Comparing developed or industrialized Nations Africa is not yet an industrialized
continent, although today it possesses a single region( the south coast of Africa), that marches in size and range with large industrial world regions such as the Donates Basin of Russia, the Ruhr, the Pitts burg, etc along the temperate latitudes in East and West (e.g. north America, Europe, Asia etc)
In other parts of Africa, there are few pockets of industry, that serve the countries where
they are situated (WJ.Minnus, 1991). But it is noted that after the world war two the Africa’s
main resource was the land property.
Traditionally, the vast majority of Africans have been farmers and herders who raised
crops and livestock for subsistence. Manufacturing and crafts were generally carried on as Part-time activities. Most markets were local, although numerous states over the centuries developed long distance trade system, and in these places complex exchange facilities as well as industrial specialization, communication Networks and elaborate governmental structures maintained the flow of commerce. They included the medieval West African Kingdoms and empires of Ghana, Songhai, Kanem-Bornu; and of great Zimbabwe in South Africa; trans- Saharan trade, which began before the Romans continued until well into the 19th century.
Gold slaves (on small scale), kola, copper, kola nuts, ostrich feathers, and salt were all
items in Africa’s export trade for many hundreds of years before the advent of Europeans. With
Europeans, initially, there came increased demand for one of the traditional staples of African
trade- slaves (see Slavery in the modern period). The numbers required, however, were vastly
more than had ever been traded before, leading to distortions and disruptions in African politics and society, and robbing the west and center of the continent of millions of people. Colonization brought overseas demand for new agricultural and mineral products and internal labour migration; new and faster communication systems were constructed; European technology and crops were introduced, not always, by any means, beneficially, and modern exchange economy
evolved. Local industry and crafts- textiles and iron making, for example- were frequently
undermined by cheaper or more prestigious European goods. Modern processing industries
developed, as did more ports and administrative centers. A variety of consumer industries sprung up to fill newly created local consumer needs. A feature of the African economy is the side-by-side existence of both subsistence and modern exchange economies. Future growth depends on the availability of investment funds, the world demand for local raw materials, the availability of energy sources, the size of local markets, a solution to the foreign debt problem which is crippling so many African economies, and the willingness of industrialized economies to reduce trade barriers to processed and manufactured African goods.
Titany answered the question on January 18, 2022 at 05:50