How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

“Obviously, underdevelopment is not absence of development, because every people have developed in one way or another and to a greater or lesser extent. Underdevelopment makes sense only as a means of comparing levels of development. It is very much tied to the fact that human social development has been uneven and from a strictly economic viewpoint some human groups have advanced further by producing more and becoming more wealthy.”

This quote stresses the comparative nature of development. It also underscores Rodney’s novel approach to the topic. Scholars used to view development from a strictly economic perspective. Rodney’s approach is more expansive, taking politics and culture into account. His approach calls attention to the myriad ways Africa developed in its early history, during the trading era, and under colonial rule.

“The interpretation that underdevelopment is somehow ordained by God is emphasized because of the racist trend in European scholarship.”

Racism has historically permeated much of the scholarship on African development. Most early scholars working on African development were either European or wrote from a Eurocentric perspective, presenting Africans as primitive and backward. Many looked to religion to explain and justify African underdevelopment, and determined that God had ordained that Africa remain poor and underdeveloped. By implication, God also ordained that white European capitalists thrive.

“One of the common means by which one nation exploits another and one that is relevant to Africa’s external relations is exploitation through trade.”

Trade with Europe was a key factor in underdeveloping Africa. The continents were not equally developed in 1500. Nascent capitalism, including more advanced economies, greater manufacturing capabilities, and better technology, gave Europeans the upper hand in their commercial dealings with Africa, allowing them to exploit African labor and raw materials for profit.

“The presence of a group of African sell-outs is part of the definition of underdevelopment.”

This quote is about African sell-outs, that is, Africans who served as lines of transmission between European capitalists and African dependencies. Rodney’s goal is not to blame Africans for their own underdevelopment. Rather, he wants to raise awareness about the role Africans played in supporting and participating in the capitalist exploitation of Africa.

“The moment that the topic of the pre-European African past is raised, many individuals are concerned for various reasons to know about the existence of African ‘civilizations’. Mainly, this stems from a desire to make comparisons with European ‘civilizations’.”

Scholars often present Europe as being more “civilized” than Africa. For Rodney, this position is both biased and untenable. He calls attention to European atrocities, such as slavery, fascism, and genocidal wars in Asia and Africa. Rodney uses the more neutral term “culture” instead of civilization.

“Who in this world is competent to judge whether an Austrian waltz is better than a Makonde Ngoma?”

This quote is about cultural bias. Colonialism and cultural imperialism resulted in the valorization of European culture over African culture. African culture was devalued not just by Europeans but also by Africans who internalized European ideals and values.

“The state arose as an instrument to be used by a particular class to control the rest of society in its own interests.”

This quote conveys Rodney’s Marxist leanings. Marx cited class conflict as a key aspect of the capitalistic mode of production. In capitalism class stratification leads to the creation of states controlled by those who own the means of production. The state apparatus supports the ruling class in exploiting the rest of society.

“If the African slave was thrown overboard at sea, the only legal problem that arose was whether or not the slave ship could claim compensation from the insurers!”

This passage describes the power imbalance in European and African trade relations. Europe dictated the terms of global trade, deciding what Africa could export and import in accordance with European needs. The laws governing nations at sea were nothing more than European laws. Africa did not participate in their making, resulting in the legal protection of grossly exploitative practices.

“Many guilty consciences have been created by the slave trade.”

Rodney calls out biases in scholarship throughout his book. The guilty consciences in this quote are the Europeans involved in the slave trade. Europeans have eased their guilty consciences by laying most of the blame for slave trading on Africans. According to this line of thinking, African chiefs are responsible for the trade, while Europeans merely turned up to purchase captives. As Rodney points out, however, European demand drove the slave trade, resulting in at least 15 million captives arriving in the Americas.

“Since capitalism, like any other mode of production, is a total system which involves an ideological aspect, it is also necessary to focus on the effects of the ties with Africa on the development of ideas within the superstructure of European capitalist society. In that sphere, the most striking feature is undoubtedly the rise of racism as a widespread and deeply rooted clement in European thought.”

Capitalist imperialism enslaved Africans. As Rodney observes, it is not possible to enslave people for centuries without adopting a notion of superiority. Because of the physical differences between Europeans and Africans, that prejudice manifested as white racism.

“When one tries to measure the effect of European slave trading on the African continent, it is essential to realize that one is measuring the effect of social violence rather than trade in any normal sense of the word.”

The slave trade was not merely a commercial enterprise; it deeply affected social relations in Africa too. European slave traders capitalized on existing societal divisions by pitting African communities against each other. Africans engaged in raiding and kidnapping to provide Europeans with captives, which increased fear and uncertainty. This instability impacted other sectors, such as gold mining and agriculture, thereby stunting African development.

“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).”

Citation:

Rodney relies heavily on statistics throughout his book. One of the challenges he faces is a lack of documentation. The historical record is incomplete because documents related to the European slave trade have not survived or never existed in the first place.

“A king is people.”

This Balanta saying conveys the importance of the people in African societies. Communities centered on kinship groups derive strength from numbers. The slave trade not only tore African communities apart but also stunted population growth, which negatively impacted development.

“What Africa experienced in the early centuries of trade was precisely a loss of development opportunity, and this is of greatest importance.”

Development requires that growth be self-sustaining. In other words, it demands making advancements that will promote more advancements. The slave trade resulted in the loss of industry in Africa, as well as a loss of skill. These losses were small compared to European scientific achievements in the same period, but such loss at an early stage prevented Africa from progressing to further stages, which had a catastrophic impact on development.

“It was economics that determined that Europe should invest in Africa and control the continent’s raw materials and labor. It was racism which confirmed the decision that the form of control should be direct colonial rule.”

Europe engaged in trade with Africa for centuries before colonialism. These dealings revolved around the exploitation of Africa for profit, notably the slave trade. Enslaving Africans fostered ideas of superiority and inferiority, resulting in white racism. Europeans cast Africans as savages who were unable to govern themselves and needed civilizing—a racist notion that helped justify colonialism.

“Colonialism was not merely a system of exploitation, but one whose essential purpose was to repatriate the profits to the so-called mother country.”

Citation:

This quote is about the development of Europe at Africa’s expense, a key theme in Rodney’s book. Europeans consistently expatriated surplus produced by African labor from African raw materials. In other words, the development of Europe was part of a dialectical process that kept Africa underdeveloped.

“In the epoch of imperialism, the bankers became the aristocrats of the capitalist world.”

This quote highlights the importance of class in capitalist systems. The transition from feudalism to capitalism led to profound shifts in social organization. Bankers became the new elite, holding a place formerly reserved for landed aristocrats.

“The white man has no kin, his kin is money.”

This South African saying underscores a key distinction between precapitalist and capitalist societies. Communal African societies were organized around kinship. By contrast, European capitalists valued money. When European capitalists started engaging in trade with less developed African societies, relationships based on money displaced kinship ties.

“It is fairly obvious that capitalists do not set out to create other capitalists, who would be rivals. On the contrary, the tendency of capitalism in Europe from the very beginning was one of competition, elimination, and monopoly.”

This quote calls attention to Europe’s active role in underdeveloping Africa, one of the most important contributions of Rodney’s book. Europeans capitalized on their more advanced state of development to control trade and enact laws that brought riches and new development opportunities to Europe while stripping Africa of its resources and opportunities for progress.

“Racist notions are so deep-rooted within capitalist society that the failure of African agriculture to advance was put down to the inherent inferiority of the African.”

The scholarship on Africa has historically been racist or biased. Many scholars blamed Africans for their own underdevelopment without recognizing the central role that Europe played in underdeveloping the continent. Rodney argues that Europeans did not underdevelop Africa maliciously. Rather, underdevelopment resulted because of the viciousness of the capitalist mode of production and the colonial system.

“The following features of indigenous African education can be considered outstanding: its close links with social life, both in a material and spiritual sense; its collective nature; its many-sidedness; and its progressive development in conformity with the successive stages of physical, emotional, and mental development of the child.”

Rodney draws attention to Africa’s contributions in various areas. This passage underscores the positive aspects of African education, negating the argument that colonialism brought education and other forms of development to Africa.

“Education in Europe was dominated by the capitalist class.”

Colonial education was a tool for cultural penetration and imperialism. Europeans transferred the capitalist values permeating their educational system to Africa’s schools. This resulted in the transmission of class bias, racism, and cultural boastfulness to Africans.

“Colonial schooling was education for subordination, exploitation, the creation of mental confusion, and the development of underdevelopment.”

The quality of colonial education was poor, and the supply did not meet the demand. Europeans invested little in educating Africans because they recognized that an educated populace was superfluous and threatening. All Europe needed was to educate enough Africans to fill low positions in the colonial administration, which contributed to Africa’s underdevelopment while also transmitting capitalist ideals and values.