Africa
Early African
• General Geography
• Plateau: Africa shaped like an upside down bowl
• Rivers: Nile, Congo, Niger all blocked by rapids and
hard to travel upstream (isolation and lack of trade)
• Deserts
– Sahara Desert: Covers one-fourth of Africa (North)
– Kalahari and Namib Deserts (South)
• Savannas: Dry grasslands south of the Sahara desert
and north of Kalahari and Namib Deserts
• Tropical Rainforest: Center of Africa (equator)
• Mountains: Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya
Early Africa
• Language
• Bantu: Early African Language….appeared to have spread
over a lot of Sub Saharan Africa
• Trade
• Early peoples appear to have had some interactions with
Asia
• Society
• Matrilineal: Ancestors and property traced back through
their mothers instead of fathers
• Religion
• Similar to other areas…gods and spirits based on nature
Ancient Egypt
• Egyptian Geography
• Nile River: Where the first Civilizations
began..predicatable flooding was a positive for
development of Egypt
• Sahara Desert: Made invasion impossible
• Egyptian Development
• Hieroglyphics: Writing
• Papyrus: Plant that was made into early paper
• Rosetta Stone: Found by French…helped us learn more
about ancient Egypt
• Leaders/Rulers
Ancient Egypt
• Dynasty: Family of rulers
• Pharaoh: Absolute power…both religious and political
• Kingdoms
• Old (2680 BC-2180 BC): Built Pyramids/Sphinx
• Middle (2050-1780 BC): Invaded by foreigners
• New (1570 BC-1080 BC): Strongest Empire
• Famous Pharaohs
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Hatshepsut: 1st Female Pharaoh
Thutmose III: King Tut…one of few tombs found intact
Amenhotep IV: Polytheistic to Monotheistic (failed)
Ramses II: Last great Pharaoh..eventually Egyptians lost their
freedoms when invaded by Persians in 300 BC
Ancient Egypt
• Ancient Society
• Calendar and # System
• Religion
• Gods based of nature
• Mummification: Process to prepare the body for life
after death. Tomb of Pharaohs would be filled with
valuables to take with them to afterlife
• Trade
• Caravans: groups of people traveling together and
trading together (safety)
Kush/Aksum
• Kush
• Important area for trade, located in present day Ethiopia,
Sudan and Egypt
• Back and forth relationship with Egypt (1500 BC-200 AD)
• Aksum
• Located in present day Ethiopia, neighbor and rival of Kush
• Empire began to grow around 100 AD and became very
powerful …peak of power between 300-600 AD.
• King Ezana: Powerful; converted empire to Christianity.
Impact still felt today in the area.
• Declined started in 600 AD because of erosion of land and
Islamic invaders that hurt Aksum’s control on trade
East Africa Trade
• Trade
• There were no real large kingdoms in the lands located along the
Indian Ocean.
• More small villages that were centered on trade.
• Traded gold, ivory, hides and fellow African slaves.
• A lot of interactions with Muslims from Arabia and Persia
• Swahili
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African culture that developed in Eastern Africa
Language that combine Bantu with Persian and Arabic
Became popular up and down the east coast of Africa
Mogadishu and Kilwa became important trade cities
• Great Zimbabwe
• Shona: people who migrated to the area by the Zambezi River (where
gold was mined)
• Grew very powerful then had a rapid decline due to overpopulation
(1400s)
West Africa
• Trade
• Salt for gold trade was important along South Sahara
• Empires began to grow around this area
• Ghana
• Earliest empire of West Africa (300 AD)
• Tunka Manin: Ghanaian ruler at the peak of power
(1067 AD).
• Huge Army: 200,000 warriors, bows/arrows/spears
• Destroyed when the Berbers invaded across the area in
1100 AD.
• Berbers carried Islam across North Africa
West Africa
• Mali
• Neighbors of Ghana; gained control of area in 1235 AD
• Mansa Musa: Leader of Mali during its peak of power
• Timbuktu: Became the leading city of Mali; educational
and trade center.
• Songhai
• Sonni Ali captured Timbuktu after Musa’s death, created
a new empire called the Songhai.
• Gao and Timbuktu became main trading centers for
people from Europe, India, and China.
• Eventually defeated by an army from Morocco that had a
new weapon…guns.
European Involvement
• Slave Trade
• Portugal began with a positive relationship with African
tribes…then they became greedy and wanted gold and slaves.
• Dutch, English and French would all get involved by the 1600s.
• Middle Passage: Trip the slaves made from Africa to
America’s…awful. Part of Triangular Trade. Slaves would be sold in
return for “New World” goods headed to Europe and Africa.
• Over 10 million slaves survived the journey to the Americas.
• West Africa Slave Trade
• Strong states began to emerge in West Africa as partners in the
slave trade.
