Africa Nationalist Movements and

Problems after Independence

Intro

By the early 20th century, European countries had colonized almost all of

Africa!!!

YIKES!!!

Intro

Liberia and Ethiopia were the only independent countries left.

Liberia was founded in 1822 by former slaves from America.

Intro

• Even though, countries in Africa were controlled by other European nations, native Africans wanted to control their own government and the continent’s natural resources for their own good.

• In the second part of the 20th century(primarily the 1950s and 1960s), African nations worked to free themselves from European control.

• Many countries went through Nationalist movements.

• Nationalist movements are movements that seek independence for the people living in a country.

Kenya

• Many Kenyans thought the British had taken their land unfairly. A group of Kenyans started the Mau Mau which was a secret society that operated from 1952 to 1960. It believed force was the only way to win Kenyan rights and independence. They rebelled against the British.

Kenya

• The British army mostly defeated the Mau Mau by 1954 although violence continued until 1960. Thousands of Africans were killed in the fighting. Only 100 Europeans were killed. The Mau Mau continued to have support amoung the Kenyans.

Kenya

• The Mau Mau support convinced the British that they would have to grant independence to Kenya.

• The British helped Kenyans hold democratic elections. Kenyans elected Jomo Kenyatta president in 1963. On December 12th 1963, Kenya became independent.

Kenya

Kenyatta did not allow people who disagreed with him into the government. This caused problems in governing Kenya peacefully. Many ethnic groups fought for control of Kenya. Daniel arap Moi became president of Kenya in 1978. He remained president throughout the 1980s and held elections in the 1990s. These elections were not honest. Many countries charged Moi with mistreating Kenyans.

Kenya

In 2002, Moi retired.

Kenya then had free elections and is more stable today than it has been in decades.

Nigeria

• There are many different ethnic groups in the region know as Nigeria. At the Berlin Conference, Britain was given control of the region, which was made into two colonies.

Nigeria

• Many of the ethnic groups did not want to be part of the same country. These divisions among the Africans led to different treatment by the British. The British government spent more money building roads and schools in the south than in the North.

Nigeria

• By the 1940s, Nigerians had formed many groups to fight against the British rule. Some groups shared ethnicity. Some were youth and student groups. Some were made up of people who worked in the same type of job. Most people in these groups had gone to school in Europe. They admired European culture, but they believed that the only way for Nigerians to have their rights was to be free of European rule. These groups eventually became political parties that worked for Nigerian independence.

Nigeria

• In the late 1940s and 1950s, the British let Nigerians elect their own people into government. Abubakar Tafawas Balewa became prime minister in 1957. Great Britain gave Nigeria independence on October 1st 1960. Balewa become the 1st head of government. Nigeria did not have to fight for its independence from Britain.

Nigeria

• After independence, the many ethnic groups in the region often fought each other. The main conflict existed between the Northerners, who were Islamic and the southerners who were not Islamic. The Nigerian Military took over the country in 1966.

Nigeria

• The military ruled for many years. When free elections were held in 1993, the military ruler of the country declared them null and void. He and his successor, Sani Abacha, were very brutal and corrupt. In 1999, civilian rule returned with the election of Oluseun Obasanjo to the presidency. Today Nigeria has had three national elections. International groups think that the elections may not have been completely democratic. However, political and social conditions in Nigeria have improved.

Ghana

• Africans started nationalist movements in the British colony of the Gold Coast because its land is rich in deposits of gold. The nationalist groups wanted Africans to have the same rights as the British. They wanted to protect their land from colonists.

Ghana

Nationalism increased in the Gold Coast after World War II. Many Ghanaians protested for their independence. In 1948, police fired on a group of protestors. The protestors had fought in World War II for the British. They were protesting because the government had not paid them. The police shootings of protestors led to riots in the region. Many people went on strike or protested.

Ghana

IN 1954 a man named Kwame Nkrumah formed a new government. His government included many Africans. In 1956, his government called for independence. The Gold Coast was renamed Ghana after the Ancient African kingdom which had been nearby. On March 6th 1957, Ghana won its independence.

The Belgian Congo

From 1885 to 1908, King Leopold the II of Belgium ruled the Congo. He ran it as his own private colony. It was called the Congo Free State. It had many natural resources, such as diamonds, gold, cotton, coffee, and rubber.

The Belgian Congo

Although slavery had ended in 1885 at the Berlin conference, Africans were forced to work in mines and plantations which were run with crueity and even torture. Many Congolese died doing this work. Under King Leopold II, the population of the Congo Free State went from 20-30 million down to about 8 million people.

The Belgian Congo

Other countries complained about the working conditions in the Congo Free State. This forced the government of Belgium to take the land from their king in 1908. It was renamed the Belgian Congo. Conditions improved, but the Congolese were not allowed to run their own government. The Belgian Congo was finally granted independence in 1960, during the same year in which many other African nations won their independence.