Chapter 19 Modern World History
Independence in Eritrea
Almaz Isaac fled Eritrea to America as a refugee due to the war for independence.
After Eritrea gained independence, she returned, expressing joy and freedom.
Independence brought hope to many African countries and elsewhere.
Chapter Focus Question
How did former European colonies gain independence, and what challenges did they face afterward?
Independent Nations of South Asia
How did nationalist demands for independence affect South Asia and the world?
India was partitioned into India and Pakistan due to religious differences.
Partition led to violence and distrust between Hindus and Muslims.
Objectives
Understand why independence brought partition to South Asia.
Describe how Indian leaders built a new nation.
Summarize how Pakistan and Bangladesh grew apart.
Explain how India and Pakistan pursued independence from the superpowers in their foreign relations.
Terms, People, and Places
Partition: The division of British India into India and Pakistan.
Sikhs: Members of an Indian religious minority.
Kashmir: A state in the Himalayas, a source of conflict between India and Pakistan.
Jawaharlal Nehru: Leader of the Congress Party and India's first prime minister.
Dalits: People in the lowest castes.
Indira Gandhi: Prime Minister of India for most of the years between 1966 and 1984.
Punjab: A prosperous, largely Sikh state in northern India.
Golden Temple: The holiest Sikh shrine.
Bangladesh: Formerly East Pakistan, declared independence in 1971.
Nonalignment: Political and diplomatic independence from the Cold War superpowers.
Independence Brings Partition
Nationalists in British-ruled India demanded self-rule since the late 1800s.
The Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, feared discrimination against the Muslim minority in a Hindu-dominated India.
The Muslim League demanded the creation of a separate nation, Pakistan.
Tensions between Muslims and the Hindu majority led to increasing violence in the 1940s.
After World War II, the British government decided it could no longer resist Indian demands for independence.
Refugees Flee Amid Violence
Britain decided to accept the idea of partition, dividing the subcontinent into two nations: India and Pakistan.
India (Hindu-dominated) and Pakistan (Muslim-majority) won independence on August 13, 1947.
Hindus and Muslims still lived side by side in many cities and rural areas; as soon as the new borders became known, millions fled their homes.
An estimated 10 million people fled their homes, leading to massacres, starvation, and exposure.
Around one million people died in these massacres.
Struggles Over Kashmir
India and Pakistan have fought a series of wars over Kashmir, a state in the Himalayas.
In 1947, Kashmir's Hindu ruler tried to join India, but Kashmir's Muslim majority wanted to be part of Pakistan.
Kashmiri separatists, often supported by Pakistani militants, have fought Indian troops for decades.
Kashmir remains a flashpoint in the tense relations between India and Pakistan.
A Nuclear Arms Race
In the 1970s, both India and Pakistan developed nuclear weapons programs.
By 1998, both nations had successfully tested nuclear weapons.
The emergence of these two nuclear powers alarmed neighbors in South Asia and the world.
Another concern was the danger that extremists might get access to nuclear technology or even nuclear weapons.
Conflict Divides Sri Lanka
Ceylon won freedom from Britain in 1948 and later took the name Sri Lanka.
Most Sri Lankans are Buddhists who speak Sinhalese.
A large Tamil-speaking Hindu minority lives in the north and east.
The Sri Lankan government favored the Sinhalese majority, which angered many Tamils.
In the late 1970s, Tamil rebels battled to set up their own separate nation.
For three decades, terrorism and brutality fed a deadly conflict between government forces and Tamil rebels.
By 2009, the government had regained control of Tamil-held towns, but peace was by no means assured.
Building a Modern Nation
At independence, India established a parliamentary democracy.
India has faced many challenges, including ethnic and religious tensions, over 100 languages, and desperate poverty.
The Congress Party worked to turn India into a modern nation.
From 1947 to 1964, Jawaharlal Nehru promoted economic growth and social change.
Food output rose, but so did India's population.
The government encouraged family planning to reduce the birthrate, but with limited success.
India's 1947 constitution banned discrimination against dalits, but discrimination based on caste continued.
