Why do you Think Africa is the way it is today?

I want that all of you answer in just one single paragraph the following question:

Why do you Think Africa is the way it is Today?

To answer this question I want you to:

  • Use the knowledge acquired during your research for the quarter project;
  • Think objectively, don´t use simple or stupid answers like "because they are black, or because they are poor".

You´re answering a question that has been around for a couple of decades now, so answer it as a professional.


I think that Africa is the way that it is today because they had always been extremely focused on one thing: religion. Almost every change that they had was caused by religion because they were afraid of outside influence and didn’t want people to take away what represented them as a society. At the beginning, they saw agriculture as something very important too, because it made them prosper and increase their economic statues. But by the course of time, they went more and more concentrated into religion instead of other aspects such as politics, social condition, economical conditions etc. They started to fear the foreign conquers so they tried to protect themselves from outside religious influences by just trying to solve that specific problem. Without notice, they became just aware of the protection of their religion and forgot about the other aspects of their societies. They didn’t see the same importance to the other things as much as to religion, so they started to give up the other things. Foreign countries conquered them and they wouldn’t mind as long as they were considered independent in order to believe in their religion. This was a sign that their future wasn’t going to prosper anymore because if they didn’t defend themselves back then, then the present was going to be worse because things are passed from generations to generations and if the early generations didn’t teach them to defend themselves apart from religion and didn’t taught them to contribute to the society in a way that could make everything work, then the elders wouldn’t be able to know and they would just follow the steps of their past generations. I think that the thing that most affected the Africa that we all know today is their close-mind toward things, they don’t want to move forward, they think that they are doing fine in the way they are now, and they don’t want to improve their way of life because they think that it is enough if they can only have their religion freely, but sadly, they are wrong. They are wasting all those rich lands and favorable environmental conditions that they have that could extremely help the economic crisis that they are facing right now and could put them on the top of everyone.

Wai Sim (Saluna) Chow10A


Africa has faced several factors that led them to what they are know; for me the climate is a key factor for them why? Their environment basically shaped their lives, they sought for a surrounding in which they could thrive for a short span of time or until they felt it was comfortable enough to stay for that while. The reason why they kept dwelling was consequence of the utter depleting of their natural resources. They moved along the regions that were full of enrichment but they didn’t know how to use them without mistreating what they had thus their futures generations as well did.
Another reason why Africa has its situation is the constant invasions at the time, Africa became a rich empire, it was structured, it had culture, it had a thriving economy based on mines and commerce. Commerce was the target of any upraising kingdom. Their upraising and predominant commerce became an attractive item to others, and, as the other case most of them didn’t have the advanced weapons nor the vast quantity and quality that other kingdoms had. This was the knee of Africa. But new invaders brought along new cultures, new religions. These new religions were another part of the core of Africa’s failure. They already had their animist and when Aksum’s Christianity was instilled and Islamic people fused there was a clash of ideas, everyone took their part, a few had the power and that few was the dominant group, unfortunately, it did not exist a sway between their social, cultural and economical systems. These are the main factors why Africa’s facing its scenario.
Kanya Duran 10th A



In my opinion, Africa is the way it is today because of the great exploitation of its resources and the influence it had from European colonizers, which I think meant the fall of all its richness. At first, Africa was very rich, with all kinds of resources, especially gold and diamonds. These resources were traded with other places and among Africa itself. This was good, because trade meant the growth and more resources to the empire, and it encourages it's growth even to other parts. Although the different tribes may have invaded themselves at times, this is all part of the cultural and development processes. As I was making the research, I noticed that there was great growth in different empires, and even when a civilization fell, a new one was able to rise. My research paper ended almost in the 1700s, when Portugal had invaded the eastern part of Africa (where the Matupa empire was located), which meant the start of the colonization period in Africa. After this, no other empire was able to flourish as sucessfully as the empires that had come before. This I think is the most important consequence of Africa's poverty today, because after time, Portugal and the rest of the European nations who colonized Africa exploited all of Africa's natural resources, leaving it with the extreme poverty it has today. Also, because since they all used Africans as slaves, this meant there would be no education for them, which also limits the development of any civilization. Another reason why I think Africa is the way it is today is because of its environment, but this is not actually their fault, and was no completely caused by an outside force. Maybe if Africa had had a more fertile and habitable environment they would've been able to develop other economic activities which would've helped them today.

