Geography and History of Africa

Broad Areas of Study

• Exam will cover misconceptions, terminologies related to race and genetics, geography, and ethnocentrism.
• The exam covers the history of slavery, colonialism, missionary work, and challenges faced by Africa.
• The exam explores Africa's struggle for independence from European colonialism and subsequent movements.
• The exam includes pan-Africanism, socialism, African independence movements, language policies, communication, and global economic policies.

Geography of Africa

• Africa is considered the cradle of humankind, with a history recoverable for 5 millennia
• Africa is culturally and linguistically diverse but faces high infant mortality, poverty, and disease rates
• Africa has the lowest literacy rates and GNP/capital
• Africa is the 2nd largest continent, after Asia, in both size and population.
• Key geographical points include Tunis and Cape Town (5200 miles apart), Anchorage and Panama City, Dakar and Cape Guardafui (4600 miles apart), as well as NYC and Moscow.
• The continent is smaller than 3 times the size of the US and smaller than the total size of Western Europe, India, USA, China, and Argentina
• Africa's land area is ancient, dating back to pre-Cambrian times
• Spreads across all parts of the world, from the Equator to the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn
• Tropical rain forests exist with hot temperatures year-round (27-30 degrees)
• Hot deserts have hot temperatures most of the year, with winter temperatures dropping to about 10 degrees
• There is Mediterranean vegetation
• There are deciduous and coniferous woodlands

Vegetational Zones

• Mediterranean climates
• Desert and arid plains
• Wide savanna regions
• Humid and forested lands
• Highland areas

Vegetational Zones: Subdivisions

• Desert and semi-desert areas
• Steppes which are grassy and bushy
• Savanna grassland
• Deciduous forest woodland savanna
• Tropical rain forest
• Montane forest tundra
• Coastal forest (E. Africa)
• Mediterranean evergreen forest
• Temperate and mountain grassland

Major bodies of water

• Senegal river, Niger River, Volta river, Benga river, Congo river, Orange river
• Limpopo river, Zamkozi river, Nile river, White Nile, Blue Nile
• Lake Albert, Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Nyasa, Suez Canal, Gulf of Aden/Red Sea

Relief

• The highest mountain is Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
• Kenya, Kenya
• Stanley, Congo/Uganda
• Speke, Congo/Uganda
• Baker, Uganda
• Emin, Congo/Uganda
• Gessi, Congo/Uganda
• Luigi do Savoia, Congo/Uganda
• Meru, Tanzania
• Ras Dejen, Ethiopia
• East Africa as the most mountainous area

Soil and Agriculture

• Soil is less fertile than expected
• Uneven rainfall patterns
• Limited modern agricultural technology
• Subsistent farming, with little or no surplus produced
• Declined per capita food production post-1960s because high population growth and political events and decolonization

Natural Resources and Minerals

• Africa possess diverse resources like oil, gas, copper, and gold
• Also found are coal, bauxite, diamond, timber, uranium, and chromium
• Gold reserves and exports flow from W and N Africa to America, Europe, and the Middle East
• Gold reserves and exports flow from C and E Africa to SE Asia

Indigenous Marriages

• Marriage is a rite of passage to adulthood because unmarried individuals are viewed as children
• Exchanges exist as marital contracts between two families with witnesses
• Marriage changes status and associated responsibilities/privileges
• Marriage may be conditional to having a child
• Arranged marriages are planned for the couple by families or guardians
• Fewer non-arranged marriages

Age Differences

• Groom is usually older than the bride due to a shorter female fertility window
• Men have the ability to procreate later
• Groom’s responsibility is to care for the bride

Divorce

• Divorce impacts both two families, not just the married couple
• Infidelity is not an accepted excuse
• Divorce follows the same three stages as marriage

Civil Statutes

• Three stages of marriage include a traditional declaration of intent for marriage
• Includes Church or mosque marriage if applicable to the religion
• A court marriage which involves witnesses from the families

Types of Marriages

• Monogamy: the most common marriage, which is one-to-one
• Serial monogamy: the practice of marrying several spouses in succession, after divorce
• Polygamy is less than 2 spouses
• Polygyny is multiple wives, and more common
• Polyandry, is multiple husbands, less common

Reasons for Polygyny

• More childbirth contributing to more labor, population growth, and continuity of lineages
• Started because the ratio of men to women was unequal, has continued as tradition

Reasons for Polyandry

• Limited land resources
• Ratio of men to women

Secondary marriages

• Levitate: the practice where a brother of a deceased man marries his brother's widow
• Sororate: the practice where a husband engages in sexual relations with his sister's wife in the instance of her death or infertility

