Imperialism: Things Fall Apart Compared to Primary Sources

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Imperialism: "Things Fall Apart" Compared to Primary Sources

Imperialism is the act of a larger more powerful country taking over a smaller weaker country. Imperialism was very evident in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Africa, an up and coming country was a gargantuan country and just waiting to be taken over. At one point in time the entire continent was taken over by imperialist nations. The novel "Things Fall Apart" written by Chinua Achebe tells about the trials and tribulations of African people and their country during imperialist times. There are a number of primary sources that I have read that talk about imperialism throughout Africa. This essay will be a comparison between the primary sources I have read and the novel by Achebe.

"Records of the Maji Maji Uprising" is the first primary source dealing with imperialism. It happened in 1905 in Tanganyika, Africa. This was one of the first battle with early colonial reign in Africa. The Africans were told if they applied Maji (holy water) that they would be invincible to bullets (1).

1. G.C.K. Gwassa, John Iffle, Records of the Maji Maji Uprising, Sources of Twentieth-century Global History (Copyright 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved) Pg. 14-17

This made Africans upset because of the fact that they would have to pay

taxes to the country that was imperializing them. Germany was the

country that took them over, and now they were placing taxes on the

country that was not even theirs. This relates to "Things Fall Apart"

because all the different villages had their own set of traditions and values

and as the villages all became imperialized by Great Britain everything was

new, and they had to adjust their normal lifestyles to fit that of Great

Britain. In result of imperialism, many villages and tribes fell apart,

including families started to break away as well. Imperialism as a whole

brought down Africa, and as a result was extremely detrimental to the way

of life in Africa.

Much like the United States in the 1950's and 60's, Africa had its fair

share of discrimination. An example from "Things Fall Apart" would be

when the white man was spotted riding a "iron horse". Later we find out

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