Transcript North Africa

Regional Study 5
Africa
A Continent of Constant
Change
Diversity of Africa
 Diverse landscape and people
 Sub-Saharan: North Africa, home to 3,000 ethnic groups speaking
more than 800 languages
 Bordered on west by Atlantic Ocean and on the east by the Indian
Ocean
 Off of the east coast is the island-nation of Madagascar, which is part of
Africa
 Climates: Semiarid in the north, tropical in the middle and moderate
regions further south and to the very south are humid subtropical,
marine west coast and Mediterranean
Climate of Africa
 Much of Africa tropical or desert
 Warm or hot, but humidity and rainfall vary
drastically
 Largest tropical area of any continent
 Equator runs through the middle of Africa and
about 90% of continent lies within the tropics
 Countries south of Equator have opposite
seasons from those north
 Variations between summer and winter vary
little throughout the continent
Climate of Africa
 Rainfall is distributed unevenly in Africa
 West Coast annual rainfall can be up to
100 inches in parts
 More than half of Africa receives less than
20 inches of rainfall a year
 Sahara and the Namib Desert receive an
average of less than 10 inches a year.
Some parts of the desert, rain may not fall
for 6 or 7 years in a row
Climate of Africa
 Rain falls year around in the forests of the
Congo Basin and coastal west Africa
 Rest of Africa has one or two seasons of
heavy rain separated by dry periods
 Since late 1960s, droughts have caused
starvation and disease, especially in
Ethiopia and the Sahel region on the
southern edge of the Sahara
Climate of Africa
 Agricultural improvement has been
difficult
 Limited and unreliable rainfall make it
difficult to know what types of plants to
grow
 Insects destroy livestock in the hot,
humid climate as well as diseases in
people
African Population
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About 955 million: 13 % of world’s population
Most populous countries are Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC)
Highest birth rate than any continent 35.3 births per 1,000 people
Highest death rate in world 14.2 deaths per 1,000 people
Migration is common between countries
37% of Africans live in urban areas
Between 2,000-3,000 distinctive languages
Education is valued: Adult literacy 70% East, Central and Southern
Africa. Libya, Tunisia and Algeria have literacy rates of 90% or higher
Compulsory education between 6-16 universal in Africa
HIV/AIDS high, particularly in Sub-Sahara—70% of victims worldwide
Africans
90% of Malaria cases are in tropical Africa
Malnutrition is a widespread problem with children
Language
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Arabic is the main language in the north
Zulu south Africa
Swahili in east Africa
Hausa in west Africa
Malagasy in Madagascar
Many tribal languages
European Slave Trade
 Europeans colonizing New World and building plantations
 Inland African ethnic groups caught people in war and
sold captives to white slave traders on the coast
 By 1700s, 60,000 Africans were being captured and sold
each year
 When slave trade ended in early 1800s, at least 10 million
Africans had been sold into slavery in America, 2 million
more had died at sea
Slave Trade
 Slave trade weakened African kingdoms,
destroyed cities and clans broken up and
families
 Liberia and Sierra Leone are made up of
descendant of former African slaves who
returned to Africa
Diversity of Africa
 1800s and 1900s, European countries colonized North
Africa.
