NAME: SAMEEN OMOLOLA. O

DEPT: HISTORY
COURSE CODE: HIS 208
COURSE TITLE: HISTORY OF EAST AND CENTRAL AFRICA IN THE 20THCENTURY
MATRIC NO: HIS/2014/111
QUESTION: WHAT WOULD YOU REPAID AS THE MAJOR GRIEVANCE DURING THE COLONIAL RULE IN EAST AND CENTRAL AFRICA
TO BE SUBMITED TO: DR
CentralAfrica, regionof Africa that straddles the equator and is drained largely by theCongoRiversystem. East Africa is an area in African great lakes occupying roughly the same terrain as present-day Kenya from the IndianOceaninland to Uganda and theGreat Rift Valley.The countries of east and central Africa are Comoros, Djibouti,Eritrea,Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Seychelles, Somalia,Sudan, Uganda, Burundi, BurkinaFaso,CapeVerde, cote d’lvoire, Chad, Congo, guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, Sao Tome, and Principe.Thecolonialisationof east andcentralAfricacan be dated back to 18thcentury as some part were colonizedby Britain, some by Portugal, Germany, Belgium and so on. Burundi was colonized by Germany and Belgium, Mozambiqueby Portugal, Kenya colonialism lasted roughly 68years, from the end of the 19thcentury untilKenya’sindependence fromGreatBritain in 1963.
East and central Africa’s precapitalist forms of production were subjected to a historic break in their autonomous development;in theterminologyof the time they were literally opened up’. They became part-economies, externallyoriented to suit the dynamicof a capitalism which has been imposed upon them from outside. EastAfrica’spre-colonial relations with the global economy had been based too exclusively on the production of two rapidly wasting assets, slaves and ivory. In the inlandareawhich became the hub of Kenya there had barely been an exportablesurplusat all when, suddenly, in the first decade of the twentieth beyond all previous experience by the demands of colonialrule and, concurrently, by the opportunities of the commodity boom, itself in part created by the political and capital investments with which the imperial powers competed for preferential access to markets and resources.

TheBritishused five main policies to secure and control African labor. First, it established Africanreserves, “eventually with official boundaries where each African ethnic group in the colony was expected to separately.” As Africans lacked sufficient land in theirreserves, they “had little choice but to migrate to theEuropeanfarms in search of work.” Or, stated another way, “through the initial act of alienating land to settlers, the colonial state deprived some Africans of their means of production and laid the basis for the entry of Africans in ever-increasing numbers into the wage labor force.

Second, they imposed taxes. The governmentimposed ahut tax and a poll tax, “together amounting to nearly twenty-five shillings, the equivalent of almost two months of African wages at the local rate.” The taxation was a double edged sword: it encouraged peasant commodity productionincreased precisely in those regions from where the colonial state and capital expected to draw their labor, namely the central and Nyanja provinces.

Thus, to keep Africans from competing withBritishfarmers, the government imposed the third means of “encouraging African” labor; forbidding them to grow the most profitable cash crops (coffee, tea, and sisal). It was not actually illegal for Kenyans togrow coffee, but coffee growers needed a license and it was very difficult for Kenyans to obtain a license. Fourth, was forced labor, “Forced or compulsory labor was widely used and became institutionalized during the first few decades of colonial rule in Kenya. This was a period when massive supplies of labor were required to lay the very foundations of the colonial economy: rail lines and roads had to be built; damns and bridges constructed, administrative centers erected,andforests cleared and settler farms established… forced labor inevitably became the most reliable means ofsecuring labor. Few governmentofficials or settlers even questioned the need for some form of labor coercion. For many it was even an act of benevolence, a necessary shock therapy’ for people deeply mired in idleness and indolence.

Fifth, with thousands of kikuyu migrating to look for work, colonial government introduced the pass or kipande system “to control the movement of African workers and to keep track of their employment histories”.The kipande system was passed into law in 1915, implemented by 1919, and abolished in 1947. By 1920 all African men leaving their reserves were required by law to carry a pass, or kipande, that recorded a person’s name, fingerprint, ethnic group, pas employment history, and current employer’s signature. The kikuyu put the pass in acigarettebox, and wore it around their necks. The kipande became one of the detested symbols ofBritishcolonial power, though the Africans had little recourse but to carry their identity at all times: failureto produceit on demand brought a hefty fine, imprisonment, or both.”All these were laws, rules and methods used by colonial powers in East and Central Africa in governing over then.

