Politcal and Cutural Geography Unit 3

Desertification

Weakening of the resilience and the biological potential of arid and semiarid ecosystems.

AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome)

The disease caused by HIV. AIDS is a global pandemic that has killed over 25 million people since the first case was reported in Africa in 1959.

resilience

The ability of an ecosystem to recover from the effects of stress that is not too drastic, such as the stress of drought. A healthy desert or savanna ecosystem, for example, can recover from drought through adaptations to a natural cycle that includes extended periods of dryness and rain.

HIV

the virus that causes AIDS

Bushmeat

the meat of animals native to africa including chimpanzees, bats, and antelopes

Ebola

A deadly disease with symptoms that are initially flu-like, but can progress to vomiting, diarrhea, and internal and external bleeding. An Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2013–2015 killed over 10,000 people.

antiretroviral (ARV) drugs

 

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Definition:A medication for treatment of HIV infection.

: President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

US plan to combat AIDS in more than 50 countries.

PEPFAR

An acronym for President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, in which the George W. Bush administration pledged over $45 billion to combat AIDS in Africa.

Great Green Wall

Begun in 2007, a multi-faceted Pan-African iniative to reduce desertification and promote sustainable agricultural practices and economic development, intended to create the largest living structure on Earth.

Nagana

(African Animal Trypanosomiasis) is a severe, often fatal, vector-borne disease of livestock in sub-Saharan Africa caused by Trypanosoma parasites

Great Rift Valley

splitting apart of the Earth’s crust extending from Zambezi Valley in Southern Africa to the Read Sea and valley of the Jordan River in southwestern Asia (result in tectonic processes)

sleeping sickness

African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, is a parasitic infection transmitted by the bite of an infected tsetse fly in sub-Saharan Africa. It presents in two stages, starting with fever and joint pain, then progressing to neurological issues like confusion and severe sleep disruption.

trypanosomiasis

a disease spread through Tsetse fly of Africa. sleeping sickness in humans or nagana in cattle

Niger-Congo language family

central african language

Fulani

most used west african language

San

proper name for Bushmen, a major group of Khoisan ethnolingustic cultures living mainly in Botswana and Namibia. They were amond the last hunters and gatherers

Bantu subfamily

Niger-congo sub family compromising 400 languages in Sub-Saharan Africa

Khoekhoe

language spoken by 200,000 in Namibia and Botswana

Somali

language of the Afroasiatic family

Hausa

another afroasiatic language

Khoisan languages

The languages of the San people in southern Africa. These languages, nearly extinct, are among the world’s oldest.

Ethiopian Orthodox Church

The Christian church of Ethiopia, related to the Coptic church of Egypt.

“mistake of 1914”

Nigerian term for the creation of the country’s modern borders by the British.

Malagasy

Austronesian tongue that originated in Southeast Asia.

triangular trade

The sixteenth- to nineteenth-century trading links between West Africa, Europe, and the Americas, involving guns, alcohol, and manufactured goods from Europe to West Africa exchanged for slaves. Slaves brought to the Americans were exchanged for the gold, silver, tobacco, sugar, and rum carried back to Europe.

Sufi Islam

A branch of Islam, neither Sunni nor Shi’ite, that advocates a more mystical approach to the faith.

Conference of Berlin

The 1884 conference at which various European countries established their respective spheres of influence Africa and initiated the “scramble for Africa.”

resource curse

A paradox of plenty, when a country with a great abundance of a valuable natural resource experiences lower economic growth than countries without such abundance.

Kimberley Process Scheme (KPS)

A United Nations–backed certification plan for ensuring that only legally mined rough diamonds, untainted by violence, reach the market.

branded diamonds

Diamonds produced by the De Beers company, certified as coming from nonconflict areas.

dirty diamonds

diamonds defined by the UN as rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to fiance conflict aimed at undermining their govs

EPZ: export processing zones

free trade areas in african and other countries, offering incentives for international companies to invest there

Southern African Customs Union (SACU)

A trade organization including South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, and Namibia.

