Africa Test

sub-saharan Africa

the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara

• Central Africa

• East Africa

• Southern Africa

• West Africa

saheel

A steppeland zone extending across most of Africa between southern margines of the barren sahara and the moister tropical savanna and forest zone to the south. Chronic drought, desertification and overgrazing have contributed to severe famines in the area since 1970.

* half desert half grassland
* In Mali

savanna

The grasslands

* tropical grassland containing widely spaced trees

Sahara Desert

• Desert in Libya

• Runs through Magreb

Congo Basin

* Dense Rainforest

Great Rift Valley

• Ethiopia to South Africa

• Holds the main population

 transition zone

• An area of spatial change change where the borders of two adjacent realms/regions join.

• marked by a gradual shift in characteristics

Africa’s transition zone

* where the realm’s cultures intersect with those of the Muslim world

escarpment

A cliff or very steep slope; marks the edge of a plateau

* Ex: The Great Escarpment that lines Africa’s east coast

cataract

a waterfall

desertification

the process of desert expansion into steppelands as a result of human erosion of fragile environments

deforestation

the destruction of forests to make way for new settlements and economic exploitation

Islamic Front

The southern border of the African transition zone that marks the religious frontier of the Muslim faith in its southward penetration of Subsahran Africa.

* countries separated;
* Sudan 
* Divided into Sudan and South Sudan
* Nigeria
* Ivory Coast
* Ethiopia

Colonialism: Berlin Conference

The purpose was to carve up the African Map. Britain, France, Portugal, Belgium and Germany to prevent the European countries from going to war with each other

Colonialism: pos. effects of imperialism

• They brought in nutrition and medicine which increased the life expectancy of Africans. Growth of population.

• Introduced modern transportation and communication systems such as telegraphs, telephones and railroads

  • Railroads were positive and negative

• Small minority of Africans received improved education and greater economic opportunities

• Introduced plumbing

Colonialism: neg. effects of imperialism

• The erosion of traditional African values and destroyed social relationships; religion was brought in and forced upon them

• Changed to a market economy which created a new sense of work

• Railroads built to transport goods to the coast. Did not connect cities.

• African people were treated as inferior to the Europeans (ethnocentrism). Terrible working conditions, Slave trade across the world.

• Africa was divided up with no respect to the tribal, ethnic or cultural boundaries. Which resulted in civil wars.

Colonialism: problems of newly independent countries

* Most of the newly independent countries fell to civil war after the Europeans left, due to the different groups of people being forced to live together
* ie; Rwanda, DR Congo, Sudan

South Africa: Nelson Mandela

• Anti-apartheid activist

• president of South Africa from 1994-99

• Becomes president of South Africa and makes F.W. De Klerk his VP

• won nobel peace prize for ending apartheid

• considered the father of South Africa

South Africa: apartheid characteristics

Policy of separation of races

• Carry “Pass Books” at all times: photo, fingerprints, permission to travel (72 hour passes)

• No longer citizens of South Africa

• No free speech, protest

• “Whites Only” jobs, public places

• “Silence and Stop” any form of defiance

South Africa: results of the end to apartheid

* F.W. De Klerk
* Last National party president
* Released Mandela from prison
* Allowed Mandela to run for president in 1994
* Citizenship was returned to the blacks
* Lifted bans on ANC and other groups opposed to apartheid

Zimbabwe: Robert Mugabe

• the President of Zimbabwe from 1980-1987 and 1987-2017

• blamed for economic, political, and human rights abuses

Zimbabwe: cholera outbreak

Cholera killed 9,000 people

* largest outbreak between August 2008-July 2009

 Zimbabwe: reasons for the collapsed economy

Mugabe drove white farmers from their lands to give party officials and military officers instead of to the farmers

* 2009 inflation is up 231 million percent

Zimbabwe: Emmerson Mnangagwa

• was Mugabe’s VP until Nov. 2017 when he was dismissed

• came to power through a coup

• 2017-current

Zimbabwe: 2019 government crackdown

• President Emmerson Mnangagwa 2019 crackdown on opposition and protestors

• people protested against the high inflation prices imposed by gov.

