THE ROOTS OF POVERTY IN RESOURCES-RICH AFRICA

An image of the influence of black people's slavery in Africa

Africa, especially the region south of the Sahara, remains the poorest on the planet. By the end of 1993, eleven African countries were among the fifteen poorest in the world. This trend does not apply to North Africa, largely due to oil wealth.

The continent’s poverty is worsened by rapid population growth and political instability. Many investors view Africa as unattractive for capital investment. Despite its vast natural resources, poverty persists, and millions of people remain heavily dependent on agriculture for survival.

Although modern factors contribute to Africa’s developmental challenges, the roots of the problem stretch deep into history. Europeans, believing themselves superior and more civilized, exploited Africans for labor.

From the mid‑15th century, slave markets emerged, and African slaves were sold as domestic servants and agricultural laborers. After Europeans decimated the indigenous populations of the New World, enslaved Africans were exported to the Americas. Between the 1680s and 1780s alone, about one million people were taken from Angola to Spanish colonies in the West Indies.

During the slave trade, specific routes developed. European merchants transported firearms, weapons, alcohol, copper, iron goods, dishes, and glass trinkets to Africa. These cheap items were exchanged for African lives, and enslaved people were shipped to the American colonies. In the New World, enslaved Africans were traded for valuable colonial goods such as tobacco, sugar, and cotton.

This triangular trade generated enormous profits for European traders, especially the English. Cities like Manchester, London, Liverpool, Bristol, Nantes, Rouen, and Amsterdam owe much of their early wealth to the slave trade.

Only after European powers divided Africa among themselves did their governments begin to fight the slave trade. Yet colonialists continued to treat Africans as less than human. In Africa, slaves were cheap, and their mass export kept prices low. Traders seeking maximum profit spent little on the welfare of enslaved people.

Shackled and crammed into ships, enslaved Africans endured horrific conditions. The voyage across the Atlantic took several weeks, and many died along the way. According to some scholars, for every African who reached the Americas, about eight died during capture, transport, or the journey itself. In total, Africa is estimated to have lost over 100 million people to the slave trade.

The slave trade crippled Africa’s development, destroyed agricultural systems, and prevented the formation of stable African states. Historians agree that slavery is one of the major reasons why much of Africa still lives in deep poverty today.

Shockingly, Africa is still not free. Since slavery and colonization are no longer possible, the continent now faces new forms of exploitation, including mysterious diseases that appear to fall from the sky, created by man, not God.