Indirect Rule

Indirect Rule
• Local rulers allowed to keep their authority
and status in the new colonial setting
• Made access to region’s natural resources
easier
• Was cheaper because few officials had to be
trained
• Affected the local culture less
• But some local elites resisted foreign conquest
• Was used by Great Britain
 Indirect Rule
• First implemented by Lord Lugard in Nigeria
and used by the British in West Africa
• Consisted of keeping the African power
structure and making it part of the colonial
administration
• If there was no local power structure, then
new tribes and chiefs were created.
• The local leaders had to follow the colonial
rules in return for protection, salaries and gifts
 Indirect Rule
• The local leaders were responsible for
collecting taxes, providing cheap labor, and
reporting back to the governor or the colony
• The governor was an official appointed by the
British government
• The intent of the British was not to destroy
the African structure and culture, but to share
skills and values
 Colonization under Indirect Rule
• A British colonial administrator Frederick D.
Lugard was the driving force behind the
doctrine of indirect rule, which the British
employed in many of its African colonies.
• Lugard wrote The Dual Mandate in British
Tropical Africa.
• In this he stressed the moral and financial
advantages of exercising control over subject
populations through indigenous (native)
institutions.
Frederick D. Lugard
 Indirect Control
• Lugard thought that by using tribal and
customary laws Europeans could establish a
strong foundation for colonial rule.
• Forms of indirect rule worked in regions
where Africans had already established
strong and highly organized states
• Often this plan was not effective, especially
in the regions that were not well organized
under the control of its colonial leaders.
 Indirect Rule
• British administrators made all the major
decisions while local authorities just carried
out the orders
• Kept the old African elite in power and
provided few opportunities for ambitious and
talented young Africans
• Sowed the seeds for class and tribal tensions
of the 20th century
 Indirect Company Rule
• Was adopted in Northern and Southern Rhodesia, now
Zimbabwe and Zambia
• Was implemented by Cecil Rhodes
• In 1888, Rhodes set up his own private company, the British
South Africa Company, after he acquired control of the gold
and diamond resources in the area
• Between 1890 and 1923, Rhodes and his company set up a
colonial administration using the British system of indirect
rule
• In 1923, the company colony became self-governing
• The white settlers ran the administration free from British
government control
 Difficulties Under Indirect Rule
• Many colonial leaders were confused by the
complexity of tribal laws and boundaries and
imposed their own idea of what they thought was
tribal boundaries and tribal laws.
• This was done with little regard to the differences
between tribes and these tribes were split up into
what Europeans thought was acceptable boundaries.
• These colonial boundaries divided ethnic groups or
grouped traditional enemies.
• Some groups were even given limited access to
water in their newly drawn up lines of tribal
territories.
 Results of Indirect Rule
• As a result of colonial rule with little
regard to African’s tribal boundaries and
practices many African nations today are
fighting tribal wars
• Ex.(Rwandan genocide) and still having
disputes over land for reasons such as
ethnic dominance and control over
natural resources.
Effects of Imperialism
 Effects of Imperialism
• Positive
– Reduced Local Warfare
– The introduction of modern of transportation and
communication systems, such as telegraphs, railroads and
telephones.
– Improved Sanitation
– Introduction of medicine increased population
– Life Span and Literacy Rates Increased
• Negative
– Loss of land and independence
– Breakdown of traditional culture
– Division of Continent
 Effects of Imperialism
• Positive For Europe: The imperialists profited from
the colonies by digging mines, starting plantations,
and building factories and ports
• Negative for Africans:
• Africans were used as cheap labor and abused in
many colonies.
• Europeans divided Africa and ignored the tribal,
ethnic, and cultural boundaries of the African
people.
• This has led to tribal conflicts in many African
nations that continue to this day.
