Essay Sample: African Economic Development and Colonial Legacies

The continent of Africa was negatively affected by the historical legacies of globalization to the extent where people of an area were being mistreated, neglected, and abused. Such as European imperial powers forcing upon assimilation to the extent where people would lose body parts such as arms and legs, or a part of their identity that would never be found again due to assimilation. Or the negligence of these European powers causing starvation upon their colony, ultimately leading to the death of innocent people who probably were better off without European contact as their way of life was disrupted as Europeans came. These experiences due to the eurocentric view had negatively impacted the people of Africa, leaving long-lasting effects that are still present today in culture, politics, and the economy.

The Republic of Cabo Verde’s/Cape Verde’s experiences with colonization by Portugal had affected them negatively. Most of the citizens of Cabo Verde were slaves brought over from the main continent of Africa due to the slave trade, as the country was uninhabited. These slaves were treated badly, forced to work in poor conditions on plantations, and the women were forced to immigrate to Cabo Verde. Due to this intermarrying, this created cultural diversity in the country, in which today most citizens of Cape Verde have Portuguese and African ancestry, creating a culture called Creole with strong influences from both cultures. Negligence was the main issue here in the country as their economy dropped during the colonial period. Portugal left Cabo Verde’s citizens to starve by not sending supplies over to the colony, as these conditions were made worse by periodic droughts. In which today, even though they are independent, agriculturally, they are dependent on 90% of their imports from other countries for food, as only 10% of their land can sustain crops such as beans and corn. Due to these periodic droughts, and the lack of government assistance which still continues till this day, this caused many to leave the islands. This negligence of Portugal caused the people of Cabo Verde to create a party for independence. Which pressured the Portuguese government that led to wars and assassinations of political leaders, such as the founder of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, Amilcar Cabral. When they finally gained independence, the country adopted a similar, but different form of government Portugal uses known as the Semi-Presidential Representative Democratic Republic System. Where the country is ruled by a president and a prime minister, but the president of this type of system has more power than a president in a Parliamentary Republic System. In which Portugal uses this Parliamentary Republic System, as their president serves more as a symbolic head of state.

Other countries in Africa had experienced the same negative treatment Cape Verde did by their colonizers, for example the Republic of Congo. King Leopold II had forced the native people of Congo to work and harvest natural rubber, and when they resisted they would be punished by being beaten to death, having limbs chopped off, or starved. Ghana is a rich country in natural resources that also heavily relied on the slave trade just like Cape Verde and were treated badly, which the people of Ghana created a political party as well to fight for their independence from the British. After gaining independence, they adopted a similar type of government that the British used, the same thing that Cabo Verde did as they gained independence as well from Portugal. Guinea was also colonized by Portugal but later on was colonized by France, which also left devastating effects such as corruption in leaders and in the political system, in which they also adopted the same government structure as France, leading to many human rights issues. Nigeria is also another rich country full of resources who also adopted a similar type of government their colonizers used, but also experienced corruption. Many of these countries have experienced the same situations such as political unrest due to the mistreatment by their European colonizers or corruption, creating parties to finally gain independence, and adopting similar forms of government their colonizers used while they were still under their control during the colonial period. Apart from these political legacies, these European powers had also left cultural legacies as well, like language. For example, Ghana speaks English since they were colonized by Portugal, and Guinea speaks French since they were colonized by France, but it's more of an official language. This was the case for many countries, but for some countries in Africa, like Tunisia. Although they were colonized by France, culture was not forced upon them, so they kept their original language and religion, which were Arabic and Muslim. Another cultural legacy that was left by many Europeans was religion. With Catholicism or Christianity being widespread during this period of colonization, which is still present today in countries such as Cape Verde and Ghana. Another legacy or effect due to the Eurocentric view that was left, is the superiority of lighter skin/skin lightening or bleaching. This is relatively kind of new, but has been practiced for a long time in many parts of the world, not just Africa. As it is thought, if you have lighter skin you are more “beautiful” and if you have darker skin you are “ugly.” Today, these political and cultural legacies, as well as some Eurocentric views are still present today in modern day Africa, such as government structure, official spoken languages, and skin lighting.