How does Conrad present Africa and Europe as being completely dislocated from each other in 'Heart of Darkness'?

At the start of 'Heart of Darkness', Marlow describes how he feels as though he has ventured into a deep past through his travels as he describes himself as a “wanderer[s] on a prehistoric earth”. The adjective “prehistoric” gives a sense that Africa has not evolved through the passage of time, but this is especially prominent because Africa is not in a deep past, but instead co-exists alongside ‘modern civilised’ Europe. Marlow further states “you thought yourself bewitched and cut off [in Africa]” enhancing this sense of isolation experienced by the travellers, and presents Africa and Europe as not only separate places, but separate worlds. Furthermore, Conrad adds to the idea that the African and the European cultures are dislocated from each other through Marlow’s encounter with a native African with “a bit of worsted round his neck”. The worsted cloth is made in England and is used for suits, symbolising the British and their ‘civilised’ customs, so by it looking “startling round his black neck” implies to the reader that the imperialists’ culture is out of place among the native Africans. Conrad is also drawing a link to the line by Kipling “our loved Egyptian night” in his poem 'The White Man's Burden' as the ‘night’ is a metaphor for the ignorance expressed by the white man towards the natives, solidifying to the reader that the cultures of the natives and the imperialists are dislocated from each other through the lack of knowledge of each others’ culture. 

Nevertheless, Conrad also demonstrates how both Africa and Europe are not always dislocated and are in many ways connected to each other. Conrad portrays the connection between the colonists and the coloniser through the black soldier acting on behalf of the white imperialists, as he gave Marlow “a large, white, rascally grin”. This image connotes how the black African has become intertwined into the imperialist activities, causing him to mirror the “grin” and emotions of the white men, suggesting that he has become dislocated from his African heritage and lost his cultural bond. Moreover, Conrad creates a sense of shared history between the two nations of being colonised. In Heart of Darkness Marlow states that England was “also […] one of the dark places of the earth” alluding to the fact that England, like Africa, was once a place of “primitive darkness” until it was colonised by the Romans, continuing this idea that both the colonised and the colonists are connected through their shared identity of being colonised. This allows the reader to acknowledge that despite a fierce sense of dislocation between the two nations, they both hold deep connections rooted in their history.