General Geographic Information
Size of Africa
Africa is 3 times the size of the U.S.
Compared To U.S.
# of Languages
Hundreds
2 Main Cultural
Regions
Swahili
North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa
Savanna
As Arabs traded with East Africa words of the Arabic language
blended with the local African language
Grasslands; Most common environment in Africa
Cataracts
Steep waterfalls resulting from the plateau that covers much of Africa
Escarpments
Steep cliffs resulting from the plateau that covers much of Africa
Desertification
A negative effect of development, it is the cutting down the forest
faster than it can grow back, turning land into desert
Traditional African Societies
Consensus
The people of African villages would come to an agreement on
solutions to village problems
Bride Wealth
A gift the man would give the bride’s family to show her value
Age Grade
System
Animism
Divination
Boys and girls in a village would go through ceremonies that marked
stages of their development together
the belief that natural objects, natural phenomena, and the universe
itself possess souls.
When certain people consult the divine world to explain current events
and tell fortunes
African Civilizations
4 Major
Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Benin
Civilizations
Main Location of West Africa
Civilizations
2 Major Trade
Gold and Salt (west African kingdoms became very wealthy as a
Items
result of this trade)
Mansa Musa
Famous ruler of the Empire of Mali; known for expanding the empire
and bringing peace
1
Slave Trade
European Motive for
Exploring Africa
Looking for new routes to India * Asia
Why Europeans
Wanted Slaves
Middle Passage
farming economy of the new colonies in the Americas; cheap labor to
be profitable
Journey of the slave ships from Africa to the Americas
Triangular Trade
Route
How Europeans
Got African
Slaves
Abolition
Link between Europe (had guns), Africa (had slaves) and the
Americas (had raw materials)
Africans captured other Africans during battle and traded them for
guns from the Europeans
Movement to end slavery
Nations Founded by Liberia (American) and Sierra Leone (British)
Former Slaves
Imperialism
Europeans with
Most Colonies
Leopold II & the
Congo Free State
Berlin
Conference
African Nations
Not Colonized
Cecil Rhodes
Independence
Educated Elite
British and French
King of Belgium established a private colony in the Congo River
Basin; He exploited the people and the resources for rubber
European nations gathered together to draw the borders of the
colonies of Africa; no Africans were invited to participate
Ethiopia and Liberia
British businessman that promoted imperialism in Africa; Rhodesia
(now Zimbabwe) was named for him
Pan-Africanism
Africans able to attend secondary school were considered high in
status, but often Africans could not get high level jobs
Pride in one’s country; nationalism was not natural because thses
countries did not exist before the Europeans arrived in Africa
A movement to unify all Africans; it was not successful
Negritude
Movement that encouraged Africans to value their heritage
2 Decades
Independence
Achieved
1960s and 1970s
Nationalism
2
Apartheid in South Africa
Boers
Descendants of the Dutch settlers in South Africa
Colonial Power
Britain
Valuable
Resources
Diamonds & gold
Apartheid
Legal separation of the races in South Africa
Afrikaners
Homelands
Descendants of the Dutch, French, and German settlers of South
Africa; speak Afrikaans
Part of apartheid, these laws required any person of color to produce
special identification giving them permission to be where they were
Areas outside the homeland that black South Africans were forced to
live in and required to carry passes
Areas assigned to ethnic groups of Africans to jeep them separated
Sharpville
Massacre
Peaceful black protesters were attacked by the police; this gained
attention of nations around the world
Soweto
Disturbance
Peaceful African students protesting the forced use of Afrikaans in
public schools; attacked by police
Pass Laws
Townships
Desmond Tutu
Black leader in the movement to fight apartheid; won the Nobel Peace
Prize
World Pressure
Countries around the world participated in a trade embargo to try to
to End Apartheid get South Africa to end apartheid
F.W. de Klerk
White president of South Africa that moved the government towards
eliminating apartheid
Nelson Mandela Black leader that worked to end apartheid; jailed for many years;
when apartheid ended, elected first black leader of South Africa
Nigeria
Valuable Natural oil
Resource
Biafra
Ibo of the southeast tried to secede from Nigeria, keeping control of
the oil fields, & create Biafra, but the attempt was unsuccessful
Government
Moves back and forth from civilian to military run government
over the Years
3
Zimbabwe
Former Name
Ethnic Issues
Robert Mugabe
Rhodesia
The white minority declared independence and established Rhodesia;
later there was a 2nd “independence” establishing a black-led gov.
Leader of movement to establish an African run government (as
opposed to a white minority led government)
Genocide in Rwanda
Genocide
Effort to eliminate an entire race or ethnic group
Definition
Ethnic Groups
Hutu (majority) and Tutsi (minority)
Description of
Conflict
Role of U.S. &
U.N.
Tutsi were given better position under the Belgian colonial
government; when Rwanda became independent, the Hutu majority
sought retaliation for the past
Barely did anything; UN sent peace keeping forces that were
powerless; US wouldn’t admit it was a genocide
Darfur
Location
Western Sudan
Source of
Conflict
Land and ethnic/religious differences
Janjaweed
Arab militants that have been killing black farmers
Role of Sudan’s
Government
Arab-dominated government has supported Arab militants
Country Supporting
Sudan
China supports Sudan because of its oil
AIDS in Africa
Causes of
Epidemic
Cultural norms promote the spread of the disease
Solutions for
Epidemic
Health education and aid
4