Rivers Nile, Chad,Congo,Niger
Deserts Sahara, Kalahari
Mts.Atlas- (NW), Drakensberg(SE)
Rainforest –West Africa
Savanna
Remember!!! Sahel&Desertification
•Largest Land
Mass
•3X the size of
US
•Petroleum,gold, copper, diamonds,
cotton, coffee, peanuts, lumber
•Kush, Axum,
Ghana, Mali,
Songhai
•Ruled by Pharaohs
& kings
•Established trade
routes ( Med. Sea,
Red Sea, etc.)
• Trade of Gold and
Salt
• 3100 B.C.-56 B.C.
• Nile River Valley
• Hieroglyphics,
Mummification,
Pyramids, Temples,
Mathematics
•
First African
Kush
Civilization after
Egypt
• 1700-1500 B.C.
• Major Trading center
of Gold
• Polytheistic, shared
Egyptian Gods
Ghana
• Earliest West African
Civilization
• “Land of Gold”
• Brought Necessary salt
and gold between North
and South Africa
Songhai
• Niger River Valley in W. Africa
• Fishing and Trading Civilization
• Accepted Islam from the North in Mali
• Mansa Musa brought
Islam to Mali
• Timbuktu was a center of
education, literature, arts
• Pilgrimage to Mecca in
1324
•Matrilineal vs.
Patrileneal
•Ancestor
worship/
lineage/ clans
th
7
century
Islam overcomes
Christianity
• Self-Sufficient Villages
• Tribal Communities
• No Central Government
• Animism-All living and non-living
things have a spirit
• Monotheistic
• Ancestor Worship
•Slave Trade
(Triangular Trade,
Middle Passage)
•Colombian exchange
•Social
upheaval,violence
•Political realignments
• 1700’s
• An exchange of raw materials, finish
products, medicine, slaves among 4
continents
•After Belgium
claimed the Congo
sets off scramble for
Africa
•By 1914 only Liberia
& Ethiopia remain
independent
• 1600-1700’s Dutch found
trading posts
• Scramble for Africa
• 1884 Berlin Conference
European Countries met
to divide up the continent
of Africa
• European boundaries
disregarding tribal borders
Causes:
• Industrialization-Need for raw materials
and markets
• Social Darwinism-Belief that the strongest
race would survive
• “White Man’s Burden”-It was the white
man’s responsibility to civilize and enlighten
the Africans
• Missionaries-Covert people to Christianity
•British defeat Boers
(Dutch Farmers)
•The Union of South
Africa is formed as a
British Commonwealth
•Becomes independent
in 1961 as Republic of
South Africa
•Government policy of
total separation of races
•Began under Boers &
continued after British
rule
•1913 Native Land Act
forbade blacks to own
land outside reservations
•1950 Groups Area Actdivided 13 % of land
among blacks & the rest
reserved for whites
(17% of the population)
• 1913 African
National Congress
formed & began
fighting segregation
•Leaders of anti-Apartheid movement
•Served about 30 yrs
in prison
•Mandela became the
countries first black
president 1994
•Fought to end
apartheid
Peaceful resistance
Noble Peace Prize Winner 1984
1. equal civil rights for all
2. the abolition of South Africa's
passport laws
3. a common system of education
4. the cessation of forced
deportation from South Africa
to the so-called "homelands"
•International economic
pressure
•1989 reform minded F.W.
De Klerk frees Mandela
and The ANC is legalized
•In 1992 white voters
abolished apartheid
•1994-first black election
•Nationalist movements were led by
educated elite (anti imperialist)
•Focused on human rights & self rule
•Most nations achieved independence
in 1950’s & 60’s
•Conflicts among neighbors made
Pan Africanism difficult
Movement to celebrate African
culture, heritage, and values
•Led by Leopold Senghor- the First
President of Senegal
•Jomo Kenyatta-Kenyan Nationalist
•Kwame Nkrumah-Independence
leader
•Severe Economic Problems
•Government Corruption
•Rely on Cash Crops and corporate
investments
•Non-aligned
•Desertification and overuse of land
Rwanda
• 1994 Genocide of Tutsi population by the
Hutus and supported by the government
• More than 500,000 people died in a few
months