relations with indigenous people 1947-67

• The devolution of colonial power came partly as a result of anti-imperialist colonial nationalists, and partly because of the decreasing British means and will to maintain power over her Empire.

  Raymond Bette (1970) on decolonisation

  Challenges to colonial rule in Asia

  • Britain's territorial losses to Japan in World War Two showed that Britain was waning as a power and highlighted the Empire's vulnerability.
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  Challenges to colonial rule in Africa

  • Accra, Nairobi, Lagos, Mombasa developed economically during World War Two as Britain came to rely on its Empire even more heavily.
  • Urbanisation, increasing incomes and paying an increasing price for British rule all helped to mobilise anti-British movements towards self-determination.
• British nationalism

  Led to the creation of an Empire, taking control of countries that it had no natural connection to
• After World War Two


  Local nationalist sentiment grew in the Empire
• Factors contributing to nationalism in the Empire

  • Sacrifices made for the British war effort
  • British lack of care for local development (e.g. Tanganyika Groundnuts project failure)
  • Britain's lack of care for local populations
  • Britain's racist views of local populations
• Many nationalist movements were segmented because of different ethnic and religious rivalries, created by the Western imposition of borders through things like the Berlin Conference and the Sykes-Picot Agreement
• Factors that helped create new nationalist governments

  • Well-educated leaders
  • Expanding the franchise
• Mau Mau Uprising


  One of the least-known but most-controversial events in recent British colonial history
• Relations between the Kikuyu and the British

  The Kikuyu were historically oppressed by the British
• The British had favoured the Masai and stripped the Kikuyu of the most fertile land in Kenya
• Mau Mau


  A military branch within the Kikuyu began a series of high-profile and violent attacks on white people and people who refused to join the Mau Mau, swearing an oath
• Sir Evelyn Baring declared a state of emergency in Kenya and arrested Kenyatta, the nationalist leader


  1952
• Despite little evidence, Kenyatta was convicted and sent to prison for 7 years
• Response to the Mau Mau rebellion

  • In 1952, all black African political rights were suspended.
  • 17,000 Mau Mau suspects were arrested. 1,000 Kikuyu were hanged in response to the deaths of 70 Europeans. Again, British supposed 'superiority' and 'civility' looked questionable.
  • Kenyatta was imprisoned despite little evidence tying him to the extremist Mau Mau killings. Kenyatta's beliefs were nationalist and he wanted self-governance for Kenya.
• British army response to the Mau Mau rebellion

  • The British Army moved thousands of soldiers to Kenya and the RAF supported the Army against the Mau Mau.
  • This guerrilla war lasted for 8 years.
  • Kikuyu villages and homes were destroyed in the search for Mau Mau sympathisers.
  • The Mau Mau surrendered in 1963 after Kenya became independent.
• The Hola Camp Massacre, 1959

  • In 1959, 11 Mau Mau prisoners were beaten to death by guards, with 77 severely injured.
  • The British colonial government tortured and killed these individuals.
  • Initially, a cover-up claimed that water pollution was responsible for the 11 individuals' deaths.
• The Mau Mau Uprising 1952-1960 remains one of the least-known but most-controversial events in recent British colonial history.

  Historical memory

  • Official figures suggest 11,000 Mau Mau were killed in the uprising. The Kenya Human Rights Commission said 90,000 Kenyans were executed.
• The process of gaining independence in Nigeria was fraught. This was mostly because of regional tensions.

  Splitting up Nigeria

  • As an area, Nigeria was highly divided in ambition and a vision for what independence would look like:
  • The North was Islamic and anti-Western.
  • The West was economically advanced and ambitious.
  • The South was influenced by Western ideas and Christianity.
  • Each region had its own political parties, and different political parties, primarily supported by 1 ethnic group.
• Significance of disunity

  • The ethnic divisions between the Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa made Britain hesitant to unite the country. However, nationalist momentum continued after the voting franchise grew after 1951.
  • Between 1945 and 1954, three constitutions were agreed with the British, but at least 1 province vetoed every one of them.
• Independence

  • Self-governing status was granted to the South, West, and East in 1957 and to the North in 1959.
  • In 1958, the British government agreed to full Nigerian independence from 1960.
  • However, tensions within Nigeria remained even after Britain left.
• Rhodesia's path to independence was long and plagued by controversy.

  Tensions in Rhodesia

  • There was considerable tension between the different territories making up Rhodesia (Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland).
  • The creation of the Central African Federation (CAF) in 1953 was an attempt to neutralise tensions, but the CAF only existed for 10 years.
  • The Central African Federation 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.
• Responses to the CAF

  • Black nationalist leaders in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland challenged the discriminatory laws in Southern Rhodesia under Field and Smith, which looked a lot closer to the racist apartheid in South Africa.
  • White rulers in Southern Rhodesia tried to use the Federation to enhance their political power and enforce their white supremacist views on the other parts of the CAF.
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  Disbanding the CAF

  • After declaring a state of emergency in Nyasaland, the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan began to disband the CAF.
  • In 1964, Northern Rhodesia became independent Zambia and Nyasaland became independent Malawi.
  • The Rhodesian Front wanted white rule and the Prime Minister, Ian Smith, illegally declared Rhodesia to be independent in 1965.
• Ian Smith and the Rhodesian Front

  • In 1965, Ian Smith declared a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) for Rhodesia. This was illegal.
  • Britain tried to sanction Rhodesia, but South Africa's National Party, which was politically aligned with Smith, refused to put Rhodesia under sanctions.
  • Britain did very little to support a black majority rule in Rhodesia. It took a 15-year civil war for Robert Mugabe to create a black majority rule in 1980.