Africa,
second largest of the earth's seven continents, with adjacent islands, covering
about 30,330,000 sq km (about 11,699,000 sq mi), or about 22% of the world's
total land area. In the mid-1980s about 11.5% of the world's population, some
550 million people, inhabited Africa. Straddling the equator, Africa stretches
8050 km (4970 mi) from its northernmost point, Cape Blanc (ar-Ras al-Abyad) in
Tunisia, to its southernmost tip, Cape Agulhas in South Africa. The maximum
width of the continent, measured from the tip of Cape Verde in Sénégal, in the
west, to Ras Hafun in Somalia, in the east, is about 7560 km (about 4700 mi).
The highest point on the continent is the perpetually snowcapped Mount
Kilimanjaro (5895 m/19,340 ft) in Tanzania, and the lowest is Lake Assal (153
m/502 ft below sea level) in Djibouti. Africa has a regular coastline
characterized by few indentations. Its total length is only about 30,490 km
(about 18,950 mi); the length of its coastline in proportion to its area is less
than that of any other continent. The chief islands of Africa, which have a
combined area of some 621,600 sq km (about 240,000 sq mi), include Madagascar,
Zanzibar, Pemba, Mauritius, Réunion, the Seychelles, and the Comoro Islands in
the Indian Ocean; Sمo
Tomé, Prيncipe,
(Annobَn),
and Bioko in the Gulf of Guinea; Saint Helena, Ascension, and the Bijagَs
Islands in the Atlantic; and the Cape Verde Islands, Canary Islands, and Madeira
Islands in the North Atlantic. The Natural Environment Except for the northern
coast and the Atlas Mountains in the northwest, the terrain of Africa consists
of a vast, rolling plateau, marked by a number of large, saucer-shaped basins.
Geological History A vast continental shield of Precambrian rocks, related in
age and history to South America's Brazilian Highlands, extends south of the
Atlas Mountains to the Cape of Good Hope. On the east, the shield encompasses
two landmasses—the Arabian Peninsula and Madagascar—that were split off from
Africa during the Tertiary Period (see PLATE TECTONICS). Among these ancient
rocks some of the earliest traces of life on earth—fossil microorganisms 3.2
billion years old—have been found. Geologically, the Atlas Mountains of North
Africa are part of Europe, having been raised by the same forces that created
the Alpine mountain ranges of southern and central Europe. The tectonic forces
that split Africa and South America apart during the breakup of the
supercontinent Gondwanaland, over 150 million years ago (see JURASSIC PERIOD),
have continued into more recent times, creating East Africa's Rift Valley during
the Tertiary Period and triggering eruptions there of the volcanic Mounts Kenya
and Kilimanjaro. Physiographic Regions
AFRICA
Africa
may be divided into three major regions: the Northern Plateau, the Central and
Southern Plateau, and the Eastern Highlands. In general, elevations increase
across the continent from northwest to southeast, the average being about 560 m
(about 1900 ft). Low-lying coastal strips, with the exception of the
Mediterranean coast and the Guinea coast, are generally narrow and rise sharply
to the plateau. The outstanding feature of the Northern Plateau is the Sahara,
the great desert that occupies more than one-quarter of Africa. At the fringes
of the Northern Plateau are several mountainous regions. To the northwest lie
the Atlas Mountains, a chain of rugged peaks linked by high plateaus, which
extend from Morocco into Tunisia. Other prominent uplands are the Futa Jallon,
on the southwest, and the Adamawa Massif and the Cameroon mountain range, on the
south. The Lake Chad Basin is situated in the approximate center of the Northern
Plateau. The Central and Southern Plateau is considerably higher than the
Northern Plateau and includes west central and southern Africa. It contains
several major depressions, notably the Congo River Basin and the Kalahari
Desert. Other features south of this plateau, which averages more than 900 m
(about 3000 ft) in elevation, are the Drakensberg Mountains, running some 1100
km (about 700 mi) along the southeastern coast; and, in the extreme south, the
Karroo, an arid plateau covering about 259,000 sq km (about 100,000 sq mi). The
Eastern Highlands, the highest portion of the continent, lie near the eastern
coast, extending from the Red Sea south to the Zambezi River. The region has an
average elevation of more than 1500 m (about 5000 ft), although in the Ethiopian
Plateau it rises in stages to about 3000 m (about 10,000 ft). Ras Dashan (4620
m/15,157 ft) in northern Ethiopia is the highest peak of the plateau. South of
the Ethiopian Plateau are a number of towering volcanic peaks, including Mount
Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, and Mount Elgon. A distinctive topographicalfeature of
the Eastern Highlands is the Rift Valley, a vast geologic fault system that
traverses the region in a northern to southern direction. West of the Rift
Valley is the Ruwenzori Range, which attains a maximum elevation of 5119 m
(16,795 ft). The topography of the island of Madagascar features a rugged
central highland extending in a generally northern-southern direction near the
eastern coast. Because most of the African continent has not been covered by the
seas for millions of years, soils have developed locally, chiefly by weathering,
and a few areas have benefited from soils transported by rivers or ocean
currents. African soils, for the most part, have irregular drainage and no
definite water tables. Most are relatively infertile due to mineral leaching
from heavy rainfall and high temperatures. Desert soils (aridisols and
entisols), which have little organic content, also cover large areas. The most
fertile soils include the mollisols, also known as chernozems and black soils,
of eastern Africa and the alfisols, or podzolic soils, of portions of western
and southern Africa. Drainage and Water Resources Six major drainage networks
exist in Africa. With the exception of the Lake Chad Basin, all have outlets to
the sea and all are cut by steep cataracts or rapids that impede navigation. The
Nile River, with a length of 6650 km (4132 mi), drains northeastern Africa and
is the longest river in the world. Formed from the Blue Nile, which originates
at Lake T'ana in Ethiopia, and the White Nile, which originates at Lake
Victoria, the Nile flows west and north before emptying into the Mediterranean
Sea. The Congo River, some 4670 km (about 2900 mi) long, drains much of central
Africa. It originates in Zambia and flows north, west, and south to empty into
the Atlantic Ocean. The third longest African river, the Niger River in western
Africa, is about 4180 km (about 2600 mi) long; its upper portions are navigable
only during rainy seasons. The Niger rises in the highlands of the Futa Jallon
and flows north and east before turning south to empty into the Gulf of Guinea.
The Zambezi River, about 3540 km (about 2200 mi) long, originates in Zambia in
southeastern Africa and flows south and east to empty into the Indian Ocean. The
Zambezi is cut by various rapids, the most spectacular of which is Victoria
Falls. Draining southern Africa is the Orange River, which, with its tributary,
the Vaal River, has a length of about 2100 km (about 1300 mi). It rises in the
Drakensberg Mountains and flows west to the Atlantic. Lake Chad, a shallow
freshwater lake with an average depth of only about 1.2 m (about 4 ft), drains
nearby rivers and constitutes the largest inland drainage area on the continent.
The deep rift valleys of the Eastern Highlands hold a great series of lakes.
