By the beginning of World War I in …show more content…
A few groups that had suffered from long-term warfare or slave raiding (such as in parts of East Africa) gave an uncertain welcome to European presence in their regions in hope that there would be peace. Other groups strongly resisted the coming of European political control. However, many people had no initial reaction to colonialism. This was because the early years colonialism had little impact on the lives of many rural African peoples. This situation changed as the impact of colonialism became more widespread and intense in the middle decades of the 20th …show more content…
In 1941, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and the U.S. President, Franklin Roosevelt, composed a document, the Atlantic Charter, which stated the principles that directed the Allies' war effort. The third paragraph of the Charter states that the Allies "respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they will wish to see sovereign rights of self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them." Not surprisingly, Africans claimed this as a commitment on the part of the Allies (at least Britain) to end colonial rule in