Africa’s History

The student will analyze continuity and change in Africa leading to the 21st century. I can explain how the European partitioning across Africa contributed to conflict, civil war, and artificial political boundaries.

European Interest in Africa #4 Europe first became interested in Africa while they were engaged in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The trade lasted from the 1500s until the middle 1800s. The United States began transported slaves in 1808. Even after the slave trade ended, interest in Africa’s natural resources continued. Competition for power among European countries encouraged interest and control of Africa.

Imperialism in Africa A policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.

Why Africa? Great Britain = Egypt/Suez Canal/Transportation Routes Great Britain = South Africa/Tip of Africa/Gold/Platinum/Diamonds European Christian Missionaries=Spreading Christianity The Congo=Rubber Trees European Countries = Power/Control/Slavery/Trade Routes/Natural Resources

Facts 1. Imperialism in Africa was a system of acquiring colonies to provide raw material for a stronger country. 2. Early European plans for Africa involved protecting trade and transportation routes. Indirect rule involves using African people to help European officials administer and control a colony. Local African chiefs were used to enforce European power over African countries.

Africa After WWII Europeans first interest in Africa was the slave trade. European governments began setting up colonies once they discovered the valuable natural resources in Africa. Once Europeans gained control of African countries and setup colonies, they began the process of assimilation by making Africans give up their own customs and adopted those cultures of Europeans.

After WWII, many African groups began to challenge European colonial rule because boundaries of the new African states created after WWII split tribes and kinship groups. Europeans followed the old colonial boundaries as a way to draw new boundaries for African countries.

I can explain how nationalism led to independence in South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria.

South Africa The Dutch from the Netherlands founded South Africa in the mid- 1600s. They used the colony for trade around the tip of the African continent. Many Dutch settlers came there, and they were eventually called the Boers. They had little to do with the native Africans other than to use them as servants or workers.

South Africa Becomes a British Colony When the British took over the colony in the early 1800s, many of the original Dutch settlers moved north into land occupied by the native Zulus. This move led to warfare between the two groups. The Zulus later found Great Britain. The Dutch descendants setup two news states in South Africa: Transvaal and Orange Free State. In the early 1900s, these states were eventually merged with British South Africa to form the Union of South Africa, a state that by this time had discovered vast deposits of gold and diamonds. The native Africans were considered second-class citizens in the Union of South Africa.

Zulu Warriors Zulu Children Today

I can explain the creation and end of apartheid in South Africa and the roles of Nelson Mandela and President F.W. de Klerk. The African National Congress was organized to work for equality for Africans. The Apartheid system legally separated the races in South Africa. Apartheid was the law of the Union of South Africa from the early creation of the state in 1948. Nelson Mandela worked to end apartheid in South Africa, and he led the African National Congress. About 70 percent of the South African population was black when that country achieved independence. South African President F.W. de Klerk began to recommend that the laws of apartheid be repealed.

Living under Apartheid The country had a complicated system of racial identification, classifying citizens as either black, colored, Asian, or white. Blacks were allowed to own very little land, even though they made up over 70 percent of the population. All sorts of public facilities were segregated, including schools, libraries, movie theaters, restaurants, and even beaches. People were not allowed to marry anyone who was of a different race. The apartheid system lasted well into the 1980s because the white minority population controlled the government.

South Africa’s Government Today Republic with a two house National Assembly President elected by the National Assembly All citizens 18 years of age or older can vote. Personal freedoms are numerous since Apartheid (Legal separation of the races) has ended. Literacy rate is high. Racial segregation ended in 1994.

Nelson Mandela felt the different races needed to try to work together in the new government.

Who was Nelson Mandela? History Channel - Miracle Rising South Africa [ Full Movie ] 1 hr. 32 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKDrRdfvUg8 How Mandela won Africa's heart (Journey Man Pictures) 30 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdC6ug0I3rA

Kenya Kenya became independent of British rule in 1964 under the leadership of Joseph Kenyatta, a leader of the Kenyan African National Union (KNAU). The government of Kenya was criticized after independence because it was controlled by one political party. Kenya’s Problems: Lack of civil rights for its people. The international community has refused to provide Kenya with economic assistance until they improve the political rights of Kenya’s people. Freedoms are written into the constitution, but government is dominated by the president. Kenya has a republic, with one-house legislature called the National Assembly.

Nigeria Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960, and most people expected the new state to be stable and calm. Unfortunately war broke out between the Christian south and the Muslim north. The religious war left many thousands dead or injured. The country tried to reorganize as 12 different regions, even the oil-rich province in the eastern part of the country declared itself to be the independent State of Biafra.

Military coups and outbreaks of violence marked the years that followed independence. Elections held in 1999 seemed more free and open than what had gone on before, but the government is still unstable. However, the government is corrupted, and the great oil supply has not been developed nor used to benefit the people in Nigeria.

I can explain the impact of the Pan African Movement. The main goal of the Pan African Movement was to get Africans to think of themselves as one people and to work together. The first people to support the idea of Pan-Africans were Africans who were living in other parts of the world. They felt that Africans, no matter where they lived, shared a bond with each other, and the group called for Africans all over the continent to think of themselves as one people in order to work for the benefit of all Africans. They wanted to end European control and to make Africa a homeland for all people of African descent. Those in the movement also hoped that African countries could work together to improve each country’s economy. The Pan-African movement gained credit for sparking independence movements that left nearly all African nations free of colonial rule by the 1980s.