Author: Mark Horton.

The title of this paper is a nod at Walter Rodney’s influential study on the impact of European colonialism on African development – one of the few and pioneering attempts to look at African history in the long durée (Rodney 1972). In the many years since its publication in 1972, there have been many arguments about the value and accuracy of Rodney’s arguments, and in particular the political and economic remedies offered. Nonetheless, the central argument remains that Africa was exploited by colonial powers eager to extract primary products and manpower, and to leave very little in return. African societies were divided and politically and militarily powerless to stop the exploitation and impoverishment of their continent, and herein lie the fundamental roots of modern-day African poverty and underdevelopment