There are causes of nationalism in East and central Africa before 1945. There was political grievances, they lost their independence to the foreigners thus nationalism to regain their lost independence. African rulers were thrown away and replaced them by foreign rulers who were imposed on the African that they detested and wanted to restate their traditional rulers.

Economic grievances was also one of theirmajorgrievances as forced labor to work on the colonial plantations to provide cheap labor any African who resisted was punished heavily imposition of heavy taxes to initiate money economy taxes like hut tax, matiti tax were introduced as to force theindigenous to work in theplantation. Cattle confiscation as to deny African from engaging in other activitiesand resort on supplying cheap labor. Land alienation to keep Africa away from practicing their subsistence agriculture and begin to supply cheap labor in plantaions. There was the loss of control of their trade like long distance trade and trans-Saharantrade and the introduction of the so called legitimate trade. Destruction of Africaagriculturewas also one ofthe economic grievances,which was self sustaining that based on the needs of Africa and in place cash crop plantation were introduced.
Therewere also social grievances. Colonial injustice and oppression like long working hour’s social abuses and separation of men from their families. Heavy punishment like chopping off ribs of the Africans in case of the Congo colony underBelgium, corporal punishment in Tanganyika underCarlpeter. There was racism and segregation of Africans, by insulting them by their color, they were maltreated lack of good food, as they were only fed just to survive so they will notdieand will have little strength to work. Makingthem the third grade citizens on their own land. Destruction of African values and traditions and implanting foreign culture like religionlanguage education and culture as Africans culture was seen as cultures which are n good enoughand their own religion was better off and worth emanating.
In the first decades of colonial rule most east and central Africa communities experienced only spasmodic contacts with the white man. But by the mid of 1920s, the activities of the government officials, missionaries and settlers were beginning impinge or to affecting the Africans more. The struggle for self determination and resistance against the intruders begun in Africa immediately after the inception of colonialism in around 189s. The Africanstarted to resist colonial domination in the early time e.g. Abushiri and Bwana Hen in Tanganyika, Shona and Ndebele in Zimbabwe, Nama and Hereo in Namibia. Some of the resistance was passive.The factors that gave birth to African nationalism are of two kinds: internal and external factors. Internal factors were forces that were internally motivated, that brought about nationalism in Africa. These included the following factors. There was the formation of peasant cooperative union in rural areas to defend the interest and welfare of the farmers some associations were formed by the colonialists as to speed uptoproduction and marketing of cash crops as wellas sensitizing peasants about cultivation, throughtheir associations. But later alone developed nationalistic feelings and turned against the colonialists using their association’s structures in rural areas. Some of the associations include the Kilimanjaro cooperative union, Victoria cooperative, Buhaya cooperative union etc.
Intensive exploitation after the second world war, the colonies the colonizers wanted to revamp their ruined economies, which ware heavily damaged by the war, large scale colonization was carried out. New measured to increase production in the colonies and to reduce metro pole expenditure on the colonies were introduced like; land alienation to establish more plantations for the white settlers, forced labor to work on the colonialplantationas to increase output. New, taxes like gun tax hut tax were introduced etc. such exploitation awakened African to start fighting for their selfdeterminationthus rise of nationalism mace African aware.
Formation of independent churches. These were churches that were lead by the Africans breaking away from the main stream white churches, to challengetheir misdeeds over the Africans, they addressed not only religious but also social political and economic grievances of the Africanssuch churches included. Joseph Ajayi in west Africa, kikuyunative church, the water tower church movement in Malawi in 1906, the Africa national church in Tanganyika the people god and religion ofJesusin Kenya united native church in Cameroon etc such churches openlycriticizedthe colonialists and encouraged their followers to fight them thus the rise of Africannationalism. Formationof segregated African schools, after realizing the missionary and colonial schoolsthaughtnothing but European based syllabus some African societies began their own schools, like among the kikuyu in Kenya. This helped in educating Africans and developing the spirit of nationalism.
Rise of eliteswho had attained colonial education like Nyerere in Tanganyika, Nkrumah in Ghana, Kamuzu Banda in Malawi etc this education helped them to get used to the white language to get exposed to various struggled and liberation of the world, but on top of that some elites came from outside Africa the combination of both helped to the rise of nationalism through provision of leadership for nationalistic struggles. The Italy against Ethiopiawar of1935-1914 underMussoliniand Haile Selasie and Ras Imra increased the momentum of African.There was also the formation of social welfare association these aimed to improve the working conditions of African workers discriminations and colonial abuses to the Africans such associations largely based in urban centers and comprised colonial civil servant like; the kikuyu central association in Kenya that was formed by harry Thuku the railway territory civil association in Tanganyika territory civil service association (T. T. C. S. A.) which was formed by martin Kayamba the peoples union in 1908 in Nigeria. Such association exerted more pressure on the colonialist to considergiving African independence which led to nationalism.Mass media especially news paper played a big role in spreading awareness among the population in both rural and urban areas such newspaper included Sauti ya TANU in Tanganyika the pilot and the comet in Nigeria is one example in West Africa.
External factors that motivated nationalism but being generated from outside Africa such forces included the returning ex-soldiers who participated in the war on the side of their colonial masters assisting them ass porters and securityguardsof army camps, this participation brought awareness since these soldiers were exposed to westerndemocracy, freedom, and liberation massage some veterans like Dehan kimathi who ware latter a leader of mau-mau in Kenya. The formation of UNwhich replaced the league of nation where independent Africa states were allowed to participate as a members it become an organization of all nations African andAsiannations through the UN opposed the colonialist and demanded for self determination, unlike during the league of nation where African colonies became mandatory colonies of European nations.Also is the Bandung conference ofApril17th1955 where Asians and Africans nations like southAfrica Ghana Nigeria EgyptLibyamet in Indonesia to discuss their problems which include colonialism and economic development, they emphasized solidarity, it was during this conferencethat N. A. M. was formed in this conference.

