African History: Geography, Imperialism, Independence, and the Democratic Challenge

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering African physical geography, pre-colonial societies, the Scramble for Africa, European colonial rule, wars of liberation, and post-colonial political struggles.

Imperialism

The seizure of a country or territory by a stronger nation, dominating the political, economic, and social life of the conquered people.

Social Darwinism

A social theory applying Charles Darwin's ideas of evolution and natural selection to human societies, holding that those fittest for survival enjoyed wealth and success and were considered superior to others.

Maxim Gun

The world's first automatic machine gun, invented in 1884, which gave European imperial powers overwhelming military superiority in Africa.

Quinine

A medicinal drug developed in 1829 that protected Europeans from contracting malaria, facilitating inland exploration and colonization in Africa.

Berlin Conference (1884–1885)

A meeting of European nations to divide the African continent among themselves without conflict, held without inviting any African rulers; by 1914, only Liberia and Ethiopia remained free.

King Leopold II

The Belgian king who privately acquired the Congo Free State, licensing companies that brutally exploited Africans to harvest rubber sap, resulting in the deaths of at least 10 million Congolese.

Belgian Congo

A central African colony, 80 times larger than Belgium, taken away from King Leopold II by the Belgian government in 1908 following international outrage over corporate abuses.

Shaka

A Zulu chief who, around 1816, organized disciplined warriors and innovative military tactics to create a large centralized state in southern Africa.

Boers

Dutch settlers who established an outpost at Cape Town in 1652 and gradually established farms across South Africa.

Great Trek

The northward migration of several thousand Boers during the 1830s to escape British rule in the Cape Colony, leading them into clashes with Zulu forces.

Boer War

A conflict from 1899 to 1902 between the British and the Boers over diamond- and gold-rich lands in South Africa, ending in British victory and the creation of the Union of South Africa.

Colony (Form of Imperialism)

A form of colonial control in which a foreign power governs a country or territory internally, exemplified by French Somaliland.

Protectorate

A country or territory with its own internal government but under the control of an outside power, such as the British protectorate established over the Niger River delta.

Sphere of Influence

An area in which an outside power claims exclusive investment or trading privileges, such as the influence claimed by the United States over Liberia.

Economic Imperialism

An independent but less-developed country controlled by private business interests rather than other governments, exemplified by the Dole Fruit Company in Hawaii.

Indirect Control

A colonial management method favored by Great Britain that relied on existing local political leaders to handle the daily management of the colony.

Direct Control

A colonial management method favored by France that relied on foreign officials to govern local populations directly without providing self-rule.

Paternalism

A European colonial policy of governing people in a parental way by providing for their material needs while denying them civil and political rights.

Assimilation

A French colonial policy based on the assumption that local African populations would eventually adopt French culture, language, and institutions.

Royal Niger Company

A British company that gained commercial and political control over the palm-oil trade along the Niger River, facilitating Britain's colonization of Nigeria.

Maji Maji Rebellion

An armed resistance in 1905 against German colonial rule in East Africa, where indigenous villagers believed sacred water would turn German bullets into water; Germans recorded 75,000 African deaths.

Menelik II

Emperor of Ethiopia who took power in 1889, stockpiled modern arms from France and Russia, played European rivals against each other, and defeated Italian forces at the Battle of Adowa in 1896 to keep Ethiopia independent.

Negritude Movement

A pre-World War II cultural movement formed by French-speaking African and West Indian writers to celebrate traditional African culture, values, and heritage.

Kwame Nkrumah

Nationalist leader who used nonviolent strikes and boycotts to lead the British Gold Coast to independence as Ghana, becoming its first prime minister and later president for life.

Jomo Kenyatta

Prominent nationalist leader who united diverse groups to lead Kenya to independence from Great Britain in 1963, serving as the nation's first president.

Mau Mau

A secret society of mostly native Kenyan farmers who used guerrilla warfare to displace British white settlers from northern agricultural lands.

FLN (National Liberation Front)

The Algerian revolutionary group that announced in 1954 its intent to fight for independence from France, prevailing after a bitter war in 1962.

Ahmed Ben Bella

Leader of the Algerian FLN who served as Algeria's first president following independence in 1962, before being overthrown in 1965 by his army commander.

