The Origins of Colonialism

An overview before diving into colonialism in Africa

You can count the number of countries that never experienced colonialism on the tip of your fingers. One can say it is something that has existed since antiquity. The Roman Empire, Ancient Greece and Egypt all practiced a rudimentary yet efficient system of colonialism. The Roman Empire, for example, which was the largest empire at any point in history, thrived off colonialism. Their powerful army and fleet was unmatched at that time, and permitted them to conquer most of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia. 

We understand colonialism as the practice of acquiring full or partial control over a country or independent territory, by occupying it with settlers and exploiting it economically. Acquiring, for those who have experienced or live with the effects of colonialism, acquiring is a tender word for attacking, conquering a population, exploiting it, while often imposing foreign languages and cultural values on its people. Very often accompanies this narcissistic behavior, small yet meaningful tendencies such as renaming places which the local population already have names for, and announcing to the world that they have discovered it like is some sort of invention they conjured from midair. Colons often arrogate themselves to right to reinvent people’s cultures and claim discoveries as if the people who they met there did not know where they were. Having this in mind, I will humor use the word discovered for the sake of better understanding. It is a message of awareness I am trying to convey, after all. 

Modern colonization in its own commenced during the Age of Discovery, the frontrunners being Portugal, Spain and the Ottoman Empire, in their quest to discover new trade routes and other civilizations existing out of Europe. In the late 15th century, many Portuguese sailors made their way through the coastline of Africa; occasionally stopping to explore what they hoped will become lucrative trading stations. A party of sailors and explorers led by Fernando Po were the first Europeans to see the islands of what we know as the Gulf of Guinea in 1472. At the estuary of the river that the locals called Wouri, Po realized there was an abundance of mud lobster (Lepidophthalmus turneranus), so he named the river Rio Dos Camaroes, which is Portuguese for River of Prawns. The Portuguese sailors progressed further south to discover a sea route around Africa’s southern coast in 1488.

The colonial interest in the African continent was almost inexistent at that time, mostly because the continent was relatively unknown and vast. The few Europeans who tried to penetrate the hinterlands met harsh weather conditions, diseases and dense forests, which made mobility particularly problematic. By 1492, one of the Spanish exploration parties led by Cristopher Columbus had arrived a new continent and dubbed it The New World (The Americas). His eventual report of the area was more auspicious, and it raised a new-fangled excitement amongst the European monarchy that Africa had not produced, so they concentrated most of their resources towards The Americas, funding more expeditions, supplies and settlers. Europeans established colonies in The Americas, using brutal methods to subjugate the locals who concocted any form of resistance to them. In fact, Columbus made Governor of one of the colonies by the Spanish crown, which was renamed Hispaniola, but his rule was so brutal and abusive that he was removed, not after causing irretrievable damage. Intolerable taxes, inhuman corporal punishment for those who rebelled or who could not reach their quotas, arbitrary killings and the rape of both local men and women the order of the day in those colonies. An estimated three million people died during his harsh rule. Rumors alongside proven historical facts drives us to the conclusion that Columbus had a major part in the implementation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. During one of his voyages, driven by his insane desire for wealth, he rounded up about 550 natives, chained them and brought them to the Spanish crown, in hope of selling them as servants. Many died along the way due to pitiable treatment and diseases. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella did not like the idea and ordered the trade in Spain to stop. Disappointed, Columbus returned and instituted a tribute system, where natives had to provide a little quantity of gold every three months. Those who failed to meet this quota had their hands cut off. Due to public indignation back home, Columbus replaced the tribute system with another, called the Encomienda System, where the governor will give the natives to the European colons to work for them with little compensation, which they seldom ever received. After consultation with specialists, Ferdinand and Isabella banned slavery in Spain, but approved of it in the New World colonies in 1503. Merely two years later, due to high demand and the fragility of the natives, who were dying alarmingly fast due to cruel treatment, the use of African slaves started in the New World. This was the foundation of the most brutal and barbaric system the world had ever seen which, sadly, lasted for centuries.