Why is Africa Still So Poor?

The African continent is famous for its poverty… But many people don’t know the complete reason why Africa is so poor. In this video we will look from the point when African countries were rich and powerful, how over the centuries Africa lost its wealth, and why Africa hasn’t been able to crawl out of it’s poverty while so many other countries and former colonies have.
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SOURCES
www.economist.com/briefing/20...
www2.deloitte.com/content/dam...
academicjournals.org/article/...
The history of African poverty by numbers: Evidence and vantage points www.mortenjerven.com/wp-conte...
www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/sci...
academicjournals.org/article/...
Keith Somerville's 'Africa's Long Road Since Independence'
All articles in this series: www.economist.com/special-rep...
Ethnic groups in Africa: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...
FURTHER READING
www2.deloitte.com/content/dam...
FURTHER WATCHING:
Likely future for Africa: • A new scramble fo...
Africa before the Scramble: • What happened to ...
• History Summarize...
• MAURITIUS: The FI...
Credits
Pictures of Arnaldo Tamayo. Author: Escla - creativecommons.org/licenses/...

[History Scope]

I am receiving A LOT of racist and uninformed comments on this video every day and I want to adress them here. 1. Sub-saharan Africa didn't develop any written language This is simply incorrect. A prominent example of the Ge'ez script. But there are several others. 2. They couldn't even invent the wheel (in sub-Sahara Africa) Anyone who says this doesn't know how wheels work. They did have the wheel, but it was of no use to them. In order to use wheels for transport you need a lubricant. In Europe, Asia, and North Africa they had the wild boar (and later the domesticated pig). These were animals with a lot of fat which could be used to lubricate those wheels. But they are not native to Sub-Saharan Africa. Without sufficient and cheap fat wheels were useless. It's why places that didn't have easy access to fat didn't use wheels. Even with our modern technology we still need to use lubricants... If anyone thinks a pre-industrial civilization could fix this issue, which we still can't fix today, needs to lower their expectations. On top of that, Africa has a lot of rivers and African river ships were so incredibly advanced that when Europeans tried to invade Africa in the 16th-18th centuries that they were easily defeated by the local Africans. 3. Africa didn't have any countries/empires Even a short google search easily disproves this. Here are just 20 of them: Mali Empire, Ghana Empire, Songhai Empire, Kanem-Bornu Empire, Sokoto Caliphate, Jolof Empire, Oyo Empire, Benin Empire, Kaabu Empire, Aro Confederacy, Ashanti Empire, Kong Empire, Bamana Empire, Wassoulou Empire, Kongo Kingdom, Luba Empire, Lunda Empire, Zulu Kingdom, Maravi Empire, Rozvi Empire.

[moiseman]

Did you just imply africa has no animals with fat? You know one of the oldest trace of animal husbandry comes from africa right? Here's a quick example: "Having killed a fat ox, the men are busily engaged in boiling down the fat. Care should be taken to sprinkle a few drops of water in the pot when the fat is supposed to be sufficiently boiled; should it hiss, as though poured upon melted lead, it is ready; but if it be silent, the fat is not sufficiently boiled, and it will not keep"

[Ibrahima Lee]

I'm glad you posted this comment when you did, hate it when peoples personal prejudices get in the way of understanding history.

[Kenny Adedayo]

@ayasugihada What did he reinvent?

[History Scope]

@moiseman no. I said "sufficient and cheap fat". pigs will eat anything, even feces. pigs were an incredibly cheap source of fat. oxes take 3-4 years to mature while a pig only needs 5-6 month, an ox needs more food to survive, etc. It's not that they had no fat, it's that they didn't have it as cheaply and on large enough scale like in Eurasia.

[History Scope]

@ayasugihada Africa did develop quite rapidly after slavery was banned, but those few decades weren't enough to catch up with Europe. I even state this in the video.

[Jordan Santos]

As someone from South Africa I honestly believe the biggest problem is not the lack of democracy but the amount of corruption .

[Saint Saint]

A subtle, but important difference. No form of government does well under corruption.

[VV TV]

Ask French. French take most resources, budget from Africa.

[grande]

Im from sudan and i agree

[goofy monkey]

He is telling the truth after ww2 the French backed out of Africa but took majority of its wealth

[Mofe Wilkie]

I haven’t seen a more comprehensive summary on this issue. As a Nigerian, it breaks my heart to see such vast potential wasted. My take is that if we can provide quality education and healthcare to our people, it will act as a catalyst for positive change across the continent. Thank you for this video

[buddermonger2000]

I'm going to be honest here, the single most important thing here that needs to happen is stable government. Governmental stability is probably the number 1 factor in a successful economy as that investment doesn't just get stolen by an elite. This ties into social cohesion where you trust your own neighbor to not steal your stuff. The second most important is to have a liberal enough system to have free markets and robust trade so that the economy can adapt. Everything else comes second and will be a net benefit.

[Richard Garrison]

@buddermonger2000 I agree with you 100%, but Africa is not good ground to sow that seed. The prevailing systems of tribal preference, greed, bribes, dash and connections make the continent a wildly speculative place for investments. A board of directors would be hard pressed to explain to stockholders why they risked their money in such a market when there were other possibilities. The general attitude is still that trade is a form of theft.

[buddermonger2000]

@Richard Garrison That's why I put governmental stability as number 1 as a stable government is indicative of enough social cohesion as to not do that. Since of course... trade is still seen as a form of theft it currently lacks enough to not trust your neighbor to not steal your stuff. In lacking that it can't even get to the second most important one.

[Mofe Wilkie]

@buddermonger2000 but to achieve government stability, we need to educate our people on the desirable qualities to look out for in a capable leader. The ethnic divisions and elections rife with vote buying tell us that we need to enlighten the electorate

[orbo Akin]

Thank you so much for making this video. As an African myself (Nigerian, specifically) it always annoys me when most people only attribute Africa's current problems to "colonialism or racism", effectively removing personal responsibility of us Africans, and ignore more important factors like geography, climate, socioeconomic systems, political unity and leadership. Thanks for focusing on those areas.

[Steve Palatedjo]

Well spoken Watching from Cameroon

[mrRunist]

And ra(e, don't ignore that factor.

[Holian Toon]

@mrRunist If by "ra(e" you mean "race" Yeah, african tribes/nations were/are pretty racist against eachother.

[mrRunist]

​@Holian Toon Don't know why my commment has been deleted, maybe because I said some forbidden word and this is also the exact reason that I altered the word that you mentioned. African tribes are tribal, of course, and that leads to favoritism, but no, you know well what I meant. Let me spell it out: The inte-l on average of Africans is significantly bel-ow that of other peoples.

[Dakarai]

@mrRunist Intelligence and education level are different things. Better education systems would bring many great minds just like it does everywhere else.

[Jay2Jay Gaming]

Thanks for this. Growing up in the US, as far as my schooling was concerned, Africa and North America were empty continents full of primitives for all of history, except for Egypt, Carthage, the Aztecs, and Inca. Especially with regards to African history, I knew so little that I didn't even know there were gaps in my knowledge to be filled it. I think it's the sort of attitude school instills in you by constantly telling you how vitally important it is to learn everything they tell you, and so at some point the assumption becomes that if other places had significant history, the textbook would have covered it. I not too long ago picked up an interest in political theory, sociology, and economics, especially when within a historical context or outside of the West. It's because I kept saying to myself 'there had to have been other ways to have done these things right? Has no country ever tried x policy? Has no ideology ever held these two positions at once?' only to turn around and find out that yes, there were other methods of doing things, yes other nations had tried x policy, and yes there are several ideologies to hold those two positions at once- and they were all African so people have no clue they even exist. I mean, it's also a lot harder than I thought it would be to figure out the exact sort of policies western countries used historically- or at least look past the vaguearies of 'oh they got rid of the land-tax and instituted an income tax so that was better' or 'Henry the 57th or whatever reformed the nation and cracked down on corruption so that was good' or something. A lot of history books are pretty vague, now that I think about it.

