How does climate and geography affect African society?

• http://www.phschool.com/atschool/worldhistory/audio_guided_tours/WH07A01702.swf

Geography

• 2nd largest continent in the world

• 1/5th of the Earth surface

• Shortest coastline in the world– How:

• plateau on coastline• Waterfalls• rapids

Environmental Challenges

• Deserts cover most of the continent – Sahara Desert

• Big as United States• Larger each year• Edge of desert called the Sahel

– Kalahari Desert • arid plateau region• Receives rainfall• Grazing and a little agriculture

are possible in certain areas.

•

Effects of Geography

• Long-term climate change will influence the social and agriculture throughout the region- 5,000 BC

• Through desertification the rich grassland turned into an barren desert

• Drove humans and animals to more arid areas

• Some go towards lake Chad and other towards the Nile

Namib Desert

Africa’s Savanna

• Most live in the savanna• Cover 40% of the

continent• Alternate hot with rainy • Topsoil very thin as a

result• Support agriculture

Great Rift Valley

• 3,000 miles long• Elevation ranges from

1,300 to 1,830• Surrounded by lakes

– Lake Victoria largest lake in Africa

• Suitable to sustain human life– Farming water

• First humans came from this area of the world

Humans Adopt to Environment

• Earliest Africans were nomadic hunters and gathers– Followed a food supply

• Travel in a small band of relatives

• Learned to domestic and raise animals for food

• Impact:– Growing own food

allowed a group of people settle in one location

– Leads to healthier life style– Increase birth rate – Increase art

• Jewelry • Pottery

– Governing bodies will develop

Bantu Migration• Group of people located in

the savanna of Africa• Shared a common language

cultural characteristics • Were farmers and herders

– Slash and burn farming technique caused them to move

• Push-pull factors will cause Bantu to migrate– Climate– Food– land

• Forced to migrate south – Why: population increased

no more land therefore migrated south to more land

• Culture diffusion will take place– Iron smelting

• Effects of migration– Drove other groups off

land– New culture created

Migration Patterns

Scramble for Africa

England’s Colonization

Why Africa???

• Industrial Revolution will cause the need for colonies – Why: 1. raw materials2. New markets

• Tin• Copper• Diamonds• timber

• Control a piece of land that has raw material the colonial power gets it for free

• Imperialism will start for the scramble of raw materials

List the motives behind European domination of Africa.

Rationalization

• Europeans felts they were better than the Africans – Racism

• Will apply social Darwinism – Those who were the

fittest enjoyed wealth and power

• Their right to bring progress to non-Europeans

Berlin Conference

Independence

• Nationalism and Pan-Africanism will plant the seeds for liberation of Africa

• Unifying Africans will end the colonial rule in Africa

• Some colonies will gain independence easily while others will fight a long war for independence

South Africa and Apartheid

• Blacks made up 75% of total population

• No political, economic or social equality

• Could not vote• Gov’t set aside 13 % of the

land for 75% population• Whites controlled the best

lands• Segregated school, public

facilities and neighborhoods

South Africa

• Colonial of Great Britain• Non-whites had few

educational and economic opportunities

• 1948 apartheid was passed by the minority white

• African National Congress (ANC) will fight against apartheid – Illegal political organization

• 1931 Great Britain will give South Africa its independence and the ANC is outlawed

Nelson Mandela

• Born 1918• Joined ANC 1960• Wanted to set up military

wing of the ANC• Arrested in 1962- 5 years

jail with hard labor • 1963 put on trial for

plotting to overthrow the government – Sentenced to life

imprisonment

F.W. de Klerk

• Goal was to transform South Africa and end isolationism– How: end apartheid

• Legalize ANC• Let Mandela out of jail• Revise apartheid laws• Wrote new constitution• Held free elections April

1994

End of Apartheid

• Nelson Mandela first black president of South Africa

• ANC won 63% of the vote in the national assembly– 252 out of 400 seats

Rwanda

• Two ethnic groups – Majority Hutu

• farmers

– Minority Tutsis• Land owners/aristocrats

• Two groups follow the same traditions and language

• Belgians were the colonial ruler of Rwanda

• Belgians considered the Tutsis to be superior– Why: were rich and educated

• Belgians left and Hutu took power

• Tutsi refugees were forming the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)

