Forms of response: collaboration and resistance

1Why this matters

Colonial conquest was not something that simply happened to Africans. African rulers and peoples made choices, under great pressure and with incomplete information, about how to protect their people, their land and their power. Historians group these choices into two broad forms: collaboration and resistance. This unit looks at both from the point of view of the Africans who made them.

Collaboration means co-operating with the colonial power, for example by signing treaties, supplying soldiers or helping to govern. Resistance means opposing colonial rule, by fighting or by refusing to co-operate.

2A word of caution

It is tempting to call resisters "heroes" and collaborators "traitors". Historians avoid this. Most collaborators were not betraying Africa as a whole; there was no united "Africa" yet, only many separate states, some of them old rivals. A ruler who allied with the British against a neighbouring enemy was often doing what rulers everywhere do: seeking allies to survive. Many rulers also switched: Mwanga of Buganda collaborated and later rebelled, and Samori Touré signed treaties with the French before fighting them. Collaboration and resistance were strategies, and both could succeed or fail.

Examples of collaboration

• Lewanika, ruler (Litunga) of the Lozi of Barotseland (in present-day Zambia), sought British protection against the Ndebele and the Portuguese and signed agreements with Cecil Rhodes's company from 1890. Barotseland kept a degree of self-government.
• Apolo Kagwa, Katikkiro of Buganda, and other Ganda chiefs allied with the British, helped them defeat Bunyoro and signed the 1900 Buganda Agreement. Buganda kept its kingdom and gained land.
• Nabongo Mumia of the Wanga in western Kenya allied with the British, and his soldiers helped them conquer neighbouring peoples.
• Lenana, a leading Maasai laibon (spiritual leader), co-operated with the British at a time when the Maasai had been badly weakened by cattle disease, smallpox, drought and internal war in the 1890s.
• Kasagama of Toro was restored to his throne by Lugard in 1891 and remained a British ally.

3Why some rulers collaborated

1. Protection against enemies: Lewanika against the Ndebele; Buganda against Bunyoro.
2. To gain or regain power: Kasagama recovered his throne with British help.
3. Material rewards: guns, gifts, land and official posts.
4. Realism: some leaders saw that European firepower could not be beaten and chose to save lives and keep what they could.
5. Weakness after disaster: the Maasai, for example, had lost much of their cattle and many people to disease and drought.
6. Religious ties: Christian converts were often close to missionaries and their governments.

4Why others resisted

1. To defend their independence and sovereignty.
2. To protect their land from settlers and companies.
3. Against taxes, forced labour and forced cash crops.
4. To protect their religion, customs and way of life.
5. Because they had strong armies and past victories, and believed they could win.
6. Because treaties had been broken or were found to be fraudulent.

Worked example: explaining a choice

Question: Why did Buganda collaborate with the British while Bunyoro resisted?

Buganda's leading chiefs had just won the religious wars with British help, and they saw the British as allies against their old rival, Bunyoro. By collaborating, they gained guns, land and a guaranteed place in the new order. Bunyoro's king Kabalega, by contrast, had rebuilt his kingdom's power and army in the 1870s and 1880s and faced a British–Ganda alliance aimed directly at him. For Bunyoro, collaboration offered nothing but surrender to its enemies, so Kabalega fought. Each kingdom's choice followed from its own interests and history.

Practice

Solution. Collaboration is co-operating with the colonial power, for example by signing treaties or providing soldiers. Resistance is opposing colonial rule, by armed struggle or by refusing to co-operate.

Solution. Any three of: protection against local enemies; to gain or regain power; material rewards such as guns and land; realising European firepower could not be beaten; weakness after disease, drought or war; ties with missionaries.

Solution. Because Africa was made up of many separate states, often rivals, and rulers acted to protect their own people. Collaboration was a strategy, and many rulers both collaborated and resisted at different times.

Solution. Collaborator: any of Apolo Kagwa, Nabongo Mumia, Lenana, Kasagama. Resister: any of Kabalega, Mkwawa, Koitalel arap Samoei, the leaders of Maji Maji.