Independence and its

challenges for Africa

What are common challenges for

African countries?

• When the Age of Imperialism ended and

the European nations began returning

power to the African countries many

challenges faced the new nations.

Turn to your neighbor…

• How does this

political cartoon

show the impact

of imperialism on

Africa?

Turn to your neighbor…

• This cartoon shows

Cecil Rhodes who

wanted to create a

railroad to connect

from Cape Town,

South Africa to

Cairo, Egypt to

connect all of the

British colonies in

Africa.

Factors that led to the

fight for independence:

1.Nationalism - feeling of pride in one’s homeland

2.Pan - African - movement that stressed unity and cooperation among all Africans. Slogan was “Africa” for “Africans”. Tried to unify all ethnic groups to work together to overcome colonization, by putting aside old conflicts and working as one group.

Factors that led to the

fight for independence:

3. African countries demanded independence after they assisted Europeans during the fighting of World War II. They had supplied the Europeans with supplies and allowed the use of airfields.

4. Having colonies was increasing seen as a negative way of ruling. WWII was fought to protect countries’ right to freedom and democracy, became increasingly difficult for the European countries to justify why colonies did not have these as well.

When did most African countries

gain independence?

When did most African countries

gain independence?

In 1960

Or between

1950-1964

• Some countries gained independence

peacefully; others had to fight for

independence. Some used the method of

boycott, when one refuses to buy or use

certain products or services. The new

countries struggled to maintain stable

governments and to deal with issues that

have faced them.

Look at the pictures…

What conclusions might you draw

about subsistence farmers?

Subsistence farming:

little use of technology

small groups of individuals working to grow crops

very limited use of fertilizers

Issues facing African governments:

• European colonies did not develop factories in Africa. Europeans took natural resources from Africa to supply their factories. Most economies in Africa are based on farming and mining. The majority of people in Africa are farmers. Most farmers are subsistence farmers – they grow enough food to take care of their families. Commercial farming is the large scale production of cash crops such as coffee, cocoa, and bananas. About 75% of the economies of Africa are specialized which means they depend on 1 or 2 products. Since they are not diversified they are very sensitive to price changes. Senegal has tried to diversify their economy and not depend on the sale of peanuts, which were 80% of their income in 1960 but only 25% today.

Issues facing African governments:

• African nations are working to improve their

literacy rates. Literacy is the ability to read and

write. African nations on working on improving

their life expectancy, which is how long an

average person will live. African nations are

also dealing with the issues of desertification

(the increase of deserts) and deforestation,

which is the removal of trees to increase

available farmland. This can lead to soil erosion

and then an additional increase in deserts.

4 Journeys to independence

• Nigeria

– British colony

– Independence in 1960

– Severe internal conflicts within and among

regions (civil wars)

– Military coups occurred that changed

leadership of country

– Petroleum industry has helped but still Nigeria

has high unemployment and inflation rates

4 Journeys to independence

• Kenya

– British colony

– Declared independent in 1963

– Jomo Kenyatta – government was a republic

and Kenyatta was president

– 1st decade – multiple conflicts with ethnic

groups, economic growth and diversification,

limits on foreign government

4 Journeys to independence

• Ghana

• British colony

• Gained independence in 1957

• Kwame Nkrumah – first leader but was

overthrown by coup -

• J.J. Rawlings – used funding from World

Bank to help improve the economy

4 Journeys to independence

• Democratic Republic of Congo

• Was ruled first by King Leopold then by the government of Belgium

• Has struggled since independence was gained in 1960

• Multiple conflicts with ethnic groups and with groups coming in from other bordering countries has caused continuing problems for country

Summarizing Acrostic

• Write the word INDEPENDENCE on your

paper as an acrostic poem

• Record a fact about African Independence

movements for each letter from your notes