This equatorial lake system includes Lakes Turkana, Albert, Tanganyika, and
Malawi. Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa and the third largest in the
world, is, however, not part of this system; it occupies a shallow depression in
the Eastern Highlands. Achieving effective control of the water supply is a
major problem in Africa. Vast areas suffer low rainfall; still larger areas
receive only irregular rainfall and must store water as insurance against
delayed or deficient rains. Other areas have an overabundance of water: Great
swamps exist, and large areas suffer from periodic flooding. In recent years,
numerous dams and reservoirs have been constructed to channel water for
irrigation and for hydroelectric power. The continent's numerous rivers and the
abrupt descents of the waterways have led to estimates that Africa has
approximately 40% of the total world hydroelectric potential. Climate The
climate of Africa, more than that of any other continent, is generally uniform.
This results from the position of the continent in the Tropical Zone, the impact
of cool ocean currents, and the absence of mountain chains serving as climatic
barriers. Seven main African climatic zones can be distinguished. The central
portion of the continent and the eastern coast of Madagascar have a tropical
rain forest climate. Here the average annual temperature is about 26.7° C
(about 80° F), and the average annual rainfall is about 1780 mm (about 70 in).
The climate of the Guinea coast resembles the equatorial climate, except that
rainfall is concentrated in one season; no months, however, are rainless. To the
north and south the rain forest climate is supplanted by a tropical savanna
climate zone that encompasses about one-fifth of Africa. Here the climate is
characterized by a wet season during the summer months and a dry season during
the winter months. Total annual rainfall varies from 550 mm (about 20 in) to
more than 1550 mm (about 60 in). Away from the equator, to the north and south,
the savanna climate zone grades into the drier steppe climate zone. Average
annual rainfall varies between 250 and 500 mm (10 and 20 in) and is concentrated
in one season. Africa has a proportionately larger area in arid, or desert,
climate zones than any continent except Australia. Each of these areas—the
Sahara in the north, the Horn in the east, and the Kalahari and Namib deserts in
the southwest—has less than 250 mm (about 10 in) of rainfall annually. In the
Sahara, daily and seasonal extremes of temperatures are great; the average July
temperature is more than 32.2° C (90° F); during the cold season the nighttime
temperature often drops below freezing. Mediterranean climate zones are found in
the extreme northwest of Africa and in the extreme southwest. These regions are
characterized by mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers. In the highlands of
eastern Africa, particularly in Kenya and Uganda, rainfall is well distributed
throughout the year, and temperatures are equable. The climate on the high
plateau of southern Africa is temperate. Vegetation African vegetation can be
classified according to rainfall and climate zones. The tropical rain forest
zone, where the average annual rain is more than 1270 mm (50 in), has a dense
surface covering of shrubs, ferns, and mosses, above which tower evergreens, oil
palms, and numerous species of tropical hardwood trees. A mountain forest zone,
with average annual rainfall only slightly less than in the tropical rain
forests, is found in the high mountains of Cameroon, Angola, eastern Africa, and
parts of Ethiopia. Here a ground covering of shrubs gives way to oil palms,
hardwood trees, and primitive conifers. A savanna woodland zone, with annual
rainfall of 890 to 1400 mm (about 35 to 55 in), covers vast areas with a layer
of grass and fire-resistant shrubs, above which are found deciduous and
leguminous fire-resistant trees. A savanna grassland zone, with annual rainfall
of about 500 to 890 mm (about 20 to 35 in), is covered by low grasses and shrubs
and scattered, small deciduous trees. The thornbush zone, a steppe vegetation,
with an annual rainfall of about 300 to 510 mm (about 12 to 20 in), has a
thinner grass covering and a scattering of succulent or semisucculent trees. The
subdesert scrub zone, with an annual rainfall of 130 to 300 mm (about 5 to 12
in), has a covering of grasses and scattered low shrubs. The zone of desert
vegetation, found in areas with an annual rainfall of less than 130 mm (about 5
in), has sparse vegetation or none at all. Animal Life
AFRICA
Africa
has two distinct zones of animal life: the North and Northwestern zone,
including the Sahara; and the Ethiopian zone, including all of sub-Saharan
Africa. The North and Northwestern zone is characterized by animals similar to
those of Eurasia. Sheep, goats, horses, and camels are common. Barbary sheep,
African red deer, and two types of ibex are native to the northern African
coast. Desert foxes are found in the Sahara along with hares, gazelles, and the
jerboa, a small leaping rodent. The Ethiopian zone is famous for its great
variety of distinctive animals and birds. Woodland and grassland areas are
inhabited by numerous species of antelope and deer, zebra, giraffe, buffalo, the
African elephant, rhinoceros, and the baboon and various monkeys. Carnivores, or
meat- eating animals, include the lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, jackal, and
mongoose. The gorilla, the largest ape in the world, inhabits the rain forests
of equatorial Africa, as do monkeys, flying squirrels, bats and lemurs. Most
bird life belongs to Old World groups. The guinea fowl is a leading game bird.
Water birds, notably pelicans, goliath herons, flamingos, storks, and egrets,
congregate in great numbers. The ibis is common in the Nile region, and the
ostrich is found in eastern and southern Africa. Reptiles are mainly of Old
World origin and include lizards, crocodiles, and tortoises. A variety of
venomous snakes, including the mamba, are encountered throughout the Ethiopian
zone. Among the constricting snakes, pythons are found mainly in western Africa;
boa constrictors are indigenous only to Madagascar. Freshwater fish abound, with
more than 2000 species known. The continent has a variety of destructive
insects, notably mosquitoes, driver ants, termites, locusts, and tsetse flies.
The last named transmit sleeping sickness to humans and animals (in animals, the
disease is called nagana). Mineral Resources Africa is very rich in mineral
resources, possessing most of the known minerals of the world, many of which are
found in significant quantities, although the geographic distribution is uneven.
Fossil fuels are abundant, including major deposits of coal, petroleum, and
natural gas. Africa has some of the world's largest reserves of gold, diamonds,
copper, bauxite, manganese, nickel, platinum, cobalt, radium, germanium,
lithium, titanium, and phosphates. Other important mineral resources include
iron ore, chromium, tin, zinc, lead, thorium, zirconium, vanadium, antimony, and
beryllium. Also found in exploitable quantities are clays, mica, sulfur, salt,
natron, graphite, limestone, and gypsum. The People The Sahara serves as a vast
barrier between the peoples of northern Africa and those of sub-Saharan Africa.
Although numerous classification systems have been applied to the people of the
continent, the geographical division appears the most useful. Ethnography In the
northern portion of the continent, including the Sahara, Causasoid
peoples—mainly Berbers and Arabs—predominate. They constitute about
one-quarter of the continent's population. South of the Sahara, Negroid peoples,
constituting some 70% of Africa's population, predominate. Pockets of Khoisan
peoples, the San (Bushmen) and Khoikhoi (Hottentots), are located in southern
Africa. The Pygmies are concentrated in the Congo River Basin and in Tanzania.
Scattered through Africa, but primarily concentrated in southern Africa, are
some 5 million people of European descent. An Indian population, numbering some
1 million, is concentrated along the eastern African coast and in South Africa.
More than 3000 distinct ethnic groups have been classified in Africa. The
extended family is the basic social unit of most of these peoples. In much of
Africa the family is linked to a larger society through kin groups such as
lineages and clans. Kin groups generally tend to exclude marriage among their
members, and members marry outside the group. The village is frequently
constituted of a single kin group united by either male or female descent.
Demography Although Africa covers about one-fifth of the total world land
surface, it has only about 11.5% of its population. In the mid-1980s the total
population of the continent was estimated at 550 million. Average density, some
18 people per sq km (47 per sq mi), is less than half the world average. This
figure includes the large areas, such as the Sahara and Kalahari deserts, which
are virtually uninhabitable. When the population living on arable or productive
land is calculated, the average density increases to some 139 persons per sq km
(362 per sq mi). The most densely settled areas of the continent are those along
the northern and western coasts; in the Nile, Niger, Congo, and Sénégal river
basins; and in the eastern African plateau. Nigeria, with a population of some
89 million, is the most populous nation in Africa. The African birth rate is
about 46 per 1000. (By contrast the birth rate in Europe is about 14 per 1000.)
The spread of medical services since World War II is responsible for a sharp
decrease in the death rate, which averages about 17 per 1000. The continent's
population increases annually by about 2.9%. These statistics vary greatly,
however, from country to country and from region to region. The age distribution
is weighted heavily toward the young. In most African countries, about half the
population is 15 years of age or younger. The African population remains
predominantly rural, with only about one-fifth of the population living in towns
of more than 20,000 inhabitants. Northern Africa is the most urbanized region,
but major cities are located in every part of the continent. African cities that
have populations of more than 1 million include Cairo, Alexandria, and Giza in
Egypt; Algiers, Algeria; Casablanca, Morocco; Lagos, Nigeria; Adىs
Abeba, Ethiopia; Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire; Kinshasa, Zaire; and Johannesburg and
Capetown in South Africa. The urban centers act as magnets, attracting large
numbers of rural migrants who come either as permanent settlers or as short-term
workers. Urban growth has been particularly rapid since the 1950s. A substantial
international labor migration has also developed, particularly of Africans from
central Africa to the mines and factories of Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa,
and of North Africans to France and, more recently, to the countries belonging
to the European Union. Civil wars in a number of countries have led to massive
refugee migrations, as have droughts and famines. Languages More than 1000
languages are spoken in Africa. Although more than 50 languages have 500,000 or
more speakers each, the majority of African languages are spoken by relatively
few people. Apart from Arabic, the most widely spoken are Swahili and Hausa. The
main linguistic families or groups are Niger-Kordofanian and Nilo-Saharan, the
largest groups with more than 160 million speakers each; Hamito-Semitic, or
Afro-Asiatic, which predominates in northern and northeastern Africa; and
Koisan, spoken among the San and Khoikhoi of southern Africa. Many Africans,
particularly those of sub-Saharan Africa, are bilingual, speaking their own
language as well as that brought by earlier European colonial administrations.
See AFRICAN LANGUAGES. Religion Christianity, the most widespread religion, was
introduced into northern Africa in the 1st century and spread to the Sudan and
Ethiopian regions in the 4th century. Christianity survived in Ethiopia through
the Coptic church, but in the other areas, Christianity was swept away by Islam.
The religion was reintroduced and spread through tropical Africa with the
15th-century rise of European overseas expansion. Today Protestant and Catholic
groups are about equally represented throughout the continent. Islam, the second
most widespread religion in Africa, was introduced throughout northern Africa in
the 7th century and in following centuries was spread along the eastern African
coast and through the grasslands of western Africa. In the 20th century, Islam
has penetrated into the remaining portions of the continent. The earliest of the
Muslim schools of law, the Maliki, prevails over most of Muslim Africa except in
Egypt, the Horn, and the eastern African coast. About 15% of African peoples
practice indigenous, or local, religions. Although these are of great diversity,
they tend to have a single god or creator figure and a number of subordinate
spirits—nature spirits who inhabit trees, water, animals, and other natural
phenomena—and ancestral spirits, such as founders of the family, lineage, or
clan—who affect everyday life. See RELIGION: PRIMITIVE RELIGIONS. Certain
nativistic religious movements, arising primarily from Christianity, have fused
orthodox Christian rites and beliefs with tribal religious elements. Led by
individual prophets, these separatist groups have spread throughout Africa,
although they appear most widespread and powerful in southern and central
Africa. Small numbers of Jews are located in northern and southern Africa, and
Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist peoples are scattered through eastern and southern
Africa
AFRICA
home
Cultural
Activity Much of Africa's cultural activity centers on the family and the ethnic
group. Art, music, and oral literature serve to reinforce existing religious and
social patterns. The Westernized minority, influenced by European culture and
Christianity, first rejected African traditional culture, but, with the rise of
African nationalism, a cultural revival occurred. The governments of most
African nations foster national dance and music groups, museums, and to a lesser
degree, artists and writers. See AFRICAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE; AFRICAN
LITERATURE; AFRICAN MUSIC AND DANCE. Patterns of Economic Development
Traditionally, the vast majority of Africans have been farmers and herders who
raised crops and livestock for subsistence. Few markets existed, and trade
usually took place between relatives and friends. Manufacturing and crafts were
carried on as part-time activities. A few states developed long- distance trade
systems, and in these places complex exchange facilities as well as industrial
specialization, communication networks, and elaborate governmental structures
maintained the flow of commerce. With European colonization came overseas demand
for certain agricultural and mineral products and internal labor migration; new
and safe communication systems were constructed; European technology and crops
were introduced; and a modern exchange economy evolved. Local industries and
crafts—textiles and iron making, for example—were frequently undermined by
cheaper or better European goods. Processing industries developed, as did ports
and administrative centers. A variety of consumer industries sprang up to fill
newly created local consumer needs. A feature of the African economy is the
side-by-side existence of both subsistence and modern exchange economies. Future
growth depends on the availability of investment funds, the world demand for
local raw materials, the availability of energy sources, and the size of local
markets. Agriculture Despite the expansion of commerce and industry, most
Africans remain farmers and herders. In northern and northwestern Africa, wheat,
oats, corn, and barley are the important grain crops. Dates, olives, and citrus
fruit are the main tree crops; a variety of vegetables are grown. Goats and
sheep are the most significant livestock raised. In the Sahara region, nomadic
herders raise camels, and a few farmers, situated in oases, grow dates and
grains. South of the Sahara, shifting agriculture—a method in which small
areas were burned, cleared, and planted and then allowed to revert to bush—has
given way in most areas to settled farming. Grain is the main crop outside the
rain forests; rice, yam, manioc, okra, plantain, and banana are raised for food.
Cattle cannot be raised in tsetse fly-infested areas, which cover more than
one-third of the continent. Outside tsetse fly areas and dense forests, cattle
are raised in large numbers, but rarely for commercial purposes. Dairy farming
is limited, located primarily around urban centers in eastern and southern
Africa. Although some 60% of all cultivated land is in subsistence agriculture,
commercial or cash-crop farming is common in all parts of the continent.
Foodstuffs are grown for local urban markets, but coffee, cotton, cacao,
peanuts, palm oil, and tobacco are grown by Africans for export. For certain
agricultural exports, such as cacao, peanuts, cloves, and sisal, Africa produces
more than one-half of the world supply. European- owned plantations and farms,
found mainly in eastern and southern Africa, concentrate on citrus, tobacco, and
other export foodstuffs. Forestry and Fishing Although about one-quarter of
Africa is covered by forest, much of the timber has little value except as local
fuel. Gabon is a major producer of okoume, a wood used in making plywood; Côte
d'Ivoire, Liberia, Ghana, and Nigeria are major exporters of hardwoods. Inland
fishing is concentrated in the Rift Valley lakes and in the increasing numbers
of fish farms. Ocean fishing is widespread for local consumption; it is
commercially important off Morocco, Namibia, and South Africa. Mining Mineral
extraction provides the bulk of African export earnings, and extractive
industries are the most developed sectors in most African economies.
