Africa has had an unfortunate relationship with Europe. For centuries it was used as a source of slaves. Africa's greatest export till the 19th century was involuntary manpower export. To an extent that large areas near the slave trading regions were effectively depopulated. This trade suffered a shock when the British banned slavery and then used their naval power to try and suppress it. For a time it was sustained by US demand until the US civil war outlawed slavery over there and effectively ended this trade.
Africa's troubles were however just beginning. The last great frontier for Imperialism after 1850 was Africa. The continent was viewed as a blank canvas on which any picture could be drawn. That there were millions of people living there was not even a factor. Country after country grabbed whatever slice of the continent they could. The apogee of this process came when King Leopold of the tiny state of Belgium managed to grab Congo as his personal fief. In the carve up that occurred, arbitrary lines were drawn that split up tribes and lumped traditional enemies together. European rule in Africa was also not particularly enlightened either. Africa was viewed as a source of extracting raw material - a position that it still occupies.
The occupation and division of Africa has several consequences. It stored trouble for the future by lumping traditional enemies together and dividing tribes without regard for kinship and traditional ties. This was then compounded by the racism that administrators of that era exhibited. This was the time when scientific discoveries and theories were constantly popping up. The question of race was also being theorized about. Perhaps not surprisingly given that Imperialism was at its height, whites were deemed to be at the peak of humanity while black people were right at the bottom and only a little above the level of beasts. When this was the general attitude, local administrators, again not surprisingly, saw no value in local customs and lifestyles. The way was now clear for unbridled, full scale exploitation of African resources without regard for the local populace. Local institutions and customs were deliberately destroyed as they were impediments for the ongoing exploitation. But, and this is key, they were not replaced by anything else. A vacuum was left that was exploited by local strong men when the colonial administrators finally left. At the time of independence, most African states lacked the necessary trained manpower required to run their economies. There were also no effective checks left in place that could have prevented autocrats from seizing brutally exploiting power.
The devastating and toxic legacy of Imperialism came to fruition after the colonials left. For example, in Uganda, local power structures were dismantled just before it gained independence in an attempt to impose parliamentary democracy. Instead a vacuum was created into which a psychopath like Idi Amin could step in. In the Congo, no attempt was ever made to create an educated class that could run the country after independence. Indeed independence was not even on the cards as far as Belgium was concerned until its hand was forced. Then it scrambled out in unseemly haste leaving a power vacuum behind that was eventually filled by a kleptomaniac like Mobutu Sese Seko. The story is very similar in country after country. The arbitrary borders drawn by the Europeans also resulted in brutal civil wars many of which lingered on for decades. The roots of one of the greatest genocides in recent history can also be traced to colonialism's legacy. The colonial administrators in Rwanda lumped two peoples together arbitrarily and then favored one over the other. This generated tensions that lasted for decades and culminated in the massacre of the Tutsis by the Hutus in that country.
What about after independence? Imperialism did not disappear after formal rule was abandoned. Instead it transmuted into new and in many cases even more virulent forms. The effects of this new form is still being felt across the continent. The new imperialism however depends on the co-operation of local elites. Colonialism can be blamed to the extent that it failed to foster a vibrant local civil society. In some cases, most particularly Zimbabwe, local dictators can also be blamed. Robert Mugabe built up a middle class and is now in the process of destroying it in an attempt to hold power at all costs.
Was Imperialism beneficial? In Africa, most certainly not. It destroyed traditional structures without putting anything else in place. It started a large scale exploitation of the continent without regard for the local populace that is still continuing. It also encouraged and nurtured local dictators for this purpose. The locals were not able to put up effective resistance because civil structure had been strongly discouraged during the colonial period and brutally suppressed after independence.
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