The Scramble for Africa; Gone but not Forgotten

Simon Patmore-Zarcone

World Literature Honors

Elizabeth Tompkins

2/13/15

The Scramble for Africa; Gone but not Forgotten

The colonization of Africa by European powers during the 19th and 20th centuries has had a lasting effects on African geopolitics. One effect of European Imperialism is the numerous civil wars that have plagued Africa since countries began to gain independence. These civil wars are caused by poorly drawn borders that the European colonizers made up. These borders do not reflect ethnic groups, which leads to ethnic tensions within the states. One example of ethnic groups not being reflected by borders is Sudan. As you can see from the map above, most of northern Sudan is Arab whereas in South Sudan there are many different ethnic groups which are loosely based on tribal regions (Maps). The fact that the north is mostly Arab has created a conflict of interest between the north and the south. There have been many civil wars in Sudan, which, according to Weekly News Publications, “[were] caused by religious and territory disputes between Muslims in the north and Christians and Animists in the south” (Hecht). According to the BBC, the most recent conflict has lasted for “14-month[s]” and “has displaced more than a million people and killed tens of thousands” (S Sudan). The lack of respect for different ethnic groups in Sudan by European colonizers has created an eternal civil war.

In addition to poorly drawn borders, European imperialism has influenced Africa by oppressing its native peoples. One particularly harsh and lasting system of oppression is in South Africa with the apartheid system. To the left, a graph from the SAIRR Institute for Futures Research illustrates the income disparities based on race in South Africa. As you can see, blacks and mixed race South Africans earn the least, with whites earning the most. Despite the apartheid system being abolished in 1994, the white wages have gone up far more in comparison to black wages, showing that even though the government’s oppression is over, black South Africans have little or no chance at upward mobility. According to the United Nations Development Programme, South Africa had a GINI of 63.1% in 2013, this means that South Africa has a very large gap between the rich and the poor, or very poor wealth distribution. The same UNDP statistic measured South Africa 118th out of 187 in wealth distribution. While these statistics do not account for race, it is evident that most of the rich South Africans are white and most of the poor South Africans are black. European Imperialism during the 19th and 20th Centuries scarred the sleeping giant that was Africa, leaving it with many lasting issues.

Works Cited

Hecht, Katie. ""On the Run: Winning Entry Tells How a Sudanese Boy Escaped from His Country during a Civil War."" Weekly Reader. Scholastic, 9 May 2011. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.

"Human Development Reports." Income Gini Coefficient. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.

"Letter: War in Sudan." Independent [London, England] 26 Apr. 1999: 2. Global Issues In Context. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.

"Maps Help Understand Regional Differences During Sudan Referendum." South Sudan Info. Wordpress.com, 10 Jan. 2011. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.

"S Sudan Talks Failure 'unacceptable'" BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.

"South Africa." Economic Update: Fiscal Policy and Redistribution in an Unequal Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.

Verjee, Aly. "Two nations, two messes." Globe & Mail [Toronto, Canada] 6 July 2011: A15. Global Issues In Context. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.