 France controlled Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia
 Italy took control of Libya
 People of North African struggled against the
Europeans and became four modern countries
 Libya became independent in 1951, Morocco and
Tunisia became independent in 1956, Algeria fought an
eight year war against France and won its
independence in 1961
 Morocco is a monarchy
 Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt are republics, with elected
presidents
 Libya is ruled by a military junta, which is headed by a
dictator
Reasons for the
Colonization of Africa By
Europe
 Primary Countries: Great Britain,
Portugal, France
 Minor Countries: Italy, Belgium,
Germany
 1885-86: Berlin Conference—
guideline for the division of Africa “New
Imperialism”
Reasons for Colonization
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Nationalism
Economic
Exploitation of Resources/People
Industrialization of Europe and need for
raw materials
Only African nation that has remained
independent in its history is Ethiopia
Reasons for Colonization
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Nationalism
Economic
Exploitation of Resources/People
Industrialization of Europe and need for
raw materials
Only African nation that has remained
independent in its history is Ethiopia
Diversity of Africa
 Several countries obtain more than half
of their export earnings from a single
commodity
 Libya, Nigeria, Gabon, Angola, and Egypt
Petroleum
 Guinea from bauxite
 South Africa 40% of export from gold
 No developed countries in Africa
Boundary Disputes
 Current borders were determined during
colonial times and often cut tribal areas,
ethnic groups
 Groups that traditionally do not get along
are not in the same country
 Somalis are in Somalia, Kenya and
Ethiopia
Conflicts
 1994: Genocide of Tutsis by Hutus in
Rwanda in 1994
 Nigeria: southern part seceded and
briefly formed the Republic of Biafra
 Civil war in Democratic Republic of the
Congo between 1999 and 2003, killed
approximately 2.5 million people
 Somalia due to war does not have an
effective central government
War and Famine
 Hunger is a widespread issue in Africa
 In 1980s more than one million people died of hunger in
northeastern Africa and remains severe in region
 Population growth is three or four times faster that the food supply
growth
 Northeastern Africa food supply is shrinking, desert is spreading and
droughts are killing crops and war
 Eritrea struggled for independence for more than 20 years
 Rebels in Ethiopia rebelled against Communist government,
Communist fell, but Ethiopia is unstable
 Ethiopia and Somalia have been in an off and on war over their
border
 In 1990s, Somalia’s central government fell apart and clans fought
with each other
 1992 United Nations sent (30,000 from United States) soldiers to
Somalia to keep the peace
 Many refugees and cannot produce food and herders cannot care
for herds
 Armed gangs steal food and this is common in many African
countries
Causes of Famine in Africa
 Prolonged drought and spread of deserts
 Grazing of goats in large numbers on
fringes of desert
 Chronic warfare displaces people and
crops cannot be planted or harvested
Regions
of Africa
 North Africa
 West Africa
 The Sahel and
Central Africa
 East Africa
 Southern Africa
Northern Africa
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Morocco
Algeria
Tunisia
Libya
Egypt
People of North Africa
 Original Maghreb were the Berbers
 After A.D. 700, Arabs traveled west from the Middle East to North
Africa
 They were traders and missionaries of Islam and mixed with local
people
 Arab has been the official language of North Africa since this time
 Some Berbers today are nomadic herders
 Women of this group make cloth from goat hair and sew tents out
of the cloth
 Men elect the tribal leader, who decides when and where the
group migrates
 Berbers keep goats, sheep, cattle or camels
 Live off milk and dairy products of these animals along with dates
from wild palm trees
 Camels adapt to desert life and can live for weeks without water
and shut their noses to keep sand out and can walk across sand
because of padded feet
 ½ people of North Africa live in cities or settled farmers that grow
wheat, barley, grapes and oranges
North Africa
 Five countries make up North Africa: Morocco, Algeria,
Tunisia, Libya and Egypt
 North Africa is different from the rest of Africa in that it is
mostly made up of the Sahara Desert, making the
climate arid
 Region is close to Europe: Across the Mediterranean
Sea from Tunisia is Italy and the tip of Spain is about 30
miles from the north of Morocco (Strait of Gibraltar)
North Africa
 Region is close to Europe: Tunisia to Italy
and the tip of Spain is about 30 miles from
the north of Morocco (Strait of Gibraltar)
 Population concentrated along the
Mediterranean Sea.
 In Egypt, 90% of the people live along the
Nile River and its delta
 ½ people of North Africa live in cities or
settled farmers that grow wheat, barley,
grapes and oranges
People of North Africa
 Berbers keep goats, sheep, cattle or
camels
 Live off milk and dairy products of these
animals along with dates from wild palm
trees
 Camels adapt to desert life and can live
for weeks without water and shut their
noses to keep sand out and can walk
across sand because of padded feet
The Sahara Desert
World’s largest desert
Covers more than three million square miles
Almost as large as the United States
It stretches through every country in North Africa,
covering 80% of Algeria and Libya, where the sand is
in dunes
 Dunes that shift over time are called ergs
 Most of the Sahara is hard and rocky, a few parts even
mountainous and have some rain
 Atlas Mts. in Morocco are between the coast and
northern edge of the Sahara. They block rain-bearing
winds from reaching farther south and have peaks that
area 13,600 feet.
