How to Rob a Continent: Colonialism’s Lasting Influence on Modern Africa

Introduction

Once upon a time, there was a home in the heart of Africa. A warm, safe home where a loving family resided, gathering cherished memories over the many years spent together. Abundant crops and livestock wrapped around the home, securing the family’s wealth for generations to come. One day, an outsider enters their home. This home does not belong to him; he is an unwelcome guest who has decided to claim the house. He rearranges the furniture, slaughters the livestock, and threatens the family—expelling them from their very own home. Finally, the man loudly declares this house belongs to him, and him only, abandoning the family forever. To an ordinary person, this sounds like an unjust fairytale; but, to an African victim of imperialism, this was an all-too familiar reality. Although European powers formally ended colonialism in the twentieth century, its past continues to rattle Africa through political instability, unnatural borders, resource exploitation, and modern day slavery.

Africa’s Greatest Paradox 

At first glance, Africa’s widespread famine and hardship seem to contradict its incredible natural wealth. Home to 40% of the world’s gold, 12% of the world's oil reserves, 65% of global arable land, and the largest reserves of cobalt, diamonds, platinum, and uranium (UN Environment Programme, 2017). It seems unlikely that the citizens of Africa wouldn’t live in affluence, let alone famine and poverty. Despite this abundance, millions of Africans continue to live in mass poverty and food insecurity. In Nigeria alone, the poverty rate is expected to hover around 62% throughout 2026, making 141 million people in one nation unable to meet their basic necessities. Countries such as South Sudan and Burundi report that over 70% of their nations live below the international poverty line (AFRICA, 2026) . According to the United Nations, nearly 645 million people faced hunger in 2025. Of those 645 million, 309 million were African individuals (Global Hunger Declines Again but Progress Remains Uneven Across Regions, 2026). These statistics reveal a striking contradiction: a continent enriched with immense food, land, and wealth continues to go hungry.

This contradiction cannot be explained by a lack of resources or ambition. MOHAC Africa suggests that the lack of economic development and overall stability is not due to an absence of effort from African individuals, rather the result of a “youth bulge”, where the labor market is unable to keep up with the population (AFRICA, 2026). Yearly, 12 million young Africans enter a job market that can only offer 3 million positions. These challenges are not the product of geography, economy, or chance alone. Rather, they’re deeply rooted in the colonial systems left behind by European powers, which prioritized the unethical extraction of African resources and citizens rather than prioritizing the development of Africa itself. To truly understand why Africa seemingly is unable to escape this paradox, it is essential to analyze what the continent was prior to European colonization. 

Africa Before Colonization 

Long before colonization, Africa was a thriving continent made up of powerful kingdoms, each encompassing its own languages, cultures, and systems of governance.

Contrary to the colonial narrative that portrayed Africa as uncivilized, the continent housed developed societies, flourishing for centuries before European colonization. The Empire of Songhai, and the kingdoms of Mali, Benin, and Kongo were grand and powerful, ruled with monarchs leading complex political institutions that governed thousands of people, fostering economic prosperity. Numerous African civilizations made remarkable contributions within mathematics, medicine, and astronomy. Adding to domestic goods, they created fine luxury products in gold, bronze, ivory, and terracotta for both local use and trade (Jim Crow Museum, 2024).

In ancient Egyptian civilization, the Egyptians' impact was the backbone for Greek and Roman culture, and, through them, Egypt held incredible influence over Western tradition. The civilization stretched on for over 3000 years, maintaining a phenomenal amount of continuity.  Likewise, the Kingdom of Aksum (modern-day northern Ethiopia and Eritrea) was a major naval and trading power from the first to seventh centuries C.E, developing Africa’s only indigenous written script, Ge’ez. To the west of Africa, the Empire of Songhai emerged as one of Africa’s most influential empires. Their ruler, Askia the Great, established an effective taxation system and appointed officials to oversee as ministers of the agriculture, treasury, army, and navy, centuries before modern nations adopted similar structures (Jim Crow Museum, 2024). Far from lacking civilization, pre-colonial Africa had created economic institutions and societal advancements that became a muse for the globe. Their prosperity challenged the underdeveloped image Europe had painted to justify its acts of colonization.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade - Robbing Africa of its People

Unfortunately, Africa’s skills could only reign for so long. The Transatlantic Slave Trade, also known as the Atlantic Slave Trade, marked the beginning of Europe’s systematic exploitation of Africa, through which millions of Africans were forcibly removed from their homeland, transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the “New World”, where they would then be sold into slavery to labor on sugar, rice, cotton, and tobacco plantations throughout the Americas (The Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, 2024). The Portuguese were the first Europeans to establish large-scale slavery between Africa and Europe, laying the foundation for what would become the largest forced migrations in history. “The people who built their heaven on your land are telling you yours is in the sky.” - Nina Simone.   

