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When you a few hundred years behind most of the world it is a problem. I don't know of any building in sub Saharan Africa that predates the colonialists. I know Egypt and North Africa do have old buildings but not where I am from.

Result is overcrowding and people living in shacks.

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great zimbabwe and other ruins in southern africa predate the colonists others like benin city were destroyed by the colonists

I get your point but I was specifically refering to houses in cities that people live in. The majority of houses were mud huts in Zimbabwe and these were not dwellings passed on from generation to generation. This is contrast to cities like London were some buildings have been standing for hundreds of years. This means new generations are not starting building from scratch.

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