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Extreme poverty, unmaintained infrastructure, sky-high criminality and corruption coupled with ethnic tensions

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leading to regular acts of violence. Why is subsaharan Africa like that? Ask a leftist professor and they'll tell you

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all problems stem from colonialism. But ask an online history buff and they'll give you an answer that violates YouTube's toos. So, let's pull the

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curtain back. How much of Africa's present day state can be attributed to colonialism? and how much of it is a result of internal factors. The issue

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with the colonialism explanation is three-fold. First, it fails to explain why nearly all of subsaharan Africa was

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so weak that they could even be colonized in the first place. Second, it fails to explain why African nations that were not colonized, such as

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Ethiopia, are in a similar or worse situation than formerly colonized nations. And lastly, it fails to explain

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why after colonialism, these nations standard of living and infrastructure have gotten worse, not better, while relying on western foreign [music] aid.

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To understand why almost the entirety of subsaharan Africa was able to be colonized so easily, we must look at their history. Contrary to internet

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1 minute, 14 seconds

memes, subsaharan Africa did have powerful kingdoms, including the Songhai, Great Zimbabwe, and most

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1 minute, 21 seconds

notably the Mali Empire. All of these kingdoms became rich and powerful by selling valuable raw resources. After

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1 minute, 29 seconds

all, subsaharan Africa is one of the richest places in the world in terms of raw resources. But that gift turned out

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1 minute, 37 seconds

to be a curse because it meant those empires never had the strong need to invest deeply into their own people or complex institutions. They could just

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1 minute, 46 seconds

rely on resource extraction. If they ever wanted something more complex, they could always trade their resources with a more technologically advanced society.

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1 minute, 55 seconds

Compare this to Europe, which had significantly fewer, easily extractable raw resources and therefore had stronger incentives to produce and refine goods

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to trade. Europe had a much stronger drive toward technological innovation.

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Additionally, the subsaharan climate is perpetually warm with no need to prepare for a brutal winter as seen in countries

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of four seasons. Another factor that historically drives planning and innovation. The issue with the strategy is that the more technologically

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2 minutes, 26 seconds

advanced nations end up with stronger militaries. The sanghai collapsed because the Moroccans had gunpowder weapons and invaded. The Swahili coast

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2 minutes, 36 seconds

nations collapsed when nations with more advanced navies took over their trade routes. Resource extraction as the main source of your nation's prosperity is

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2 minutes, 44 seconds

great in the short term. But what happens when those resources run out or someone else decides to take them?

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Extraction should be a way to jumpstart your civilization, not depend on it perpetually. But Africa was so rich and

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2 minutes, 59 seconds

the climate so predictable that they could get away with short-term strategies for longer than other peoples. Let's address the elephant in

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the room. Subsaharan Africa has the lowest average IQ scores in the world.

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People have different theories for why that is. Whether they believe it is largely innate or a result of environment or they debate IQ's

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3 minutes, 20 seconds

reliability entirely. But we do know one thing. IQ is strongly correlated with long-term planning and impulse control.

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3 minutes, 30 seconds

And the history of subsaharan Africa is one of extreme selection for short- termism. Africans that try to invest in

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3 minutes, 37 seconds

the future often end up poorer than those that focused on immediate resource extraction. And frequently the fruits of

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3 minutes, 44 seconds

their labor were taken by force. Don't forget African resource extraction wasn't just for material goods, but also

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3 minutes, 51 seconds

for slaves. They had some of the largest slave economies in the world with perpetual demand amongst themselves and

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from Arab nations for over a thousand years and a major surge when Europeans entered that market. The idea that

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Europeans ran into the African interior, kidnapped people on mass and then put them into ships is a fantasy. In

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reality, foreign merchants would go to African kingdoms and buy slaves from them as had been standard practice in

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Africa for thousands of years. Is enslaving your own people and selling them to foreigners a good long-term strategy for a civilization?

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No. But it does make you rich in the short term. Is neglecting your infrastructure a good long-term strategy? No. But it does mean less work

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right now. Is relying on perpetual foreign aid instead of developing your own industry a good long-term strategy?

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Obviously not. But it does make your political elites a lot of money.

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Short-termism is terrible for any people. And if Africans don't overcome it, they can forget having any grander societal ambitions.