How Europe Underdeveloped Africa
By Walter Rodney
Published by Panaf Publishing, Inc. (2009 edition)
ISBN- 978-37049-2-3

AFRICA has been regarded as a continent that is under-developed and most of its countries fall in the ‘developing’ and ‘least developed’ category.
Western scholars love to postulate that the development in Africa is as a result of the West and those lagging behind do so because they do not want to embrace Western ‘civilisation’.
Of the many reasons given for under-development of Africa, ‘corruption’ and ‘poor’ leadership are cited as the major reasons for lagging behind.
Dr Walter Rodney, the author of How Europe Under-developed Africa, however, clearly points out how Europe is responsible for Africa’s under-development.
In the six-chaptered book, Rodney highlighted how at different stages Europe cunningly hindered the development of Africa.
He states how Africa, ‘being the original home of man’, in fact the cradle of mankind, was developing on its own and how Europe’s greed disturbed the continent’s development.
How Europe Under-developed Africa is a book that does not only highlight the coming of Europeans to Africa and their looting spree, the book also tells the African story that has being distorted by the Europeans.
Rodney points out how the building of Great Zimbabwe monument, the presence of pyramids in Egypt, the practice of strong agricultural activities in Ethiopia and the dominance of Islam religion in the Maghreb shows that Africa was developing on its own without the help of Europe.
According to the author, Africa has never been under-developed, but it is the Europeans who stifled that growth.
His argument reflects on Immanuel Wallerstein’s world system theory which divides the world into three parts that include countries in the core, semi-periphery and periphery.
Wallerstein’s idea highlights that the countries in the core are most developed while those in the periphery are still developing.
“Africa helped to develop Western Europe in the same proportion as Western Europe to under-develop Africa,” writes Rodney.
Today African states in the south rely more economically on countries in the North.
Those in the core enjoy the benefits of exploiting, not only workers, but resources from the periphery to develop their own nations.
In spite of being the producers of raw materials, a number of African states still depend on importing finished products from Europe, made by Africa’s resources.
“Ugandans grew cotton, but imported manufactured cotton goods. Ivory Coast grew cocoa and imported tinned cocoa and chocolate,” writes Rodney.
Rodney argues that slave trade was the basic factor in African under-development.
His narration clearly brings to the fore how Europeans conducted slavery through using methods that saw Africa remaining with a breed of weak beings while the strong were shipped to Europe.
“The process by which captives were obtained on African soil was not trade at all,” says Rodney.
“It was through warfare, trickery, banditry and kidnapping.”
It is against this backdrop that Rodney laughs off the presence of international law which he views as rules and regulations that carries and protect European interests.
Africans could not put up with the pace of development due to the fact that Europe took the opportunity of using guns and canons to dictate how the African economy should be handled.
It is examples of strong military states such as Dahomey and the Zulu nation that brings out the undisputed ideas that reflect Africans had their unique way of economic, social and political development that defined and differentiated it from Europe.
How Europe Under-developed Africa explains how colonialism further destroyed Africa. Rodney shows how there was nothing good about colonialism, which distorted African values and tradition, how education institutions introduced did not benefit Africa at all and how it introduced capitalism which gave birth to corruption.
“On the other hand there were European countries who decided on the role to be played by African economies and on the other hand Africa formed an extension to the European capitalist market,” says Rodney.
“Western Europe and Africa had a relationship which ensured the transfer of wealth from Africa to Europe.”
The book is another testament of the evilness of Europe and how it is the cause of all of Africa’s misfortunes.