Approximately one-half of Africa's mineral income comes from South Africa; much
of this is derived from gold and diamond mining. The other leading
mineral-producing countries are Libya (petroleum), Nigeria (petroleum, natural
gas, coal, tin), Algeria (petroleum, natural gas, iron ore), and Zambia (copper,
cobalt, coal, lead, zinc). Petroleum is also found along the western African
coast, in the Gabon Basin, the People's Republic of the Congo, Zaire, and
Angola. About one-third of the uranium in the non-Communist world is mined in
Africa, chiefly in South Africa, Niger, Zaire, the Central African Republic, and
Gabon. The largest radium supply in the world is located in Zaire. Some 20% of
the world copper reserve is concentrated in Zambia, Zaire, South Africa, and
Zimbabwe. Zaire also possesses about 90% of the world's known cobalt, and Sierra
Leone has the largest known titanium reserves. Africa produces some
three-quarters of the world's gold; South Africa, followed by Zimbabwe, Zaire,
and Ghana, are the major producers. The mines of South Africa and Zaire produce
virtually the entire world supply of gem and industrial diamonds. Iron ore is
found in all parts of the continent. Most of Africa's mineral wealth has been
and is being developed by large, multinational concerns. Increasingly, in recent
years, African governments have become substantial shareholders in the
operations within their own countries. Manufacturing Stemming from mineral and
petroleum extraction are processing industries, such as refining and smelting,
which are located in most mineral-rich countries with adequate energy. The bulk
of Africa's manufacturing takes place in South Africa. Heavy industry, such as
metal producing, machine making, and transport manufacturing, is concentrated in
South Africa. Significant industrial centers have also developed in Zimbabwe,
Egypt, and Algeria. Mineral-related industries are well developed in Zaire and
Zambia; Kenya, Nigeria, and Côte d'Ivoire have developed primarily in textiles,
light industry, and building materials. Throughout much of the rest of Africa,
manufacturing is limited to making or assembling consumer goods, such as shoes,
bicycles, textiles, food, and beverages. Such industries are often confined by
the relatively small size of the consumer market. Energy Nigeria, Libya,
Algeria, and Angola are major world producers of petroleum. Africa's natural-gas
exports are centered in Algeria. Coal is concentrated in Zimbabwe and South
Africa; the bulk of their production is used internally. The rest of Africa must
import fuels. Although Africa has some 40% of the world's hydropower potential,
only a relatively small portion has been developed due to high construction
costs, inaccessibility of sites, and their distance from markets. Since 1960,
however, a number of major hydroelectric installations have been constructed;
these include the Aswân High Dam on the Nile River, the Volta Dam on the Volta
River, and the Kariba and Cabora Bassa dams on the Zambezi River. Transportation
The economic development of virtually all African nations has been hindered by
inadequate transportation systems. Most countries rely on road networks that are
frequently composed largely of dirt roads, which become impassable during the
rainy seasons. Road networks tend to link the interior of a country to the
coast; few road systems link adjacent countries. Although most African nations
support a national airline, rail and shipping systems are extremely limited
outside southern Africa. Trade The commercial sectors of most African states
rely heavily on one or a few export commodities. The bulk of trade occurs with
industrialized nations, which require raw materials and sell industrial and
consumer goods. Trade between African states is limited by the competitive,
rather than complementary, nature of their products and by trade barriers, such
as tariffs and the diversity of currencies. Most former British colonies in
Africa continue to have loose trade relations with Great Britain and keep
monetary reserves in London. Former French colonies have even closer ties with
France, and most are members of a French franc zone. In addition, most African
states have economic ties with the European Community and benefit from some
tariff barrier reductions. Few successful intra- African economic systems have
emerged. The most durable and successful are the Economic Community of West
African States and the Economic Community of Central African States. The
Organization of African Unity also promotes intra-African trade and economic
development. History Some 5 million years ago a type of hominid, a close
evolutionary ancestor of present-day humans, inhabited southern and eastern
Africa. More than 1.5 million years ago this toolmaking hominid developed into
the more advanced forms Homo habilis and Homo erectus. The earliest true human
being in Africa, Homo sapiens, dates from more than 200,000 years ago. A
hunter-gatherer capable of making crude stone tools, Homo sapiens banded
together with others to form nomadic groups; eventually these nomadic Bushmanoid
peoples spread throughout the African continent. Distinct races date from
approximately 10,000 BC. Gradually a growing Negroid population, which had
mastered animal domestication and agriculture, forced the Bushmanoid groups into
the less hospitable areas. In the 1st century AD the Bantu, one group of this
dominant people, began a migration that lasted some 2000 years, settling most of
central and southern Africa. Negroid societies typically depended on subsistence
agriculture or, in the savannas, pastoral pursuits. Political organization was
normally local, although large kingdoms would later develop in western and
central Africa. The first great civilization in Africa began in the Nile Valley
about 5000 BC. Dependent on agriculture, these settlements benefited from the
Nile's flooding as a source of irrigation and new soils. The need to control the
Nile floodwaters eventually resulted in a well-ordered, complex state with
elaborate political and religious systems. The kingdom of Egypt flourished,
influencing Mediterranean and African societies for thousands of years. Iron
making was brought south from Egypt about 800 BC, and spread into tropical
Africa. Ideas of royal kingship and state organization were also exported,
particularly to adjacent areas such as Cush and Punt. The east Cushite state,
Meroë, was supplanted in the 4th century AD by Aksum, which evolved into
Ethiopia. During the period from the late 3rd century BC to the early 1st
century AD, Rome had conquered Egypt, Carthage, and other North African areas;
these became the granaries of the Roman Empire. The empire was divided into two
parts in the 4th century. All lands west of modern Libya remained territories of
the Western Empire, ruled by Rome, and lands to the east, including Egypt,
became part of the Eastern or Byzantine Empire, ruled from Constantinople. By
this time the majority of the population had been converted to Christianity. In
the 5th century the Vandals, a Germanic tribe, conquered much of North Africa.
Vandal kings ruled there until the 6th century, when they were defeated by
Byzantine forces, and the area was absorbed by the Eastern Empire. The Era of
Empires and City-States Islamic armies invaded Africa within a decade of
Muhammad's death in 632 and quickly overcame Byzantine resistance in Egypt.
