Pan-Africanism - history.

Pan-Africanism - history. I INTRODUCTION Pan-Africanism, philosophy that is based on the belief that African people share common bonds and objectives and that advocates unity to achieve these objectives. In the views of different proponents throughout its history, Pan-Africanism has been conceived in varying ways. It has been applied to all black African people and people of black African descent; to all people on the African continent, including nonblack people; or to all states on the African continent. The formal concept of Pan-Africanism initially developed outside of Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It developed as a reaction to the impact of European colonialism in Africa on peoples of African descent. In the mid-20th century, activists in Africa adopted Pan-Africanism as a rallying cry for independence from colonial rule. Some African Pan-Africanists sought to unite the continent as one independent nation. From these origins and objectives, Pan-Africanism developed in two basic forms. In one form, known as Continental Pan-Africanism, it advocates the unity of states and peoples within Africa, either through political union or through international cooperation. In its other, broader form, known as Diaspora Pan-Africanism, it relates to solidarity among all black Africans and peoples of black African descent outside the African continent. Developed and interpreted by thinkers, authors, and activists around the world, Pan-Africanism remains a significant force in global politics and thought. II BACKGROUND Atlantic Slave Trade Most slaves brought to the Americas came from the west central coast of Africa. Although slaves were transported throughout the Americas, the vast majority went to sugar plantations in the Caribbean islands and Brazil. © Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. European contact with sub-Saharan Africa began in the mid-15th century, when the Portuguese established a thriving trade on Africa's western coast. By the end of the century, in addition to buying items such as pepper, gold, and ivory, the Portuguese were buying increasing numbers of African slaves. The Portuguese were followed by slave traders and colonists from Britain and, later, France. In the 16th century the expansion of agricultural plantation economies in new European colonies in North and South America and the Caribbean made African slavery exceedingly profitable. European demand for African slaves increased, and more and more Africans were enslaved by West and Central African slave traders and taken from Africa. See Atlantic Slave Trade. Early European trade in Africa was accompanied from its very beginning by European attempts to seize territory from African states in order to secure control of the sources of the goods they were purchasing. After conquering territory, European colonialists set out to control the African population for use as inexpensive labor in plantations, mines, and other flourishing businesses established in the African colonies. In this way, the first contacts of European traders with Africa marked the beginning of European domination of African peoples. Colonialism systematically degraded Africans, both slaves and residents of Europe's African colonies. Slaves labored under cruel and dehumanizing conditions for no pay or extremely low wages. Furthermore, these slaves were scattered in far-flung European colonies, separated from their African homes and relatives. From the mid-15th century to the late 19th century, an estimated 6 percent of Africans in the slave trade were taken to the British territory that became the United States; 17 percent were sent to Spanish territory in North and South America; 40 percent to European-held islands in the Caribbean Sea; and 38 percent to Portuguese territory in South America. This dispersion of African peoples is known as the African Diaspora. The term Diaspora also refers to these dispersed peoples' descendents, who largely compose the present-day population of people of African descent outside of Africa. Africans in the African colonies were indoctrinated with the notion of the inherent supremacy of European culture through everyday interaction with Europeans and through the few colonial schools Europeans established. The political systems of the indigenous African peoples were transformed, as traditional African rulers were usually forced to act as pawns of the colonial administration. Colonialism also had a major economic impact on Africans, as agricultural commodities, minerals, and people were usually exported from the African colonies to Europe and the New World rather than being used for the direct benefit of Africans. Roads, bridges, ports, and other facilities were built only to facilitate this export trade. Slavery and the colonial system were hated by Africans and were institutions that the Pan-African movement arose to combat. Pan-Africanism also develop...