East African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (2020) Volume 5 (1) 85-98

Westerners’ Perceptions of Africa vis-à-vis Africa’s Urbanization Process: Is Africa Really a Dark Continent Devoid of History as Portrayed by the Westerners?

Gutema Imana*

Haramaya University, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Department of Sociology

Article History: Received: February 25, 2020; Revised: June 8, 2020; Accepted: June 15, 2020

Abstract: This paper aims to evaluate the Westerners‟ conceptions or perceptions of Africa by reviewing historical sources in the area of world urbanization in general and Africa in particular. Africa has been portrayed by many in the western world as a dark continent devoid of history and anything good. Africa has been considered as a dark continent devoid of all elements of civilization - statehood, urbanization, and advances in social and economic spheres. In this paper, therefore, an attempt is made to look at the urbanization process of the world in general and Africa, in particular, to see whether or not Africans have had their course of urban history and civilization contrary to the perceptions held by many Westerners against Africa. The study employed a qualitative secondary research method that involved the collection and review of historical data that were produced on the urbanization process of the world in general and Africa in particular. Results indicate that Africa, contrary to the Westerners‟ perceptions, had its independent urban history and civilization. Indeed, Africa‟s achievements in history are not limited to urbanization as Africa had also registered significant breakthroughs in the area of technology, creative arts, agricultural techniques, governance, gender equality, conflict resolution systems, etc. though this paper is limited only to Africa‟s achievements in the area of urbanization.

Keywords: Africa; Civilization; Pre-colonial; Urbanization; Westerners

Licensed under a Creative Commons. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] ISSN 2521-2192 (Print) Haramaya University, 2020 Gutema East African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Volume 5 (1) 85-98

1. Introduction Africa and Africans have been looked down upon by the Westerners since time immemorial. Racial theories were formulated to explain Africa‟s perceived incapacity to develop before the coming of the Europeans to the continent and even later (Poncian, 2015). According to Westerners, all that was in Africa before the colonial period was nothing but extreme chaos that needed the intervention of the conquerors to be resolved (Davidson, 1972). Europeans seem to have developed contempt for Africa and Africans since the days of Herodotus who argued that “… Africa was not only different but also more threatening, sinister, and dangerous than Greece” (Bates, 2012; Poncian, 2015: 72). Other scholars such as Benjamin ben Jonah, who lived in the 12th century, characterized a group of Africans who lived in the Nile Valley as people who “… eat of the herbs that grow on the banks of the Nile and in the fields … go about naked and have not the intelligence of ordinary men” (Adler, 1907: 68; Leviant, 2008: 353). Maybe being influenced by his predecessors, G. W. F. Hegel, a German philosopher who lived from 1770-1831, wrote in his Philosophy of History, in the early 19th century, that Africa was not a historical continent “capable of neither development nor education” (Fage, 1981: 30). In the effort he made to explain the entirety of humanity and human history, he completely dismissed Africa from the pages of history arguing that Africa should be left out from the world of history since it had no change or development over time to exhibit as part of the historical processes. For Hegel, Africa was known by its unhistorical and undeveloped spirit, the spirit that could not allow Africans to enter into the territory of history (Hegel, 1956). Hegel here rationalizes away any possible claims for African accomplishments. Even half a century after its independence from colonial rule, Africa was still not different from the old days in the eyes of the Westerners (Bond, 2014; Bates, 2012). The negative perceptions about Africa persisted throughout the 20th century and even continued to the present. In the mid-1960s when many African countries were becoming independent, an Oxford University Professor, Hugh Trevor- Roper, boldly stated that there was nothing of value to be called African history, all that was there was „the history of the Europeans in Africa‟, the rest was darkness (Trevor-Roper, 1965; Murungi, 2013). However, contrary to Westerners‟ perceptions of Africa, many scholars have presented evidence- based arguments that Africa has had its history of civilization. For instance, Diamond (1997: 394), referring to Africa‟s iron technology, states that “… African smiths discovered how to produce high temperatures in their village furnaces and manufacture steel over 2,000 years before the Bessemer furnaces of 19th-century Europe and America." Sopova (2002) also concluded that iron technology did not reach Africa from western Asia, the region from which Europe acquired its iron technology, but that Africa had independently invented its own iron technology 5,000 years ago. Africa had also registered in the past its breakthroughs in creative arts and agricultural techniques which were by far more advanced than those in other parts of the world (Rubin, 1984; Craddock, 1991; Seckler, Gollin, and Antoine, 1991; Carney, 1991). Gender equality, which has become one of the top agenda of the world since recently, had been effectively in practice in Dahomey‟s public administration during the 18th century. In the Kingdom of Dahomey that existed within the area of the present-day country of Benin from about 1600 until 1904, every male official had a female counterpart who worked with him and monitored him as well (Polanyi, 1966). No other country in the world has ever succeeded in adopting that impressive achievement to date. In terms of governance, Africa had also its independent line of development. For instance, there was a strong similarity between the constitution of ancient Greece and that of the Ashanti (the empire that flourished from 1670 to 1957 in what is now modern-day Ghana). The Ashanti Constitution was more advanced in some respects than Britain‟s modern constitution and the Ashanti democracy was closer to the democratic ideal than British democracy. Ashanti customary law had rules of behavior and conduct which were not inferior to or different from the British ethical and moral code (Rattray, 1929).

