ABSTRACT
This chapter recognizes that Africa is indeed a homogenous entity. It presents a history of colonization or informal imperial control and is characterized by varying degrees of poverty and development and also by high population growth. The chapter details 50 countries, out of the world's 200, which are home for over 900 million people, or roughly one-seventh of humanity. The dependency theory holds that industrialized-developed countries, aka the centre, and developing countries, aka the peripheries, alike are part and parcel of a single world system, which is in turn integrated into the Western capitalist system. The improvement in living standards, in particular in Western countries, led to a very large demand for manufactured and energy products as well as raw materials. In African countries, the Western model of consumption also spurred a demand for and the importation of manufactured products that are symbols of a modern way of life.