 Positive/Negative Effects of
Imperialism
• Led to the rise of African nationalism under a new
class of African leaders who had been educated
under the Western systems
• Saw the good and bad of the Western colonists
• Realized they were hypocrites---did not bring
democracy to Africa
• Upset by the segregated clubs, schools, and
churches
• Upset by how they would call African male boy
 Positive/NegativeEffects of
Imperialism
• Schools set up by Europeans taught Africans that
European ways were best
• A western-educated elite had emerged in many
European colonies in Africa
• These elite condemned imperialism
• They founded nationalist groups to push for self-rule
• By the end of the 20th Century Africa’s peoples had
won their political independence from European
rule
 Positive/Negative Effects of
•
Imperialism
Africans could communicate through a common
European language like English.
• Africans became part of a greater European
power.
• Africans became more ‘civilized’ and spread
Europeans customs and traditions.
• Africans were not using resources that benefitted
the Europeans.
• European entrepreneurs used those resources to
provide wealth and trade in Europe and Africa.
 Positive/Negative Effects of
•
Imperialism
The effect on the economies of Africa was to
provide more jobs and trade.
• Africans were used as labor and provided
passage as guides through undeveloped areas.
• Africans worked in mines, cleared jungles,
acted as interpreters, built railroads, and were
servants.
• Africans helped businesses by facilitating
trade and worked as local policemen to
maintain law and order.
 Positive Effects of Imperialism
• There was a uniform legal code instead of laws
varying from tribe to tribe.
• Intergenerational and intertribal wars were
eliminated.
• The European governments had the military
resources to maintain law and order peacefully.
• Africans were given salvation by converting to
Christianity.
• Africans went to school and learned to read and
write.
 Negative Effects of Imperialism
• African culture and heritage were replaced by
European culture and heritage.
• Many Africans were not included in society because
they did not speak the European languages.
• Indigenous peoples were divided according to
whether they followed European customs or not.
• A new set of values and beliefs was created
blending European and native traditions.
 Negative Effects of Imperialism
• Many of the natural resources were taken from
Africa without any environmental concerns.
• The profit from the natural resources went to the
Europeans.
• Most of the indigenous people were employed in
difficult manual labor and for very low wages.
• Indigenous economies were replaced by a market
economy.
• The Europeans imposed taxes and forced Africans
into the labor force.
 Negative Effects of Imperialism
• African peoples lost the power to govern their own
lives.
• African indigenous peoples already had laws and
traditions for maintaining order and did not need
European interference.
• African culture did not grow or prosper.
• There were arguments among the indigenous
peoples over which religion should guide the
people.
• Missionaries destroyed African culture.
 Negative Effects of Imperialism
• The colonial governments took much of the
land away from the Africans for personal and
commercial use, such as mining and large
commercial farms
• The Europeans took the best land for their
own
• Examples of this: Belgium and Britain in
Central, East, and South Africa
 Negative Effects of Imperialism
• Since European powers needed manpower to
manage their farms and mining companies, they
used Africans as cheap labor
• The Africans, either having lost their lands or not
able to live off their lands, began to move to towns,
farms, and mines in search of work
• The working conditions were horrible, often
involving corporal punishment and low wages.
• Wages were partially given in the form of cash and
partially as food rations
 Negative Effects of Imperialism
• The colonial governments needed money to pay for the
running of these overseas governments, and the mother
country gave them very little financial help.
