Positive Impacts of Colonialism
1. Introduction of Western Education: colonial rule made it possible for West Africans to be exposed to western education. The colonial masters built schools and colleges in their colonies which enabled most Africans to acquire western education.
2. Introduction of Modern legal system: the French and British governments introduced their legal system in their colonies which were improvement on the African legal system.
3. Introduction of Modern religion: the colonialists came with missionaries who introduced the Christian religion. The Christian religion fought against evil traditional practices such as; human sacrifice, killing of twins, etc. and other inhuman practices. The activities of the missionaries accelerated the pace of social development in West Africa.
4. Economic Gain: economically, West African countries established trade relations with Britain and France. Britain is the major trade partner with her former colonies and France is doing the same.
5. Development of Political parties: colonialism brought about the development of political parties in West Africa. This came as a result of the introduction of elective principle by the colonialists, a development that promoted nationalism in the continent.
6. Uniform Civil Service: the civil service of the various colonies was fashioned after those of their colonial masters.
Disadvantages or Negative Impact of Colonialism in West Africa
1. Imposition of foreign culture on the people: the colonizers imposed their culture on the people of West Africa and forced them to imbibe the foreign cultures especially in the French colonies.
2. Inadequate Western Education: the colonial form of education retarded the rate of our economic, social and political development because the colonial education was centered on; reading, writing and arithmetic.
3. Exploitation: trade with African colonies was purely exploitative as the colonial masters took the raw materials at take-away prices and return the finished products at high costs. They fixed the prices of both raw materials and the good in ways that favored them.
4. Absence of Human resources development: colonial rule failed to advance Africa along the path of human resources development.
