The Impact of Colonial Rule

The impact of colonial rule on African societies varied greatly, not only from one territory to another, but also from one part of a territory to another. To some extent, the reasons for this sprang from their social organisation or the way in which they made their living. For example, specialised pastoralists, like the Masai in Kenya or the Herero in South-West Africa, found it much more difficult to adapt themselves to the wishes of colonial governments than most of the peoples who lived by agriculture. Then again, warrior groups, like the Ndebele of Southern Rhodesia or the Ngoni of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland – themselves the colonialists of an earlier period, found it more difficult to work and pay taxes than their former subjects, the Mashona and the Chewa. Much more important than the sociological reasons, however, were the sheerly accidental circumstances under which each group in a particular territory made its first contacts with the colonial government.

There were people who gained from colonial rule. In nearly every territory, there were ‘favourite peoples’, those who by good luck or good judgement made common cause with the colonial power and received privileged treatment as a result. To such peoples, the colonial period brought at first no shame, but, on the contrary, extended frontiers, enhanced prestige, and a sense of prosperity and achievement. In Northern Rhodesia, for example, the Barotse – who, under the influence of the missionary Coillard had written to ask for British protection – received special treatment from the British South Africa Company.