Nehru's government set aside jobs and places in universities for dalits and other lower-caste Indians.
Indira Gandhi served as prime minister for most of the years between 1966 and 1984.
She led India with a firm hand and challenged traditional discrimination against women.
Religious Conflicts
India was a land of many religions.
A majority of Indians were Hindu, but millions were Muslim, Sikh, Christian, or Buddhist.
At times, religious divisions led to violence.
Some Sikhs wanted independence for Punjab.
In 1984, armed Sikh separatists occupied the Golden Temple.
Indira Gandhi sent troops to oust them, and bloody fighting erupted.
Soon after, Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, igniting terrible violence.
In the late 1980s, the Hindu nationalist party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) challenged the secular Congress Party.
The BJP wanted a government based on Hindu traditions and sometimes encouraged violence against Muslims.
Bangladesh Breaks Away
Pakistan gained independence in 1947, at the same time as India.
Geographically, it was a divided country, with West Pakistan and East Pakistan located on either side of India.
A thousand miles of Indian territory separated the two regions, and India made trade and travel between the two Pakistans difficult.
From the start, West Pakistan dominated the government even though East Pakistan had a larger population.
The government concentrated most economic development programs in West Pakistan, while East Pakistan remained deep in poverty.
Most people in East Pakistan were Bengalis, while West Pakistan was home to other ethnic groups.
Many Bengalis resented governmental neglect of East Pakistan.
In 1971, Bengalis in East Pakistan declared independence.
They named their country Bangladesh, or "Bengali nation."
When the Pakistani army tried to crush the rebellion, India sent forces to help Bangladesh.
Pakistan was compelled to recognize the new country.
Pakistan's Shaky government
After independence, Pakistan struggled to build a stable government.
Power shifted back and forth between elected civilian leaders and military rulers.
Tensions among the country's diverse ethnic groups posed problems.
The fiercely independent people in the northwestern "tribal areas" were left largely on their own and resisted government control.
The activities of Islamic fundamentalists created tension.
The fundamentalists wanted a government that followed strict Islamic principles; while other Pakistanis wanted greater separation between religion and state.
Ongoing Challenges
In 2008, after nine years in power, General Pervez Musharraf allowed elections.
Before the election, Islamic extremists assassinated one of the candidates, Benazir Bhutto, a popular former prime minister.
Pakistan's new civilian government faced tough challenges, including the global economic recession.
Meanwhile, support for Islamic fundamentalist groups based in Pakistan grew, especially in the northwest.
In November 2008, Islamic militants from Pakistan launched terror attacks on hotels and tourists in Mumbai, India, fueling tensions between the hostile neighbors.
Floods Ravage Bangladesh
Summer rains often flood much of low-lying Bangladesh.
Islamic traditions were strong in the rugged border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, one million Afghan refugees fled into Pakistan.
There, many joined Islamic fundamentalist groups to battle the invaders.
After Russia withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban, an extreme Islamist group, seized power with the support of Pakistan.
The Taliban backed Al Qaeda, which launched terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001.
When U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban, its supporters fled into Pakistan.
They set up strongholds in northwestern Pakistan, where their influence spread.
Pakistan's government had limited success fighting the terrorists.
However, it was angered by American missile attacks on suspected terrorists within its borders.
Bangladesh Struggles
Bangladesh ranks among the world's poorest, most crowded countries.
Its population, more than half as large as that of the United States, lives in an area the size of Alabama.
The flat Ganges Delta, just a few feet above sea level, covers much of the country.
Bangladesh has suffered repeatedly from devastating tropical storms and floods.
Geographic conditions made it hard for the government to ease the desperate poverty that most people endure.
One hopeful program, however, came from the Grameen Bank, founded by Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus.
It gave tiny loans, or "microcredit" to poor people so they could open small businesses.
Although microcredit helped only a few, it offered a model to poor nations around the world.
In 2006, Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
Finding an Independent Path
India and Pakistan were among the first of more than 90 new nations to emerge after World War II.
