Exploring the differences between precolonial Africa vs colonial

Exploring the differences between precolonial Africa vs colonial Africa The Hilali Toolkit Exploring the differences between pre-colonial Africa vs colonial Africa by Nasra Hersi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution. Non. Commercial-Share. Alike 4. 0 International License. Hilali Community Contribution - Nasra Hersi 1

INTRODUCTION TO ACTIVITY ❖ When colonization in Africa is talked about in western media there is always this notion that when Europeans came to Africa they brought commerce and civilization to the “primitive” Africans pushed to justify the crimes of their ancestors. Erasing the part of where Africa already had its commerce, science, art and several powerful civilisations long before the arrival of the colonisers. ❖ In following slides, there will be a picture comparison of Africa before colonization and during colonization to see what these self-described “ saviour” have improved about the life of the “primitive” Africans. ❖Also briefly touched on post-colonial Africa towards the slide with case study of what one country has changed after being “ taught commerce and how to be a civilization” by those kind European who only colonized them so they could be a functioning society at last.

WHAT IS IMPERIALISM ? ❖ Imperialism is the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies. ❖ Imperialism happened was due to the rise of the Industrial Revolution which leaded “Industrialized nations to push economic integration upon developing nations then extract value from developing nations just you would from a mine or a field you owned”. ❖ skip to 3. 25 for Africa

WHY DID THE EUROPEANS COME TO AFRICA ❖ There was 3 reasons why they come to africa: 1. To open up Africa for trade (Exploitation) 2. To conquer & occupy Africa (Colonisation) 3. To civilise Africa ( Christian evangelism) ❖ Early spread of Western Medicine in Africa was in the service of the above interests and at the centre of the colonial imperative ❖ link to youtube video explaining in detail: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=op. UDFaq. N

MEDICINE IN PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA ❖The healers of Africa were very knowledgeable about herbs, trees, roots and their medicinal purposes. Even though this knowledge is perishing in this age it is still useful as many African people prefer consulting traditional healers whose remedies are often cheaper, more effective with less to no side-effects in comparison to Western medicine. One case which well illustrates the greatness of African medicine is that of childbirth. It is almost certain that we mastered caesarean sections independently. Africans were masters of it as far back as 1897, as recorded by Robert Felkin in The Development of Scientific Medicine in the African Kingdom of Bunyoro Kitara. The poetry in the procedure is that tools were not scalpels, ether and overpriced beds. Banana wine (yes) was used as an anaesthetic, reeds were used to perform episiotomies and bleeding was stopped by cauterising with hot irons. The patient was stitched up with iron spikes (removed after six days, how long does it take to remove stiches? ), root paste applied and bark used to bandage the wound.

People receiving smallpox inoculations in Dahomey (now Benin) during the global smallpox eradication campaign of the late 1960 s and early 1970 s. Cotton Mather who introduced smallpox inoculation to the West learnt it from a slave named Onesimus. Photo: CDC

MEDICINE IN COLONIAL AFRICA ❖ Africa is the second-largest continent (after Asia) and was the last massive region of the world that Europeans colonized (between 1880 and 1910). This is important to noted because the European brought with them diseases and illness that are foreign to Africa. ❖ The Europeans doctors had 3 Functions: 1. 1. To offer medical treatment to European explorers, missionaries, colonial administrators and their families. 2. 2. To fight in the wars of colonization & / or in the religious wars. 3. 3. To use Medicine to help spread the word of God (Medical evangelism) z Thus to every colonial post, there was established a church, a school and a hospital. ❖ They also banned, Ridiculed and Demonised African Traditional Medicine

EDUCATION IN PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA ❖ There is common myth spread by the western media that Africans learnt to read and write thanks to those “ selfless, kind Christian missionaries. This is very harmful and damaging narrative that disregards the fact written poems the Qene and Mawandes founded from Ethiopia in the early 1 BC that predating Christianity and Islam. ❖ While there were places in Africa that people didn't know to read or write only because they was no need. The West and East regions of Africa had griots (wandering human encyclopaedias) who were capable of recalling events and people long-long passed. They were the custodians of history. The wandering nomads of Southern Africa, or ‘bushmen’ also left cave paintings which tell stories of hunts revealing their diets, hunting methods and preferred prey among other cultural practices in pictograms. The reason why they didn't record or communicate in writing was simply that the resources they had was too bountiful for them to engaging in commerce and they were nomadic tribes with no interest in establishing settlements. ❖Pythagorus, Aristotle, Piccasso, were all beneficiaries of African innovation. Fractal geometry and the binary system, were used in Africa before the West even understood them. In fact, West Scholars thought they had reached the epitome of mathematical thought before they were introduced to fractal geometry in Africa.

EDUCATION IN COLONIAL AFRICA ❖The colonial education system was created for the new settler governments. The few Africans who became educated in these systems were primarily to aid white settlers which is why most became clerks and so forth in supporting roles. ❖ The colonial administration had a rule that only European textbooks where used. Students learned European Geography and history and were never exposed to their local stories. ❖ In Rwanda and Burundi, like in most countries in Africa, most schools during the colonial period were run my missionaries who regarded education as a primary means of evangelizing to spread their Christian faith. In the 1930 s, the Catholic Bishop, Leon Classe negotiated a school contract that would keep the Belgian colonial administration out of schools and allow the Catholic Church to assume responsibility for the entire education system. In turn, the Catholic Church received 47 francs per student and 600 francs per teacher. The church perpetuated the government’s preference of Tutsis over Hutus setting the groundwork for the resentment that resulted in the genocide. The Catholic Church chose Tutsis over Hutus and all government positions were to be reserved for the Tutsis. Bishop Classe believed that Hutus still needed just enough education so they could work in mines and industry. Until 1956, the only way a Hutu could receive higher education was if they went to a Catholic seminary to become a Priest.