Guarina Molina 10B (:


I think Africa is how it is today because those who conquered took everything, leaving nothing. Africa had everything to be of great power in present day but it wasn’t easy for them to maintain all the richness they once had. Because if you think about it Africa was rich when it comes to resources, they built their cities, kingdoms, and empires. They were what can be said “on track” of becoming for example what Europe is today, but obstacles stood in their way. Africans had trade within their country and out of Africa as well, with trade they expanded their kingdoms. When everything was going off fine in Africa, the Europeans with their ideas of conquering it all. If only the Europeans had found India, which was where they were really heading to, but unfortunately they found Africa. I’m not saying that India deserved to be conquered but it didn’t give Africa a chance. So Europe conquers Africa, they destroy everything useless for them and stay with the trading ports for their benefit. Then all those Africans that stood defenseless upon these “more advanced people” had no chance to do something about it. Some were taken to be slaves in Europe and were traded to other parts of the world to be slaves as well. So that’s my answer, I think Africa is how it is today because they didn’t get the chance to fully develop as other countries did that today have much wealth and power.

Gabriela Jimenez 10A


After doing the quarter Project about Africa, I was able to discover a rich African past, full of wealthy empires and cultural richness. However, if we look at today’s Africa what we’ll see is extremely different to what Africa was centuries ago. Nowadays, Africa has some of the poorest countries in the world, and a large part of the African population suffers from malnutrition and diseases. In my opinion, there are multiple reasons to why Africa’s current situation is how it is. One of these reasons might be the fact that modern Africans have not been able to take advantage of the rich natural resources that their continent possesses. If they don’t take advantage of their resources they are not able to obtain economical profits or to supply their own needs, and that is exactly what has happened. The colonization process that took place in Africa, in my opinion, has also a lot to do with Africa’s current situation. During the colonial time Africa’s development and growth (both economical and cultural) were just stopped because the Europeans owning the colonies were just dragging the riches out of the land. Africans not only lost their land but also their liberty. When someone is subjugated by another person he/ she isn’t able to think freely or do things freely. Without liberty it is nearly impossible to go forward. If you only work for serving others and not for serving yourself, you will not prosper, and that is exactly what has happened in Africa. I believe that these are just a few of the reasons why Africa is how it is.
Claudia Franjul 10A


I believe Africa is the way it is today because of its religion,goverment and basically culture. Many people from Africa have diseases and bad nutrition. Also the lack of education is a big deal in Africa because of that problem they have not taken advantage of thier rich resources they have. and if they dont take advantage of thier resources the continent will not be good in the economic part which is happening now Europeans also have to do in all this big mess, because they stop them from doing a big , large , rich continent. They lost all land and liberty , without free thinking there is no going foward. Thats why I belive Africa is the way it is!!!!
**Haresh Khemlani! 10B :) **


I believe that Africa is the way it is today because they were not able to defend themselves at the time when Europeans were colonizing the continent. These colonies quickly used up the resources and fled as soon as it was exhausted. Africa has many rich resources; diamonds, gold, oil, copper, and uranium. Hundreds of years ago, Africans mainly traded most of their resources and goods, but now most of them are in control of foreign countries.
I think that Africans relatively small population around early 1700s made it easy for other countries and empires to go there and colonize. The Africans didn’t have a strong army nor well defended so it was hard to defend their land from the Europeans. Once other countries heard about Africa, they wanted to colonize there as well. In the attached photo - history-of-africa3.gif - can see that almost every part of Africa was colonized by foreign countries. These foreign countries used up all the resources they found, including gold, diamonds, copper, iron, and more, and when they were done harassing the land due to overuse, they fled as quickly as possible. Being dominated by other peoples didn’t allow them to grow and prosper to their full potential, and maybe now it is too late for Africa to reach the state European countries, maybe not even out of poverty.