By the 1930s, nationalist movements had taken root in European colonies across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
After World War II, nationalist leaders such as Gandhi and Nehru insisted on independence.
After India and Pakistan gained independence, nationalist leaders in Africa and other regions demanded the same for their countries.
India, Pakistan, and other new nations condemned colonialism and rejected Cold War expansion and the divisions between the West and the Soviet Union.
In response, they sought nonalignment, or political and diplomatic independence from the Cold War superpowers.
In 1955, India and Pakistan helped organize a conference of newly independent nations in Bandung, Indonesia, which marked the birth of the nonaligned movement.
The Nonaligned Movement had its first formal meeting in 1961 in Yugoslavia.
India was a leader of the nonaligned movement, which came to include more than 100 nations, mainly in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Because they rejected both the Western allies, or the First World, and the Soviet alliance, or the Second World, the Nonaligned Movement was seen as the voice of a "Third World" of countries.
New Nations of Southeast Asia
What challenges did Southeast Asian nations face after winning independence?
Most Southeast Asian nations are home to diverse people speaking many languages and practicing different religions.
Indonesia's independence leader, Sukarno, stressed the importance of unity for his nation.
Objectives
Explain the political and economic contrasts in mainland Southeast Asia.
Understand how Indonesia's size posed challenges.
Summarize how the Philippines sought democracy.
Terms, People, and Places
Autocratic:
Aung San Suu Kyi:
Sukarno:
Suharto:
East Timor:
Ferdinand Marcos:
Benigno Aquino:
Corazon Aquino:
Mainland Contrasts
Mainland Southeast Asia is a region of contrasts.
Thailand and Malaysia have mostly prospered as market economies, although they have been affected by global financial crises.
However, nearby Myanmar has suffered under a brutal autocratic, or repressive, government with unlimited power.
British colonies on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Borneo gained independence in the 1950s and joined to form the nation of Malaysia.
The oil-rich monarchy of Brunei, on Borneo, and the prosperous city-state of Singapore gained independence as separate nations.
Malaysia has a very diverse population.
People of Chinese and Indian descent have long dominated business.
They have made the nation a Southeast Asian leader in profitable industries such as rubber and electronics.
The government, however, has tried to include the Malay majority in the country's prosperity.
The result has been a more equal distribution of wealth in Malaysia than in most countries in the region.
Myanmar Suffers
Burma won independence from Britain in 1948 and took the name Myanmar in 1989.
Ethnic tensions and a repressive government have plagued the country.
The Burmese majority dominated other ethnic groups.
The harsh military government limited foreign trade, and living standards remained low.
Under mounting pressure, the military held elections in 1990.
When an opposition party won the election, the military rejected the results.
It put the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest, and jailed, killed, or exiled many opponents.
In 1991, Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize for her "nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights."
For twenty years, the military has silenced demands for new elections and crushed peaceful demonstrations by Buddhist monks.
It even prevented humanitarian aid from reaching areas of Myanmar that were devastated by a cyclone in 2008.
Indonesia's Size Poses Challenges
After World War II, the Netherlands attempted to regain power in Indonesia, formerly the Dutch East Indies.
The Dutch, however, were forced to give up their possessions when the Indonesian government declared independence in 1949 after the Japanese defeat.
Geography and diversity posed an obstacle to unity in Indonesia.
Indonesia includes more than 13,000 islands, many very small but some as large as European nations.
Javanese make up almost half of the population, but there are hundreds of other ethnic groups.
About 90 percent of Indonesians are Muslims, but the population includes substantial Christian, Buddhist, and Hindu minorities.
Seeking Stability
At independence, Indonesia formed a parliamentary government under its first president, Sukarno.
But Sukarno shifted from democracy to authoritarian rule.
In 1967, an army general, Suharto, seized power.
Suharto claimed that communists were responsible for an earlier attempt by military officers to overthrow the government and ordered the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of communists and suspected communists.
For decades, Suharto imposed his will on Indonesia.
A financial crisis finally forced Suharto to resign from power in 1998.
Since then, elected governments have worked to build democracy, strengthen the economy, and fight corruption.
