ABSTRACT
It requires a considerable effort of the imagination to realize the full effect of the impact of Western civilization on these tribes in the middle of the nineteenth century. The impact was all the more severe because the first phase, was characterized by an almost incredible brutality and inhumanity. Ivory and slaves were their objective, rifles the symbols of their power. As a result the population was heavily reduced and will take several generations to recover, the cattle were decimated, communities broken up, and in the less resistant tribes the whole fabric of society weakened. In its second phase, the new era has been marked by an increasingly humanitarian regime, and it is of interest to examine how Western civilization is affecting these African tribes. A very marked feature of African society is a communal co-operative spirit, which manifests itself in the clan.
