The African Inheritance

By Ieuan Griffiths, Griffiths Ieuan, Ieuan L.L. Griffiths

Book Overview

Africa is a continent gripped by civil wars and widespread famine. The causes of many of the continent's problems are deep rooted and can be traced to Africa's colonial past, when European powers divided the spoils of the continent into separate sovereign states.
The African Inheritance examines the effect this "balkanization" of Africa has had, and is having, on the political and economic well-being of the continent.
From a brief history of pre-colonial Africa and its subsequent European partition and inevitable decolonization, the book discusses the consequences of such an inheritance: small and weak states, destructive secessionist movements, irredentism and African imperialism. Attempts to tackle these problems and assert independent development are inhibited by the colonial inheritance.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415010926
• ISBN13: 9780415010924
• Release Date: August 1995
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Echos of Imperialism

Why is Africa so endemically poor? Why still ongoing civil wars amidst weak states? While the 20th century saw the independence of Africa, it was and still largely remains trapped in the context of the European empires that ruled it in the 19th century. This book traces this afterglow of imperialism and how it still affects events today. A European man of the late 19th century transported to today would scarcely recognise the names of the countries. But chances are good that he would recognise many of the countries' shapes, for these largely correspond to those of the various colonies of his time. The author describes how newly independent countries had little to hold themselves together. Ethnic affiliation in so many ways trumped national identity. So that one group often gained power and refused to relinquish it, proceeding to oppress others. Sometimes, and not too rarely at that, this would trigger civil wars. It is through this prism that certain recent events make more sense. Like the use of famine by the Sudanese central government against its southern rebels. Not just religious differences, but ethnic. Or the parlous poverty of the people in the Nigerian delta, from where much oil is extracted, most of whose revenues accrue to Lagos. Not just venality by the ruling class.Well written, easily accessible to the educated reader. You don't need previous knowledge of African history. Plus, the author does not use much of the jargon of economics or sociology. the emphasis is on political history. Quite welcome are the numerous maps. Africa is so fragmented and most of the countries are so little known to outsiders that these maps are very helpful.