The Making of Modern Africa: Colonialism

Take a look at the past, our history; although there is only one factual outcome, there are an infinite number of opinions, perspectives and almost always more than one side to a story. I will be taking a look in to the novel, Colonial Africa, written by Dennis Laumann, as well as, African Perspectives on Colonialism, by A. Adu Boahen, and hopefully through this, we can gain a stronger understanding of Colonialism in Africa and how Boahen and Laumann compare and differ.
On (p.1), Boahen states, “The most surprising aspects of the imposition of colonialism on Africa were its suddenness and its unpredictability.” When I began reading I lacked an understanding of what this could really mean. I …show more content…

Reading this, it is easy to think that colonization was a good thing; I mean what could possibly be wrong with a continent prospering economically. This is what British historians think and as we have read, what they attempt to apply about colonialism. As Britain went through a faze of industrial revolution, controlling the trade of Africa’s vast and plentiful resources became much more appealing. The British imperial powers began to take control of the African land and countries. This did not go untested as many native Africans resisted the imposing European Sovereign. Boahen talks about this rebellion and how the untrained, unorganized African troops stood no chance against the technologically advanced European bullies.
Laumann makes many strong points in his book but what I found interested began in the 1930’s. World War II had been initiated in Europe and the imperial powers had pushed beyond there reign over the land and began drawing resources and people from their African colonies. I quote Laumann (p.36),” Europe, once again drawing Africans into a conflict initiated and mostly fought by the European imperial powers who depended on their African colonies to assist in the war effort.” This actually upset me to think there are people like this, let alone countries and nations that are willing to claim they ended slavery only to enslave the same people in war less than a century later. How