“Rodney’s classic study of the impact

of European capitalism on the continent of

Africa continues to provoke, inspire, and educate
– it resonates more than ever before.”
Angela Davis
University of California, Santa Cruz

HOW EUROPE
UNDERDEVELOPED
AFRICA

Walter Rodney
Walter Rodney was born in Guyana in 1942. He taught at the University of
Dar es Salaam and is recognised as one of the Caribbean’s most brilliant minds.
Combining scholarship with activism, he became a voice for the oppressed and
was the leading figure in the resistance against the authoritarian government in
Guyana. In 1980, aged 38, Rodney was assassinated.

“If Walter Rodney’s assassins were under the impression that they could
arrest the flow of his ideas by destroying his body, they could have not been
more wrong. Three decades later, Rodney’s classic study of the impact of
European capitalism on the continent of Africa continues to provoke, inspire,
and educate. In the context of the new resistance to global capitalism, his
captivating analysis resonates more than ever before.”
Angela Davis, University of California, Santa Cruz

“‘How Europe Underdeveloped Africa’ helped to transform the thinking

of a generation of activists. Using a concrete analysis Rodney examined
the impact of slavery and colonialism on the continent, thereby laying the
foundation for strategies for genuine liberation. Today’s republication should
not only inspire a new generation of activists and scholars but also help in the
development of updated strategies for challenging neo-liberal globalization and
neo-colonialism.”
Bill Fletcher, Jr., international activist and writer, co-author of Solidarity
Divided

“This book is for all bold enough to envision an end to capitalist exploitation
and the rise of a safer planet, a stronger Africa and a better world in the 21st
century and beyond.”
Emira Woods, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for
Policy Studies
“In this book, Walter Rodney admonished us forty years ago that,
‘Not only are there African accomplices inside the imperialist system, but
every African has a responsibility to understand the system and work for
its overthrow.’ The republishing of this book is another reminder of our
responsibility.”
Horace Campbell, Professor of African American Studies and Political
Science at Syracuse University

“This classic work of black political thought, political economy, and African
history inspired scholars and political activists in the struggle against
colonialism and its misrepresentations of the past. I applaud this reissue,
which should bring Rodney’s prescient analysis to a new generation struggling
from below, in whose hands, he would have reminded us, is no less than the
future of humankind.”
Lewis R. Gordon, Author of An Introduction to Africana Philosophy
How Europe
Underdeveloped
Africa
 Through the voices of the peoples of Africa and the
global South, Pambazuka Press and Pambazuka News
disseminate analysis and debate on the struggle for
freedom and justice.

Pambazuka Press – www.pambazukapress.org

A Pan-African publisher of progressive books and DVDs on Africa and
the global South that aim to stimulate discussion, analysis and engagement.
Our publications address issues of human rights, social justice, advocacy, the
politics of aid, development and international finance, women’s rights, emerging
powers and activism. They are primarily written by well-known African
academics and activists. Most books are also available as ebooks.

Pambazuka News – www.pambazuka.org

The award-winning and influential electronic weekly newsletter providing
a platform for progressive Pan-African perspectives on politics, development
and global affairs. With more than 2,800 contributors across the continent
and a readership of more than 660,000, Pambazuka News has become
the indispensable source of authentic voices of Africa’s social
analysts and activists.

Pambazuka Press and Pambazuka News are published by Fahamu

(www.fahamu.org)

CODESRIA – www.codesria.org
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa
(CODESRIA) is an independent pan-African organisation whose principal
objectives are to facilitate research, promote research-based publishing and create
multiple forums geared towards the exchange of views and information among
African researchers. All these are aimed at reducing the fragmentation of research
on the continent through the creation of thematic research networks that
cut across linguistic and regional boundaries.
How Europe
Underdeveloped
Africa

Walter Rodney

An imprint of Fahamu
 Published 2012 by Pambazuka Press, an imprint of Fahamu
Cape Town, Dakar, Nairobi and Oxford
www.pambazukapress.org www.fahamu.org www.pambazuka.org

and

CODESRIA
Dakar
www.codesria.org

Fahamu Kenya, PO Box 47158, 00100 GPO, Nairobi, Kenya

Fahamu Senegal, 9 Cité Sonatel 2, BP 13083 Dakar Grand-Yoff, Dakar, Senegal
Fahamu South Africa, c/o 19 Nerina Crescent, Fish Hoek, 7975 Cape Town, South Africa
Fahamu UK, 2nd floor, 51 Cornmarket Street, Oxford OX1 3HA, UK

CODESRIA, Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop X Canal IV, BP 3304, CP 18524, Dakar, Senegal

Available in the United States of America from Black Classic Press, Inc, PO Box 13414,
Baltimore, MD 21203

Copyright © 1972 Walter Rodney

Copyright © 2012 Patricia Rodney

Published in 1972 by Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications,

London and Tanzania Publishing House, Dar es Salaam

First published in the United States 1974 by Howard University Press

Revised edition 1981

Introduction copyright © 1981 by Vincent Harding, William Strickland and Robert Hill

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or any manner, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval
system, without written permission from the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-906387-94-5 paperback

ISBN: 978-1-906387-95-2 ebook – pdf
ISBN: 978-0-85749-097-1 ebook – epub
ISBN: 978-0-85749-098-8 ebook – Kindle
The Foundation continues Rodney’s legacy and is currently supporting
programs in Guyana, Ghana and Tanzania.

www.walterrodneyfoundation.org.
xi
xii HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA

Addition to the Preface

The changes in this new edition of How Europe Underdeveloped Africa include
a new cover, an updated preface, and a brief description of the Walter Rodney
Foundation’s mission and purpose. The actual text has not been altered or
changed in any way, other than for typographical corrections.
It is extraordinary that Walter’s work is as relevant today as when it was first
written. The African continent continues to face similar issues to those he so
profoundly wrote about. The text provides a framework for examining not only
the role of developed countries but that of Africa in shaping its own relationship
and continued dependence on the Western Hemisphere. The lessons are also
applicable to other underdeveloped/developing nations as they examine their
own “relationship of exploitation” with developed countries in this contempo-
rary age of globalization.
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa was first published by Tanzania Publishing
House and Bogle L’Ouverture Publications in 1972. The text was most recently
published by Howard University Press from 1989 until 2011. In 2011, the
Rodney family decided to work with Black Classic Press and Pambazuka Press
to ensure that the book and its message become more accessible to readers
worldwide as they explore the nature of their exploitation. This was Walter’s
hope and purpose.
Patricia Rodney
xiii
xiv HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA

Page 289: Index

xv
xvi HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA
HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA xvii
xviii HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA
HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA xix
xx HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA
HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA xxi
xxii HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA
HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA xxiii
xxiv HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA
HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA xxv
xxvi HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA
HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA xxvii
xxviii HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA