East Africa-The Colonial Period, The Rwanda Geneocide and the Aksum Civilization

8/3/2019 East Africa-The Colonial Period, The Rwanda Geneocide and the Aksum Civilization

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East Africa


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East Africa


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This subregion has some of the longest and mostcontinuous records of human habitation.

Some of the earliest human fossils were found here.


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The Aksum civilization

Started in the area of modern Ethiopia around AD 100.


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Aksum became a trading empire, exchanging goodswith Arabia, India, and the African coast.


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Interestingly, the monsoon winds dictated trade.


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During the winter, the monsoon winds went southwest,so thats which way the ships went in the winter.


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In the summer, the monsoon winds went the oppositedirection. This meant trading runs could be a year longround trip endeavor.

Thesewinds notonlydictatedtiming, butalso thelocation ofport cities.


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The Aksum people were also some of the earliestChristians and the first in Africa.

Aksums power waxed and waned. It eventually

became Ethiopia.


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Axum obelisk lootedfrom Ethiopia in 1937by Mussolini and notreturned until 2005.

Its 78 feet tall andweighs over 100 tons.

Its one solid piece ofgranite (or at least it

was).


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Obelisk in its properlocation.


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Colonialism

As we know, Africa has lots of resources and theEuropeans wanted them.

North Africa along the Mediterranean had interactedwith Europe for nearly 2,000 years and coastal Africafor a few hundred, but in the 1800s the powers startedclaiming land inland. This was because the interior had

been better charted by the late 19th

century. The Berlin Conference was arranged among the

European powers in 1884 to settle competing claims.They didnt care to fight over the continent.

Africans didnt have a say in things.

For the Europeans, colonization expanded theirempires, brought in resources, and had the high-

minded goal of civilizing the savages.


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By 1914, Africa had been split up thus:

Note that Ethopia

and Liberiaremaineduncolonized.

Liberia was a

settlement by freedAmerican slaves.

Ethiopiasuccessfully fought

off Italiancolonizers.


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See if you can identify part of the problem withcolonization.


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Yep the Europeans grouped together different people,ethnicities, tribes, languages, etc. into larger colonies.

Many of these groups were not only very different

from each other, but also didnt get along well.Some were mortal enemies who were kept fromeach others throats only because of the colonialpowers.

In some cases, conflict among groups wasgenerated by the powers.

When colonialism ended, these colonies becameindependent countries, but with those disagreeable

groups still in them.

It was a recipe for conflict and has contributed tosome of the problems in the continent.

d l f h


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Rwanda is an example of theseproblems

There were two tribes there,

the Hutus and the Tutsis. The Hutus were the

majority, but the Tutsis werethe dominant tribe and were

the rulers. The Germans and then the

Belgians recognized this andmade sure the Tutsis were

in charge. This builtresentment among theHutus.

Wh B l i d R d i d d i


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When Belgium granted Rwanda independence in1962, free elections elected a Hutu dominatedgovernment it destroyed the centuries of socialand government structure and the fragile chemistry

the place had.

I 1994 th id b H t iliti d d


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In 1994, the genocide began. Hutu militias roundedup all the Tutsis they could find. From April 6th tomid-July, up to 1,071,000 Tutsis and moderateHutus were killed.

Think about that over a million peoplemurdered in just 3 months.

Many were killed by neighbors who either hated

the Tutsis themselves or were afraid the militiaswould kill them also if they didnt.

Many were hacked to death by machetes. Manywere forced into churches or other buildings and

massacred.

St di t 53 8% f th i ti kill d


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Studies suggest 53.8% of the victims were killedby machete, 16.6% by clubs, and only 14.7% bygunfire.

This isnt ancient history. Its not even WWII. This wasjust 14 years ago. You were alive when it happened.


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The world forgets and tried toignore it when it happenedanyway.

You need to know whathappened and remember.

Farming


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Farming

Most of the countries rely on cash crops: crops whichare grown for sale, not for subsistence.

In Africa, the crops are mainly coffee, tea, andsugar.

Good for money, but it means that less land is beingused for food for eating.

Too much reliance on one or a few crops also meansthe economy can be seriously affected should theprice for that crop go down.

Like many poorer places, people are flocking to thecities.

Tourism


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Tourism

Tourism is big business in East Africa, mainly becauseof the wildlife and the preserves, such as the Serengeti

National Park in Tanzania.

Masai


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Masai

One of the primary ethnic groups in the area is theMasai.

Health issues


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Health issues

The big problem right now for all of Africa is AIDSwhere its a pandemic. But well talk about this more

next chapter.

East Africa-The Colonial Period, The Rwanda Geneocide and the Aksum Civilization

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