the world economy.

Moreover, the colonial authorities, primarily the British, paid serious attention to reforming the traditional structures of their colonies that hindered the development of market private property relations. Westernized democratic institutions of governance, unprecedented in the East, were created. For example, in India, at the suggestion of the British, the Indian National Congress (INC) was formed. An education reform was carried out according to British standards, and in India in 1857 the first three universities were opened - Calcutta, Bombay, Madras. In the future, the number of Indian universities and colleges teaching in English and English programs learning has been increasing. At the same time, many rich Indians received higher education in England itself, including at the best universities - Cambridge and Oxford. The British did a lot for the development of education. But books, newspapers, magazines and other printed publications intended for readers throughout India were published only in English. English language gradually became the main one for the whole of educated India.

We emphasize that all this was done by the British to meet their own needs. But objectively, the colonial policy led to the formation of advanced bourgeois structures in the colonies, which contributed to the progressive, albeit very painful, but progressive socio-economic development of the colonies. What was the result of the forced colonial-capitalist modernization of Eastern societies? In the extensive Oriental literature, this is called the colonial synthesis: metropolis-colony. In the course of the synthesis, a symbiosis of the old eastern traditional socio-economic structure took place, with the European colonial administration that came here and Western capitalism. The articulation of two opposite structures: western and eastern took place in the throes of a violent and largely forced union. What made the colonial societies of the East even more heterogeneous: along with the archaic traditional social order, an alien Western colonial order appeared, and finally, a synthesized East-West order arose in the form of a comprador bourgeoisie, a Western-oriented intelligentsia and bureaucracy. Under the influence of this synthesis, “Eastern colonial capitalism” arose, in which the close relationship of native state and business structures with the European colonial administration and bourgeoisie was bizarrely combined. Eastern colonial capitalism, therefore, was introduced to the soil of the East precisely by an external factor, the conquest of the West, and was not a source of internal development. Over time, this alien way, thanks to the patronage of the European colonial administration, began to take root on eastern soil and become more and more strengthened, despite the active resistance of traditional eastern structures.

It should be noted that attempts at bourgeois modernization and Europeanization in all colonial societies of the East met with resistance from such social forces: the tribal system, religious clergy, aristocratic nobility, peasants, artisans, all those who were not satisfied with these changes and who were afraid to lose their usual way of life. They were opposed by a notorious minority of the indigenous population of the colonies: the comprador bourgeoisie, the bureaucracy and intelligentsia who received European education, who put up and even actively participated in the development of bourgeois transformations, thereby collaborating with the colonial authorities. As a result, the colonial societies of the East split into two rather sharply opposed parts. /28This, of course, frustrated the plans of the colonial administration to accelerate the modernization of the colonies. But still, the colonial East set off in the direction of irreversible change.

The assimilation of Western ideas and political institutions also took place in those Eastern countries that did not survive the direct military intervention of European powers: (Ottoman Empire, Iran, Japan and China). All of them in one way or another (Japan was in the most advantageous position) were under pressure from the West. Of course, the position of these countries was more advantageous in comparison with the Eastern countries, turned into colonies of the West. The very example of an absolutely disenfranchised India served as a stern warning and simply a vital necessity for these countries to carry out structural reforms, even despite all the resistance of society. The authorities of these states in the 19th century were well aware that the West would not leave them alone, and after economic enslavement, political enslavement would follow. In itself, the pressure of the West was a serious historical challenge that needed and urgently needed to be answered. The answer consisted, first of all, in modernization, and, consequently, in the assimilation of the Western model of development, or, in any case, some of its individual aspects.

The beginning of the 20th century was the time of the highest power of the West over the whole world, and this power was manifested in gigantic colonial empires. In total, by 1900, the colonial possessions of all the imperialist powers amounted to 73 million km2 (about 55% of the world's area), with a population of 530 million people (35% of the world's population).

Colonialism does not enjoy a good reputation anywhere. And this is quite understandable. It is impossible to write off the blood, suffering and humiliation endured in the colonial era as the costs of progress. But unequivocally assessing Western colonialism as an absolute evil would, in our opinion, be wrong. When was history in the East before the Europeans not written in blood, under the Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Timur? On the other hand, in breaking up the traditional structures of the East and African tribal communities, Western colonialism in all its modifications played the decisive role of an external factor, a powerful impulse from outside, which not only awakened them, but also gave them a new rhythm of progressive development. In the XX century. the colonial world of Asia and Africa entered basically in a transitional state, no longer in the traditional system of power-property, but still far from being a capitalist formation. The colonial East and Africa served the interests of Western capitalism, and were necessary to it, but as a peripheral zone. That is, these vast territories acted as its structural raw material appendage, incorporating both pre-capitalist and capitalist elements introduced by the West. The position of these countries was complicated by the fact that different types European colonial capitalism, having not mastered most of the socio-economic space of the East and Africa, only increased the diversity and diversity of these societies, making them internally contradictory and conflict. But even in this case, the role of Western colonialism as a powerful factor for the intensive development of Asia and Africa can be considered progressive.

Questions for self-examination and self-control.

1. What role did the Europeans play in the colonial expansion of the 16th-18th centuries. trading companies?

2. How to explain the transition from the commercial colonialism of Europeans to the occupation type in the 19th century?

