HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA

WALTER RODNEY


How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

Many things remain uncertain about the slave trade and its consequences for Africa, but the general picture of destructiveness can be shown to be the logical consequence of the manner of recruitment of captives in Africa. One of the uncertainties concerns the basic question of how many Africans were imported. This has long been an object of speculation, with estimates ranging from a few millions to over one hundred million. A recent study has suggested a figure of about ten million Africans landed alive in the Americas, the Atlantic islands, and Europe. Because it is a low figure, it is already being used by European scholars who are apologists for the capitalist system and its long record of brutality in Europe and abroad. In order to whitewash the European slave trade, they find it convenient to start by minimizing the numbers concerned. The truth is that any figure of Africans imported into the Americas which is narrowly based on the surviving records is bound to be low, because there were so many people at the time who had a vested interest in smuggling slaves (and withholding data). Nevertheless, if the low figure of ten million was accepted as a basis for evaluating the impact of slaving on Africa as a whole, the conclusions that could legitimately be drawn would confound those who attempt to make light of the experience of the rape of Africans from 1445 to 1870.

On any basic figure of Africans landed alive in the Americas, one would have to make several extensions -- starting with a calculation to cover mortality in transshipment. The Atlantic crossing, or "Middle Passage," as it was called by European slavers, was notorious for the number of deaths incurred, averaging in the vicinity of 15 to 20 per cent. There were also numerous deaths in Africa between time of capture and time of embarkation, especially in cases where captives had to travel hundreds of miles to the coast. Most important of all (given that warfare was the principal means of obtaining captives) it is necessary to make some estimate as to the number of people killed and injured so as to extract the millions who were taken alive and sound. The resultant figure would be many times the millions landed alive outside of Africa, and it is that figure which represents the number of Africans directly removed from the population and labor force of Africa because of the establishment of slave production by Europeans.

The massive loss to the African labor force was made more critical because it was composed of able- bodied young men and young women. Slave buyers preferred their victims between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five, and preferably in the early twenties; the sex ratio being about two men to one woman. Europeans often accepted younger African children, but rarely any older person. They shipped the most healthy wherever possible, taking the trouble to get those who had already survived an attack of smallpox, and who were therefore immune from further attacks of that disease, which was then one of the world's great killer diseases.

From HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA by Walter Rodney. Copyright © 1972 by Walter Rodney. By Permission of Howard University Press, Washington, D.C.

False and negative views of Africa and Africans were used to justify the Transatlantic Slave Trade and colonisation. However, in reality, the Ancient civilisations of Egypt, Ghana and Mali among others – some of which grew over 5000 years ago – made enormous discoveries in science, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, and architecture long before they were known in Europe. Africans had crossed oceans by the time Europeans made their first journey to Africa and some of the European visitors to Africa recognised that societies were just as advanced or more so, than their own.

In truth, contributions from Africans and the African continent to the shaping of the modern world are enormous and denied only because of the development of Eurocentric and racist views.

In the time period between 300 and 1400 there were many advanced civilizations in Africa. This was the time period before Europeans arrived in Africa. Songhai, Mali and Ghana were three cities in Africa that were well developed before Europeans arrived in Africa in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Songhai was one of the best developed communities in Africa during the time. Songhai was home of the center of trade Timbuktu. Timbuktu had everything they had many doctors, judges, priests and merchants. Everyone around Songhai would come and sell there written books and other merchandise for gold or other merchandise. Salt was sold here and was a great demand Timbuktu was also the center of learning people bought and sold books and were taught by well learned men and were maintained at the king's costs. Timbuktu became such a well grown city due to its location. It was located on the bend of the Niger River so travelers would stop by and buy and sell and also I was located in the middle of all the other tribes. Timbuktu helped develop the Songhai Empire due to all the travelers and movers migrating in to Songhai.

Another advanced civilization in Africa was Mali or otherwise known as "where the king dwells". It got this name from the emperor Mansa Musa. He is well known by people because of his generosity and wealthy ness. Mansa Musa would give away gold to everyone not one person would not receive a sum of gold according to and Egyptian official. Mali is known for its Islamic society and government which helped further develop the Mali Empire.

The peoples of West Africa had a rich and varied history and culture long before European slavers arrived. They had a wide variety of political arrangements including kingdoms, city-states and other organisations, each with their own languages and culture.

The empire of Songhai and the kingdoms of Mali, Benin and Kongo were large and powerful with monarchs heading complex political structures governing hundreds of thousands of subjects. In other areas, political systems were smaller and weaker, relying on agreement between people at village level. As in 16th century war-torn Europe, the balance of power between political states and groups was constantly changing.

Art, learning and technology flourished and Africans were especially skilled in subjects like medicine, mathematics and astronomy. As well as domestic goods, they made fine luxury items in bronze, ivory, gold and terracotta for both local use and trade.

West Africans had traded with Europeans through merchants in North Africa for centuries. The first traders to sail down the West African coast were the Portuguese in the 15th century. Later the Dutch, British, French and Scandinavians followed. They were mainly interested in precious items such as gold, ivory and spices, particularly pepper.

From their first contacts, European traders kidnapped and bought Africans for sale in Europe. However, it was not until the 17th century, when plantation owners wanted more and more slaves to satisfy the increasing demand for sugar in Europe, that transatlantic slaving became the dominant trade.