Unit #5 Africa

Unit #5Africa

Huge continent 1/5 of the total landmass of the Earth Dominated by extremes – huge deserts and

dense jungles Longest River – the Nile Great Rift Valley – center of original human

activity

• Arab Africa • area north of the Sahara• Mostly Muslim today – strong ties to the Middle East• Small strip of land for development along the Med Sea

• Sahara Desert • largest desert in the world• Separates black Africa from Arab Africa• Largely impenetrable, except for area around the Nile River

West Africa• largely grasslands – best farming on the continent• Some jungle areas – especially south of the Equator• Heavily populated region• Long legacy of slavery and the slave trade

• Great Rift Valley • 4000 mile long rip in the land where the continents pulled

apart millions of years ago• Includes the Red Sea and most of Africa’s major lakes• Area where first pre-humans appeared (Olduvai Gorge) –

oldest fossils may be 3.5 million years old• East Africa • Stretches from Ethiopia to South Africa• Strong ties to the east (India and Indonesia) through trade• Dominated by the Great Rift Valley

• Central and South Africa• Flat grasslands and deserts on a plateau• Heavy diamond mines in the region• Vast mineral resources (gold, silver, copper and uranium)• Legacy of legalized segregation (Apartheid) in South Africa and

brutal colonization by European powers in other parts of the region

Nile river◦ longest in the world (over 4000 miles)◦ Runs from the mountains of Ethiopia north to the

Mediterranean Sea◦ Very fertile delta – some settlements along the Nile

may be as old as 6000 years◦ River cuts through the boundary between Black

Africa and Arab Africa Congo River

◦ Over 2750 miles long◦ Drains the Congo Basin: an area of dense jungles and

rainforest◦ Not fully navigable due to large waterfalls and intense current◦ No delta: current actually flows out to sea – very little

agricultural development

Most of Africa supports only subsistence farming (farming that only supports the nutritional needs of the farmer and his family with nothing left to sell)

Geographic factors such as climate and soil limit the ability of some regions in Africa to support wide scale agriculture

Egypt and Nubia ◦ settlements along the Nile may be 5000+ years old◦ Carved out an empire by about 2500 BC (multiple

nations – river cuts across the line between Black Africa and Arab Africa)

◦ Legacy of this volatile relationship can be seen in the Sudan today

Bantu Migrations◦ About 4000 BC: black Africans from what is today

Nigeria begin to filter down throughout the continent◦ Today most of Black Africa is populated by people

who are ethnically and linguistically related, yet are members of hundreds of different African tribes

◦Attraction as a religion of salvation after 650 AD

◦Berber traders crossed the Sahara Desert and into West Africa

◦Estimates of 25% conversion by 1500

◦Timbuktu in Mali becomes a center of Islamic learning with a great library

Mosque in Timbuktu

Powerful west African kingdom in the bight of Africa – unknown to Europeans until the arrival of the Portuguese in the 1450s

Specialized in three major trading items ◦ Salt: used to preserve meat and milk◦ Gold: Ghana still produces vast amounts of gold◦ Slaves: simply another commodity in all ancient

societies – slave trade was in effect across the Sahara and into the Islamic world for hundreds of years before the Portuguese arrive

Portugal took the lead in the slave trade Most slaves went to work in the New

World on Sugar plantations Europeans tried to enslave the American

Indians first, but 90% died within the first 100 years of colonization – mostly from smallpox

Africans had been exposed to the same diseases as Europeans and thus were largely immune to smallpox

Pre-19c European Trade with Africa

IndustrialRevolutionIndustrialRevolution

Source forRawMaterials

Source forRawMaterials

Markets forFinishedGoods

Markets forFinishedGoods

EuropeanNationalismEuropeanNationalism

MissionaryActivityMissionaryActivity

Military& NavalBases

Military& NavalBases

EuropeanMotivesFor Colonization

EuropeanMotivesFor Colonization

Places toDumpUnwanted/Excess Popul.

Places toDumpUnwanted/Excess Popul.

Soc. & Eco.OpportunitiesSoc. & Eco.Opportunities

HumanitarianReasonsHumanitarianReasons

EuropeanRacismEuropeanRacism

“WhiteMan’sBurden”

“WhiteMan’sBurden”

SocialDarwinismSocialDarwinism

Africa

in 1880

Called by chancellor Bismarck of Germany to settle European issues regarding Africa

Major European powers divided Africa among themselves – most of the modern boundaries were actually drawn by the Europeans without regard to tribal loyalties and hatreds

Africans were seen as savages – not worthy of French and British got the most square miles, but

much of this area was either already under French or British control, or was in the Sahara desert

Only Liberia left alone (it was seen as a US protectorate – established in 1817 by American abolitionists)

Ethiopia will remain independent – they defeat the Italian army in 1896 – Italians will eventually take Ethiopia in 1935

Social Darwinism “scientific” notion

that all modern species evolved from lower life forms

Darwin himself never discussed humans, but others took his work on evolution and tried to link humans to apes

Black Africans were lower than white Europeans

The “White Man’s Burden”

Rudyard Kipling

Poem written by British writer Kipling in 1899 that called on America to bring civilization to the “savages” of the third world

Very paternalistic Kipling saw non-whites as

lacking in sophistication Call for the expansion of

Christianity to save souls as well – call will be heeded by missionaries around the world

The “White Man’s Burden”?

Punishing “Lazy” Workers

Economic◦ Cash Crop

economies◦ Money Economies

Infrastructure◦ Roads, railroads and

ports were built◦ Communication

improved◦ Sewers

Education◦ European style

schools taught Africans Western ideals

◦ European languages taught Africans a common language

◦ Africans w/ European Ed. Became the leaders of independence movements

African people began to reject European culture

Africans tried to move toward the unity of African people and

The celebration of African culture

European countries used African troops to help them fight the war

Africans believed if they were good enough to fight—they should also have a say in their own government

Africans provided resources for the war effort as well, showing that they could be useful to themselves

Africans saw British and French lose battles

Europeans were no longer seen as invincible

Some military losses came at the hands of the Japanese—a non-European power

WWII devastated the economies of imperialist powers

They were no longer strong enough to maintain their empires

End of WWII saw the beginning of the UN

The UN called for self-rule by all nations

This increased the desire of Africans for freedom and independence

Peaceful◦ Economic sanctions –

boycott and strike◦ Negotiated transition of

power—from Europeans to Africans

Violent◦ War for independence◦ Guerrilla warfare

Tribalism Vs. Nationalism

Tribes within African countries fight each other for control

Single Party Rule A strong leader

would emerge and ban other parties

Often the military would seize power in a coup d’etat

This led to tyranny

White colonizers still held a majority of the businesses and land

Land redistribution called for taking the land from the land owners

Africans will distribute the land equally

Socialism – Gov’t controls some of the economic resources

Ideally the gov’t distributes those resources equally

Gov’t takes away power of big business

America and Russia tried to influence the independence movements in Africa

Russians preferred socialist governments

America preferred anything BUT socialist gov’ts

Over 60 countries – mostly in black Africa Tremendous growth and potential – especially in

Black Africa Rapid industrialization – serious growing pains –

terrible poverty Ethnic, religious and tribal issues have led to

terrible bloodshed over the years AIDS – ravaging the continent – some countries

have up to 1/3 of the population infected with the HIV virus