19th Century: (The Nineteenth-Century Struggle to Reformulate Political and Economic Structures — Expansionist Centers, Armed Frontiers, Firearms as Symbols …

19th Century: (The Nineteenth-Century Struggle to Reformulate Political and Economic Structures — Expansionist Centers, Armed Frontiers, Firearms as Symbols of Success, and European Imperialism as the Child of African Commercial and Political Dynamism): The history of African polity, society, and economy in the nineteenth century was to a considerable degree concerned with the struggle to reformulate political and economic structures, with war frequently playing a major role as an instrument of policy. Expansionist centers clashed with armed frontiers, and new political and military cultures resulted — some of which were consolidating on the eve of the European partition. Much of this change was linked to overseas commerce, from the small trading states of the Niger Delta to the centralized mercantilist kingdoms of the Ganda and the Zulu. Firearms became symbols of commercial, social, and political success across the continent, although their real impact on warfare was variable — in many parts of West Africa and Ethiopia, guns were effectively adopted through experience, but in Buganda, introduced only in the second half of the century, they actually weakened the army’s performance owing to a lack of training and a misguided emphasis on symbolic value. Across the continent, guns were often sub-standard, unreliable, and even dangerous, placing African societies at a great disadvantage in the face of European encroachment. For western, southern, and eastern Africa, ultimately, European imperialism was itself related to commercial and political developments within those regions — the belief that African society was inherently unstable meant that trade would be protected, if necessary by forceful suppression of disorder and occupation of territory. Europeans saw internal warfare as an impediment to commerce, while even those rulers who maintained order came to be seen as dangerous potentates who had to be removed.