How strongly has colonialism shaped the trajectories of post-colonial Essay

How strongly has colonialism shaped the trajectories of post-colonial African countries Discuss utilize one or several examples - Essay ExampleWould they have been richer or poorer today? This question has enkindle debate for more than five decades, and also instigating exciting research by economic historians in colonial archives, an aspect, which has put the debate on a sound empirical footing. Some study findings have shown deduction of improved economic development outcomes within the period of colonialism. For instance, in the British West Africa, there was an emergence of real wages (Frankema and Van Waaijenburg 2005, 34). Additionally, the status of military recruits in British East Africa and Ghana indicated that the summit meeting was increased during the colonial period, a pointer of increasing prosperity. Other arguments are that colonial rule was predatory. Should we get wind this as evidence that colonialism was good for development in African countries? It should be considered that assessing the impact of colonialism does not only(prenominal) involve just looking at raw numbers, but also winning into consideration the counterfactual. We learn to think on what the trajectories of African societies would have been at present if colonialism did not take place.Reid, (2002) observe that or so African countries saw a steady rise on incomes during the colonial period. Africans reaped the benefits in development of alkali such as roads and railways as well as the mining technology. Colonization also light-emitting diode to deep integration of these African states into the World Trade Center and the world economy (115). However, it is still indecipherable n the extent by which such developments were contributed by colonialism and whether the development would have happened anyway due to the elicit of global trade expansions or any other reason. The fact that there was a rise in the standard of living does not imply that all peoples living sta ndards improved. Just taking an example from South Africa, the immiserising impact of land expropriation and establishment of dual economies on