• Slavery of other people was a popular practice in Africa (although
freedom was often times granted and not considered property)
• Problem: Over time, the loss of so many people had awful effects
on the development of the area.
1800s: Europeans in North Africa
• France
• Became interested in Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco
• Great Britain
• Wanted to control Egypt
• Italy
• Wanted to control Libya
• Spain
• Also interested in parts of Morocco.
1800s: Suez Canal
• Suez Canal
• French company began building this canal to connect the
Mediterranean and Red Seas.
• Egyptian leaders were falling into debt, decided to sell
there share of the canal to the British.
• Eventually GB was the majority share holder of the
canal..so they controlled it.
• Egyptian’s began to protest this lack of control over the
canal….eventually led to rebellions that the British
stopped.
• GB would basically control Egypt until after WWII when
Nasser took control of the canal and kicked out the British
1800s: Sudan
• Sudan
• Had been under the control of Egypt before European
involvement.
• GB wanted to create a dam on the Nile River and the French
wanted to add Sudan to their empire.
• Sudan revolted in 1881…led by Muhammad Ahmad, a Muslim
leader…eventually gained control of entire country.
• GB and French Involvement
• GB did not like this, they defeated Ahmad in 1898.
• France wanted to control the area as well.
• Fashoda: Area where both French and British forces
met..eventually the French backed down, leaving GB in
control of the area.
1800s: Sub Saharan West Africa
• End of Slave Trade
• Area had once been dominated by slave trade. By the 1800s,
most European countries had stopped trading slaves.
• Other items became popular to trade (oils, feathers, ivory, etc)
• European Interests
• France: Won Senegal by defeating Samory Toure
• Great Britain: Won control of the Gold Coast..main county was
Ghana
• United States Involvement
• Created and defended Liberia; a county for freed American slaves
to return to.
• Only independent country in the area.
1800s: Central Africa
• Cause of European Interest
• Henry Stanley: Journalist, looking for Dr. Livingstone (1871)
• Impressed with Central Africa, tried to convince GB and
others to invest and develop the region
• Belgium Interest
• King Leopold II: created a personal colony of around 900,000
square miles (Present day Congo)
• Leopold eventually gave the colony to the Belgian
government, where the area became known as Belgian
Congo (1900s)
• Leopold took almost all the natural rubber and sold the
native people as slaves….imperialism at its worst
1800s: East Africa
• European Countries:
• Divided up the land, very similar to what had happened
in Western Africa.
• Famine and a disease that killed the native cattle led to
many native’s starving to death
• They were too weak to defend themselves from the
Europeans
1800s: South Africa
• Great Britain and Dutch Interests
• Boers: Decedents of the original Dutch settlers living in
South Africa…had created 3 colonies
• Boers left the area when the British arrived in the late 1800s.
• Zulu’s: Native tribe that was a rival of the Boers. Zulu’s were
eventually defeated by British.
• European Interest in Gold and Silver
• Germany became very interested in Southern Africa once
Gold and Silver were found.
• Cecil Rhodes: British businessman that gained control of a
vast area…monopoly on diamond production.
• Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was created by Cecil Rhodes.
1800s: South Africa
• Boer War
• Boer’s did not allow Rhodes/GB to expand diamond
production into the Transvaal (area where Boers had moved)
• GB eventually defeated the Boers in 1899 and gained control
of more land to mine.
• South Africa
• GB eventually allowed for all 3 parts of former Boer colonies
to unite together…formed the country of South Africa. (1910)
• New constitution made it almost impossible for non-whites to
have any sort of rights.
• This would lead to apartheid…which Nelson Mandela fought
so hard to end (late 1900s)
1800s: Effects of European Imperialism
• Bad Effects
• Europeans controlled all aspects of government
• Paternalism: Belief that African’s were not able to effectively
rule themselves.
• Alliances: Some Africans tried to form alliances with
European countries…usually this worked out bad for the
African countries (Ethiopia and Italy)
• Most Africans never accepted European rule and culture.
Europeans wanted them to assimilate. Did not happen.
• Good Effects
• New things: crops, ways of farming, roads, and railroads all
helped improve communications.
Independence Time
• Post WWI
• After WWI a lot of British colonies began demanding selfrule.
• Egypt
• Wafd Party: Nationalist movement that developed in Egypt
after WWI. Quickly put down by the British in 1919.
• By 1922, GB decided let Egypt become independent but
still left troops there to control the Suez Canal and Sudan.
• Anglo-Egyptian Treaty: Gave Egypt greater independence
as WWII was looming. Basically they had each others back.
• As time went on, many Egyptians wanted GB to completely
leave the country.
More Calls for Independence
• Issues
• Africans had helped GB/France during WWI…now they
wanted freedom.
• Soldiers returning from war had new ideas on nationalism,
independence, racism, etc
• African Organizations
• By the 1930’s most Africans were calling for independence
rather than reform.
