The Sub- Saharan Africa

The colonial era is largely responsible for the technological and infrastructure developments that are currently being seen in Africa. Europeans had already established their rule over a sizable part of Africa by the turn of the 20th century. Various ideas regarding the African colonial conflicts have recently emerged. In this essay, two theories—one advanced by Dr. Iweriebor and the other by a piece from The Economist—are compared and contrasted.

Iweriebor claims that many African leaders readily capitulated to the Europeans. The European colonial masters were able to fulfill the individual goals of the community leaders from various regions of Africa. As an additional incentive for signing their jurisdictions, these leaders also got gifts. The descendants of the African leaders who collaborated with the colonialists took over power in the mid-twentieth century, corrupted the government systems and caused the downfall of their economies.

An article published by the Economist states otherwise. According to this piece, the colonial contest over Africa by European state was purely Eurocentric. The then European powers such as Germany, Britain, Portugal, France, Italy, and Spain had different intentions for their African Colonies. African mineral, land and other beneficial resources had not been explored by the early 1890s. The main aim of the European colonial masters was to resettle their surplus populations thereby having the control over these colonies and explore the available resources. These colonial masters encountered resistance from the African states and quelled them in through bloody wars. Therefore, the main cause of failure in African economy is the colonial process.

The main similarity between these two articles is that European colonialization of Africa was key to the rise of African economy in the 20th century. However, African economy failed all through after the end of European rule. Africans have since then depended on developed countries for aid.

In conclusion, the European countries explored the resources in Africa and depopulated their countries sending the surplus population to their colonies. This process led to the high poverty witnessed in Africa since it created a sense of dependence.

Bibliography

“End Of Empire”. 2012. The Economist. http://www.economist.com/node/21553073.

Iweriebor, Ehiedu E. 2004. “The Colonization Of Africa”. Exhibitions.Nypl.Org. http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-colonization-of-africa.html.