blaming the west/developed nations/powers is simplistic and unbalanced view of the shortcomings faced there. it is possibly the most popular and politically correct view perhaps, but one i find inaccurate today. a vast majority of problems today are caused by their own poor leadership and internal friction caused by the tribal aspects of culture. (compare this to china, for example, which is made up of many different ethnic groups but each considers himself/herself simply chinese).
i’ve been travelling to africa a lot over the past 3 years for work because we have a branch there, and altogether i’ve spent 2 years there. as a non-westerner and outsider who used to be of the view that a vast majority of their problems were external (i.e. because of western domination, etc.) i find this no longer holds true.
the occupation by external groups of people came at a heavy cost of freedom, dignity and natural resources, but you must also ask the question;
“what would africa be today if those external parties never came?”
would they have developed their own form of abstract credit/currency? would they have access to modern medicine (no matter how limited), would they have been unified into the various countries or remained tribal? would they have learned the more common languages of the world such as english and french (and thereby give them a voice, and access to the rest of the world)? Many people i’ve met there dont want to return to the old tribal ways, they very much desire and appreciate modernization and westernization.
don’t get me wrong, i’m not minimizing the damage and hurt inflicted upon the continent by others, but i am asking that we see both sides of the story.
the initial question of why they are not as developed as others cannot truly be answered. my own simple belief is that development simply wasn’t necessary for survival; they had everything they needed to live as their forefathers had.