Dbq on Africa

Throughout history, people around the world struggled with the issue of political power and freedom. Africans had different actions and reactions to Europeans settling the African continent. This is illustrated by events like Menelik II, emperor of Ethiopia, rallying natives against the Italians. Unlike this other rulers took peaceful matters such as Premph I, an Ashanti leader, who decided to remain friendly with European people while still retaining their land. Although peace was encouraged, many land feuds were broken into battles in which Europeans were mostly dominant.

      In documents 3, 4, 6, and 8 it is shown that chiefs were rallying their natives in different ways with the purpose of fighting the Europeans for their land. In Document 3, the emperor of Ethiopia, Menelik II, is pleading out to God to keep her land united from the European’s effort to break it up. In this letter, he tells Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Russia that throughout this struggle they will be protected by god and given strength by their savior, Jesus Christ, to fight the opposition. In Southern Africa, Africans were rallied by Ndansi Kumalo because the Africans were treated like slaves by the Europeans (Document 4). This document talks about the Ndebele Rebellion which was an effort to prevent the British from harming the wives and children of the African people. Told from a poor African’s point of view, it is stated that because of the Europeans superior technology, the Europeans were able to slaughter the inhabitants of the small town with machine guns and rifles. In Document 6, Yaa Asantewa, primarily speaks to the women of an Ashanti town to fight for their land because of the men’s fear to do so. This shows the true effect of the European settlement because the African men are so afraid of the European technology to rebel. Because of the many African deaths in this conflict, chiefs spread the idea that medicine men would give them potions to protect them from...