why is africa poor?

Question

I read on a news paper that on the early 1000 Africa had few deseases and was not impecunious.

Africa is so rich geographically. It has everything that most continents have, heck maybe even better than some, but still it's not growing economically and countries getting poorer.

Is it because the europians divided the continent and made countries which is the cause of most civil wars. Also who made cities where deseases increased drumatically

Is it because of the corrupted government.

why is africa so poor.. whats the history?

Answer 1

The reason it is so poor is because it so rich in natural resources. This attracted European countries to colonize nearly the entire continent in the late 19th century. During this era Africans were used as slaves in thier own land, and conditions were perhaps the worst in recorded history.

After the second world war decolonization occurred and between 1940s - 1980s all of the African countries gained independance. The only problem is that the Europeans did exactly what we are trying to aviod in Iraq... they just cut and ran. The leaders that emerged in these countries were generally the most ruthless and power hungry people in the country, and the population, after years of oppression, was poor, hungry and completely traumatized. It was like a abusive parent adopting a million abused kids, you are going to have problems.

So with all of that going on hardly any country would invest resources into african economies, and the financial aid they got from organizations and governments usually ended up in the hands of the wrong people.

Thats just my take.

Answer 2

Slave trade
Colonization
New colonization
IMF & World bank policies
Western nation creating conflicts etc

Guys like Ghadifi new ways how to go around all these rubbish but they killed him
Mugabe his excelency Robert is fixing things in Zimbabwe.
and one day all Africa will be united

Then the story will be like Africa material Rich and Economical Rich
Not Africa material rich and economical poor.

An active man should take countries like South Africa as the basic explation

It was colonized by the Dutch, after independence they are still there South Africa is too far away from other African countries.

Westerners can not let down there fellows Duchies/Boers.

Answer 3

Africa's current poverty is rooted in its history. The transition from colonialism has been shaky and uncertain. The Cold War and increased corruption and despotism have contributed to Africa's poor economy. While China and India have grown rapidly and South America has experienced moderate growth, lifting millions above subsistence living, Africa has stagnated and even regressed in terms of foreign trade, investment, and per capita income. This poverty has widespread effects, including low life expectancy, violence, and instability, which in turn perpetuate the continent's poverty. Over the decades, attempts to improve the economy of Africa have met with little success.

In short, it was the early European invaders who set the stage for the Africa we see today. It's easy to say, "becuase the majoirity is black" when the country you live in has prospered from an invasion not been destroyed by it. There is such a great wealth in Africa, tourism, art, diamonds, to name a few but very little of the profits and aid sent to the African people actually get to them.

Answer 4

ok, i am egyptian & there is many african in my college. SO i think there is 2 main reasons:

First: In the late nineteenth century, the European imperial powers staged a major "scramble for Africa" and occupied most of the continent, creating many colonial nation states as u can see on (( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ColonialAfrica.png )), This colonial occupation continued until after the conclusion of World War II, when all the colonial states gradually obtained formal independence.In nations that had substantial European populations, for example Rhodesia and South Africa, systems of second-class citizenship were often set up in order to give Europeans political power far in excess of their numbers. even after independance the africans have differece culture & education so they can't allied together again so ther was many civil wars.

Second reason: is that most of the africans is not educated so there is a Failed government policies and political corruption that the governorate has all the power & no one can stop them so they had all the benefits from the resorses in their land & the civilians still die from hunger

Answer 5

The reason has to do with its history. Colonialization robbed Africa, particularly the Congo. Colonists from Europe were greedy and wanted colonies for economical reasons and they robbed Africa of many resources. When the nations in African gained their independence, there were still some problems. National boundaries were drawn based on what European mapmakes drew, which gave not respect to ancestral homelands and disagreements on how land and resources were to be used. This led to the problems that Africa has today.

Answer 6

The main reason is the continent was carved up into European colonies. Ever heard of the term "banana republic"? Well, that refers to these colonies (and those in South America). They were usually set up as a one commodity economy (either bananas, or coffee, or pineapples, etc.). Also the natives were rarely put into any form of authority.

The short version....When the colonies collapsed, the Europeans left and there was a void in trying to start an independent economy or self-rule. That left the void to create dictatorships and no money.

Answer 7

I think it's probably that European colonialism wiped out the organization originally present in Africa, and after they pulled out, they left it the way it was, but they took all their economic strengths from the countries and the continent as well. So, now that the governments present were originally nurtured by Europe, the people probably don't accept he fact that they are the people in charge. So, now we have civil war and such. Just what I think...

Answer 8

The colonist countries exported much of the wealth and still control more than they should through payoffs to the new countries government officials. Just as corruption held back India for so long the countries in Africa are being held back by payoffs and lack of proper support from the rest of the world. When you feed someone they come back for more. When you train them and give them the tools to grow their own food they will take care of themselves. The world has spent too much time trying to feed them instead of teaching them to maintain themselves and giving them workable standards to keep corruption under control.

Answer 9

There is no easy answer as many factors contribute.
The main reason is lack of education, health services and law and order.
I was dismayed to learn for example that 13 members of Medicins Sans Frontieres, a french aid organisation were summarily executed by Tamil Tigers in Sir Lanka just recently.
I could go on and on. No wonder fee feel powerless.

Answer 10

Many reasons have been advocated for the socio-economic and financial state of most African EMPIRES(yes empires due to unwillingness by leaders to practice fair democrecy).The lack of political insight and old political habits by most African rulers and their parties have been one of the major driving forces behind africa's collapse.However other factors like,foreign exploitation(Nigerian oil reserves),and lack of basic amenities(people spend more time finding food,water and shelter than do they seeking practical knowledge).However,one of the policies Africa could adopt to resolve their growing crises will be to jointly form a united states of Africa with its 47 countries representing 47 states jointly administered by their various presidents acting as governors for a first term and a president fairly elected by a majority of votes.