In the year 1850, almost all of Africa was ruled by Africans. However, by 1900, essentially the entire continent had been conquered by European powers. European colonialism in Africa had ended by the 1970s, but this period of the continent’s history still has a massive effect on Africa today. But what about modern time? Could we ever see an attempt to re-conquer Africa? Would it be possible today to do what European countries did in the 19th Century? In fact, definitely not, and we’ll explain why…
1. Africa Is Too Big To Conquer
A first reason why Africa couldn’t be conquered is simply because it’s so big.
Africa is the second largest continent. Its cover a total of over 30 million square kilometers. Africa is truly enormous. For any army to actually conquer Africa it would need to control all parts of the continent. This would be incredibly difficult because Africa is so large. Any army trying to control the entire continent would need to be massive. There isn’t a nation, or even a group of countries, that has the military substantial enough to do it. This is a big reason why Africa couldn’t be conquered.
Any force that tried to conquer Africa and was unable to dominate all the territory, would face partisan attacks and retaliations from groups acting from the areas they failed to control. As Africa is so big, it’s likely that large parts of the continent would remain outside of a conquering forces control. Essentially, this would make any attempt to conquer Africa doomed to fail.
2. Africa’s Population Is Too Large To Subdue
A second reason why Africa couldn’t be conquered is because its population is so large.
Africa is the second most populous continent. Across Africa there are nearly 1.4 billion people. Any force that tried to conquer Africa would need to subdue most of this population. It is clear that any attempt to conquer the continent would be fiercely resisted by the people of Africa. This would mean any invading force would need to use extreme brutality in order to overcome the huge number of people resisting them. Few forces can actually do this, and any that tried would face enormous international condemnation.
As well as Africa having a large population, the continent’s demographics are also a key reason why it couldn’t be conquered. Africa is the youngest continent in the world. The average age across Africa is only 18 years old. This means there are literally tens of millions of people of fighting age who could resist an attempt to conquer Africa. This is a major reason why it would be impossible to do.
3. The Tough Geography Of Africa Would Make It Hard To Conquer
A third reason why Africa could never be conquered is because of its geography.
Africa has enormously varied geography. Across the continent there are deserts, jungles, mountains, plains, lakes and rivers. Many of the geographical features of the continent make it extremely hard to conquer. Even modern armies struggle to traverse terrain such as deserts or jungles. This makes conquering Africa almost impossible.
As well as Africa’s geography making it hard to conquer, it also provides significant advantages to defending forces. Geographical features such as jungles and mountains can massively assist defending armies, even if they are much less well equipped than the attacking force. This factor only adds to the reasons why Africa couldn’t be conquered.
4. African Nations Would Resist Attempts To Conquer Them
Another reason why Africa could never be conquered is because the countries across the continent would fiercely resist an invasion.
There are 54 African nations. Although many are poor, there are also many that are now middle-income nations. All the countries of Africa have an armed forces. Several have modern, well-trained and well-equipped militaries, including Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa.
Any force that tried to conquer Africa could need to fight, essentially, every military on the continent. This totals hundreds of thousands of soldiers, millions of reservists, hundreds of battle tanks and armoured vehicles and hundreds of combat air craft. There is no military in the world that has the strength of achieve this. As a result, Africa just couldn’t be conquered.
5. No Country Has The Incentive To Try And Conquer Africa
One reason why Africa could never be conquered is because there is really no incentive for any country to try.
Undertaking an attempt to conquer the entire continent of Africa would be enormous undertaking. For any country, or group of countries, to even attempt it would need a very strong motivation. This just doesn’t exist. Few countries have fierce enemies in Africa. There also would be very limited economic gains from conquering the continent, especially considering the scale of the force and effort needed to undertake the invasion.
Most countries get the resources they need from Africa by trading. Although many would argue that Africa is highly exploited by the rest of the world, in fact this only adds to the lack of incentive a country would have for trying to conquer the continent – the global system is getting from Africa what it needs, without having to conquer it.
6. An Attack On Africa Would Damage The Global Economy
A final reason why Africa couldn’t be conquered is because of the damage this could cause to the global economy.
Africa plays a vital role in the modern economic system. Many raw commodities and natural resources come from Africa in large quantities, including oil, gold, diamonds, cobalt, timber, cocoa, coffee, platinum and uranium. Resources such as these are the foundations of many global supply chains. Although they could be sourced elsewhere to some degree if Africa’s economy was disrupted, the continent has well established sourcing and logistics models to ensure these commodities can get to market.
If Africa was invaded, it would have a massive negative effect on many other countries’ economies. This would deter almost any country from attempting to conquer the continent. It would also rally many countries against any nation that tried to conquer Africa, as their economies would be negatively affected. These are all key reason why no attempt is going to ever be made to try and conquer Africa.