86 Gutema Westerners‟ Perceptions of Africa vis-à-vis Africa‟s Urbanization Process

Similarly, the Gadaa system of the of Northeast Africa, which the Europeans came to notice for the first time in the 16th century, was also considered by Europeans themselves to be more democratic than governance institutions of contemporary Europe. Several Western travelers, who came up with first-hand information about the Gadaa system in the 19th and early 20th centuries, unanimously underlined that the system was uniquely democratic (Tuso, 2000). For instance, W. Plowden, an English traveler who visited the Horn of Africa in the 19th century, stated that the Gadaa system was a democratic system that was superior to all existing republican systems of government in the world at the time (Plowden, 1868). Africa had also developed very effective conflict resolution systems. Among these, one can mention the conflict resolution system of the Arusha (one of the peoples of Tanzania) that has attracted high praise from Western scholars. For instance, Professor Kenneth Carlston of the University of Illinois declared that the Arusha conflict resolution process was the most advanced and organized one that could even serve as a model for resolving national and international conflicts (Carlston, 1968). Africa was also known for its effective, indigenous "Ombudsman" institution before the colonial period. William Zartman, Professor of Conflict Management at Johns Hopkins University, observed: “The Ombudsman seems to be an African invention, even if better known in the West by a Scandinavian name” (Zartman, 2000: 229). As shown above, Africa had many achievements in different spheres in the past. However, it seems that these achievements have attracted the attention of many scholars only since recently and a lot remains to be done to further reconstruct the past of Africa and disprove the Westerners‟ perceptions of the continent. Africa‟s achievements in the area of urbanization have also been investigated by many scholars though results have not been used directly to respond to the Westerners‟ perceptions of Africa. This paper is, therefore, aimed at examining Africa‟s past through desk review of existing historical sources in the area of urbanization, which is assumed to be a good indicator of social, economic and political civilization, in the attempt to evaluate whether or not Africa was the way it was/is perceived by the Westerners. The paper is organized as follows: The first section is an introduction that gives a brief background of the study. Section two describes the methodology used for this study after which follows a third section which is about results and discussion. Lastly, a conclusion summarizing the main arguments is given at the end.

2. Research Methods The research that resulted in this paper was a secondary qualitative research or desk research. Secondary qualitative research is a type of research that involves the collection of data that already exist on a particular issue or phenomenon. It involves the summary, collation, and/or synthesis of existing researches on a given topic or issue (Largan and Morris, 2019). Secondary research can be performed by leveraging such sources as academic peer-reviewed journals, magazines, books, internet materials, and any other form of publicly available and accessible information. Similarly, in this paper, data from written sources on world urbanization, in general, and African urbanization, in particular, were consulted and critically reviewed to evaluate the validity of the Westerners‟ perceptions about Africa. Literature reviews were undertaken at the libraries of Addis Ababa University, Haramaya University, the University of Klagenfurt, and the University of Innsbruck at different times in the past. Some web materials were also consulted to crosscheck information.

