At the time, travelogues were lauded by British colonialists, and the presence of European countries, including Britain, on the continent was admired when it came to African culture and civilization as an example.
The English tourist Livingston was a source of pride for Zimbabwe and Zambia, and for the world's largest waterfall, the name of Queen Victoria, the symbol of colonialism, was chosen instead of an African name. Even today, Victoria Falls on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe is reminiscent of this colonial name.
When the independence wars against colonialism broke out, the British media and writers portrayed the African people as violent and lacking in civilized customs, with the presence of cannibalistic tribes, wizards and witches being the first news of the media about Africa. Many African scholars believe that there was no cannibalistic tribe or culture of cannibalism anywhere in Africa, but the British created the myth of cannibalism to justify their hegemonic presence in Africa and spread it by making numerous films.
The British view of Africa was a deliberate and unintentional one, with a disregard for human rights. British colonization after its expulsion from Africa sowed the seeds of many conflicts on the continent that are still more or less continuing. Britain changed its methods on the continent to exploit Africa after the end of colonial rule.
The first group of Europeans immigrated to Zambia in 1880, and the British company South Africa was the first major European company to operate in northern Rhodesia, or present-day Zambia. Given that one of Zambia's main policies was agricultural development to achieve food self-sufficiency and reduce dependence on mines, British colonialism made the country a single crop dependent on corn. The role of British colonialism in monopolizing agriculture is very clear. The British colonial government banned the cultivation of other crops in Zambia due to the good income of corn. To reinforce this policy, London even turned corn into Zambia's staple food, the "mille mille", a meal made from corn flour that is the staple food of the people of Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Regarding British support for apartheid, the late South African Foreign Minister Enzo once said: "When Oliver Tambo called on the leaders of the African National Congress to put pressure on the Pretoria regime to secure the release of Nelson Mandela and to Recognition of the African National Congress was opposed by Britain, with Tambo calling for a boycott of South Africa's racist regime, but US President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher stepped up their diplomatic efforts to prevent an economic embargo on Pretoria.
At the time, the UN Security Council had advised countries around the world to vote in favor of sanctions against South Africa and to ban the sale of any weapons to that country. But the United States and Britain vetoed the resolution.
Because of the racist policies of London and Washington, the white minority had the highest standard of living on the African continent, equal to the standard of living in the Western countries of the First World, and the majority of blacks enjoyed all privileges such as education, insurance and even employment. They were deprived. The British-affiliated apartheid government did not distinguish between blacks, Indians, or people of color in South Africa, and treated all of them as last-class citizens.
According to the British, the black man lacked understanding and his training was allowed by the use of force. Even church leaders, especially in the Church of England, endorsed this view. Unfortunately, in the same way that the American Indians were exterminated, Europe, led by Britain, turned its back on the destruction of African civilizations and tried not to expose the positive aspects of African civilization. In this way, the use of false propaganda about the continent was put on the agenda of the West. To justify the injustices of England, Christian missionaries called African man cannibals who had to be led to the right by priests and the cross. They handed over a cross to blacks that had nothing to do with their civilization and culture.
The people of Africa, even their natives, have their own order and culture, the head of the African tribe is a white beard who knows oral history and is the custodian of African civilizations. Praise for the art of sculpture is common in ancient Greece and Rome, but Westerners consider the making of wooden sculptures and dolls in Africa to be superstitious. Every member of the Tonga or Bomba tribe in Zambia promotes art, the art that touches it, lives with it and expresses it by making African handicrafts. The art of using copper in South Africa, Zambia, Zaire and Zimbabwe shows the beauty of this metal.
Professor Ernst Müller "- An African-American scholar who has lived in Africa for many years, considers African civilizations as the civilizations of ancient Iran and Greece, and believes that, for example, the bronze industry in Benin is unique in the world. Livingstone, who said that black Africa should be led to the new age with the light of Europe, Professor Ernst Müller believed that in order to get rid of backwardness, Africa must return to itself and be guided in the same way that it did years after colonialism.
In the implementation of colonial policy, the Western media and primarily British journalists have played a major role in misinforming the continent. Some of the world's publications that covered world developments did not publish anything but directional and often negative news about Africa. Information about Africa was published by journalists who either did not have the correct information about Africa or were themselves influenced by the Western atmosphere against the continent. In their view, culturally, Africa was no longer a continent of beauty and diverse civilizations, but a wild continent full of uncivilized humans to be ruled by Britain. Tourists such as Livingston - who is unfortunately also a Zambian province - have contributed to this understanding of Africa with their travelogues.
Today, poverty, disease and the political confrontation of governments have become Britain's means of exerting influence in Africa, and Africans will never forget Britain's crimes and human rights abuses on the continent. Today, African man has no choice but to return to himself, and it is time for African man to write the history of Africa by himself.
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