The African Colonial and Postcolonial States

Abstract

From the sixteenth century onward, in spite of the good diplomatic and commercial relations that Europe and Africa enjoyed, Europeans chose to create a new image of Africa and Africans. Such an image allowed Europeans to exploit African labor and resources. Explorers, geographers, scientists, missionaries, and political, business, and military leaders engaged in the construction of the African as the “other.” Africa was also depicted as a passive object waiting to be reborn through various European forces.1 According to John Barrow, who compared Africa to England, the land was ugly because it lacked control.2 His account informed missionaries’ views before they arrived on the continent. Africa became the “dark continent” where “various white crusaders struck moral pastures.