Major Consequences of European Colonization of Africa - Essay Example

A few centuries preceding the twentieth century saw the colonization of Africa by European countries. European countries were competing for huge quantities of land in Africa in search of resources and this led to the partitioning of the African continent. This paper focuses on the major consequences of European colonization of Africa.

One of the major consequences of European colonization of Africa is widespread poverty. According to Mammo, "The colonial legacy is responsible for African underdevelopment, the primary cause of African poverty and all the crises which followed was the exploitation of human as well as natural resources by the colonizers" (24). Mammo elucidates the fact that the rate of development in Africa cannot be considered to have been substandard as compared to other parts of the world. African development was significantly affected after its colonization by European countries. It is worth noting that colonization was characterized by the slave trade between the seventeenth century and the twentieth century. Instead of Africans developing their continent, there were sold as slaves in other parts of the world particularly in America to work in the farms. Therefore, Africa remained underdeveloped as other parts of the world were developing at a very rapid rate (Mammo 24). The partition of Africa into colonies led to a disproportionate allocation of resources since some of the colonies had higher quantities of mineral resources than others. Subsequently, this has led to some African countries enriching themselves from these resources leaving others poor (Europa Publications 33). 

European colonization also led to the discrimination of Africans. According to Europa Publications, racial discrimination against Africans was rampant in the 19th century whereby the colonizers considered Africans as lesser humans (33). Africans were not allowed to mix with Europeans and were therefore forced into selected villages. It is worth noting that the effects of discrimination against Africans are still felt today, especially in America.  

The partitioning of Africa and the fact that Africans were forced to live in segregated villages is one of the contributing factors to ethnic conflicts that are prevalent in African countries. When colonization came to an end in the twentieth century, most of the African countries were left subdivided into ethnic regions. Therefore, there has always been a struggle for power between these ethnic communities in Africa. In the fight for independence in many parts of Africa, individuals united devoid of their ethnicity or cultural background under one objective i.e. to fight against oppression. After the attainment of independence, the threat imposed by ethnicity was not addressed and hence leaders in Africa have continued to marginalize or discriminate those opposing their rule based on ethnicity. This causes ethnic tensions in many parts of Africa hence leading to ethnic conflicts and wars (Kieh 152). 

In conclusion, European colonization of Africa contributed to the high prevalence of poverty, disproportionate allocation or distribution of natural resources, and also ethnic conflicts. During the period of colonization, slave trade was prevalent and hence Africans were shipped to European nations to work in their farms. This meant that Africans were forced to develop other European countries leaving their own continent underdeveloped. The partitioning of Africa according to colonies led to the subdivision of African countries according to ethnicity. After the end of colonization, therefore, the issues of ethnicity were not addressed and therefore there have been ethnic conflicts as different ethnic groups compete for political positions.