I believe Africa is the way it is, because of the European colonizers that poorly used the Africans rich resources. These European colonizers used these valuable resouces, such as gold, diamonds, and salt to their advantage rather than the place that was actually being colonized. As a consequence, their valuable resources were gradually draining and the Africans were unable to use their intelligence to comprehend what they needed to do to make Africa a thriving nation, because of the fact that the Europeans were always telling them what is going to be done and how its going to be done, they then didn't have the abilities to do it themselves. The Africans were then unable to engage in the understanding of how to make Africa the strong and powerful continent it once was when they were able to finally gain back their independence from the European colonizers .
In addition, Africans do not work together to prosper and grow, they benefit themselves individually without thinking about the benefits of others. That is why the gap between rich in poor in Africa is so big, the rich exploit the poor with taxes to become more wealthy while the poor remain or become more poor. At this rate, Africa is very far from becoming an advanced nation if they do not understand the concept of working together. If the government of Africa was more conscious of the poor people in Africa, maybe Africa would'nt be so under developed, maybe Africa is just being poorly administered?
Katherine Peña 10B


15085-Blue-3d-People-Working-Together-To-Hold-Colorful-Pieces-Of-A-Jigsaw-Puzzle-That-Spells-Out-Team-Work-Clipart-Graphic.jpg

As we know Africa is one of the largest countries in the world in which occupied one fifth of the world and has many harsh environments where people can not live because they can’t get any supplies for living but by the time, they have adapted this environment and began to survive and flourish. Before Africa was a really wealthy country but now it’s the poorest continent in the world. In my perspective I think that Africa is the way that it is today because before they concentrated too much on building empire and take over weakest one, they fought between themselves and lost the union among them. Also another fact is religion because since the beginning they didn’t get along with each other in beliefs and they always have a complot in which war goes and that’s why they have been a lot of separate tiny countries. Another fact is technology; they have been lack of high tech where they haven’t able to take the advantage of the rich resources in that continent, but I think that they have been lack of technology because they are poor on education and nutrition, because without a good nutrition they cannot have concentration to study.

I have always asked this question to myself ‘Why does people in Africa suffer a lot, when they have a lot of diamond, gold, etc, all these valuable resource and they still are poor and starving to death’. I think that this is because of several cases: one is the problem of freedom, because people in Africa they still aren’t liberalists at all and they have no right to give opinion to the government. Another one is that the government doesn’t care about its people; all they care is about money and money!!! And this is no fair when people are sacrificing their life for the government what’s they get is suffering and starvation. ‘Life is not always fair’ as some philosophers say.

Luis Liu Zheng, 10B xD


slavery_map_africa.jpg

I think the way Africa is today is for many reasons. While I was doing my quarter project, I noticed that everytime there was an empire in Africa; it would reach a very high point. Beliefs developed as well as languages, rituals, and most importantly trade. Trade was always the most predominant of the things that came out of these past empires. Africa once made its money from trade. This trade attracted many Europeans which were constantly invading the continent. These constant invasions was what brought down Africa the most because soon enough, their riches were overused and abused, leaving them with no trade and damaged lands because there was so much consumption of it, due to trade. With the damaged lands, obviously, agriculture couldn’t grow which but an economic halt to the development of the continent. With no economy the continent couldn’t grow financially, therefore couldn’t pay for investments in other economical areas. But this became even worse because as the Europeans further grasped control of the continent, education went decreasing because most of the Africans were slaves who never had an education. With no education, a country and much less a continent could be led, because these people were not going to be able to control the law and economy. And through history Africans, I believe, have found their “comfort zone” because they are genarally looked upon as poor, hopless people, and strong powers take it upon themselves to financially support them to help them out a little. I think that instead of helping them, this is making the situation worse because even though they are in poverty, despite all the help they receive, they don’t really do anything about it. They receive the money, but don’t take it as a way out of this situation, and this is because they know that as long as they stay like this, world powers such as the United States will continue with efforts to help them. This I think is also a reason why Africa is the way it is today.

Erialbania Lopez


I think Africa is the way it is today because of its harsh environment. Both the deserts and the rain forest are largely unsuitable for human life. Also at the beginning Africa´s family and clan systems which allowed Africans tribes to band together and share resources was broke up by slavery. Later on they suffered under colonial control (European). Under European control most of their valuable resources were stole such as diamonds, gold, oil, copper, and uranium. This colonial control or influence did not end until the late 60s and even later for southern countries such as South Africa and Kenya. This gave them little or no time for recovering their government and family´s clan system.
africa-satellite-climate-labels.jpg


Vicente Gomez 10 b

I think that Africa is the way it is today because of the disorganized way they live and administer their resources. Since early times Africa has been colonized by many foreign powers mostly European. The new rulers did what they wanted in Africa. Africa is a continent rich and full of resources but very poorly administered like Joaquin Balaguer said of the Dominican Republic. The exploded the resources that Africa had and left most of today's African countries in extreme poverty. Neither the climate nor the economic conditions favor Africa at all, other reason is that African governments do not work together to solve their respective conflicts as one. Africa has had a rich cultural past, they were the craddle of humanity. Many countries try to help Africa, sending clothing, food and other things but that doesnt work at all.
Eduardo de los Santos


Why is Africa the way it is today? There are many ways to answer this question. In my opinion, Africa today is the way it is mostly due to their geographic conditions. Africans living in the really rural parts had to either get accustomed to the harsh environment and climate, (which they weren't able to do for very long) or migrate, which is what they eventually did. As they migrated, they were able to take in what other cultures, one's similar to their own and others completely different, there were surrounding them.

Another key factor was their trade. They were able to trade great, valuable natural resources that made parts of the continent wealthier. So why is Africa this way now, when they were somewhat successful during their past? It's mostly because they're still not able to take advantage of all of the valuable resources they have surrounding them. The nation hasn't quite grown very much in what is economic intelligence, which led them to fall drastically in this field. Nowadays, people feel an abundant amount of pity for Africa, and it's because they can't take care of themselves. Others have to be there constantly to guide them, which is really sad considering all of the amazing things they could have overcome if they wouldn't have been influenced when Europeans conquered them. These conquests left them blind and oblivious of all the great deeds they could have done now. I believe that if they would have kept their traditions and completely established themselves as a unique continent, which they kind of are nevertheless, they would have had one, if not the greatest power on Earth.

Betsy Rodriguez/ 10 A


I think Africa is the way it is today because of their lifestyle and traditions since the beginnings of time. From the beginning Africans have been nomads moving around the continent searching for food. Since they moved around and didn’t start using tools to expand their capability to live in that continent, they exploited their resources. Instead of trying to find ways to make the arid land in their favor, they have simple moved to the fertile lands, over populating them. Africa has had many rulers; each of them had their positive qualities. Most of the rulers were focused on expanding their empire instead of developing its resources. Also, Africa biggest influence was and is, I believe, religion. Africans believed in gods and traditions. This stopped them from taking new ideas that may have helped them in their development. Governments today should team up and try to find ideas to use their arid land, to develop the continent. They have many resources that still haven't been exploited that can be easily used to take the continent forward.

Laura Ibert 10B


Michelle Pelletier 10B
I think Africa is what it is today, because through history people get together to meet their differences and their similarities. African people struggle several stages during time. Because of cultural differences, Africa got to its point where they separate into empires and one empire became stronger than the other one. African people started to create commerce, by exporting goods. Some African civilization took control of the trade root and got that wealth from that power. Africa got to its point where they had wealth; they had gold, uranium, and other resources. After time, Africa was being invaded by Europeans, but even though some of them had wealth, they couldn’t control the Europeans invasion. That invasion created the mix of culture. Some of African people had different societies that were then destroyed but some descendant still remain today. Also, African people let the Europeans took over them and created their African traditions. In my point of view, I think that if the Europeans wouldn't have invaded Africa, Africa would be different from today.


In my opinion I think Africa is the way it is today for various resons.One of them is the amount of invasions that were encountered in Africa in order for other countries to get the many important resources and precious stones the land contained for example gold, but another consequence of these invasions were the manipulation and domination of cultural influences mostly by Europeans and impacts of religions like Islam throughout Africa. Another reason why I think Africa is the way it is today is beacause of the small amount of tools and natural resources they have in order to feed the population and to have a good source of water and any type of crop that is available throughout the whole year but there is always a minor possibility due to the climatic conditions in Africa. - Jose Mckinney10B


I think Africa is suffering through the conditions it is today because of these reasons: harsh and difficult environment, constant conflicts, and lack of education or technology. While I was doing my quarter project, I noticed many things with the empires that rose in Africa. When a new empire emerged, they normally developed quickly, and eventually it achieved great heights in the development of its culture. After they were at the top, they would fall down again. Most of these civilizations prospered usually through the same way, trade, gold, agriculture, and other things that didn't last forever, and when they ran out the empire would ultimately decline. With the harsh environment, the agriculture there couldn't last long, and even if it lasted long it wouldn't last forever, and to preserve agriculture in that environment it required hard work. The harsh environment could cause droughts, making desertification was possible, and once it happens the people of the empire would need to leave to find land that are better suited for agriculture. Because agriculture was important, the empire would eventually fall. Lack of education and technology was also a problem because without a good education, the farmers and people wouldn't know how to take better advantage of their land or environment, and they would overuse their agricultural land unknowingly and render it useless, contributing to the possibility of a desetification to occur, which would lead to food shortage. Without technology, the people would be less productive and would have to work harder, making it harder to compete against other civilizations that are growing as well. My last opinion as to why Africa is in its current state is because of constant conflicts. Battles or conflicts were like the final touch to an empire’s fall, because when an empire was declining, a stronger group, empire, or civilization would usually come and conquer the declining empire. Conflicts among the people in Africa also caused mayhem, suffering, and chaos to spread through the continent, leaving disastrous conditions or creating more suffering. In my opinion, while there are still other causes, I think that these were the contributing factors to modern Africa’s hardships and if one of these causes could be fixed, Africa could be in a better state.
-Diango Liu 10-B-


Well I think that the main reason why Africa is like this is because it was colonized by France and England, other sections were colonized by Italy. Africa became poor because these countries exploited them massively. The fundamental reason is that Africa has poverty and desert of Sahara; they also have very little water.

Since Africa is poor, they have very little education and this doesn’t let them improve, all the diseases that are not found in the more developed country, you could find them in Africa; For Example it is said that AIDS was found there. Even though Africa is a zone of potential development in rich natural resources, it really hasn’t let them improve because of the robbery made by the politics heads of that nation against there public rights.

Due to this few facts and there reputation, many countries want no contact at all with Africa and even though they try to help them; there government will just turn it down.

Jonathan Vargas - 10A


In my opinion, and with the help of my paper, I realized that Africa at one point was a very rich continent in every way. They had very rich resources and powerful government as well as strong beliefs. There was one problem, they didn’t know how to control neither the land they had, nor the resources. They all migrated to one area were land was very fertile leaving the rest without population, and the new land overpopulated. Every ruler that passed through Africa wanted to expand the empire instead of focusing on the good use of the natural resources they possessed. Then, when Europe invaded Africa, they exploited almost every resource. This led them to poverty because they depended on those natural resources. Without resources and money they wouldn’t be able to develop as an empire and the civilization couldn’t advance. Also, they didn’t have any more resources for the cure of certain illness or injuries. Still, Africa has some resources. But now, it will be more difficult for them to make the best use out of it.
(;Gabriela N. Elias E.;)


Shortly after obtaining said information about the history of Africa and all the factors that influenced its various empires, my opinion, as objectively as is to my power, lies on the occurrence of the European colonies taking Africa’s important natural resources for their own. I ask you to not confuse this with the trade that took place along the eastern coast, for they did not leave the same effect as the conquests did. It is possible that the colonization might have been viewed as more than invasions, for this is was not the first time a foreign group of people had entered their land.

Also the mere fact that the Portuguese invaded so abruptly and stayed for so long would have possibly changed the perception of the Africans about other people’s intensions. Important people’ perception had a possibility of altering, thus influencing others who listened to and followed their way of thinking.

This might have created a chain of thoughts and beliefs that passed on to a further generation and assisted in the creation of what Africa is today. By “Assistance,” I mean to say “Influence.” Influences that shaped and molded the Africa we are familiar with.