Indonesia is home to the world's largest Muslim population.
But Islamic extremists have challenged Indonesia's long tradition of religious tolerance.
Islamic terrorist groups in Indonesia have targeted foreigners and non-Muslims and threatened the stability of the government.
East Timor Fights for Freedom
Indonesia seized East Timor in 1975, just after it had been granted independence by Portugal.
However, most East Timorese wanted independence.
For years, the government battled the mostly Catholic East Timorese.
East Timor finally won independence from Indonesia in 2002.
This very poor new nation struggled to meet its people's need for jobs and decent living standards.
Ethnic Conflicts and Natural Disasters
Religious and ethnic conflicts fueled violence in parts of Indonesia.
In the Moluccas, a group of eastern islands, fighting between Muslims and Christians killed thousands.
Discrimination against Chinese people led to vicious attacks.
Rebels in Papua, on the island of New Guinea, sought independence, as did Muslim separatists in Aceh in the northwest.
Natural disasters have added to Indonesia's troubles.
In 2004, a tsunami, or giant wave, devastated the coast of Aceh and killed more than 100,000 people.
The tsunami also ravaged Thailand, Sri Lanka, and other lands around the Indian Ocean.
Following the disaster, rebels in Aceh and the Indonesian government signed a peace accord.
Helped by international aid donors, they worked together to rebuild Aceh.
The Philippines Seeks Democracy
Like Indonesia, the Philippines include thousands of islands with diverse ethnic and religious groups.
Catholics are predominant, but many Muslims live in the south.
In 1946, the Philippines gained independence after almost 50 years of American rule.
American influence remained strong through military and economic aid.
Marcos Becomes a Dictator
Although the Filipino constitution set up a democratic government, a wealthy elite controlled politics and the economy.
The peasant majority was poor.
For years, the government battled Huks, local communists with strong peasant support.
Ferdinand Marcos, elected president in 1965, abandoned democracy.
He became a dictator and cracked down on basic freedoms.
He even had Benigno Aquino, a popular rival, murdered.
Filipinos Demand Democracy
When Marcos finally held elections in 1986, voters chose Corazon Aquino, the widow of the slain Benigno.
Marcos tried to deny the results, but massive protests forced him to resign during the "people power" revolution.
Under Aquino and her successors, this fragile democracy survived, despite many political scandals.
Economic growth was limited, and poverty remained widespread.
With the highest birth rate in Asia, the population continues to rise rapidly, straining already limited resources.
Clashes With Rebels Continue
For decades, various rebel groups have waged guerrilla wars across the Philippines.
Some rebels were communists.
Others were Muslim separatists.
Some Muslim rebels have links to international terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda.
In the early 2000s, the Filipino government accepted aid from its ally, the United States, to fight rebels and pursue President George W. Bush's "war on terror."
African Nations Gain Independence
What challenges did new African nations face?
Kenya was one of more than 40 African nations that gained independence from European colonial powers in the decades after World War II.
Objectives
Describe how Africa's colonies gained independence.
Explain how Africans built new nations.
Analyze the recent histories of five African nations.
Terms, People, and Places
*Savannas:
*Kwame Nkrumah:
*Jomo Kenyatta:
*Coup d'etat:
*Mobutu Sese Seko:
*Islamist:
*Katanga:
*Biafra:
New Nations Emerge in Africa
After World War II, European colonial powers could no longer afford to hold onto their colonies.
As nationalist demands forced Britain to withdraw from India, African leaders, too, pressed for independence.
A Geographically Diverse Continent
Africa is the world's second-largest continent, more than three times the size of the United States.
Tropical rain forests cover central Africa's Congo Basin and coastal West Africa.
Vast savannas, or grasslands with scattered trees, make up interior West Africa, East Africa, and much of central and southern Africa.
Africa has the world's largest desert- the Sahara-in the north and the smaller Kalahari Desert in the south, as well as fertile coastal strips in North and South Africa.
Africa's people are concentrated in the most fertile areas, such as the savanna and forest regions of Nigeria and the moist highlands of East Africa.
