WI no slave trade: effects on Africa

Well, it would have a demographic impact, but there are Malthusian limits in Sub-Saharan Africa that are difficult to overcome. Lots of diseases and poor soil make life very hard.

But a lot of this can be dealt with by advanced development. That's why we have to be careful with the idea that Africa is overpopulated. It's overpopulated in the sense that there's more people than can be consistently supported by the agricultural output, but that's because they don't have advanced farming techniques or good transport systems to move grain about in bad years. I mean think of this without modern technology:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Desert
 
Certain areas of Africa will be better than they are now, but there are still many obstacles for any African country from becoming a major industrial power.

Yes, but they could have had enough state formation to be similar to places like Southeast Asia. You still get colonised, but you have a higher level of governance capability and economic potential when decolonisation happens.
 
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