Location: Continent of Africa south of the Sahara Desert
Topography
Rainforest: Hot, wet, - poor for farming
Deserts: Hot, dry – poor for farming.
Savannas: Grasslands – dry soil needs irrigation
Rivers: Rapids and waterfalls – Isolation.
Coastline: Smooth – poor harbors, trading difficult
Great Rift Valley
Origins of humans. Oldest tools found
Empires: Mali, Axum, Kush, Ghana, Songhai:
Largely subsistence agriculture;
Controlled trade route;
GOLD for Salt led to cultural diffusionAnimism: One supreme God; spirits and forces of nature in all living and non living things; ancestor worship; influenced art.
Grew with American colonies
Local wars undermined political structure
Robbed Africa of young strong and talented
Led to racism
Reasons:
Europeans looking for raw materials and markets, National prestige.
Berlin Conference
Mercantilism: colonies exist to benefit the mother country.
White man’s burden:
European racism: their right and duty to conquer Africa.
Pan- Africanism
Africa for Africans
Led to a desire for Independence.
European colonialism provided education and common language
Kwame Nkrumah
Ghana:Used strikes and boycotts. Gained independence in 1957. 1st African colony to gain independence. Organized the OAU.
Jomo Kenyatta:
Kenya: led Mau Maus, terrorized colonists, 1963 won independence
Tribalism: More loyalty to tribe than nation, which often followed colonial boundaries
Ties to European powers: Economic trading partners
Language
Attempt Neutrality in Cold War
Subsistence farming. Growing only enough, not enough to sell.
Cash Crops: coffee, tea, grown to sell; crop failure means disaster.
Lack of investment capital. No $$, must borrow, large foreign debt
Land: 60% arid+drought = famine (Etheopia & Somalia)
Desertification: overgrazing and drought = loss of fertile land
Resources:
Mineral: rich in mineral, but difficult to mine
Human: lack of skilled workers too many unskilled, little technology
Energy: little oil or coal; rich in water power but underdeveloped.
Unstable governments
Many coup d’etas
Military dictatorships
Instability hurts economic development.
Republic of South Africa Apartheid: legal separation; majority (70%) forced to be separate. Whites controlled government and economy. Nelson Mandela: Leader of ANC: Jailed till 1990,1992 Apartheid ended. (Economic Sanctions)
Rwanda: 1994
Tribal wars (Hutus v. Tutsis) Millions dead or displaced.
1963 – Organization of African unity tried to eliminate dependence on outside areas and solve problems together.
Ethnic/Tribal differences have made this difficult to achieve.