• Aim was to overthrow Habyarimana and return to their homeland

Problem

• April – June 2006 80,000 Tutsis and Hutu were killed– Mostly Tutsis

• Why: President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane, a Hutu, was shot down

• Shot down by an Tutsis rebel group

Mass Murder

• Opposition was murdered by the Hutu– Tutsi and moderate Hutu

• Hutu civilians were involved– Hutu military officials

promised land, money and food

• UN did nothing• France, Belgium and US

were criticized for doing nothing to the Hutu regime

• Worst genocide of the 1990s

After Math

• A multi-ethnic government was set up, with a Hutu, Pasteur Bizimungu as president and Mr Kagame as his deputy– FAILED:

• Bizimungu was charged with inciting ethnic violence

• Kagame became president

• Invaded the Republic og Congo – Why: to get rid of the

Tutsis who fled to the Congo

Somalia • Independence from Great

Britain 1960• 2009 Population 9.8 million• Official religion- Islam • 37.8% literate• Presently: NO working

government 1991• Safe haven for Islamic militants • Regions controlled by warlords • Economy OK

– Why: export livestock– Accounts from 50% of exports

1992

• Worst drought in their history– Killed 300,000 people

• US troops went in to protect the delivery of food in December

• US will pull put when a warlord drag US soldiers bodies through the street

• UN troops will take over relief efforts

2006• Worst outbreak of violence in 10

years• Islamist militias, Somali Islamic

Courts Council (SICC), seized control of the capital, Mogadishu

• Ethiopia felt threatened by the group so ground troops were sent in

• A week later most of the Islamists forced to flee the country

• Ethiopia announced that its troops would remain in the

Somalia Pirates

• Threat to international shipping since 1990s

• 2008, received $150 million in ransom

• 2008 UN Security Council told nations to apply force when necessary

• Take ship get back to Somalia strong hold and ransom the ship cargo to owner

• Why:– Young men are drawn to

piracy in order to provide for their families

Darfur, Sudan

Conflict

• Conflict – land– access to water – raiding of cattle

• Why: – drought

• Increased need for water and grazing

– desertification • Sahara getting bigger

– modern weapons

Sudan

• North is Arab• South is animism and

Christian– Black Africans – Comprised of 80 tribes

• Fighting over grazing/ land• 2003 Sudan Liberation

Army (SLA) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) began attacking government targets

• Factious group formed from the two to form the Janjaweed

Rebel Groups• Sudanese Liberation

Army/Movement (SLA/SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) started the rebellion to get Khartoum to spend money on the development of the area

• Janjaweed are backed by the government to suppress to two rebel groups

• Government does not have control of the rebel group Janjaweed

• Cannot get all three groups to the table to make pace

• Attack villages, slaughtering men, raping women and stealing

• Genocide is taking place along with crimes against humanity – arrest warrant for

President Bashi

The People

• 2.7 million have fled their homes

• 200,000 have fled to Chad

• 300,000 people have died • African Union has 7,000

peace keepers• UN Security Council has

passed resolutions – Have not worked

Problems of Africa

Problem 1: Political • New African leaders were

inexperienced – Government can’t fix

problems so the military comes in

• Military dictatorships will rule the countries

Problem 2: Ethnic Violence• National boundaries were

redrawn after colonial powers left

• The boundaries drawn by the colonial ruler took into no consideration different ethnic backgrounds

Problems of Africa

Problem 3: Economic • Depend on a signal cash

crop or mineral to export– Ghana- cocoa – Nigeria- oil

• When the world market price for a signal cash crop falls the whole economy of the country suffers

Nigeria and Oil • Oil in 1975 accounted for

75% of Nigeria’s export • 1980s oil prices dropped

effecting Nigeria economy • Faltering economy the

military takes over

Problems of Africa

Problem 4: Environment • Had to over plant to grow

food for population • Over planting an area

caused that area’s topsoil to be blown away by winds

• This resulted in desertification

Problem 5: Disease • 1995 deadly Ebola virus

spread in Zaire – Government had to close

boarders to halt the spread of the disease

• 1970 and 1980s the spread of aids spread quickly through regions of Africa