“I came I saw and I conquered” is often the motto of any conqueror. Conquest is not an easy undertaking, even if the history books make it unctuously look so. We are sold on the myth that Africa was colonised without firing a bullet. In reality, Africa was colonised through the usual approaches to conquest complete with bloody wars (e.g. against the Zulus), Massacres (e.g. the Bini Massacre), the exile of kings (Nana of Istekiri and Jaja of Opobo), the exile, deportation and imprisonment of kings thought to be divine decimating the confidence of their people and causing them to dread the conqueror (e.g. Oba Ovoranmwen),  concentration camps and ethnic cleansing (e.g. in Namibia) and a lot more. Africans everywhere resisted colonisation and conquest in often gallant and admirable ways but guns and cannon versus spears and clubs provided no contests of strength but typical slow heinous slaughters for resisting, in battle and in punishment. Continue reading →