(I) The legacies of colonialism weighed heavily on sub-Saharan Africa. (II) Most of the continent's former colonies came into their independence after World War II, with their basic infrastructures deteriorating after decades of imperial negligence. (III) The Cold War decades brought scant improvement, as governments across the continent were plagued by corruption, poverty and civil war. (IV) By the end of the twentieth century, East Asia had become a centre of industrial and manufacturing production. (V) Moreover, during the Cold War, these postcolonial states often became the very ground on which the superpower struggle was waged.