By Walter Rodney
The pre-colonial economic domination of Europe over sub-saharan Africa lasted 440 years- from the year 1444 to the year 1885 - during which the supervision of the developing process progressively shifted from African rulers to Europeans. Indeed, during that lengthy period, the introduction of criteria and values imported from Europe progressively "altered" the natives superstructure of beliefs and value systems, and diverted the course of the developing process from the inititial endogonous path to an exogenous one.
Subsequently, the inter-African trading system, put in place by generations of Africans before Europe-Africa's ecounter, was progressively disorganized and finally high-jacked by the Europeans - acting as a go-between, splitting and seperationg each African ethnic entity from another
In few words, starting from the fifteenth century, Europe used high sea maritime experience compbined with fire-arms' supremacy to stage and carry out the systematic economic conquest of sub-saharan African regions.
The colonial conquests that followed 1884-1885's Berlin Conference (the partition of Africa) established a complete political and economic domination of Europe over Africa. Therefore, Africans' socio-culturual value systems and fabric were further altered, together with the diversion of the developing from its initial endogenous path to an "external driven process", manipulated and managed by Europeans.
And, after some forty years of colonial rule, around 1925, the more than five centuries old inter-African trading system was completely annihilated; and to be replaced by another trading system, North-South Oriented. That is the international trading flux established and reinforced between each single colony and country of the European master; with under-priced bulk raw materials (minerals and agricultural cash crops) shipping to the North, and overpriced manufactured products to the South.
That unequal trading system, imposed from mid-fifteenth century on Africa by Europe, contributed tremendously to the progressive accumulation of Capitial in European countries, and assisted Europe - towards the end of the mid-seventeenth century - to carry out and finance the industrial revolution. Said revolution put Europe's global economy on a sustained groth path that accelerated the developing process.
http://businessafrica.net/africabiz/rodney_review.php
The pre-colonial economic domination of Europe over sub-saharan Africa lasted 440 years- from the year 1444 to the year 1885 - during which the supervision of the developing process progressively shifted from African rulers to Europeans. Indeed, during that lengthy period, the introduction of criteria and values imported from Europe progressively "altered" the natives superstructure of beliefs and value systems, and diverted the course of the developing process from the inititial endogonous path to an exogenous one.
Subsequently, the inter-African trading system, put in place by generations of Africans before Europe-Africa's ecounter, was progressively disorganized and finally high-jacked by the Europeans - acting as a go-between, splitting and seperationg each African ethnic entity from another
In few words, starting from the fifteenth century, Europe used high sea maritime experience compbined with fire-arms' supremacy to stage and carry out the systematic economic conquest of sub-saharan African regions.
The colonial conquests that followed 1884-1885's Berlin Conference (the partition of Africa) established a complete political and economic domination of Europe over Africa. Therefore, Africans' socio-culturual value systems and fabric were further altered, together with the diversion of the developing from its initial endogenous path to an "external driven process", manipulated and managed by Europeans.
And, after some forty years of colonial rule, around 1925, the more than five centuries old inter-African trading system was completely annihilated; and to be replaced by another trading system, North-South Oriented. That is the international trading flux established and reinforced between each single colony and country of the European master; with under-priced bulk raw materials (minerals and agricultural cash crops) shipping to the North, and overpriced manufactured products to the South.
That unequal trading system, imposed from mid-fifteenth century on Africa by Europe, contributed tremendously to the progressive accumulation of Capitial in European countries, and assisted Europe - towards the end of the mid-seventeenth century - to carry out and finance the industrial revolution. Said revolution put Europe's global economy on a sustained groth path that accelerated the developing process.
http://businessafrica.net/africabiz/rodney_review.php
