Africa's Economy Rough Draft

The Economic Safari By Mariah Neuhauser The continent of Africa has been plagued by an economic epidemic. Africa has suffered countless blows to its economy over the past two centuries. The European invasion of Africa contributed to their economic downfall, without which, a stable economy may exist today. The continent of Africa requires immediate attention to assist in the development of suitable economic infrastructures. In my opinion, if, in a timely fashion, we act wisely, the economic debacle may be reversible. The Europeans’ entrenchment of Africa greatly affected their economic system as a whole. In the eyes of a European in the 19th century, Africa appeared to be nothing more than a crutch to support their industrial revolution. As a result of the Berlin Conference, Europeans viewed Africa as an opportunity to exploit their natural resources, and take over their land for imperial gain. Take Belgium’s King Leopold II, for example. After meeting with other officials at the Berlin Conference, and obtaining their permission to colonize Africa, Leopold gained control of Congo in 1885. Soon after Leopold proclaimed himself KingSovereign, a rubber boom turned Congo, a region that once flourished with wild rubber trees, into a rubber monopoly to suffice Leopold’s greed. To ensure he had enough laborers to collect sap from his rubber trees, he sent his army out to hold women from neighboring villages hostage in the hopes of forcing their family members to harvest rubber. While this process proved to be effective, it was obviously inhumane, as these slaves were often brutally disciplined without just cause.

Soon after, the Europeans finally left Africa out to dry without any form of an organized government or economy. King Leopold II himself robbed Africa of over $1.1 billion dollars, by today’s currency standards. With that being said, the European colonization of Africa did little to provide a successful economic future for Africa. Tourism is currently an essential economic enterprise in East Africa. Millions of dollars are generated annually from the ever-popular safari expeditions, however, with Africa’s flourishing population, more farmland will be needed to feed the growing population. This presents the problem of whether it is more important to produce money that will benefit Africa’s dying economy, or feed the people by reducing the size of wildlife reserves, and replacing them with farmland. In my opinion, I think it would be more beneficial in the long run to continue generating an income from the use of wildlife refuges. It may be easier for charities and organizations around the world to help feed Africa’s expanding population, but they need a reliable source of income, and that is why it is necessary to make sure that these wildlife refuges remain intact. Africa’s healthcare and education system, or lack of, has also been hit hard because of their economic problems. Take AIDS, for example. Some government officials try to hide the true extent of this syndrome. We are unable to fix this situation with such minute funds, on top of this display of political corruption. It is also extremely hard to send money to African countries that need it most because we have no idea whether the funds will be used to support the people, or the government.

Though there are lots of hitches that will make our attempts to reverse this problem head-on difficult, our mistakes may be correctable if we quickly thwart the current economic crisis, as opposed to sitting around and fiddling while Djibouti burns.

Sources Book Title: McDougal Littell World Geography Pages: 432-435 Article Titles: “Colonization Disrupts Africa,” “Farming and Tourism Economies,” and “Health Care in Modern Africa” ________________________________________________________________________ Website: http://www.uneca.org/eca_programmes/srdc/na/SRO_NA_Survey.pdf Title of Work: Economic and Social Conditions in North Africa: A Mid-Decade Assessment Date: April 2006 ________________________________________________________________________ Website: http://www.pptpalooza.net/PPTs/GlobalStudies/EuropeanColonialisminAfrica.ppt Title of Work: European Colonialism in Africa Author: Susan M. Pojer Date: 2006 ________________________________________________________________________ Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3516965.stm Title of Work: King Leopold's legacy of DR Congo violence Author: Mark Dummett Date: February 24th, 2004 Website: http://www.enotes.com/genocide-encyclopedia/king-leopold-ii-congo Title of Work: King Leopold II and the Congo Author: Adam Hochschild Date: 2009

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