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Egypt
 Egypt is in North Africa and that ancient civilization
is evident in the pyramids left
 Egyptian civilization grew because of its position on
the Nile River and was the crossroads of many
trade routes
 It is at the intersection of Europe and Asia
 Sinai Peninsula bordered by the Gulf of Suez, Red
Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba
Egypt
 Egypt was different in that it had a powerful empire in
ancient times, over 5,000 years ago/3100 BC
 Then conquered by Alexander the Great,
 2,000 years ago Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya
was a Roman province called Africa
 After A.D. 700 by Arab people called the Mahreb, “the
west” in Arabic and they were there for 1,000 years as
well as in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco
 Mahrebs brought Muslim and Arab language to Egypt
 80% of Egyptians are Muslim today
 Then by the Turkish empire
 They are descended from the Hamitic people and
settled along Nile
Egyptian Calendar and the
Nile River
 One of the first groups to have a written language—
hieroglyphics
 Organized system of government, ruled by pharaohs,
considered kings and gods
 Built pyramids for burial of mummified bodies
 Developed a 365 day calendar with 12 months, which
were 30 days long and based on the Nile floods. The
five extra days at the end of the year were set aside as
a feast for the gods
 The Nile River is the main geographic feature of Egypt
 Longest river in the world, starts at Lake Victoria in
East Africa and flows more than 4,000 miles to the
Mediterranean Sea.
 Egyptians still build houses out of clay from the
riverbed
Egypt
 Farmers (fellaheen) still use an ancient farming tool called a
shaduf, set up next to the river
 From one end of the beam hangs a bucket and the other end has a
weight
 The water from the bucket is emptied into an irrigation ditch
 The Aswan Dam controls the flooding now and allows farmers to
irrigate all year
 Farmers have to buy fertilizer due to lack of soil from no flooding
 Most productive farms in North Africa, less than 5% of land arable
 Most important crop is cotton
Egypt
 It became a separate country in early 1800s, but the British
controlled it
 Interest in controlling Suez Canal, which was a short way
from England to its colonies in Asia
 Egypt became independent in 1936
 Control of the Suez Canal was given back to Egypt in 1957
 Egypt developed closer ties with other Arab countries in
opposing the state of Israel
 In 1977, Egypt made peace with Israel
 Aswan High Dam used to create Lake Nassar
 Egypt’s economy makes almost $12 billion from oil and its
products
Egyptian Economy
 Cairo, Egypt’s capital is home to about 10% of Egypt’s
population, largest city in Africa
 Several hundred thousand people live in an old cemetery “City
of the Dead” due to lack of housing
 Government owns and runs 80% of industry in Egypt
 One out of every four workers in Cairo does not have a job
 Prices of goods and services rise 25-30% per year
 A lot of food is imported
 Revenue made in oil, selling cotton and Suez Canal, where
ships pay Egypt for the right to use the canal
Drawbacks of Egypt’s
Economy
 Other than oil, other parts of the economy are
underdeveloped
 Limited growth of Egyptian industries due to
lack of skilled workers
 Lack of capital or money that can be invested
to build and support new businesses
 Many of Egypt’s educated professionals
emigrate to other countries for higher pay
Libya
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Once a colony of Italy
Culture a blend of Arab, African and European
During 7th century invaded by Arabs
Region became a center of learning
Most of people live along Mediterranean
Medinas are older Arab sections of cities and traditional markets,
called souks are common in the city centers off of mosques
Under rule of Muammar Qaddafi, Libya has been isolated by
international community and has been accused of terrorist
activities
Sahel and West Africa
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Niger
Mali
Chad
Sudan
Mauritania
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Liberia
Cote d’ Ivoire
Ghana
Nigeria
Sahel
 Between Sahara Desert and rainforests of West
African coast
 Vegetation is sparse and climate dry and hot
 Short grass covers the ground
 Soil is sandy and low-lying desert scrub
 Human interaction with the environment is making this
area more like a desert
 Desertification is the process when the land loses all
vegetation, sometimes due to drought, deforestation,
overgrazing and use of chemical pesticides
Sahel
 Many people in Sahel are herders or subsistence farmers
 Countries in the Sahel are Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad and
they are landlocked
 Sahel served as a trade link between the Mediterranean coast and
the rest of Africa
 The Niger and Senegal Rivers are used as transportation in region
as well as irrigation
 Niger River widens in Mali into a delta
 Empire of Ghana flourished in Sahel from 400-1076 A.D. and to the
Mali Empire.
