Winds of Change European Imperialism in Africa Essay

Imagine being with your family in your home and a neighbor comes and tells you that aliens have invaded a distant town and have taken half of its population and killed the other half. Chances are that you would think that they had lost their mind and would ignore them. In our society today we would find something like that to be highly unlikely. Now imagine that you and your family have good relations with the town that had been invaded. You have played sports against them growing up and you do your shopping there. You know that the citizens of that town are tough individuals and would not be easily defeated. The tribes of the lower Niger River had experienced these same things in the late 19th century. Although they were not invaded by†¦show more content†¦The children of a husband and wife were property of the husband. Okonkwo made this clear by saying â€Å"I have even heard that in some tribes a man’s children belong to his wife† when talking about other vi llages’ customs. (Achebe 74) You were well respected for having many wives. To obtain a wife, the man must first ask a woman to marry him and then meet with her family and pay the â€Å"bride price†. In Umuofia the â€Å"bride price† was settled with sticks. (Achebe 73) The two parties would delegate how much the â€Å"bride price† would be by the number of sticks that the placed on the table. One stick was equal to one cowrie, which was the currency of Umuofia. A woman’s main job was to serve her husband. Women did other jobs such as taking care of children, cleaning, and cooking. One thing that really stands out in Umuofian society is the harsh discipline that comes after someone has committed a crime. One of the clearest displays of this is during a sort of funeral for one of the village elders everyone was shooting guns into the sky and dancing and then a boy collapsed dead. â€Å"Okonkwo’s gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierc ed the boy’s heart.† (Achebe 124) The villagers believed â€Å"it was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansmen, and a man who committed it must flee from the land.† (Achebe 124) So Okonkwo had to leave the clan for seven years. As added punishment the walls and huts of the person responsibleShow MoreRelatedAssess the Significance of Strategic Factors in Bringing About Change in Relation to Expansion and Dismantling of the British Empire in Africa in the Period C1870 – C19812318 Words   |  10 PagesAssess the significance of strategic factors in bringing about change in relation to expansion and dismantling of the British Empire in Africa in the period c1870 – c1981 The British expansion into the Dark Continent rose as fast as it declined, although there were many contributing factors to expansion, those same factors then contributed to the decolonisation of the continent. Historian Bernard Porter argues that formal imperialism for Britain was a symptom and an effect of its relative declineRead MoreEcological Imperialism by Alfred W. Crosby1117 Words   |  4 PagesIn the book Ecological Imperialism: The Biological expansion of Europe, 900-1900 the author, Alfred W. Crosby, answers many questions about the history of European expansion. It is a well written and thought out book with great analogies and detailed information that help the reader understand what exactly Crosby is trying to say. He starts off his book by explaining what the Neo-Europes are. They are a population who settled in the temperate zones and are mainly European descents. The questionsRead MoreBritish Imperialization Of Africa1885 Words   |  8 PagesThe reason for Britis h Imperialisation of Africa was for wealth, minerals, hold of authority, trade of gold and other resources and agricultural advancement. The British occupations of Africa were met with serious resentment by the native Africans. These resulted in wars and other violent conflicts. Imperialism by definition is were a nation or empire extends its power by the colonization of territories. This may include exploitation of these territories. Many empires throughout history have imperializedRead MoreDecolonization Of The Economic And Political Relations Between The Colonies And Their Colonizers1710 Words   |  7 Pageswas the process in which they achieved their independence and the relationship they had with their former colonizer and the international community at large. For Africa which was largely colonized by the British Empire, and later dismantled suggests that intense African nationalism in conjunction with international backlash for imperialism. By the mid to late 19th century, the industrialized powers of the world like Europe and the America s had colonized much of the African continent, Asia andRead MoreHistory Essay: The Reforms of Napoleon Bonaparte2016 Words   |  8 Pagessomeone who just five years earlier (1799) was a commander of artillery for the revolutionary faction. In 1804 he proclaimed himself Emperor of France, and that started a chain of events which embroiled the country in one of the greatest wars in European history. Most people know Napoleon as the instigator of a drive at the conquest of Europe (with probably the rest of the world in his sights afterward). The coup dÃÆ' ©tat that he was the leader of was successful in war, for a time, but it was alsoRead MoreWhat Extent Where The British Forced And The Middle East? Essay2005 Words   |  9 Pagesthat may have contributed to the collapse both domestically and internationally to ascertain the cause of forced decolonization. To fully answer this question, we must first establish as to what ideology the British had adopted in terms of its imperialism during this period. Whilst it can certainly be argued that the seeds for decolonization had been sewn in the 1920s and 1930s they never came into fruition until after the Second World War. This in turn gave way to enlightened thinking amongst theRead MoreThe Nature Of The African Landscape10552 Words   |  43 Pages I seek to investigate how the nature of the African landscape has been depicted in Heart of Darkness. Questions such as 1.) How the Orientalist others the foreign landscape 2.) What is the psychological influence of the African landscape on the European colonisers? 3.) Does the psychological influenceon the Whites similar to that of the Blacks? 4.) And, what are the consequences of that psychological influence on the White invaders and the natives? These arguments are presented in ascending orderRead More Achebe’s Inability to Understand Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Essay3028 Words   |  13 Pageshistorical fact, and the parallel between the African and the European women, among others. Achebe misinterprets Conrads work, and exhibits opacity to the narratives message. He seems to purport, as any reader, a subjective interpretative reading of Conrads book, with the peculiarity of continuously taking fragments out of their contexts, and creating an entire ideology behind them. His main argument is that the European Conrad presents Africa as the other world, the antithesis of Europe and thereforeRead MoreCatal Hyuk2725 Words   |  11 PagesLascaux CHAPTER TWO: Early Societies in SW Asia and Indo-European Migrations IDENTITIES: The Epic of Gilgamesh Sargon of Akkad Hammurabi’s Codes/Laws Stele Assyrians Economic Specialization Stratified Patriarchal Society Elite, Commoner, Dependent, Slave Cuneiform Moses Polytheism Cross-Cultural Interaction Cross-Cultural Exchange Semitic City-state Hammurabi Indo-Europeans Hittites Hanging Gardens of Babylon Bronze and Iron MetallurgyRead MoreRepresentation of the Other in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre Essay4463 Words   |  18 Pagescolonialist relations and post-colonial examination and subversion of those relations has taken place. Helen Tiffin argues that’ in conquest and colonization, texts and textuality played a major part. European texts-anthropologies, histories, fiction, captured the non-European subject within European frameworks which read his or her alterity as terror or lack’. (1995:83). It is important to note that meanings are constructed in and through systems of representation and they are mediated through dominant