Resistance

Historians of Africa have debated the nature of colonialism, but two things are clear. Colonialism caused a great deal of change, and colonialism was not good for Africans. As a result, Africans, like other people living under foreign rule, found ways to resist.

When we think about African resistance to colonialism, it’s easy to imagine people constantly fighting guerrilla wars. In reality, this kind of resistance is often difficult, if not impossible, for many people to sustain. Instead, the evidence points us toward a few conclusions about resistance to colonialism:

1. Most resistance wasn’t aimed at “colonialism.” Resistance was usually prompted by a new colonial policy, like taking away land or forcing people to work for free.
2. Most people under colonialism lived their lives normally until a policy like this came about. Then, they resisted the policy as much as possible, and returned to their lives as best as they could afterward.
3. Most resistance is invisible to us today. It didn’t take the form of big battles or dramatic campaigns. It happened when workers slowed their work, or people gave fake directions to visiting colonial officials and got them lost. These sorts of acts do not often appear in records, but they probably happened a lot.

However, that does not mean societies didn’t use military force to resist colonialism. They often did, particularly at the beginning of colonial conquest. After the conquest, military resistance often emerged when conditions became particularly difficult, or people organized around a skilled leader. Here are three examples of this kind of resistance.

The Battle of Adwa

By 1895, Europeans rushed to claim African colonies across the continent. The Italians wanted to conquer Ethiopia. Italy already occupied some territory along the coast, and they hoped to build their national reputation and to use Ethiopia as a place to resettle poor Italians. Ethiopia was already populated by a vast and multicultural state led by Emperor Menelik II. The Italians tried to trick Menelik by having him sign a treaty that said different things in Italian than in Amharic. Amharic is the main language of Ethiopia. They also tried to divide Ethiopians with promises to ethnic minorities such as the Oromo. When this failed, they sent an army.

Emperor Menelik II responded immediately. He was helped by Empress Taytu, who was strongly suspicious of the Italians and had relatives among the Oromo. Taytu stated, “we will slaughter those who come to invade us. There is no Ethiopian who will not plant his feet in the sand and face death to save his country.”

Together, Menelik and Taytu mobilized the entire nation. They brought together an army of 100,000 men from all of the ethnic and religious groups across Ethiopia. Meanwhile, Ethiopian peasants melted into the forests and harassed the approaching Italian army. On March 1, 1896, the two armies met at Adwa. The Italians were divided into three groups, each of which was surrounded and attacked by Ethiopian forces. By 9:30 in the morning, the Italian force had been defeated.

Samori Ture

In densely populated West Africa, many different states and independent societies resisted colonialism. One example of military resistance came from the Mandinka state led by Muslim leader Samori Ture. Samori, as he is known, did not inherit a kingdom, but rather created one himself: the Wassoulou Empire.

Samori brought together two powerful groups-long-distance trading merchants and traditional rulers in the region. By the 1880s, he had created a military state that allowed for religious freedom and supported trading. It had an army of 30,000 to 40,000 men.

When the French first began to push into his territory in 1881, Samori attempted to negotiate. Because multiple European powers were attempting to invade, he also balanced the British and the French against each other. He was a careful student of the military and constantly tried to update his weapons. Unfortunately, he had no artillery. His forces were defeated in several battles. As a result, he agreed to a treaty with the French that gave them some territory in return for peace. However, the French military consistently broke this treaty and encouraged Samori’s people to rebel. In 1892, the French army and Samori’s army waged a huge and closely fought battle, but eventually, Samori was defeated.

Then, Samori decided to uproot everyone in his empire. Burning everything man-made behind him, he moved his entire population eastward, which brought him into conflict with the British. The French captured him in 1898, after fighting him for almost 18 years.

Tanganyika

In East Africa, resistance to colonial invasion in the 1890s was initially fragmented. In Tanganyika, the Germans fought coastal city-states such as Kilwa and large inland communities. Along the coast, Muslim leader Abushiri defended his city by attacking with 8,000 men in 1888. This divided resistance could not stop the German invasion.

By 1905, Tanganyika was largely under German rule. Many Indigenous people were now poorly paid laborers who had to pay taxes. Many were required to work for free on cotton plantations for 28 days a year. As resentment grew, prophet Kinjikitile Ngwale used religion to unify people of different communities. He claimed that God had told him that if everyone unified and fought for their freedom, their ancestors would return to help them. He soon attracted followers from many different communities. Many leaders of the movement told their people that they would be immune from German bullets. One, Selemani Mamba, told his followers: “We shall not die. We shall only kill.”

Yet German bullets were deadly and the Tanganyikans were badly defeated in battle, so the mass uprising was relatively short-lived. But because conditions were so bad, resistance continued. New groups, including several Muslim brotherhoods, joined in and the rebels improved their strategies. They used ambushes and guerrilla warfare to make German weapons less effective. In the end, German forces managed to put down the rebellion, but it took two years. Perhaps as many as 100,000 people were killed.

Conclusions

When formal colonialism began in Africa, military resistance could sometimes be effective, but this was rare. Europeans usually had the weapons and organization to defeat African armies. Overt battles like this subsided for much of the next half-century. Subtler types of resistance endured. But military resistance reemerged after the Second World War. Then, changing global politics and new weapons and tactics made it possible for Africans to eject Europeans from the continent.