The Role Of European Colonialism In Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

Improved Essays
In Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa he argues that European imperialism and earlier colonialism from earlier centuries did little to nothing with improving the lives of the African people. European imperialism was meant to boost the economies and power of European nations; however, colonialism “blunted, halted, and turned back” the development of Africa. Also with the interruption of the development and culture of the African people, there was no compensation given as the Europeans messed with the African culture. It has been claimed that imperialism in Africa improved the lives of the African people as it brought about a sense of social order, nationalism, and economic modernization. Rodney contests this and instead states …show more content…
There was a mother-right feature prevalent in African societies as women held a large amount of respect in their culture. They held the keys to inheritance and often held a significant amount of political power. For example in Lovedu of Transvaal, a key figure was the Rain Queen and she held political and religious functions. Women frequently embraced the role “Queen Mother” or “Queen Sister”. Usually what was practiced in African society was that the role of power was filled by a female of royal blood. Influence for women in political power was great and sometimes women were the real leaders whereas the kings were mere puppets to their grand political scheme. Under European colonialism African women’s social, religious, constitutional, and political privileges disappeared (Rodney 227). African women were held to the European standards of womanhood. New rules pertaining to where they were and were not allowed to work and what they could and could not do were enforced. The amount of power they once held was diminished, allowing their somewhat matriarchal society to turn into a patriarchal society similar to the European countries. In a sense, under colonialism, African society and women’s rights were altered, making women’s work remarkably inferior to that of men and their opinions and actions became less …show more content…
Rodney claims that in spite of slave trading and the importing of European goods, most African handicraft industries continued to be successful at the start of the colonial period. But with the mass production of goods in other countries virtually deteriorated the need for African products, such as cloth, salt, soap, iron and pottery (Rodney, 231). The once popular handicraft industries which made great advances before colonialism, were destroyed by French. Many African were out of work and had no way to support themselves. Colonialism also abused the African trading system and crippled the African economy. Europeans took advantage of Africa’s natural resources and their trading system and integrated it into their own economy. The Gold Coast economy was integrated into the British economy and the Ivory Coast economy was integrated into the French economy, while the African colonies had little or no effective economic relations. The amount of energy put into inter-African trade was miniscule when compared to how much was exported. Only ten percent of Africa’s trade was internal since inter African trade didn’t benefit the Europeans it was never encouraged by the foreigners (Rodney,

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Throughout the time period starting in the 16th century until the late 19th century European contact with Africa stimulated by various motives resulted in a variety of response to the formed relations between the two. An increased amount of trade between Europe and Africa provided an economic motive for Europeans to further their contact with Africa, as shown in Documents 3 and 6. Documents 1 and 4 demonstrate how African Kings and their Kingdoms would undergo cultural changes as a response to this European influence. The desire to expand European power and colonialize Africa emerged as a result of this contact as depicted in Documents 7, 8 and 9. However European presence in Africa was also largely detrimental to native Africans leading to…

    • 1825 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    By providing the countries with a large amount of resources, countries are able to trade them making a lot of money which will improve their economy. These resources also benefited countries like Great Britain in exports, making twice as much from imports to Africa. Resources like the metal Great Britain obtained from one of its colonies can help in developing better technology. All of the benefit that is provided by the vast amount of resources from these colonies can help the European countries in their friendly competition with one another. The long term impact of European imperialism in Africa because of the limitless amount of resources that resided in these African colonies, was that the European countries became rich with resources that benefitted their economy wildly by trade and market and allowed enough resources to develop more advanced…

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    European Imperialism started in Africa as early as the 1500s, beginning with the slave trade, coastal outposts and colonies. Eventually it became something different as the European powers each sought to have their own piece of land in Africa. Throughout the years, Africa was affected positively and negatively through social and economic elements. The African people were forced to change in ways that made them “better,” or more modern, and tourism began growing, but there were also views and attitudes of some Europeans as being “superior races.” Africans were also affected economically because of colonies becoming linked through railroads, the forced advancement of society, and through the expansion of territories.…

    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Between 1881 and 1914, the European powers invaded, divided, and occupied the continent of Africa during what is now known as, The Scramble for Africa. In doing so, they disrupted the lives of African people and permanently altered the physical and cultural landscape of Africa. In Basil Davidson’s, “The Magnificent African Cake,” he chronicles the beginning of colonialism in Africa, the impact of European rule on the continent, and the ideologies that justified the exploitation of the African continent and African people. Accordingly, the Europeans justified their exploitation of Africa, her inhabitants and her resources because the Europeans classified African people and their way of life as inferior to the western world.…