These regions produce enough food to support large populations.
However, millions of Africans were migrating, or moving, from rural areas to cities.
Africa has rich deposits of minerals such as gold ore, copper ore, and diamonds.
Some African nations produce valuable cash crops, including coffee and cacao-used to make chocolate.
Some regions also have large oil reserves.
European powers had established colonies in Africa to tap into these natural resources.
Nationalist Leaders Demand Freedom
By the 1950s, nationalist movements in Africa had grown stronger.
Skilled organizers such as Kwame Nkrumah in Gold Coast (later Ghana), Jomo Kenyatta in Kenya, and Leopold Senghor in Senegal led independence movements in their own countries.
Most African nations won independence through largely peaceful means.
Drained by World War II, European powers had few resources to resist the pressure to give up their colonial empires.
The struggle for freedom turned violent, however, in a few colonies where large numbers of Europeans had settled, such as Kenya and Algeria.
New Nations Build Governments
Some new nations enjoyed peace and had democratic governments.
Others were plunged into crisis by civil war, military rule, or corrupt dictators.
In recent decades, a number of African nations have taken steps toward democracy.
Challenges to Unity
The new nations of Africa faced many difficulties, including the need to unify their people.
European colonial powers had drawn boundaries around their colonies without regard to the many rival ethnic groups living in a particular region.
At independence, most African nations included a patchwork of peoples with different languages, religions, and traditions.
Within these new nations, people often felt their first loyalty was to their own ethnic group, not to a distant national government.
As a result, conflict between different ethnic groups plagued many new nations.
Dictators Gain Power
Many leaders of the new nations were heroes of the liberation struggle.
Some chose to build one-party states.
These leaders claimed that multiparty systems encouraged disunity.
In time, these one-party governments became repressive, and some liberation leaders became dictators.
Dictators often used their positions to enrich themselves and their supporters at the expense of the nation.
When bad or corrupt governments led to civil unrest, the military seized power in many countries.
More than half of all African nations suffered military coups (kooz).
A coup, or coup d'etat is the forcible overthrow of a government.
Some military rulers were brutal tyrants.
Others tried to end corruption and improve conditions.
Military leaders usually promised to restore civilian rule.
But in many cases, they only surrendered power when they were toppled by another coup.
Moves Toward Democracy
By the 1990s, some African nations were moving away from strongman rule.
Western governments and lenders, such as the World Bank, demanded political reforms before granting loans.
In response, some governments allowed opposition parties to emerge and expanded freedom of expression.
In nations such as Nigeria, Tanzania, and Benin, multiparty elections were held, removing long-ruling leaders from office.
The Superpowers Compete for Influence
Even after African nations won independence, colonial powers and foreign companies often retained control of businesses and resources in these former colonies.
Many new nations remained dependent on their former colonial rulers for aid, trade, and investment.
The new nations were also buffeted by the Cold War.
Both the United States and the Soviet Union competed for military and strategic advantage through alliances with several African countries.
The United States, for example, backed Mobutu Seso Seko, the dictator of Zaire (now called the Democratic Republic of Congo).
It wanted to counter Soviet influence in nearby Angola.
During the 1970s, the United States backed Somalia, while the Soviet Union supported neighboring Ethiopia.
Both African countries were important because they controlled access to the Red Sea, a vital world-shipping route.
The Stories of Five African Nations
Ghana, Kenya, Algeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria
Ghana
In 1957, Ghana was the first African nation south of the Sahara to win independence.
Britain had called this colony Gold Coast, for its rich mineral resources.
Under independence leader Kwame Nkrumah, it took the name Ghana, after the ancient West African kingdom.
As president, Nkrumah supported socialism and government ownership of major industries.
He backed the building of a huge dam to provide electric power, but the project left Ghana with massive debts.
Nkrumah's government became increasingly corrupt and dictatorial.
In 1966, Nkrumah was toppled by the first of several military coups.
This pattern repeated itself in many new African nations.
Large costly projects, often poorly planned, left many countries in debt to foreign lenders.
Coups and dictators became common.
