Why is Africa so backwards still?

Post Reply New Topic

My theory is that it's the geography and the unpredictable climate, lack of mountain glaciers and also all the desert and swampland.

I chose colonialism but I think it is equally true that many African peoples, not all, are too tribal and thus part of the reason why they are culturally inferior to peoples like the Chinese, the Quechua or Africa's own Amhara and Yoruba People, both of which are not really tribal and the latter of which have a long history of a highly urbanized culture.

The climate theory does not hold up: The climate of most of Africa, from the Congo basin and the forests of Guinea to the Swahili coast and the Ethiopian Highlands, is much more predictable than anywhere in Europe, let alone Britain or Germany, or even most of China. So your theory is simply incorrect.

As for the geography theory, I will just point out counter examples from similar climates around the globe. The Maya city-states and the Chola Empire, for example, were both in equatorial climates like most of Central Africa and Guinea, where such civilizations as Ife, Nri, the Benin Empire, the Nok Civilization, the Kingdom of Kongo and the Asante Empire flourished in precolonial times. The savannas of East and Southern Africa, the Ethiopian Highlands and the Sahel are similar in climate to the Persian Plateau and the northwestern Desi Subcontinent, the latter where the very early and extremely advanced Indus Civilization grew up; furthermore, these areas did indeed give rise to such great civilizations as the Ghana, Mali and Songhai Empires in the Sahel and the Shona Kingdom and the Swahili trading states in Southern and East Africa, respectively, along with Ethiopia and its Aksumite predecessor. And the deserts at the southern end of the continent, which gave rise to the famed Zulu Empire, are certainly less forbidding than the Sahara on the other end of the continent, where of course Nubia and Egypt arose.

Legacy of colonialism is probably one of the better answers from the list.... really though, it's just that African governance has been terrible. We can blame this on colonialism(I wouldn't), but really, Africa is pretty corrupt, it has a very significant degree of political instability, also many African leaders have chosen poor economic policies.

Really though, yeah, I blame political factors, and that's really not exactly on the list, so I sided with other. (Institutional factors are related to political issues, and yeah, those are also a problem)

I will admit that the disease issues in Africa probably also do not help, as malaria and AIDS are not good in the situation.

hmmm, not the best choice of words for a thread title. I suppose the climate and vast mass of land has something to do with any problems the continent has. There is an island there somewhere that has even more lightning than Florida. Surely that alone gives Africa some plus points

Any more partially informed, generalized worldview threads for us today?

Nascent Christianity?

Africa wasn't exactly a continent of great thinkers before colonization. As far as climate goes, Australia is scorching hot too and they're doing alright. Iceland's climate is less than ideal as well and they have very infertile soil to boot. Climate isn't that much of an issue as it is made out to be.

Read The Bell Curve. Africans tend to have lower IQs and higher testosterone compared to most other races. they also tend to be more opportunistic than most other races; This causes anarchy and creates tribal societies with a survival of the fittest mentality. Add to that a lack of education and severe overpopulation and you have a perfect breeding ground for violence and poverty. The continued aid will only sustain this and create more mouths to feed in the future.

This is of course the politically incorrect explanation, but it is what it is.

Because they can't run a whelk stall. The legacy of colonialism doesn't have a lot to do with it. They still behave like barbarians in a lot of the continent.

To keep it very short, the reason Africa is so boned is one of geography. Europe became a world power because there was lots of east-west movement they could do for colonization and growth. This meant their crops, their animals, etc. could be relocated with little problem in adaptation. Peoples located on continents with nothing but north-south movement don't develop and expand well because north-south movement brings climate changes that force you to relearn crops and animals for providing basic needs.

Every nation with east-west expansion options could build it's necessities and invest in expansion and conquest. Every nation limited to north-south expansion was limited by comparison.

Add to that the fact that most every culture, to some degree, will breed like rats until disease, famine, war, etc. culls the numbers back to something manageable, and you can see why Africans are so screwed. No real ability to expand and grow into similar climate regions and they never seemed to learn that controlling population growth was critical to the overall quality of life for all.