    • 1597 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The driving forces behind European imperialism in Africa…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As political and industrial revolution scoured across Europe in the 19th century, governments and businesses began to take a particular interest in a continent of Africa. Due to the challenges it presented in previous centuries, it was not susceptible to imperial conquest similar to the Western Hemisphere in the 16th century. With the outset of the Industrial Revolution, along with its subsequent aspiration for raw materials and potential markets, a new set of motivations helped shape the dispute whether or not to make a presence in Africa. From economic gain, to building a sense of national honor and pride, European powers consumed the continent below them with a mentality that only the “survival of the fittest” being able to prevail.…

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    By taking control over Africans, European imperialism left the nation unprepared for their own independence, changing all aspects of Africans lives negatively. European imperialism took control over Africans lives politically. By controlling their entire government. Many countries were trying to gain power with the politics in Africa. Some of the countries…

    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Slave Trade Dbq

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The absence of man power in Africa also prohibited the continent from further maintaining existing trades as the “Gold Coast and slave-coast, produced vast amounts of rice and other grain, plenty of fruit, oil and fish in great abundance” (Source B), which would have stabilised the economic situation and abolished the “trade in human beings”(Source A). As the demand for “products such as sugar, tobacco, rice and…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    This paper’s goal is to describe the effects of imperialism on modern Africa. This paper will compare many of the countries that were affected by imperialism, and look at both the positive and negative aspects of imperialism, such as the increase of education and the abuse of the African people. I will also look at the countries that used imperialism, and look how they benefited. By the time this essay is finished I hope to know the best and the worst of imperialism in Africa. And understand why some countries felt the need to conquer smaller countries.…

    • 97 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    All the Europeans did was take all of their resources and have them do all the labour behind it and ship it to there home town. The examples to prove the driving force of the European imperialism in Africa is in the White Man’s Burden, imports and exports of Great Britain and South Saharan Africa, and the technology and imperialism comparison. The first example of the European Imperialism is the White Man’s Burden document. This document shows that the whites thought they had something above the Africans that's why they conquered them and made them work for them and or they would sell them. The Europeans did this because they thought they were someone better than the Africans when in reality they were the same in a way.…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Europeans imposed Western ideals of gender, race, and culture upon the colonized. The Europeans placed themselves on top of the hierarchy and made sure the colonized Africans knew they were in charge. The court case with Abina is a perfect example of this hierarchy. William Melton was a white British judge who was in charge of the courtroom and how it functioned. The language and power of the courtroom were centered on Melton’s and the lawyers’ questions they asked Abina.…

    • 1336 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Brilliant Essays

    Negative Effects Of Imperialism In Africa

    • 1743 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 7 Works Cited

    Politically, European imperialism created tremendous conflict among African people, expanded Europe’s colonial boundaries by carving up Africa, and attempted to restructure society, only to leave Africa’s political structure weak and corrupt. Economically, European imperialism destructed Africa’s self sufficiency and increased dependance on colonial powers; strengthened Europe’s own economy, therefore further weakening Africa’s economy; and exploited many raw materials within Africa. Culturally, European imperialism uprooted Africa’s spiritual and traditional values, exploited the people of Africa, and prompted colonial racism. Works Cited Barnes, Andrew. “Economic Parasitism: European Rule In West Africa, 1880-1960.”…

    • 1743 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 7 Works Cited
    Brilliant Essays
  • Great Essays

    Marxist theory states that “capitalists enjoy profits due to surplus value” (Aviles). Rodney argues that this so called ‘surplus’ was African labor and raw materials: “colonies should exist for the metropoles by producing raw materials and buying manufactured goods, the underlying theory was to introduce an international division of labour” (177). This point was demonstrated through examples such as the slave trade, wage labour, technological advancement, and politico-military advances. These examples show Africa being used for everything from military research and development to labor exploitation in the mining industry. In the case of the technological stagnation of Africa; Rodney portrays this in such a way that Europe acted as the gatekeeper determining what technology Africa would be permitted and what would be withheld.…

    • 1752 Words
    • 8 Pages
    • 3 Works Cited
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Early on in Annie John, the mid-twentieth century Antigua narrative, there arrive a conflict between the main character Annie and her manners teacher, “someone who knew all about manners and how to meet and greet important people of the world” (AJ 27-28). This incident prefigures many other complications and troubles that she has in dealing with gender and sexual inequalities of the African-Caribbean females under British colonial rule. The Autobiography of My Mother also signals that Xuela too, in early twentieth century Dominica, will have multiple struggles with her deep resentment and rebellion against gender and sexual inequality under British patriarchal colonial rule. The reason for Annie’s and Xuela’s rejection of British colonial rule seems to be inspired by their discernment…

    • 2245 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    INTRODUCTION: The book How Europe underdeveloped Africa is written by Walter Rodney and it was published in 1972. The book explains the relation that existed between Africa and Europe during the 15th Century to after the colonization of Africa. The book takes the view that Africa was deliberately exploited and underdeveloped by the European Colonial Regimes.…

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays