what did the british do for africa?

Question

i was just reading some answers people give, and someone said their proud to be british, after living in africa for 40years and seeing what the british did for africa & they made it a much better place than how they found it.i thought the whites took the Africans country over and the Africans became slaves, or was that years before? because Zambia recently had 43rd independence day when they got the freedom back.
im not sure of the history & i would like to learn,no stupid answers please.

Allen B i didnt suggest we left it better off. i cant think of any good British did for Africa, but the guy who said this on YA made it sound like British reallt helped Africa so i wanted to know how.

eziekiel:
wht tar all black africans with the same brush? thats like saying all white british are savages. there are awful things that people do to eachother in every country not just africa.
I know Magabwe is nasty i agree with u there.
but to say that black Africa is a nightmare,slaughterhouse is extream.

Answer 1

The person that wrote about being proud to be British b/c they made Africa a better place is bias. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being British, just that the British did very little to improve the lives of Africans. In fact, most of Europe, the United States and others have exploited Africa and left it worse-off than when they found it. Just because you don't call it slavery doesn't mean that you do not have slaves.

Also, your other answer is absolutely correct, the infrastructure was built to extract resources. The design does little to benefit its people. The British brought European diseases and worse. During the imperialism in which Europe "carved up Africa" , little consideration was given to the future of its inhabitants. They were viewed exactly like slaves in the Americas.

The rationalization was Africans were not christian, uncivilized, ignorant, etc. As a result, Europe treated them like chattel. This year alone, approxiamately 3 million African's will die from preventable diseases (such as malaria). The Brits alone could provide treatment for such diseases. However, there's little financial gain from doing so. 8 million people will die this year from treatable disease and hunger. The West could easily provide for their basic needs; yet, we do nothing. The cost to provide for the basic needs of each individual would be merely a small portion of what western nations spend on the military.

Most likely, you'll hear people argue that it isn't the West's problem. In reality, we created the problem by exploiting Africa's resources and leaving them ill-equipt to deal with modernization. They never asked to industrialize. Maybe the West will not be satisfied until 90% are destroyed, much like Native Amercans. Even today, genocide occurs in Darfur. After WWII, we promised "never again". Yet, Africans seem to be an exception to the rule. What we should have said is "never again" if you can provide us with extreme wealth.

For example, such genocide would not be tolerated in Kuwait. The West, including the Brits, would send in a coalition of troops to destroy the oppressors. Our motive wouldn't be to protect Kuwait's people, but to protect Western interest. B/c the Sudan has little to offer, we leave them to be destroyed.

Do not be mistaken my dear; some people's lives are more valuable than others.

Answer 2

No doubt while setting up colonies a great deal of injustice was done, and also no doubt its better to be a bit misgoverned by your own people that well governed by foreigners. That said, nobody can doubt that life before in Africa had been brutal, nasty and short, while life at the end of colonialism was a lot longer, there were roads, hospitals and schools, and also process of law. Yes, a lot of it was rudimentary, and the motivation wasn't wholly altruistic, but who cares about the motivation when you consider the results. Colonialism left Malaysia and Africa on more or less the same level. Look at what Malaysia has made of it - look at what Africa has.
As for the slave trade, don't forget Africans all had slaves before - and there was an Arab slave trade on the other side of the continent that started earlier and was finished later, and against the will of the Arabs.

Answer 3

Whatever we did to Africa we left it with roads, rails, sewers and great cities. Britain abolished the slave trade 200 years ago throughout the British Empire, if it had not been for the American revolution the slaves there would have been freed about 80 years earlier than they were and without bloodshed. We were the first nation in the history of the world to abolish slavery, and now the snivelling bleeding hearts are suggesting that we invented it! Tell that one to the Romans. We civilised Africa, as far as you can civilise a continent full of savages, and when we left they reverted to type. Look at it today! It is a slaughterhouse, run by hateful despots, or do you think that that is not so? Tell the truth, get your head out of the sand and see things as they really are, if you can. There is too much lying propaganda about "The Brotherhood of Man" which does not exist in the real world, and not nearly enough common sense and the ability to see both sides of the coin. Tell me any country in black Africa that is not a nightmare.Go on, tell me! When we left Zimbabwe it was a wonderful country rich and prosperous with work and justice for all. It was a British Labour government that destroyed the last honest government that they had because they were white Rhodesians as they were then, and we put Mugabwe in power. Look at it now! Virtually every other black country is just as badly off, and many are worse. The only signs of civilisation left now are decaying ruins, and the only civilised things in working order are AK auto rifles.

Answer 4

This is difficult to answer in one paragraph. Basically, the Brits more or less conquered more than half of Africa and turned it into their colonies - that was in the 19th century. Colonization did have its bad side, but the Brits brought some good things too (which also today's Africans appreciate), like transportation systems, technical achievements mainly.
Everyone agrees that the slave trade (200 years earlier) had done severe harm to the continent, and that was run by the British.

Answer 5

Maybe those guys that said they are proud lived in Africa in present times.
But British colonization of Africa and especially the slave trade is a subject that they are not proud of. Millions of slaves
died or worked in terrible conditions on British colonies.
Now, slave trade was abolished 2 centuries ago when the British population finally realized what happens.

Answer 6

The notion that Britain "built" infrastructure in its African colonies is a red herring. The labour which actually built these projects was mostly black labour. The infrastructure was constructed with British capital for British economic and military purposes.

Britain abolishing the slave trade isn't so magnanimous given it was one of the countries responsible for starting it in the first place.

Answer 7

What the British did for Africa, was only good for the British. The guy that you're talking about, doesn'y understand why it's not OK for the minority to rule over the majority. He thinks it's better for the Native Africans to live under British rule, rather than govern themselves. I'm sure that he is very comfortable with the situation.

Answer 8

Read James Mischners "Africa" a very detailed and accurate account of the British, the Dutch and the German occupation of South Africa.

Answer 9

The British did nothing for any of its colonies. We simply misappropriated their raw materials, processed them, employing Brits to do it, and then sold the goods back to them. Pure theft and nothing to be proud of.

Answer 10

Lots of stuff