19th Century African American Imperialism

During the late 19th century and into the early 20th century, the countries of Africa faced unprecedented amounts of imperialism and foreign interference from many of the European countries, England, Germany and France mainly. Sometimes referred to as the “scramble for Africa” are the events that took place after the Berlin conference in 1884. This mass colonization of Africa resulted the destruction of many cultures as well as sacred land that the Europeans used for mining or other industrial endeavors. The after effects of the colonization of Africa by the Europeans is still visible today, with the official language of many African countries being English, French or Spanish as well as Christianity being a powerful force in many African cultures
Native Africans were treated poorly, removed from their land, barred from the colonial governments, and in some cases the colonial powers instituted segregation laws to separate the black native people from the white Europeans. Some colonial powers also took advantage of tribal feuds making it easier to conquer their land if they were fighting within themselves instead of presenting a united front against the Europeans. When Germany found they would be unable to control Rwanda they made a deal with the king of Rwanda, who was member of the Tutsi tribe. The deal granted special privilege to the Tutsi people while the Hutu people would be formally recognized and treated as inferior to the Tutsi people. Even after Germany’s defeat in World War 2 the mistreatment of the Hutu people continued. After the German defeat Belgium took control of the colony and continued the German practice of unequal treatment based on tribal identity. This is a prime example European powers exploiting and worsening preexisting tensions to their advantage. In 1962 Belgium granted independence to Rwanda, however deep tribal animus between the Tutsi and the Hutu remained. In their first democratic election following their independence the Hutu people (majority population) unseated the Tutsi leader and installed their own tribal leader. The newly elected Hutu leader immediately began to displace and mistreat the Tutsi people as revenge for them having been complicate with the German colonialists. Trouble within Rwanda continued throughout the century. In October 1991 a civil war broke out between the Tutsi and the Hutu when the Tutsi’s invaded from Uganda, the country they had previously fled to. A “power-sharing’ agreement was eventually put into place. However peace did not last, in 1994 an airplane carrying Rwandan president, Habyarimana and Burundian, President Ntaryamira