Reasons for Encouragement

• Economic reasons
• Inheritance
• Parental stability
• High marriage cost

Unusual Marriages

• Ghost marriage
• Woman-woman marriage

Descent

• Social groups are based on descent such as individual, family, lineage, and clan
• Kinship terminology such as siblings, cousins, uncles, and aunties are based on form of descent
• Family forms are based on cultural perspective that is not limited to biological relatives
• Inheritance is derived from kinship
• Marriage determines inheritance
• Kinship important for social organization
• Everyone has kinship

Forms of Descent

• Patrilineal: inheritance from father.
• Matrilineal: inheritance from mother.
• Duolineal/bilineal: recognizing both sides but choosing one to inherit from.
• Bilateral: inheritance from both sides.

Residence rules

• Living situation after marriage depends on descent and when people get married
• Living with parents before and during marriage depends on cultural residence rules

Residence rules/patterns

• Patrilocal (patriarchy): Married couple resides in the groom's family
• Ties with husband's father's relative
• Matrilineal: Married couple resides in the bride's family
• Ties with the wife's relatives
• Ambilocal: Married couple can choose either patrilocal or matrilocal residence.
• Neolocal: Married couple establishes a home outside of relatives.
  • Common due to economic factors and the need for a safe environment to raise children

Modern Africa's Religions

• Religion and belief system
• Africa's cultural and religious identity

Three forms of religion

• Traditional/indigenous: Originated in Africa, still present in modern Africa
• Contemporary/global: Influenced by Euro-Americans, Christian, and Islam
• African syncretic: A vibrant blend of indigenous and contemporary elements

Three main religions

• Christianity, Islam, and indigenous beliefs

Belief systems

• Religion, organized and communal
• Spirituality, personal and individual

Two categories

• Revealed/received religions (man-made)
• Experiential religions/beliefs (nature)

Revealed religions

• Revelation through voices, dreams, and divine inspiration
• Claims authority from God with no way to validate authenticity
• Examples: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Experiential religions

• societal concepts that believe in the natural world as an embodiment of divinity
• natural events and objects are assigned with God/supernatural powers
• were developed as a result of communal experiences and interactions

Characteristics:

• Monotheistic/polytheistic
• Panentheism (spirit present everywhere)
• Not traced to an individual, and has no written rules
• Not seeking membership
• Absence of religious vacuum and non-hierarchical religious pluralism
• Absence of religious conflicts and non-dogmatic
• It enhances life with a means to a practical end
• Rituals associated with medicine and healing
• Flexible social-political affiliation and group ID

Concept of God/Supreme Being

• Supreme God, Deputy gods, Lesser gods, Ancestral spirits, Secret societies

Supreme being

• No organized direct worship and communication through deities
• Hard to separate spiritual acts from cultural ones
• Have their own music, language, and code

Ancestors

• Earned while in life
• Not all the deceased are venerated or revered as ancestors
• Reverbence, but not worship

New religious concepts

• Satan/sin: Evil
• Heaven/hell: Reincarnation
• Trinity: Christian/European

Slavery systems

• Slavery, impacts, and effects

Stages of/process to colonialism

• Exploration (1400s)
• Trade (1400s and before)
• Slavery (1500s to 1865) with the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
• Christian Missionary Works (1770s to 1890s)
• Scramble (1885 to 1910/20)
• Colonialism (1880s to 1980s)
• Independence (1945 to 1994)
• Neo-Colonialism (1960s to now)
• 800-900 years of European engagement

Exploration (1400s)

• Late 1300-early 1400's
• The Europeans wanted to find trade routes by water
• Portugal reached Africa through it’s west coast
• The Americas were discovered in 1492
• Portugal reached India in 1498

Legitimate Trade

• Trust between Africans and Europeans led to trades of minerals from west Africa
• The kingdom of Mali was very powerful and larger than Western Europe
• Gold represented wealth in Africa as a symbol and status
• Exploration opened the way to sub-Saharan Africa

Triangular Trade

• European goods(textiles, sugar, alcohol) were used in Africa to exchange for slaves
• African captives taken to America to cultivate raw material
• Raw materials carried to Europe
• Not only for slave trade

Slavery

• Already existed before TAST in Africa

Mediterranean Slave Trade

• In Southern Europe, Christians enslaved Muslims
• Africans not involved
• For domestic service, oarsmen for naval ships, mining

