Q.5 Could the past history in Sub- Saharan Africa be the cause of their poverty?

It’s no secret that Africa and Africans have had a rough past and some tragic incidents in the making of the beautiful continent. Could this rough up rising be the cause of so many Africans living in poverty and despair? 

Africa started the 21st century as being the most technologically backwards, the most debt stressed, and all in all the poorest region in the world. Africa has fallen behind the developing world. For instance, many countries in Asia have had a decline in mass deprivation, and a rapid increase in their economy. While most of the people in Africa have been dwindled in poverty. In our world today, there has not been any other continent that has had so many innocent people killed in civil wars (12 million since 1991). In countries like Sierra Leone, Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Angola, Liberia, Sudan, and the Congo. There are 53 nation states that are part of the African Union, 48 of them being in or around the Sub- Saharan land. So why is this continent so far behind the rest of the world?

One of the most standout aspects of many African communities was the prevalence of the slave trading. The sale of slaves in Africa goes back several centuries, but it was the transatlantic slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries that marked a height of the slave trade in Africa. Around 1450 and 1870 an estimated 12 million Africans were transported to the Caribbean and the America. With the biggest number of Africans traded between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This was a period of economic blossom for Europe and America but an economic downfall for Africa. The slave trade had impact full social, cultural, psychological, and economical affects of African societies and the African people. This would undermined and slow their prospects for development.

Through the trade, Africa lost a great portion of its young  and able-bodies that would have helped in the developing of the continent. Besides the ones abroad, an undesirable amount of Africans were maimed or killed in countless amounts of raids and inter-communal wars. This caused fighting and uncontrolled kidnappings in communities; lack of trust was a basic requirement needed for survival. “ The slave trade arrested and distorted the cultural development of African societies. It affected the meaning that people gave to the world and their place within it.” Said Rotberg (p. 29) from poverty and economic issues. The psychological affects the dehumanizing  slave trade was devastating. The constant stress and anxiety caused by everlasting fear of capture. “All in all, the slave trade fostered an environment that was opposite to that of Europe. Freedom and social trust are essential for economic investment and scientific development.” Rotherg (p.9). 

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