Uhhh . Who do you think ran those factories ? People in the working class in the US in the UK first , then it spread to the rest of EuropeWho do you think does now ? Good hard working Americans ? Or slaves in Africa that make our shoes and in China where they make our everything else ? Yup and this is the reason China has a rapidly growing middle class and hundreds of millions have been lifted out of extreme poverty in the last couple of decades . Africa isn ' t seeing the same benefit because of largely unstable governments and corrupt institutions . I ' m not saying exploitation and colonization didn ' tdon ' t exist , I ' m just saying no country has made it to being a modern developed country without industrialization , but several have made it without colonization and exploitation Finland , South Korea , Singapore