3. Results and Discussion 3.1. Urban Origins and the Expansion of Urban Agglomeration in Human History The origin of urban agglomeration in human history is not known; and, even, scholars of urbanization say that the exact reasons behind the “invention” of the urban way of life in history are not known (Johnson, 1967; Palen, 1981; Reissman, 1964; Mumford, 1966). Nonetheless, according to

87 Gutema East African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Volume 5 (1) 85-98 archaeological evidence, the first cities appeared around 3500 BC (Adams, 1960; Davis, 1973; Sjoberg, 1973; Schwab, 1992; Frey and Zimmer, 2001). Though humankind has existed in its present form for about 40,000 years, the urban way of life came to be practiced relatively recently (Halloway, 1974; Adams, 1966; Schwab, 1992). During the long period before the urban revolution in human history, humans used to accumulate gradually the technical and social inventions that were the bases for the emergence of cities (Harrison, 1954; Schwab, 1992). For the emergence of urban centers or for what is known as the “urban revolution” to take place, it is generally assumed that a major prerequisite was a relative advance in agriculture. However, some scholars do not support this view. One scholar argued, for instance, that intensive agriculture was the outcome rather than the factor behind the emergence of towns and cities (Palen, 1981). It is also believed that agricultural and urban revolutions did not take place simultaneously in human history. The agricultural technology that could support an urban population is said to have developed many thousand years before the emergence of cities (Adams, 1966; Schwab, 1992). Thus, the procurement of surplus food by early society did not by itself account for the development of the urban way of life in the human past. In addition to surplus food, therefore, other prerequisites such as improvement of means of transportation, storage, and distribution were also of equal importance for the emergence and growth of urban centers (Schwab, 1992; Johnson, 1967; Sjoberg, 1960). Also needed was a well-established power structure that greatly enhanced the process of urbanization in human history in various parts of the world (Sjoberg, 1960). As Mumford (1961: 35) suggests, “…the most important agent in effecting the change from a decentralized village economy to a highly organized urban economy was the king or rather the institution of kingship”. For Mumford, the industrialization and commercialization aspects that have been associated with urban growth for centuries occupied a secondary position to the contribution of the institution of kingship. He further states that industrialization and commercialization emerged after the evolution of the institution of kingship and hence were not the cornerstones for the emergence and growth of cities. The other important precondition for urban evolution was ecology that had its impact on the pattern of early urbanization. The level of technology in early societies could not allow the creation of large permanent population concentrations in every part of the world but only in zones of mild climate. Relatively, favorable climatic conditions did not happen until about 10,000 BC, the end of the Ice Age in Europe (Davis, 1973; Schwab, 1992). Thus, the first cities appeared in Mesopotamia, the Nile Valley, the Indus Valley, and the Hoang-ho Valley (Frey and Zimmer, 2001). In this general process of city formation in the world, there were obstacles and setbacks. The period before the industrial revolution was characterized by both the successes and failures of urban life. The rise and fall of cities were closely related to the supporting political structure, in one way or another, without which a city could not grow or flourish. So, cities used to emerge, grow, and develop and then face partial or complete decline with the rise, decline, or fall of the political empire under which they lived. But sociocultural factors were not always responsible for the decline or fall of cities even though they were the ones mainly responsible. In the past, before the industrial revolution, natural catastrophes, such as the eruption of plagues, devastated the urban population leading to severe urban decline. More recently, such natural problems are being brought under some degree of control through technological advance; but sociocultural forces, particularly war, seriously threaten the existence of urban centers (Sjoberg, 1963). Nevertheless, having emerged in human history thousands of years ago, the urban tradition has continued to exist, in one form or another, to present times. After the fall of the Roman Empire, there was a great setback in the growth of urban centers in Europe. The cultural and economic stagnation that ensued did not favor the development of urban centers. There was a general decline of urban growth from the fifth to the tenth centuries AD and this period is generally known as the “Dark-Age” in European history. With the revival of commerce in Europe, from the eleventh century AD onwards, urban centers also began to revive. Europe began to have an increased number of new urban centers during the late medieval period (Gist and Halbert, 1956; Johnson, 1967; Palen, 1981) but they remained small in size (Davis, 1969; Frey and Zimmer,

