Why Africans are poor while Americans are rich?
If you ask this question to different people, you might get different answers. Although most of the answers are far from each other, there is overlap between the answers. Sometimes you will get the same answers with different explanation.
While Americans are working on providing enough health coverage to their citizens, the Africans are worrying on how to get enough food to eat. While Americans are working in a lab to invent new drugs to prevent aging and over weight, Africans are not able to prevent very curable diseases like malaria. While Americans are saving to buy a car or airplane, Africans can’t afford bikes. While Poor people are trying to survive, rich people are on their way to live the perfect life possible. The gap is as huge as it is. A thousand miles away, but why? What is it really the core cause? As most people say is it colonization? or as some people say it is the way it is? Of course not! I don’t think it is colonization either
Have you asked yourself why Africans didn’t colonize Europe? A two year old know colonization has a great effect for today’s economic inequality between the two continents. As far as I am concerned it is not the root cause.
My high school biology teacher used to say that” Necessity is the mother of invention”
On the 18th Century, there were lots of reasons for Europeans to visit Africa. If some one don’t have a food and get hungry, he will look for it. He will use his mind, and energy to get what he needs. It was the same philosophy that drives European countries to travel to Africa. Most European countries were full of snow. Some countries have snow all the year round while others have seasonal snow. Due to this fact it was hard for Europeans to produce enough foods. This made them to work hard. Hard work changed to curiosity. Curiosity changed to exploration. Exploration resulted discovery, Discoveries followed by colonization.
The Europeans travel along the Mediterranean Sea and cross in to Africa. They were searching something new. They drew maps. Of course the Greeks made the first map! If they didn’t make it, who will? At that time, they are the one who really need it. The built ships since they have to travel over the water.
While they were exploring, they discovered Africa with full of resources they really need and they rarely get in their home land. History suggests they first travel to West Africa. The place called “Gold coast” the present day Ghana was among their targets. Yap! There were gold that is where the word Gold Coast come from. Gold was beyond their expectation. They crossed in to Africa bushes and forests defending the African lions. They created better weapons because they really need it. They told the Africans they came to introduce them modernization. Some African countries tried their best to defend but with no modern weapons it was impossible. Weather you call it stealing or taking the Europeans owned the goldmines found across West Africa. Then they export it to their country with no exchange.
The European powers didn’t end up with the gold. They demanded more. The more you have the more you want. They wanted the people. They loaded them on their ship and took them to USA. They used them as much as they wanted. They put price tag on them and sold them like commodity. That makes the western countries richer. This was one of the causes that results on today’s economic difference based on race. The other name for poor people happens to be black.
However, the root cause is not colonization or slavery. It is the European desire for better life due to luck of resources in their own land that give them the motivation to explore and find new things and use it as they wanted. But in contrary Africans were in their home country chilling. Due to the enormous natural resources they had. They did not have the necessity to explore. They have their own right. Why they needed to work hard since they had every thing in hand. In most part of Africa After you eat orange and throw the seeds any where, it will grow with no effort. The soil is too fertile. So why work? Therefore the Africans focused on exercising new cultures such as dances. That is also a treasure but it doesn’t make you rich in today’s world. It can not be food while hunger.
Monday, January 18, 2010
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