Resumo de How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

Released in 1960`s when african writers were at last free even to think of reporting whats going on in their sorroundings.This was the period of great nationalism and decolonization in africa.
With an open intention of making things easy or rather clear,Walter Roodney opens his book with clear facts on development.He expressively define or rather describe what really development MEANS and what to be developed means and its former relative and sequencially the cause of disparity among the two especially between two places,without forgeting the influence of one upon the other.
Walter shows us how development varies and especially its meaning to differrent contexts and henceforth the importance of understanding development in your context....where you live is what meant by the word context here.Walter argue that,the development of one part of the world should not be a sort of standard to judge other places as either developed or underdeveloped...thus developed places could actually be very dissimilar.Thus development varies with context.For example during bullionism in europe gold was regarded as a measure of personal or national wealth..it was something useful,contrastively in Africa gold was always there to pick and for free it was valueless.Is walter roodney trying to asset that development is just a matter of selfcontent and satisfaction?Surely this compells one to recall own standards!
Walter roodney suprise the external world,those outside africa mostly,by pinpointing massive achievements that african societies had undergone without external forces.Ghana,Mali and Nubia are marked with huge achievements....stone buildings like the pyramids,fine iron tools in Nubia and successful irrigation schemes in Egypt.
Walter goes foward expressively by showing how contact between europe an Africa affected the later.Offcourse how europe developed at the expense of africa leading to underdevelopment state of africa thats present even today.
Triangular slave trade,legitimate trade and colonization added to european developed `state` and reduced to african developing `state`.Here things like loss of labour force in farica through slaving,de-industruialization policy during the so called legitimate trade,and later land allienation that deprived africans of a means to develop or at laest a look ahead.
As usual capitalism contradicts itself nad we see how social services for example sprang a class of africa elites through colonial education who later wage strong resistannse against colonization.
World war two then marks its presence and african involvement in the war is well assesed.It is described as a turning point in african history for it sparkled mass nationalism all over africa bearing in mind its shortcomings markedly increased exploitation in africa that was due to the strong need by europeans to recover their damaged economies.
Walter explains the need,cause and role of ploitical parties in africa.The TANU in tanzania,kanu in Kenya and FRELIMO in Mozambique.
The book close with mentioning a few national hereos and formation of new governing systems in africa that replaced the colonial governments.And offcourse the advantages of colonial left infrastructure in africa and its side effects with regard to the future of africa.

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