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2001). Agriculture still dominated the economic life of society (Frey and Zimmer, 2001). Although the medieval European towns were small and harbored only a fraction of the population of the region in which they were created, they were in a position to play a great role in linking industry and commerce, giving emphasis to techniques that became the base for an enhanced urbanization process. This development came about due to an abundant increase in productivity that was indeed the result of using “inanimate energy and machinery.” Nonetheless, even after the medieval period set in, for three consecutive centuries, the growth of urbanization was still at a low ebb in Europe (Davis, 1969). Medieval Europe was characterized by an increase in the number of towns rather than their growth in size (Johnson, 1967). After the medieval period, the growth of the urban population became increasingly evident mainly in the political and religious centers of Europe (Gist and Halbert, 1956; Johnson, 1967). By and large, during the period preceding the industrial revolution, Europe was dominated by agrarian life (Davis, 1969). However, the sustained technical and economic transformation, which was to become the basis of the later industrial revolution, had already been working towards the growth of urban centers in their size, population, and generally towards the pace at which rapid urbanization was to take place (Johnson, 1967). The industrial revolution brought about an enhanced urban transformation of a long-lasting effect all over the world. The relation between economic progress and urbanization was so significant that urbanization became synonymous with economic growth and modernization. This relationship evolved to its maturity in presently developed countries of the world after the industrial revolution (Davis, 1969). The industrial development in Europe had a significant effect on the process of urbanization due to far-reaching developments that took place in the fields of urbanization following the industrial revolution (Johnson, 1967). Indeed, large-scale urbanization began in Europe after the industrial revolution (Cater and Jones, 1989; Mammo, 1994; Chole, 1976). In developed parts of the world, industrialization had transformed the economic base of rural life undermining the role of agriculture as a source of employment and self-employment. The expansion of the urban population created a heavy demand for agricultural produce but from the mid-nineteenth century, this demand was supplied by the application of capital and technology with mechanization, selective breeding, and the use of fertilizers supplanting labor-intensive practices. This development, in turn, led to the decline of the absolute number of farm jobs and the rural population, with growing numbers of rural workers now migrating to the expanding urban-industrial sectors of the economy. Rural areas had lost their capacity to support their populations and had become instead a source of cheap labor for urban growth (Cater and Jones, 1989). The rapid rate of urbanization in the world began to manifest itself after the first half of the nineteenth century. However, the rate of world urbanization in the nineteenth century was not as rapid as that of the first half of the twentieth century. It was during the first half of the twentieth century that urban growth and expansion became very rapid in what are today the developed nations of the world. In Europe, the second half of the nineteenth century was noted by urban transformation due to the emergence of industrialization and fast economic growth. By the first half of the twentieth century, this transformation seems to have reached its climax. The turn of developing countries for rapid urban growth was then to come only in the second half of the twentieth century (Mammo, 1994; Chole, 1976).

3.2. Urbanization in Africa Africa has had a very old tradition of urban development, particularly in northern, western, and along its eastern coast (Mabogunje, 1974). It was indeed while Africa was going through its process of urbanization that the Europeans came and imposed colonial rule. Hence, the interruption in Africa's urban tradition in favor of the colonial model led many to think that before the colonial period Africa was poor in urban culture and that urbanization was a new phenomenon characteristic only of the colonial period. However, research in this field indicates that Africa's urban tradition could be traced

