East Africa
A Mixed Inheritance
By: Alexandra Wiener, Sam Grosso, Ali Crofts, Annabel Burchill
Shared Cultural Characteristics:
• The value of cattle
– Environment is suitable
– Cattle are important to the lifestyle
• Language (Bantu or Nilotic)
– All languages belong to one or the other
• Influenced by Arab Islamic culture
– Many countries all over East Africa
Unique Cultural Characteristics:
• Religion
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Islamic rule along the coast of East Afrca
Many Muslims in North-East Africa
Interior of East Africa is Christian
Native Religions widely practiced as well
• Language
– Hundred of languages
– Most common is Swahili
– Islands of East Africa do not speak Swahili
The Horn
(Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan)
• Influenced by outside powers
– Britain & France (Red Sea)
– Suez Canal (1869)
– Italy (Eritrea and southeast Somalia)
• Battle of Adowa
– Italy (occupied Ethiopia)
• Politically Alienated
– Refugees fleeing armed conflict
– Authoritarian Regimes (Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan)
– Wars  droughts, famines, staration
• Ethiopia
– Christian civilization
East African Proper
(Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda)
• Rwanda and Burundi
– German control then Belgian
– Fighting between tribes
• Kenya and Uganda
– Taken over by British
• EAC (East African
Community)
• Agreements
– East African Meditation
Agreement (Kenya, Tanzania,
Uganda)
– Preferential Trade Area
– Permanent Tripartite
The Indian Ocean Islands
(Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles)
• Influences
– Asia, mainland Africa and Europe
• All influences by France
• Formed Indian Ocean Commission
• Link with South Africa
Environmental Characteristics:
• Tropical and
temperate savanna
• Tropical rainforest
• Great Rift Valley
• Very Dry (lower-lying lands
of northern Kenya and Greater
Somalia are )
Positive Attributes:
• Good cattle lands
• Great lakes (Albert,
Tanganyika, Malawi,
Victoria)
• Costal Region (ideal
for trade)
Challenging Attributes:
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Unreliable rainfall
Constant fear of drought
Famine
War and civil unrest
No regional community
(The Horn)
Resources:
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Cattle
Iron
Oil
Copper
Gold
Uranium (Somalia)
Diamonds (Tanzania)
Steel
Ethnic Groups:
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Samburo
Maasai
Kikuyu (Kenya)
Afar
Colonial Influences and Treatment of
Indigenous People:
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Four Islands (French and Asia)
Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, part of
Somalia (British)
Somalia and Eritrea (Italy)
Ethiopia (Italy for short
period) – then independent
British control  forced to
speak English
Italian cotrol  forced to
speak Italian
Forced their own culture on
the natives
Leaders and Their Impact:
• 1977
– Nyerere (Tanzania)
– Jomo Kenyena (Kenya)
– Idi Amin (Uganda)
• 1993
– Daniel Mkapa (Tanzania)
– Daniel Arap Moi (Kenya)
– Museveni (Uganda)
What Does the Title Mean?
“A Mixed Inheritance”
• East Africa has a wide range of areas in which
its been influenced by.
Two Questions For the Class:
• Name three ways in which Eastern-Africa is
similar to either Northern, Central of Western
Africa. Explain.
• Do you believe that the colonizers of each of
the Eastern-African countries has had a lasting
affect on the country? Explain.