attitudes towards empire 1947-67

• Andrew Cohen was a key administrator in West and Central Africa. He helped pave the way for independence in colonies.

  What was Andrew Cohen's official position?

  • From 1947, Cohen was the Head of the Colonial Office’s African division and the Governor of Uganda from 1952
• Cohen's attitude to the native populations

  • Cohen believed in the rights of native African people. However, he also had to deal with racist politicians like Ian Smith in Rhodesia and the National Party in South Africa.
  • The Cohen Report of 1947 advocated devolving some power to indigenous officials who knew their countries best. This should have increased the cultural sensitivity of British policy, and it is surprising that it wasn't considered standard practice a century earlier.
• Apartheid

  A system of racial segregation and discrimination in South Africa
• Cohen


  • Tried to create the Central African Federation to stop the growth of apartheid across Africa
• The Central African Federation (CAF) was created


  1953
• The Central African Federation splintered

  1964
• Central African Federation (CAF)

  United Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (Malawi)
• Local nationalists clashed with the white governors of the CAF

  Demanding independence and self-determination
• Unwinding British nationalist policy in Africa was extremely complex and the CAF failed
• In 1964, the CAF splintered, with Northern Rhodesia becoming Zambia and Nyasaland becoming Malawi
• Work in Uganda

  • Cohen was the Governor of Uganda from 1952 to 1957.
  • The Berlin Conference of 1884 had divided Africa into arbitrary countries with arbitrary borders in the scramble for Africa.
  • Cohen worked towards creating an independent Uganda, growing the University of Makerere and encouraging more political activism. Uganda became independent in 1962.
  • In 1971, a military coup led by Idi Amin came to power. Over 300,000 Ugandans are thought to have been killed under Amin's dictatorship, and Ugandans of Indian origin were exiled.
• Charles Arden Clarke played a key role in the Gold Coast's transition to independence.

  Official position

  • Arden-Clarke was the Governor of the Gold Coast in 1949.
• Position in the independent Gold Coast

  • In 1957, the Gold Coast was granted independence and became known as Ghana.
  • Arden-Clarke became the Governor-General of Ghana in 1957 but only stayed in the post for 2 months.
• Onn bin Ja'afar


  Played an instrumental role in achieving independence for the Malay Peninsula
• Onn bin Ja'afar


  • Founded the United Malays National Organisation
• Britain tried to create a 'Malayan Union', but the area was very divided ethnically and was divided into 11 provinces
• Ja'afar's actions against the Malayan Union proposals

  1. Organised peaceful protests

  2. Campaign of civil disobedience made the British reconsider
• After consulting different ethnic and racial groups in Malaya the British created the Federation of Malaya in February 1948
• Ja'afar influenced Tunku Abdul Rahman


  Tunku Abdul Rahman became Malaya's first Prime Minister after independence in 1957
• Kwame Nkrumah


  Gold Coast
• Over time, the Malaysian independence movement splintered with different focuses between the UMNO, communist interests, and Chinese interests
• Kwame Nkrumah

  • Came from a poor family
  • Managed to put himself through studies at the University of Pennsylvania in the USA and the London School of Economics in England
• Noting the democratic ideals of England and the USA, Nkrumah wanted them to be applied appropriately in the Gold Coast
• Kwame Nkrumah founded the Convention People's Party


  1949
• Nkrumah was imprisoned for his campaigning and local British official, Arden Clarke referred to Nkrumah as 'our local Hitler'
• Arden Clarke released Nkrumah from prison


  1951
• Nkrumah was Prime Minister


  1952-1957
• After independence, Nkrumah was Prime Minister
• The overthrow of Nkrumah in Ghana

  • In 1966, Nkrumah was overthrown by a military coup that reportedly had close ties to the American C.I.A., which was also complicit in the overthrow of Mossadegh in Iran. At the time, Nkrumah seemed to be aligning himself and Ghana more closely with communism and Marxist ideas which were perceived as anti-American threats.
• Nnamdi Azikiwe


  President of Nigeria from 1963 to 1966
• Nnamdi Azikiwe

  • Studied in America
  • Became a journalist
• Nnamdi Azikiwe


  Created the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons in 1944
• Azikiwe worked to create a united, independent Nigeria
• Azikiwe was overthrown in a military coup


  1966
• The Prime Minister of Nigeria, Balewa was murdered and Major General Ironsi took control of the country
• Kenyatta


  • Member of the Kikuyu
  • Followed in the footsteps of Harry Thuku of the Kikuyu
• Kenyatta's activities in the 1930s


  Worked and studied in Britain and Europe
• When Kenyatta returned to Kenya in 1946


  Worked for the Governor of Kenya at the time, Philip Mitchell
• Kenyatta's political role


  • Became the president of the Kenya Africa Union in 1947
  • This was the only active political organisation focused on Kenyan independence and self-government
• Kenyatta opposed illegal protests


  When the Governor clamped down on the Mau Mau rebellion, Kenyatta was also imprisoned