There have been many troubling events in world history. One of the most important of these is the so-called colonization of Africa, or as Westerners call it, the "civilization" of Africa. When we take a look at the history of colonialism, we see that this problem spans a historical period of almost five hundred years across five continents. However, in this article, we will only briefly look for the answer to the question espesificly African content.
With the beginning of the Renaissance movements, the dynamics of Europe changed radically. The influence of the Roman Catholic Church over Europe, which reached the level of tyranny, and the rising Ottoman Empire in the East caused serious changes in Europe. As the Ottomans took over all trade routes coming from the East, and their superiority over Europe in every context increased significantly, these states, especially England, Portugal, Spain, France (later to be joined by Germany, the Netherlands and Italy), would seek ways to overthrow their hegemony.
Over time, with the translation of ancient Greek and Roman texts, they applied the inspiration they received in science, art and culture to their own times and developed their own civilization, the concept we call “Western Civilization”. There was a rising merchant class in Europe, and we see that this class and nobles became richer by weakening the authority of the papacy with the Renaissance.
In addition to all these, these newly enriched classes would seek new ways to add wealth to their fortunes and increase their influence and glory. Some of the tools for this were the more effective use of the compass in the maritime sense, and ships that were more durable and capable of long voyages. Europeans would use these new tools. We also see Portugal and Spain settling and establishing agricultural colonies on the islands of the region. Portuguese ships were first seen off the coast of West Africa in 1422. Portugal's first aim when it came here was not actually the slave trade. Western Europeans who wanted to overthrow the hegemonies established by states such as the Ottomans, Venice and Genoa in Mediterranean trade achieved what they were looking for with Portugal's explorations in the region.
When we look at the region, apart from various tribal states, we also come across centralized states, but these structures never had the power to compete with the Westerners in terms of technology. The first trade in the region was based on local goods(gold and spices, pepper, ivory, dye trees, gum wax, leather, timber and slaves). However, as the years progressed, local elements were unable to meet the supply and demand created by their new customers. Unable to make a profit in this way, the Westerners began to plunder the coastal regions and did not hesitate to use the local people as slaves. However, it is worth noting that there was slave trade in the region before the arrival of the westerners. In this sense, when Ibn Battuta visited Mali, he saw many slaves in the sultan's catering service. However, the main reason for his surprise was not the number of slaves but their nakedness. The late Guyana scholar Walter Rodney argued that Africans rarely owned slaves. I will go into more detail on this subject in another article, so I will not go into it in detail in this article. Let's stay on topic. Our insatiable invaders were no longer satisfied with what was offered to them. After Portugal, The Netherlands and England, who would have a serious presence in the region, established permanent settlements in the region.Other states followed. The vast majority of slaves were transported by ship to the Americas to work as expendable human resources on plantations established in Europe's new discovery of America. Various sources put the number of slaves at around 10 million. The sugar plantations in Brazil and the Caribbean were the most common destinations in this sense. The natural riches of the region were exploited for centuries by displacing, by turning them against each other and enslaving the peoples of the region. So why Africans and not Europeans or Indians, the indigenous peoples of the new continent of America? The most important reason why Africans were put to work in America was that they were more resistant to many diseases than others. They were also better able to adapt to new climates and were intimately familiar with the products of the plantation economy. This became their curse.
The region's lack of technological development and the fact that the Suez canal had not yet been opened made it the only route to Asia at the time, and it was never possible to go south of the Sahara deserts. These virgin lands were seen as an open buffet, so to speak, for the westerners. Millions of people were taken to many continents, especially America, to be used as slaves. These people either perished on the ships during transportation or were treated inhumanely in their destinations. Considering that these people were young and in the most productive periods of their lives, we see that the dynamic population of a continent was taken away and generations were destroyed. In the 18th century (1701-1810), the golden century of slavery, around 6 million people were transported from Africa.
At the end of this whole process, an order in which White people ruled and Black people were ruled and had no say ruled the whole continent. Considering how many people were affected by the colonization movements in this period alone, it seems horrifying to think how many lives were stolen over the entire period. If we look at the Westerners, they claim that they have civilized these lands. It would be better to examine this historical event more objectively after putting aside the fairy tales about colonialism spreading civilization. Even though there are so-called independent states in Africa today, the continent's mineral and human resources are still exploited, if not under the name of slavery, then under different concepts. With this introductory article I have written, I would like to present to you in why the continent is in this state today under more detailed headings.
REFERENCES
AUGHTON, Peter, Dünya’nın Çehresini Değiştiren Seyahatler, Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, İstanbul, 2021.
FERRO, Marc, Sömürgecilik Tarihi, İmge Kitabevi, Ankara, 2017.
HOFFMAN, Philip T., Avrupa Neden Dünyayı Fethetti?, Say Yayınları, İstanbul, 2019.
LURAGHI, Raimondo, Sömürgecilik Tarihi, E Yayınları, İstanbul, 2019.
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