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As Europeans sailed around the continent of Africa, they were on the lookout for China and India for their plentiful silks. While on the lookout, they in turn learned more about the Africans and ended up trading with the Africans living in the south of the Sahara. Before the Europeans even arrived, slavery was already a part in Africa’s economy. Although, Europeans did really initiate the slave trade.
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The Europeans started to market off Africa’s own guns and European goods for slaves. Unfortunately, those slaves were taken away from the homeland and forced across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas to work on other people’s plantations. 13 million Africans were taken away from their homes and 20 percent of the Africans didn’t make the trip across the Atlantic. While with that, the number of guns in Africa increased and different groups started fighting each others so Europe colonized Africa.
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The Europeans started to make trading locations all around Africa in the 1500s. By the early 1800s, the Europeans were taking over another country because they wanted their resources. There were a lot of aspects of Africa that Europe wanted. Britain started colonizing by taking over Egypt because they wanted control over the Suez Canal. France started colonizing by taking over most of North Africa. Spain and Italy began colonizing by taking over Somalia and Morocco.
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Britain and France continued to branch out their land all over Africa. Once it hit the 1900s, Europe was in control of almost all of Africa. The only country left in Africa that stayed independent was Ethiopia. Eventually though, Ethiopia was taken over by Italy in 1930.
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In the mid 1900s, African began to rebel against colonization.
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By a landslide, Belgium Congo was treated the worst out of all the European controlled countries. The Africans that lived there were forced to work even if they didn’t want to and got almost no money from it. Once the Europeans were done with slaves, the people there were left with noting and their culture was demolished.
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South Africa gained its independence from Great Britain in 1910.
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In the 1920s, Kenya set up a political group to break free from Great Britain.
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In the 1940s, Kwame Nkrumah created something called Pan-Africanism. Pan-Africanism which was the belief in all AfricanS who were black to join together all around the world.
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Africans who were white were known as Afrikaners. In 1948, These Afrikaners decided to create a law to separate the black Africans from the white Africans.
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In 1956, Sudan gained its independence from Great Britain.
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Around 1957, the counties Jomo Kenyatta which is where Kenya is and Nnamdi Azikiwe in Nigeria to shout for freedom.
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Nigeria decided to take a stand and became independent from the British in 1960.
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After gaining independence, countries who were colonized before lived in economically awful conditions around the 60s.
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Years of protesting eventually came through and Kenya finally become independent in 1963.
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Nelson Mandela was the head of the African congress. He decided to stand up against the apartheid law, but in 1964, in turn, he was arrested and sentenced for life.
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Igbo was a part of Nigeria and wanted to become independent. In 1976, Igbo declared war on the rest of Nigeria and around 1 million people died because of it. In the end, Igbo did not become independent.
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When a man named F.W. de Klerk was elected for president of South Africa, he decided to shut down the apartheid law and in 1990, Mandela was realized from prison.