The Doctrine of Discovery, issued by Pope Alexander VI in 1493, proclaimed the right that any Christian nation shall take the land of non-Christians in the interests of saving their souls. During the same year, the pope also declared that the non-Christian inhabitants of those lands may be enslaved for the same purpose. This doctrine served as a means of encouragement for the European nations, validating their perceived rights over Africa and its peoples. The Pope’s declarations provided the Europeans with a validation no other could reinforce; religion justified the belief that Africa, its people, and its resources were theirs to take. Colonial expansion and Atlantic slavery were major drivers of economic success in Western Europe between 1500 and 1850; however, at the cost of massive forced exile, inhumane oppression and overexploitation of African citizens (Mark, 2025) .

 Prior to the arrival of Europeans, slavery had long been established in Africa. As historian David Eltis suggests, “almost all peoples have been both slaves and slaveholders at some point in their histories.” (Slavery before the Trans-Atlantic Trade · African Passages, Lowcountry Adaptations · Lowcountry Digital History Initiative, 2012) West and Central African elites gained power by controlling individuals, particularly their kinship group (extended family and enslaved people). Everyone in this group worked as the elites controlled the products of their labor (such as crops, gold, and other goods). As a result of African elites controlling the workers, they automatically controlled the wealth those workers produced. In contrast, Western European elites gained power by owning land, rather than people. This was due to land being limited in Europe, as it was privately owned and limited (Slavery before the Trans-Atlantic Trade · African Passages, Lowcountry Adaptations · Lowcountry Digital History Initiative, 2012) . Contrary to popular belief, slavery was not central to European economies before the Atlantic Slave Trade. However, due to slavery already being established in Africa prior to the Europeans arrival, the structure for capturing and enslaving humans was already present. Portugal began exporting slaves from Africa to Europe in 1440, and, by 1530, other European countries had joined the trend. This practice is widely accepted as ‘triangular trade’ between Europe, Africa, and the Americas, with ships leaving European ports with goods, trading them in Africa for slaves, selling the slaves in the Americas, and returning to their home ports with American goods and raw materials (Mark, 2025). 

 It was at the Thirteen Colonies, which would become the United States in 1640 at Jamestown Colony of Virginia, that slavery was first institutionalized. Although slave trade was officially abolished in 1808, the practice failed to end, as slave-traders continued to illegally smuggle human cargo across the Atlantic Ocean. It is estimated that between 12 and 18 million African citizens were victims of the Atlantic Slave Trade between the 15th and 19th centuries, many dying on the Middle Passage, the journey from Africa to the Americas. Regions including Senegal and Gambia, Southeastern Africa, Upper Guinea (especially Sierra Leone), and West Central Africa suffered the greatest losses  (Mark, 2025). Beyond the lives lost, the Atlantic Slave Trade destroyed kingdoms, cracked down on political institutions, damaged economies, and caused irreparable damage to Africa’s people, culture, and religious beliefs and practices. By stripping a single continent of millions of its people, the slave trade devastated many African societies and allowed even deeper colonization that would soon follow during the Berlin Conference and the Scramble for Africa. 

The Berlin Conference - Robbing Africa of its Borders

In November of 1884, European diplomats gathered at a conference in Berlin to divide the African continent amongst themselves. Ironically, during what was seemingly a significant moment of African history, not one African representative was invited or present. With little to no regard of the African peoples tribes, histories, or cultures, the European men divided the continent. Maps of Africa were spread open on grand tables, and with the stroke of a pen, ancient kingdoms were dismantled, ethnic groups divided, and borders drawn by those who had never set foot on African soil (Thompson, 2024). By the late 1800s, Europe’s colonial ambitions had reached their peak. 

With the industrial revolution in full force, Africa’s multitude of resources had become essential to the economic development of European powers. Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, and other European nations came together and divided Africa without consideration of the individuals residing amongst the borders. Britain claimed territories like Nigeria, Egypt, and Kenya, while Belgium claimed Congo Free State, a colony infamous for its merciless exploitation under King Leopold II (Cartwright, 2026). Traditional governance structures were dismantled, ancient cultures torn apart, and millions of Africans were forced into labour—all to support Europe’s great industrial ambitions. The primary result of the Berlin Conference was the General Act of Berlin, which formalized Europeans rules for colonial and trade plans within Africa. 

