My point was that the near-Stone Age conditions were their norm - and they are returning to them anyway. The spreading of diseases was more than offset by the population explosions that resulted from Western medicine; the populations quickly swelled to far more than the land had ever sustained in the past, and under Western management it could be sustained. The problems arose when the Westerners left (by choice or by force), and those large populations contended for diminishing crop yields, disappearing funds from corruption/theft, etc. - the violence was inevitable. This wasn’t just an issue in Africa; it was a problem in Asia as well (particularly China).
As for colonizing uninhabited land, that is what the original Dutch settlers did in South Africa; they didn’t fight as we did with Indians in the US to take land. In the end, their development of the land led to the migrations southward - their settlements contributed to the growing African populations as well. The dirty secret in today’s media is how many Africans preferred colonial rule (primarily for its stability), and how many Africans fought alongside Europeans to maintain it.
That’s an excellent argument. The population explosion from going from a mostly hunter-gatherer to an agrarian society no doubt caused a lot of their problems.
Who the colonizer was also made a big difference.
France in particular left basket cases.
REALLY?
And you got your "facts" from WHERE?
Oh yes, the earliest Boers settled in places where there was NOBODY living, but they also fought and/or bought lands from the Zulus, along the way!
The black population of RSA has grown due to quite a few different reasons 1) the Zulus fought with other tribes ( mainly outside of where they were living and brought in SLAVES, from the conquered tribes 2) many blacks from other African nations have been trying to sneak into that nation ( ILLEGAL ALIENS ! ) for many generations; yes even during Apartheid ( which is why the RSA military was once stationed on the borders! ) 3) bursts of reproducing .
After only a year or so, the government owned ( yes, the newspapers in RSA, as well as the radio and T.V. stations ARE government owned! )and black run newspapers had screaming, huge headlines that stated: " BRING BACK APARTHEID" !