How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

Expatriation of African Surplus Under Colonialism

Chapter 5 focuses on Europe’s exploitation of Africa during colonialism. It starts by addressing wage disparities and the exportation of African surplus to Europe. Statistics shows that African labor was cheap compared to European labor, especially in the mining and agricultural sectors. For example, Nigerian coal miners at Enugu made a fraction of what Scottish and German miners earned: one shilling per day for underground jobs, and nine pence per day for surface work. Europeans earned seven times that amount per hour. Several factors contributed to this disparity: (1) The colonial state had a monopoly on political power, making it impossible to pass laws protecting workers; (2) the African working class was small, dispersed, unstable, and unable to organize; and (3) white supremacy justified paying Africans less than their European counterparts and kept Africans out of senior positions. Low wages in Africa supported the rising standard of living in Europe. Mining company shareholders benefitted most of all, collecting annual dividends from gold, diamonds, manganese, and other materials from African soil and labor. Colonialists also profited from African agriculture by keeping wages low and imposing harsh work conditions. The agricultural sector required little investment, as colonial powers seized land from Africans and sold it to Europeans at a nominal price. The selling of Kenyan land exemplifies this practice:

After the Kenya highlands had been declared ‘Crown Land’, the British handed over to Lord Delamere 100,000 acres of the best land at a cost of a penny per acre. Lord Francis Scott purchased 350,000 acres, the East African Estates Ltd. got another 350,000 acres, and the East African Syndicate took 100,000 acres adjoining Lord Delaware’s estate—all at giveaway prices (182).

The end of the slave trade did not end the exploitation of Africa for profit. As Rodney observes, this exploitation impacted virtually all aspects of commerce, from wholesale to retail trade. For example, trading companies had their own means of transport inside Africa, but they transferred the cost of transportation to peasants via middlemen. Fixing the price paid to African peasants was another method of exploitation. Prices for African surplus dropped precipitously during the Great Depression and the Second World War. At the same time, the cost of imports from Europe rose. African urban workers, the hardest hit by rising costs, organized strikes, marches, and boycotts, to no avail. Protected markets reinforced the unequal nature of trade between Africa and Europe. This guaranteed European producers a market in the colonies, even when their goods were substandard. Shipping and banking services provided yet another avenue of exploitation. African peasants had no control over the freight rates they were charged. Shipping companies fixed prices, making profits so high that even European merchants protested. Banks and other financial institutions also amassed wealth at the expense of Africans by backing the gold and diamond industries, registering returns higher than even the mining companies.

Colonial administrations also engaged in exploitative practices. These administrations included civil servants, the police, the army, and the judiciary. As Rodney observes, an administration’s role was threefold: “(1) To protect national interests against competition from other capitalists (2) To arbitrate conflicts between their own capitalists (3) To guarantee optimal conditions for private companies to conduct business in Africa, notably, by maintaining law and order” (196). Taxes and customs duties supported colonial administrations, as did profits from natural resources and local labor. Governments used physical coercion and laws to force Africans to work for free on public projects, such as building castles for governors and transportation infrastructure. Private companies also relied on forced labor to keep businesses afloat during the Great Depression and World War II. As Rodney observes, the practice of forced, unpaid labor during colonialism was equivalent to slavery. Colonial powers from different countries cooperated to maximize the exploitation of African labor. Portugal, for instance, forced its African subjects to work outside the boundaries of its colonies, including in South African mines.

Colonial trade practices harmed Africa. Africans were bound to their colonizers by exclusive trade agreements. Colonialists then prevented Africans from accessing alternative markets and kept prices low to maximize profits. Rodney emphasizes that colonial governments served the European bourgeoisie, not African peasants. Company shareholders lobbied their governments to institute policies that benefited them. In some cases, large corporations even controlled policymaking government agencies. Rodney points to a British example to support this claim: The director of Cadbury Brothers, a major importer of African cocoa, was also chairman of the Cocoa Board within Britain’s Ministry of Food. Britain was not the only place where government and corporate interests intertwined. The Belgian government invested in African mines. Similarly, the United States partially repaid its loans to England with raw materials from the colonies. European governments also increased their reserves by holding earnings from African exports in European currencies in Europe and sending the equivalent in local currencies to their colonies.

A Preliminary Examination of the Nonmonetary Benefits of Colonialism to Europe

This section focuses on colonialism’s role in developing Europe’s technology and military sectors. There is no causal relationship between European technological innovation and colonialism. Rather, the colonies were part of a chain that made innovation possible. For example, profits from colonialism financed scientific research. In addition, the influx of colonial imports led to the development of new machinery to process and manufacture growing amounts of raw material. Colonialism also spurred military advancement. European powers had to defend their colonial interests from competitors, which led to the creation of new types of armed naval vessels, such as destroyers and submarines. Europe’s superior military apparatus disincentivized the colonized from seeking independence. At the same time, colonialism allowed Europe to strengthen its monopolies by enabling large companies to swallow smaller ones and create giant corporations. This resulted in market domination, increased profits, and the international division of labor. Whereas African labor was primarily physical, European labor required high skill levels, which prompted more innovation, more development, and more employment opportunities. Production under European capitalism was global. However, the fruits of human labor were concentrated in the hands of white people from Europe and North America.

Access to African soldiers to fight European wars was one of the primary nonmonetary benefits of colonialism. Records reveal that most of the British forces fighting in Asia in the Second World War were colonial subjects: “Without colonial troops, there would have been no ‘British forces’ fighting on the Asian front in the 1939-45 war, because the ranks of the British forces were filled with Indians and other colonials, including Africans and West Indians” (225). Africans also fought other Africans on behalf their colonizers, as well as rival Europeans inside Africa. France secured the greatest number of soldiers from Africa. Between 1914 and 1918, for example, France recruited 200,000 soldiers from its African colonies using methods comparable to slave hunting. These soldiers fought against Germans in Togo and Cameroon. They were also deployed in Europe. Indeed, an estimated 25,000 Africans died on European battlefields in defense of France. The French also sent Africans to quell nationalist uprisings in Madagascar, Indochina, and Algeria. In other words, colonial subjects from Africa helped maintain the French colonial system in other parts of the world.

Colonialism propped up capitalist economies and systems. Relationships extended beyond individual colonies and their colonizers. Complex networks emerged connecting European economies, on the one hand, and their colonies, on the other. For example, German companies joined forces with British counterparts to exploit Africa, and with Dutch companies to exploit the East Indies. Even after losing its colonies in 1918, Germany continued to profit from colonialism by playing an active role in shipping in East, West, and South Africa. Europe partitioned Africa, dividing territories for monetary and nonmonetary gains. Although the United States never colonized Africa, it invested heavily in the continent and, consequently, reaped financial benefits. South Africa became America’s best African trading partner, supplying gold, diamonds, and other minerals in exchange for heavy machinery. The US also developed shipping services to move goods to and from Africa. American investment in Africa came at the expense of European colonizers. However, it benefited European capitalism because the US was the world’s leading capitalist power. The US continued to invest in Africa after 1945, edging out European colonialists. Statistics attest to America’s growing economic domination: “The share of the USA in Africa’s trade rose from just over 28 million dollars in 1913 to 150 million dollars in 1932 and to 1,200 million dollars in 1948, at which figure it represented nearly 15 percent of Africa’s foreign trade” (192).

Wealth from the colonies kept colonizers afloat during hard times like the Great Depression and World War II. Africans sacrificed raw materials and labor in these periods, in addition to contributing soldiers to the war effort. Africa also played an important role in reconstructing capitalist nations after the war. Capitalists struggled to ward off the threat of socialism in the postwar period. Africa provided bases for European militaries and supplied raw materials to the weapons industry. Colonial powers expanded existing military establishments and built new military instillations in the colonies. The US also engaged in this practice, building air force bases in Morocco and Libya. Much of North Africa became a sphere of operations for the North Atlantic Trade Organization (NATO). To ward off socialism within its borders, European capitalists offered workers better wages and benefits, all paid for using surplus from the colonies. Colonialism thus strengthened the capitalist system while also enriching Europe’s elite and placating its working class.