The claim that colonialism brought civilization to Africa is false. It is no different from the fantasies of flat-earthers, for neither holds any truth. In reality, colonialism dragged Africa into decline, tearing apart the very spheres in which it once thrived: economic, social, and cultural. With the arrival of the imperialists came division, the erosion of culture, genocides, and disease. They came not to uplift but to exploit and conquer, with no thought for the indigenous peoples whose lands they invaded. If any progress touched the lives of the locals, it was the result of other forces, not the hand of the invaders.
What
exactly did the colonial powers develop without their own interests at heart?
Schools that only taught basic literacy to make locals comprehend and obey orders?
Fertile lands seized in the name of “economically viable agriculture,” or the
railway line built to move raw materials from the interior to the coast?
Everything planned before and during the colonial era excluded the indigenous
people. At best, natives appeared under “Any Other Business.”
Sir Charles Eliot, Commissioner of the East Africa Protectorate from 1901 to 1904, wrote:
“The East Africa Protectorate is, in virtue of its position and natural character, a possession of no small importance. It merits far more attention than it has received. It must always be to the interest of the Empire to see that its valuable assets are properly tended and utilized.”
He further remarked:
“We have the rare experience of dealing with a tabula rasa, an almost untouched and sparsely inhabited country, where we can do as we will, regulate immigration, and open or close the door as seems best. This lessens the difficulty of administration, but it increases the responsibility and the need for reflection.”
Had it
been possible to communicate with Africans without teaching them a foreign
language, colonial authorities would have chosen that option. Had it been
possible to exploit the resource-rich hinterland without incurring the cost of
building a railway, they would have done so. At the center of their minds were
the interests of the mother countries. Africans were viewed as a subclass of
people unworthy of fertile lands and, most importantly, sovereignty. While
egalitarian democracy was celebrated at home, hostile domination was practiced
abroad.
When
colonial rule became costly to maintain, with frequent uprisings and
resistance, colonial administrators packed their bags and returned to Europe.
You might say they invented “working remotely.” Behind them they left scars,
broken families, and the cries of a people who had been massacred, tortured,
and alienated from their kin. The long-term effects of this legacy still linger
today.
If the
colonial project had been genuinely about progress, Africa would have seen
industries, social amenities, and infrastructure comparable to those in
Britain, France, or Germany at the time. Instead, informal schools run by
missionaries were the only form of education. Even later, government schools
segregated African students and subjected them to inferior curriculums. This
failure crippled newly independent nations, which lacked professionals such as
doctors, lawyers, and engineers. For years after independence, these skills had
to be imported from the former colonial powers. Can such an outcome truly be
called progress?
Every
aspect of African life was disrupted. Traditional religions were dismissed as
witchcraft, social structures were labeled barbaric, and cultural practices
were condemned as primitive. Yet the natives had mastered their environment and
built functioning societies. Many communities resisted colonial intrusion at first,
but European firepower silenced their defiance in a matter of hours. People
were pushed into barren reserves, fertile lands were confiscated, wildlife was
hunted to extinction, and minerals were extracted. All of this occurred without
pay, reward, or even the thought of compensation.
Africa
was developing at its own pace before colonialism and was destined for
greatness, just like other empires. To suggest that it was a vast, backward
land filled with savages was merely a pretext to justify exploitation. As
Walter Rodney explains in How Europe Underdeveloped Africa:
“One of the most difficult questions to answer is exactly why different peoples developed at different rates when left on their own. Part of the answer lies in the environment in which human groups evolved and part of it lies in the ‘superstructure’ of human society. That is to say, as human beings battled with the material environment, they created forms of social relations, forms of government, patterns of behavior, and systems of belief which together constituted the superstructure—which was never the same in any two societies.”
The aim
of this article is to debunk the myth that colonialism brought civilization to
Africa. At its core, colonialism was an ideology of supremacy, built on the exploitation
of people who lacked the military power to resist. The colonizers came,
conquered, stole, and left without consequences. The divisions they sowed among
African communities remain evident today.
To claim
that colonialism brought civilization and progress is to mask the atrocities
committed in its name. If such myths are not firmly rejected, they risk
reappearing as new justifications for control in the future. Exposing these
falsehoods is therefore essential not only as a deterrent against renewed
exploitation but also as a call for Africans to pursue genuine progress in
every sphere once dimmed by colonial rule.