ABSTRACT
Among Europeans, the right to colonise the African continent and exploit it to their own profit was, for many decades, barely questioned. The justification, if there had to be one, was that this was – or would be – in the best interests of the Africans. As late as 1948, Viscount Montgomery, commissioned by the Attlee government to visit Africa and make recommendations for British policy there, recorded his view that Africans were 'complete savages', whom the European powers would have to hold in tutelage indefinitely. In general, Turnbull argued, as Mary Kingsley had done, that colonial regimes had shown little interest in trying to understand African society. While there was little racial animosity in West Africa, in East and Central Africa the Africans deeply resented the racial discrimination and segregation which was universally practised. Europe also enjoys a substantial income from the servicing of African debt, mostly incurred for unproductive purposes and in the interests of elites.
