1. AIM:AFRICAN INDEPENDENCE

2. Main Idea After World War II, almost all countries in Africa gained
independence from ruling European powers.
African Nations Gain Independence
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?

3. GHANA • British colony of the
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.
GHANA
• British colony of the
Gold Coast, West
Africa, first to achieve
independence
• African leaders
established
convention to
demand greater
participation in
Government
TWO MOVEMENTS
• Goal: to cooperate
with British, gain
influence peacefully
• Less cooperative
movement also
Brewing
• 1947, Kwame
Nkrumah became
leader of Convention
People’s Party (CCP)
NATIONAL ELECTIONS
• Nkrumah led strikes,
demonstrations
• British jailed him
• Still transformed CCP
into major political
party
• 1951, British
pressured into
allowing national
elections

4. 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

5. KENYA
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 movement
• Late 1950s, British convinced to accept decolonization
1963, Kenya became independent nation Jomo Kenyatta became first prime minister
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

6. Belgian & Portuguese After World War II, Belgian
government agreed to prepare
people of Belgian Congo for
self-government
• 1950s, African nationalists in
Congo demanded immediate
• 1960, Belgians announced
complete withdrawal; soon
violence toward Belgian
settlers, civil war erupted
• Transition to independence for Belgian, Portuguese colonies
more difficult than for British,
French
• Belgians, Portuguese held onto
colonies longer than any other
European nations
• Violence forced decolonization
Transition Difficult Portuguese and Belgian Colonies

7. Bloody Warfare 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
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.
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

9. Aim: How does Africa Gain Independence?
SOUTH AFRICA: ( )
APARTHEID: whites(minority) strengthened their grips on S.A. imposing a system of racial segregation.
GOALS: ensure white economic power

10. LAWS: Restricted better paying jobs in mines, etc to whites only
Blacks had to carry passes at all times
Evicted from the best land
Forced to live in crowded reserves (HOMELANDS)
Separate bathrooms, schools, etc.

11. LAWS: Restricted better paying jobs in mines, etc to whites only
Blacks had to carry passes at all times
Evicted from the best land
Forced to live in crowded reserves (HOMELANDS)
Separate bathrooms, schools, etc.

12. 1912
AFRICANS STRIKE BACK
Educated africans set up a political party known as:
(ANC) AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS
Protested laws through legal means
Protested laws that restricted Black Freedoms
Promoted Pan-Africanism – emphasized the unity of Africans and of people of African descent around the world.

13. Apartheid Segregates Society
1948, the National Party came to power in South Africa
Afrikaner- Dutch South African, Nationalism
Sharpeville Massacre- 1960, police killed 69 people, it was an organized boycott, strikes protest. Run by the ANC
ANC Leader Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.

14. European Motives For Colonization European Nationalism
Source for
Raw
Materials
Missionary Activity
Industrial
Revolution
European
Motives
For Colonization
Markets for Finished Goods
Military & Naval Bases
Social Darwinism
European Racism
Places to Dump Unwanted/ Excess Popul.
Humanitarian Reasons
Soc. & Eco. Opportunities
“White Man’s Burden”