HU
William Hu
Dr. Catherine Douglas
Econ 234 L2F
The Historical Impact of Slavery and Colonialism on the Development
of Africa
Africa is the world’s second largest continent. It is around 30,313,000 square
kilometres long and is the home to 54 independent countries. One would think that in
such a big place the productivity should be great because it is sparsely populated. If the
land displacement ratio is great then it means more resource can be allocated between
individuals. This is not the case unfortunately. From the world’s GDP ranking, the only
countries in Africa that made it in the top 30 were South Africa with a GDP of
$456,700,000,000 and Egypt with $295,200,000,000. The rest of the countries in Africa
were mostly below 50. Study done during 1998 in Zimbabwe shown that a service
employee earned the minimum wage of $ZW19.50 per day ($1.22 U.S.). In addition,
South Africa has an estimated unemployment rate of 31% and a national debt 38.2% of
its total GDP. Given its past history of slavery and colonialism it is not difficult to see
why. As suggested by Walter Rodney (1981) in “How Europe Undeveloped Africa”,
slavery and colonialism go hand in hand that contribute to the formation of Africa we
have come to see. In this essay I will discuss the effect of slavery and colonialism on the
development of Africa.
1
HU
2
The slave trade changed Africa from a self-sufficient, developing continent to a
disaster area by reducing the number of able labourers, by disrupting trades, and by
destroying local industries. Slavery started around 1445 (Gage 6). When the new
continent was “discovered”, colonists needed healthy and strong labourers so they
provoked the Africans, who were trading with them at the time, to trade captives from
enemy tribes to them. This was known as the triangle trade. As described by Findley
(1990 p.1-5) the slaves were first shipped from West Africa to North America, and then
they were forced to cultivate lands suitable for growing commodities such as cotton,
sugar and rum. The raw materials were harvested and shipped to Europe where they
would undergo additional processing. The Europeans used manufactured goods to pay for
the slaves and to continue the trade cycle. It was estimated that around 12 million slaves
arrived to work on European-run plantations. As Rodney (1981) described, “…The
massive loss to the African labour force was made more critical because it was composed
of able- bodied young men and young women. Slave buyers preferred their victims
between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five, and preferably in the early twenties; the sex
ratio being about two men to one woman. Europeans often accepted younger African
children, but rarely any older person”. Of all the people captured only one in four made it
to the New World alive. Many died either during the long trip on boat or from the long
march to the interior from the coast. On the whole, Africa had lost in total 48 million of
workers. Instead of contributing to their society, the slaves were forced to develop and
enrich the Europeans. Eric Williams argued in his theory of “double stimulus” that the
exported goods and imported goods together supplied the growth of the Industrial
Revolution. In the same way, Inikori (1986 p.3) pointed out that depopulation from the
HU
3
slave trade hindered the development of division of labour, transformation of technology,
and destroyed commodity production for exports. For any economy to grow trading
between one another is essential. Trade supports growth and employment. It also sparks
up competition and leads to new breakthrough in technology. Because the Europeans
actively encouraging slave trading, the roads used for trading became filled with tribes
out to collect slaves. As a result, trade decreased. Furthermore, fields were abandoned for
fear of being captured while working. This became problematic especially in a place with
great population. As observed by Walt Rodney(1981): “…even the busiest African in
West, Central, or East Africa was concerned more with trade than with production… In
Africa, the trading groups could make no contribution to technological improvement
because their role and preoccupation (with the slave trade) took their minds and energies
away from production”. Because Europeans were trading commodities at a cheaper rate
than the local businesses, many industries in Africa went out of business. This led to the
decrease in the variety of native goods sold and increased economic dependence on
outside forces, namely the Europeans.
Colonialism brought many problems under the European’s ruling. Aside from the
slave trading, another reason contributing to Africa’s underdevelopment was Colonialism.
