Africa: Land of Plenty & Promise

Africa’s History and Geography

Early African HistoryAfrica – Part 2

Earliest Civilizations—Egyptians

Researchers believe the first African civilizations developed about 7,000 years ago

along the Nile.

Earliest Civilizations—Egyptians

Their rulers were know as pharaohs.Many achievements:

Pyramids Form of writing—hieroglyphics 365 day calendar Even did minor surgery

Earliest Civilizations—Egyptians

Kingdom of Kush and Axum

Kush Kingdom developed

just south of the ancient Egyptians

Trade and contact with Egypt helped to make it into a thriving kingdom.

Became a vital trade location for not only Middle East but South Asia as well.

Kingdom of Kush and Axum

Axum Centered around

modern-day Ethiopia.

Also became vital trade post.

Carries significance because the area became Christianized and is one of the oldest locations where Christianity began its ascent as a world religion.

Trade in the African Empires

West Africa—south of Sahara—developed trade based on the Gold and Salt.

Other Empires cont.

Traveling south, there were only a few major states to develop.

The interior of Africa was too harsh and undeveloped to effectively set up a large city.

Religion in Africa

3 of the major world religions—Christianity, Judaism, and Islam—are found in great numbers in Africa.

There are also still many traditional beliefs and practices in which nature and all of its creatures play a large role. Example—every living object has a spirit

so some native hunters explain his intentions and ask forgiveness of the animal that he is about to kill.

Religion cont.

Christianity took root in East Africa.

It was spread further by European missionaries during the age of Imperialism.

Christianity is the dominant religion south of the Sahara

Islam started to appear in Africa around 800 AD.

Islam is most commonly found in North Africa, north of the Sahara.

In many parts of Africa, the clash between Islam and Christianity has lead to wars and violence.

The Africa Slave Trade and the era of Imperialism

The Pillaging of a Continent

The Beginning

The Portuguese began setting up trade stations on Africa’s Atlantic coast in the 1400s.

European countries began to colonize the Americas and needed cheap labor to work on the plantations and mines.

Thus, in the early 1500s, the 1st Africans slaves began to cross the Atlantic.

Prince Henry The Navigator

The Atlantic Slave Trade—who was involved

Europeans: At its height, nearly 60,000 Africans a

year were sent to the Americas.

The slaves were nothing more than cargo; many died on the voyage to the Americas.

Racism quickly took hold as the reason for slavery as Africans became “inferior” humans.

The Atlantic Slave Trade—who was involved

Africans: European slave traders would trade

guns and other goods for slaves.

Using the guns, the coastal tribes would attack an inland village and sold them into slavery

How much and where they went

The Abolition Movement

People who fought against the slave trade were Abolitionist.

The problem was that slavery had become too profitable for those involved.

Britain outlawed slavery in all of its territories in 1833, the first real dent in the trade. America abolished slavery in 1865.

There are an estimated 1 to 2 million slaves in Africa today, mostly a result of the wars that have torn apart the continent.

Effects of the Slave Trade400 years of slavery had obvious

impacts on Africa: 1. Distrust and anger between Africans

and Europeans. 2. Distrust and anger between the

African states that captured the slaves and those who were taken as slaves.

3. An unknown number of small African communities disappeared.

4. African culture—its ideas, beliefs, and customs—were spread to the Americas.

Do Now

Africa Today

Facts About Modern Africa

Africa is the 2nd largest of the earth’s continents and makes up 22% of the earth’s land.

Africa has nearly 1 billion people, half are under 25.

Over 800 languages are spoken in Africa.

Africa has the most natural resources in the world.

An impoverished person makes .70 cents a day.

Challenges Africa Faces

Extreme poverty: (Starvation, low infrastructure, debt)

Lack of Education: (few in school, brain drain)

Health Issues: (AIDS, Cholera, Malaria, limited water)

Political Issues: (Wars, Apartheid, Genocide, Corruption)

South Africa (SA)

May 31st 1961, SA became a republic.

Apartheid separated whites and non-whites in SA.

Nelson Mandela was sent to jail for terrorism in 1962.

Nelson Mandela was released in 1990 and became president in 1994.

SA still has a high poverty rate for non-whites.

Nelson Mandela

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqoYmx_L-Xs

Blood Diamonds: Greed and Death

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaqQjIzIbiY