Chapter 4

size of african continent

africa has:

world’s longest river, the nile river

world’s largest desert, sahara

large enough landmass to fit 48 contiguous U.S states, china, india, and much of europe inside its borders.

climate

africa south of the sahara is in the tropical climate zone

tropical rainforest (along the equator)

tropical savanna (north and south of the equator)

humid subtropical (around 15 degrees north and south of equator)

desert (kalahari desert and namib desert in south)

steppe (north and south of the savanna)

intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ)

intertropical convergence zone (itcz) low pressure belt of air that migrates with the subsolar point.

air flows from high pressure to low pressure so air consistently flows toward the itcz (because it is a low) wherever it is.

itcz is visible from space as a band of clouds because at a low, warm air rises and condenses (and precipitation can follow)

migration of the itcz influences climates – especially savanna.

subsolar point

subsolar point latitude on earth that is receiving direct rays from the sun (at a 90 degree angle)

migrates between 23.5⁰n and 23.5⁰s

near 23.5⁰n at the june solstice

near 23.5⁰s at the december solstice

tropical savanna

also called a tropical wet-dry because there’s a distinct rainy season (when itcz is near) and distinct dry season (when itcz is far away).

tropical savanna north of the equator has rainy season around june when itcz is near 23.5⁰n

tropical savanna south of the equator has rainy season around june when itcz is near 23.5⁰s

Elevation and Ocean Currents

in addition to location of subsolar point and itcz, climates in africa are shaped by elevation and ocean currents.

higher elevations (eg. mt. kenya and mt. kilamanjaro) have cooler temperatures, including snow.

east coast of africa south of equator has warm ocean currents, creating warmer temperatures.

west coast of africa south of the equator has cold ocean currents, creating a cold water desert (namib desert).

societal roles and environmental change

how people interact and access environmental resources varies based on gender, ethnicity, age, and relative wealth.

gender: rural women often responsible for collecting water and firewood

age: young sudanese boys responsible for herding have deep local environmental knowledge.

parks and people

during european colonization, colonizers changed land ownership by:

arguing africans mismanaged land.

transferring lands to european settlers in east and southern africa.

creating national parks and hunting preserves.

zimbabwe land classification

during colonialism, british divided and mapped all land in zimbabwe (then rhodesia) into five classes, i through v.

i = best land

v = least arable (farmable) land

british gave i, ii, and iii land to british settlers and set aside iv and v land for communal use by africans.

british used brute force to push africans to iv and v land that was relatively dry, causing greater poverty and marginalization.

ecotourism

nature-based tourism industry

has helped increase tourism to national parks

many tourists come to see or hunt the big 5 (elephants, lions, rhinoceros, leopards, and african or cape buffalo)

transboundary parks

transboundary parks extend across country borders.

why the growth in transboundary parks?

governments recognize colonial borders are arbitrary and animal habitat and ranges cross borders.

effort to work toward peace between countries.

need for larger tracts of land to preserve habitats and biodiversity.

first humans

homo sapiens arose about 150,000 to 200,000 years ago in africa south of the sahara.

homo sapiens began migrating out of Africa around 100,000 years ago.

precolonial cities in africa

cities established in 8th century

most (3/4s) of most important cities in africa today were established by africans prior to european colonization.

e.g. great zimbabwe was the capital city of karanga empire, which was a major regional power from 1200 to 1450.

~ europeans and americans concocted wild theories about how great zimbabwe was formed because could not believe it was africans who built the city

site of precolonial cities

in the north, precolonial cities were often sited along the trade routes that crossed the sahara.

on the southern side of the sahara, many cities were part of islamic empires that rose to power between 9th and 19th centuries.

cities gained wealth by controlling the trans-sahara trade routes.

cities were also centers of learning and home to universities.

first wave of colonialism in africa

1500 to 1850 (during first wave of colonialism) main focus of europeans in africa was the slave trade.

slave trade grew because of high demand for slave labor on sugar, cotton, and tobacco plantations in the americas.

europeans mainly colonized coasts for ports and access to slave trade.

slave trade comes to an end:

by the mid-1800s, morality of the slave trade was in question.

demand for enslaved africans had declined.

second wave of colonialism

begins in 1850s and takes off with european scramble for africa in the 1880s.

berlin conference of 1884-1885: european colonial powers divided continent of africa among themselves:

not a single african was present at the berlin conference

european colonizers drew arbitrary borders for colonies

borders ignored african ethnic groups, civilizations, resources, and history.

