Why is Africa so under-developed?

The documentary “T Shirt travels” follows a young Zambian named Luka through his daily life as a second hand clothes seller. We are taken on a journey through the struggles and issues from both a micro and macro level. We learn about issues facing the country as a whole such as rampant poverty, to an economy destroyed by slavery and further setback due to larger nations dictating economic policy for Zambia. To the smaller scale with individual families such as Luka’s trying to make ends meet in a hand to mouth industry and shows how hard it is for them to succeed. The whole film gives us a deeper understanding of how Zambia is being

In Africa for example, savings rates of around 17% of GDP compare to 31% on average for middle income countries. Low savings rates and poorly developed or malfunctioning financial markets make it more expensive for African public and private sectors to get funds for investment as higher borrowing costs impede capital investment. Moreover, in

Africa has the majority of the poorest countries in the world. With that being said, the overall African income levels have been dropping moderately to the rest of the world. Statistics show that in Sub-Saharan Africa, only 15% of women are agriculture landowners.

Africa nowadays is viewed as a pretty poor continent, but if it were not for a single event, it wouldn’t be in the shape it is today. This event is best known as the scramble for Africa. The European powers had begun taking land after King Léopold the second claimed that initial piece of land. European powers gathered in 1884 to discuss which part of Africa were theirs to avoid fighting, however this was done between European countries, and the thought of even inviting a spokesperson from Africa was beyond them. The people of Africa were enslaved and forced to work the land for natural resources such as rubber and diamond. After the European powers claimed all that they could, two independent countries remained. These two countries were Liberia and Ethiopia. The “Eurocentric” perspective that the European powers had at the time allowed for them to commit these horrible acts and see nothing wrong with what they had

Africa is one of the most prominent continents among all others in the world. Due to its unique culture and historical background, it has been a centre of attraction for many scientists and archaeologists. It is one of the most blessed continents with regards to human and natural resources and stands unique containing the world’s largest dessert Sahara. There is no denial of the fact that Africa stands as the second largest and the second most densely populated continent of the world. It has been recognized throughout the world and has the highest percentage of youngest population and had about 54 countries across the continent. Scientists believe that it as the place where human kind has started to originate. This continent is culturally diverse as it has many countries in it. Africa has been a centre of consideration for historians and archaeologists due to its ancient development and diversified history. It has remained under the rule of many prominent nations of the world including Romans, Arabs and Portugal. It is a place

Going into my sophomore year of high school I was fortunate enough to get accepted by the Schuler Scholar Program. In the program each scholar is a assigned a reading coach. During the first session my reading coach, Wyatt, told me to write down a couple questions that I had about anything. When I heard "anything" the first thing that came to my mind was Africa. For a while I've been wondering about the topic. Since my step father’s mother is from Africa, it is a topic that comes up a lot at the dinner table. Sometimes we visit his mother’s side of the family, and they make African food and play music and it is always a good time. Being African American and white, I have always wanted to learn more about the culture and roots of my African American side. I saw this as a perfect opportunity to do just that. So in my journal I wrote "Why isn't Africa the most powerful continent"

When learning about the history of the world, we can not ignore the fact that Africa plays a significant role. Many believe that Africa is the birth place of all races, and although that is true, the history and cultures of Africa and its natives are misunderstood among Americans. People do not take the time to expand their knowledge about Africa, yet they create their own perceptions of the continent based upon the image that America created. America creates this stereotype that Africa is inferior to the other continents by picturing them as savage like individuals who live an insufficient life. To truly understand Africa, you must understand these two important elements: the demographics of Africa and the true history of Africa

Modern African states have various problems ranging from corruption, to armed conflict, to stunted structural development. Africa’s ongoing political instability and economic crisis have hindered the improvement of Africa. Thus, the lack of money, advancement in technology, and climate has hampered economic development. Despite European mistreatment and oppression African’s have endured hardships that have encouraged economy, education, and political

At the start of the 19th century much had changed in Europe, and it was all centered around Britain. Britain had become the world’s largest profiter in the world’s economy and the fastest and most equipped industrialized nation. Britain's growing economy and influence allowed for it to be the most competitive and threatening country in the world and this helped to benefit its economy in more ways than one. Britain was able to prevent other empires and nations from adopting new technology and industrializing into powerful nations by enforcing unequal treaties, using coercive tactics supplied by its naval power, supplying loans to countries, and investing in mines and railroads to extract raw materials. These tactics proved to be successful in helping to increase Britain's influence in the world economy.

