Colonialism Underdeveloped Africa

In the first three decades of colonialism, European powers did nothing for Africa. But after the World War 1, European started building social services in Africa. These social services were limited and were distributed in a manner of domination and exploitation. In the book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, it stated that in colonies such as Algeria, South Africa and Kenya social services were built to afford settler luxurious and enjoyable lives. For example in Algeria infant mortality among white settlers was 39 per 1,000 live births and 170 per 1000 live births among Algerians living in towns. This shows that the social services were geared towards the well-being of white settlers. Another example is Nigeria, where they were 34 beds for

In colonial Africa, the colonialists imposed colonial governments. The political states in Africa lost their power, meaning and independence. Some traditional rulers were kept in office and some of the political structure was retained but political power was passed down to foreign overlords. For example French wiped out the large Muslim states of the Western Sudan as well as in Madagascar. British eliminated states in East African lake region, Swaziland, Matabeland, Asante and Yoruba kingdoms. The undeniable truth is that colonization did harm Africa through its unfair and violent practices. (Houngnikpo, 2006) Colonialism is responsible for the stagnation of the economy and technology in Africa. It is necessary to acknowledge that African economy has financed the so –called European capital. The capital is a result of robbery of land and labor of Africans. Colonialism transformed pre-colonial African structures and made them into structures that satisfy the economic needs of the imperialist world. DEVELOPMENT IN THE POST-COLONIAL

These international economic system are the brain children of the supreme colonialists in Africa who are also the Western World’s eight great industrialized states. Due to the economic problems facing Africa at the time, African governments turned to IMF for advice and financial help. By 1990, many African countries had borrowed so much from the IMF and World Bank and they were unable to pay their debts. The IMF and World Bank had no alternative but to impose the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAPs) by force to able to retrieve the money owned by African countries. (Boaduo, 2008) SAPs demanded African countries to reduce public expenditure and tightening monetary supply that worsened the existing precarious socio-economic status of Africans. Africans lost their jobs, the economic growth declined, the debt burden increased and accelerated capital