Which factor most contributed to ethnic conflicts in postcolonial Africa after World War II?

• A. European imperial boundaries
• B. Economic prosperity
• C. Strict adherence to colonial borders
• D. Universal political stability

Answer: (A)

Artificial borders drawn by European colonizers grouped diverse peoples into single states or split communities across several states. When African nations won independence after World War II, these artificial boundaries made it hard to build inclusive governments and often forced rival groups to share power or contest control within the same country or across neighboring states. That tension over who ruled, who got resources, and how national identity was defined frequently took on ethnic lines, fueling conflicts in multiethnic states like the Congo, Nigeria, and Rwanda. Other options don’t fit because prosperity would lessen conflict rather than cause it, strict adherence to borders didn’t prevent disputes and often the borders themselves became flashpoints, and universal political stability clearly did not characterize postcolonial Africa.