 Mali Empire one of largest in the world, capital city Tombouctou
(Timbuktu) became a major center of Islamic culture
Sub-Sahara
 Savannas, tall grass dotted with trees
 Four Areas of Sub-Sahara” West Africa, central Africa,
East Africa and Southern Africa
 44 countries in Sub-Sahara, most were European
colonies before 1945
 West Africa land is low and flat, Niger River and near
the coast, rain forest covers most of the land, where
come trees grow 200 feet high
 Climate hot and moist
 Plateaus surrounded by a narrow coastal plain
 More rural than North Africa
 Nearly ¾ live in rural, agricultural villages
 Famines are common in this area because of farming
practices and overuse of land
West African Civilizations
 Along Niger and Senegal Rivers
 Scattered villages with one extended family
 Families linked together as clans and several clans
made up an ethnic group
 Clans still are the basis of social structure in West
Africa
 Religion: Animism, the belief that spirits lived in
things, such as rocks and rivers, as well as in plants,
animals and people
 Many still believe this today even if they have another
religion
Kingdom of Ghana
 Around A.D. 300 formed between Niger River and the
Sahara
 Driven out around A.D. 700 and the Soninke took
power
 Soninke used two important metals: Iron in weapons
and able to conquer others and formed Kingdom of
Ghana
 Gold obtained through trading by leaving their goods
by a certain river and they came back gold was piled
next to goods. They never saw people whom they
traded with, if the gold was enough, the Soninke took
gold home
 Gold of Ghana drew traders from the north who came
across Sahara on camels
 West Africans needed salt and these traders brought it
and Islam was spread in Ghana this way
Kingdoms of Mali and
Songhai
 Mali rose in place of Ghan
 Ruled by the Malinke (Mandingo),
who were related to Soninke
 Malinke emperors became
Muslim and made Timbucktu their
capital
 Center of Muslim learning
 By 1400s, Songhai toppled
Malinke
Songhai Empire
 Songhai were Muslims, so kept
Timbucktu as major city
 Lasted about 150 years
 These three empires changed Western
Africa
 Islam, many speak Arabic, at least as a
second language, rules of dress
Coastal Countries of West
Africa
 Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea,
Sierra Leone, Liberia, cote d’Ivoire, Ghana,
Togo, Benin, and Nigeria, small island of Cape
Verde, which sits in Atlantic west of Senegal
 Direct access to the sea
 Wet climate
 Large areas of rainforests
 Do not produce many goods for export
 Opened door for Europeans beginning in
1400s
Liberia
 Settled by freed slaves after 1822
 Republic since 1947
 Conflict between slaves and natives that lived
in region
 3 geographic regions: Narrow sandy coast,
rolling hills covered with tropical rainforest,
mountainous belt along Guinean border—
grassland
 1% arable
 Civil war has collapsed urban commercial
areas
Nigeria
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Most powerful country in West Africa
Over 100 million people—10% of Africa’s population
More than 200 ethnic groups
Four main ones: Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba and Ibo—more than 50%
of population
Hausa and Fulani Muslim live in north
Yoruba and Ibo Christian, Islam or animism and live in south
These groups do not historically get along
1960 gained independence from British
Political parties formed along ethnic lines
Nigeria has oil
Lagos, the capital is the center of industry and trade, such as car
parts, cloth and soap
Nigeria
 Land swamps, rainforests, savanna
grasslands, desert scrubs
 Lands south and north are used to
harvest peanuts, cocoa, palm oil
and rubber
 Middle soil is poor
West Africa
 Slave trade weakened African kingdoms, destroyed cities and
clans broken up and families
 Liberia and Sierra Leone are made up of descendant of former
African slaves who returned to Africa
 End of 1800s, entire continent of Africa divided up and
colonized by Europeans, West Africa by French
 Transition from colonial domination to self-rule has been
difficult
 Talk of uniting continent as on United States of Africa
 West African nations have suffered from instability and violent
political turmoil
 Country of Liberia was founded in 1822 by freed American
slaves
 High population density and hard economic conditions have
