The African continent is home to approximately 1.3bn people (and counting) living in 54 countries. It spans a 29,648,481 km2 and is therefore the second largest (and populous) continent on the planet (after Asia). History has maligned its character and its people – but then the history books weren’t written by Africans. The “dark continent”, simultaneously associated with “savagery” and the prospect of great wealth by explorers, was practically divvied up in what has been called the “Scramble for Africa”[efn_note]Patrick Brantlinger, “Victorians and Africans: The Genealogy of the Myth of the Dark Continent”, Critical Inquiry 12, no. 1 (Autumn,1985): 166-203.[/efn_note] in order to plunder the region of its natural resources. The European continent (at least the Western European countries) is constructed on the back of African resources.
Using various different pretexts, colonial systems were implemented with varying degrees of brutality. Fast forward a century and a third… Much has changed, but then again, not much has changed. The continent, with the exception of a handful of products, still exports mostly unprocessed goods in their natural state. (More here).
What does this beautiful continent of ours have to show for this “relationship” with the colonialists? Because one would think that at the very least there would be SOME quid pro quo for the immeasurable, unimaginable quantities of Gold, Diamonds, Cocoa, Wood, Platinum, and, and, and… that left this continent? In our travels around the continent we see abject poverty, under-development and a mysterious deference to Europeans.
The deference can be explained by centuries of domination, manipulation, brainwashing, subjugation, etc. by the western world over our ancestors on the continent leading to the unfortunate net result: a [black] human in some remote village in Tanzania, Côte d’Ivoire or the Central African Republic, etc. is not equal to a [white] human in some remote village in France or Germany (for example). Only recently, has the myth that whites are intellectually, culturally, morally and otherwise superior to blacks begun to be debunked. However sadly, the indoctrination was so thorough, that it still “sticks”.
And yet, despite all this misery and woe, you will struggle to find a more friendly and welcoming people (“generally speaking”). Despite the pillaging of its resources, she continues to yield more and more resources. Despite the fragmentation of her families due to tribalism (the root-cause of this phenomenon will be unpacked in several articles), wars, coups upon coups, this continent is a FORGIVING and culturally rich melting pot.
