African Colonialism

World Influence on the Modernization of Africa

Developing Political Systems

The way countries, nations or states act and base their policies on many times reflect what their past was like. This is very true in the case of Africa. The only problem is that Africa is said to have no history. This just means that Africa’s many cultures did not affect the way imperialists and other influences acted towards the huge continent. Everything was based on their interests and consequently this meant that the way of dealing with Africa in every way was based on Western traditionalists. To this we must answer the question how has the Western World affected Africa’s present stage and what must be done to undo what is wrong and hopefully correct this situation.

Africa first played a role in Europe’s and the America’s history when the U.S. and Great Britain needed labor. They needed a lot of it and they needed it cheap. There was nothing cheaper than free labor. It would require an initial investment to African “leaders'; but it paid off almost instantaneously. This is what we used to call slave trading. In around the 1860’s this became an illegal act. However, like any other crime, this trading could not be stopped entirely. British Naval ships were set up as blockades but sometimes Slaves were stored in spaces that were no higher than 12 inches so not all slave carrying boats could be stopped. In fact while the Navy stopped approximately 103,000 slaves from entering the slave force about 1.7 million entered it. Since this trade was illegal it was even more profitable than before. The slaves that were stopped from being shipped all the way west were being sent to Freetown, Sierra Leone and Monrovia, Liberia and they were called recaptives. These were towns set up by the British and some liberal Americans to send former slaves and recaptives back to their home continent. It wasn’t their home but it certainly was a lot closer than before. These recaptives were not welcome with open arms because they had renounced their religions and African names and replaced them with Christianity and English names. They did this because they felt they had been betrayed when they were sold in the first place. There was even more hostility to these recaptives ...

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...it like the U.S. It is just to say that this suffering should not last forever.

The first step should come from the government. They need to take loans. It doesn’t matter if they are high interest. Money needs to be in the economy. A federal deal such as Franklin D. Roosevelt has to be implemented. Money has to be given to the people, not the elite, so that they can spend the money on goods that are being produced. In time enough money spent will lead to more jobs, which lead to more money, which will start to pay for new technology. Africa does not have to be rich to start involving itself in the world economy it just needs an economy that is working, producing and always moving ahead. Once they land in the international trade business everything becomes a bonus.

Africa in all its existence to Europe has relied on others to decide what’s best for them. Africa is now in a Western style mode. This does not mean it should be there but it is now. The government has to start taking advantage of today’s capitalist economy. Money tends to keep people of all nations happier. With money everyone is guaranteed food, a home and a better chance at democracy.