Do third world countries/mass poverty come from colonialism and its effects, or is it a natural transition from less developed civilizations to the present?

by Relax_Redditors

Or in other words, what would these countries (Sub-sahara Africa, India, certain South America/Caribbean countries) look like if Europeans never colonized? Would they be happily living within the means that their area can provide them? Would they be over populated and in need of aid like they are now?

jschooltiger

Hi there! There's always room for more answers, but we have some information in our wiki/FAQs that can get you started. Many similar questions have been asked here, and here are some notable threads.

If you see answers that are useful to you, tag the commenter in this thread (by saying something like "hey /u/jschooltiger can you tell me more about ...) and the user you tag should get an alert.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/africa

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2c4lni/why_is_colonialism_responsible_for_terrible/ (11 months ago, 22 comments)

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1jax1a/what_was_the_economy_of_africa_like_before_and/ (1 year ago, 7 comments)

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1oaimh/ama_history_of_british_india_colonial_era_to/ (1 year ago, 194 comments)

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1sxz17/i_have_seen_several_blog_posts_expressing/ (1 year ago, 55 comments)