The formation of pan-Africanizein 1900 by William Sylvester from the new world which later led to the formation of OAU an organization that united all African independent nations to helped in fighting for African independence.Peasants cooperative union was also established initially by the colonial government especially during the inter-war period, their primary aims wereto promote peasant produceby searching for market and improvement of agriculture methods of farming, but latter alone turned into nationalism organs that begun to agitate for political demand. In 1921, the east Africa association was formed in Nairobi, taking more radical positions than the kikuyu association.The rise of USA as a leading capitalist nation after the second world war two US became the chief supplier of war materials and the war did not affect her economynegativelymade her to became theleading capitalistand began to advocate for decolonization of Africanations as a trick to compensate for not colonizing through establishment of neo colonialism to get market for her finished goods area of investment for her international corporations.

Conclusively,east and central Africa colonial period led to different grievances from Africans like economic grievances, social grievance, political grievances . as their cultures was seen as something not good enough as they imposed their own culture on them. Economicallythe Europeans used different tactics to increased labor as forced labor was introduced and their working conditions was so poor and not conductive. Also they were being treated as third class citizens n their own land, all this led to grievances from the Africans which led to the rise of nationalism.Theprocess of decolonization or national liberation was fundamental in East and Central Africafor it allowed African states to regain their independence, which they had lost for more than half a century. TheAfricansdeveloped four means of liberation first was liberation by constitution/dialogue/peacefully, second is liberation by revolution, liberation byarmed struggle and the combination of constitution and armed.As nationalism in east and central Africa is divided into twophases according toteperiod first is nationalism before 1945 and nationalism after 1945.

REFERENCES
Africa SUN NEWS- THE COUNTRIES IN EAST AND CENTRAL Africa
THE COLONILIZATION OF EAST AND CENTRAL Africa BRITANNICA
THE COLONIAL RULE IN EAST AND CENTRAL Africa- WIKIPEDIA
GRIEVANCES OF EAST AND CENTRAL Africa DURING THE COLONIAL RULE- BBC NEWS