3. Why did the few European colonists manage to establish control over the vast expanses of Asia and Africa? Explain?

4. What are the main models of colonization do you know?

6. What was the progressive influence of colonialism on the development of the countries of the East and Africa?

Main literature

1. World history: a textbook for university students / ed. G.B. Polyak, A.N. Markova.-3rd ed.-M. UNITY-DANA, 2009.

2. Vasiliev L.S. General history. In 6 volumes. V.4. New time (XIX century): Proc. allowance.-M.: Higher. School, 2010.

3. Vasiliev L.S. History of the East: In 2 volumes. V.1. M. Higher. School, 1998.

4.Kagarlitsky B.Yu. From empires to imperialism. State and the emergence of bourgeois civilization.-M.: Ed. House of the State University of Higher School of Economics, 2010.

5. Osborne, R. Civilization. New story Western world / Roger Osborne; per. from English. M. Kolopotina.- M.: AST: AST MOSCOW: GUARDIAN, 2008.

additional literature

1. Fernand Braudel. Material civilization, economy and capitalism. XV-XVIII centuries M. Progress 1992.

2. Fernandez-Armesto, F. Civilizations / Felipe Fernandez-Armesto; transl., from English, D.Arsenyeva, O.Kolesnikova.-M.: AST: AST MOSCOW, 2009.

3. Huseynov R. History of the world economy: West-East-Russia: Proc. allowance.-Novosibirsk: Sib. Univ. Publishing house, 2004.

4. Kharyukov L.N. Anglo-Russian rivalry in Central Asia and Ismailism. M.: Publishing House of Moscow. University, 1995.

It has many millennia, and according to some scientific hypotheses, it was in Africa that the first people appeared, who subsequently multiplied and populated all other lands of our planet (well, except for Antarctica). So, according to these hypotheses, Africa is the cradle of mankind. And it is not surprising that many people were drawn to this continent and returned, sometimes as explorers and sometimes as conquerors, such is our human nature.

The first European colonies in Africa began to appear at the beginning of the 15-16th century. The British and French showed genuine interest in North Africa, and especially in one of the cradles of human civilizations - Egypt with its majestic pyramids and the mysterious Sphinx. The Portuguese were the first to penetrate West Africa, creating their colonies there. Subsequently, representatives of other European countries also joined them: Holland, Belgium, Germany.

The greatest peak of colonialism in Africa came in the 19th century, here is an interesting fact: at the beginning of the century before last, only 10% of African territories were European colonies, but at its end, 90% (!) African lands were European colonies. Only two African countries managed to maintain full independence: and Eastern Sudan. All the other countries were under someone's heel, so many countries of North Africa belonged to France: Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, in each of them French domination was established by force. For some other countries, such as, say, the already mentioned Egypt, there was even a desperate military struggle between France and England. The latter was also not opposed to taking possession of this tidbit, but in Egypt the British had to meet a strong and talented enemy, the famous General Napoleon Bonaparte, who would soon become the French emperor, conquer all of Europe and reach right up to Moscow. Although further military defeats by Napoleon reduced the influence of France in North Africa, Egypt did, in the end, go to the British.

The Portuguese, thanks to their brave navigators and cartographers, were the first to reach West Africa, where they entered into numerous contacts with the local population and founded their colonies, Angola, a huge African country, whose area is several times larger than the area of small Portugal, became the largest Portuguese colony in West Africa. .

The British also did not catch crows, and in addition to Egypt, they founded many colonies, both in West and East and South Africa. Subsequently, representatives of other European states also came to Africa: the Germans managed to capture part of the territory of West Africa: Cameroon, Togo and Namibia (the latter country still strongly resembles Germany with its cozy cities built by the Germans themselves).

The Belgians, since by the time they appeared the African coast was already occupied by other Europeans, decided to move deep into the African continent, where they founded their colony in the country of Congo (Central Africa). The Italians received land in eastern Africa: the countries of Somalia and Eritrea became their colonies.

What attracted Europeans to Africa? First of all, numerous Natural resources, as well as human resources - that is, slaves into which the Europeans actively turned the local population. Further, the slaves were taken to the New World for hard work on local sugar plantations. In general, the slave trade is one of the darkest pages of African history, about which there will be a separate article on our website.

Returning to colonialism, in addition to its clearly negative consequences, there were some positive aspects. So the Europeans brought a certain civilization, culture to Africa, built cities, roads, Christian missionaries went along with the soldiers who wanted to convert the local population to Christianity (whether it be Protestantism or Catholicism), they did a lot to educate Africans, built schools taught African natives European languages (primarily English, but also French, Spanish, Portuguese, German) and other sciences.

THE DECLINE OF COLONIALISM

Everything comes to an end sooner or later, and the end came to colonialism in Africa, the decline of which began in the 60s of the last century. It was at this time that active socio-political movements for the declaration of independence began in various African countries. Somewhere it is possible to gain independence peacefully, but somewhere it was not without armed struggle, as, say, in the same Angola, where a real war of independence against Portuguese rule took place, which, however, after that turned into a civil war between Angolans who were carried away by communist ideas (the MPLA party) and those who wanted to build communism in Angola and the Angolans, who did not like it, but that's another story.

Also, the negative impact of colonialism after its collapse was the fact that some newly created African countries contained a heterogeneous cultural and even hostile population. Sometimes this led to real civil wars, as, say, it was in Nigeria, a former English colony, where, after the declaration of independence, the Ibo and Yoruba tribes were hostile to each other in one country. But again, that's another story...