Africa has a lot of natural resources but has always relied on foreign aid. Nonetheless has famine, poor road network, poor Healthcare etc. Please explain.
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The history of human civilization is the history of agriculture. Population centers only develop if there is the food supply to maintain it. And without permanent population centers, it is very hard to develop trade and technology.
Unfortunately Africa isn’t blessed with very fertile land in most parts of the continent. Other than the Nile river delta and parts along the northern coast bordering the Mediterranean sea, much of Africa has relatively poor soil quality and not very great irrigation (like regular floods that can bring nutrients back into soils).
This forces much of Africa into more or less subsistence farming or livestock breeding (fairly nomadic). This is still the case for much of Africa today although the advent and distribution of modern fertilizers and improved medicines have greatly increased Africa’s population, they started down this path only towards the beginning of the 20th century.
Subsistence farming coupled with limited ability to support population centers also fostered deep tribal boundaries and lots of conflict over resources.
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