 Most African communities (not countries) were stateless societies  Stateless Society: when people rely on family lineage to govern themselves rather than elect someone or have a monarch

 Africa has MANY natural resources ◦ Gold ◦ Cobalt ◦ Chromium ◦ Phosphates ◦ Diamonds ◦ copper

 In the 19 th Century Colonialism starts ◦ Europe’s industrialized nations become interested in Africa’s Resources ◦ Europeans didn’t want to fight over the resources, so they held the Berlin conference  Berlin Conference ( ): 14 European nations gathered to establish and discuss political control over Africa because they did not want to fight over it

 King Leopold II: Belgian king who opened up the African interior to European trade along the Congo River

 By 1884, he controlled the area known as the Congo Free State  He used forced labor (slavery) to gather rubber, palm oil, ivory and other resources

 European Nations divided Africa without any regard to where African ethnic or linguistic groups lived  When they set boundaries, they combined ethnic groups together that had always been enemies  Why would this be negative? ___________________________________

 Many African Nations gain independence in the 1960s  Since the Europeans did not pay attention to ethnic boundaries when they divided Africa, each “country” was very diverse and had many problems with civil conflict

 Economics ◦ Africa's’ economies are still recovering from colonialism  Loss of resources  Disruption of political systems  Cultural and ethnic oppression of people They have very poor Infrastructure Infrastructure- basic support systems needed to keep an economy going, including power, communications, transportation, water, sanitation and educational systems.

Infrastructure

 European Colonialism in Africa during the late 1800s-1960s has left the continent struggling for economic, political and social instability throughout the entire continent