The Effects of Colonization on Africa, Research Paper Example

Europe’s colonization of Africa has had deep and lasting effects. It is partially to blame for much of the continent’s current turmoil. Among the lasting effects of colonization are a feeling of inferiority, xenophobia and underdevelopment.

The underdevelopment and economic disablement of Africa is, perhaps, the most visible long-term effect of European colonization. It is true that, as Robert Rotberg points out, the Europeans did much to develop Africa. For instance, they built railroads and roads across the continent. (Rotberg, 2009) These things undoubtedly increased trade in Africa. However, says Rotberg, colonization also split Africa into administrative sections that “created a drag on development.” (Rotberg, 2009, p. 76) Indeed, according to Tanzania’s The Citizen, many commentators believe that Africa would have thrived economically were it not for slavery and colonization. (Citizen, 2008)While Rotberg suggests that colonialism is not to blame for Africa’s current underdevelopment or troubles, it would be difficult to argue that its effects were not long-lasting.

Europeans took ownership of African lands, took over African resources and took away the right of ownership of many African citizens. Such a thing is understandably hard to recover from. Furthermore, according to The Monitor, Europeans in Uganda gave the choicest rewards to Africans who collaborated with them the most. They took resources from those who collaborated less and thus, says The Monitor; Ugandan resources flowed out of Africa (The Monitor, 2008).

Colonialism also caused a sort of xenophobia throughout Africa. Recently, for instance, Newsweek reported that Botswana and Liberia turned away U.S. Troops that hoped to protect the continent from becoming a jihadist base. According to Newsweek, Africa rejected the troops for the following reason:

In general, say AfriCom officials, there is little appetite for a big U.S. base in Africa, since African leaders worry that an American base would inflame fears of a new era of colonialism. (Johnson, 2009, p. 1)

In a similar situation, a Korean-African Land Deal fell apart recently, after citizens in Madagascar expressed their outrage over what they saw as new “colonialism.” The deal would have allowed rich countries to lease farmland in Madagascar. The agreement was to last for ninety-nine years and would have allowed Korea to rent 3.2 million acres of farmland. (Ryall & Pflanz, 2009, p. 1) It would not be a stretch, then, to say, that European colonization has lead many Africans to dislike outside interference or even the presence of foreign investors and workers.

Racial tension is also very prevalent in Africa. This is, perhaps, the most damaging and long-lasting effect colonization has had on the continent. Carina Ray describes the events that lead to this tension by stating the following:

The racism that we know was born in Europe and America from the cultural need to justify doing to black people, doing to Africans, what could not morally or legally be done to white people, least of all to Europeans. To justify the enslavement of Africans, in short, it was culturally necessary to believe…that Africans were inherently and naturally less than human… That was the cultural basis…of the slave trade and of the modern imperialism of Africa which followed the slave trade. (Ray, 2008, p. 24)

Some time before this happened, says Ray, Europe had revered Africans. Yet it willfully stamped out the idea of Black accomplishment and replaced their former reverence with racism. Ray documents quotes from some of the greatest European thinkers of the 18^th century that show how the idea of black inferiority was propagated. Hume, for instance, declared that there had scarcely been a nation of civilized colored people. Kant declared that every black person was a fool. Voltaire called Africans inferior to Europeans. This attitude was created, according to Ray, to justify colonization (Ray, 2008). Yet it did not end with it. Many today, both inside Africa and outside of it still believe in African inferiority.

According to Vuyani Ngalwana of South Africa’s Financial Mail, those who are white often feel superior to blacks and lack confidence in black people’s abilities. (Stevens, 2008, p. 10) Heinreich Stevens asserts that this will always be the case, as long as Africans allow their country to remain in turmoil. The problem, according to Stevens, is that his fellow Africans are too willing to blame their ills on colonialism and not willing enough to stand up and fix the continent (Stevens, 2008).

It is not only Africa’s leaders who are inclined to believe in Africa’s inferiority. According to Chumile Sali, Africans in general have a “colonial hangover.” (Sali, 2009, p. 1) Indeed, Sali says he following:

The xenophobic attacks on African nationals are the result of the aftermath of colonialism. Colonialism in Africa has entrenched a mindset of inferiority on the black person – to see a lighter-skinned person (white person) as better off than a black person. In African communities, a dark-skinned person (South African) is often suspected of being an African “foreign” national. (Sali, 2009)

Colonialism then seems to have given many in Africa a feeling of inferiority and of a lack of control over the continents destiny. This breaking of morale may be the cause of the majority of Africa’s current problems. Indeed, according to The Citizen, many scholars claim that “the residual effects of slavery and colonialism as some of the psychological and physical hindrances that continue to wreck havoc on the continent and its people.” (Citizen, 2008)

Colonialism stripped Africa of many of its resources and caused its people to be wary of outsiders and their influence. But the most devastating effect of colonialism has been the psychological damage colonialism has dealt to the African people – imprinting on their minds and idea of African inferiority.

Works Cited

Citizen, T. (2008). Tanzania; What does the World Owe Continent? Africa News .

Johnson, S. (2009). Africa Turns Away The Troops. Newsweek , 154 (20).

Ray, C. (2008). We Have a History! New African , 24-25.

Rotberg, R. (2009). Conflict Zones and Crossroads: Understanding Africa’s Challenges. Harvard International Review. , 31 (3).

Ryall, J., & Pflanz, M. (2009). Land rental deal collapses after backlash against ‘colonialism’. The Telegraph .

Sali, C. (2009, July). A colonial `hangover’. Business Day (South Africa) .

Stevens, H. (2008, April 25). Perceptions of Africa. Financial Mail .

The Monitor. (2008, June 26). Uganda; Is Colonialism in Uganda Dead Today? Africa News , 1.