Development of African Civilization

Mazrui (1986) described a tripartite African heritage. The continent has an indigenous heritage, a Semitic heritage, and a western heritage (Mazrui, 1986). Mazrui (1986) does not necessarily regard the Semetic heritage as external in character, because he contends that defining the Middle East home of the Semites as a part of Asia, as opposed to including it as a part of Africa, was an arbitrary European action, which was based upon European imperatives and perspectives, without regard for African considerations. Thus, according to Mazrui (1986), although both Judaism and Islam have influenced the development of African civilization, their influences have been neither as alien nor as destructive to indigenous social, political, and economic structures as have western influences.

Western actions in Africa have been both pervasive and destructive in Africa (BoamahWaife, 1988). Although the

effects on African civilization of western actions have tended to vary according to the unique circumstances of each African country, the general nature of the effects have been similar all across the continent (Mazrui, 1986). For this reason, in this research, the effects of western actions on African civilization are examined in th