How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

Colonialism is a practice or policy of domination involving the subjugation of one people for the economic benefit of another. European countries colonized much of Africa. The French, for example, controlled a federation of eight West African territories from 1895 to 1960. (French West Africa consisted of modern Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Niger.) France also controlled swathes of North Africa, colonizing Algeria in 1830 and turning Tunisia and Morocco into French protectorates in the late-19th century. Colonialism promoted development by allowing Europeans to exploit African labor and raw materials for profit and by enabling them to defend their interests against rival capitalists. It also allowed Europeans to impose their culture on Africans. Colonial administrators, churches, and schools were important instruments of cultural penetration and dominance.

Feudalism, or the feudal system, is a social system of reciprocal legal and military obligations binding landowners, vassals, and serfs. Feudalism was the dominant system in Europe during the Middle Ages. The medieval period was a time when the Crown allowed nobles to hold land in return for military service, when vassals were the tenants of nobles, and when peasants (or serfs) were allowed to live on their feudal lord’s land so long as they gave the lord a share of the crop. Feudalism spurred economic production, the specialization of labor, and technological advancements. Europe was transitioning from feudalism to capitalism when it initiated trade relations with Africa around 1500. By contrast, Africa had one foot in communalism and the other in feudalism. This disparity gave Europe the upper hand in trade relations, allowing it to develop at Africa’s expense.

Imperialism is a policy or practice extending power and dominion through coercive or noncoercive means. European imperialists extended Europe’s power to other continents, notably Africa and North America. Imperialist Europe exploited and dominated newly accessible territories and people politically, militarily, economically, and culturally. The imperialist age saw the emergence and growth of the European slave trade, an institution that drove European development.

Socialism is a political and economic theory of social organization that relies on state regulation of the means of production. In Marxist theory socialism is the transitional phase between the end of capitalism and the realization of communism. Socialism flourished in various places after the Second World War, particularly Eastern Europe and parts of Asia. Socialism challenged the capitalist systems of Western Europe and North America.

Superstructure is a Marxist term referring to the dominant ideologies of particular places in particular eras. Rodney defined superstructure as “social relations, forms of government, patterns of behavior, and systems of belief” (9), all of which are interrelated. No two societies have the same superstructure. Rodney uses the term to explain why different regions developed differently. Feudal China, for example, never transitioned to capitalism (unlike feudal Europe) in part because China had strong egalitarian tendencies in land distribution and the Chinese state owned a lot of land.