Was Africa always poor and undernourished?

Question

If not, what happened? What in the world made them so poor and undernourished?

Answer 1

Poor by modern standards perhaps, but sub-saharan Africans were not always on the brink of starvation. Prior to 19th century colonialism, most Africans lived in very old, established pastoral or hunter-gatherer cultures in which most people lived off the land. The land, not intensively farmed, supported the populations rather well as the people were very good at managing their resources. There did arise some "great" civilizations, such as the Songhai, who developed limited agriculture, iron working etc, but resource production, especially food, remained mostly focused on supporting the populations. Populations remained limited but the land could support them.

With the 19th century colonisation of Africa, however, everything changed. European nations introduced "progress." They introduced a cash/market economy and demanded taxes from Africans. The latter forced many to produce cash crops (sugar, coffee etc) rather than food for their families on their land. Many lost their land and had to go to work in large plantations for cash to pay for food. There, they were badly exploited by Europeans eager for profit. Money and resources flowed back to Europe as more and more Africans were hopelessly impoverished.

The introduction of widespread cash-cropping also had a devastating environmental effect. Intensive farming and felling of trees in land not suited to it denuded the land. What is now desert in areas such as the Sudan or Ethiopia once was viable land for pastoralism.

Even with the end of the colonial era in the 1950s, the damage had been done. Climate change, long term impoverishment, the breakup of age-old cultures and bad management continue to dog attempts to improve the situation.

Further, International financial organizations such as the World Bank and the IMF continue to push brutal market economies and cash cropping in Africa. This seemed like a way out, so African nations took out loans in the 1960s and the 1970s. However, the market for cash crops collapsed soon after, so these states couldn't even begin to pay back the debts which then started to mount even higher. Corruption, poverty and free-market ideology have combined to hamper any useful attempts to make the situation any better.

Answer 2

Absolutely not! Africa was very rich in natural resources for a long time. That is not to say there were not instances where the people lacked something, like any other culture goes through. Africa ran into problems when the slave trade began. After slave trade was outlawed in England and the US the continent began to seen modernization and new influences from other cultures. There is a real big problems in some areas with the clash of religions. Wars have been started because of religion many at time there. Wars cause a lot of these problems by cutting off supply lines and such.

Answer 3

Dealing with the Sub-Saharan nations, it is a quantity of destruction. They have had a huge population growth. Less than 100 years ago, they had the smallest population of all the populated continents. Now they are the second largest. They are growing at 3.2% a year and that means the population will double about every 15 years. With less then 1/6th of the world’s population, they have 69% of the aids cases found every year.
The irony of their plight is that they had a balanced world before the colonial period. They may have been a rich tribe or a poorer one, but they had balance. Europe disrupted that balance. The European’s came in and brought medical care, and civilization. They created jobs causing urban growth, and poverty wages. As the African population began to grow they began to expand the need for farms, and cut down rain forests. Problem there was that the soil, high in aluminum, but low in top soil became worthless for the types a crops like the cereals that take from top soil....and that went on and on.
Then the colonial powers got tossed or left, and the result led to a lack of educated persons who could run a government. And with military leaders who liked to take over the various governments. Less and less of what they got from the Europeans became worth much and they did not have the ability to grow their economies.
They have to get their houses in order. Strict population control, forced savings to grow their economies, like India did after faltering for a long time after the British were pushed out. It is going to be tough, and might get even tougher.

Answer 4

No it started out as a continent/country full of diamonds salt gold and anything you can think of with rich soil, clay, and food. The thing that made it so poor is a lot of harvesting the diamonds and putting people into tragic living states but not every single place in Africa is like this though and Africa has different riches in some places.

Answer 5

First, you have to realize that Africa is a huge continent with essentially two parts: Northern Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Northern Africa is largely Islamic (Algeria, Lybia, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, and Sudan). These nations are doing quite fine and, except for parts of Sudan, hunger is not an issue.

What you are trying to make a point about is Sub-Saharan Africa. And yes, it is much poorer and people are hungrier (although there is a lot of mineral wealth there.)

So what happened? Well, European colonization, and then, European decolonization. When the Europeans decided to pull out of Africa, they left huge power vacuums in most of the those nations (like Uganda and the Congo). Because Africa has many ethnio-lingual divisions, conflicts broke out between these groups as they vied for power in the new system. With war comes famine.

The problem is that corruption also runs rampant in these nations, making it very difficult to meet the needs of the people. So with constant instability in government, and corruption to boot, many people in these nations do not get the basic services they need, and become poor and malnourished. And because of corruption, foreign aid does not get to where it was intended to go.

Answer 6

well to start off. not all of africa is poor and undernourished.

But to answer your questions. alot of africas problem is the governments. some of the governments have mis managed matters and other problems are aids and rebellion. So basically between governments and epidemics and just a lack of clean water. and droughts. There is no one thing that hurt africa.

Answer 7

Africa was a prosperous region until socialism was imported. When "land reforms" were instituted during socialism and land was "redistributed", the owners who were losing their land let it go to ruin. By the time the government took ownership of this stolen property it was all but barren. The natives assigned to farm this worthless land found that their lives were worse than before. Then when massive welfare programs were instituted, people left the farms for the "free" housing and food in the cities. Of course, the government officials were amassing fortunes and living the good life.

Answer 8

No, Africans have not always been this miserable and poor.
What happened was something called EUROPEAN COLONIZATION.

Europeans came into Africa like burglars break into a house and do a home invasion robbery.

Europeans have been stealing Africa's wealth and labor for centuries. Without that wealth, Africans have been made poor.

Because of that wealth, European nations have been made rich.

Answer 9

No! Just like all other countries, they have middle class and the rich ones. Some parts of Africa still have some tribes but doesn't mean EVERYONE is poor and live in huts. They have houses,cars, everything like here but the majority is poor. *Google "african cities" and you will see! :)

Answer 10

Before the slave trade and the CIA's attacks on African countries leading to tryanical dictatorships, life was better.