Reasons for resisting colonial conquests

Reasons for resisting colonial conquests

African heroes resisted European colonial conquests for a number of reasons.

1. To preserve Africans' independence. African heroes led resistance movements against colonialism in order to preserve Africans' independence and autonomy. Europeans wanted to establish colonialism in order to dominate Africans economically, politically, socially and militarily. This could limit Africans' control over their areas.

2. To protect Africans' natural resources. Africans resisted colonial conquests in order to protect their natural resources. The Europeans wanted to use African natural resources such as fertile land, minerals, rivers, lakes, forests and wild animals to produce raw materials for their industries in Europe. They wanted to use African natural resources for their own benefit. That is why African heroes led the resistance against European colonialism.

3. To resist exploitation and oppression. Europeans wanted Africans to work in their agricultural plantations, mining centres and construction projects. They paid them low wages or no wages at all. The paying of low wages was a strategy for reducing production costs and maximising profit. They also wanted to exploit Africans through high prices of the industrial goods that were sold in Africa. Colonialism also introduced oppression, racism, dehumanisation and segregation into Africa. African heroes and the people they ruled were not ready for this kind of exploitation and oppression.

4. To oppose taxation. African heroes and their people resisted colonialism because they opposed taxes. When Europeans came to Africa to colonise Africans, they introduced taxation. There were three forms of taxes. One of them was tax in cash; every adult person was required to pay tax in the form of money. Another kind of tax was tax in labour; a person who did not have cash was forced to provide labour on colonial agricultural farms and in construction works. The mount of work done was regarded as the same as the amount of money one was supposed to pay as tax. The third form was tax in kind. Africans were forced to give valuable goods such as cattle or goats to the government. Europeans forced Africans to pay taxes for two reasons. First, they used taxation as a means of collecting revenue that would be used to meet the cost of running the colonial government and other institutions. Secondly, they wanted to make Africans work in European economic investments so that they could get some money for paying the taxes. This ensured constant supply of labour to colonial plantations. Africans were not willing to pay the taxes. Therefore, they united to resist colonialism.

5. To protect trading interests. Some African heroes resisted colonial invaders because they wanted to protect trading interests, which were very beneficial to them. Examples of such resistance movements included the movements organised by Chief Abushiri, Bwana Heri and Makunganya in the coastal areas of Tanzania.

   These leaders or heroes wanted to protect the commercial empires that extended from the coast to the interior of Tanzania. The leaders controlled the long distance trade, organized caravan routes, engaged in slave trade dealings and collected taxes from the traders who passed through their commercial territories. Thus, colonialism threatened these pre-colonial commercial interests. Therefore, Africans resisted it.