North Africa From bases in Egypt, Arabs raided the Berber states to the west; in
the 8th century they conquered Morocco. While the coastal Berbers began
converting to Islam, many others retreated into the Atlas Mountains and beyond
into the Sahara. Arab minorities established autocratic polities in Algeria and
Morocco. The Christian states of Alwa and Makuria in the Sudan were conquered;
only the Christian kingdom of Nobatia was strong enough to resist the invaders,
forcing the conclusion of a treaty that maintained its independence for 600
years. Along the coast the Arab conquerors remained a small ruling minority for
several centuries. Trade across the Sahara became commonplace by the 8th
century. Caravan leaders and religious teachers spread political, religious, and
societal values to the people along the trade routes. Even earlier, Muslim
invaders from Yemen forced the peoples of coastal Aksum into the interior and
established a series of city-states such as Adal and Harar. The Red Sea now
belonged to the Muslim traders. Several rival dynasties emerged on the North
African coast. In the 8th century North African Muslims conquered most of the
Iberian Peninsula, and they continued raids and expeditions of conquest against
Christian Europe for centuries. By the time of the Crusades a few highly
advanced Islamic states dominated the southern and eastern Mediterranean. In the
14th century Christian Sudan fell to the armies of Mameluke Egypt. The Ottoman
Turks conquered Egypt in 1517 and within 50 years had established nominal
control of the North African coast. The real power, however, remained in the
hands of the Mamelukes, who ruled Egypt until their defeat by Napoleon Bonaparte
in 1798. The Ethiopians were overrun by the armies of the sultanate of Adal, but
they defeated (1542) the Muslims with the aid of Portugal. West African Kingdoms
In western Africa a number of black kingdoms emerged whose economic base lay in
their control of trans-Saharan trade routes. Gold, kola nuts, and slaves were
sent north in exchange for cloth, utensils, and salt. Ghana The earliest of
these states, Ghana, came into being by the 5th century AD in what is now
southeastern Mauritania. (Its capital, Kumbi Saleh, has been excavated in modern
times.) By the 11th century, the armies of Ghana, equipped with iron weapons,
made it master of the trade routes extending from present-day Morocco in the
north to the coastal forests of western Africa in the south. Nomadic Berbers of
the Sanhaja Confederation (in present-day central Mauritania) formed the main
link between Ghana and the north. Once Arabs gained control of the northwestern
coasts, they began to exploit these trade routes. By the early 11th century
Muslim advisers were at the court of Ghana, and Muslim merchants lived in large
foreign quarters from which they conducted lucrative large-scale trade. Late in
the 11th century, Ghana was destroyed by the Almoravids, a militant Muslim
movement founded among the Sanhaja Berbers. In the early 11th century they
raised a jihad (holy war) and controlled the caravan routes of the Sahara. The
movement then split; one group pushed north to conquer Morocco and Spain, while
the other moved south to raze (about 1076) the capital of Ghana. During the next
century the Soso people of the Futa Jallon, formerly vassals of Ghana, gained
control of the area, but they in turn were conquered by the people of Mali about
1240. Mali and Songhai Centered on the upper reaches of the Sénégal and Niger
rivers, Mali evolved by the early 11th century from a group of Mande
chieftaincies. In the mid-13th century, the state began a period of expansion
under the vigorous ruler Sundiata. Soon afterward the rulers of Mali appear to
have converted to Islam. The high point of the Mali Empire was reached under
Mansa (king) Musa, who conducted a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324-25, opened
diplomatic relations with Tunis and Egypt, and brought a number of Muslim
scholars and artisans to the empire; from the time of Mansa Musa onward, Mali
appeared on the maps of Europe. After 1400 the empire declined, and Songhai
emerged as the leading state in the western Sudan. Although Songhai dates from
before the 9th century, its greatest period of expansion occurred under Sunni
Ali and Askia Muhammad. During the latter's rule Islam flourished at the court,
and Timbuktu became a major center of Muslim learning, renowned for its
university and its book trade. Attracted by its wealth, the armies of al-Mansur
of Morocco overran the Songhai capital of Gao in 1591. Following the collapse of
Songhai, a number of small kingdoms—Macina, Gonja, Ségou, Kaarta—strove to
dominate the western Sudan, but continual strife and economic decline were the
only results. Hausa States and Kanem-Bornu To the east of Songhai, between the
Niger River and Lake Chad, the Hausa city-states and the Kanem-Bornu Empire
emerged. The Hausa states (Biram, Daura, Katsina, Zaria, Kano, Rano, and Gobir)
originated before the 10th century, and after the fall of Songhai the
trans-Saharan trade moved eastward, where it came under the control of Katsina
and Kano. These became centers of flourishing commerce and urban life. Islam
appears to have been introduced into the Hausa states in the 14th century from
Kanem-Bornu. The latter empire existed in the 8th century as a loosely knit
state north and east of Lake Chad. It was first ruled by a nomadic people, the
Zaghawa, but they were replaced by a new dynasty, the Saifawa, who ruled from
about 800 to 1846. The new rulers were converted to Islam about the 11th
century. In the late 14th century they moved into the Bornu region, and the
older Kanem area fell to the Bulala people from the south. The best known Bornu
ruler was Mai Idris Alooma (reigned about 1580-1617), who introduced firearms
purchased from the Ottoman Turks. At its pinnacle, Kanem-Bornu controlled the
eastern Saharan routes to Egypt, but by the middle of the 17th century it had
begun a slow decline. Spread of Islam During the period of the great Sudanic
empires, the lives of the masses of farmers and fishers remained virtually
unchanged. Imported goods or luxuries were enjoyed only by the ruling classes;
the farmers lived in subsistence economies, subject to periodic tax gathering
and occasional slave raids. Islam was associated with the great urban centers
and was the religion of some of the ruling classes and of the foreign residents.
By the late 15th century, however, the nomadic Kunta Arabs began to preach, and
during the mid-16th century the Qadiriyya brotherhood, to which they belonged,
began to spread Islam throughout the western Sudan. At about the same time, the
Fulani, a nomadic pastoral people, were moving slowly eastward from the Futa
Toro region in Sénégal, gaining converts for Islam. During this period, Islam
became a personal religion rather than merely a religion of state. Indeed, Islam
appears to have declined among the ruling classes, and non-Muslim dynasties
ruled in old Muslim strongholds until the 18th century. Islamic reform and
revival movements then began among the Fulani, Mandingo, Soso, and Tukolor. Old
dynasties were overthrown, and theocratic states were founded that spread Islam
to new areas. In the Hausa states, Shehu Usuman dan Fodio, a Muslim teacher, led
a revolt among the Fulani who between 1804 and 1810 overthrew the Hausa rulers
and established new dynasties. An attempt to sweep into Bornu, however, was
successfully resisted by the religious leader al-Kanemi. The new Fulani Empire
was initially divided between the shehu's brother Abdullahi and his son,
Muhammad Bello, but after 1817 Muhammad and his successors were the sole
overlords. Another theocratic state was formed in Macina in 1818 by Seku Ahmadu,
a Fulani Muslim. During his rule an empire embracing the whole of the Niger
River region from Jenne to Timbuktu was created. Upon his death in 1844 his son
took power, but in 1862 Macina fell to another Muslim reformer, al-Hajj Umar,
who created the vast Tukolor Empire in the Senegambia region before his death in
1864. East African Kingdoms The first records of East African history appear in
the Periplus of the Erythrوan
Sea (AD 100?), which described the commercial life of the region and its ties to
the world beyond Africa. Indonesian immigrants reached Madagascar during the 1st
millennium AD bringing new foodstuffs, notably bananas, which soon spread
throughout the continent. Bantu-speaking peoples settled in the immediate
interior in clan-oriented polities, absorbing the Bushmanoid peoples, and
Nilotic peoples occupied the so-called interlacustrine, or interlake, areas
further inland. Arab settlers colonized the coast and established trading towns.