• This made European countries and tribal chiefs upset
• Leaders
– Nnamdi Azikiwe (Nigeria), Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya) and Leopold
Senghor (Senegal).
– This leaders followed the non-violent teachings of Gandhi to gain
support for independence
African during WWII
• Italy/Ethiopia
• Ethiopia: one of the few independent countries in Africa during
the 1930s.
• Mussolini: Leader of Italy, invaded a defeated Ethiopia in 1935.
• Ethiopia had asked for help, no one helped them.
• Fighting in Africa
• Germany, led by commander Erwin Rommel had taken control of
Libya. Tank warfare
• Eventually Axis forces were defeated by Americans/British forces
in 1942…forced to retreat back to Tunisia.
• Eventually Dwight Eisenhower (USA) and Bernard Montgomery
(GB) were able to trap Rommel’s troops in Tunisia.
• Allies gained complete control of Northern Africa and Suez Canal
Back to more independence
• Independence Movement
• Grew tremendously after WWII. Most Africans no
longer accepted being under the control of European
Countries
• Pan Africanism: Cultural unity of people of African
heritage in their struggle for freedom.
• Europe’s Response
• Not all European countries were so eager to give up
their lands in Africa
British Colonies in Africa
• Ghana
• Kwame Nkrumah (en-KROO-muh) was the leader and began to organize
political change.
• Boycotts turned into riots…eventually stopped by GB
• Convention Peoples Party (CPP): Founded by Nkrumah and was
determined to get immediate self-government
• In 1957, the Gold Coast was given its freedom from Great
Britain….renamed Ghana to celebrate African heritage
• Kenya
• Countries with more white settlers (like Kenya) were more against giving
African’s any sort of self rule.
• Arguments over who would control the wealthy land that coffee was
grown on (whites had control of it).
• This led to a bloody conflict between the Kikuyu (Kenya’s largest ethnic
group) and the whites/Africans that were loyal to GB.
• Jomo Kenyatta: Leader of the Mau Mau (secret Kikuyu group) was
imprisoned..eventually freed in 1961.
• Kenyatta easily won election in 1964…Kenya was free
Post Independence Africa
• Ghana and Political Violence
• Kwame Nkrumah: Leader of Ghana…took control of
cocoa (very profitable, made a ton of money and power)
• Turned Ghana into a one-party state and had absolute
power.
• Cocoa prices fell, Ghana lost money and Nkrumah turned
violent towards his own people.
• Military Coup (takeover) forced Nkrumah out of power
• Jerry Rawlings: brought back civilian rule to Ghana
• Transition was not an easy thing for people of Ghana but
today Ghana is a stable democracy in West Africa
British Colonies in Africa
• Central Africa
• South Rhodesia: Large white population; granted self
government during the 1920’s.
• North Rhodesia and Nyasaland: Mostly black, governed by GB
• GB attempted to unite all 3 of them…did not work.
• Change
• North Rhodesia became Zambia
• Nyasaland became Malawi
• South Rhodesia
• South Rhodesia (mostly white) would not give up its
control…led to civil unrest and fighting.
• In 1980 Robert Mugabe won an election and made turned
South Rhodesia into Zimbabwe
French Colonies
• Post WWII
• French Union: All the French colonies were united. They were
also able to send representatives to French National Assembly
in Paris.
• Not really true independence….leaders like Leopold Senghor
(Senegal), Felix Houphouet-Boigny (Ivory Coast) and Sekou
Toure (Guinea) began to demand more change.
• French Response (1958)
• Charles de Gaulle (French President) gave colonies a choice: be
apart of French Community (receive aid from France) or be
independent (cut off all ties with France/aid)…
• Guinea was the only one to cut ties…they became isolated and
turned to the USSR for aid.
• This freaked out France…let all the other countries have their
independence in 1960.
• Today
• France is intervening in the Central African Republic
Belgian and Portuguese Colonies
• Differences in Opinion
• Both Belgium and Portugal did not want to give any self-rule to their
African colonies….different than GB and France.
• This led to more violence
• Belgian Congo
• Belgium did not want to give up great wealth in timber and mineral
resources of Congo.
• Congo was made up of many different regions/tribes
• Began to unite during and after WWII.
• Violent uprisings began in 1959…granted independence in 1960.
Problem was that the Congo was made up of so many different groups of
people.
• Patrice Lumumba: Won the first election…all non African’s feared him
and immediately left the country…caused Congo to go into Civil War.
• Joseph Mobutu: Military leader who overthrew Lumumba and ran the
country into the 1990s. Renamed to Zaire.
• Today it is called the Democratic Republic of Congo
Belgian and Portuguese Colonies
• Portugal
• Would not give any sort of self government to its colonies
• Response
• African leaders in Portuguese Guinea, Portuguese West
African and Portuguese East Africa all began to form
liberation armies to fight against the Portuguese.