[Alpha Strongman]

Never have I watched a video that perfectly describes Africa's situation and reasons behind our afflictions so well. Thank you so much for exclusively shining light on this. Our leaders are power hungry savages who amass wealth by looting public resources, investing and monopolisation of the private sector for personal gain while capitalizing on our self imposed weaknesses like tribalism. Looking forward to when most Africans will wake up and demand for a better Africa. Here in Kenya most youths are tired of our incompetent government which has been constantly increasing taxes within last 10 years pay with a subsequent increase in graft cases but minimal to zero economic progress.

[cloud]

how about work together and fight against them? make your own government

[Tom Murphree]

It might be that you need a new government in the various countries that have dictators , and corrupt officials . I would suggest using the U. S. government as a model , which was initially set up to provide equal representation and liberty and individual rights . That only works when a society generally is a moral one . There needs to be communication , and a willingness to work toward an unselfish society that cares for the welfare of the people . I don't mean socialism welfare , but rather the well-being of the people . The Christian religion put an emphasis on giving when people need help. But that only works when it's voluntary . When charity is replaced with government mandated programs , the whole system eventually collapses . Government only takes . It does not produce anything but tyranny and the erosion of rights and freedom , which breeds corruption .

[Kaka Mbweha]

Thank you for pinpointing Kenya. I have a live case study where the former governor of Laikipia , with the tacit support of the central government have slammed brakes on a 1..2 billion shilling project soliciting bribes which the client we represent would not fathom being part of. What a bunch of troglodytes.. very shameful. The multiplier effect of this project would have alleviated the plight of lots of businesses,both inter and intra-county.

[motivational philosophy]

I really appreciate the only thing I ever learnt in school was the oppression of Africa and its oppressors I didn't even know that Africa itself was once a prominent continent, thank you very much and I hope you release more videos on these topics.

[Daniel]

As a Nigerian, the video almost brings me to tears. Even till today, the last of the corrupt leaders from the 50s to the 80s still have their hooks entrenched in the government. I hope my generation can put away the Relegious and Tribalistic ideals that have not helped anyone.

[Maxth3w🥷🏾]

well said it only keeps us divided and fighting each other

[EndāW VV Knightz]

Then let us have our own countries then since we aren't even the same tribe or speak the same language

[Mz. Pooh]

As a African Living in America this also brings me to tears because the real reason is the Portuguese came in with their religion which is Christianity and tricks our people. 1490 was the year Africa took a turn for the Worse!!! Africa is the only continent that can survive without any other continent/Country but there's no other continent or country that can survive without Africa NOT ONE!!!

[Mz. Pooh]

Africa is the richest continent in the world can't no other continent survive without Africa but Africa can survive without anyone!!!!! The Europeans just need to take their hands off of Africa and let them be!!!! They were thriving way before the first European ever settled on Africa's Shores every since then Africa has never been the same

[Christian Paul]

As a Ugandan, I have always been so concerned about our role in our situation besides other factors involved as mentioned in the video. By watching this video I now know how to build the introduction of the book am writing about what's happening in our society and why is the situation most likely to persist. The book is titled “THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE THIRD WORLD” why poverty might persist in poor societies.

[Adam Sandstrom]

you should get someone to look over your grammar before you release it mate!

[Sounds of Gaia]

@Adam Sandstrom you probably don't speak any foreign languages, yet you judge others

[Lethal Bacon]

@Sounds of Gaia judging by his last name he's probably from a Nordic country so I wouldn't be so quick to judge either mate. I'd also consider that constructive criticism rather than judging but to each his own I guess

[zeck8541]

I once was discussing this issue with a Kenyan man. He asked me if I recall the scene in Braveheart where the English king says “the problem with Scotland, is that it’s full of Scots”. He then said, that’s the same problem with Africans. He said “we are our own worst enemy.”

[Carl Trotter]

As a Scot myself, I can confirm this is a big problem here in Scotland.

[Two Randy Bois And A Retro]

Brave heart is extremely inaccurate.... It's a movie

[zeck8541]

@Two Randy Bois And A Retro it’s not about the accuracy of the movie. It’s about the statement being relative.

[Two Randy Bois And A Retro]

@zeck8541 a quote from a action movie about Scots is relative to the real world history of Africa?

[zeck8541]

@Two Randy Bois And A Retro with all due respect, if you can’t extrapolate the real world relevance from an artistic statement by creative art, then I can’t help you. Art imitates life.

[Sladep]

Nice job bringing together a very good explanation of Africa's long history and the factors affecting it and it's peoples. I lived in Cameroon from 1982-84 and it was a great experience. Difficult, harsh, frustrating, unhealthy, but always interesting. The people were wonderful and living there was some of the best times of my life.

[Jorge Delgado]

This is a fantastic, clear, and comprehensive video about the history of Africa to explain why the continent is poor. It is very eye opening. I watched it with my students of the Comparative Higher Education class. It is very useful to understand the context and characteristics of higher education in Africa. I like that it includes external powers and internal conflict. Congratulations!

[YoutubeSucks]

And your students didn't throw bricks at you? You can't be a teacher in the US.

[Jayde DePato]

Yes, I too was absolutely thrilled by the depth and respect of this video!

[BaconPlayzRoblox]

​@KZbinSucks Bro That's Disrespectful

[OakCity]

As usual this guy ignores the massive number of slaves captured and bought from Europe. Entire European villages were enslaved. The sale of white men and women was a significant source of income for the rulers in Europe.

[Dylan Curry]

​@OakCity because it's a video about Africa?

[Maria]

How I wish this channel had existed when I was a young student. Such a comprehensive outlook and clear explanations on complex topics.

[Simon Parry-Jones]

Having worked for many years in Ghana, I have to say that with even the "reasons" mentioned in the video, its an extremely complex subject. In Ghana I got very frustrated with the corruption and the cultural cast system so entrenched in their lives. I always felt that it would be an ideal place to invest in large factories, but having worked in the mines with many of the locals, I know it wouldn't work. Workers with real natural talent would be overlooked by local leaders, meaning you often had to use someone totally unsuitable for the task in hand, Grrrr.

[Suriko Azimaet]

I take the video as a broad stroke approach since it's a whole continent getting distilled.

[KRY MauL]

@Kailashpati Rai Poor people have more children because it guarantees that one of the children will grow up and continue their legacy.

[Chichichichilling]

Many foreigners have experiences similar to yours. There's a Dutch-Ghanaian who has been living in Aburi for like 15 years, and his stories about his struggles with ECG will break your heart. The man loves Ghana and chooses to stay here for some inexplicable reason, but the shit he goes through and the money he has spent (since 2008) just to get power to his house for more than 2 weeks at a time would seem like fiction to anyone who lives in a 1st world country.

[Fr V]

@Chichichichilling tell us more details

[Iqbal Indaryono]

@KRY MauL more like 1 out of 9 children died before the age of 5 over there

[Demonetization Symbol]

In 9th grade, on the first day of learning about Africa in our Global History class, the teacher asked us what was the first thing we thought of at the mention of Africa. I am ashamed to say that my answer was the citizens in poverty. I hope the African people eventually experience a good life. :)

[Chris Clement]

You weren't wrong..... recognizing something is shitty, doesn't make you shitty.....

[Landy Da Sonia]

There are African people who are very well off and not living in poverty. Not everyone in Africa is poor and miserable.

[Demonetization Symbol]

@Landy Da Sonia I know, but I wish the majority was well-off.

[Chris Clement]

@Landy Da Sonia Of course not :) Back in College I dated a woman from Togo for awhile (one the poorest most corrupt countries in the world)..... obviously, she wasn't poor (studying in Canada)

[North Light]

Such an informative video. Even though I was born in Africa (colonial European, moved away to another former colony halfway through childhood), the most I knew about African history until watching this was colonial era history. Not that I ever thought very deeply about African history or its current state, but I did have the vague idea that there must not be much "real" history aside from being colonised, and that there's not much to Africa now aside from constant war, disease, and natural disasters. This introduction, though, showed me that Africa used to be a region like any other, but through a combination of internal political instability and reliance on an industry that contributed to that instability, plus other things that I'm sure couldn't fit in the video, Africa found itself weak at critical time in global history. Since then, it's basically had its head held underwater by outsiders. Is it any wonder that Africa has so many struggles today after being deliberately pushed down so successfully for so long? I can only hope that Africa as a whole is able to climb up before the next major world shift comes

[J. Payne]

Very much enjoyed this history tour and believe it is timely. There are so many things that divide us, but those things we have in common like family, faith and small community can unite us on small levels to help each other and prosper until more is gained. A trusted leader over any size group can be invaluable.

[Lebohang Ngake]

I enjoyed watching this video, I am from South Africa and I am ashamed that I knew very little about African history because every time somebody says something about it we only blame racism and colonialism. Thank you, great video.

[OakCity]

As usual this guy ignores the massive number of slaves captured and bought from Europe. Entire European villages were enslaved. The sale of white men and women was a significant source of income for the rulers in Europe.

[Walter LeSaulnier]

Thank you! I always wondered how ethnic divides had become so institutionalized in Africa.

[Wealthy Merchant]

Africa is not poor , it is poorly managed

[PYeitme]

lol

[Markk]

nice way to put it

[OverlandNote918]

Africa can be the richest continent but they need money rn to extract oil and diamonds, etc

[General Black]

ᴡɪɴᴛᴇʀᴍᴜᴛᴇ _ As an African I agree with you. They are just forcing white-guilt.

[Louvendran]

African leaders are continuing in the image of their colonial masters. Oligarchs all over the continent. Moreover, multi national companies are stripping resources at the cost of the locals. It's really sad.

[Fundamental Convolution]

I appreciate how you offered context to the history, and it helps to better form how things developed as they have. Don't worry about all the 'racist and uninformed comments'... Anymore if you say anything other than something people want to hear, that's generally their go-to response.

[Kevin Morin]

History Scope, very informative video. Great historic summary with largely inclusive listing of influences spanning centuries that are/were very active social forces creating the conditions you've shown. One item that seems important (seen in other historic reviews of the continent) but not given much notice here; is the geographic reality of the continent's major rivers? It has been noted that most other continents major rivers allowed inland trade by sea going vessels (that continue today) but in Africa the major rivers all have major falls isolating the coastal regions from the interior? Thanks for posting this informative summary of Africa's historic position in relation the rest of the world.

[Thelonious M]

No continents had river systems naturally develop that just happened to be suitable for transportation. They took significant investment and work to build out that infrastructure with canals and locks. Likewise countries that haven't made necessary investments in infrastructure will likely be hardest hit by climate change (Pakistan for example). Corruption and mismanagement and failure to make necessary investments is a far bigger problem than climate change.

[Rick Larsen]

This is an incredible video. In my seventies I just learned far more about Africa Than I did in 16 years of school in the USA. Perhaps more important, I realize how much more there is to learn. Thank you so very much!

[The Next Billionaire]

I am African and i found this video very informative since we are barely taught our own history in shools. The politicians still sell industry shares to the highest bidder and the average Ghanaian(im from Ghana) has no access to the local stock market. I wish you would make more videos like this one about the African continent since we have no proper records of our own past events.

[Cute Puppy]

I am surprised.. Why can’t you have access to Ghana stock market? Elaborate more..

[Simrock]

I saw about the Blackstone funded oil exploitation. It's pains... We need our land back

[Hằng Lê]

Great thanks for such a super informative video and your hard-working research. I am from Vietnam, a formerly colonized country but I feel much more fortunate than our African friends. Hope the African governments can implement more policies not only for a few individuals' purposes but the bright future for the African people.

[Nhập tên kênh]

Yes I'm also from Vietnam

[memrman]

Ye cause in asia we worked hard, Africa keeps having wars and also Asia had more tech and came from advanced societies like the Han dynasty and the Japanese. Africa didn’t have much tech so they had to start from scratch

[Simon Nzioki]

​​@memrmanplease rewind and watch the video again, your perspective of Africa is still based on ignorance about it's people (they aren't lazy) and it's history (they to had a history before colonisation).

[memrman]

@Simon Nzioki I never said they are lazy I am saying that asia is notorious for overworking with ridiculous work hours and also asia has had more advanced empires than Africa even though I am aware of the Zulu and Egyptians and Mali empire

[Essa Boselin]

A prior boss had horror stories about working on contracts in Africa. The amount of money that had to be set aside for bribes, learning how to adjust for equipment regularly being stolen during "inspections", the general unreliability of any type of infrastructure - it gave me a headache just listening to the stories. I can't imagine what it was like trying to actually deal with it.

[Shubham Mishra]

That's why digitisation of process is very important

[Hasoon nine]

@hzuiel the sad thing is that it isn't jus an African issue we have those same problems in iraq aswell

[Chichichichilling]

Now imagine if all those things didn't just affect your work, but your entire life. Yeah welcome to Ghana.

[Richard Garrison]

The life expectancy of equipment is less in Africa than it is in the US or Europe. If the grease or lubricating oil specified in the service manuals is not available, either nothing will be done or an unsuitable local substitute will be used. This increases the wear on the equipment and prompts breakdowns. China provided some diesel locomotives for Nigeria Railways, and the reason for the problems was identified by the Chinese as improper fluids used in the shops. The Nigerians insisted that the equipment was bad.

[Ben Savage]

Great work! Thank you for shedding light on an issue that's often overlooked!

[MrBhenly]

Brilliantly done! My perspective of Africa has been greatly improved and so illuminated by the travesty of its unfortunate history. I will continue to support the motherland for the rest of my days!

[W Bin]

Thank you for a VERY informative documentary. You covered a very hard to understand situation very well, and made it understandable. Corruption has starved the continent of development, and of the education necessary for development. It started with the colonists (the ultimate corruption!) but the people must eventually see, that only by uniting and educating themselves are they going to stop that.

[Angelina]

Thank you. This was really interesting and objective, difficult when it comes to analysing Africa. It's a shame that a continent so rich in natural resources has a population living in extreme poverty. Maybe Africa's glory days are still to come.

[Isaac Gates]

I've been trying to learn more about Africa since I've known for a while that my education on the continent that I got in school was very incomplete. In the US at least we get fed the narrative that all of Africa is poor and live in dirt huts, constantly in a cycle of famine and drought. I'm sure some parts of Africa have those issues, but it's certainly not as universal as we are told.

[Mighty X]

which state because in my state we learned that only once you pass the Sahara then africa gets poorer meanwhile north africa mostly Egypt is the most stable countries in africa

[Edward Fitzgerald]

Sadly, your education system also omitted to teach you English grammar.

[Isaac Gates]

@Edward Fitzgerald What does grammar have to do with my comment?

[Edward Fitzgerald]

@Isaac Gates Since you were commenting on the incomplete education your school provided you about Africa, I thought it was a good opportunity to also point out the equally incomplete education your school provided you about English grammar. That being said, I did not intend to offend you, and I apologize if I did. I don't blame you. I blame your school.

[Kenneth Wallace]

This was massively informative! It is impossible to distill the histories of millions of people, over several centuries, into a 40 minute video, but this is an excellent starting point for learning more

[Jens Trudenau]

Jea I am looking forward to see the rich history of sub saharan africa. Lel

[Nikki D]

And most of it ignores what really happened.

[Inkognito91]

Dont Take it at face value though. The Video is kinda biased against europeans and negelects the real reason why africa is behind. The Video says for example that africa Fell behind because of slavery.. but why didnt africa enslave Europe? When they were even? Fact is they werent even and subsaharan africa was already waaay behind economically and technologically speaking in Times of mansa musa.

[History Scope]

Good point. The reason was that Europeans had better naval technology due to poor access to Asian Markets, so they created ships capable of traveling to Asia.

[Inkognito91]

@History Scope Thats closer to the truth :) the access to asia is the point. Europe always had transfer of knowledge from asia even way back in roman times. They were even ruling huge parts of europe thinking of the mongol invasion, the huns, the umayyads or the ottomans. Africa had none of that. Asia and Europe combined had a much higher population/competition and thus a much higher potential for advancement. In german sociology thats called "Narbeneffekt" which means that something big happened way back which determines the future. Everything else just derived from those (and other) geographical differences.

[Doug Douglas]

Informative and educational but hardly boring. And I love the narration. As with all your videos, great job!

[YoutubeSucks]

He condensed into 40 minutes, what others show in 2 hours. This man has a natural talent for documentaries.

[A DOE]

Bias though.

[A DOE]

@KZbinSucks by leaving out facts that harm his agenda

[STEP Ministries International]

Your analysis of the African Continent is excellent. Wonder if you can do a similar study on the Caribbean. Thanks for educating me and perhaps your title should have been 'How Europe under develop Africa'.

[Nathan Harrison]

Excellent video. Thank you so very much. I always had a general idea like you mentioned in the very beginning, but you really spelled it all out very clearly and very linearly. Subscribed.

[Hayden Trudgill]

There is another huge contributing factor that you did not touch upon and that was the very unfortunate Geography of Africa. Specifically, the river systems within the continents. For thousands of years, it was only really possible to trade with coastal areas and very very few places inland. This was due to the drastic change in water depth, the falls, and the unnavigable nature of the rivers as you venture inland. This is why northern cities in Egypt were huge trading hubs and advanced civilizations. To export goods and produce, these would have to be transported to the coast (millions of slaves died on these journies). The three biggest exports were slaves, gold, and ivory. When ports were established in West Africa, these [later] countries would become some of Africa's richest nations. The Nigerian coast [even today] is called ' The Slave Coast', the Ghanaian coast is called 'The Gold Coast' and Côte d'Ivoire is literally translated to 'The Ivory Coast' as a result of these trades. This is not to negate or rebut anything you have said but merely to add to the nuance and complexity of the subject.

[Rumble]

Sounds like a bunch of post construction bullshit. And it's not even very accurate. There's several major navigable rivers (and deltas), Niger, Congo, Nile. All of them had trade along those rivers deep into the continent + a bunch of empires and kingdoms.

[Hayden Trudgill]

@Rumble All of these trading empires were on the coasts. It's not a question of how long the rivers are, it's how navigable they are. In history, you may get further with smaller boats but it is impossible to get anything bigger than that through them in a reliable way. Those rivers are too shallow, full of waterfalls and are webbed within labyrinths and wetlands. You may 'feel' like I'm talking nonsense but that doesn't constitute an argument. I'm not bolstering any side here. They're just facts. You've reacted as if any information that contradicts your view must be wrong rather than following new information to establish the truth about something. Famous economist Thomas Sowell has dedicated a large portion of one of his books regarding this very subject.

[Your Final Hiring Agency]

The people too

[EmperorTomatoPaste]

It wasn't about navigation of rivers. It was warring tribes mostly. They could have build paths to move.

[Simon Nzioki]

Am from Kenya and I did history in high school but I can confess, I have learned more in this video than what I learnt in school. In school we were taught corruption, environmental constraints, tribalism, lack of good governance and all those Afro-pessimism but this opened my perspective since am able to comprehend the root cause of the problems instead of the aftermath of the actions of slave trade, colonialism, government policies and structural constraints. Actually the reason why Africa is still poor is due to ignorance, I bet majority of Africans don't know their history and rely on schools which are actually rooted from colonial education curriculums, theirfore we tend to cut the branches of the weed (corruption, weak institutions, bad policies) instead of uprooting the roots of the weeds (colonial era systems, borders and economic organisation).

[Mejafe]

As a Nigerian, this is sooo accurate especially the part about skilled labour basically being outsourced to other countries as educated people leave Nigeria for better lives in more developed countries

[Dustin Dark]

I've worked with a few Nigerians, and you guys can keep them if you need them.

[Ms Oseni]

Wdym

[Sug_madic]

i see alot of nigerians here in thr Philippines

[Tony B]

I've been waiting for such an explanation all my life. I know there are other factors that were not covered here, but this video does not lack for due diligence. Thank you.

[Pinetrees]

Great video! Very thorough and educated, thank you. I learned a lot about Africa that I was not aware of before.

[Brick bread]

I’ve always wondered this, since Africa was pretty rich at some point. This video is exactly what I needed

[Peter Peterson]

One factor in African poverty is actually foreign aid. When foreign aid just supplies money and food, countries will simply become reliant on it. Modern aid program focus on building infrastructure like wells and providing education, which will actually improve the situation in the long run.

[asmo1313]

give a man a fish and he eats for a day. teach a man how to fish and he eats for the rest of his life

[Tristan Daniel]

As an ignorant, American, black male I appreciate this video beyond words. My own family had no idea the corruption was THAT bad! American schools don’t teach this kind of in-depth history in high schools. Thank You so much

[Sharon Popolow]

I'm a White American and I agree- I didn't learn much if anything about Africa either. It's a shame. Almost all our focus was on America, Latin America, and Europe (mostly England, France, and pre-modern era Italy and Greece). We learned the geography and climates of Asia and Africa, but not a heck of alot more. And maybe we (students) sensed not much enthusiasm either. I didn't really understand why Africa has performed so poorly compared to much of the world. This video is very insightful. America has major corruption problems, too (BOTH parties). If we don't check ourselves, our economic inequality problems will drive some of our areas into 3rd world zones (some almost are) just like Africa and South Asia.

[TASCOLP]

Same here in Germany. In context of Africa we only learned in school about colonialism. About the rich and divers African history before colonialism or today's problems which are linked to the history, we learned nothing. African history teaches in German schools as well in other western countries feels like: first there was nothing in Africa, than the Europeans came and started African history. It's sad that our history classes are that euro/western centristic.

[mohammed sare]

The very fact that you call yourself ignorant makes you not ignorant as you are open minded and able to reflect on yourself

[Mikeb8134]

Why don't rich black people in the West help Africans?

[norm graham]

I worked with a co-worker, whom was in South Africa. As a general rule, if you take all of a workers possessions, they leave the country. We also helped a man leave a country in Africa, and become a doctor. We helped him out. He brought lots of stuff back for charity to help the children, whom has seen nothing but war in their country.. The "stuff" was siezed, and sold to help the war effort. It was his intent to go back, but after his charity was defeated...he stayed in the USA.

[Jake R]

I Would Love To Talk To His Friend and I Feel For Him May God Restore to Him All He Has Lost To 120% In Spirit and In Truth In Jesus Name

[WarriorofLight]

It's really sad. Africa is such an underdeveloped and chaotic place in so many different parts that we can hardly even imagine it. And the worst part is, there doesn't seem to be any solution to the problem.

[Hanzulfric]

WTF

[Nicholas]

south africa aint that bad tho

[Shubi Mukolera]

I'm afraid that as much as I can't dispute what may have happened to your friend, I must say the tone of your text implies a certain level of generalization and to some extent a simplification of the challenges we face in Africa. And on that you are appallingly wrong my friend...

[BigSmiler]

This reminds me of a documentary I saw Many years ago about how South America kick started their economies. The key point I remembered was that whatever worked for one country NEVER worked for any other country. Every South American nation had to invent their own unique method of getting on their feet. At that time Bolivia was the only one to not yet find its footing. I also speculate that many of those countries has since stumbled and have had to figure out another new unique way to arise.

[David B]

It's not hard. The example was set in 1776 and no third-world country can even COPY it, after 200 years.

