When European Powers Came to Africa

When European powers came to Africa, they saw a need for raw materials and people who would extract these materials for them. They did not care about the consequences that these countries citizens would see, and only cared about the wealth and goods that their nations would receive.

Today Africa is plagued by the consequences of colonialism. The agriculture systems of Sub-Saharan Africa come to mind from thinking about this. After European powers pushed many natives off their land, they were left with poor soils and without any means of making any income off the natural resources and raw materials of their lands. "Europeans saw unclaimed space and felt justified in claiming it" (Blij and Muller 199). Along with this as well as the European nations signing the Treaty of Berlin, in which territories were drawn up and places under different European countries rule, led to many tribes coming into contact with each other that were very different.

Colonialism left these natives without a cultural identity as well as no way to tap their resources to have a stable economy. As years would follow these people would also have to face an epidemic of AIDS, poverty, starvation, and poor education.

The natives of Africa were never a priority of the European countries, they never set out to watch these people develop and never had any intent on educating these people and providing an infrastructure for their society. Nothing was done except to force these natives into slavery and to dominate their land. "In addition, the Europeans then pitted the different groups within each colonial against each other to make it easier to control and rule. The conflicts between various tribes, such as the Tutsis and Hutus, were often exacerbated during the colonial era" (Wilson).

Unless an established government for these now independent African nations comes to understand the consequences and catastrophe that colonialism impeded on their citizens it is unknown as to when a stable economy will ever be present in some of these countries.

Wilson, A.N. The Victorians (W.S. Norton & Co.: New York, 200), 724p.

Blij, H.J. de and Peter O. Muller. Concepts and Regions in Geography. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2003.