ADVANCEMENTS IN PRE-CONIAL AFRICA ❖ The University of Timbuktu was founded in the 11 th century. Students chose their teachers, and instruction took place in mosque courtyards or private residences. The primary focus was on study of the Quran and Islamic subjects, but more academic subjects were also taught, [1] such as "medicine and surgery, astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, philosophy, language and linguistics, geography, history, as well as art. "[5] Teachers associated with the Sankore mosque and the mosque itself were especially respected for learning ❖ The oldest existing, and continually operating educational institution in the world is the University of Karueein, founded in 859 AD in Fez, Morocco. ❖ The Lebombo bone from the mountains between Swaziland South Africa may be the oldest known mathematical artifact. [20] It dates from 35, 000 BCE and consists of 29 distinct notches that were deliberately cut into a baboon's fibula. ❖ The Haya in Tanzania have been forging steel for nearly 2000 years. whereas steel of this caliber did not appear in Europe until several centuries later

University of Timbuktu The Lebombo bone, keyamsha. com, (2017), University of

WEALTH / RESOURCES IN PRE -CONIAL AFRICA links to video ❖ The World: A Television History #15 Africa Before The Europeans; https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=zaoyq. Zn 1 ELIh ❖The African Aristocracy of Pre-Colonial Britain: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=l 4 i-_P-KIl. I ❖ Mansa Musa and Islam in Africa ; Mansa Musa and Islam in Africa; https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=jvn. U 0 v 6 hc. Uo ❖ Ancient Africa: How Europeans have it wrong: Prof. Kevin Mac. Donald, UCL African Studies link; https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=y. Et. DLBGGQe. Q

POWER IN PRE-CONIAL AFRICA Links in videos ❖ Women and Power in Pre-Colonial Africa; https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=un 8 h 0 R 3 MNU 8 ❖ Why we’re overdue to know the brilliance of Africa’s civilizations; https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Jhqa. Q 6 m. R 82 ❖ Pre-Colonial Warfare and Strategies of Africa - Forest Kingdoms Ep. 1 Link: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=9 ZB-b 9 EKFy. Q For more information on power in pre-conial Africa; http: //www. globalblackhistory. com/2018/04/the-role-of-the-militaryin-bantu-kingdoms. html

CORRUPTION IN POLITICS BY FOREIGN POWER ❖Colonialism introduced systemic corruption on a huge scale across much of sub. Saharan Africa. The Rejection Of indigenous values, standards, checks and balances and the heavy push of superimposing western structures destabilized the well-run bureaucratic machinery previously in existence across pre-colonial Africa. ❖ The history of police and military is just one example of corruption in politics by foreign power formations in the case of Africa, the police and military were established primarily to crush civilian opposition to colonial rule. Police engagement with the populace was founded on the need to enforce hateful and debilitating colonial laws, including forced taxation, segregation, and quelling of anti-colonial uprisings. ❖ for more examples use the link; https: //chikaforafrica. com/2012/08/21/origin-ofcorruption-in-africa-and-the-way-forward/

REFERENCE ❖Broughttolife. sciencemuseum. org. uk. (2018). African medical traditions. [online] Available at: http: //broughttolife. sciencemuseum. org. uk/broughttolife/techniques/african medtrad [Accessed 4 Aug. 2018]. ❖ Nyoni, P. (2018). What Africa had before colonisation - This Is Africa. [online] This Is Africa. Available at: https: //thisisafrica. me/africa-colonisation/ [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018]. ❖ Hutchins Center. (2018). Onesimus (fl. 1706 - 1717), slave and medical pioneer, was born in the. . [online] Available at: http: //hutchinscenter. fas. harvard. edu/onesimus-fl-1706 -1717 -slave-andmedical-pioneer-was-born [Accessed 5 Aug. 2018].

REFERENCE ❖ Global Black History. (2018). History and Outcomes of Colonial Education in Africa - Global Black History. [online] Available at: http: //www. globalblackhistory. com/2016/07/history-outcomes-colonial-educationafrica. html [Accessed 6 Aug. 2018]. ❖ Chikafor. Africa. (2018). Origin of Corruption in Africa and the Way Forward. [online] Available at: https: //chikaforafrica. com/2012/08/21/origin-of-corruption-in-africa-andthe-way-forward/ [Accessed 7 Aug. 2018]. ❖ MUSISI, M D. FRCP(C), S. and M USISI, Ph. D, N. (n. d. ). THE LEGACIES OF COLONIALISM IN AFRICAN MEDICINE. [online] pdf file. Available at: http: //www. who. int/global_health_histories/seminars/nairobi 02. pdf [Accessed 4 Aug. 2018].

LINKS TO REFERENCE ❖http: //broughttolife. sciencemuseum. org. uk/broughttolife/techniques/africa nmedtrad ❖https: //thisisafrica. me/africa-colonisation/ ❖ http: //www. who. int/global_health_histories/seminars/nairobi 02. pdf ; THE LEGACIES OF COLONIALISM IN AFRICAN MEDICINE ❖http: //hutchinscenter. fas. harvard. edu/onesimus-fl-1706 -1717 -slave-andmedical-pioneer-was-born ❖http: //www. globalblackhistory. com/2016/07/history-outcomes-colonialeducation-africa. html ❖https: //chikaforafrica. com/2012/08/21/origin-of-corruption-in-africa-andthe-way-forward/