Nowhere was this more apparent than in Africa. The imperialists carved up Asia, Africa, and Latin America for themselves. The imperialists benefited through the direct colonization that Lenin famously described in Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. Europe, the United States, and other imperialists continued to reap tremendous benefits from the continued exploitation and oppression of Africa. However, the rape of Africa did not end with the end of slavery. Hundreds of years of slavery ravaged Africa to the benefit of Europe and North America. Published in 1972, Walter Rodney’s classic How Europe Underdeveloped Africa explains in great detail the economic history of Africa and those who exploited her.Ĭolonial and Neocolonial Plunder and Exploitation Europe developed, its populations grew wealthy, on the backs of Africa. Africa’s impoverished population is a result of hundreds of years of underdevelopment inflicted by European and other imperialists. Africa is a whole continent of poor countries. Africa is a continent rich in natural wealth, yet its people are impoverished and starving.
A minority of countries are wealthy, while the majority are poor. The principal contradiction in the world today is between the exploiter and exploited countries, the First World against the Third World.
“hat was called ‘the development of Africa’ by the colonialists was a cynical shorthand expression for ‘the intensification of colonial exploitation in Africa to develop capitalist Europe.’” (223) “he development of Europe part of the same dialectical process in which Africa was underdeveloped.” (149) What was called ‘profits’ in one year came back as ‘capital’ the next.” (212) But because of the superprofits created by non-European peoples ever since slavery, the net flow was from colony to metropole. “Capital was constantly in motion from the metropole to some part of the dependencies, from colonies to other colonies (via the metropoles), from one metropole to another, and from colony to metropole. Review of Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa Part 3/3
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