Genocide

* Any of the following act committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part a national, ethnical, racial or religious group;
* Killing members of the group
* Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
* Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction
* Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
* Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

Rwandan Genocide

• April 7 - July 15 1994

• 2 ethnic groups

  • Tutsis (wealthy minority)

  • Hutus

• Hutus shot down and killed their president as an excuse for genocide

Rwanda: victims and perpetrators of genocide

• Hutus commit genocide

  • 800,000 tutsi victims

• Hutu gov. imports machetes from China

  • Weapon of choice for war

  • Hutu police went house to house asking if the people are Hutu or Tutsi

  • Tutsi names were written down and Hutus provided with machetes

Rwanda: results of genocide

• RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front)

  • Tutsi army

  • Fought Northeast and gradually claimed more land

  • Won the war

• Both Hutu and Tutsi refugees flee to DR Congo

DR Congo: Africa’s World War

• 1998

  • 5.4 million killed

• Sectarian War

  • Congo rebels, Rwanda, Uganda vs. Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Kuwait's govt. (9 nations, 20 militias, UN Peacekeepers)

  • Becomes a war over resources

DR Congo: internally displaced persons

* Child Soldiers
* International age is 16
* In Africa 8-10 year old soldiers
* Kidnapped, taken from their families, many situations kids are forced to shoot their parents and are raised in Militias
* ie. LRA

DR Congo: sectarian

Multiple different organizations, factions are involved

DR Congo: Joseph Kony

• Joseph Kony leads the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)

• In 2005 Kony was indicted for crimes against Humanity by ICC

• In 2010 Obama sent 100 U.S. soldiers to aid in his capture

• Accused of murder, abduction, child sex slavery and forcing children to participate in hostilities

DR Congo: LRA

• Rebel group under Kony

• Operates in Uganda, South Sudan, DR Congo and Cent. African Rep.

DR Congo: conflict minerals

• Congo has 80% of the world’s supply of coltan.

• Inability to manage resources

• Civil war and underselling

• Is in the interest of major companies to keep prices low

Sudan: Omar al Bashir

• Muslim president, who imposes Islamic law

• 1993-2019

Sudan: Genocide in Darfur

Darfur was a state in Southwestern Sudan, now South Sudan

* The janjaweed committed genocide by creating unlivable conditions for the black Africans of South Sudan

Sudan: Janjaweed

• Devils on horseback

• Private militia hired by Sudanese government to commit genocide in Darfur

• Entered villages of black Africans in South Sudan and forced them out of villages into Chad

• Filled drinking wells with dead bodies or animals

Sudan: results in civil war

South Sudan finally gained independence and is relatively stable. Sudan does however want it back.

Nigeria: problems with oil

• The oil started to kill farmland due to the leaks into the NIger Delta

  • Killed fish and enviorment

  • Destroying two of the biggest income sources

• People start hacking into oil pipeline and fill up anything with oil and start shipping that to illegal oil refineries and selling it to the black market

• The Niger Delta is ruined

Nigeria: Boko Haram

• Means Western Education is Forbidden

• Islamic terroist movement based in northeast Nigeria, Chad, Niger and northern Cameroon

• Pledged allegiance to the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant in March 2015

• Killed more than 5000 civilians between 2009-2014

• Since 2009 have abducted more than 500 people including the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in April 2014

Liberia: Americo-Liberians

• American slaves returned to Africa to settle Liberia

• Americo-Liberians were western, english-speaking and christian

Liberia:  U.S. influence

• The flag of Liberia is similar to the U.S. flag

• Named their capital after President James Monroe

  • Monrovia

• U.S. based military training

  • U.S. viewed them as secondary soldiers

Liberia:  Charles Taylor and his crimes

• Indicted war crimes for diamond smuggling and weapons

• Trial for 17 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity

• Convicted on 11 counts of war crimes including; murder, rape, sexual slavery, enslavement, enlisting minors in the armed forces, pillage, and violence to physical and mental well being of persons

• Sentenced to 50 years

Environment / Wildlife: humans affected the environment in East Africa

the increase in population growth which leads to pressure on farmlands in order to feed more people and resulted in an infringe on the wildlife reserves.

• The wildlife of Kenya was also severely affected due to losing their environments and poaching which had become popular

• End of an era refers to Africa’s shrinking rainforests and savannas along with the dwindling wildlife population.

• Preserving the animals habitat and separating the farmlands would allow the wildlife population to increase as the animals would not have to adapt to new habitats and would not need to worry about retaliation from farmers.