By – Lily Sanchez


In my personal opinion, Africa was a very rich country. By rich, I mean, they had very good land resources, such as diamonds. Many people wanted these riches and went and got what they wanted. Because of this invasion, Africa lost many of their goods. That's why Africa is considered, pretty much, poor because they gave away almost all their riches. i believe that if the Europeans did not invade Africa then it will still be a wealthy country. I just suprises me how Africa has changed throughout the year, mostly because of one reason. It kind of sad how all these people worked probably their whole life, thinking of all the good things they were going to get, and then all of the sudden everything they have worked so hard for just just disappeared. So to finish off, in my opinion, the main reason why Africa is the way it is today is because of the invasions of the Europeans for their good.
Rebeca Evertz


Genesis A. Landestoy

The way I see it, the reason that most of the African continent is so undeveloped and uncivilized is because they lack almost all natural resources. All of the land is dry with the exception of the African rain forest. Water is scarce, but cherished, and the people never really developed any other reasoning than what their instinct offered on account of the fact that they never had time to settle down to really put their minds to work. Sure, their land was cultivated in order to be able to feed its people, but they never really could afford to support an ample population. Everything on the continent was limited, and whole kingdoms at a time had to constantly move and search for more welcoming environment or to escape the power of those more mighty then themselves.
I believe that the only reason the Africans ever achieved what little advances they have made today is because it had been conquered by the Muslims and the Europeans. By bringing the Qur’an to the continent, the people there were able to learn a language and communicate with each other. They learned how to piously devote themselves to Islam and learned morals. Oh sure, they had their own morals, their own languages, and their own ways of ruling, but they weren’t ever very successful. With the help of the Muslims, native Africans became civilized human beings unless they were captured and sold into slavery.
Had they not been conquered and taken under the wing of the other more sophisticated beings, the entire African continent would be an abject society in modern civilization, instead of just a couple of allotments. Nevertheless, it is one of the most sordid states of the world. I don’t believe Africa will ever be given the chance to prosper, and even given the chance they wouldn’t know what to do with it. The world is a place where one must fight to survive using the tools that they were bestowed upon. Unfortunately the Africans suffer misfortune for they are at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the world. Sure, they now have precious jewels, minerals and substantial oil mines. But these are nonrenewable and its only a matter of time before they strike an empty mine. One thing I realize (and i find most ironic) is that in the past Africa was always defeated for the fact that it didn’t possess the necessary weapons to protect itself, but now-a-days Africa’s top importing product, besides food, among other things, is weapons.


Today, Africa has nobody to blame in their situation but their ancestors. The reason I say they should blame their ancestors is because when they began agriculture, they used a unique method called slash and burn farming to develop farming. What this method this was that it burned the land before it was used and then put soil after. This land was not very fertile so the people that followed this process moved from land to land damaging and leaving behind not usable territory. This has an effect today on many countries don’t have a resource to develop in order to establish a good economy. It also affects the people in Africa today because many of them don’t have something and are dying everyday because of starvation. To those in need of other people’s help, I think that kids around the world like us, could help out by just sending in cans of food or by sending a few clothes that we don’t use anymore.

Nicholas De Oleo 10B


Tiffani Arleen Chalas 10B (unfortunately)
I belive Africa is the way it is today for the same reasons the majority of India and Haiti are how they are. They have been conquered so many times that most likely the only people left after the conquers were slaves and usually they were uneducated. Africa had its wealth and power. They just didn't know how to properly handle the situation of being conquered. They didn't prepare themselves for a war instead of having to give it practically willingly. Another reason for their trip backwards is because they haven't learned to manage their resources in a global way. Of they had the right strategies to do so they would be much better today.


I think Africa is the way it is today because they have really been dependent of the surrounding cultures, always trying to blend in. They had a great amount of natural resources that were always handled by outside cultures. For example, each time surrounding countries changed their religion, theyd change it too, they didnt have minds o their own. Maybe because they were ruled by other peoples all throughout their history, causing them not to develop their minds, but to follow others, let everyone else decide for them. When they were left alone, they didnt know the proper way to conquer their own continent, they failed on building a concrete government by their own. When people do everything for you, you get to such a level of comfortiness that you dont even care what happens, while youre OK. When the matter was handed to them, they didnt know what to do, causing Africa to be the way it is TODAY!!!!

