| Date | November 2016 | Marks available | 20 | Reference code | 16N.3op2a.HL.TZ0.8 |
| Level | Higher level only | Paper | Paper 3 (Aspects of the history of Africa) - last exams 2016 | Time zone | TZ0 |
| Command term | To what extent | Question number | 8 | Adapted from | N/A |
Question
To what extent do you agree that economic factors were a significant cause of John Chilembwe’s rising in 1915?
Markscheme
Candidates are expected to have knowledge of the reasons for the Chilembwe rising in Malawi. They should address not just the economic factors that contributed to the rising, but consider other factors. A conclusion should be drawn as to whether economic or other factors were more important in explaining the causes of the rising.
Indicative content
Economic factors
- Candidates could discuss how Africans working on plantation farms owned by Europeans were poorly paid and harshly treated. This led to increased resentment of the colonizer.
- Chilembwe was unhappy with African land rights, especially in the Shire Highlands, where most arable land was owned by European settlers. In these areas African cultivators were forced to pay rent.
- Many Africans were forced to live on overcrowded communal lands but still had to provide labour on European land.
- Migrant workers from Mozambique were prepared to work for low wages and this contributed to increased local unemployment.
- Africans were also subjected to the hut tax despite the rising cost of food.
Other factors
- Candidates could discuss how the colonial government failed to promote political and social advancement for Africans.
- After his return from the US, Chilembwe worked closely with various independent churches that had been formed in Nyasaland. These were strongly opposed to colonialism. Chilembwe himself founded the Providence Industrial Mission.
- Chilembwe set up churches on land belonging to the Bruce Estate and these were later burned down on the orders of William Livingstone.
- Chilembwe was dissatisfied with the government’s recruitment of Africans into the army during the First World War.
- Candidates could discuss the role played by the colonial administrator’s censoring of his letter to the Nyasaland Times, and how this contributed to the rising.
The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. However, the list is not exhaustive and no set answer is required.
Examiners and moderators are reminded of the need to apply the markbands that provide the “best fit” to the responses given by candidates and to award credit wherever it is possible to do so.
[20 marks]