Ivory, gold, and slaves were the main exports. By the 13th century a number of
significant city-states had been established. Among these Zenj states were
Mogadishu, Malindi, Lamu, Mombasa, Kilwa, Pate, and Sofala. An urban Swahili
culture developed through mutual assimilation of Bantu and Arabic speakers. The
ruling classes were of mixed Arab-African ancestry; the masses were Bantu, many
of them slaves. These mercantile city-states were oriented toward the sea, and
their political impact on inland peoples was virtually nonexistent until the
19th century. The complex, advanced lake states first developed in the 14th
century. Little is known of their early history. One theory is that more
advanced Cushite peoples from the Ethiopian highlands came to dominate the
indigenous Bantu. Other Cushites are believed to be ancestors of the Tutsi
peoples of modern Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi. Located between Lakes Victoria
and Edward, the early kingdoms ruled by the Bachwezi flourished before 1500,
when they were supplanted by an early wave of Luo peoples migrating from the
Sudan. The new immigrants adopted local Bantu languages in Bunyoro country, but
in Acholiland, Alurland, and in the Lango country (all in modern Uganda) they
retained their own separate language. New states were founded later, among them
Bunyoro, Ankole, Buganda, and Karagwe. Of these states, Bunyoro was the most
powerful until the second half of the 18th century. Then Buganda began to
expand, and its armies raided throughout wide areas. An elaborate centralized
bureaucracy was founded, with most district and subdistrict chiefs appointed by
the kabaka (“king”). Farther to the south, in Rwanda, a cattle-raising
pastoral aristocracy founded by the Bachwezi (alternatively called Bututsi, or
Bahima, in this area) ruled over settled Bantu peoples from the 16th century
onward. Central African Kingdoms Even less known than the interlacustrine states
are the ones formed in central Africa. In the Congo savanna, south of the
tropical rain forests, Bantu-speaking peoples established agricultural
communities by the beginning of the 9th century. In some places, long-distance
trade to the east coast developed, with copper and ivory among the main exports.
During the 14th century the Kongo Kingdom was established, dominating an area in
present-day Angola between the Congo and Loge rivers and from the Kwango River
to the Atlantic. An elaborate political system developed, with provincial
governors and a king elected from among the descendants of the founding king
Wene. In the area between the upper Kasai and Lake Tanganyika, various small
chiefdoms were organized, about 1500, into the Luba Empire. Its founding figure,
Kongolo, subdued several small villages in one area and then used this as a base
for wider conquest. No adequate centralizing mechanisms were developed, however,
so dynastic struggles and breakaway states were a continual problem. About 1600
one of the younger sons of the dynasty left the kingdom and founded the Lunda
Empire. The Lunda state itself soon split, with members of the royal dynasty
leaving to found such new states as the Bemba Kingdom, Kasanje, and Kazembe. The
last-named became the largest and most powerful of the Luba-Lunda states, and
between 1750 and 1850 it dominated southern Katanga and parts of the Rhodesian
plateau. Bantu-speaking peoples moving east from the Congo region during the 1st
millennium AD are thought to have assimilated local Stone Age peoples. Later
Bantu immigrants, called the Karanga, were the ancestors of the present-day
Shona people. The Karanga began constructing the Great Zimbabwe, an impressive
stone compound housing the royal court. They also formed the Mwene Mutapa
Empire, which derived its wealth from large-scale gold mining. At its height in
the 15th century, its sphere of influence stretched from the Zambezi River to
the Kalahari to the Indian Ocean and to the Limpopo River. Southern African
Kingdoms Before the 19th century, Bantu-speaking peoples had pushed aside or
assimilated their Bushmanoid predecessors in southern Africa and had established
a number of sedentary states. In the early 19th century population pressures and
land hunger resulted in a series of wars and large-scale migrations through
south and central Africa. These began about 1816, when the Zulu ruler Shaka
developed new military techniques and embarked on wars of conquest against
neighboring peoples. The tribes defeated by the Zulu migrated from the southeast
portion of South Africa; remodeling their own fighting techniques on those of
the Zulu, they overwelmed more distant peoples, who, in turn, were forced to
seek new homes. The Ndwandwe, led by their chief Sobhuza, moved north and
established the Swazi Kingdom in the 1820s. The Ngoni also moved north, pushing
through Mozambique and beyond Lake Malawi, where, about 1848, they split into
five kingdoms, which raided extensively between Lake Victoria and the Zambezi.
Another group, led by Soshangane, migrated into southern Mozambique, where they
founded the Gaza state about 1830. The Kololo migrated north into Barotseland
and began a struggle for domination with the local Lozi people. The Ndebele
moved west (1824-34) and then north (1837) into what is now Zimbabwe, founding a
kingdom there in Matabeleland. Early European Imperialism The first sustained
European interest in Africa developed through the efforts of Henry the
Navigator, prince of Portugal. Numerous expeditions were sent out after 1434,
each extending European knowledge of the African coastline southward, until, in
1497-1498, Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached India. The
Portuguese explorations were motivated by a variety of impulses: a desire for
knowledge, a wish to bring Christianity to pagan peoples, the search for
potential allies against Muslim threats, and the hope of finding new and
lucrative trade routes and sources of wealth. Wherever the Portuguese, and the
English, French, and Dutch who followed them, touched, they disrupted ongoing
patterns of trade and political life and changed economic and religious systems.
Trade Routes The Portuguese established a chain of trading settlements along the
West African coast. El Mina, founded on the Gold Coast in 1482, was the most
important; in fact, it was only on the Gold Coast and in the Kongo and Luanda
areas that trade was really lucrative. African gold, ivory, foodstuffs, and
slaves were exchanged for ironware, firearms, textiles, and foodstuffs. The
Portuguese trade attracted rival European traders who, in the 16th century,
created competing stations or attempted to capture the existing trade. In
western Africa the new trade had profound effects. Earlier trade routes had been
oriented northward across the Sahara, primarily to the Muslim world. Now the
routes were reoriented to the coast, and as the states of the savanna declined
in economic importance, states along the coast increased their wealth and power.
