The birth of new nations independent democracies the defeat of settler colonialism the
unprecedented growth of cities from Lagos to Cairo the African continent is booming. So why do
myths about underdevelopment unproductive land and unfounded concerns about overpopulation
remain?In a groundbreaking new study of Africa's developmental history economist Joe Studwell
debunks long-held views about the continent's presumed resistance to growth charting
monumental changes in government demography and asset management. Considering everything from
settler colonialism to soil conditions mineral extractivism to disease development and
eradication and across case studies from Rwanda to Botswana Studwell persuasively argues that
the seizing back of land people and states across Africa has also been the seizure of mass
economic development. From slavery to independence and beyond this is the definitive account
of the world's second largest continent - and an optimistic look to its future.
