ABSTRACT
The future of Afrasia can therefore be discussed in an inter-regional framework. The rise of European capitalism was possible only with Europe’s exploitation of silver in Latin America, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and then the colonisation of Afrasia. The beginning of the 21st century saw strong demand from China, Japan, and the emerging Asian economies for Africa’s non-renewable natural resources including crude oil and rare metals. In Plagues and Peoples (1976), the historian William H. McNeill used the keyword ‘parasitism’ to interpret human history. The physical conditions of a small population world where people can move freely to an open frontier to avoid conflict will eventually be lost in all major parts of Afrasia. A host of issues need to be resolved utilising the collective wisdom of the Afrasian people. If only to fix the Malthusian problem of food shortages, improving agricultural productivity would suffice.
