Abstract: For a number of reasons, states have come in contact with one another, both regionally and globally. The African encounters with both the West and Arab world in particular can be traced to the slave trade era. Both encounters ended up in certain fundamental trajectories (positive and negative) that continue to underlie Africa’s existence and international development. The western encounter for example, ended up in the scramble for African countries and eventual colonization and artificial creation of boundaries and states. Using library research method, the paper presents its argument in a historical and explanatory perspective as it seeks to provide a critical analogy of these encounters and how it has brought about development or underdevelopment for the continent, with a view of identifying adequate (realist) measures that can be adopted by the continent to maximize relationship with the outside world. This has also informed the recommendations and conclusion that follows.