[Simon Fraser]

I lived in East Africa ( Kenya & Tanzania ) for 7 years and I think that your breakdown of the major issues is very good. The basic security required for economic development just hasn't been there , ever. People need to have a certain amount of security before they can spend their spare time of spare money on developing ideas. The cultures of the African continent have been geared towards minimising the risk of failure, not maximising the opportunities that may exist. In most African countries , failure means starvation , sickness or death. That just isn't the case in the developed world. Having said this there are huge success stories. South Africa is a first world country ( kinda ) it's shocking how well people can live in Cape Town or Johannesburg . It's also shocking how badly people can live there. These problems will take generations of good governance to overcome. Thanks for this video , I'll send it to people who ask me this question.

[roofortuyn]

As a European I genuinely wish the best for Africa. Such a beautiful continent with culturally rich people and so much potential. It's a great shame what's happened to you all with the colonisation for all of humanity collectively, that we're capable of such cruel and sustained exploitation. And even worse that countries like China, after their own struggles, seem to think that them growing as a world power means they can "have a go at it too". I hope you grow to become the continent you all deserve to be. Equal to Europe, the US, and other powers, getting to make your own decisions, and the freedom to develop your culture and life live in your rightful part of the world to the fullest.

[Austin T]

Thank you! I had some idea of the history and how exploited Africa has been and still now is. But you really put every detail in there!

[fred valadez]

A fascinating and informative video. Excellelent narration and chronology of events. Information presented in an easy to understand format. Well done.

[Sam Ten Thije]

Historically the largest African empires exported raw materials across the Saharah to get rich, but once those empires fell they often resorted to slave trade to make up for the lost money. The Songhai empire (the successor of the Mali empire) for example had a 20 year period of civil war where opposit factions sold the captured soldiers as slaves in northern Africa. Before then the state was built around the city of Gao, a rich trading city. This was largely due to the unclear rules regarding the line of succession once a king died. Polygomy was common, so kings often had a lot of sons, all fighting for the crown. Slave trade was already well established in Africa long before western colonies exploited it and started systematically buying slaves, which indirectly forced those opposing kingdoms and tribes to either sell more recources than they could ever gather or sell slaves, destabilising the economy already back then. Slave trade is a very touchy subject of course, so I'm trying to keep this objective and not draw any conclusions.

[NG Dennis]

I got you, in conclusion humans are evil

[Trey]

@VMAXBX ok and Jesus was a fanatic cult leader who told people to blindly follow him into danger

[Holden Cazes]

Civ V!!!!!

[Jim Tillotson]

What!!???. Somebody sold you a bridge in Brooklyn. You telling fairy tales as facts.

[cim888]

Yes prior the the Europeans/USA slavery times the whole world had slavery but that still a piss poor excuse for the Western countries which exploited slavery for centuries.

[duke okpanachi]

Loved the explaination. Now we know what the world did to Africa and how we can end our poverty

[Sizwe Sibaya]

Thank you for the history lesson. I am from South Africa. Indeed there has been change and a more civilised country formed where education is growing, tradeskills being improved. Unfortunately, even though South Africa is a democratic country. There is still some holds that Great Britain still has with the country. I dont know about other countries, but when it comes to the control of the mineral resources and land ownership. You can be certain that some things are not as prima facie as they seem.

[CharlieBarCampos]

Thank you so much for such an informative video that answered a lot of unanswered questions I had.

[Taiwo Komolafe]

I never knew the progress we’ve made as a continent but after watching this short video I have created a positive mindset and I will make sure I educate others

[Doctor Sim & Mister Wyck]

Thank you for this well documented documentary. Of course, you couldn't address all the aspects but this is a great overview. I particularly liked the positive tone of the ending. Enough of the complaints!

[Moses Wogu]

I'm from Ethiopia, Africa. I learned more from this video in 40 minutes, than I did in high school or college. Bravo! Thank you for posting.

[Igor Mac]

If that is true then there is your reason why africa is still poor.

[Flint]

@Igor Mac I mean, you're not wrong Even if your comment appeared to have a little malicious intent, I have to admit that majority of the population here in Nigeria don't know it's history. Just recently, history was removed as a core subject in our secondary schools Its sad, really because if we never learn why we made mistakes in the past, we can never grow as a people These days, those with a tertiary education make it their goal to leave the country in search of greener pastures. While I understand them, it doesn't change the fact that it's detrimental to us in the long run. It just puts the past into perspective; when the leaders just did what would be beneficial to them then, with no regard for the future.

[Igor Mac]

@Flint sorry if it came off that way. I think that majority of the problems in the world are due to poor education, lack of information and usually both. I mean look at US.perfect example even tho they are rich, it causes different problems.

[Dewayneg Gower]

Evil never lets anyone know there the history of criminal success

[Gregory Schroeder]

This is the best summary of modern African history I've seen. Indeed it is a useful lesson in fundamentals of global and national politics and socio-economics. I think everyone in the world should watch it. I especially value the observation that wealthy, powerful elites often impose great suffering on the general population. The fusion of immorality and economics is intensely apparent.

[OakCity]

As usual this guy ignores the massive number of slaves captured and bought from Europe. Entire European villages were enslaved. The sale of white men and women was a significant source of income for the rulers in Europe.

[sifiso sithole]

Thank you for this painful historical account. What a shame to the rest of the world that rejoices over Africa's seemingly permanent state of poverty.

[Hatchete]

Absolutely nobody anywhere rejoices over such a thing, is this some kind of victim mentality?

[ver]

@Hatchete Oh you still believe the elites that say they care? Better to be a realist that acknowledges evil and be called a "victim" than a reactionary sheep who will blindly believe when an elite lies about caring for the people.

[Jay 4You]

Bravo!! Really well done with as mich objectivity as possible! 👏🏾👏🏾

[Misterdeew]

You're doing a great service by educating people without an agenda. Thank you.

[ghettofab92805]

I'm 35 and never learned this in school which tells you why because they don't want kids growing up hating the world or have their own view of really what the world is about. Thanks for the video we all need to make more videos of the unknown so people can not be uniformed and hate or be ignorant towards Africa.

[Bradley Morris]

As a South African you can clearly see that lack of education/skills + corruption are definitely the two main drivers keeping Africans poor. If we can just focus on skills development, rights to protect property(so those with skills don't just leave with those skills and investments) and zero-tolerance corruption policies. We could definitely be one of the greatest nations on earth.

[Lilian Haggland]

Totally agree

[J K.]

To fix South Africa, tax people with property worth over $500,000. Tax them 5% annually, use the money to fund schools, hospitals and entrepreneurship. You don't really want to get rid of the corruption, its the corruption that is making sure that the ill gotten wealth & power of the minority groups remains in their hands. So, do you REALLY want to get rid of corruption and also get rid of white hegemony / supremacy ?

[Hatchete]

ANC needs to be thrown out of power, rather than simply going on with a neo version of Apartheid but against the Boar peoples this time.

[RouxPa 87]

@J K. There we go... the reason why RSA will never prosper again...