In the 1980s, Jerry Rawlings, a military officer, took power in a coup.
He strengthened the economy and moved Ghana toward democracy.
In 1992, Rawlings allowed multiparty elections and was chosen president.
Other elections followed.
Although the economy suffered from falling prices for cocoa and gold, its main exports, Ghana made progress toward improving life for its people.
The recent discovery of offshore oil raised hopes for more economic growth.
Kenya
While Ghana made a peaceful transition to freedom, Kenya faced an armed struggle.
A large number of white settlers had built successful plantations on the fertile highlands once occupied by the Kikuyu, Kenya's largest ethnic group.
White Kenyans had passed laws to ensure their domination over the black majority.
Nationalist leader and Kikuyu spokesman Jomo Kenyatta had long sought justice for the black majority and called for nonviolent means to end oppressive laws.
In the 1950s, some black Kenyans turned to guerrilla warfare, attacking and killing white settlers.
The British called them Mau Mau.
Claiming that he was a secret leader of the Mau Mau, the British imprisoned Kenyatta.
Both sides committed terrible atrocities during this period, and thousands of Kikuyu were killed.
In 1963, the British finally withdrew, and Kenyatta became the first leader of an independent Kenya.
Kenyatta and his successor dominated the country for decades.
They limited freedom of expression and resisted free elections.
Since the 1990s, Kenya has held multiparty elections, but corruption remained widespread.
In 2007, a disputed election sparked violence and ethnic unrest.
The conflict hurt tourism-one of Kenya's largest industries.
Algeria
Like Kenya, the French colony of Algeria had a large population of European settlers.
Over one million French people called Algeria home and were determined to remain part of France.
The French government, which had recently lost its Asian colony, Vietnam, also wanted to hold onto Algeria, especially after deposits of oil and natural gas were discovered there.
As a result, the struggle for independence turned violent in the 1950s.
Algerian nationalists set up the National Liberation Front, which turned to guerrilla warfare to win freedom.
From 1954 to 1962, more than one million Algerians were killed in this bloody conflict.
When public opinion in France finally turned against the war, Algeria won independence.
Algeria's oil and gas resources have helped it economically.
Politically, it has suffered through periods of military rule and internal conflict.
During the 1970s, the government nationalized, or took over, foreign-owned companies and created a command economy.
Since the 1980s, Algeria has been moving toward a market economy.
By the 1990s, a growing struggle had erupted between the military and Islamists, people who want a government based on Islamic law and beliefs.
In 1992, the Algerian government allowed free elections.
When an Islamist party won, the military rejected the results.
For seven years, civil war raged between Islamist militants and the military, leaving as many as 150,000 dead.
The violence slowed after 1999, but tensions remained.
Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of Congo (or Congo) covers a vast region of central Africa.
It includes hundreds of thousands of square miles of rain forest and savanna centered on the Congo River basin.Congo was a Belgian colony, and the Belgians were eager to keep control of Congo's rich resources, such as copper and diamonds.
When Congo gained independence in 1960, it was not prepared for self-government.
The new nation included 14 million people from more than 200 separate groups.
Competing economic interests and rival political leaders soon plunged Congo into civil war when the copper-rich Katanga province broke away.
Belgian mining companies supported Katanga, hoping to control its mineral resources.
The Cold War superpowers backed rival leaders, further complicating the fighting.
The United Nations ended the Katanga rebellion in 1963.
In 1965, Colonel Joseph Mobutu, later known as Mobutu Sese Seka, seized power.
For 32 years, Mobutu's harsh, corrupt rule brought poverty and unrest to Congo.
Rebels finally forced Mobutu from power in 1997.
But civil war again raged as rival military leaders battled to control Congo's mineral riches.
The country's first free elections in 41 years brought Joseph Kabila to power in 2006.
As on and off violence continued in the eastern region, Kabila had to reduce corruption, calm ethnic tensions, protect Congo's mineral resources, and heal the scars caused by decades of war.
Nigeria
Nigeria, on the coast of West Africa, includes diverse people and climates.
