European Colonialism and Africa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

European Colonialism and Africa - Essay Example The paper tells that the argument to the effect (say, moral purpose and mutual benefit) of European colonialism in Africa is divided into four: infrastructure development, social and economic development, modernization and industrial development, and development of nationalism and political unification. The European colonizers (the French, the British, and the Spaniards) provided ample importance to infrastructure development to exploit the natural resources and the human resources in Africa. To be specific, the development of infrastructure in Africa is deeply indebted to the efforts of the European colonizers. Ambe J. Njoh stated that â€Å"That the foundation of Cameroon’s transportation infrastructure was established by the German colonial administration is indisputable†. On the other side, the development of infrastructure in Africa helped the European colonizers to export raw materials from Africa and to help their motherlands to be rich. From a different angle of view, the development of railroads and roads connected the colonies. The European settlers did provide less importance to the wellbeing of the native Africans because their aim was to create a colonial Africa, not an independent Africa. So, they exploited the human resources available in Africa. For instance, the (French) Congo railroad under France can be considered as one of the examples which can illustrate the exploitation of human resources in Africa. Now, the Congo railroad acts the role of a backbone to the transportation facilities in Congo. In short, infrastructure development in Africa during the colonial era helped the European settlers (the French, the British, and the Spaniards) to be in touch with their motherlands and to exploit the resources in Africa. On the other side, the development of infrastructure during the colonial era proved to be helpful for the African nations in the post-colonial era. The colonization of Africa and social development in Europe are not i nterconnected. Still, one can see that colonization and exploitation of the African continent positively influenced the economic development of Europe because most of the industries during the colonial era depended upon the raw materials from Africa. From a different angle of view, economic development is interconnected with social development. During the colonial era, European colonialism did not help the African nations to gain social and economic development. But the social and development of some nations in Africa during the post-colonial era proves that European colonialism helped some of these nations to be in the forefront of social and economic development. For instance, infrastructure development initiated by the European colonizers was beneficiary for some African nations like Kenya and South Africa.