re: Was Africa better off under European colonial rule?

I have asked forms of this question for decades now - mostly wrt liability for 'systemic racism' but in terms of Columbus and America.

- What would YOU have done if you were on the first ship that made a landing in the Carribean and met the indigenous people there?
(It is even harder to ask about first encounters with Africans.)

if your answer is anything other than = 'leave them alone and don't tell anyone because someone else may come in and try to take advantage of their relative inequality in the progress of civilization' - then you are advocating for exactly what the current situation is - or more probably WORSE.

Because WE were fortunate enough to be in the country founded by the most benign and forward thinking individuals in the history of the world. Any other scenario would have ended up with far more dire consequences. Remember that the indigenous Americans were slavers themselves, continually raiding and massacring their neighbors, performing human sacrifice, and treating women like cattle.

How much time would you suggest before coming back to evaluate whether or not they had "caught up with European civilization standards? (or maybe after Europeans have devolved back into human sacrifice and women workers.)

OR - perhaps you DO have an answer of how to deal with a continent full of people who were at least four centuries behind in development.

Societal evolution takes centuries - except when we put fresh 20 yr old know-nothings enrolled in 'gender studies' on the taxpayers' dime who knows exactly how the world should work for the next 2000 years.