Struggles soon developed among coastal peoples for control over trade routes and
for access to the new firearms introduced from Europe. Slave Trade With the rise
of the slave trade to the Americas, wars over the control of African commerce
became more intense. During the four centuries of the slave trade, untold
millions of Africans fell victim to this traffic in human lives. Most were
captured by other Africans and exchanged for various consumer goods. The first
major kingdom to profit from the slave trade was Benin in modern west Nigeria,
established in the 15th century. By the end of the 17th century, it had been
supplanted by the kingdoms of Dahomey and Oyo. In the mid-18th century the
Ashanti began their rise as a major West African power. Under Asantehene (king)
Osei Kojo (reigned 1764-77), Ashanti armies began to push south toward European
trading stations located along the Gold Coast. Although they failed to clear the
routes of middlemen, they secured steady supplies of firearms, which were used
to expand northward and to contest their eastern frontiers with Dahomey. Farther
east the Yoruba kingdom of Oyo declined in the late 18th century, bringing civil
war and the intervention of Fulani forces from the north and an increase in the
number of slaves available for trade. About 1835 the imperial capital, Old Oyo,
was abandoned, but in the Battle of Oshogbo (circa 1840) the Fulani were driven
back. The civil wars lasted until 1893, when Yoruba power was divided among
several competitive states. During the latter 18th century, sentiment in Britain
turned against the slave trade. Following the Mansfield decision of 1772, which
freed slaves in Great Britain, plans were made for a West African colony for
former slaves. The first attempt (1787-90) at Saint George's Bay (in present-day
Sierra Leone) failed; a second attempt was made by abolitionists, who, in 1792,
founded Freetown in the same area. When the British outlawed the slave trade for
British citizens in 1807, they saw Freetown as a desirable base for naval
operations against such trade, and in 1808, Sierra Leone was made a crown
colony. The example of Sierra Leone appealed to Americans interested in black
colonization, and in early 1822 the American Colonization Society succeeded in
establishing its colony, Liberia, at nearby Cape Mesurado. British Expansion The
British desire to suppress the slave trade found expression in attempts at
redirecting African commerce toward other exports, such as palm oil, in
heightened missionary activity, and in the imposition of British government
jurisdiction over properties previously held by British merchants. Such
developments frequently involved Great Britain inadvertently in struggles with
African states and led to its assumption of sovereignty over certain African
territory. On the Gold Coast the British government, in 1821, took control of a
series of forts. Through misunderstandings the first of a series of
Ashanti-British wars occurred from 1823 to 1826; these conflicts were to
continue intermittently until the end of the century. Although the government
gave up control of the forts in 1828, it again assumed jurisdiction in 1843.
British authority over the Ashanti, however, was not firmly established until
1900. In the Niger delta of Nigeria, the British abolition of slavery brought
about a shift in trade from slaves to palm oil, and in pursuit of this commodity
Great Britain required a nearby port; in addition, the British were eager to
eliminate the middlemen in such delta states as Calabar, Bonny, and Brass. In
1852, therefore, they forced the ruler of Lagos to accept British protection,
and in 1861 Lagos was annexed as a crown colony. Central and East Africa In
Central and East Africa the European impact was different. When the Portuguese
arrived on the Congo- Angola coast in the 1480s, they quickly allied themselves
with the rulers of the Kongo, who became converted to Christianity and attempted
to create a westernized state. This aim was frustrated, however, by fraternal
wars and by Portuguese introduction of the slave trade. The region was soon
immersed in strife, and during the 16th century the kingdom collapsed. Farther
south the Portuguese founded Luanda in 1575 as a base for their penetration of
the Angolan hinterland, and it was here that about half of all the slaves sent
to the Americas originated. When they reached the East African coast, the
Portuguese attempted to cut off the area's trade with the Muslim world. In the
process a number of the city-states were destroyed; others were occupied, and
the entire area went into economic decline. After the Portuguese were finally
expelled from Mombasa in 1698, the coast reverted to local rule, but during the
18th century the rulers of Oman established at least nominal control. In the
early 19th century, Sultan Sayyid Said, ruler of Oman, transferred his capital
to Zanzibar, which then served as a base to strengthen his control of the coast
and to penetrate inland for trade with the interlacustrine states. British
efforts to control the East African slave trade led, in 1822, to a treaty
prohibiting the sale of slaves to subjects of Christian countries. An active
slave trade continued, however, for large numbers of Africans were seized for
the clove plantations of Zanzibar and for Middle Eastern slave markets. In
Ethiopia the arrival of the Portuguese had helped stave off conquest by the
Muslims. In 1542 a combined Portuguese-Ethiopian force crushed a Muslim army,
and the Ethiopians regained much of their lost territory. After doctrinal
disputes between Coptic churchmen and Portuguese Jesuits, however, the
Portuguese were expelled in 1632. Ethiopia went into a period of isolation, and
by the 18th century, the monarchy was in collapse. From about 1769 to 1855,
Ethiopia endured the “age of princes,” during which the emperors were puppet
rulers controlled by powerful provincial nobles. The era came to an end with the
crowning of Emperor Theodore II, a minor chief who rose to the throne by
defeating his rivals. See ETHIOPIA. South Africa Although the Portuguese largely
ignored southern Africa, their rivals, the Dutch, beginning in 1652, developed
the area as a way station to the East Indies. For a short period colonists were
encouraged to settle around Cape Town, and soon a new culture and people, the
Boers, or Afrikaners, began to develop. Despite government resistance they began
to move inland in search of better land and, after 1815, to escape control by
the British government. As they trekked inland, they encountered the Zulu and
other Bantu peoples expanding southward. The result was a series of wars for
land. During the course of their migrations, the Boers were among the first
whites to explore the African interior. In the late 18th century, scientific
interest and the search for new markets began to stimulate an age of
exploration. The British explorer James Bruce reached the source of the Blue
Nile in 1770; his countryman Mungo Park explored (1795 and 1805) the course of
the Niger River; the German explorer Heinrich Barth traveled widely in the
Muslim western Sudan; the Scottish missionary David Livingstone explored the
Zambezi River and in 1855 named Victoria Falls; the British explorers John
Hanning Speke and James Augustus Grant, traveling downstream, and Sir Samuel
White Baker, working upstream, solved the mystery of the source of the Nile in
1863. Following the explorers (and sometimes preceding them) were Christian
missionaries and then European merchants. European Politics As European private
interest in Africa grew, the involvement of their governments multiplied. The
French began the conquest of Algeria and Sénégal in the 1830s, but the
systematic occupation of tropical Africa did not occur until the second half of
the century. As European citizens and administrators penetrated inland, they
encountered resistance from dominant peoples and welcome from subordinated
peoples seeking allies or protectors. From about 1880 to 1905, most of Africa
was partitioned among Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and
Portugal. In 1876 King Leopold II of the Belgians established the International
Association of the Congo, a private company, for the exploration and
colonization of the region. His principal agent for this task was Sir Henry M.
Stanley. By 1884 the intense rivalry of the European powers for additional
African territory, and the ill-defined boundaries of their various holdings,
threatened their international relations. A conference was then called at
Berlin, to which the nations of Europe, together with the U.S., sent delegates.