Due to imperialism the 19th Century was a time of new beginnings. European countries like Great Britain, France, and Germany took control of Africa and Asia and dominated them completely. These European forces used their modernized weapons and technology to take advantage of other continents. Industrialization gave power to the Europeans which gave them a big advantage to imperialize these continents. The rebellions held no chance against the modern weaponry that the Europeans were packing. As proud nationalists, the Europeans believed they were superior to other countries and thus had the right to expand their lands. Industrialization and nationalism encouraged the rise of 19th century imperialism for Social, political, and economic

Following the end of World War two the nation’s of the world were split between three different political groups or “worlds’. The first group consisting of the industrialized capitalist nations, those nations being the United States and its allies. The second group consisted of the Communist nations led by the Soviet Union. The “Third World’ consisted of the now developing nations, often newly independent and they were neither aligned with the United States or The Soviet Union. These newly developing countries would prove to be another area for the Cold War superpowers to compete amongst themselves.

In the age of Imperialism, European countries sought to colonize the world. It all came crashing down as European countries became involved in conflicts and could not sustain this infrastructure. In South Africa, European ideals were held so strongly in the government that segregation was the norm long after Europe and North America had become desegregated. Africa was seen as a place to steal from, whether it was slaves, minerals, riches, or land. From the constant European intervention and inability of nations to function on their own and control their people, Africa has become a vacuum of centralized power with new puppet democracies controlled by dictators and warlords. European control was a very hands-on way of controlling every aspect of African life in the government, infrastructure, culture, technology, religion. When African countries became independent, it was a struggle to adopt their new identity Because of the overpowering European dominance in every aspect of live, Africa was deprived of the chance to learn and develop on its

In today’s world of global trading, multinational corporations that are looking to expand on profits turn out to operate against the welfares of the world’s poorest countries. In the documentary, “Stealing Africa,” the film director, Christoffer Guldbrandsen, brings forward the concerning economic attention of the country of Zambia, located in South Africa. Zambia is known as the third largest copper reserves across the world, owned by multinational corporations globally. Due to such a heavy abundance of natural resources in Africa, the majority of the economy of Zambia revolves around the mining industry, which is like the backbone of the country. As the natural resources in Zambia remain rich, multinational companies, specifically Glencore, grew in investments resulting in the guilt of tax avoidance and undervaluing copper, which resulted in a downfall for the revenue of copper in the nation of Zambia. Guldbrandsen talks about the country of Zambia’s abundance of natural resources, yet their struggle to remain above the poverty line, as it is ranked in the top 20 poorest countries. Guldbrandsen insists that due to privatization starting from the year of 2001, the mining industry in Zambia has taken a downfall. Although the country of Zambia is very rich in resources, maintains the top copper mine in the world, a person a day lives below a dollar and almost eighty percent of the population remains unemployed.

The 1970’s seen America giving enormous loans to OPEC countries in the Middle East. This meant a “fleeting illusion of prosperity for the receiving country”. (Friedman, J. 1992) When the repayments began many countries declared that they were unable to repay the loan. “Per-capita indebtness ranged from $200 to

Moreover, the collapsed Bretton Woods system was accompanied by the reemergence of international capital markets and an increase in the activity of international commercial banks. With decreased demand for loan in high-income countries, interest rate decreased and banks sought new borrowers. Meanwhile,in less developing countries growth rates was fairly satisfactory. According to FDIC ( 1997,pp 192), before tho oil price shocks which will explained later, for more than a decade, the real domestic product growth rate of the developing countries averaged 6 percent and for remainder year slowed to 4-5 percent. Such growth generated investment from international banks in these markets.