Why Africa is an Underdeveloped Continent
Africa is the second largest continent in the world and the second most populated continent, but it’s behind the rest of the world economically, politically, and socially. However, Africa’s problems aren’t recent. Africa’s problems began with the first african natives, and continued on throughout the centuries. Africa is an underdeveloped country because of imperialism, racism, and a lack of geographical luck. During the second half of the 19th century, imperialism by Europeans stunted Africa’s growth by forcing Africa and its natives to submit its resources and people for European gain. Europeans already had a foothold on the African coasts because of the slave trade, but after the Berlin conference in 1884 the Western countries divided Africa between themselves for their own needs, without the knowledge or consensus of the native Africans. with different rule for the needs of Europeans . Sir Frederick E. Lugard, an English administrator, stated in 1904 that “the primitive savage in contact with (European) civilization learns the discipline of work, and the result of cooperation.” Lugard, like many Europeans, didn’t believe that Europeans were hurting Africa and its natives through imperialism. They thought they were helping and teaching Africans about hard work through hard labour. Jomo Kenyatta, an African nationalist leader, states that “... Europeans have robbed [the Africans] of the material foundations of his culture, and reduced him [to] an inferior state that goes against human happiness.” This shows that through imperialism, Europeans actually erased African culture by forcing them to do labour and be slaves. Consequently, this submission hurt Africa because by the time most African countries gained their independence, they not only were struggling to adapt to new leadership after years of being controlled by Europeans, but were also drained of their natural resources.
Racism that originated from America against native Africans caused Europeans to feel entitled to treat Africans unfairly. Racism is the concept that one race is superior to another based on a racial “hierarchy” in which one is judged on skin tone and continent of origin. This concept of a
Racism is the belief that a specific race is superior or inferior to another, that a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics. Racism can also be defined as the belief that some races are superior to others. This definition is not sufficient to describe what racism truly is. For example, people who are racist do not like other races such as their skin color, language, traditions, and place of birth or any aspect that supposedly reveals the basic nature of that person. Long ago in America, racism was a very serious and immoral problem, and it is very much a problem in today’s society, as it was back then but on a dissimilar level. The African Americans, labeled as ‘Blacks,’ were slaves to white men. The slaves were disregarded, and beaten and insulted badly. Thus, sparked the beginning of a war and civil rights movements, all in attempts to resolve this problem. Although there is no flawless way to solve racism and it is evident that racism will always exist, what can be done nevertheless, is to limit its magnitude as much as
The dictionary defines racism as “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.” Racism is one of the worst things to ever come about in the history of America. What began as feelings among whites of being superior to African Americans turned into one of the worst
Racism was the way Europeans justified killing and enslaving people that were different than them. Race was used to justify slavery, the slaughter of Indians, exclusion of non-whites and taking land that doesn’t belong to them. Once Europeans started to capture nonwhites, their egos grew and they started to gain this sense of superiority. History has proven over and over that people need to invent forms on inequality to justify their
Problems began for Africa when there was the “scramble for Africa. Africa was extremely divided throughout the continent. There was no nation intact. Even though they were divided into colonies, they still had no sovereignty. Since they had no form of nationalism it made it impossible to succeed as a
Imperialism, when one country dominates another for its own benefit, is an expansion policy that has reigned for centuries. Over time, imperialism has drastically changed in its magnitude and severity. At the turn of the nineteenth century, a “new,” more aggressive and competitive form of imperialism emerged and completely dismantled the domestic institutions of various developing countries. Africa in the nineteenth century is a prime example of the “new” imperialism in effect. How was Africa affected by imperialism? Who imperialized Africa? What caused African imperialism? How did the international environment affect the domestic institutions of Africa?
“In imperialism nothing fails like success. If the conqueror oppresses his subjects, they will become fanatical patriots, and sooner or later have their revenge; if he treats them well, and governs them for their good, they will multiply faster than their rulers, till they claim their independence,” William Ralph Inge. It was not a good beginning for European imperialism in Africa. Between the 1500s and 1800s, european slavers and traders did not travel far from the african coast. The west coast of Africa was known as “the white man's grave.”
