African History - birdvilleschools.net · Nationalism Missionary Activity & Naval Bases European Motives For Colonization Places to Dump Unwanted/ Excess Population Social & Economic

1890 1914

Early Civilizations

Early Man

Early hominids: 2,000,000 years ago

10,000 civilizations began to develop

Economy

• Farming

• Trade: Romans, Arabia, & India

• Prospered because of iron & gold supplies

Society

• Village community: center of life

• Women subordinate to men, different roles

• Slavery practiced

Religion

• Christianity became official religion in 324 A.D.

• Faced conflict with Muslims starting in 12th c.

Culture

• Early African arts served religious purposes

• African music & dance had significant & lasting influence

• Oral tradition

“Scramble for Africa” 1881-1914

Source For Raw Materials

Markets for Finished Goods

European Nationalism

Missionary Activity

Military & Naval Bases

European

Motives

For Colonization

Places to

Dump Unwanted/ Excess Population

Social & Economic Opportunities

Humanitarian Reasons “White

Man’s Burden”

Social Darwinism

European Racism

Industrial Revolution

Berlin Conference 1884

New European drawn boundaries took little stock of tribes & laid the framework for more than a century of fighting.

European drawn boundaries combined peoples of differing ethnic groups, religions, culture

Issues of Conflict as a Result: Grazing rights

water rights

land rights

access to political power, education, & jobs

1890 1914

Africa

Culture

Regions

Today…

Does it

match

current

country

borders?

1948-1994: Apartheid (legal segregation) enforced by the white/British (Afrikaner) gov’t in South Africa

Apartheid in South Africa

Nelson Mandela jailed for 27 years in his

fight against apartheid…

Lived to vote in the first racially

democratic election….1994

And become president of South Africa…

South African President Nelson Mandela, center, flanked by his

two deputy presidents, Thabo Mbeki, left and F.W. de Klerk, right,

celebrate the new constitution, May 8, 1996.

South Africa post-Apartheid

Apartheid has ended but inequalities remain.

Whites enjoy a standard of living similar to that of the most

developed countries.

Unemployment, AIDS, lack of housing, poverty and crime are the

major problems today.

Nigeria’s Oil Industry

Oil found here in 1950’s

Government corruption, civil war

Oil $$ goes to the gov’t, not the

infrastructure or the people of the

country.

Nigerian regulations are weak –

foreign-owned oil companies self-

regulate.

Criticized for not protecting the

various ethnic groups/tribes & the

wildlife.

Oil spills common

Republic of South Sudan

http://video.nytimes.com/video

/2011/01/15/world/africa/1

248069566895/southern-

sudan-s-referendum.html

Sudan in civil war since 1965.

South became independent:

July 9, 2011 (last summer!)

Conflicts still exist

Contested boundary lines

(Abyei – see video link)

S. Sudan gained billions of

dollars worth of oil

Rwanda Hutu-Tutsi Genocide

Belgian colonists favored Tutsi tribe. Divided into tribes based on looks.

Tutsi believed to be of European descent (lighter skin, taller, larger skulls)

Tutsi hold key jobs, Hutu treated poorly

Belgians left Rwanda in 1961; Hutu fought back for the years of Belgian/Tutsi repression.

April 1994 - July 1994 Hutu killed Tutsi

Goal: Eliminate all of the Tutsi (genocide) – Seen as a Civil War by the world, nothing was done to stop the Hutu

100 days – Over 1 million people dead/ 20% of the country’s population (men, women, children)