How were White Europeans able to dominate the whole world? And why can’t their black colonies catch up to the rest of the world?

[minaaa]

How were white people able to colonize literally the entire world and assert their dominance for hundreds of years? Also why are Africans so far behind compared to other former white colonies? The Arab nomads and the Chinese were also affected by colonialism but they have been able to develop fast. My uncle was working with the UN in Congo and other parts of Africa right...I thought Somalia was bad but I kid you not these people had less than us which is very sad. He said in certain parts they would arm children so it was normal to see kids playing with guns...In the village he went to people still lived in small huts made of random scraps and they’d have like 5+ children still...

What confuses me is that blacks were used and are still used as slave labor in many countries. I went to a plantation in the US and they said the houses were built by slaves. Everything looked nice and sophisticated...so can’t black people put the same amount of effort in building civilizations so that they’re not only known for slavery? Slavery can’t even justify our lack of development in some cases...Ethiopia was never colonized but look at them now...

 

[Muzaffer]

How were white people able to colonize literally the entire world and assert their dominance for hundreds of years? Also why are Africans so far behind compared to other former white colonies? The Arab nomads and the Chinese were also affected by colonialism but they have been able to develop fast. My uncle was working with the UN in Congo and other parts of Africa right...I thought Somalia was bad but I kid you not these people had less than us which is very sad. He said in certain parts they would arm children so it was normal to see kids playing with guns...In the village he went to people still lived in small huts made of random scraps and they’d have like 5+ children still...

What confuses me is that blacks were used and are still used as slave labor in many countries. I went to a plantation in the US and they said the houses were built by slaves. Everything looked nice and sophisticated...so can’t black people put the same amount of effort in building civilizations so that they’re not only known for slavery? Slavery can’t even justify our lack of development in some cases...Ethiopia was never colonized but look at them now...

south and central Africa was way retard even before European colonialism because they were far from any means of development

 

[Periplus]

This is so bait man.

On the off chance you are genuinely curious about this topic, I suggest you read about the renaissance, the scramble for Africa, the difference between colonies and settler colonies, as well as post-colonialist theory.

That should give you a baseline understanding regarding the topics you're wading into.

 

[minaaa]

This is so bait man.

On the off chance you are genuinely curious about this topic, I suggest you read about the renaissance, the scramble for Africa, the difference between colonies and settler colonies, as well as post-colonialist theory.

That should give you a baseline understanding regarding the topics you're wading into.

Will do

 

[Periplus]

Will do

If you want some historical context on the Congo in particular, this is a very good book.

Heart of Darkness - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

However, if you want a post-colonial dismantling of said context:

An Image of Africa - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Chinua Achebe and Joesph Conrad are both gifted authors.

 

[minaaa]

south and central Africa was way retard even before European colonialism because they were far from any means of development

Yeah I hear East Africa and North Africa had some significant colonies before. I’m still confused as to how after all this time there is still not enough development across Africa, even the non colonized parts like Somalia and Ethiopia?? We were never slaves so what’s our excuse? Japan has had whole nuclear bombs dropped on them and they’re doing better than the average African. How was Europe able to develop so much though in the first place?

 

[minaaa]

If you want some historical context on the Congo in particular, this is a very good book.

Heart of Darkness - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Thank you I’ll get to reading!

 

[Juliet]

Yeah I hear East Africa and North Africa had some significant colonies before. I’m still confused as to how after all this time there is still not enough development across Africa, even the non colonized parts like Somalia and Ethiopia?? We were never slaves so what’s our excuse? Japan has whole nuclear bombs dropped on them and they’re doing better than the average African. How was Europe able to develop so much though in the first place?

America rebuilt that place from ground up in exchange for getting an ally in the East Asian region, which at the time, had a growing communist threat America/the West was determined to stop

 

[Mantiq_Al-gharb]

This is so bait man.

On the off chance you are genuinely curious about this topic, I suggest you read about the renaissance, the scramble for Africa, the difference between colonies and settler colonies, as well as post-colonialist theory.

That should give you a baseline understanding regarding the topics you're wading into.

Any books on why the majority of African countries have not developed any indigenous writing systems?

 

[Muzaffer]

Yeah I hear East Africa and North Africa had some significant colonies before. I’m still confused as to how after all this time there is still not enough development across Africa, even the non colonized parts like Somalia and Ethiopia?? We were never slaves so what’s our excuse? Japan has whole nuclear bombs dropped on them and they’re doing better than the average African. How was Europe able to develop so much though in the first place?

because japan was united by the Tokugawa shogunate before colonialism.

but Africa was a mix of different ethnicity and Europeans shaped it in ways which will cause border disputes and internal infighting.

