Colonial Africa and the West

Abstract

Africa’s unequal relationship with the West, particularly Europe, grew during the colonial era. Because Africa was colonized in a specific epoch in world history marked by deepening racism, heightened Western nationalisms, and globalized Western capitalism, colonialism impacted Africans in many ways. Msindo views colonialism as an extractive system which legitimized the looting of Africa by Western corporations; safeguarded new markets for Europe’s industrial revolution, and created Africa’s dependency by delegitimizing African indigenous innovations and knowledge systems through incorporating Africans into Western education and cheap labor regimes. Relentless colonial looting systematically impoverished the continent, entrenched Africa’s dependency on her colonizers, while enriching the West. Msindo’s chapter illuminates how the colonial system worked, emphasizing its ties to Western politics and economic power, and how colonialism impacted Africa.