At the Berlin conference (1884-85) the powers defined their spheres of influence
and laid down rules for future occupation on the coasts of Africa and for
navigation of the Congo and Niger rivers. Among the important provisions of the
General Act of Berlin was the rule that when a power acquired new territory in
Africa or assumed a protectorate over any part of the continent, it must notify
the other powers signatory to the conference. During the next 15 years, numerous
treaties were negotiated between the European nations, implementing and
modifying the provisions of the conference. Two such treaties were concluded in
1890 by Great Britain. The first, with Germany, demarcated the spheres of
influence of the two powers in Africa. The second treaty, with France,
recognized British interests in the region between Lake Chad and the Niger River
and acknowledged French influence in the Sahara. Other agreements, notably those
between Great Britain and Italy in 1891, between France and Germany in 1894, and
between Great Britain and France in 1899, further clarified the boundaries of
the various European holdings in Africa. African Resistance No African states
had been invited to the Berlin conference, and none was signatory to these
agreements. Whenever possible, the decisions made in Europe were resisted when
applied on African soil. The French faced (1870) a revolt in Algeria and
resistance (1881-1905) to their efforts to control the Sahara. In the western
Sudan the Mandinka ruler Samory Toure and Ahmadu, the son and successor of
alHajj Umar of the Tukolor state, attempted to maintain their independence. Both
were defeated by the French, however—Ahmadu in 1893 and Samory five years
later. Dahomey was occupied by French forces in 1892, and the Wadai region was
the last area to fall to the French, in 1900. British administrators encountered
similar resistance from the Boers in South Africa during the periods 1880-81 and
1899-1902. British and Boer settlers conquered Matabeleland in 1893, and three
years later both the Matabele (Ndebele) and their subordinates, the Shona,
revolted. Revolts broke out in Ashantiland in 1893-94, 1895-96, and 1900 and in
Sierra Leone in 1897. The British conquest of the Fulani Hausa states was
resisted (1901-03). Sokoto revolted in 1906. The Germans faced (1904-08) the
Herero insurrection in South-West Africa and Maji Maji revolt (1905-07) in
Tanganyika. Only the Ethiopians under Emperor Menelik II (r. 1889-1911) were
successful in resisting European conquest, annihilating an Italian force at the
Battle of Adwa (Aduwa) in 1896. Increasing Development Once the territories were
conquered and pacified, the European administrations began to develop
transportation systems so that raw materials could be shipped more easily to
ports for export, and to institute tax systems that would force subsistence
farmers either to raise cash crops or to engage in migrant labor. Both policies
were well under way when World War I disrupted these efforts. During the course
of the war, the German territories in West and South-West Africa were conquered
and later were mandated by the League of Nations to the various Allied powers.
Thousands of Africans either fought in the war or served as porters for the
Allied armies. Resistance to the war was limited to the short-lived 1915
rebellion of John Chilembwe, an African clergyman, in Nyasaland (now Malawi).
After World War I, efforts for the exploitation of the colonies were tempered,
and greater attention was paid to providing education, health services, and
development assistance and to safeguarding African land rights. Nevertheless,
the white settler colonies, such as Algeria, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe),
and Kenya, were given considerable internal self-government. Southern Rhodesia
was made an internally self-governing crown colony in 1923 with virtually no
provision for African voting. During the interwar years, various types of
African- organized protest and nationalist movements began to emerge. On the
whole, however, membership was limited to Western- educated African groups. Mass
parties developed only in Egypt and Algeria, where large numbers of Africans had
abandoned their traditional way of life and were developing new identities and
allegiances. Ethiopia, which had earlier successfully resisted European
colonization, fell to an Italian invasion in 1936 and did not regain its
independence until World War II. With the coming of the war, Africans served in
the Allied armies in even greater numbers than before, and the colonies
generally supported the Allied cause. Fighting on the continent, which was
limited to North and northeast Africa, ended in May 1943. The New Africa
Following the war, the European colonial powers were physically and
psychologically weakened, and the balance of international power shifted to the
U.S. and the USSR, both professed anticolonial nations. In North Africa, French
rule was opposed from 1947 onward with sporadic terrorism and rioting. The
Algerian revolution began in 1954 and continued until independence in 1962, six
years after Morocco and Tunisia had received independence. In French sub-Saharan
Africa, an effort had been made to stave off nationalist movements by granting
the inhabitants of the overseas territories full status as citizens and by
allowing deputies and senators from each territory to sit in the French National
Assembly. Nonetheless, the qualified franchise and communal representation given
to each territory proved unacceptable. In the British areas the pace of change
also quickened after the war. Mass parties, enrolling as wide a range of social,
ethnic, and economic groups as possible, began to appear. In Sudan,
disagreements between Egypt and Great Britain over the direction of Sudanese
self-government led the British to accelerate the pace, and in 1954 Sudan
achieved independence. During the 1950s, the examples of newly independent
nations on other continents, the activities of the Mau Mau terrorist movement of
Kenya, and the effectiveness of such popular African leaders as Kwame Nkrumah
further quickened the pace. The independence of Ghana in 1957 and Guinea in 1958
set off a chain reaction of nationalist demands. In 1960 alone 17 sovereign
African nations came into existence. By the end of the 1970s almost all of
Africa was independent. The Portuguese possessions—Angola, Cape Verde,
Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique—became independent in 1974-75 after years of
violent struggle. France relinquished the Comoro Islands in 1975, and Djibouti
gained independence in 1977. In 1976 Spain yielded Spanish Sahara, which then
was divided between Mauritania and Morocco. Here, however, a bitter war for
independence ensued. Mauritania gave up its part in 1979, but Morocco, taking
over the entire territory, continued the fighting with the local Polisario
front. Zimbabwe gained legal independence in 1980 (ZIMBABWE: HISTORY). The last
remaining large dependency on the continent, Namibia, attained independence in
1990. The young African states face a variety of major problems. One of the most
important is the creation of a nation-state. Most African countries retained the
frontiers arbitrarily drawn by late 19th-century European diplomats and
administrators. Ethnic groups may be divided by national boundaries, but
loyalties to such groups are often stronger than those to the state. When the
African states attained independence, however, the dominant nationalist
movements and their leaders installed themselves in virtually permanent power.
They called for national unity and urged that multiparty parliamentary systems
be discarded in favor of the single-party state. When these governments proved
unable or unwilling to fulfill popular expectations, the resort was often
military intervention. Leaving day-to-day administration to the permanent civil
service, the new military leaders posed as efficient and honest public
guardians, but they soon developed the same interest in power that had
characterized their civilian predecessors. In many African states, the early
1990s brought renewed interest in multiparty parliamentary democracy. Economic
development also presented a major problem. Although a number of African states
have considerable natural resources, few have the finances to develop their
economies. Foreign private enterprise has often regarded investment in such
underdeveloped areas as too risky, and this view has been justified in many
instances. The major alternative sources of financing are national and
multinational lending institutions. Expectations in African nations for a better
living standard have increased, and the prices of consumer and other
manufactured goods have kept pace, but the prices of most African primary
products have lagged behind. A worldwide recession in the early 1980s multiplied
difficulties that were initiated by the oil-price increases of the 1970s.
Serious foreign-exchange problems and ballooning foreign debt aggravated public
discontent. Famine and drought plagued the northern and central regions of the
continent in the 1980s, and millions of refugees left their homes in search of
food, increasing the problems of the countries to which they fled. Medical
resources, already inadequate, were overwhelmed by epidemics of acquired immune
deficiency syndrome (AIDS), cholera, and other diseases. In the late 1980s and
the first half of the 1990s protracted local conflicts in Chad, Somalia, the
Saharan area, southern Africa, and elsewhere on the continent destabilized
governments, halted economic progress, and cost the lives of thousands of
Africans. After Ethiopia's civil war came to an end in 1991, a separate
government was established in Eritrea, which declared its independence in 1993.
In April 1994 fighting erupted between Rwanda's two main ethnic groups, the Hutu
and Tutsi, after the presidents of both Rwanda and Burundi were killed in a
suspicious plane crash. Another major problem has been the inability to project
a voice in international affairs. Most African states regard themselves as part
of the Third World and the nonaligned nations, which they see as forces for
moral leadership. Because of their lack of military or financial power, however,
the views of African nations rarely appear to be taken into account. The end of
racial segregation polices in South Africa in the early 1990s led to that
country's first multiracial elections in April 1994. The transfer of power to
South Africa's black majority pointed toward new power alignments in Africa as
the 20th century neared to a close.
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