89 Gutema East African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Volume 5 (1) 85-98 as far back as the first millennium even excluding Mediterranean Africa and Nubia (Hanna and Hanna, 1981; O‟Connor, 1983; Brunn and Williams, 1983; Dickenson, et al., 1996; Gugler, 1996). In northeastern Africa, Meroe, Aksum, and Adulis were major urban and cultural centers for centuries in pre-Christian times (Oloo, 1969; Brunn and Williams, 1983; Gugler, 1996). Compared to many early cities in Africa, Aksumite Empire1 urban centers seem to be older than all, except perhaps those in Egypt and Nubia. It seems clear that during the Aksumite period, the society achieved a reasonable degree of sociocultural development in which urbanization and local and international commerce played a very important part (Tamrat, 1972; Munro-hay, 1989). The level of civilization reached during the Aksumite period could not have been achieved in isolation from the rest of the world. The Aksumite civilization must be seen within the context of the world political and economic system of the period. The rise and development of Aksum, the capital city of the Aksumite Empire, was the result of the interaction of both internal and external forces. Whilst its emergence could be attributed mainly to the internal development of the society in which it was founded, its further growth and development must have been enhanced greatly by its wide- ranging international contacts through long-distance trade via its Red Sea port of Adulis (Tamrat, 1972; Munro-hay, 1989). When these contacts began to deteriorate, probably with the rise of Islam (Gugler, 1996) and the fall of the Byzantine Empire, which was its important commercial partner, its predominance in the international commerce through the Red Sea started to decline, and Aksum entered a period of a gradual loss of wealth and regional power. This period had set in by the end of the sixth century. Since then, neither the internal nor the external political and economic climates were favorable for the Aksumite civilization to remain intact (Tamrat, 1972; Munro-hay, 1989). When there was a revival of urban culture and tradition in Europe, from the eleventh century onwards, the Aksumite society was not in a position to follow the same course. Aksum had even lost its crucial place as a political center of the empire that tended to move to its south (Baker, 1986; Tamrat, 1972). The Zagwe dynasty was founded in the middle of the twelfth century, after the complete fall of the Aksumite kingdom and ruled over most parts of the former Aksumite Empire from its capital at Adefa (later Lallibela) until it was overthrown by yet another dynasty (the so-called ) around 1270 (Horvath, 1969; Tamrat, 1972; Seyoum, 1988). During the Zagwe period, it may be said that there was a revival in architecture with the continuation of some of the technological advances already achieved during the Aksumite period. Accordingly, it may also be assumed that there was a relative revival in urban civilization (Tamrat, 1972). Yet, it seems difficult to push this assumption too far due to the dearth of historical data on the period. From the fall of the Zagwe kingdom until the rise of the Gondarine kingdom around 1636, there was no significant development of urban centers in Northeast Africa when we compare the period with the Aksumite and the Zagwe periods. This period seems to be characterized by economic decline and political fluidity that hampered the emergence and development of urban centers (Tamrat, 1972; Baker, 1986). Even though the isolation hypothesis2 is invalid for the whole region of Northeast Africa or part of the region during the medieval period (Mamo, 1986), one may safely state that the region‟s foreign relations during the period were not strong enough to inspire great development in the political and economic state apparatus. Thus, no strong and dominant urban centers could emerge beyond relatively small market towns and the shifting political centers of the period (Wolde-Michael, 1966; Baker, 1990). However, until about the beginning of the seventeenth century, these shifting political centers and market towns served as the political and economic bases for the continuation of local and long-distance commercial activities which were very important during the medieval period (Comhaire, 1967; Pankhurst, 1982; Getahun, 1988; Eshete, 1988).

1 Aksumite Empire was the empire which had been in existence in northeastern Africa from c.150 BC to 1140 AD with its center in what is today Aksum. 2 Isolation Hypothesis is the hypothesis that part of northeastern Africa (the Abyssinian kingdom) was isolated from its neighbors and the rest of the world due to the unfavorable politico-religious developments of the time.