[Jacques Mare]

😄😄😄😄

[Feyissa Tadesse]

I thank you very much for producing such a very good hint for Africans to help. It helps a lot to bring development for Africa. For me also, some of the most important things are, identifying the major problems, the major causes, and then the major solutions. In this was; First Class; 1. One of a big problem is providing "edible things" to human ; to get wheat for bread..., vegetables, and fruits ...... 2. We need "Feed" for animals to get milk, meat, egg, and ...... 3. We need " dinking water Second Class: 3. We need health system ..... 4. We need education Third class 5. we need connecting - road, telephone, trade within Africa and between continents.... good policy, participation of people of all African to keep peace and working together by minimizing any war... 6. We need defending our continent (natural wealth and development) from both natural and artificial harms..... Forth class 7. We need special focus of giving education in 7.1 Business Administration, marketing, ... (to enable working, saving, investing and developing ...) 7.2. Project Management, ( to help fast development .....) 7.3 Irrigation based agriculture to produce both human food and animal feed Fifth Class 8. Maximizing role of our Wealthy African to work on irrigation development. Because we can not no more feed our human and our animal using only our problematic rain on only the areas that have rain. Or we can not further depend only on help of food from other continents. We need help of other continents yes, we thanks them. But we have to help them too by helping ourselves in developing irrigation and producing food for human and feed for animal - Using this chance, I ask, our African brilliants like Dangote off Nigeria, Shak Ali Alamudi of Ethiopia, and many others in all African courtiers, from Sport professionals, merchant, Engineers, Plant and Animal production experts, ..... please participate in irrigated agriculture to produce human food and animal feed and on its processing, transporting, storing for periods, trading, etc Still , I ask all African leaders to help them by minimizing corruption and shortening the process . Similarly, I need to ask all activists to help people of Africa to maintain peace and to help any investor to play role in any part of a country and in any country of Africa. Finally, I thank the man who developed this video, and ask him to help me to develop even more detail documents in this area, and to work further together. And I also ask any person, who reads this idea, to help me by interpreting this for the future betterment of African and also for our World

[Amman afaakko]

ትክክል ብለሃል ወንድሜ በዘር በቋንቋ ከመባላት በአንድነት ብንሰራ እንበለፅጋለን!

[Michael Masukawa]

I'm really glad I clicked on this video. Thank you for shedding light on an issue that's often overlooked!

[jsgktr93]

Great video! I’ve never been so enlightened on Africa and very hopeful for the next few decades

[Aicha Sylla]

This documentary is really good. It is informative concise and educational. I also love the fact that I felt no racist connotation in it rather some stereotypes are being addressed and clarified. However, I want to highlight a mistake. Senegal has had independence in 1960. So 1944 was still a period where colonisers were deeply present in the economical and political affairs of the country. Therefore, it is nearly impossible that the Senegalese government was responsible of corrupted activities as there were no government yet. It is important to rise that because it can create confusion in the dates and can affect the general accuracy of the data presented.

[Annette Payne]

That was brilliant. Totally exceeded expectations

[bonganitshuma]

Wow, this is such an awesome documentary. As an African it is inspiring to do what I can to change things. Understanding this history and challenges is key to that. Great work breaking this down

[Chloe Belle]

I am American and find this video fascinating. Two thumbs way, way up.

[Cont]

Eye Que and Thirtene purcent ;)

[John Burton]

this is what schools should teach... and about all people.

[BW drives]

Good luck my friend 🙏🏽

[Alice Kaspersen]

(Don-Alice's husband): One thing that is almost never spoken about is the fragility of tropical soils. Except in higher altitudes, tropical sois are two to three times smaller than temperate soils that are well-watered either by rain,(not excessively or periodic) proximity to rivers or human water management. For the most part, Africa is not well situated to have these best conditions. Soils are worn out relatively quickly and then must be left idle for restoration. Nor can the temperate parts of Africa help much. Those north of the Tropic of Cancer are mostly desert and the only three countries south of the Tropic of Capricorn: South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini. This means that as the population of Africa increases, a generalized famine will ensue unless food can be imported. So the gains of this economic surge will be lost unless this issue is addressed and solutions are found starting now.

[RICHARD]

What a load of crap about the soils Let me tell you Africa has one of the most forgiving climates in the world . One of the reasons africa can afford its mess is cause the winters are so temperate Try european winters

[Alice Kaspersen]

@RICHARD Really? I suppose that you are ignorant of what is generally understood by those who are qualified: Wealth begins with soil. where soil is poor, wealth is limited and corruption follows. When I took my course in economic geology, the professor was not just an academic. He had spent years in the field and his knowledge of matter like this was astonishing. It was he who pointed out the relation between the two. Oh, yes, by the way, having four distinct seasons improves soil quality and productivity.

[Angel Arch]

This is one of the most interesting history lessons I have ever seen, thank you for the video.

[Darren Palmer]

This was very nicely done. I did not detect any bias, condescension, or pity. Thank you.

[William Inman]

I really feel for people all over Africa. Seems like there are so many negative factors.

[dutchrjen]

HUGE things were left out. Egypt was a flourishing empire because it had a navigable river. The Egyptian empire expanded to the first cataract on the river but rarely much further (and not for very long). RIVERS and calm seas were the highways of the ancient world. Europe has the Danube, the Rhine, Dnipro, Seine, and way too many others to count. Europe also had the Black Sea, Baltic Sea, Aegean Sea, North Sea, Mediterranean Sea, etc. Lots of seas and ports that were interconnected allowing for trade of resources and ideas. It's no fluke that the Roman Empire took land all around the Mediterranean Sea. Rome could quickly transport stuff from one side of the empire to the other in a couple weeks. Sea transport was fast and cheap. Over land it would take months or years. Rome's borders were also on large rivers because those rivers were a natural barrier AND allowed for quick movement of soldiers. Africa has the Sahara Desert with no navigable rivers in it besides the Nile. The Red Sea is nice but was not really connected to many other places and had desert on both sides of it. No navigable rivers flow into the Red Sea. Until modern times (and for a short period in ancient Egypt) there was no canal on the northern end of the sea. This made the Rea Sea's worth very limited. Africa has no other seas on it except the Mediterranean Sea to the north. Seas in general are a lot calmer and shallower than oceans. They are much easier to navigate. Especially for early boats. The Sahara and Sahel together are larger than Russia. The Cape of Africa was exceptionally rough seas. Interconnection problems were not something Europe did to Africa. This condition already existed. The British and the French had plans and dreams to build railways across the entire African continent, but it was way the heck too expensive. It was not like the US or Europe with vast systems of waterways to bring in lots of railway. The US and Europe first developed extensive inland waterway systems before railways. Africa as an equatorial continent and the origin of humans (with many animals that are close relatives to humans) had diseases throughout most of its history that were FAR WORSE than the ones in more temperate areas or in the more isolated Americas (before Europe got to the Americas). Europe had its plagues, but Africa was far worse. This disease problem meant that while Africa did develop agriculture and villages the larger settlements (required for specialization) were not possible in most areas until modern medicine. Modern medicine required the industrial revolution. This limited Africa's population NOT slavery. North Africa did have empires but then during this time period much of it was part of the Ottoman Empire. Africa did have some empires but let's face facts besides the very far north (Ethiopia to Morrocco) they were mostly agrarian and did not build large stone or wood cities. They did have some empires that found large gold mines and became wealthy off of that Again, much of the area was very prone to disease so building large settlements was a problem so they (besides far north Africa) were not like Europe or the Middle East. The colonization of Africa took off in the Great Scramble for Africa starting in 1880. Europe had tried to colonize Africa for centuries but venturing a little ways inland would lead to on average 40% deaths. Modern medicine was invented in 1880 as was Quinine that fights Malaria. Malaria has been estimated to kill more people than any other single thing. It was not African Empires that stopped the Europeans but disease until Europe found cures. Logistics has always been the largest thing stopping invasions. Getting people and stuff from A to B is very hard. Especially if 2/3rds of your people are sick and 40% end up dying. Also, until the railroad was invented in the early 1800s and perfected in the mid 1800s colonizing Africa was not at all economical without railways to make up for the lack of navigable rivers. Africa again did not have many navigable waterways and traveling overland is an order of magnitude more expensive TODAY than traveling on water. Railway is a lot more expensive than water. In the past when transporting via horse it would be insanely expensive. Africa had countless centuries where overland transport of bulk goods was way too expensive. Again, a water way problem. Some African states bought iron from Europe before colonization instead of their neighbors because transporting it from Europe was cheaper than transporting it from a neighbor. This made many states in Africa quite unfriendly as they did not have strong trade ties. They could do military raids and steal people (that could be forced to walk) but not trade much in bulk goods. African slavery far predated European colonialism. Slavery existed pretty much everywhere on earth. Africa took a few million Europeans as slaves. Eastern Europeans that are mostly Slavs were taken as slaves so much the name of their people became the word for slave in Western Europe. If you look at the math of slavery it was not that productive. Areas where more slavery existed were far behind areas where little to no slavery existed. Take the American north and south for example. If you run how much wealth was created by slavery in the US and how much was not the wealth not created by slaves was vastly greater. Something left out about why Africa was decolonized so fast. Most African colonies were net drains on European countries. Besides some colonies with lots of port access like Indonesia or India or some colonies with lots of easy to access mineral wealth like South Africa most were not economical. Europe decolonized Africa quickly after WWII because European colonial powers were broke. Colonies were an economic burden they could not afford. The US was the largest creditor nation and controlled the purse strings of most of the European countries that had colonies. The fact is Canada and Australia both received more investment from the UK than all of the UK's holdings in Africa. France focused more on Algeria. A lot of Africa was just not economically viable for the European colonial powers. Geography is destiny. Africa's largest problem with industrializing on its own was geography. Sure, now with modern medicines, modern agriculture, and other modern tech they can develop. HOWEVER, those needed industrialization to be produced. Africa also did not have the coal of Europe or the US that was absolutely vital to early industrialization. No one's ancestors were stupid. Chinese over 1,000 years ago thought up pretty modern firearms but did not yet have the metallurgy to make those thoughts reality. We can ask why didn't most of them have the spark of industrialization? Well... to have that spark a huge number of geographical, technological, and social pieces have to come together. Africa was simply missing many of these pieces. Europe and North America had all the pieces needed but really no other areas did.

