Critically Discuss The Factors Which Influenced The Setting Up Of Colonial Administrative Systems In Africa

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After the Europeans had conquered Africa until the beginning of the 20th century the question was how to rule the new colonies. There were two different types of ruling them. The first one is the indirect rule. Just the British used this system. They did not send British governors to Africa, but they let existing African politicians rule the colony. They were still under the control of the British. The French, Portugese and Belgian sent governors and chiefs and other politicians from their own country to Africa to rule it from the specific place. But there were many factors, which influenced the way how Europeans managed to rule them. The European administrators who were sent to Africa did not made a plan how to rule the colony. Because their way of ruling was not planned they had to establish everything new. They had to set up an administration that was able to control Africans. Before that they had to stop warfare between African tribes and “bring civilisation” to Africa. Which means that they told Africans “how to live” the right way, because they were convinced that the European way of living was the only “right” way to live. They had to built up trading possibilities, so they could bring their goods to Europe. Africans, who were obviously not used to pay taxes, now had to raise money for their administrations. It was a whole new situation for the Africans and it probably was quite hard to manage. Just a few people in Europe were interested to work in Africa and just a very few of them were actually trained enough to manage the job. This was an advantage, because a small, well organised administration was better then if many people who were actually not able to rule the colony would have tried it. At some places, for instance at Buganda and Sokoto, the existing administrative systems were not totally renewed. They were improved so Europeans could take more
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