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The continued importance of local and long-distance trade during the medieval and later periods enhanced the continuation of old urban traditions in the region (Comhaire, 1967; Pankhurst, 1982; Crummey, n.d). As Weber (1963: 160) states, “... towns owe their origin to trade, ... the commercial metropolis of today is the successor of the primitive market-place … the extension of the market means the enlargement of the market center ....” Northeast Africa had close relations with Arabia, India, and the Mediterranean world, at least from the beginning of the fourteenth century (Wolde Aregay, 1983; Mamo, 1986). And there are some indications that a certain degree of urban development took place along the major trade routes that connected the different parts of the region with one other and with the external world. Doresse (1959: 122) describing the general picture of this urban development towards the middle of the second half of the fifteenth century, states, “Towns were beginning to appear here and there ....” Pankhurst (1982: 317) also gives us a general view of the period from the fifteenth century to the early nineteenth century by stating that “Political and to a lesser extent commercial factors ... led to the emergence over the centuries of a succession of military camps, embryonic or static capitals, and trading centers.” The emergence of Gondar, which later became a famous capital of the Gondarine Kingdom, was the outcome of the gradual resurgence of the urbanization process in the region. Although the political conflicts during the so-called Zemene Mesafint (Era of Princes) (1769-1855) were allegedly considered to have adversely affected the growth of trade throughout the period in Northeast Africa, commercial interactions continued throughout the region; and, with this, there was the establishment of sundry local market towns here and there in the region. These market towns could also serve as administrative centers being bases for important political figures (Crummey, n.d). Pankhurst (1982) notes that the decline of the power of the monarchy in Gondar in the second half of the eighteenth century and the consequent rise of various semi-autonomous regional rulers led to the growth of several local capitals such as Debre-Tabor in Begemidir, Antallo and Addigrat in Tigray, Bichana and Dima in Gojjam, and Ankober, Angolala, and Debre-Birhan in north Shewa. In other parts of Northeast Africa, such centers as Bonga, dating back to, at least, the 16th century (Pankhurst, 1982), Jiren, , and others were also important market towns in the nineteenth century. These were major political centers of the different states in the region and they also assumed an important economic position since they were located on the lucrative long-distance trade routes and in a rich agricultural zone (Abir, 1968; Gemeda, 1984; Hassen, 1990). Other important principalities and states in the region had also emerged with their political bases. These bases in a way constituted a certain urban tradition. For instance, the present Naqamte city in Western Oromia () had initially been serving as a ritual and political center of the Gadaa3 institution of the area and later transformed into the base of the local chief in the region and finally became the capital of the kingdom of Leqa Naqamte. Naqamte was an urban center of a certain magnitude, at least, since the middle of the nineteenth century (Pankhurst, 1985; Ta'a, 1994). The Muslim state of Adal had also come up with urban culture since the medieval period, with Harar, in particular, as the leading religious, political, and economic center of the state for many centuries (Ullendorff, 1965; Trimingham, 1965). As Crummey (1987: 9, 24-25) correctly comments, “Towns did not grow bigger, and cities did not emerge … [yet] towns were an essential feature of the … social and geographical landscape [of Northeast Africa] in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.” That rural life dominated the regions‟ polities was a fact beyond doubt. At the same time, the existence of impoverished and smaller urban centers in this region is unquestionable. The kingdoms of Darfur, Wadai, Kanem Bornu, Hausaland, Songhai, Mali, and Ghana, which were founded in the ancient territory of Africa generally known as the Sudanic belt, also had their urban centers such as Kumbi-Saleh of Ghana; Ngazargamo of Bornu; Katsina, Kano, and Zaria of Hausaland states; and Gao and Timbuktu of Songhai. These African urban centers, in one way or

3 Gadaa is the most known super democratic institution which was founded by the Oromo, a Cushitic people who live in Northeast Africa. It is a system which has been in force for many centuries and encompasses all aspects of Oromo social, political, economic, and religious lives.

