Scramble for Africa

Introduction The representation of Africa and African people in popular American media has been a major concern in academic disciplines and the subject of numerous books and essays. Many scholars and activists have written about this issue seeking to introduce new knowledges and methodologies into the debate while taking into account the overwhelming evidence of the colonial influence on these representations. The debates and arguments are not restricted to Hollywood films (although Hollywood…

How the trans-Atlantic slave trade transformed Africa & Africans The trans-Atlantic slave trade decimated the young working population of Africa, warped long-held cultural and religious beliefs and helped militarize many nations’ armies at the expense of their own countrymen; all of these factors together ultimately created a second wave of slave trade in response to its cessation on the trans-Atlantic route. Although there is no way to calculate the exact number of Africans who were placed…

Africa has vast religious record. The ancient and immense land mass has an extensive history of ever shifting empires, which has led to a diverse religious landscape. Modern day Africa is divided into five regions, each of which has had a unique religious evolution. The western region from where most Atlantic slaves came from is no exception. The indigenous African religion is the oldest on the continent and is still practiced today, a major component of this religion is its oral tradition. Over…

overhead cost around 93 guilders, the WIC generated an appreciable profit from just Atlantic slavery. Alongside of this, the WIC was sending salt and sugar back to the Netherlands to be refined and then exporting rum and Dutch manufactured goods back to Africa to be traded for African slaves. This created the Dutch triangle and became one of the most lucrative importing and exporting industries the world has ever seen. In addition, the WIC sent silver from Spanish mines to the VOC to maintain…

representation of what the Atlantic slave trade was like during the eighteenth century right down to the business of the slave trade, the voyage itself, and the middle passage. Most ships that European slave traders used on their voyages to go into Africa were owned by merchants similar to the Billy brothers. The Diligent belonged to the Billy brothers…

In his article entitled, "National Culture and Liberation" Amilcar Cabral discusses the vital role the development of a collective cultural identity possesses in regard to national liberation, especially during the decolonization process of African countries. First, the author begins noting that colonialism requires the foreigners to "...practically liquidate the entire population of the dominated country, thus eliminating all possibility of that kind of cultural resistance; or to succeed in…

The New York Times Op-doc, “Gorillas in the Crossfire”, produced on 7 November 2014 by Orlando von Einsiedel show the story of Andre Bauma, a man who takes care of mountain gorillas of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, intentions for Mountain Gorillas freedom. The Op-Doc shows how war has been rising for 2 decades and hundreds of soldiers have been killed or harmed trying to protect their park. The park has been raided by armed rebels and these soldiers jeopardize their…

Abina and The Important Men is a collaboration of both Trevor R. Getz and Liz Clarke. Getz, a historian of Africa and also a professor at San Francisco State University in World History. This book is graphic history that tells the story of a real court case in the town of Cape Coast in the British Gold Coast colony of West Africa during the 1870’s. This case involved the plaintiff, Abina Mansah and the defendant, a wealthy important man named Quamina Eddoo. Abina (the plaintiff), believes that…

Africans, “a single story of catastrophe.” As she spent more time in the U.S., she began to understand her roommate’s response to her. If the only things she knew about Africa came from popular images, she too would believe that it was simply a place of natural beauty but with lots of human suffering. This single story of Africa can be seen in Western literature, where writers like John Locke and Rudyard Kipling reinforced the image of Africans as uncivilized beasts. Adichie herself was…

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe tells the story of the struggle between a split African tribe, the nobleman and the outcast. As the title implies the struggle only goes downhill. In one chapter the church members struggle to accept the outcast, the osu. When one applies Kwame Anthony Appiah’s idea of conversations between cultures in the Cosmopolitanism to the Umuofia people joining the culture of the Church in Things Fall apart, the converts would be more accepting. However, the congregation…