1. Discuss nationalist movements in Africa.

What elements and philosophies did

they include? What goals did they hope to attain and by what means? How
successful were they?

Nationalist movements in Africa began in the early 1900s, although the first
attempts at a unified nationalism movement were unsuccessful. These first gestures like
the formation of the African National Congress and people like Blaise Diagne fighting for
African’s role in politics were not hugely successful, but they were the beginnings for a
much larger movement. After the end of the Second World War the African people gained
a growing scene of hope that they would be freed due to their large role in the war.
Nationalist leaders like Kwame Nkrumah helped to spread these nationalist feelings
through educated approaches, taking advantage of the imperial systems to spread anti-
colonial feelings throughout Africa, and then gathering enough supporters and followers.
They eventually won their fight, beginning with the independence of Ghana in 1957.
Politicians like Kwame Nkrumah believed in black pride and independence and they
spread these ideas eagerly causing the massive nationalist movement in Africa after
World War II.
In the 1900s leaders like Blaise Diagne realized the reality of colonialism. There
were few Africans who were well educated like Diagne, and this led to a large ignorance
in the African people. They had grown up with colonialism and had known nothing else,
making it so that very few of them stood out to protest their position. Educated men like
Diagne were taught western values and theologies, and when they returned back to their
homeland they realized the startling contrast between their education and the reality of
African colonialism. They spoke out against this and movements like the African National
Congress were founded, but these early moves at African unity and nationalism failed
largely due to the uneducated population and the lack of a common cause or rallying.
This all changed in World War II.
During WW II the African were forced to provide for the British. Not only did they
provide the raw materials needed for the war, but they also provided troops, support,
anything else the British needed. The people of Africa did all this in hope that the
government would realize their vital role and in return they would grant them
independence. Also, as the Allies marched across Europe and liberated it, the Africans
gained the hope that they would too, soon be liberated. Support began to amass behind
the leaders like Blaise Diagne and the other educated Africans. New Nationalist
politicians began to also gather support and follows, preaching the importance of black
pride and independence. These leaders devoted their lives to ridding their homelands of
foreign occupation and imperialism. An example is Kwame Nkrumah, a well-educated
African politician who helped to spread the word of independence. Taking advantage of
the imperial institutions like the railroad, roads, and schools the nationalists were able to
further spread their ideas. They were also able to involuntarily take advantage of the
public health care system set up by the foreign countries. This helped to raise their
population, and led to a young generation who were hungry for independence. Frustrated
African scholars also joined the independence movement. They were angered and upset
by the obstacles placed in their paths by the imperialist countries and they realized self-
governing was the only solution. This nationalist movement was largely successful, and
in 1951 the British began taking steps to give independence to the first of the African
countries. In 1957 Ghana won their full independence as other countries soon followed
up after them, being released from their mother countries.
2. Describe the system of informal empire that the Europeans had in Latin
America. What was its purpose and how did it work? How did it differ from
more formal colonialism? How did it affect those colonized?

The Europeans had an informal system of control in Latin America. They

didn’t have direct control like in other areas of control like Africa, where a British
ruler had direct control over an area by using a representative or viceroy. Instead
they had almost a puppet government set up in Latin America, where the
European governments had control over the industries and influenced the “free
government” of Latin America. They used the free trade system they set up during
the ages of imperialism to influence the economy, politics, and direction of the
government. It influenced the people of Latin America because it at first pacified
them, because they thought they were free from direct control from the European
countries. Soon though, they realized the oppression that they Europeans
impressed robbing them of their resources, money, and their well-being.
The Europeans ruled over their Latin American claims in a very unique way.
They did not directly control the government like they did to Africa, instead they
made themselves so involved in the government that all of their interests were
followed. They did this through a free trade market system of imperialism. They
controlled all of the major aspects and industries in Latin America, not giving any
control to the locals. A prime example of this was in Mexico, where the Spanish
controlled the oil exports to foreign countries, despite the fact that most of the
industries rested on the shoulders of the incredibly poor peasants who did the
majority of the work in the refineries. This meant that the Spanish also controlled
the majority of the wealth and money in Mexico. General Porfirio Diaz controlled
Mexico politically but the government itself was actually controlled a group of
extremely wealthy Spanish (not Mexican) families. This created a puppet
government where the Spanish interests trumped everything else
During the age of imperialism the European countries realized that they
could not just come in and take over Latin America like they had done to other
areas. The United States would not allow them and vowed to join the side of the
Latin Americans if they tried to come in and industrialize. So instead the
Europeans took control of Latin America by helping the countries, building
railroads, schools, and roads. This brought a lot of wealth to the countries as they
were able to export goods. What they didn’t realize was that the European
countries now controlled all of these great new utilities and they were now at the
mercy of the Europeans. The people controlled by this system suffered just like all
of the other colonized areas of the world though. They were forced to work and
forced into large debt, they were taken advantage of, and they were stripped of
their natural resources. The peasants ended up suffering either way.
3. What three challenges did the newly independent nations face? How did
colonialism continue to affect politics, society, and economy of former
colonies long after imperial control ended?

There were three big challenges that new countries faced after they won
independence from their European counterpart. They had to build a new government,
they had to rebuild their economic system, and they had somehow unified the people
again under a unified cause while reforming the education system.
The first step for these newly independent nations was implementing a new
government and law and order. They had to write a new constitution, decide what kind of
government was best, elect leaders, write laws and codes, and most importantly they had
to carry them out and enforce them. This was particularly difficult because they often had
conflicting views within the process and they had to very quickly establish some form of
government in order to win the people over. Often times people still loyal to the European
country debated and riled the people, because they wanted to remain under the same
government and political system, but other revolutionaries wanted to radically change the
government. Often times there were coups, revolts, and protests; very few countries were
able to form a democratic government because of this. People wanted a strong leader
after the chaos of a revolution, and a democracy could not offer that right away.
Another problem was the economy needing to be rebuilt. Often times when
foreign countries pulled out, they took their factories and business with them, leaving the
free country in an economically deprived state. Over-dependence on foreign imports left
some countries in huge amounts of debt, which is never a good thing when you trying to
build a new country. They also had to compete with foreign industries already in the
country, which had received European support, making them very hard to compete with.
The last problem was the biggest one. The new leaders of this free country had to
somehow unite their people under them and decide on their cultural choices. Do you
keep the old imperial government’s cultural influence intact or do you start from scratch?
The leaders had to reform education, choose a national language, and figure out how to
unite all of the different religious, ethnic, and cultural groups in their county. It was a huge
hurdle, and if the leaders could not do this, they were often overthrown.