91 Gutema East African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Volume 5 (1) 85-98 another, were serving as the termini for the caravan routes that passed through the Sahara to the Maghreb regions of Africa. Some of these became important centers of some of the medieval empires in the region such as Ghana, Mali, and Songhai (Oloo, 1969; Brunn and Williams, 1983; Gugler, 1996). In the central part of Africa, in the Zaire basin, there were African kingdoms such as the Kongo, Bateke, and Luango that had been in existence before the arrival of the Portuguese in the region. These kingdoms had formed major population centers like Mbanza and Kintambo (Brunn and Williams, 1983; Hanna and Hanna, 1981). Some research has shown that there were also “compact settlements” in Kenya before the colonial era that could be identified as urban centers. Elgon Nyanza was an important settlement established by the Luhyas, an ethnic group in Kenya. These were pre-colonial centers of administration and political power for the local chiefs and sub-chiefs (Obudho, 1974). In Southern Africa, the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, which used to be the capital of the Rozvi Mutapa Empire, is another relic of Africa's ancient urban tradition. Having flourished between the 4th and 9th centuries, according to some historians, this important center historically signified Africa's civilization particularly in the fields of organization and architecture (Hanna and Hanna 1981; Brunn and Williams, 1983). To the west of Great Zimbabwe, Bulawayo later emerged as the capital of one of the Bantu empires and continued to be prominent in the area up to the colonial penetration (Brunn and Williams, 1983). Thus, one cannot speak of a complete absence of urban tradition in Africa before the colonial period. As Thomas (1965:25) states “… the historical and cultural tradition for urbanization, in at least a limited form, has existed [in Africa] for centuries ....” Some of the ancient African urban centers seem to have lost their position to newly emerging indigenous towns or some colonial centers, but many of these ancient African urban centers were transformed into the major centers of administration of African states today. Some examples of this kind were Kumasi of Ghana, Kano and Ibadan of Nigeria, Kinshasa of Zaire, Bulawayo of Zimbabwe, and Omdurman of Sudan. Out of the 146 African urban centers with populations of 100,000 and more in 1980, only about 28 could be associated with the colonial period for their emergence (Brunn and Williams, 1983; Hanna and Hanna, 1981). A major factor for the emergence and growth of pre-colonial African urban centers was the internal development of African societies in response to inter-regional and international long-distance trade. These traditional African urban centers thus served as focal points for administration, religious worship, and trade (Mabogunje, 1968; Gugler, 1996). It seems clear that the process of urbanization in Africa began to accelerate since the colonial period which led to the foundation of several new urban centers without, however, necessarily leading to the abandonment of the already existing ones (Brunn and Williams, 1983; Mabogunje, 1974). The colonial period brought about a new aspect of urban development in Africa. The Europeans came to Africa as colonial masters in the late nineteenth century and opened the way for the foundation of new urban centers. European colonization, which took place in almost all parts of Africa, brought Western economic enterprise and the market economy that began to influence African life. This economic enterprise and market economy required urban facilities to which the Europeans were accustomed to in their part of the world. Concentrated European settlements gradually evolved into urban centers; and other towns grew due to specific economic activities such as coal mining (Little, 1974). As Hiwet (1975: 40) correctly points out: The thirst and ferocious struggle for markets, sources of agricultural products, and mineral resources are the characteristic features of the monopoly phase of capitalism. In order to reach these sources, capitalism has to overcome geographical and transportation problems. Therefore, the development of infrastructure becomes the sine qua non for a systematic plunder of continents. The European colonizers constructed railway lines and roads that were, themselves, additional factors to the emergence of new urban centers. In the process, already existing settlement areas were, on the one hand, absorbed into newly emerging towns; and, on the other, completely new urban

92 Gutema Westerners‟ Perceptions of Africa vis-à-vis Africa‟s Urbanization Process centers founded. Just as the earlier urban centers were generally intended to serve the needs of administration and commerce, the new towns reflected the desire of the colonizers to settle their European folks and served as centers for their administrative, commercial, and manufacturing activities (Little, 1974; Hanna and Hanna, 1981). The first and massive effort of the Europeans to penetrate the major resource areas of Africa was by laying down significant routes of penetration of which the construction of the railway lines to link the port towns with the hinterlands occupied their greatest attention (Brunn and Williams, 1983). The period between 1885 and 1931, particularly the years between 1895 and 1914, when the colonizers were actively delimiting their spheres of influence in Africa, was characterized by a great era of railway construction in Africa (Best, 1966; Hanna and Hanna, 1981). By the beginning of the twentieth century, the railway system in West Africa had already started to look like “… a system of coastal rivers draining the continent to the sea” (Brunn and Williams, 1983: 250). The railway termini on the coastal regions from Dakar to Luanda developed into capital and primate cities for the countries in which they were located, external trade being their main function. In other parts of Africa, particularly in northeastern and eastern Africa, the European‟s focus was not on coastal towns but rather on the existing major towns in the interior such as Khartoum, Addis Ababa, Kampala, Nairobi, and Salisbury. In this case, the railway system was designed to link the interior cities with ports under firm colonial control. Thus, Khartoum was linked with Port Sudan; Addis Ababa with Djibouti; and Nairobi with Mombassa. In the case of these regions, therefore, the main focal points of urban agglomeration, economic activities and political power were not the coastal towns but the interior ones (Brunn and Williams, 1983). There are, however, a few exceptions to this rule with Dar es Salaam and Maputo, for example, developing as coastal urban centers following the tradition of West Africa (Brunn and Williams, 1983). On the other hand, there were many cases of urban formation along the railway routes leading to the interior of northeastern and eastern Africa. Nairobi in Kenya (Macharia, 1966; Brunn and Williams, 1983) and Dire Dawa, Adama, and Bishoftu in Ethiopia are few examples of this development (Bekele, 1982; Imana, 1996). However, the railway towns in Ethiopia were not created by Europeans but by the local people in response to the new economic system that was created due to the introduction of the railway transport service. The Europeans did not come to Ethiopia as colonial masters. Rather, they played indirect but the most significant role in the creation of the Ethiopian empire. As Perham (1969: 294) states, “... it was the new challenge by European powers to Africa, and their conception of administrative control within fixed frontiers, which stimulated [Menilek] to carve out his own empire.” The Europeans were undoubtedly successful in exercising indirect influences of various kinds in the creation of Ethiopia as an empire state. They came to serve Menilek, as experts in different fields such as the military, arts and crafts, health and commerce; and they enhanced the changing trends in the empire within the context of the developments in the rest of Africa and the world. The military experts were responsible for giving military training while the traders were particularly active in providing armaments that were in great demand by Menilek for his effort of territorial expansion or conquest. Europeans were also responsible for the introduction of modern facilities to the country, particularly the construction of the railway line that connected the port of Djibouti with the center of the empire (Pankhurst, 1961/63/67; Darkwah, 1975), in their attempt to impose indirect economic influence. The colonial conquest of African countries and its indirect impact on Ethiopia was followed by a relative economic expansion that led to the growth of the already existing urban centers and the foundation of new ones. During this period, there was a relative acceleration in the pace of urbanization in Africa as a whole as the new demand for human labor in the different capitalist enterprises was making people‟s migration imperative. As it was mentioned earlier in section three above, the industrial revolution in Europe had necessitated European economic penetration of the various parts of the world. Consequently,