Colonialism is the political takeover of one nation by another. European colonists felt that
it was faster to take control of the land rather than trading with the natives thus around
1833 the Colonists took over Africa and divided it among themselves. Little resistances
were met because the Europeans had large armies that “persuaded” many village chiefs to
give up their lands. The Berlin African Conference was held during 1884-1885. In that
HU
4
period of time the European countries gathered and drew guidelines on which countries
could have which bits of Africa. By 1914, all of Africa had been assigned with the
exception of Liberia and Ethiopia (Gage 12). The arbitrary borders which were created
with little or no attention to the native’s history and cultural backgrounds caused political
instability. A common problem facing present Africa countries is the anti-government
movement by guerrilla groups in attempt to free their comrades from the other side of
borders. Government policies reforms are not easily passed because cultural/religious
differences lead to various point of views. To meet the growing demand for commodities,
the Europeans altered the crops African farmers traditionally grown and replace it with
cash crops such as rubber plants, cottons, and sugar canes. This drastic change
transformed the domestic agriculture to specialize in certain products that had little or no
benefit to the natives. The amount of available and nutritional food that was originally
intended for the population was reduced. Furthermore, for the Africans to specialize in
something the Europeans need meant that there were no growth in African’s own
technological because all the decisions were made by the colonists. The corroded soil
from overuse of lands later contributed to Africa’s famine. In addition to the change
made in farm crops, the colonists also exploited natural resources. As Rodney's book
notes, railroads were being built in Europe, the Americas, and Africa. But in Africa, the
means of transit and communication were not put in place to facilitate internal trade, but
rather to seize Africa's wealth: "All roads and railways led down to the sea." First the
Colonists bought the cheap raw minerals and crops from the Africans then sold them
back to Europe for higher price. With the money earned from the sale, the colonist
proceeded to buy manufactured goods from Europe and sold the goods at a higher price
HU
5
to the Africans. In Zambia, it was said that out of 36.7 million dollars made 24.2 million
dollars was send to the hand of stockholders back to England and only 2 million dollars
was used to pay the labourers. An example of such act would be the gold rush fever in
Chunya during 1933-1953. After the gold was extracted Chunya became one of the
poorest countries in Africa because the Africans could not negotiate a decent price for the
gold. The resource grab left Africa with a weak economic infrastructure. In Darity’s
paper, it was suggested that factories were sited back in the European countries instead of
Africa. The development of factories could have benefited Africa greatly. If the money
made from Zambia’s mining had been reinvested to create refineries, employment
opportunities might have been created and stimulate economic growth. To prevent the
Africans from opening their own factories various measures were used. An example of
such would be the 1931 law that made it illegal for banks to lend money to Africans.
The problem with African countries was that even after obtaining independence
they were still managing the same way as they did during colonial times. Countries used
most of their lands to grow one or two specialized commodities instead of growing food
that can sustain the local population. The way Europeans operated had affected the
Africans into thinking that by buying expensive machineries their productivity would
increase. What they did not recognize was that some of the new methods were doing
more harm than good. An example of this would be introduction of tractor to plough
fields. the dry soil changed into dustbowl under the heavy ploughs which in term increase
the rate of soil erosion. The price of the commodities exported was less than that of the
HU
6
technology imported. As a result, the Africans were in constant debts and generally worse
off than during the colonial rule.
Slavery and Colonialism created a weak economic infrastructure that is unsuitable
for growth. Slavery decreased the labour force that is essential for the growth of economy.
It also decreased the internal trading within Africa and caused native industries to close.
In a similar way, colonialism contributed by depleting Africa’s natural resource. It also
stripped employment opportunities for African workers and prevented the African’s from
achieving a technological state that would enable them to be independent of the
Europeans trade cycles (triangle trade and the slave-gun trade). The suffering of the
Africans has become increasingly aware by the extensive media coverage. On top of
being poor and undeveloped, Africa is also plagued by diseases such as AIDS and
Malaria. Government is increasing the living standard by providing better health cares
and educations. From the World Bank’s data it showed a decrease in the infant mortality
rate from 42 to 31 per thousand live births (Brown, Flavin, et al.). Attempts of financial
aids such as the International Monetary Fund have been offered but ultimately it is up to
the countries’ government to unit and discusses how the funding should be utilized.
HU
7
Work Citied:
Brown R. Lester, Flavin Christopher, French Hilary, N. Abramovitz Janet, Dunn Seth,
Gardner Gary, Mastny Lisa, Mattoon Ashley, Roodman David, Sampat Payal, O.Sheehan
Molly, and Starke Linda. State of the World 2001. New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
2001
Gage, Susan. Colonialism in Africa: A Critical Look. Victoria: Victoria International
Development Education Association, 1946
Darity, William. A model of “Original Sin”: Rise of the west and lag of the rest, The
American Economic Review vol.82 (1992): 164-166
Findley, Ronald. The “triangle trade” and the Atlantic Economy of the eighteenth century:
a simple general equilibrium model, Essays in International Finance no.177 (1990) 1-5,
22-24
Five Centuries of Going Backwards. 2 Dec 2004
<http://www.africa2000.com/BNDX/bao133.htm>
CIA – the world fact book. 3 Dec 2004
<http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html>
New Jersey AAH Curriculum Guide Resource Page – Walter Rodney. Mercer Deborah
and Beckett Edith. New Jersey State Library. 2 Dec 2004
<http://www.njstatelib.org/NJ_Information/Digital_Collections/AAHCG/rodney.html>
Asian Meltdown Hits Zimbabwe. Peck E. John. 1 Dec 2004
<http://www.zmag.org/ZMag/articles/pecksept98.html>
The World Bank Group. 4 Dec 2004
<http://devdata.worldbank.org/external/CPProfile.asp?SelectedCountry=MNA&CCODE
=MNA&CNAME=Middle+East+and+North+Africa&PTYPE=CP>