African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)

a bill passed by US congress in 200 that reduced or ended tariffs and quoates on many manufactures, mineral, or food items that could be imported from Africa

African Union

An organization of most African countries formed to promote democracy, good governance, human rights, gender equity, and development.

New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)

An agency of the African Union responsible for monitoring improvements in human rights across Africa.

African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

Trade area founded in 2018 by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement among 54 nations.

Pan-African Parliament

lawmaking body of African Union

donor democracy

a government that makes just enough concessions in holding elections or human rights to win foreign aid, without introducing new reforms

heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCS)

worlds about three dozen most heavily in debt counries

microcrediy

the leading of small sums to poor people to set up or expand small businesses

Ushahidi

a nonprofit firm in Kenya that uses crowdsourcing for activist mapping, geospatial kit to adress probelms

tyranny of distance

the effects of geographic remotnes in shaping a countries identity

infrastructure-for-mineral swap

Mining concessions by African countries to China, in exchange for schools, hospitals, and roads to be built in those countries by China.

Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS)

Operating in the Sahel region, in an attempt to control territory there, and expelled from parts of Mali in 2019 after it came into conflict with local al-Qa’ida affiliates there.

Central African Province of the Islamic State (ISCA)

A militant division of the Islamic State of Iraq that took control of a regional capital in northeastern Mozambique in 2020.

Islamic State in Somalia (ISS)

Based in the Puntland region of northern Somalia, ISS grows its ranks by abducting boys as young as 10 and training them as child soldiers. ISS has carried out several attacks in Mogadishu, and has effectively declared war against al-Qa’ida-backed al-Shabaab.

Al-Shabaab

A mainly ethnic Somali terrorist Islamist group, operating in the Horn of Africa and East Africa.

 

Term:al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)

A Salafist and jihadist militant group operating in the Sahara and Sahel, designated by the US as a foreign terrorist organization.

asymmetric warfare

A tactic used by a weaker opponent to use unconventional means such as terrorism to exploit the stronger enemy’s vulnerabilities.

Boko Haram

An ISIS-affiliated Islamist terrorist group that operates primarily in northeastern Nigeria and surrounding areas.

Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWA)

Rebranding name of Boko Haram in 2015.

Chibok Girls

Christian girls who were forced to convert to Islam, with many raped by or married off to Boko Haram fighters.

Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA)

Mainly secular Tuareg-dominated group whose ethnic kinspeople make up 10 percent of Mali’s population.

Ogoni

An ethnic group in Nigeria.

kanju

A term meaning “the specific creativity born from African difficulty.” It suggests the best solutions to African problems can be found locally.

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Eight goals established by the United Nations in 2000, to be implemented by 2015, that would raise the quality of life for poor people around the world. In 2015, the MDGs were replaced with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)

A mainly ethnically Ijaw group in Nigeria that has expressed dissatisfaction with the redistribution of Nigeria’s oil wealth by kidnapping foreign oil workers.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

A replacement for the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, these 17 goals were established in 2015 to guide international adoption of sustainable development policies.

Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP)

An ethnic Ogoni organization in Nigeria that petitions the government for a safe environment and more federal support for their people.

Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF)

Umbrellas organization formed in 2016 by the disparate movements in the Niger Delta as a unified voice to negotiate with Nigeria’s government.

Hutu (Bahutu)

The majority population of Rwanda and Burundi. Ethnically, culturally, and linguistically the same as the minority Tutsi; the differences between the groups are socioeconomic, with the Tutsi a ruling class that dominated the Hutu majority.

Africa’s First World War

A widespread war involving nine African countries and 20 rebel movements between 1996 and 2001 that resulted in the deaths of more than 5 million people.

African Standby Force

The continental military force established by the African Union’s Peace and Security Council for peacekeeping and peacemaking.