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Europeans came to Africa to exploit raw materials for their large-scale industries in Europe and to open new markets for their products. In their attempt to control the human and economic resources of Africa, the Europeans imposed their colonial rule on the continent. In the process, even though Africa had its own indigenous urban tradition, the Europeans came with their complex and more sophisticated urban culture that widened the urban base of the continent. In many cases, the already existing African urban centers were greatly transformed while at the same time new towns were also created.

4. Conclusion Africa had been going through its own process of urbanization for centuries before the Europeans came to impose their colonial rule. Africa's own urban tradition was interrupted and obscured by the colonial model of urbanization which led many to think and argue that Africa had no urban culture before the colonial period. Contrary to this view, however, researches in the field of African urbanization vividly indicate that Africa has had a very old tradition of urban development which could be traced, at least, as far back as two millennia. Therefore, the relative urban expansion in Africa during the colonial period must not overshadow Africa‟s established urban traditions long before the colonial period. As it was presented already under the third section of this paper, urban development in history was one outcome of the institution of kingship or any form of public administration. The institution of kingship or any form of public administration occupied a primary position for the emergence and growth of urban centers for centuries before the industrial revolution and the consequent commercialization of the economy. In the context of Africa as well, the existence of urban traditions implies not only that Africans had urban culture but also political institutions, in one form or the other, that were behind the rise and growth of urban centers. This, in turn, indicates the fact that Africans had political culture or civilization for centuries before the industrial period and the coming of the Europeans to Africa during the colonial period. As the existence of political culture/civilization denotes the existence of social and economic changes, it is needless to mention that Africa had its own independent social, economic, and political history for centuries before the arrival of the Europeans in Africa. Hence, Africa has never been a dark continent devoid of history but has been wrongly portrayed as such by Westerners perhaps because they have been looking to history only from their own too narrow and Western-centric perspective or trying to dismiss Africa‟s origins of many civilizations be it in Africa or even in Europe and the Middle East. Africans‟ lack of writing culture and written reports of their past is one of the alleged reasons used by the Westerners to argue that Africa has no history of civilization. However, historical events reported on papers are nothing without the actual events that took place in the real world in the past. Something written about the past is not a reality in itself but a reflection of a reality that happened in the past regardless of the will of the writer. Africans had their independent course of civilization whether written in the pages of history or not. The unwritten ones have been kept in the oral traditions of its peoples. These oral traditions can be investigated by historians and other professionals anytime in the future to enter into the pages of history. Hence, using Africa‟s lack of writing culture in the past to argue that Africa is a continent devoid of history of civilization does not hold water.

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