led to violence
 Heavily in debt to the developed nations
 Rulers of many of these nations corrupt and greedy
Festival of the Yams
 Held from the beginning of August until the end of
the rainy season
 Marks new season and New Year
 “Adamo’s Food” in Nigeria after King who ate
great amounts of food
 Yams can weigh up to 150 lbs
 First cultivated in Africa about 8000 BC
 Yam is key to survival and can be stored up to 6
mos without refrigeration
 1st crop to be harvested
 People offer yams first to gods and ancestors
then to village
Central Africa
 Includes countries of Cameroon, Equatorial
Guinea, Gabon, Congo, the Central African
Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(once known as Zaire), and the island nation of the
Republic of Sao Tome and Principe
 Area once belonged to Belgium
 Belgians interested in minerals and ivory
 Upon independence in 1960, the country was
named The Congo, then Zaire and now is two
countries: The Congo, and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo
 Very warm—equator passes right through it
Central Africa
 One part of the region receives more than 400 inches of
rain each year
 Tropical rain forest
 Rain feeds the Zaire, one of the world’s longest rivers—
2,900 miles
 Forms border between Democratic Republic of the
Congo and Congo, where it is called the Congo River
 It circles around a flat area called the Congo River Basin
 Zaire/Congo River most important geographical feature
of the region: Food, Transportation, Energy
 River is used for electricity in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo
Central Africa
 Area with valuable minerals: cobalt, copper and
diamonds
 Cobalt is a metal used to make tools for cutting and
drilling
 Rubber comes from the rain forest and hardwood
trees
 Bacteria grows quickly in heat and rain
 Swamps are created and parasites grow
 Malaria, Sleeping Sickness and River Blindness are
the most common
 One million children die in Africa a year from malaria
alone
 If one survives malaria, it can reoccur all through life
Central Africa
 Sleeping Sickness has been known to kill
whole herds of cattle
 River Blindness is spread by the black
fly, person can go blind and is the most
widespread disease
 African governments have spent a great
deal of money trying to control diseases,
but in trying to kills the tsetse flies with
poisonous chemicals, but these
chemicals are harmful to people
Democratic Republic of the
Congo
 Largest country in Central Africa, three
times the size of Nigeria
 48 million people live in rural areas, where
many work on plantations
 Cotton, coffee and rubber are exports
 Capital is Kinshasa on the Congo River,
300 miles from the Atlantic Ocean
 250 ethnic groups
 Most speak language in Bantu group
 Rural areas ethnic groups rarely mix
Democratic Republic of the
Congo
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Bambuti live in the rain forest, along riverbanks
They are less than 5 feet tall
Live entirely by hunting and gathering wild food
Hunt pigs, small antelope and other animals
Use spears and bows and arrows, sometimes with
poisonous plants on the arrow tips
 Story telling and music are important to the Bambutis
 More than half of the people of Central Africa believe in
animism, some are Christian
 Country went through civil war in 1960s and in 1990s,
resulting in it still being a very poor nation
Central Africa
 Central African countries are
economically interdependent
 Most are connected through a common
currency: CFA franc
East Africa
 Djibouti is on the horn of Africa, the part that
sticks out into the Indian Ocean
 Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia
 Eritrea was a province of Ethiopia until 1993
 West of horn is the country of Sudan
 Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi
 Countries of the Horn of Africa are strategic to
shipping—area of modern pirates
East Africa
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Very dry in north
Gentle, rolling hills and steep mountains, some volcanic
Flat, grassy plains at a high elevation
Equator runs through middle of Kenya
Four Landforms: Great Rift Valley, a huge crack in the
Earth’s surface, Lake Victoria—the world’s third largest
lake, Serengeti Plain—a flat grassland that is home to
lions, giraffes, and other animals. Area Game Reserve.
