HISTORY O LEVEL(FORM THREE) NOTES – COLONIAL SOCIAL SERVICES

COLONIAL SOCIAL SERVICES

Colonial social services involved the provision of education, health, water, housing, and electrical services in the colonies with the creation of the colonial economy and administration. This does not mean that no services were provided for Africans.

COLONIAL EDUCATION

Colonial education was a process by which people gained knowledge, skills, and values necessary for mastering the social, political, and economic situation under colonial rule. It was provided in schools and colleges belonging either to the colonial governments or missionaries in areas that mainly produced raw materials. It replaced informal or traditional education that existed before colonialism.

The aims of colonial education in African societies

1. To expand the market for manufactured goods from Europe.
2. To create African staff to work in white-collar jobs such as clerks and foremen.
3. To create an elite who had to be loyal to the colonialists.
4. To provide knowledge that could help Africans in the production of raw materials.

Features of Colonial Education

A. It was pyramidal in shape.
Colonial education was pyramidally provided, meaning the number of pupils decreased as they reached higher educational standards.

B. It was segregative.
Only the sons of chiefs were given education while girls were often excluded. Schools were ranked according to races; for example, there were special schools for the sons of chiefs.

C. It was bookish in nature.
The education was mainly theoretical.

D. It was designed for white-collar jobs.

E. It was irrelevant to the African environment.
The education taught learners about what was present in Europe, not Africa.

Impact of Colonial Education

Although this education led to improvements in African lives in many aspects, its impacts were significant:

1. Many Africans remained illiterate due to the small number who benefited from the education provided. Educated people were alienated from society, often adopting European cultural values such as ways of dressing, dancing, language, and eating manners, turning their backs on African traditions.
2. Reduction of patriotism among Africans.
   Those who received colonial education sometimes denounced other Africans and became Euro-African descendants. This was especially common in French colonies in West Africa.
3. Prepared Africans to accept colonialism.
   Elites were psychologically prepared to accept colonial administration as they were given roles in the colonial government.
4. Colonial education created hatred between educated and non-educated people.
   Educated people sometimes segregated and used defamatory language toward the non-educated.
5. It created the basis for disunity and tribalism in Africa.
6. It led to the spread of Western civilization.

Motive for Provision of Water and Housing Services

1. To facilitate the economic interests of the metropolis.
2. These services were provided on racial bases, with Europeans receiving better quality than Africans.
3. To encourage European settlement.

Distribution Pattern of Water and Housing Services

Political, administrative, and economic functions determined the nature of housing and water services provided. Many Africans moved to urban centres after World War II.

In Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia, about 4,000 African male workers and an unknown number of women and children lived in squatter settlements by late 1930. Africans lived in slums scattered across the city, made from cheap materials like poles, grass, and tins.

Dar-es Salaam faced unemployment problems. The population increased but housing did not, leading to many slums. In Nairobi, Kenya, slums were scattered while Europeans settled in better-drained neighborhoods.

Living conditions in rural areas worsened, especially in white settler colonies where much African land was alienated. Africans also faced pressure to pay taxes.

Africans in urban centres were overcrowded, but wages were better than in rural areas.

Improved transportation, such as passenger buses and train coaches, encouraged mobility to urban centres, especially in colonial Tanganyika.

Impact of the Provision of Colonial Water and Housing Services

1. Africans viewed urban centres as temporary settlements since most services were provided for Europeans.
2. Due to housing shortages, enterprising Africans constructed lodging houses.
3. Slums emerged due to inadequate shelter.
   Illicit activities such as illegal liquor sales, theft, and drug trafficking occurred in these areas.
   These conditions contributed to the emergence of nationalism against colonial injustice, for example, the Mau Mau liberation war.
4. African civil servants received better housing and water services after World War II.
5. Racial discrimination in water and housing services led to the emergence of African Welfare Associations in urban centres like Dar-es-Salaam.
6. Poor water and housing conditions caused diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, and malaria, leading to many African deaths. Prostitution also became widespread, increasing social problems like sexually transmitted diseases.

COLONIAL HEALTH SERVICE

This involved providing medical care to white men and colonial subjects. It included the construction of government and missionary hospitals and dispensaries, mostly found in key locations such as:

1. Armed forces stations
2. Production areas
3. Urban centres

Objectives of the Colonial Health Services

1. To provide medicine to African peasants and labourers to maintain labour power.
2. To improve living standards of whites, who received better services than other races.
3. To destroy African traditional medicine services.
4. To prevent and cure white-imposed diseases such as tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases.
5. To maximize the interests of capitalism in Africa.

Features of Colonial Health Services

1. Many hospitals and dispensaries were built in urban areas, plantations, and settler farm areas, e.g., Tanga, Kilimanjaro, Arusha, and Bukoba.
2. Racial discrimination was evident; whites received the best health services, followed by Asians and Africans.
3. Hospitals and dispensaries provided only Western medication.
4. Highly skilled medical personnel were whites (British, French, Portuguese, Belgians, etc.), while Africans served as dressers, sweepers, and in other lower-rank jobs.
5. They were religiously biased, e.g., Catholic hospitals, Lutheran hospitals, etc.

The Impact of Colonial Health Services

1. Expanded the market for Western capitalist industries as Africans consumed various medicines from Europe.
2. Maintained labour power for peasantry, settler, and mining sectors of the colonial economy.
3. Provided employment for colonial personnel in Africa.
4. African herbal medicine was largely replaced by Western medications.
5. Strengthened social classes during the colonial period; white civil servants, settlers, and managers received high-quality health services while Africans received poor services.

Other social services included:

1. Electricity
2. Water
3. Infrastructure
4. Housing

COMMERCE AND TRADE

Trading activities in Africa were minimal for a long time. Pre-colonial African trade was based on the exchange of goods for goods.

After colonialism, trading activities were characterized by the following:

Characteristics of Colonial Trade

1. It was organized and conducted by colonial governments and imperial trading companies, for example:

1. IMPERIAL BRITISH EAST AFRICAN COMPANY (IBEACO)
2. GERMAN EAST AFRICAN COMPANY (GEACO)
3. BRITISH SOUTH AFRICAN COMPANY (BSACO)
4. ROYAL NIGER COMPANY (RNCO) and international associations

2. The dominant traders in colonial trade were Arabs and Indians in East Africa and Syrians and Lebanese in West Africa, rather than Africans.
3. It was based on the exploitation of raw materials such as minerals and agricultural products.
4. Money became the means of trading, replacing the pre-colonial barter trade.
5. Marketing boards were established to control trade transactions and commodity prices.
6. Storage facilities were created to store commodities and raw materials.

TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION DURING COLONIAL PERIOD

After colonialists sought to exploit African resources, they set up modern transport systems including railway lines, ports, and roads to simplify the transportation of products from mining and farming activities. Between 1890 and 1926, many railway lines, roads, and ports were built in Africa.

1. Mombasa-Kisumu line to Uganda (1904)
2. Uganda built Jinja to Masangali line (1902)
3. Dar es Salaam line from Tabora to Mwanza

These developments occurred during German and British colonial administrations respectively.