Indigenous African Indentured Servitude

• Labor that is performed with no salary for a number of years
• Often war captives, and their purpose was for population growth
• Individuals were not considered property, and they had to carry their own name and own property
• Similar to migrant workers today

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

• An economic factor originally transactional but violated by Europeans
• Affected by racism and there was no opportunity to have freedom
• Black slaves were considered master’s property and forced into labour with no rights

Factors contributing to TAST

• Discovery of the Americas created need for workers/raw materials
• Indentured Servitude: taking others against their will was already practiced
• Exploration of Sub-Saharan Africa, lead to new ports, and land to set crops
• European and American enterprises needed labor
• War and diseases in the Americas led to the decimation of Indigenous people

Effects/impacts on Africa

• Loss of labor force through generations which led to the disruption of the traditional economic system
• Hindered development with a the significant loss of population
• Instability was driven by conflict and Europeans provided weapons to capture slaves
• This lead to population impact because of deaths and the displacement of communities
• Distrust was present because legit trades were blocked
• Discrimination
• Colonialism
• Polygyny, and breakdown of political structures, dependency on slavery
• African Diaspora: The enslaved Africans enriched new regions by bringing their cultural expression France (1944-1952)

Islam in Africa

• First appeared in the 7th century in Ethiopia
• Advanced towards West Africa
• Later expands from Yemen to East-Southern Africa
• Fulani Jihad expanded Islam in West Africa (1804-1810)
• Islam first spread continent to Africa and makes up 1/3 of the worlds Muslim pop
• Is holds strong in North/East Africa, Swahili Coast, and West Africa
• More permissive than Christianity Islamic Influence:
• Language: Arabic in North Africa and a mix of Arab and African called Swahili
• There is Education, Commerce, Musician Practice and Arabization

Christianity in Africa

Timeframe:

• 3/4th century in Ethiopia (200-400 AD)
• 16th/17th century (1500-1700) small enclave of Christian in West Africa (due to exploration of Europeans)
• 18th/19th century (1700-1900) rush of missionaries activities and interests from Europe (to enslave mentally, prepare for colonization)
• 20th century (1900/colonial period) African Christian active role to spread religion

Facts:

• Christianity was essential in reading and writing
• Caused political issues because the euro-political system was christian
• Christian influence lead to a change in aid and individualism
• African church elite used it as a civilizing tool linked with African poverty

Islam vs Christianity in Africa

• Islam more multicultural and secular

Scramble for Africa/Colonialism

Timeframe: - Missionary activities From 1770 to 1890 - Scramble for Africa From 1885 to 1910 after slave trad abolished (1807) - Shift from monarchies to democracy - Shift of control to Political: Germany and France

Before scramble for Africa, no concept of country, but kinddom

Motivation for colonization

   - Economic was needed to trade
   - Needed to preserve power, assert lands, and make military
   - Actors
       - Explorers
       - Missionaries
       - Merchants/traders
       - Diplomats with mercenaries

Actants

• Treaties, flags, maps, steamships and drugs

Berlin Conference

• Van Bismark with push from Leopold II
• Germany held power and wanted to create a divide to avoid conflict
• rules of mutual recognition and accelerate colonization (1885-1914)
• Africa territories was changed Aiming for bodies of water
• Britain focused on north to south
• France focused on east to west Belgium focused the congo

Post WW1: France and Britain now had colonist after Germany stripped

Violence in Colonialism

• the Herero were the target of genocide
• Second British Boer war used concentration camps
• Tool to colonize big countries

Congo vs Belgium

• Congo was bigger in size and full of minerals
• Owned by King Leopold who lead to 10mil Africans killed
• The congo used terror tactics to extract labor

Difference between hitler and King Leopold

• Time period, political leaders public opinion
• Cecl rhodes was greedy

Colonization

• All European were Christian

After effects = Expansion of political power

• Expand economic benefits with competition with goods Indigenous agents helped bring Christian beliefs

Strategies of colonization include power and alliance with royal courts Colonization leads to new borders, new territories, conflicts, and new ideology

France (1944-1952)

   - Authority
   - Territorial
   -Extension of france

Division of African society Educated Africans can hold French citizenship limited voting Fought to turn back on France

Britain

• Territories controlled
• Rule
• Gold Coast

Colonial office and political center Encouraging ethnic mixing

Civil War

Was a system setup for racial discrimination

Factors necessity for independence

   - Liquidation of European
    - Roles in WW2
    - Destruction images
    - Afro intellectuals.

Methods for independence Protests Representation Formation