 Mount Kilimanjaro, stands alone, nearly 20,000 feet
East Africa
 Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi are areas of ethnic
group divisions
 Rwanda and Burundi are ethnocracies—rule of one
ethnic group over others
 Rwanda civil war in 1994: Hutus made an effort to
exterminate the Tutsi population
 Colonizers of these two countries put the minority
Tutsis in charge of politics and economy
 Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi have an agricultural
based economy
 Rwanda and Burundi are landlocked and cannot move
goods to foreign buyers
East Africa
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Sudan is largest nation in Africa
North is dry, barren desert
South is large swampy area
Muslims in north and Christians and animists in
the south created civil war
 Tanzania is the second poorest country in the
world
 People were forced to move into towns under
socialism between 1961 and 1985 and now is
trying to pay farmers for crops
Ethiopia
 First African nation to adopt Christianity in 4th Century
A.D.
 Never a colony
 30 years of war and famine
 Mountainous, divided in two by the Rift Valley
 Danakil Desert, depression is 380 feet below sea level
and is one of the hottest place on earth
 90% of industry in food processing, textiles, chemical
and metal production
 Government owns all land and provides long-term
leases
 Estimated 1 million have died of famine
Kenya
 British colony from 1890 to 1963
 Masai and Kikuyu people are the most
dominant ethnic groups
 Masai were nomadic herders and Kikuyu
were farmers
 1901 British constructed railroad resulting in
many white settlers moving into highlands
and established capital of Nairobi
Ethnic Groups and Languages
of Kenya
 40 ethnic groups in Kenya, Masai, in south, Turkana in
northwest, Luo near Lake Victoria and Sambura in the middle.
Kikuyu live throughout country.
 Masai continue to herd cattle, measuring wealth by the number
of cattle
 Most groups get along with each other
 Many Kenyans speak multiple languages
 Almost all Kenyans speak Swahili, which is a Niger-Congo
language group. It is the language of business and trade in
Africa.
 Swahili means “of the coast”
 Arabic traders sail regularly to East Africa before 1500s
 Swahili is a blend of Arabic and Bantu. Some words are
Portuguese, Persian and Malay as well
Southern Africa
 Nambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique,
Angola, Malawi, Zambia, South Africa, and the island
of Madagascar.
 Lesotho, Swaziland are included and both of these
countries are surrounded by South Africa
Southern Africa
 Many resources: gold, diamonds, copper, iron ore,
lead, zinc along with oil
 Soil is fertile
 Two large desert regions: the Namib and the Kalahari
 Eastern coast of southern Africa has plenty of rainfall.
 Five large rivers provide water and Africa’s fourth
largest river, the Zambezi provides hydroelectric power
to the region
 South Africa is an industrialized country. Most live in
cities
 Other countries of southern Africa are less developed,
about 75% of the populations live in rural areas
Ethnic Groups of Southern
Africa
 Smallest ethnic group in southern Africa is
the earliest known people in the area—the
San and Khoikhoi peoples
 San live in the Kalahari Desert and hunt
wild animals and gather wild plants
 Khoikhoi are herders
 Both groups are shrinking
Ethnic Groups of Southern
Africa
 Black Africans make up the majority—
ancestors are Bantu who drifted into the region
hundreds of years ago
 Minority population are white from the colonists
of the 1600s
 Most of the white population live in South
Africa, make up about 14% of the population
 South Africa has a large population of Asian
immigrants from India as well
Bantu Migrations
 Bantu people migrated from West Africa around
500 B.C. and the migrations lasted for 2,000
years
 10 major Bantu empires formed through this
period
 A.D. 400 to 500, the Bantu learned to work with
iron and developed this skill in the central
African forests where they made charcoal from
hardwood trees
 Bantu made axes, spears, and other tools of war
 Nearly all black southern Africa groups are
descended from the Bantu
Ancient City of Great
Zimbabwe
 Ancient Bantu city in present day Zimbabwe that
started during the 11th century and lasted for
about 300 years
 Trade center with several thousand farmers
living around city
 Cowrie shells from the coast, glass beads from
Portugal, china, glass, soapstone bowls and
