Slavery in Africa timeline.

The Golden Age of Exploration, Europeans began to sail south around the continent of Africa in an attempt to reach the wealth of silks and spices found in India and China. They learned more about the people and cultures of Africa. Europeans began to trade with African people living south of the Sahara.

Beginning in the 1500s, European traders began to sell Africans guns and European made goods in exchange for slaves. Those slaves were then transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas to work on sugar, rice and cotton plantations. 13 million people may have been forcibly removed from their homeland. The increase in the number of guns available to people living in Africa, caused fighting among different groups which weakened everyone and made it easier for Europeans to take over.

The Europeans began to build trading posts in Africa in the 1500s by the early 1800s, they were colonizing another country for the resources it can provide.
Europeans knew that Africa had many resources and important trade routes. Britain began by seizing Egypt to gain control of the Suez Canal; a man made waterway connecting the Mediteranean Sea to the Red Sea. France took control over most of western North Africa. Spain and Italy also gained territory in Morocco and Somalia.

Britain grabbed more land in Africa while France had most of West Africa. Germany and Portugal also claimed land in Africa south of the Sahara. Europe had taken over nearly all of Africa. The only country to remain uncolonized was Ethiopia.
Nearly all Africans suffered under rule as their land was taken. Though Europeans banned slavery, and built schools, hospitals, roads and railroads, European colonization devastated the people and cultures of Africa.

In the mid 1900s, Africans began to rebel. Ghana in the 1940s Kwame Nkrumah introduced the idea of Pan-Africanism which was a belief in the unity of all Black Africans worldwide. The Kikuyu people of Kenya began an organization in the 1920s to fight for freedom from Great Britain. Kenya became independent in 1963. Jomo Kenyatta would become the newly independent Kenya’s first leader. In 1960 Nigeria became independent after a fierce struggle against the British.

In 1948, white South Africans known as Afrikaners made apartheid law. Apartheid is a policy of legal separation based on race. Under apartheid, black South Africans were forced to live and work where whites demanded. Blacks could not marry white people, and they received poor health care and schooling. Black South Africans were not allowed to vote so they had no say in the government.

The policies of apartheid led to violent revolts. Black South Africans formed the African National Congress to work for governmental change. One member of the ANC, Steven Biko was arrested and murdered by police. His murder drew the attention of famous singers who began to protest to wrongess of apartheid. Nelson Mandela is the best known leader of the African National Congress. Instead of becoming a clan leader, Mandela instead went to school to become a lawyer.

Rwanda is a small country divided between two ethnic groups, the minority Tutsi and majority Hutu. Before Rwanda became a Belgium colony, the Tutsi ruled the Hutu. During colonization, the Belgium government preferred the Tutsi and used them to control the Hutu people. Independence came to Rwanda in 1962 after which violence broke out and the Hutu took control. The country continued to experience violence until 1994 when Hutu began to engage in genocide against the Tutsi people.

Life was not perfect in Africa after independence. Countries that had been colonized were economically devastated. Things were made more difficult because the Eruopeans had drawn country lines without regard to where different ethnic groups were located. Belgium Congo became independent in 1960. The country was unable to create a stable, fair government. 1965 Joseph Mobutu seized power. The suffering of the people of Congo continued due his corruption and violence.

Between 800,000 to 1 million Tutsi people were murdered. Eventually the Tutsi came back into power and restored peace. Millions of Hutus escaped into the Democratic Republic of Congo where the Hutu and Tutsi continued to fight.

Sudan gained its independence from Great Britain in 1956. In the northern part of the country most people were Muslim Arabs. In the south most people were not Arab. Many religions were practiced in the south with Christianity being the most common. The country's government was in the north.
After independence, the people in the south rebelled against northern rule leading to two civil wars from 1956 to 1972 and from 1983 to 2005. Millions of people died in 2011.

Nigeria suffered from violence among its many ethnic groups. In 1976 the Igbo people tried to declare themselves independent. They named their new country Biafra. The actions of the Igbo launched a civil war in which over one million people died before the Igbo agreed to remain part of Nigeria. In 1910 South Africa was granted independence from Great Britain. Although white people were a minority (smaller group) in South Africa, they controlled the government and businesses.

In 1964, Mandela was arrested and sentenced to life in prison for his actions. Mandela would not be silenced and continued to protest from prison. F.W. de Klerk was elected president of South Africa in 1989. de Klerk realized that apartheid could not continue. In 1990, he announced the end of apratheid and released Nelson Mandela from prison. In 1993, Mandela and de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work in ending apartheid.

In Darfur, an area west of Sudan, water is scarce which led to black farmers fighting with Arab herders for control of what water exists. The Sudanese government backed the herders and overlooked the terrible acts of violence the herders were using against the farmers. Nearly 300,000 people were forced from their homes and between 100,000 and 400,000 people were murdered. Today most consider the actions of Sudanese government and the herders to be genocide; which is an effort to kill.

One of the worst outcomes of colonialism was it left countries with weak governments that often became dictatorships. In 2010, people in Tunisia began to agitate for a more democratic government. This movement became known as the Arab Spring.

Unfortunately, not all of the rebel groups supported the new government which has led to further violence as groups fight to control oil rich areas. The violence has also given terrorist groups the opportunity to establish bases and carry out attacks.
At the beginning of the Arab Spring Egypt was under the leadership of President Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak was a dictator who had controlled Egypt for 30 years. He was forced to resign in 2011.

In Tunisia, protestors used social media to spread their message against a government, high prices and human rights abuses. In 2011, President Ben Ali resigned and democratic government was elected. Similar victories occurred in Algeria and Morocco. In Libya, dictator Muammar Qaddafi refused to step down. Instead, war broke out. Other countries, including the United States supported the rebels fighting against Qaddafi. Qaddafi was captured and killed in 2011, and a new government.

Mubarak was replaced by an Islamic fundamentalist government led by Mohammed Morsi in 2012. Morsi’s term was short because in 2013, his government was overthrown by the military. Morsi was imprisoned and his political party was banned. The new government gave more power to the police and military in the new constitution.

Slavery in Africa

Golden Age

European Traders

Slavery

Britain

Rebellion

South Africans

Policies

Rwanda

Life was not perfect

Tutsi

Sudan

Nigeria

Mandela

Darfur

Tunisia

Mubarak

Tunisia

Islamic