africa and the middle east section 1. africa and the middle east section 1 preview starting points...

Africa and the Middle East Section 1


Preview

• Starting Points Map: Africa and the Middle East

• Main Idea / Reading Focus

• British and French Colonies

• Faces of History: Jomo Kenyatta

• Portuguese and Belgian Colonies

• South Africa

• Map: Independence in Africa

African Nations Gain Independence


Click the icon to play Listen to History audio.

Click the icon below to connect to the Interactive Maps.


Reading Focus

• What ideas and actions led to independence for British and French colonies?

• Why did Portuguese and Belgian colonies have difficulty achieving independence?

• What effect did apartheid have on the lives of black South Africans?

Main Idea

After World War II, almost all countries in Africa gained independence from ruling European powers.

African Nations Gain Independence


After 1945 European colonial powers began a process of decolonization—the withdrawal of colonial powers from their colonies and areas of influence. Great Britain and France led the way.

• British colony of the Gold Coast, West Africa, first to achieve independence

• African leaders established convention to demand greater participation in government

Ghana

• Goal: to cooperate with British, gain influence peacefully

• Less cooperative movement also brewing

• 1947, Kwame Nkrumah became leader of Convention People’s Party (CCP)

Two Movements

• Nkrumah led strikes, demonstrations

• British jailed him

• Still transformed CCP into major political party

• 1951, British pressured into allowing national elections

National Elections

British and French Colonies


New Nation

CCP swept Gold Coast national elections

• Nkrumah continued to press for independence

– 1957, Britain granted Gold Coast full independence

– Nkrumah became first prime minister of new nation, Ghana


In the 1950s the Kenyan path to independence did not go as smoothly as it did in Ghana.

• Ownership of land, possibility of independence led to conflict between white Kenyan farmers, native Kikuyu people

• Farmers feared independence would cause them to lose large tracts of valuable cash crops in Kenyan highlands

• Kikuyu wanted these ancestral homelands back

Conflict • Leader of Kenya’s nationalist

movement, Jomo Kenyatta argued for Kikuyu’s right to land, its importance

• Many Kikuyu farmers formed violent movement, Mau Mau

• Group terrorized highlands, murdered anyone opposing them, including Africans who cooperated with white settlers

Mau Mau

Kenya


British Regain Control

British eventually regained control of colony

• British murdered, tortured members of Mau Mau movement

• Late 1950s, British convinced to accept decolonization

– 1963, Kenya became independent nation

– Jomo Kenyatta became first prime minister


Different Path

• French African colonies followed different path toward independence

• French goal had been to incorporate colonies into France itself

• Prime Minister Charles de Gaulle tried to pursue goal after World War II

French Community

• 1958, de Gaulle called for referendum on continued union

• Most colonies voted to join new organization, known as French Community

• France granted most colonies of Community independence a few years later

Benefits in Relationship

• African leaders believed they should have greater opportunities for self-rule

• However, rejected final break with France because they believed Africans could attain economic, cultural benefits from continued relationship

French Africa


Find the Main Idea

How did Britain grant independence to its African colonies?

Answer(s): Britain granted independence to its colonies after they began nationalist movements.


• After World War II, Belgian government agreed to prepare people of Belgian Congo for self-government

• 1950s, African nationalists in Congo demanded immediate self-government

• 1960, Belgians announced complete withdrawal; soon violence toward Belgian settlers, civil war erupted

Belgian Congo

• Transition to independence for Belgian, Portuguese colonies more difficult than for British, French

• Belgians, Portuguese held on to colonies longer than any other European nations

• Violence forced decolonization

Transition Difficult

Portuguese and Belgian Colonies


Bloody Warfare in Portuguese Colonies

• Long years of bloody warfare marked last decades of Portuguese rule

• War, military coup in Portugal drained Portuguese economy; made it impossible to continue support of colonies

• 1974, Portugal withdrew completely from Africa

Leaders Emerge in Portuguese Colonies

• Portugal continued to hold on to colonies

• Meanwhile, African leaders emerged in colonies of Angola, Portuguese Guinea, Mozambique

• Leaders organized armies to fight for independence


Summarize

How did Africans in the Portuguese colonies achieve independence?

Answer(s): African leaders organized armies to fight for independence; years of bloody warfare ended Portuguese rule.


Apartheid laws banned interracial marriages, and placed further restrictions on African ownership of land and businesses.

In the early 1900s South Africa was run by white Afrikaners—descendants of the original Dutch settlers. Even though South Africa had received independence from Great Britain in 1910, nonwhites in South Africa were not free under the Afrikaner government.

• 1948, racial discrimination heightened when Afrikaner-dominated National Party began to run South African government

• Instituted policy of apartheid, “apartness” in Afrikaner language

Apartheid

South Africa

• Apartheid policy divided into four racial groups: White, Black, Colored (mixed ancestry), Asian

• Attempted to create greater separation between whites, nonwhites, impose harsh controls

Racial Separation


• Under apartheid, only white South Africans could vote, hold political office

• Blacks made up nearly 75 percent of population, were denied South African citizenship

• Restricted to certain occupations, very little pay

Citizenship Denied

• Apartheid laws especially harsh on blacks in South Africa

• Required to carry passes, identity books

• Also faced imprisonment if police found them in an area for more than 72 hours without pass

Laws Harsh on Blacks

Apartheid Laws


Townships

• Apartheid placed limits on where blacks could live

• Required to live in impoverished areas of cities called townships

Citizenship

• Did not include good farmland, resources

• Used homelands as excuse for depriving blacks of citizenship

Further Segregation

• Restricted businesses allowed in townships, kept people poor

• 1950s, created rural “homelands” for tribes, groups

Aliens

• Men forced to migrate without families to work in mines, factories, farms

• Homeland policy made millions resident aliens in own country

Homelands


Find the Main Idea

What was apartheid, and how did it function?

Answer(s): policy of separating whites and nonwhites and placing restrictions upon nonwhites; enforced by police, laws

africa and the middle east section 1. africa and the middle east section 1 preview starting points...

Documents

independence slide

middle east section

independence nkrumah

west africa

africa african nations

possibility of independence

independence french

french colonies