Gabriela Herrera 10-A :)


"African civilzations withstand numerous problems that symbolize the world's perspective of their "modern" society; most of which are neither of their produce nor of their desire. From my observations, there are two essential reasons Africa is in the critical conditions it's in. Primarily we can observe since colonial times Africia's economies have been designed to suit the wants of outsiders, other than nessities of the original people. For instance, we can zero in on the Europeans who came in and benefited themselves with Africa's natural resources. This cause africans to stay in proverty and not be able to develope. Another pinpoint of Africa's failure had been mainly the result of politics; the failure to establish effective nation states that help their citizens to develop. Nonetheless, these people have maintained their culture traditons strong and still attempt to take extermal influence to improve themselves"
-Priscilla Franjul 10A


I think that Africa is the way it is today for many reasons first they didn’t satisfy their own needs for their own people, they only care about trading, how to suit the needs of others, They build an economy for the outside not for the inside, they only care about trade, they destroyed everything to look for natural resources and as they did it they were destroying at the same time nature, everything was for the outside people so they didn’t have a chance to progress, they didn’t use those natural resources for them they only use it for trade, they are rich in natural resources but the problem is that I don’t think that they know how to use it wisely. I also think that differences types of tribes have much to do in what is Africa today, they all believe in different things and they don’t work together to try to progress, to have a better life, I think that almost all the tribes still live as their ancestor used to live, they don’t have a formal education, they don’t socialize with others outside the tribe, they only care about surviving, I don’t think they care about progress because I think they are afraid to change, I think that they are afraid that their culture looks affected by the progress, they don’t want to change their costumes. The education is a big part of why Africa is like that because as I mention before they are only focused in how to survive, and they aren’t fully aware of what is happening right now in the world.
Kimberly Dominguez


For me africa is the way it is right now, because Africa was a really rich continent in the past, but many people wanted to gain control of this riches and started invading the continent. One example of this invasions were the empires that existed in the past such and the ghana, mali and songhai empire. they used to trade their most valuable and abundant resources for the scarce ones, such as cloth,glass, olive oil, wine, brass, iron, and copper. i think Africa wouldn´t be in this situation if they hadn´t worried so much in trade and worried in maintaining their economy by looking for new resources to maintain themselves for the future.
Luis Rafael Acta


One ofthe main reasons for africa being like this, is because of the invasion. Africa was a very rich country with resources, diamonds and more, so many countries wanted to invade like for example europe. By this they lost a lot of the resources that they had. Also they had a seriouse problem, which was that they didnt have any other economic activity besides trading resources, so when they invaded and trading whent wrong, they didnt have any other important economic activity that could substitute tradin wich affected african people a lot because they where not producing aything. also they were not dependent for themeselves because they did what other neighboring countries did, so if a sorrounding country didnt do anything they wouldnt think for themeselves to solve problems, so this factors really where the cause for africas fall/
Rafael Cabrera


Emily Perez ( 10 A)

