African responses to the colonial legacy

The problems that Africans and their governments had to face in the early decades after independence were, very largely, the product of their history. This is not to suggest that the mistakes, corruption or incompetence of some African leaders, or even ecological factors beyond any leader’s control, were not partly to blame for Africa’s continuing underdevelopment. But the roots of many of Africa’s intractable problems in the early decades of independence were to be found in the period of colonial rule. In spite of this, however, Africans’ determination to better themselves led to major social and education advances, especially in the first decade of independence.