Patrice Lumumba

The first Prime Minister of the independent Republic of the Congo in 1960, whose government fell into turmoil shortly before his murder.

Mobutu Sese Seko

Military dictator who seized control of the Congo in 1965, established a 32-year one-party rule, renamed the country Zaire, and looted national wealth before his 1997 overthrow.

MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola)

The liberation group that took control of Angola when Portugal withdrew in 1975, fought a 27-year civil war against rivals, and won the national election in 2008.

Federal System

A constitutional system of government in which power is shared between regional state governments and a central authority, adopted by post-independence Nigeria.

Biafra

A breakaway state declared in 1967 by the predominantly Christian Igbo of Nigeria's Eastern Region, triggering a three-year civil war that ended in surrender after more than one million Igbo died, mostly of starvation.

Boko Haram

An Islamic militant extremist organization operating in northern Nigeria that has carried out widespread killings and kidnappings.

Apartheid

The South African government's official policy of institutionalized racial segregation and white minority rule, instituted by the National Party in 1948.

Homelands

Designated reserves created under apartheid in South Africa by 1959 where black citizens (75% of the population) were restricted to living on only 13% of the land unless working as white laborers.

African National Congress (ANC)

An organization founded in South Africa in 1912 to campaign for equal rights for black citizens, which was banned by the government before taking power in 1994.

Stephen Biko

A prominent South African anti-apartheid activist and student protest leader who was beaten to death while in police custody in 1977.

Desmond Tutu

A black South African Anglican bishop who spearheaded an international nonviolent economic boycott against the apartheid regime, contributing to trade restrictions and Olympic bans.

F.W. de Klerk

The white South African president elected in 1989 who sought to end the country's isolation by legalizing the ANC, releasing Nelson Mandela from prison, and repealing apartheid laws.

Nelson Mandela

ANC leader imprisoned for 27 years who was released in 1990, negotiated democratic reform, and was elected president of South Africa in the first multiracial universal election in April 1994.

Escarpments

Steep, high cliffs that divide the interior central plateau of Africa from narrow coastal plains, impeding inland river navigation.

Cataracts

Large waterfalls and churning rapids along rivers as they drop down over escarpments toward the coast.

Great Rift Valley

A massive geological fault system stretching through eastern Africa, characterized by fertile volcanic farmland, deep lakes, and abundant minerals.

Sahel

The fragile, semiarid grassland transition zone located immediately south of the Sahara Desert, which suffers from chronic drought and desertification.

Leaching

The environmental process in equatorial rainforests where heavy, constant rainfall washes away vital nutrients and minerals from topsoil, rendering it poor for farming.

Tsetse Fly

An insect endemic to African rainforest regions that transmits African sleeping sickness to humans and fatal sickness to horses, donkeys, and cattle, preventing livestock farming near jungles.

Savannas

Grassy tropical plains covering over 40% of Africa, characterized by alternating wet and dry seasons and supporting the majority of the continent's population.

Masai

A semi-nomadic pastoral society of Tanzania and southern Kenya who measure family wealth by herd size and migrate to locate grazing land during dry seasons.

Animism

A traditional African religious belief system asserting that spirits inhabit natural objects, animals, plants, and natural forces, closely linked to ancestor reverence.

Griots

West African oral storytellers, poets, historians, and advisers to chiefs who preserved cultural literature and historical memory without relying on written text.

Kleptocracy

A corrupt political system in which rulers use state power to loot their nation's natural resources and treasury to enrich themselves and their families.

Gnassingbé Eyadéma

Army officer who took power in Togo in a 1967 coup and ruled for 38 years, establishing Africa's longest-ruling family dynasty that has held power for over 50 years.

Omar Bongo

Leader of Gabon from 1967 until his death in 2009 (nearly 42 years), who established a kleptocratic family dynasty that enriched his family through natural resources and oil wealth.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema

President of Equatorial Guinea who seized power in 1979 by overthrowing and executing his uncle, becoming Africa's longest-serving current ruler and using an oil boom to entrench personal control.

Paul Biya

President of Cameroon since 1982 (and Prime Minister from 1975 to 1982) who was sworn in for an eighth seven-year term at the age of 92.