It’s important to note that Article VI of the General Act of Berlin did otherwise consider the wellbeing of African peoples and promised some consideration for their rights. These sizable ambitions mostly failed to meet their promises, but they do indicate some explanation as to why Europeans believed they had every right to intervene in Africa without the consultation of Africans. This was understood as a sort of Social Dwarfism, that more ‘evolved’ nations had the right to interfere in ‘backward’ nations. Moreover, Europeans felt a moral superiority and duty to act, since they perceived themselves as superior individuals that could ‘improve’ and ‘civilize’ Africans, whom they considered ‘primitive’ and ‘savage’ (Cartwright, 2026). It was not until the establishment of the League of Nations after the First World War, that the matter of how African peoples and their cultures should be protected was properly addressed.

The Scramble for Africa - Robbing Africa of its Wealth

In a nutshell, the Berlin Conference birthed the Scramble for Africa. The competition between European powers to first dominate trade and territory in Africa is commonly known as the Scramble for Africa. These powers were eager to grasp resources such as ivory, gold, palm oil, control of trade routes, and, most importantly, the status of influencing a global empire. The desire to spread christianity, and what Europeans refer to as ‘civilization’ were also contenders to the heist. By the early 20th century, only two African states were free from some form of European control. After the Berlin Conference, the Congo River basin was considered to be under the authority of King Leopold II of Belgium, with a unanimous agreement of free access for trade and shipping to be recognized to all nations. Respectively, the Congo Free State was created.

 Under King Leopold II, the people of Congo Free State faced colonial brutality driven by corrupt economic motives, specifically the possession of rubber. The rubber boom of the late 19th century turned Congo F.S into a major supplier of natural rubber, a resource in high demand due to the industrial revolution. To maximize production, King Leopold II implemented a cruel labor policy; Congolese were forced to collect rubber as a form of tax payment (Edu, 2024). Historians describe this as a “slave society”, where the native population were forced into labor under absolutely brutal conditions. To fully comprehend how cruel King Leopold’s rule was, and how it affected the people of Congo, we must recall the Role of the Force Publique, a colonial military force established by the king himself. In the Role of the Force of Publique, soldiers were required to provide a severed hand for each bullet used to prove that ammunition was not being wasted. Hands became currency, traded among soldiers and used to account for shortfalls in rubber quotas (Montero & Lowes, 2019). The harsh demands placed on the Congolese citizens led to the collapse of Congolese society, traditional economic and cultural life crumbled. 

As men were forced away from their villages to collect rubber, agriculture was neglected, leading to famine and the nation susceptible to diseases. Epidemics exploded; sleeping sickness, smallpox, and more illnesses devastated the population. In short, the harsh regime of greedy European colonial forces thirsting for resources led to the fall of Congolese society. In 1908, under intense international scrutiny amid human rights abuses, the Belgian government annexed the Congo Free State, officially marking the end of Leopold’s personal rule. Once again, Europeans failed to protect African peoples as the new colonial administration, the Belgian Congo, repeated many of the same exploitative practices, even under somewhat more standardized conditions (Montero & Lowes, 2019). The Congo Free State serves as a monumental example of colonial exploitation and its long-term influence on societies.

 Today, 70% of Congolese citizens live below the poverty line; approximately 22.9 million are actively facing acute food insecurity. Although preserving an estimated $24 trillion in untapped mineral reserves (Panzi Foundation, 2024), Congo faces intense levels of famine, displacement, disease, and a severe lack of human capital (IPC Country Analysis | IPC - Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, n.d.). The persistence of instability and underdevelopment in the Democratic Republic of Congo can be traced back to colonial giants that stopped at nothing, as decades of foreign extraction weakened institutions, destroyed local agriculture and economic growth, and established patterns of exploitation that continue to this day. 

Traditionally, access to African natural resources and its peoples has been restricted to coastal areas and African middlemen who traded with internal sources. This changed with advancements in medicine, like quinine, which prevented some of the African diseases that so terribly affected the Europeans (Cartwright, 2026c). Another development that opened Africa’s interior was the discovery and mapping of useful waterways, such as the Congo, Niger, and Zambezi rivers. Now, steamboats could transfer goods much quicker and much more cost-effectively. To the coast, where they could then be shipped to other continents. Such unprecedented innovations made extracting resources much easier. 

Colonisation first manifested in the form of trading stations (aka factories) which controlled the regional trade in certain goods, especially when the stations were owned by private trading companies. When it became apparent that a certain region had profitable resources, European governments took advantage and began to take a more direct approach, funding projects to aid commerce and control. As a result of the state investments, armies were sent to Africa to protect assets. Unfortunately, few African nations could compete with modern European weapons like rifles and machine guns. The unquestionable power of the European economies meant they could afford to fight unprofitable wars, in order to secure future resource gains. African powers were not entirely docile in the Scramble for Africa. Many local rulers had been and would continue to be in favour of one imperialist power in order to keep another out; or, use foreign military and trade connections to fortify their own positions of power against local rivals (Cartwright, 2026c). Those leaders who decided to fight European colonizers at some point ended up losing their state, or having it absorbed into a colony. 