• Wars ended when leaders of Portugal were overthrown
in 1974…new leaders took Portugal out of Africa.
• Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Mozambique all were created and
all had problems.
Country of South Africa
• Creation
• Formed from two British and two Boer territories.
• White ruled country and was mostly independent.
• Segregation
• Whites and non-whites were legally segregated. Country
was made up of 75% non-whites and 25% whites.
• Whites were the only ones allowed to govern the country
and also owned most of the land.
• By law non-whites could only hold low paying manual labor
jobs.
• Apartheid: Government policy that created segregation and
economic exploitation in South Africa.
Country of South Africa
• Protests against Apartheid
• African National Congress (ANC): Started a non-violent
protests of policies…violently stopped by the South
African Government. (Sharpeville—60 protestors dead)
• Nelson Mandela: Became a leader of the ANC…and
was arrested in 1962, sentenced to life in prison for
treason against the South African government.
• South Africa withdrew all ties from GB at this time
• Policies continued to get worse and worse…police even
gunned down elementary age children protesting
having to speak the same language.
• By the 1980s…country was a mess with protest
Country of South Africa
• Changes
• F.W. de Klerk: elected President of South Africa in 1989.
He lifted some of the apartheid laws and freed
members of the ANC. (Mandela)
• Violence continued among many different groups of
people (blacks against blacks, whites against whites)
• Nelson Mandela: Won the first all-race election in
1994…had many issues (poverty and AIDS).
• Mandela just passed away last week
Post Independence Ethnic Violence
• Why Ethnic Violence
• Europeans had group people together that had no
common heritage..would lead to internal fighting
• Nigeria
• By 1963, Nigeria was essentially divided into 4 separate
areas (different groups lived in those areas)
• Eastern portion of Nigeria tried to leave the country to
form its own country called (Biafra).
• Civil War followed, millions of Biafra’s died
• Nigeria remained a whole country.
• Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and has one of
the fastest growing/largest economies in Africa.
Post Independence Ethnic Violence
• Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire
• Rwanda and Burundi: Tensions began to grown between two
groups (Tutsi’s and Hutu’s)
• Tutsi’s had long been favored by the Europeans b/c they
believed they had come from white decent.
• Generally, there is very little difference between to the two
groups.
• A genocide in Rwanda resulted in the Hutu’s killing and raping
between 800,000-1,000,000 Tutsi’s (20% of population). This
was a result of Rwanda’s Hutu President’s plane being shot
down.
• Eventually the Tutsi’s turned the tide and were able to force
out the Hutu’s (and kill) hundreds of thousands of them. Most
of the refugees went to neighboring Zaire.
Post Independence Ethnic Violence
• Continued Violence
• The Rwandan Hutu refugee’s did not get along with the
Tutsi’s that were native to Zaire.
• Tutsi’s and other groups fought back against the Hutu
refugees and the government of Zaire (led by Mobutu Sese
Seko).
• Eventually the Tutsi and anti-Mobutu forces won
• Laurent Kabila was the new ruler and Zaire became the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
• The Democratic Republic of Congo has had tremendous
violence towards women and others. Awful place today!
• UN is now trying to keep the peace against the Hutu’s that
live along the border between DRC and Rwanda
Problems
• Economic Problems
• Limited Economies: Many African countries were dependent
on 1 crop or industry.
• Ghana (Cocoa), Nigeria (Oil), Zambia (Copper), Sudan (Cotton),
DRC (Cobalt)
• This has caused most African countries to really struggle
financially….led to extreme poverty throughout a good
majority of the continent.
• Nigeria and South Africa are two of the economic success
stories from Africa.
• Population and Environmental Problems
• Desertification: spread of the desert….aided by cutting down
of trees.
• Droughts have brought starvation to millions of people
• AIDS and Ebola virus have killed millions as well
US and Soviet Involvement
• Angola
• Civil War that was aided on both sides by the United States and the
USSR
• Namibia
• Became independent when Cuban forces withdrew from the country
• Ethiopia
• Overthrew emperor in 1974, turned to a Marxist form of
government with the help of USSR. (liked them better than Somalia)
• Somalia
• Socialist government also supported by the USSR.
• General Help
• Both Somalia and Ethiopia called on foreign aid from both the USA
and USSR during awful droughts during the 1980s
US and Soviet Involvement
• Collapse of Soviet Union (1991)
• Led to a collapse in governments in both Ethiopia and
Somalia.
• Somalia: Fell into an awful civil war. Foreign aid to the
people of Somalia was denied…led to US involvement
in 1992-1993.
• Other Current Issues
• Arab Spring (Egypt, Libya) in 2011-2013
• Benghazi Attacks
• Genocide in the Sudan (Darfur)