How Europe Underdeveloped Africa: The Mechanisms of Accumulation

This article provides an in-depth analysis of Walter Rodney's thought, focusing on the relationship between European development and Africa's structural underdevelopment. The author deconstructs the concept of underdevelopment not as a state of backwardness but as a dynamic process resulting from the continent's asymmetric integration into the global capitalist system. The text details the mechanisms of primitive accumulation, the drain on surplus production, and the role of the transatlantic slave trade in the destruction of African socio-technological structures. The analysis demonstrates how colonialism and export monoculture led to the phenomenon of growth without development, permanently tying the periphery to the metropolis. This is crucial reading for understanding the historical roots of contemporary economic inequality and the mechanisms of exploitation that have shaped the current world order, challenging the traditional narrative of the colonial civilizing mission.