Africa has been stereotyped as primitive, backward, dark continent and underdeveloped. Despite these allegations, some Europeans upon entering into Africa decided to embrace some of Africa's ways of Life. The notion of Africa's backwardness was often used as a basis for enslavement and colonization. In the 18th Century, certain European groups had a debate around the topic of slavery abolitionists. The apologists defended slavery with claims that Africa was backward and savagery. They called Africa a living hell and said that the slave trade reformed African suffering. This narrative aligned with colonial justifications as most Europeans thought that they brought civilization into the forest zones of Africa. Sir Willie F. Page wrote that "until they were "civilized" by others, Africans were the natural servants of other races. If Africans were naturally servants as Johnston argued, or immature and underdeveloped children as other propagandists for colonial empire wrote, then colonialism was justified".
Nevertheless, when Europeans came in contact with the continent, they were often greeted with the evidence of African civilization. An example is a missionary- Placid Temples who shocked the European world when he began to understand African concepts, he referred to the philosophy he came across as Bantu Philosophy. He said, "The discovery of Bantu philosophy is a disturbing event for all those who are concerned with African education. We have had the idea that we stood before them like adults before the newly born. In our mission to educate and to civilize, we believed that we started with a "tabula rasa" though we also believed that we had to clear the ground of some worthless notions, to lay foundations in bare soil. We were quite sure that we should give short shrift to stupid customs, and vain beliefs, as being quite ridiculous and devoid of all sound sense, we had children, "great children" to educate and that seemed easy enough. Then all at once, we discovered that we were concerned with a sample of humanity, adults, aware of its brand of wisdom and moulded by its philosophy of life. That is why we feel the slow slipping under our feet, that we are losing track of things and why we are asking ourselves, "What to do now to lead our coloured people?". Placid is said to have undergone a deep conversion which made him regard African moral values. His understanding of African central African philosophy neutralized popular narratives about Africa at the time.
This development also brought about European recognition of African Architecture. However, rather than merely appreciating Africa's uniqueness, some Europeans began to adopt African techniques entirely. African Architecture was perfectly suited to meet the needs of African people and their environment. Earthern construction was innovative and worked well in the climate. It catered for the needs of sedentary people or those who moved around regularly. Notwithstanding the conventional view concerning some forms of African Architecture, Early Europeans and Colonial settlements began to adopt African techniques. Labelle Prussin writes that "Early British and French Colonial settlers and administrators, recognising the merit of indigenous solutions to climatic comfort, emulated them by raising their expatriate mountains high above the ground and by developing a wall system composed of louvred doors and screened verandahs, many examples can still be seen in Abidjan, Accra, Lagos and Dakar".
A similar mode of operation can be said of African military history. Scholar John Thornton writes that military historians are beginning to reassess the idea that military systems that did not imitate the European model were developmentally backward or inferior. Europeans and Africans in Central Africa began to regard the advantages of both military systems and began to combine arms and strategies. John Thornton writes "As a result of this recognition, a new art of war developed that combined European and African arms and strategies. It was gradually adopted by both sides in the confrontation, which had its high points during the long wars between the Portuguese and Queen Njinga (ruled 1624-23) and her successors over control of the highlands region that made up Ndongo heartland and more or less ended in a stalemate in the early 1680s".
European adoption of African techniques is an inquisitive matter, especially when the backwardness and primitive claim are taken into consideration. Perhaps this suggests that Africa was not backwards after all.
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