Nigeria's huge population is the largest in Africa.
Its people belong to more than 250 ethnic groups, speak many languages, and practice different religions.
The dominant groups are the mainly Christian Ibo and Yoruba in the south, and the Muslim Hausa in the north.
Nigeria won independence peacefully from Britain in 1960.
The next year, oil was discovered, raising hopes for the country's economic future.
Instead, the country faced military coups, corruption, and economic crises.
In 1966, the Ibo people in the oil-rich south rebelled and set up the independent Republic of Biafra.
A brutal civil war led to famine, the death of an estimated half million people, and the end of Biafra's independence.
Between 1996 and 1999, the military was in and out of power in Nigeria.
Military leaders ruled with an iron hand but failed to improve Nigeria's government or its economy.
In 1999, Nigeria again held elections.
A new civilian government introduced reforms to strengthen the economy and restore political freedom.
Because Nigeria relied heavily on oil exports, it was affected by the rise and fall of oil prices.
Nigeria also faced ethnic and religious violence.
In the north, Islamists wanted strict Sharia law.
In the oil-producing Niger Delta region, local people were bitter about the environmental damage caused by oil drilling, and the huge profits going to foreign companies.
Armed groups attacked pipelines and held foreign oil workers for ransom.
The Modern Middle East
What were some similarities and differences in the nations of the Middle East?
In the 1950s, leaders like Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser set out to build strong nations across the Middle East.
Most Middle Eastern countries were poor-only a few had rich oil reserves.
Autocratic governments and internal divisions hindered progress throughout the region.
Objectives
Analyze the diversity of the Middle East and the political challenges it has faced.
Explain the region's conflicts over resources and religion.
Outline the history of nation-building in three Middle Eastern nations.
Terms, People, and Places
*Kibbutz
*Secular
*Hejab
*Suez Canal
*Gamal Abdel Nasser
*Anwar Sadat
*Mohammad Mosaddeq
*Ruhollah Khomeini
*Theocracy
Diversity Brings Challenges
The Middle East, as we use the term in this chapter, is the region stretching from Egypt in the west to Iran in the east and from Turkey in the north to the Arabian Peninsula in the south.
Though most people in the region today are Muslims, there are also Christian communities and the predominantly Jewish nation of Israel.
Most countries have large ethnic or religious minorities.
Mandates Gain Independence
After World War I, Britain and France were given mandates over parts of the Middle East.
During the 1930s and 1940s, nationalists demanded an end to European control, and the mandates became the independent states of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel.
Kurds Seek Rights
In the Middle East, as elsewhere, new nations faced challenges from ethnic minorities that demanded self-rule, or even independence.
The Kurds are an ethnic group with their own language and culture, and are an important minority in Turkey, Iran, and Iraq.
Kurds faced discrimination and harsh treatment, especially in Iraq and Turkey.
In Turkey, Kurdish rebels resisted government efforts to suppress their culture.
Thousands died fighting the government.
In Iraq, a Kurdish rebellion after the 1991 Gulf War was brutally suppressed.
As you will read, Kurds form one of the three main groups sharing power in Iraq.
However, some Kurds still want their own state.
Israel Is Founded
As you have learned, Britain supported a Jewish national homeland in part of its Palestine Mandate.
The horrific experience of Jews in the Holocaust added to worldwide support for a Jewish homeland.
Jews, including many Holocaust survivors, sought to migrate there after World War II.
In 1947, the UN drew up a plan to divide the Palestine Mandate into an Arab and a Jewish state.
Jews accepted the plan, but Arabs rejected it.
They felt that all of Palestine should belong to them.
After Britain withdrew from Palestine in 1948, Jews proclaimed the independent State of Israel.
Arab states launched the first of several wars against Israel but were defeated.
Israel developed rapidly.
A skilled workforce built businesses.
Kibbutzim produced crops for export.
A kibbutz is a collective farm.
Israel attracted Jews from around the world, including Jews expelled from other Middle Eastern lands.
The conflicts of 1948 created enormous refugee problems.
As a result of the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs fled their homes in Israel