Between 1870 and 1914, European countries ceased about ninety percent of Africa. Native Africans faced political, military, and imperialism pressure from various European countries. After the end of the profitable slave trade in Africa, due to abolishing of slavery, Europeans explored for new guaranteed markets, and heavily profitable investments. In addition, European countries were under industrialization, the demand for raw materials heavily increased. Europeans as well faced power struggles with one another and competition for political influence in Africa. European power struggle ultimately lead to the “Scramble for Africa.” Europeans undertook the process of imperialism in Africa in the late 19th century by exercising political, economic, and military power on their African colonies. Some African leaders and societies welcomed Europeans in hopes to protect and develop their native land. Some African leaders and societies responded to European occupation by gathering resistance groups in attempt to fight off foreign imperialists.
“Racism[ˈrāˌsizəm]prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one 's own race is superior”. Race and racial inequality have strongly shaped American history from its beginning up until now . Americans like to think of the founding of the American colonies and, later, the United States, as driven by liberty and freedom .However, from the start America was founded on inequality which involved the absolute oppression for not only the Native peoples who were often attacked, relocated, and forcibly assimilated into European culture,African slaves ,and for almost every race that has called this country “home”.Although the civil rights of everyone has improved over the last
Let’s start with the definition of racism. Racism refers to the belief that race is the primary determinant of human capacities, that a certain race is inherently superior or inferior to others, and/or that individuals should be treated differently based on their ascribed race.
Africa is a continent plagued by misinformed and false stereotypes, rarely being seen or portrayed as what it really is. Countless amounts of myths and ideas are formulated based off of single stories or one-sided stories from the region, often without a second thought. These stereotypes give Africa an overall negative image to the rest of the world and suppress the reality that is hidden behind the slew of stereotypes. The belief that all of Africa is poor and undeveloped is an uninformed statement that harms the reality and worsens the image of the continent by perpetuating an incomplete idea into the world.
Racism is a socially constructed concept used by multiple groups of people and creates a hierarchy of sorts based purely on the color of a person’s skin or their cultural origins. It has been an idea that has existed since the beginnings of civilization. A more modern iteration of this concept was made prominent in the 16th century as European settlers began to explore different areas of the world, specifically areas in or around Africa. But slavery can be seen back in the 1500s all the way to 1880 and was most likely a leading example of what helped define racism up to the 20th century. In Ali Rattansi’s book, “Racism: A Very Short Introduction” , the author connects how slavery and race are closely tied together. European explorers would ignore the cultures the invaded in order to see these people as nothing more than native groups that were meant to be seen in a subservient role. Slavery would continue to grow across the Atlantic and seen as an institution that created large amounts of wealth for those who could reap the benefits from it. As long as money was being made, slavery persisted and was justified. Race and racism was conceived the way it was because the slave owning system was controlled by European colonizers.
Racism is the negative treatment of a person based off their race. Throughout history African Americans are the minority group that has faced the most racism and oppression. African Americans began as slaves in this country after slavery ended they were still inferior due to segregation. Race is what has caused this oppression for African Americans making this form of oppression racism. As stated in the lecture “Racism can refer to personal or social beliefs, practices, and different institutions that discriminate against people based on their perceived or attributed race.” (Reali, 2017) Today in society the way that African Americans are
Racism is a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others. This trend has been around for a long time, from slaves, to discrimination, etc. Although in many cases, people in the time period
In society there is a lot of misconception of the term racism. According to the merriam-webster dictionary members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of others race which many people would agree with. What is racism? The normal person if asked will simply reply, not liking someone for their color of their skin. Racism from my attitude which is substantiated by historically events is a system of power .Thus is a system of power i.e. to control the world and its people. Employed by Europeans to subjugate and discriminate against other groups, in particular Africans/black people. Racism is a power which ran thru a systemic way to hinder and sabotage other groups. The system is so elaborate that it almost seems nonexistence
Racism is the unequal treatment of the human beings on the basis of their skin color. Racism is believed to have existed as long as human beings have been in the world. It is usually associated with the skin color of a person, which makes one be distinguished from a certain race or community. The word racism happened to be common in 1600s due to the enslavement of the Africans by the Americans and Europeans. One of the common examples of racism was Americans’ discrimination against the Africans during the early 1600s. Though it is believed that slavery has existed since ancient times, the most outstanding one was the one practiced by the Americans. The dark-skinned people were enslaved on the whites’ farms under