Nevertheless, some Africans, enraged by the unjust losses from the Europeans, fought back. The Mau Mau Rebellion (1952-1960), led by the Kikuyu people of Kenya, was a guerilla war against British colonial rule. The cause of the war was simple: indigenous people’s stolen land. Land was taken from the Kikuyu and given to White settlers, specifically in the highly desired areas known as the “White Highlands”. Where the higher altitude meant that crops could grow better, and where a wider range of crops was possible. Wanting to encourage British settlers, the British government adopted a programme, where a new White settler received either 1,000 acres of agricultural land, or 5,000 acres of pasture land. This method allowed at least 16,000 square miles of land to be reserved for cultivation by White landowners (Cartwright, 2026b). Due to an acute shortage of land, many Kikuyu farmers now found themselves having to work as labour tenants on farms owned by White settlers. The pastoral Masai people also suffered from these restrictions and lost access to land they had habitually used for grazing their cattle. 

Laws passed in the 1930s began to limit African land ownership in the colony. Laws prohibited Africans from raising certain types of crops, such as coffee, to which were reserved for White landowners. By 1956, 95% of Kenya’s agricultural exports came from European-owned farms (Cartwright, 2026b). Additionally, the British promoted primary and Christian missionary schools which eroded traditional religions and cultural practices that have existed for centuries. Historian R.J Reid remarks that, of all grievances, it was the land crisis and the government’s insistence on creating a cheap African labour force that could solely work on European farms that were the cause of the Mau Mau unrest.

In 1952, a violent, horrifying period began in the long-awaiting movement for Kenyan independence. Rebels attempted to sabotage anything related to the Europeans. The term ‘Mau Mau’ itself was a name given to the rebels by the British. The majority of Kikuyu people actually did not support the Mau Mau movement, as there was a broad rejection of the brutally violent methods used. Only a small number of White settlers were attacked and murdered by the Mau Mau; whereas, the Kenyans, faced mass arrests in detention and concentration camps, forced resettlements of civilians suspected to be involved, and abuses such as torture and executions without trial (Cartwright, 2026b). 

The Mau Mau rebellion officially ended in 1960 after British authorities arrested the majority of Mau Mau leaders and declared a state of emergency (Richardson, 2023). However, the movement will forever stand as a testament to the atrocities committed by colonial powers, and how innocent African civilians had to pay the price. 

The Colonial Debt - Africa Still Pays the Price 

On paper, Africa has been freed. Freed from Britain, freed from France and Belgium; Africa officially exists independently. Also on paper, Africa is struggling. Struggling from famine as millions go hungry, struggling from poverty and an underwhelming economy, struggling from disease as society crumbles in front of Africa’s very eyes. Some point fingers at corruption, others at poor governance; they’re somewhat right. But, what the paper doesn’t show, is that Africa is still paying the price. After years of arbitrary borders being drawn on maps, resources extracted unjustly, farmers stolen of their land, agriculture being neglected, and traditions being destroyed, it seems that "sovereignty" does not undo the damage from years of colonial systems. 

The evidence presented throughout this paper demonstrates that Africa did not become scarce overnight. What was once a flourishing continent, thriving in societies where political institutions governed its people justly, where citizens lived together in harmony, commencing cultural practices and traditions amongst each other, has now declined. As a result of Europe’s desires to spread Christianity, extract resources, inherit slaves, and build an empire on another’s soil, Africa’s institutions and economy have crumbled along the way. European powers designed African colonies to become economically dependent on foreign markets, sources of raw materials and cheap labour, and become strategic power. By dismantling political groups and traditional tribes that coexisted for centuries, Europe successfully adopted unnatural borders within Africa according to its personal gain. 

Although Africa has been freed, it inherited weak economic and social structures that continue to fuel poverty and conflict to this day. Many patterns adopted under imperial rule, such as economic dependence and foreign extraction of natural resources, continue to appear throughout the continent. Africa possesses incredible mineral wealth, fertile land, and one of the world’s most dedicated populations—yet hundreds of millions go hungry. This contradiction is not merely the result of contemporary failures, or lack of ambition, rather the enduring legacy of centuries of exploitation and robbery. Europe may have left Africa decades ago, but after robbing a continent of its people, borders, and wealth, the bill remains unpaid.

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