International Criminal Court (ICC)

A United Nations forum for crimes against humanity, located in the Netherlands.

Tutsi (Watusi)

Bantu-speaking ethnic group native to Rwanda and Burundi,

Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)

Founded in 1987 in Uganda and led by warlord Joseph Kony, a group that was initially focused on rebellion against Uganda but evolved into a marauding force attacking and abducting people across northern Uganda and in nearby countries.

Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative (CFSI)

Initiative that defines its role as “helping to end the prolonged conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

Rastafari

A religion, originating in Jamaica in 1930, that holds that Ethiopian emperor Haile Selaisse was the earthly incarnation of God.

Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is an ancient Oriental Orthodox church with over 36 million adherents, forming a cornerstone of Ethiopian identity

Galápagos Islands of Religion

A term for the religious diversity of Ethiopia.

Amhara

The politically dominant ethnic group of Ethiopia.

Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)

Ethiopian opposition party that had ruled Ethiopia from 1991 until 2018.

Great Trek

A series of migrations by the Boers of South Africa, who left the British-controlled Cape Colony to settle interior areas.

Xhosa

One of the most populous ethnic groups of South Africa.

coloureds

A South African term for persons of mixed racial ancestry.

Zulu

One of the most populous tribal ethnic groups of South Africa.

Boers

Dutch settlers in South Africa (Boer means “farmer”).

Boer War

War waged by the Boers against Britain in 1899.

Afrikaners

Dutch-speaking descendants of Dutch, French Huguenot, and German settlers in South Africa. They are the largest white population in South Africa; also known as Boers.

African National Congress (ANC)

The governing political party in South Africa since 1994. During the apartheid era, the ANC was dedicated to the nonviolent resolution of conflicts between ruling whites and the Black majority. The ANC was banned until 1990. ANC leader Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first post-apartheid president in 1994.

Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)

South African political party with mainly Zulu membership. Founded by Zulu chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the IFP is a rival of African National Congress (ANC), long led by Nelson Mandela.

Employment Equity Act

A South African law that requires employers to move toward “demographic proportionality” in the workforce, based on national proportions of race and gender.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

A South African commission that allows those who were party to racial violence during the apartheid era to confess their misdeeds and, in a sense, be absolved of them.

Fast Track Land Reform

Process by which 2000 Robert Mugabe ordered thousands of commercial farms owned by whites—including two-thirds of Zimbabwe’s best agricultural land—to be seized and redistributed to the Black majority.

inflation

Rise in the prices of goods and services over time.

theory of island biogeography

A theoretical calculation of the relationship between habitat loss and natural species loss, in which a 90 percent loss of natural forest cover results in a loss of half of the resident species.

West African subfamilies

The widely used Fulani language is part of the West African subfamily of the Niger-Congo language family.

Mesoamerica

Mexico and Central America without the Caribbean.

Rimland

The larger of two major geographic alignments that is a discontinuous ring around the margins of South America that is home to about two-thirds of Latin America’s people.

pampas

subtropical grasslands in south america

west indies

The Caribbean, defined by three large archipelagos known collectively as the West Indies, a European term dating from the 16th century to distinguish them from the “Indies” (or East Indies) of Asia.

tierra caliente (hot land)

A Latin American climatic zone reaching from sea level upward to approximately 3000 feet (914 m). Crops such as rice, sugarcane, and cacao grow in this hot, wet environment.

tierra templada (temperate land)

A Latin American climatic zone extending from approximately 3000 to 6000 feet (914–1829 m) above sea level. It is a prominent zone of European-induced settlement and commercial agriculture such as coffee growing.

upper limit of agriculture

The highest elevation at which agricultural activities can be performed, at about 12,000 feet (3600 m) in the equatorial regions and increasingly low at heightening latitudes.

páramos

Alpine meadows in Latin America.

tierra helada (frozen land)

A Latin American climatic zone above 10,000 feet (3048 m) that has little vegetation and frequent snow cover.