• So the colonial governments taxed the Africans heavily
• Since taxes had to be paid in European currency, the
Africans were indirectly forced to work for the Europeans in
order to obtain the cash to pay the taxes
• The result of this was more and more Africans were forced
to work for Europeans
 Negative Effects of Imperialism
• Taxes: Europeans were quick to tax Africans on
anything they could
• According to Kumalo, “The government said,
‘You must contribute more; you must pay £1.’ We
did so. Then those who took more than one wife
were taxed… that is not all. We are also taxed for
our dogs… then we were told we were living on
private land; the owners wanted rent in addition
to the government tax…”
• Kumalo said, “If we do raise anything, it is never
our own: all, or most of it, goes back in taxation”
 Negative Effects of Imperialism
• Due to World War One and Two, the European colonial powers
started a new policy of forced labor in the 1920s
• Africans were recruited to work and sent to towns, farms, and mines
• This led to many African men being separated from their families,
since only men were used
• The villages lacked the manpower for food production, which led to
famine
• Male homosexuality and female prostitution increased among the
African communities in the towns
• There was alienation from traditional village life, which led to the
declining power of the village chiefs
• Immigrant laborers were brought from Asia to Africa and tensions
developed between the native Africans and the foreign immigrants
 Negative Effects of Imperialism
• The Europeans changed the economic structure of
African society
• They introduced commercial or cash crops to meet
the industrial demands of the home countries
• Cocoa, coffee, tea, and cotton were produced on a
large scale
• Minerals were mined extensively
• Resulted in neglecting of production of food for
basic needs
 Negative Effects of Imperialism
• Europeans changed the economy from one where
basic foods were produced to feed the native
peoples to an economy based on the production of
a few cash crops
• All the crops produced were exported to Europe at
prices set by the European countries
• Few colonies allowed the Africans to grow the cash
crops for their own benefit
• Trade was not allowed between Africans
• As a result, the Africans became produced of cheap
cash crops and minerals for the Europeans
 Negative Effects of Imperialism
• Africans Land and Food Scarcity: Europeans take
land, cattle, and food Africans acquired
• Kumalo said, “All the best land has been taken by
the white people. We get hardly any price for our
cattle; we find it hard to meet our money
obligations. If we have crops to spare, we get
very little for them… When we have plenty of
grain the prices are very low, but the moment we
are short of grain and we have to buy from
Europeans at once the price is high”
 Negative Effects of Imperialism
• The colonial powers had no plans to
industrialize or aid in the modernization of
Africa
• Africa produced the raw materials, which
were exported to Europe, and re-exported to
Africa as final products sold at high prices,
which the Africans could not afford to pay
 Negative Effects of Imperialism
• Ndansi Kumalo, an African, said, “We were treated
like slaves… the treatment we received was
intolerable. We said, ‘It is no good living under such
conditions; death would be better—let us fight’”
• King Leopold II of Belgium justified brutality against
the Africans by saying, “the natives hardly knew
how to get their daily food”
• Cecil Rhodes wrote in his will in 1877 that African
Americans were “the most despicable specimens of
human beings.”
 Negative Effects of Imperialism
• British Matabele War: Rhodes gained control
of the mineral mines in Matabeleland and
with the help of his South Africa Company,
exploited the mineral wealth in the area,
sparking the rebellion of the Matabeles
against the British.
• The British Matabele War ended with Britain
easily slaughtering thousands of Africans with
the help of the machine guns.
 Negative Effects of Imperialism
• Civil War in Africa: After the Europeans relinquished
control, civil war broke out all over Africa; some of these
civil wars are still going on today.
• In January, representatives at the Pan Africanist Congress
said that, "the problems which were being blamed on
[President Robert] Mugabe [of Zimbabwe] were created by
British colonialism, whose agent Cecil Rhodes used armed
force to acquire land for settlers."
• In Zimbabwe, formerly called Rhodesia, Mugabe called his
enemies of all races "colonialists," despite that Rhodesia
was renamed Zimbabwe in 1980
 Positive Effects of Imperialism
• Western medicine was introduced and aided in the
growth of the African population
• Formal education was introduced and broaden the
African outlook
• Africa’s infrastructure was based on the European
one with roads, railways, water, electricity, and
communication systems
• The introduction of Christianity promoted literacy
and health care through the work of missionaries
• Create a basis for all Africans to come together and
assist one another
 Positive Effects of Imperialism
• Christianity made African spirituality simpler in
regards of life, death, and salvation
• There was no need for sacrifices and rituals, which
were traditionally required
• It made individual progress possible because it
destroyed the traditional fabric of the African
community
• The boundaries as established by the different
colonial powers made state formation easier in the
process of independence
 Positive Effects of Imperialism
• Ndansi Kumalo, an African warrior in the
British Matabele War said “the Government
has arranged for education and through that,
when our children grow up, they may rise in
status”
• Kumalo said, “they brought us European
implements—plows; we can buy European
clothes, which are an advance”