This weeks reading is “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe. This novel is about the main character Okonkwo, and his life as a leader of the Igbo tribe. The story follows his fictional experiences through years in time, but they are happening during a very real and big event in history. An important theme through this book is the colonization of the Igbo people.
European colonization is a big part of history. Very relevant to us is the colonization of America. Great Britain took control of America by the early 1600’s. The colonists were very interested in economic growth opportunities that they could find in this new land. The land had been occupied by the native population. This colonization led to stolen land, new laws, new religion, and the spread of new disease. This period ended much later in the late 1700’s with the American revolution, when the Americans came together for freedom from British rule.
The Igbo people were from southeastern Nigeria, and spoke the language Ibo. They were a separated people, and grouped into large cultural communities. The British entered Nigeria in 1914. The British assumed rule over the Nigerian people, and with their rule came changes in religion, education, and language. This was a lot of change at once for the Igbo people. The British profited a lot on crops, specifically groundnuts, while they were in Nigeria. This forced a lot of people to migrate to different areas and find new careers.
These two countries had both been colonized by Europe, in specific the country Britain. A big difference is the time frame, because the colonization of America was very early in history, and America was just then being put in the map. Nigeria was colonized much more recently, and had already established a people and system. The motive in both cases was Britain’s own economic and power growth. In both occurrences, the countries faced culture shock, and were forced into new ways of life. This was a big morality problem of colonization, in how it disregarded the people’s beliefs and feelings. Another big similarity between the two is that the colonization eventually led to unity among the countries people. Though both places were constrained under the rule by Britain, it had a positive outcome in the strength of their people as a whole in the fall of colonization.
Bibliography
Ajayi, J.F. Ade, and Reuben Kenrick Udo. “Nigeria as a Colony.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 9 Sept. 2020, www.britannica.com/place/Nigeria/Nigeria-as-a-colony.
Learning, Lumen. “US History I (OS Collection).” The Impact of Colonization | US History I (OS Collection), courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-ushistory1os2xmaster/chapter/the-impact-of-colonization/.
Slattery, Katharine. “The Igbo People – Origins and History.” The Igbo People – Origins & History, www.faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/igbo/igbo1.htm.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Igbo.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 22 May 2020, www.britannica.com/topic/Igbo.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “The Contest with France.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2 Mar. 2020, www.britannica.com/topic/American-colonies/The-contest-with-France.
Great post. I like the background information you included. It helped me better understand what time period the events in this book took place in. It is amazing how brutal the clash was between the Igbo and European colonists. It is unfortunate the Christian missionaries tried to force their beliefs on the tribes and change their way of life. Had the Igbo and colonists come to a mutual understanding of one another’s culture they could have traded commodities, education, and medicine peacefully. Instead the Christian missionaries dominated the land and uprooted the Igbo’s way of life. This is an unfortunate example of what Spivak talked about in Can the Subaltern Speak? In this instance the native Igbo are the subaltern and the colonists are the master. Instead of listening to the needs of the people the colonists forced their way of life on the Igbo. This begins a period of unrest and turmoil within the clans that challenges its members to choose whose side their on. In some cases, this tore families apart. For example, when Okonkwo found out his son Nwoye converted to Christianity he was deeply ashamed and disowned him.