 

[minaaa]

America rebuilt that place from ground up in exchange for getting an ally in the East Asian region, which at the time, had a growing communist threat America/the West was determined to stop

They also helped the Middle East develop in exchange for oil. Why couldn’t they help Africans since they still use their resources? My uncle said in Congo they literally pillage the place for Coltan. It would probably benefit the West too not having thousands of African migrants coming in every year because Africa can’t develop enough to sustain the younger, ambitious generation.

 

[Periplus]

But to answer your question in a sentence, the discovery of the New World changed the game.

Prior to that period, empires in Europe, Africa and Asia were roughly the same level. Both the Chinese and the Europeans decided to explore the world, China found East Africa where as the Europeans found Nth and Sth America which gave the missing tools required for domination.

 

[Periplus]

They also helped the Middle East develop in exchange for oil. Why couldn’t they help Africans since they still use their resources?

Because neo-colonialism is a concept. Think about it.

They fund MENA/Asian countries but not Africa because its irresponsible. Therefore, they take the resources in Africa but no development in exchange, creating a situation in which the best, brightest and wealthiest migrate to Europe.

This leaves the continent worse off as they are bleeding talent which begets incompetency which is seen as irresponsibility by Western powers which allows the cycle to repeat itself.

 

[minaaa]

But to answer your question in a sentence, the discovery of the New World changed the game.

Prior to that period, empires in Europe, Africa and Asia were roughly the same level. Both the Chinese and the Europeans decided to explore the world, China found East Africa where as the Europeans found Nth and Sth America which gave the missing tools required for domination.

Okay I’ll look into that. I know Europe was able to develop quickly after they started discovering new territories. But this begs the question, is that really necessary for development? I know the Native Americans got massacred because they had a lack of interaction with the rest of the world so they didn’t know to look out for themselves. Also in terms of Africans, more specifically black nations...they’ve been interacting with different people for a while now but that hasn’t aided their development

 

[minaaa]

Because neo-colonialism is a concept. Think about it.

They fund MENA/Asian countries but not Africa because its irresponsible. Therefore, they take the resources in Africa but no development in exchange, creating a situation in which the best, brightest and wealthiest migrate to Europe.

This leaves the continent worse off as they are bleeding talent which begets incompetency which is seen as irresponsibility by Western powers which allows the cycle to repeat itself.

What is the end goal with that though. With the rise of globalism and whatnot. As the rest of the world develops and talented Africans start to leave is Africa just going to become an unsustainable place to live, colonized by foreign powers like China?

 

[Periplus]

Any books on why the majority of African countries have not developed any indigenous writing systems?

Neither has most of Europe.

They use a system from Italy. Last I remember, the English and French were not descendants of Romans.

 

[Periplus]

Okay I’ll look into that. I know Europe was able to develop quickly after they started discovering new territories. But this begs the question, is that really necessary for development? I know the Native Americans got massacred because they had a lack of interaction with the rest of the world so they didn’t know to look out for themselves. Also in terms of Africans, more specifically black nations...they’ve been interacting with different people for a while now but that hasn’t aided their development

Essentially pre-exploration (Columbus) every society had significant gaps in knowledge that another society probably has filled.

Like one society may not have known about the earth being round whereas another society knew about it but did not about cartography.

Africa itself is a massive landmass, societies in sub-saharan Africa were isolated from everybody.

Whereas for societies in Europe could easily access Asia, ME and Russia with relative ease. Likewise for Somalis, they were able to access Asia and the Middle East.

This allowed for the exchange of knowledge and filling of knowledge gaps with benefitted societies in strategic locations but places remote societies at a disadvantage.

 

[Periplus]

What is the end goal with that though. With the rise of globalism and whatnot. As the rest of the world develops and talented Africans start to leave is Africa just going to become an unsustainable place to live, colonized by foreign powers like China?

I was speculating a very plausible scenario there. The global endgame is not clear for anyone.

Some people may know what that their actions will not produce a good end result but they do not inherently know what the world will look 50 years from now and how much their actions impacted it.

Think about it for a second: Do you think 80 years ago, that manufacturers realised the impending climate crisis. Did smokers 50 years ago not realise that inhaling something other than air ruined respiratory systems.

 

[Mantiq_Al-gharb]

Neither has most of Europe.

They use a system from Italy. Last I remember, the English and French were not descendants of Romans.

The English and French (ethnicallly) might not be descendants of Romans, but linguistically they, in addition to the rest of Europe, would be exempt from creating a writing system as their language are essentially latin dialects.

 

[Periplus]

The English and French (ethnicallly) might not be descendants of Romans, but linguistically they, in addition to the rest of Europe, would be exempt from creating a writing system as their language are essentially latin dialects.

Isn't that worse.

You are judging Africans for not developing writing systems where there are European ethnicities that both do not have a unique writing system nor a language???