The ‘Otherisation of Africa’

Europe&s;s contact and engagement with Africa was always centred on wealth creation for Europe, and as the continent became easier to navigate, European nations began to acquire new lands, both in Africa and in the Americas. This chapter outlines how Europe expanded its operations across the African continent, ignoring traditional cultural and religious practices and establishing systems to serve the needs of Europe. Peaceful trading gave way to the enslavement of Africa&s;s Black bodies. However, during this historical period, Africa was already well-advanced in arts and culture and systems of governance. Its religious and cultural practices were grounded in common cultural and community values, but European powers constructed a myth about the continent and trampled on secular and sacred systems to achieve its own goals across the continent. To expand the enslavement and subjugation of Africa&s;s population, Africans were ‘otherised’ and ‘dehumanised’ to serve capitalist expansion.