What colonialism was really about.

I have been to a forum and there are many threads on that forum that suggest that Africa as a continent is some kind of lost cause, and also suggesting that Africa is the way it is because, well, I will tell it as I see it. There are people who truly believe that Africans are "inferior" or "inherently incapable of leadership" or some reason, persons of sub-Saharan African descent are often vilified, thought of as "inferior". There are people who ask such questions such as "why is Africa so poor" or "what is wrong with Africans?", I see the questions come up on forums and this kind of stuff, well, it is time that I have my say on this blog.

There are some people who will point to tribalism. There are some people who will point to the value system. Me, I like to do the research and look at the all of the factors and decide for myself. After doing my research, there is one conclusion I have come to: It is so complicated one must struggle to wonder where to begin. Well, this is where I am going to begin.
I am not going to rule out tribalism, because that stuff happens. You have a plethora of ethnic groups in African, all of them with their own languages and traditions. It makes it hard to build up and use resources in a nation. And Africa has alot of good resources, such as gold, oil, diamonds, copper, rubber,etc. However, it also didn't help the borders that you see were drawn without a say from the people. The local persons on the continent of Africa didn't have a say. The rulers from Germany, UK, France, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, and Spain drew those borders. The leaders from those nations drew those borders. This stirred up tension. 

Looking at some of the history involved, I would say that Africa has inherited some things from its former colonizers. Some of those things include some of the stuff that was built. I will say that there was infrastructure built by the colonizers who ruled Africa. With that being said, there is something one must understand: It was not built for the people. It was only built for the purpose of building up empires for the most part. When the British empire expanded into Africa, railroads were built, but not to connect towns as in places in India. With the exception of South Africa, railroads were built to connect the resources to the ports. This meant an infrastructure that was lacking. It was also built via forced labor in which many people died building the railroads. Infrastructure in general was not built up to standards, and with decolonialization, much of the infrastructure left behind would crumble. Why? The people were not taught how to use it. Colonialism was about MONEY. It wasn't about bringing "civilization", It was about exploiting resources and then using them to help the governments far away. People weren't trained on how to build the infrastructure and how to use it. The role of the Black African was simply to be the laborer. No plans in teaching the skills needed. Well, the infrastructure left behind is rather outdated and not enough skilled workers to update it either.

Another thing to look at is the economies. In many places, cash crops were the main part of the economy. After a long time of growing these cash crops(such as cotton) for profit, the soil declined in quality. It would not yield the abundance it had before. The rule was grow what you don't use and use what you don't grow. This is probably why famines are happening in Africa.

Colonialism in Africa was about money. That is part of why Africa has so many problems. In addition to internal problems, the legacy of colonialism has made things alot worse than they might have been.