What was looted in Kenya?

#254 is one country that cannot complain about colonialism or imperialism. The overall impact of colonialism was positive in Kenya.

The damage to Kenya was done by the politicians especially the so called founding father.

It was kenyatta who created "mtu wetu" syndrome so that he and his cohorts can rob the treasury dry while Wanjiku, Moraa,Kaluki, Adongo, Chebet ,Nekesa and other distracted Kenyans call each other names because they belong to different tribes. 50 years later we are all busy insulting each other and celebrating when others are nyanyaswad , meanwhile the politicians have been robbing you for 56 years.

It was kenyatta who encouraged and in some cases even started all the ills that are ravaging the country: land grabbing, corruption, tribalism, political assassination, detention without trial, greed, incompetence , sycophancy .............

The white man came to Africa as missionaries and explorers but were soon sitting on a table dividing Africa amongst themselves. Here's a peep into how Europeans looted Africa of it wealth and sovereignty...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ1uo5jvpe8

If our old prophets and leaders saw an iron snake and recommended that we cooperate with the colonialists then we could be defining the problem incorrectly.

The symbolism of iron, and that of a snake are keys that we should consider in their proper context - alchemy.

Given that traditional Africa was universalist and non racist,thinking along racial lines only takes us further from the truth we're supposed to use for a better life.

It might seem a little strange to understand that despite being on Europe's doorstep, Africa was the Continent that, with a few exceptions, was pretty much left to last on the imperial check list. The reasons for this had to do with various geographical and environmental challenges which were severe enough to curtail most European endeavours to penetrate the Dark Continent despite its physical proximity. Asia and the Americas appeared to offer more lucrative economic opportunities in more benign conditions. Besides, once Europeans acquired enough maritime technological skill and expertise it was often easier to do business with parts of the World that could be accessed by the sea or had favourable winds to and/or from them as destinations. The Trade Winds across the Atlantic made it easier for ships to go from East to West than it was to go from North to South. The Doldrums beneath West Africa became notoriously difficult to navigate through safely. In time, Europeans came to the conclusion that it was easier to cross the Atlantic to South America before catching the Southern Hemisphere's Trade Winds back towards the Cape of Good Hope and then they could catch the Indian Ocean's Trade Winds and pretty much bypass Africa completely and access the lucrative Asian spice markets directly.

Land access to Africa was equally problematic from the North with the Sahara Desert presenting a formidable natural obstacle to Europeans. It did not help that the more palatable Mediterranean Coastline was occupied by more formidable Arab and Ottoman societies which were strong enough to compete with and repel European incursions for many centuries. These would act as conduits for limited trade opportunities from the African interior but even they had to deal with the difficulties of traversing the Sahara Desert and imposed their own costs and taxes on any goods coming out of Africa - if not consume these goods themselves. These Arab and Ottoman states tended to view Europe with suspicion and although not averse to trade did so only if it was to their own advantage.

Another barrier to entry was Africa's reputation as "The White Man's Grave". The one part of the Africa's Western coastline which is not desert is West Africa and the Congo's equatorial forests. The local populations had built up considerable natural defences and immunities to the myriad diseases and pathogens to be found in the area. Early European connections to West Africa would literally see them 'drop like flies' as they discovered themselves how harsh the conditions were to the European constitution and especially with its severely limited understanding of medical knowledge and especially the causes of disease. It would take centuries of scientific endeavour before Europeans would have enough understanding of prevention and treatment of diseases to be able to feel confident enough to stay in the region for extended periods of time.

Yet another barrier to European incursion was the formidable African societies that existed throughout most of the continent. Unlike the sparsely populated Americas or Australia, Africa was a densely populated Continent with many sophisticated societies well adapted to their environment and not cut off entirely from the rest of the World. The Arab cultures in particular brought many of the world's key technological and cultural advances to the attention of many African tribes - even if these were often used as a means by the Arabs to subdue and exploit African lands and peoples themselves. Still, many African societies were aware of concepts such as literacy, organised religion, iron-making and gunpowder. This meant that Europeans would not find Africans as easy to dominate and intimidate as they were able to do in other parts of the World. However, if there was one weakness to the African polity when Europeans did begin to show an interest in exploiting the resources of the Continent, it was the relative fractured nature of African societies. There were so many competing tribes and societies that it was hard for Africa to offer a sustained and consistent level of resistance to these Europeans. These divisions would often fatally undermine the Continent's ability to defend itself.

So Europe was more than aware of the existence of Africa and Africans but with formidable Islamic buffer civilisations, the Sahara Desert, a hostile and difficult to reach coastline, disease and an often densely populated and sophisticated indigenous populations it perhaps becomes less surprising that Africa took so long to come to the attention of Europe's empires. Perhaps it is something of a complement to the Continent that it was the last part of the World that was systematically divided up by the Europeans - only after they had established colonies, settlements or trading relationships with the rest of the World did they turn to 'The Dark Continent'.