Africa = violence, racism, constant ethnic disputes, poverty, famine, disease. This shouldn't be the things that are supposed to come to our heads when hearing this name. It can't be called a country, nation or state. It is a large mass of land, which is included as one of the 7 continents, with wild, naive, and posssible candidates to become civilized, concient and productive human beens. Africa is just deserted with hungry animals trying to survive, that is everyone's natural instinct, but this is what their life consists of. Trying to survive , not living.When I call them animals, I don't mean it in a disrespectful way, it's just their mentality and way of living perfectly backups my name and explanation for them. They wake up everyday, probably hoping that last night to pass away while at sleep, but who wouldn't? Although if we, the human race,just quitted in really hard situations, then the world wouldn't exist or be as it is, anyways, wake up everyday hoping to find something to eat for that day for themselves and their family. That is if their family remains alive or has some relatives alive. Although in South Africa there are stable areas, I couldn't imagine life in Africa. If you hear about foundations or people donating, you instantly think it is to Africa. It's a sad issue to talk about them and their horrible situation. These peole live as if they were in the stone age, killing anything to eat, with stones, spears,arrows and many other primary tools. In little shelters made out of leaves, wood sticks, and some blankets. No contanct with modern developments such as technology reffering to things such as computers, televison, etc…Weapons are probably the technologic device they know and use the most to haunt other humans as animals because of useless and irrelevant differences. After knowing all this, it comes down to one question….Why is Africa the way it is? There are many reasons, that most of us know due to studying history, but most people know about their past because of the horrendous thing they have gone through and thier influence in many countires including ours. White men saw them and used them as animals just because of their color. Sold them for thousands of years as slaves around the world. Being mistretaed, abused , hit, killed, and used for labor without payment, for most of slavery it was like this. Like people saw them as worthless animals, only good for working, nobody cared about educating them. Why would they care to give them knowledge of the world around them and how to live better? What, so they could learn things that could make them rebell and liberate from the whit men's dominion efficiently and quickly? Haha! Wouldn't that be odd? So like they were never educated, they have no knowledge of how to run a country, sustain a family, survie , create , etc… They were slave and considered minority for so long, that they no sqaut about almost anything. Education is very important, meaning things to know of how to be productive and create substantial things for yourself and others. If they have always been separated fromm the rest, left behind, treated as animals, have not let them use their powerful minds, how could or how will they go on? There is no way,and from there the consecuences. Another reason is that people and foundations send and send and send and send money to them,but where does it go??????? They are a gigantic population, what will they do with the money, probably burn it as coal to heat up their " food" , and the government swallows it. Oh, sorry there is no government, I mean the WEALTHY PEOPLE SWALLOW IT. As always in countries in such bad state. The rich simply don't care about the poor, why would they help them get to their level or higher? Rule them? Take away their jobs, power, be happy? No, why would they? See their country's people happy and productive with no need for roaming and only surviving the best they can. There is no government ot educate, organize and control the people,no there is only disorder and madness. There aren't people to help the few bright and smart minds trapped in that country, how can they get out of that dark whole? Ignorance from us , form the wealthy people that can make a difference there. IGNORANCE IGNORANCE IGNORANCE IGNORANCE IGNORANCE. We say there is no segregation but there are many who still are racist and don't want these people to move forward. IT'S INCREDIBLE JUST BECAUSE OF THEIR COLOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! bECAUSE OF THEIR COLORCOLORCOLORCOLORCOLORCOLORCOLORCOLOR. So if my friend has a curtain that is pink, and i don't like pink i should just burn it , right? It's different from what is usual for me and it is a color I dislike so I should dissapear it or burn it right, cause' that's how f*in smart we are! Wehave killed and still kill people BECAUSE OF THEIR COLOR, RELIGION, CULTURE, OWED YOU A FEW BUCKS OR SLEPT WITH YOUR WIFE! WHAT THE F* IS GOING ON IN THIS INSENSITIVE WORLD. WE AARE ALL ANIMALS WHO KILL FOR DIFFERENCE, STUPID DIFFERENCES, WE THINK WE ARE SMART WITH ALL THIS TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENTS AND CR*P BUT WHEN IT COMES TO HEART AND HUMANITY WE HAVE AND ALWAYS BEEN BELLOW 00000000000000000000000. I THANK AFRICANS FOR THEIR CULTURE, THEY GAVE US MUSIC, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR ME AND HAS CHANGED AND SHAPED THE WORLD. mUSIC MOVE US ALL AND INFLUENCES US, LIKE THEY DID AND DO. THANKYOU FOR GIVING US BLUES THAT LED TO ROCK N' ROLL. THANKS FOR ALWAYS BEING WHO YOU ARE. I HOPE AFRICA DEVELOPS AND REACH IT'S POTENTIALITY, I HOPE THEY GET EDUCATED AND GROW INTO A GREAT POWER. I KNOW IT SEEMS AS I AM INSANE, BUT THIS IS WHAT I THINK, AND WHAT I THINK IS VERY RELEVANT AND IMPORTANT TO ME, IF THERE WEREN'T INSANE MINDS, I'M NOT SHOWING OFF, THE WORLD WOULDN'T BE AS IT IS. ALL THIS AMAZING CREATIONS AROUND US. I HOPE YOU LIKE MY ANSWER, IT'S VERY DIRECT AND INFORMAL, BUT THAT'S HOW I AM. I HOPE IT DOESN'T DISRESPECT YOU. THANK YOU.


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