CONTENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

I

Some Questions on Development

What Is Development?

What Is Underdevelopment?

II

How Africa Developed before the Coming of the Europeans—Up to the Fifteenth Century

• A General Overview

• Some Concrete Examples

• Conclusion

III

Africa’s Contribution to European Capitalist Development—The Pre-Colonial Period

How Europe Became the Dominant Section of a World-Wide Trade System

Africa’s Contribution to the Economy and Beliefs of Early Capitalist Europe

IV

Europe and the Roots of African Underdevelopment—To 1885

The European Slave Trade as a Basic Factor in African Underdevelopment

Technical Stagnation and Distortion of the African Economy in the Pre-Colonial Epoch

Continuing Politico-Military Developments in Africa— 1500 to 1885

The Coming of Imperialism and Colonialism

V

Africa’s Contribution to the Capitalist Development of Europe—The Colonial Period

Expatriation of African Surplus under Colonialism

The Strengthening of the Technological and Military Aspects of Capitalism

VI

Colonialism as a System for Underdeveloping Africa

The Supposed Benefits of Colonialism to Africa

Negative Character of the Social, Political, and Economic Consequences

Education for Underdevelopment

Development by Contradiction

Postscript