Cultural Imperialism in Africa
European imperialism had a strong influence over African culture in many ways. Essentially all of Africa fell victim to the very influential and dominant European nations. The process of imperialism on these economically and militarily weak countries of Africa was obviously simple for the Europeans. In most of Africa, there were no countries, only clans and tribes, which made the imperialization much easier as well. These imperialist nations, such as Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany, showed African nations many new ideals and tools that spread like a cultural virus.

One very well-known story of this part of history is a book written by Chinua Achebe, titled Things Fall Apart. The book tells a fantastic story of a tribe in Nigeria which becomes a victim of the European imperialists. Achebe does a remarkable job of giving the reader the vivid change from the African tribe before and after the Europeans arrived. Things Fall Apart centers around a Nigerian tribe leader named Okonkwo. Known for his strength, courage, and most of all, pride, Okonkwo is looked up to by most the people in his tribe. Okonkwo doesn’t handle the European invasion as well as others due to his large sense of pride, which ultimately leads to his downfall and death.

Christian missionaries were one of the main forms of imperialization used by Europeans. The two missionaries in Things Fall Apart were Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith. It is common in African communities that there are outcasts existing. Outcasts could be anyone that has a disability, a criminal, or anyone that has been exiled. These missionaries would accept anyone that is an outcast and take them under their wing, showing them very appealing tools and technology. Also, the missionaries would give these outcasts an opportunity to work for them. Seeing these outcasts working with new tools, learning new things, and experiencing a completely different life, the villagers of the tribe became envious. Soon, common folk started converting to this new religion and living the new, appealing lifestyle.

Some of the new tools the Africans saw were guns. The Europeans were extremely well-equipped with war materials because of its recent experience during the Napoleonic and Crimean Wars. Africans had previously known weaponry as being bows and arrows, sticks and stones, and machetes, so these new guns and ammo had the Africans mesmerized.

One other appealing aspect of the missionaries was their religion. Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son, found this new religion to be very interesting and he was one of the first converts. The missionaries told everyone in the village that there is only one God, and everyone was God’s son. They also told the villagers that they, the African villagers, had been worshipping fake God’s. Coming from a white person, something they’ve never seen before, all this new information and advice on how to live a life was very convincing to many of the Africans. Not only were the missionaries preaching religion, they were teaching African converts how to read and write, something they had never experienced before. They soon built a school for the Africans. Once some of the African converts would come back to the village knowing how to read and write, many other Africans were convinced to learn how. All of these ways made the villagers become dependent on the missionaries. The Europeans introduced so many new, and usually better, tools and ideas that the villagers adapted so that they could not survive as well without them. Once dependent on the missionaries, the village was doomed to fall apart.

Okonkwo never fell victim to these new, advanced intruders. He was always determined to stop these white men from invading his village but he could never do enough. There was a rumor going around Okonkwo’s village that the white people had their own government set up in a nearby village. There was also a rumor that the white people had hung a African man for killing a convert. Because of this, villagers feared harming converts and white people. Despite the fear shown by most people, Okonkwo was not afraid of the white people. He says about the white people, “Let us not reason like cowards. If a man comes into my hut and defecates on the floor, what do I do? Do I shut my eyes? No! I take a stick and break his head. That is what a man does.” Okonkwo is basically giving an allusion to the white people. He is saying that they should retaliate against the white people instead of letting them “defecate on their floor”, or invade and poison their country with a new culture.

European imperialism in Africa was a relatively simple process due to the weakness of Africa in essentially every category. The imperialism effected almost every aspect of African culture and soon the native communities began to fall apart. Achebe’s book Thing’s Fall Apart does a fantastic job of examining all the details of the European imperialism in Africa as well as telling a story of tragedy, pride, and honesty.