[STIGENB EAT]

pretty cool read tbh

[STIGENB EAT]

i agree with you

[Paul D]

Thomas Sowell a black American says stuff like this, china is rich along the coast and rivers . I much prefer reasons like this they are some how real to me.

[Clear Water]

I do agree with a lot of takes. While just demonizing the Western powers for colonialism, it completely takes away all responsibility from Africans and leaves out the reasons for how they were conquered. If we don't look into that, it would be hard to fix countries. Do you have any concrete sources, or is this mostly hearsay from articles? Have a great day.

[Omilkshake]

@Clear Water Most of it sounds like hearsay and fabricated history to me. Yet another “colonialism had no effect on Africa” ignorant take. Tomfoolery.

[1847 ת]

So, basically, even if there are improvements in terms of education and people become more skilled and talented, those people can't contribute anything into the economy very well, because of their corrupt government, which results to migrating into a wealthier country.

[Prodigious]

Pretty much

[Adeyemi Oyemade]

Summed up fantastically

[The Horse Cock Express]

So what happened for say the 80 thousand plus years before white man showed up? Why have black people progressed so little without being helped so much. Africa since the 1960s has received 60 times more.aid then Europe got in total to rebuild post ww2. I'm coloured btw

[Matman651]

@The Horse Cock Express Because in the past most of their treasures that would drawer tourism and most of their natural resources have been taken by the west? Also as the commented explained the governments are corrupt nowadays

[Adeyemi Oyemade]

@The Horse Cock Express before the white man showed up they were literally the same as everyone else. Kingdoms and culture rose and fell like everyone else. When the white man showed up many kingdom also rose and fell. In most of history, Africa was practically on the same level as most continents. What changed was guns. Not muskets cause Africans were able to fight back most colonizers when musket warfare was primarily the go to (they definitely suffered more loses than the Europeans but not without consequences to the Europeans). After the machine gun became a thing. Yea that was basically a sweep. Plus, let’s not forget that Africa current position is a recent development. Now if you are wondering why you learn so little about African nations until their recent history, it’s because African history was never focused on the world scale. We don’t hear about their kings and their influence mainly because they adopt other Cultures to be more connected to the wider world (how most East Asian nation had Chinese influence. In Africa’s case Islam), but kept their roots close to their people. Oral history is the norm in most African world (not because written language isn’t a thing there it is, just that writing is just not common, like everywhere else, and when conflict with Europe spread many cultural and historical site were flat out destroyed, some by rival African countries looking to gain power only to realize that they didn’t have the respect of Europeans (there was a puppet African king that consistently asked an European nation (don’t remember which one) to stop raiding their people and the nation just ignored him, but he couldn’t fight lest his people get destroyed). After all that, colonies were set up to make sure the people were dependent on the Europeans, dependent on one source of economical goods, cultures destroyed, people starved, and forced to live with former neighboring kingdoms with different ideologies. Once those colonies are gone, well the counties struggled to find effective leaders to rule peoples of different ideologies, add that with greed, lack of education, and ill fitted aid... yea it explains why the continent as a whole is struggling. Hell, let me put something into perspective, I am a Yoruba Nigerian who was raised Christian. I was thought to see anything that is culturally relevant to being Yoruba as demonic and wrong. Thus, anything I could be proud that my people gave the world, I never learnt of. Kingdoms that Yoruba people should look up to as their Rome, I never learnt of because going to oral teachers is akin to visiting demon worshipers. So, it’s not that we don’t do anything or influence the world, it’s just recently that’s how it looks like. Countries in Africa can’t do what other nations did because they can’t honestly unite the same way other nations did. Imagine putting a Japanese, Russian, and an American into a room, after ww2 with just one fish and gold, leaving all of it to the American and saying that a new country treat everyone well. Even if they do manage to unite it will take some time and effort. Sorry for the essay. If you manage to read this far, I commend you.

[Mehret Gebrezgiabher]

Thank you, very informative and I appreciate how well and in depth your search was to explain this.

[Viagem e Investir]

Excellent explanation. I've been working in Switzerland for a man who owns Diammond mines in Africa and what he did here shows what for sure he did to own that mines. My wife was working for another "gentleman" who is famous to make donations to Africa. You don't need special African reps to come here in order to receive that money and even a priest coming. Just send the money that by the way is convenient to pay less taxes here. But it happens to be owner of I don't know how many bussinesses there, then I can imagine why he is so rich. I read that by 2030 most countries in Africa will be well connected with roads, railroads, new infraestructure and industries made by Chinese but also with the locals. Hopefully China will give the real aid that all African countries deserve indeed, and the odd misery made by Europe and the US will be forgotten for ever

[lavi muia]

Actually Africa's metallurgical knowledge and practice were way ahead of Europe, and even as recently as the 15th century. An example is the so called " Damascus steel" a favourite import of the Portuguese; which was manufactured in Mombasa. There are other examples from the Rundi and Luba kingdoms etc .

[Drill Kage]

This is so heartbreaking as an African to watch.

[Cédric Moris Kelly]

That was a great synthesis, thanks, it’s crazy how it’s never taught.

[Julia Williams]

Another aspect to consider under both colonization and the need for politicians to appeal to certain ethnic groups is the "Scramble for Africa." It's briefly mentioned in this video as European powers getting wealthier, and suddenly wanting colonies, but it is much more than that. Specifically, the borders (many of which still exist to this day) were drawn by Europeans, without consultation of the people actually living there. Thus cultural and ethnic groups did not correlate with national borders, paving the road for national instability for years to come.

[Jono Noka]

EXACTLY

[Bongani Mafemani]

yep

[shif6]

That is literally everywhere in the world even Europe. You just have to get on with it.

[KELAMY]

I heard Africa DID NOT SELL US EITHER AS THEY SAY

[Antonio Stewart]

Like the video and I can tell certain things you had to simplify just to make the vid and concise and efficient as possible…I think it’ll also be wise to note some of the things colonizers ended up doing which hinder any growth such as maritime laws make sure certain african countries only transported slaves, forcing certain countries to only grow specific cash crops destroying land, educational systems wiping off native language and education need for specific land so nothing can further be created that would benefit the people etc overall you did an awesome once sat down and just heard your present good job

[Andrew Brown]

This was so incredibly informative! Thanks so much for sharing!

