One thing I have noticed about history is that at many times and in many places there has been a pattern of large structured societies fracturing into feudal states. These states fight it out for a while, sometimes centuries before someone comes along and conquers the majority of the society. This was what happened in Europe after the decline of Rome. It's what happened to China multiple times throughout its history. It's what happened to Japan in the Sengoku period.
I was wondering why we haven't seen anyone make a serious attempt at conquering Africa since the end of colonialism. Not all of Africa was decolonized at once but huge parts of it have been since the end of world war 2. In all that time, I'm surprised no one has tried to unify it. Now of course it's unlikely that anyone could succeed in doing so given how large it is but I still don’t see why no one has made a serious attempt at controlling a large region of the continent. Shaka Zulu managed to make a good go at this during imperialism and so far as I understand it, this is kind of what Bolivar tried and failed to do in South America, so why not Africa?
Hey there,
Just to let you know, your question is fine, and we're letting it stand. However, you should be aware that questions framed as 'Why didn't X do Y' relatively often don't get an answer that meets our standards (in our experience as moderators). There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, it often can be difficult to prove the counterfactual: historians know much more about what happened than what might have happened. Secondly, 'why didn't X do Y' questions are sometimes phrased in an ahistorical way. It's worth remembering that people in the past couldn't see into the future, and they generally didn't have all the information we now have about their situations; things that look obvious now didn't necessarily look that way at the time.
If you end up not getting a response after a day or two, consider asking a new question focusing instead on why what happened did happen (rather than why what didn't happen didn't happen) - this kind of question is more likely to get a response in our experience. Hope this helps!