ANTH326 – Peoples and Cultures of Sub-Saharan Africa(2007/2A)Meeting 2September 17, 2007

Announcements

•Coursepack•Reserve•Moodle•Blog

African Studies

•Interest in Africa •Neocolonial spectre•U.S. vs. Africa•What's in it for us?

“Anthropological” continent

•Cultural diversity•Modes of production•Identity/ethnicity•Exotic continent•Exploration•Cradle of humanity•Foraging to industrialized agriculture

Mostly Non-Industrial

•Rural•Subsistence farming•Foraging

Ethnography

•Participant-observation•Length of stay•Language•Colonial•Post-colonial•Neo-colonial

Own Interest

•From vague interest in Africa•Music and language•Heard about West African griots•Switched to hunters

Generalities

•Encyclopedia-like•Factoids•Will mostly talk about humans•But continent

Images of Africa

•These things exist•Africa more diverse•“Ignorance” about Africa•Maps

▫Diverse maps▫General map shape

Landmass

•Large•Relatively sparse population•Two tropics•Tectonic plates•Rift valley•Africa and Arabian peninsula

Great Escarpment

•Interior states•Transportation•Not navigation•Trains•Trucks

“Fortress Africa”

•Colonials•Diseases

Movement

•Nomadism•Migrations•Trade

▫With Asia▫With Europe

•“Economic/development islands”

Water

•Lakes, rivers (Niger, Congo, Nile)•Rain•ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone)

▫Dry/rainy

Climate/Vegetation Symmetry

•Wet equator to drier to mediterranean▫Forest▫Savanna woodlands▫Savanna grasslands▫Semi-desert (Sahel, steppe)▫Deserts (Sahara, Kalahari/Namib)▫Cooler (Mediterranean, Coastal South

Africa)

Resources

•Control of resources•Soil resources•Oil•Import energy

Problems

•Erosion•Global Warming•Starvation•Suffering

Causes of problems

•Internal▫Human▫Ecological

•External▫Colonialism▫Globalisation

Diversity

•Recurring theme•Backlash from common view?•Number languages•Four language families

▫Afro-Asiatic (including Semitic languages)▫Khoisan (including “click” languages)▫Niger-Congo (including Bantu languages)▫Nilo-Saharan (including Songhay, Maasai,

Kanuri)

Countries

•National boundaries•Scramble for Africa (Berlin 1884-1885)•Difficult divisions•Conflicts•Supra-national structures

Regions

Region Area (km²) Population 7/1/2004

Central Africa 6 613 253 103 699 088East Africa 6 384 904 264 530 093North Africa 8 524 700 195 477 720Southern Africa 2 693 418 49 268 817West Africa 6 144 013 260 766 496

North Africa

Country Capital Area Population

Algeria Algiers2 381

740 32 129 324

Egypt Cairo1 001

450 76 117 421

Libya Tripoli1 759

540 5 631 585Morocco Rabat 446 550 32 209 101

Sudan Khartoum2 505

810 39 148 162Tunisia Tunis 163 610 9 974 722Western Sahara none 266 000 267 405

West Africa 1

Country Capital Area PopulationBenin Porto-Novo 112 620 7 250 033Burkina Faso Ouagadougou 274 200 13 574 820Cape Verde Praia 4 033 415 294Cote d'Ivoire Yamoussoukro 322 460 17 327 724Gambia, The Banjul 11 300 1 546 848Ghana Accra 239 460 20 757 032Guinea Conakry 245 857 9 246 462Guinea-Bissau Bissau 36 120 1 388 363Liberia Monrovia 111 370 3 390 635

West Africa 2

Country Capital Area PopulationMali Bamako 1 240 000 11 956 788Mauritania Nouakchott 1 030 700 2 998 563Niger Niamey 1 267 000 11 360 538Nigeria Abuja 923 768 137 253 133Saint Helena Jamestown 410 7 415Senegal Dakar 196 190 10 852 147Sierra Leone Freetown 71 740 5 883 889Togo Lome 56 785 5 556 812

Central Africa

Country Capital Area Pop.

Angola Luanda1 246

70010 978

552

Cameroon Yaounde 475 44016 063

678Central African Republic Bangui 622 984 3 742 482

ChadN'Djamena

1 284 000 9 538 544

Congo, Dem. Rep. Kinshasa2 345

41058 317

930

Congo, Rep. of theBrazzaville 342 000 2 998 040

Equatorial Guinea Malabo 28 051 523 051Gabon Libreville 267 667 1 355 246Sao Tome & Principe Sao Tome 1 001 181 565

East Africa 1

Country Capital Area PopulationBurundi Bujumbura 27 830 6 231 221Comoros Moroni 2 170 651 901Djibouti Djibouti 23 000 466 900Eritrea Asmara 121 320 4 447 307Ethiopia Addis Ababa 1 127 127 67 851 281Kenya Nairobi 582 650 32 021 856

MadagascarAntananarivo 587 040 17 501 871

Malawi Lilongwe 118 480 11 906 855Mauritius Port Louis 2 040 1 220 481Mayotte Mamoutzou 374 186 026

East Africa 2

Country Capital Area PopulationMozambique Maputo 801 590 18 811 731Reunion Saint-Denis 2 512 766 153Rwanda Kigali 26 338 7 954 013Seychelles Victoria 455 80 832Somalia Mogadishu 637 657 8 304 601Tanzania Dar es Salaam 945 087 36 588 225Uganda Kampala 236 040 26 404 543Zambia Lusaka 752 614 10 462 436Zimbabwe Harare 390 580 12 671 860

Southern Africa

Country Capital Area PopulationBotswana Gaborone 600 370 1 561 973Lesotho Maseru 30 355 1 865 040Namibia Windhoek 825 418 1 954 033South Africa Pretoria 1 219 912 42 718 530Swaziland Mbabane 17 363 1 169 241