site of colonial cities

europeans established colonial cities to:

extract resources (near resources, esp. mines)

move resources out (port cities)

can see network of cities for extraction and export in the map of african railroads.

postcolonial period

colonies in africa became independent countries after world war ii.

european colonizers fought against independence in colonies with large european settler populations.

settlers owned much of the best farmland and controlled much of the economy and ddi not want to let it go.

island of development

islands of development: cities where most of the economic growth and financial investment are concentrated.

become destinations for migrants seeking work.

resources often are brought here and then exported.

rail and transport goes from interior to islands of development.

languages of africa south of the sahara

over 1,000 languages in africa grouped into 6 large language families.

the distribution of language families shows a history of spatial interaction across the continent.

afro-asiatic mainly in north africa

niger-congo mainly in africa south of the sahara

religions of africa south of the sahara

triple heritage of the region reflected in religion:

indigenous: traditionalist throughout africa south of the sahara

muslim: sunni islam in north africa, the horn of africa, and east africa

european: christianity throughout africa south of the sahara with catholic in places colonized by french or belgians and protestant in places colonized by british

colonialism and rurtal livelihoods

colonizers sought to shift production in the region to capitalism – to produce large quantities of crops and resources for sale at low prices in the world market. 

colonialism and rurtal livelihoods in west africa

In west africa, colonialism led to farming of two types:

small-hold crop farming: producing food for family and crops to sell in the market.

Plantations: large tracts of land run by colonial powers or settlers (fewer settlers in west africa) from the colonies to produce crops for the market.

colonialism and rurtal livelihoods in east africa and south africa

in east africa, colonialism led to:

large Settler populations who owned mining rights, good farmland, and lived permanently in the region.

head tax levied on africans by european colonizers. africans needed cash to pay it so became laborers in mines and plantations to earn cash.

import substitution in newly independent countries

by 1970 almost all african countries had gained independence, but economic relationships developed under colonialism largely remained in place.

new african governments often worked to increase self-sufficiency through import substitution: producing manufactured goods at home rather than importing them from other countries.

problems with import substitution:

many african economies were too small to support all types of industries.

states levied tariffs and set up subsidies, which were supposed to be temporary protections but they stayed in place.

states ran these industries so production decisions were not always made based on efficiencies.

african debt

in the 1970s, african countries amassed debt, partly through import substitution.

world bank (see chapter 2) came in to restructure african debts country by country.

african debt and structural adjustments

world bank structural adjustments started in 1980s and included requiring african governments to:

privatize government-owned industries.

reduce the size of government bureaucracies.

increase revenue by returning to exports, especially of raw materials and crops.

devalue african currencies, making african goods cheaper on the world market.

neocolonialism

a new colonialism where african governments had to surrender control of their economies to the world bank.

african rural livelihoods and food production: pastoralists

two types of pastoralists:

transhumant pastoralists: livestock raisers who migrate with livestock seasonally.

agropastoralists: farmers who mix raising livestock with raising crops.

household splits seasonally and boys and young men take the herd farther away during rainy season.

african rural livelihoods and food production: farmers

three types of farmers:

slash-and-burn: most common in rainforest region. cut and burn vegetation to make room for crops. farm as long as land is fertile and then move on. let land rest for 30 years before farming it again.

rotational bush fallow: in grassland and drier areas, farmers rotate what crops are grown and allow cattle to graze fields at regular intervals.

permanent cultivation: farmers grow crops and only rarely fallow fields.

famine

famine is usually not from an absolute shortage of food. famine stems from distribution of food, which is often determined by cost.

e.g. 1970s famine in sahel

* cost of food too high for poor

* livestock and peanuts being produced for

export rather than local consumption

HIV/AIDS in africa south of the sahara

HIV/AIDS first discovered in late 1970s/early 1980s in east and central Africa.

impact of HIV/AIDS:

largely impacts working-age, adult population

biggest impact is in southern africa where adult prevalence rate is high.

HIV/AIDS and colonial patterns of development

colonial powers identified certain colonies (e.g. malawi) as labor reserves.

contracted young men to work for long periods of time (one to three years) at great distances from their home.

contracted labor used for plantation agriculture and mining.

contracted labor most frequent in east, central, and south africa.

africans became contract laborers to pay head tax.

in malawi, an estimated ¼ of men were working outside the country in 1950.

women left home to run farm and raise children.

male laborers away from home may turn to alcohol and prostitution to combat loneliness.

hiv/aids spread quickly among prostitutes and male laborers and then diffused to wives in rural areas by male laborers.