Even though Africa is rich in resources such as diamonds, gold, oil, coltan and other minerals, economically it is still very poor. There are five main reasons that have contributed to Africa's poverty.

1) Colonization

In the 1800s the African continent was colonized by European nations who wanted to profit economically, spread religions and expand their borders. This had many effects on the African civilization because the Europeans took over the land and even made the Africans slaves. After Africa reached its independence in the 1950s, civil wars have started and their military has weakened. Africa’s government, farming system and educational value has changed. As they took the land they took all the resources and used them for industrialization and for trade. They suffered from the loss of their resources like gold and rubber. This left Africa very poor.

2) Dictatorships

After many African countries started growing independently from colonization, corrupt leaders took advantage of Africa’s political instability and dictated some countries. Dictators live in luxury while the rest of the population lives in poverty. Although citizens have voted and replaced the corrupt leaders, dictatorship is still a problem in Africa because the dictators use the money that comes in for war and other things instead of hospitals and schools.

3) Resource wars

Africa has many valuable resources like diamonds, gold, coltan, rubber and oil. Other countries need those resources for industrialization and they go into Africa and try to steal them and that’s when the wars break out. These wars are called resource wars. Resource wars caused poverty because the money made in the country gets wasted on weapons or in reconstructing the land after the wars instead of using it to fulfill the necessities of the people like education, health care and better-paying jobs.

Countries in Africa such as the Congo, own many valuable resources. As a result of this, there are constant conflicts in the Congo. Regional Leaders, International donors, private companies and other distant countries are responsible for the conflicts because they have purposely or unwittingly supported the exploitation of resources by buying them or shipping them illegally. Some of the products that we use such as cell phones, video games, furniture, jewelry etc, have an invisible imprint of violence.

4) Debt

The African continent has been in debt for borrowing money from international agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to re-establish the countries after wars. The debts increase over the years due to the interest rates. The World Bank and the IMF have caused poverty in Africa because they have built a structural adjustment in order for Africa to pay off the debts. Structural adjustment is the changes designed by the IMF or World Bank in order to promote economic growth so that the country can pay off the debt. For the African continent, the IMF has mandated them to reduce the standard of living of their people. In other words, Africa has to cut down the economy on resource extraction, minimize their state role, and reduce the protection of domestic industries. Subsidies which are financial assistance from the government such as food subsidies are eliminated. Africans are being controlled to pay the debts which are so high, and they end up lacking education, hospitals and other necessities for the people.

5) Valuable Commodities

Coffee is the second most valuable commodity in the world originated in Ethiopia, a country in Africa. Although they produce this product they remain poor because when other countries buy the coffee from them they buy them for a very low price such as 8 cents a kilo very close to what they spend on producing the coffee. When the large corporations buy the coffee, they sell it for almost $3.00 a kilo which is very unfair for the farmers who produce the coffee because they aren’t making any profit out of it therefore, poverty increases.

Cotton is another valuable commodity produced in USA and in Burkina Faso, Africa. The USA receives subsidies which is financial assistance given by the government and since their getting help to grow cotton they sell it for a very low price and countries buy it from them rather than Africa. This ruins Africa’s profit and the 20 million people in Africa who depend on the profits made from the cotton.