Work · African & Africana Philosophy
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa
History of Africa from the fifteenth century to independence, written in Dar es Salaam for students and a wide public: development and underdevelopment are two sides of one process – the Atlantic slave trade and colonial rule drained Africa’s labour and surplus to Europe and blocked its own development.
Introduction
Walter Rodney wrote “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” at the University of Dar es Salaam; it was published in London by Bogle-L’Ouverture and in Dar es Salaam by Tanzania Publishing House in 1972. Its six chapters define development and underdevelopment, describe African societies and states before the arrival of Europeans, analyse the Atlantic slave trade and early European trade as the beginning of Africa’s subordination, show how Europe’s own development drew on these relations, and examine the colonial period from the late nineteenth century as a system for extracting raw materials and labour, with only limited and selective benefits for Africans. The argument draws on historical materialism and on the dependency theories of the time, and it was written explicitly for students, workers and political activists rather than for specialists. The book became one of the most widely read histories of Africa and a reference of Pan-African and anti-colonial movements.
Connections
Builds on
- Capital1867 · Karl Marx
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