Opinion
Why is Africa Still Held in Contempt?
Why Was This Even Possible?
It was on account of the political fragmentation Africa found itself in, the fact that her people were either similar or linked notwithstanding. The Kingdoms and Chiefdoms that governed us at that time were simply too weak to defend us. In Uganda, for instance, we had 4 Kingdoms and a number of Chiefdoms. The Kingdoms were: Ankole, Buganda, Bunyoro and Tooro. There were Chiefdoms in Busoga, Lango, Acholi etc. The British were able to conquer them and even using one against the other. It was only towards the end that two Ugandan Kings – Kabalega of Bunyoro and Mwanga of Buganda – tried to unite to fight the British. By that time, it was too late. The British working with local traitors and also taking advantage of the brutality of some of these Kings, gained the upper hand.
Kabaka (King) Mwanga is alleged to have ordered the deaths of 47 young Christian converts, between 1885 – 1887; the majority of whom were killed in 1886 by burning at the stake.
Were Our Ancestors Conquered On Account of Guns and superior weapony only?
I do not think so. Because other people without guns, but better organized, were able to defeat the imperialists. “Poorly armed” Ethiopians were able to successfully defeat the better equiped Italians at the battle of Adua – it is the scale of the organization and the use of the terrain that mattered.
The ignominious defeat of old Africa was a vote of No Confidence in that old Africa. Our Chiefs and Kings tried to resist the imperialist invaders, however, they were all defeated.
African peoples are, however, a very resilient people. Unlike the aboriginal Indians of north America, the Aztecs of Mexico, the Incas of Peru, the Caribes of the Caribbean or the Aborigines of Australia, the European invasion did not lead to our extermination. In spite of the millions that perished in both the trans-Atlantic and the trans-Indian Ocean slave trade; the millions that died in the colonial wars, or the millions killed by diseases brought by Europeans, Africans survived.
In January 1956, Sudan attained her independence – the first African country to do so. The independence movement continued to gain momentum on the continent through out the 60’s and 70’s.
