Why africa known as the dark continent

It was these views that colonists would use to help justify the Scramble for Africa , and the atrocities that came with it. However, the phrase entered European vernacular as a way to paint Africa as a wild, savage, untamed land.

By dehumanizing the continent this way, colonizers and missionaries alike could justify their sometimes brutal actions. Given this historical background, it is understandable why some would object to the use of this term, especially when spoken in colloquial language.

You can, however, find modern uses of the term used in proper context. Africa is lacking electricity on much of the continent. When looking at satellite images from space, Africa literally looks like a dark continent, as mentioned in this article from The Economist. Sudan is a country in Northeast Africa. Officially, it is called the Republic of Sudan. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States, serving from January , until his assassination in November His presidency came near the height of the Cold […].

Facebook YouTube Twitter Instagram. The Latest. Last Updated On: April 4, Africa is home to some of the most amazing scenery and natural beauty on the planet. Why is Africa Called the Dark Continent? Comments comments. Africa History. Previous Announcing Sporcle Showdown. The idea of a hostile Nature and a disease-ridden environment as tinged with evil was perpetrated by fictional accounts by Joseph Conrad and W.

Somerset Maugham. By the late s, British 18th-century Black abolitionists were campaigning hard against the practice of enslavement in England. They published pamphlets describing the horrid brutality and inhumanity of enslavement on plantations. Once the British Empire abolished enslavement in , however, Black activists turned their efforts against the practice within Africa.

To retaliate, the British portrayed African men not as human, but as lazy idlers, criminals, or evil traders of enslaved people. At the same time, missionaries began traveling to Africa.

Their goal: to convert as many Africans as possible to Christianity - at the expense of existing African religion, customs, and culture. African people already had built their civilizations, their culture, and their knowledge, especially of their own land and environment. The cultural erasure perpetrated by these European Christian missionaries caused significant damage to generations, while also attempting to distance African people from their own environment — which in turn left it even more vulnerable to damage and exploitation by imperialist interests.

They portrayed the African people as fundamentally "different" from westerners and closed off from the "saving light" of Christianity, further propagating inaccurate and deeply racist stereotypes about Africa and its people.

Africa was seen by the explorers as an erotically and psychologically powerful place of darkness, one that could only be cured by a direct application of Christianity and, of course, capitalism. Geographer Lucy Jarosz describes this stated and unstated belief clearly: Africa was seen as "a primeval, bestial, reptilian, or female entity to be tamed, enlightened, guided, opened, and pierced by white European males through western science, Christianity, civilization, commerce, and colonialism.

In reality, African people had been achieving great things in a variety of fields for thousands of years - often before Europeans did. Ancient African cultures were responsible for developing entire mathematical systems, charting the sun and creating calendars, sailing to South America and Asia long before Europeans did, and developing tools and techniques that even surpassed Roman technology.

Africa was even home to its own empires notably, the Zulu , as well as enormous libraries and universities in countries such as Mali. By the s and s, European traders, officials, and adventurers were going to Africa to plunder, exploit, and destroy its people and resources. Recent developments in weaponry gave these men enough military might to enslave African people and seize control of raw materials.

A particularly severe example of this is King Leopold's Belgian Congo. When things escalated, Europeans took no accountability and blamed Black people instead. Africa, they said, was what supposedly brought out the savagery in man. That belief is patently false. Over the years, people have given lots of reasons why Africa was called the Dark Continent. Many people know it is a racist phrase but don't fully understand why. The common belief that the phrase just referred to Europe's lack of knowledge about Africa makes it seem outdated, but otherwise benign.

Race does lie at the heart of this myth, but it is not just about skin color. Calling Africa The Dark Continent further codified the association between whiteness, purity, and intelligence and Blackness as a pollutant that made one subhuman. This is principle is exemplified by the one drop rule. The myth of the Dark Continent referred to the inferiority that Europeans convinced themselves was endemic to Africa, to further their political and economic agenda.

The idea that its lands were unknown came from disregarding centuries of pre-colonial history, contact, and travel across the continent. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads.

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