carvings along with porcelain from China, Persia
and Syria have been found
 The main city is near present day Masvingo in
southeast Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe
 Rulers gained wealth from herds of cattle and then
mining gold
 Zimbabwe is from the Shona phrase dzimba dza
mabwe “houses of stone”
 Great Zimbabwe had between 10,000 and 20,000
inhabitants
 Stones are lined up perfectly and some rows make a
zigzag pattern, which was a symbol for their king
 Granite blocks were so carefully carved that no mortar
was required
 Modern nation of Zimbabwe named after Great
Zimbabwe and images of birds from the soapstone
carvings found there are on the nation’s flag
Zimbabwe Today
 Independent since 1979
 Prior name was Rhodesia
 Black majority government began
implementing land distribution program
 Zimbabwe has been able to maintain its
agricultural productivity by doing this gradually
 Zimbabwe’s farmers are some of the most
productive in the world
 Relatively economically stable
Other countries in southern
Africa
 Angola, Nambia, Botswana, Malawi,
Zambia, Mozambique, Lesotho and
Swaziland
 Nambia had an Apartheid system like
South Africa
 Nambia, Lesotho and Swaziland depend
on South Africa
 Malawi and Botswana are landlocked
 Malawi very fertile, Botswana is not, but
has diamonds and coal
Other countries of southern
Africa
 Angola and Mozambique were once
Portuguese colonies and got their
independence in 1975
 Both of these countries developed communist
governments
 Civil wars broke out
 Angola imports much of its food and cannot
feed its people
 Mozambique is the poorest country in the world
 Zambia suffered from its reliance on copper
Arts of southern Africa
 Music and dance important, part of religion and
healing practices
 Music and dance is also entertainment and for
weddings
South Africa
 87% Black
 Ethnic Groups include: Zulu, North Sotho, South Sotho,
Tswana, Tsonga, South Ndebele and Venda. Zulu
largest group with 22% of the population
 11 official languages for each ethnic group along with
English and Afrikaans
 Long ruled by white minority
 Whites came to South Africa in 1600s
 Portuguese the first to visit, but the first to settle in South
Africa were known as the Afrikaners, Dutch people who
stole land from the native population and called
themselves Boers, which means “farmers” in Dutch
 Language of African and Dutch is called Afrikaans, more
than ½ of the whites speak this today
 British arrived in 1700s and tried to end slavery. In the
1830s the Boers moved inland and battled with the
Zulus.
South
Africa
 British and Boers fought the Boer War for 3 years, ending
in 1902, over the rights of South Africa. More than
20,000 Boer women and children died in British prison
camps. Today the descendents of the Boers call
themselves Afrikaners. They remained in power from
1948-88.
 1961 South Africa became independent, many blacks
moved into the cities
 Apartheid system of laws that forced black South
Africans to live apart from whites and economic
discrimination against the blacks set up by the Afrikaners’
National Party
 Africans were forced to live in regions called homelands
along with Asians and mixed races.
 These plans kept the white South African government
South African Homelands
 1959, separate homeland for each ethnic group, called
Bantustan
 Covered about 13% of the country
 Poor, rural areas with few resources
 Most farmers or herders
 1970 law forced all black people to become citizens of a
homeland
 South Africa declared four of these homelands to be
independent countries and people in them were forced to
give up South African citizenship
 No other countries recognized these countries
 1980s US put sanctions on South Africa
 1989 Apartheid began to end and a new constitution was
adopted in 1993 that gave blacks a right to vote
 1994 homelands were eliminated and ended Apartheid
Mining in South Africa
 Johannesburg was once
known as having the
largest gold deposits in the
world
Black Nationalism and the
ANC
 1912, black leaders in South Africa formed the
African National Congress (ANC) for the
purpose of supporting black nationalism, to put
ethnic differences aside and act as one people
 1960, ANC and the Pan African Congress
(PAC) protested against laws
 1994 South Africa held elections and ANC
won
 Nelson Mandela became the first president of
the country
 He had been sent to prison in 1962 for 28
years and released in 1990