Africa is one of the world’s richest continents in natural resources, but one of the poorest in terms of human poverty. Its mineral wealth includes roughly half the world’s gold, most of the world’s diamonds, and large deposits of petroleum, copper, and other resources. It has tremendous potential hydroelectric power and millions of acres of untilled farmland. Yet Africa, the world’s least developed continent next to Antarctica, is home to twenty-nine of the world’s forty-two poorest nations. Most of its people still rely on subsistence agriculture and herding; many earn less than the equivalent of one U.S. dollar a day. In addition, African nations have built up an external debt burden of billions of dollars to foreign banks, nations, and international development agencies including the World Bank and...