Globalization on Africa

Today I will be speaking on the topic of to what extent do the legacies of historical globalization affect the people of Africa. What does this mean? To what extent has the choices of Imperial powers and past African leaders affected the continent today. In many African countries, when imperial forces left, there was a massive power imbalance, poverty, and war. Before the scramble for Africa, people in Africa were doing fine. Were there still wars, yes, but it wouldn't be as gruesome as the ones we have today. When imperial powers conquered these countries, new technologies were introduced, groups would be granted special privileges due to their looks and their ideals. In my country, Sudan, before the imperial powers invaded, we saw a lot of Muslims due to the many Arab invasions, but when the British came, they tried to convert them to Christianity. That is a legacy by itself, and this is why we see such a mix of culture in Sudan and many other African countries. Languages were changed, perceptions were altered, government systems changed, and resources depleted. These are all consequences of historical globalization.

The Europeans looked at these countries and saw that they were not up to their standards and tried to change them. Make them more civilized and make them less "barbaric." I'm not saying that all of the legacies of historical globalization led to adverse outcomes. It also led to technological advancements and later a better style of living. But when you look back on all the things these conquerors did to Africa, then you can see how badly they mistreated them. Sudan had a lot of changes in the past, it had a lot of name changes and a lot of leaders. Sudan is divided into two regions, North Sudan and South Sudan. These two areas divided into two because of ethnic differences like a lot of other countries in Africa. These legacies have made such a significant impact on not only Sudan but surrounding countries as well.

Now, if we look at all of this information and compare it to other countries, we can see a lot of similarities between many of these African countries. If we drew a big Venn diagram, we could see a lot of similarities between these European colonies. Let's start from pre-colonial. In the past, we see a lot of settlers coming into specific countries like Sudan and Ghana. These settlers would change different ideals, introduce new languages, and introduce new artforms and technology. We can see how new leaders would change the countries progression and how they reacted with different African powers. These countries were very rich in gold and petroleum, which is mainly why the Europeans came over to conquer these countries. Now, let's move to the colonial period. In some stronger countries, we could so assimilation take place, as the Europeans would try to change their religion and culture entirely. My people are a victim of this forced transgression as in Nigeria; we are very split when it comes to religion. We can see one group being Muslim and another group being Christian. The imperial powers hurt the people in different countries, and their assimilation later led to countries to be divided by religion. In my culture, you must marry a person that is Yoruba (my tribe), or it would be a taboo. Most Yorubas are, in fact, Christian, and if we have a rule not to marry other tribes, then that would, of course, cause the people to be divided.

Lastly, we have postcolonialism. When the imperial powers left soon after WWII, the African countries gained independence. When they left, poverty and war broke free. Poverty mainly by how fast the Europeans drained Africa of its resources and war due to some countries have slight disagreements or ethical differences. Sudan is a perfect example of both of these elements. They have had many wars after their independence in 1956. When countries let a big and powerful power take over for so long, you lose the ability to govern your land, and this is what happened to Africa. We still have many prosperous countries that rebuilt themselves from nothing. Whether by themselves or from other countries around them. This is Africa and big thanks to you for reading.