WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Natural features, particularly rivers and lakes, often became the borders of European colonies. For the most part such lines remained fixed, except when they were redrawn as a result of the changing fortunes of the colonial powers.

Detailed explanation-2: -In order to gain power, Europeans encouraged Africans to fight against each other. New political boundaries caused ethnic groups to clash. This has led to ethnic and political unrest in Africa today. There have been over 50 ethnic conflicts in Africa since WWII as a result of the colonial lines drawn by Europeans.

Detailed explanation-3: -Most of today’s international boundaries within Africa derive from the Berlin Conference of 1884-5, when the colonial powers divided the region between themselves in order to provide a framework for their own political administrations and for the regulation of trade.

Detailed explanation-4: -Colonialism made African colonies dependent by introducing a mono-cultural economy for the territories. It also dehumanized African labour force and traders. It forced Africans to work in colonial plantations at very low wages and displaced them from their lands.