[AY GAMER ETHIO]

I was learning this in black history weeks ago, this explained it in details and clearly thank you!

[Juan García Naveira]

Nice video, it's hard to explain such a complex phenomenon into an easy to understand video. I learned a lot thanks!

[Fake Story]

I wish i can learn this thought provoking story for insight about how real world/history works in school. I feel this should have been common sense in Taiwan.

[Ken K]

This perfectly explains what I witnessed growing up in Kenya. Big government and tribal politics continue to slow development down even as the economy grows as tribal kings and their cronies duke it out for power and influence at all levels.

[Emppu T.]

Oh damn, sounds like a mess. Sigh. I hope it improves

[V ForVendetta]

This is a propaganda video, if you want the truth copy and paste the following words in your KZbin search bar and press enter: why the west want sub-sahara africa to stay poor

[Oeumuepo Stéphanois]

Those who wail about this video blaming everything on whites have indeed clearly not been listening to the video.... It's hard to be nuanced or want to be more informed when you're buying into white supremacist talking points. Had to point that out.

[jaranarm]

@V ForVendetta That is BS. I was born in Sub-Saharan Africa. The reason Africa is poor is because of Africans, period. The tribalism is so deeply embedded it will never go away and African leaders have no problem selling out their own people if it means keeping themselves wealthy and in power while everyone else stays in poverty. Africa was poor before colonialism, during colonialism, and after colonialism.

[Lawrence Amevor]

Avery this is an excellent video on Africa. As a Ghanaian, everything you said resonates with me through my own experience and the what I have read by Ghanaian scholars. Great job!!!!

[larry herem]

Thx for making this video man, Ive know that Africa was making progress in the last 2 or 3 centuries. But i had know idea it was to that degree. I hope more people see this, it defiantly change my perspective of Africa

[Safari T]

That's exactly why, you nailed it. It's because of external powers and there is nothing that could be done about it.

[PSY]

Thank you for creating such an informative video. Great job!

[Prince Sarp.]

Great content. You covered so much stuff in such a short period of time. And some people still talk about religion keeping Africa poor. I think to use religion as a factor as keeping Africa poor is to deviate from the real reasons of this mess. There many factors. I digress. Africa is not poor. Africa is very rich in many mineral resources. I think I know why you said that Africa is poor because of what they went through which have kept them behind the rest of the world. The heading can be a bit misleading if the listener does not watch the entire video. There are many reasons keeping Africa poor and you stated a numberof them. Though it is behind its competitors, there are certain things that need to be changed if they want to achieve what the rest of the have achieved. There must be transparency in government and accountability. Bribery and corruption must thoroughly be dealt with. Is a massive problem.

[Petres Sanchez]

Doesn't take away the religious point though. Take for example Nigeria; 200Million + people which makes up a chunk of the continent, 30% percent or more of this chunk do not attend schools but are literally dragged through religions schools.. if you know what I mean.. that's how Boko haram thrived from gross illiteracy. So yes Religion is a BIG factor. Or should I tell you about millions of Nigerians who rather pray for a good government rather than seize it. The narrator was only keen to show the direct factors.

[Luc Wong]

I’ve always found the modern African situation so interesting, yet very frustrating. Been in Gabon for 4 years when I was a kid following my parents that were sent there both for diplomatic and military reasons. I was literally living in a French military camp, and it is obvious that French military presence was there only to secure their access to Gabonese ressources such as Petrol and Timber… which profit would only go in the hands of the elite. But that’s just one of the many ways Europe, the West or now China exerce control over Africa. The central Bank of Africa is still regulated by the EU to fit their own interest, making import and export only profitable for the EU. Ridiculously expensive and useless infrastructures such as unaffordable 5 star hotels, marinas or empty stadiums are built in contract with China, which only deepen national debts and never answers public actual needs. I mean, I remember being so confused to see a gouvernement building in Libreville, covered with golden glasses and run on 24/7 AC while entire slums with no electricity, no food, no water surround it. Not far from that, a Chinese company was half-way from finishing a marina when a corrupted agent literally left with the money. Like I’m not kidding, the guy took the money and left like that, leaving an entire construction site on hold in front of now a completely wasted coastline. I had African friends from the rising middle class that were attending the French school like I did. They were smart, and could be the drivers of Gabonese economical development. But all of them who had enough money to study and work in France would leave and never look back. To be really honest, I highly doubt that Gabon or Africa as a whole can actually get better, as per now. The situation is terrible. Corruption, political violence, fake democracies, constant European interference, brain escape and the dependance on foreign disguised charity. Shifting the game would require a complete political or economical reconfiguration, and the overall instability would never allow it. But I really hope I’m wrong. I mean damn, I wanna see Africa rise and prove everybody wrong just like Asia did, and give the West some healthy humility.

[Sire Kay]

What you're saying is very accurate even here in Cameroon and Nigeria. I wish Our leaders in Africa could be leaders and actually look beyond their families. All of Africa's pain today is powered on strong greed. Here greed isn't looked at as a a negative aspect but as the normal way of life.

[Chichichichilling]

It's an inconvenient truth sadly. Our leadership has settled into a destructive cycle of "This leader wrecked our country and only fed his family so when it's my turn I'll make sure me and mine are taken care of". Rinse and repeat.

[Himanshu Chourasia]

It is so sad right... Just thinking about them.. And knowing that no matter what you do or people do.. the situation will never get better. I have met with lot of people who migrated from south african countries. They used to tell the government is their biggest enemy. The rich are just trying to fill their pockets. Government are overturn in days and immigrants are ordered to leave the country.

[Power to the People]

Im so glad you made this video explaining. I was just talking about this very subject and how as an Afro-American I look at Africa and want the continent as a whole to do better than what the media portrays them to be. We want to see Africa thrive. We have never been to Africa ourselves but we have love for the peoples and the continent and want the best for the homeland of our ancestors.

[Mia Breistøl]

Hi! Very great video. It was both helpful and educational. English is my second language, so i tend to mix up some of the terms you use. Therefor i have some questions i hope you (or someone else) can answer to help me clarify some things: When you use the word african "elite", who were/are they? Were they a part of the government? Or were they people with property? And what was the relation between the party, the government, the government officials and the elite?... This is where i sort og got lost..

[Rod Batts]

I think I can help. Elites refer to those high in government, or with government connections. Remember, in most of the colonies the Africans had little power or property. The elites arose when political power devolved to the Africans. This was not universal, but was the case for the most part.

[Grothgerek]

22:48 As a german I want to clarify that this answer is purely wrong. The age of a democracy doesn't tell you much about how corrupt or broken it is. For example the united states of america have one of the worst democracies in the western world, while also being one of the oldest. You also used a big part of your video to talk about african socialism. But this wasn't even that big of a thing. Most african countries weren't even socialist in the first place. And african socialism also was more about class structure and not entirely a economic system. Given that more than 2/3 of africa had no connection with this or socialism at all, makes it a rather pointless argument, because the majority is poor despite not using this system.

[Tom Murphree]

Whatever the reason , it might be too late , as populations continue to grow . Can the population continue to grow at it's present rate , with progress increasing fast enough to keep up with food needs , education needs , devopment needs , and everything else that goes with a fast growing population ?

[🐾kyan🌙]

thank you so much! literally, as an african (tunisian) im honestly so annoyed at the corruption and mistreatment towards fellow africans.

[Jeff Morris]

This is a phenomenal video. This is honestly a better rundown of African history than most university courses are. Simply fantastic material.

[Lynx Firenze]

This is an interesting explanation tbh. Explains a perfectly logical path from the earliest days all the way through to the modern day.

[Coda Mission]

Short answer: for the same reason most people will never leave their socioeconomic class: building wealth is really hard, and its way easier to make money if you already have it because the people who rig the game don't like to share