What are the reasons that prevent some societies from developing in the same way as ours did?

[gentleDestroyer472]

Oh wow, a person could write a thick book on this. There are a LOT of factors that go into how a society develops. Here are a few off the top of my head:

Religion can have a huge effect. On the whole, religion has been largely a hindrance to progress, with one notable exception being Islam during the middle ages. Generally though, religions do not like having their answers questioned, and many religions treat science as a competing belief system.

Traditionalism. Societies that place a large emphasis on tradition are more conservative and more resistant to change. Tradition and religion often, though not always, reinforce one another.

Isolation. Societies which are more isolated from others--either geographically, or by decree, or from lack of trade, or from war or xenophobia--change much more slowly than more open societies. This lack of change, especially from lack of trade and new peoples, also tends to hinder any progress or social evolution.

Education. Some primitive societies, like some in Africa (to use your example), place very little emphasis on education beyond what knowledge is needed for survival and hunting/agriculture. They tend to view other knowledge as being useless or irrelevant, or sometimes even as a threat to their beliefs or status quo. Those societies that place the strongest emphasis on a broad education tend to have the greatest rates of innovation and both the freest and most prosperous societies.

Corruption. In many poor societies, power is a means of bettering yourself, of enrichment. So those in power (and those beneath them) do as much as they can to extract as much as they can from the general populace, either not realizing or not caring that their actions are largely responsible for sucking the prosperity out of their country. Thus, a cycle is set up where poverty creates corruption, and corruption perpetuates and creates more poverty.

Institutions. The types and sophistication of various institutions like gov't, religion, infrastructure, the economy (market vs. socialized), education, justice, etc. can all play a role.

Politics & freedom. Those societies that allow the greatest degrees of freedom are the most dynamic, while those that tend to clamp down on dissent tend to be more stunted. The reasons for this are largely the same as for traditionalism, coming down to a desire for new people/ways/ideas/etc. or a desire for constancy.

Hope this helps!