The Dark Continent

Africa, the Dark Continent. A romantic name for an unknown and underexplored region of the world to the Europeans of the 19th century. Today is different though, we know Africa and have mapped out every last mystery – even that elusive source of the Nile.

Take a look at a night time map of Africa compared to the rest of the world – yes it’s very dark.

 Looking at the above map, one can see that Africa is still dark infrastructurally, technologically and on top of that, the world just doesn’t seem to care. What does that mean for Africa and Africans?

So, in our unique position, what do we see? This is what I see:

- I see young Africans gaining access to technology and connecting to the world at a greater pace than ever before. What happens when you get millions of children on $100 computers? How does that change their world view and affect the way communication happens?

- I see an Africa on the verge of a technical revolution that leapfrogs years of government corruption and of condescension by the world’s developed nations. What happens when the government can’t control information or communication?

- I see people who want to be recognized as more than just the hand-out junkies that their governments make them look like. Technology is giving them that voice, and will give them more over the coming years. This begs another question: what happens when the highly educated African diaspora return, or invest?

(Source: http://whiteafrican.com/about/)