Download West Africa 2003

West Africa
Landforms and Bodies of Water
* The region has no major mountain ranges
* Air Massif – group of mountains in central Niger where the Tuareg
people graze their livestock
* Tibesti Mountains – highest elevations in West Africa
* Ennedi – desert plateau region
* Jos Plateau – mostly open grassland and farmland
* Fouta Djallon – highland region of savanna and deciduous forest
* Guinea Highlands – densely forested region
* Sengal River marks the border between the countries of Mauritania
and Senegal
* Black Volta River and the White Volta River originate in Burkina
Fasso.
* Akosomo Dam located where the two rivers meet. Create Lake
Volta
* Provides irrigation and electrical needs
* Lake Chad is also used for irrigation and electrical needs.
* The Niger river – longest and most important river
* During the rainy season it floods leaving fertile farmland
* Benue River – joins the Niger and doubles its water volume
* These two rivers provide water for irrigation and hydroelectric
power
* Main source of Mali’s fishing industry
* Important transportation route
Climate
* The climate of the region is diverse
* Ranges from harsh, arid Sahara in the north to lush costal rain
forests in the south
* Between are vast stretches of grasslands
* Key feature of the region is its distinct wet and dry seasons
* From late November until mid-March, the Harmattan blows through
the Sahara.
* Rainfall in the region can range from 200 inches in some areas to as
little as 20 inches a year. This make life in the region difficult.
Resources
* Nigeria – regions biggest producer of petroleum and natural gas
* Chad – oil fields
* Benin and Ghana have offshore oil fields
* Ghana’s main source of electricity are two dams on the Volta River
* Senegal River provides half the energy used in Mauritania
* Toto and Nigeria also depend on hydroelectric power.
History of the Region
* 10,000 years ago the Sahara looked more like a savannah than a
desert.
* Lakes, forests, large animals such as ostriches, giraffes, elephants,
antelope, and rhinoceroses roamed the area.
* As the area grew drier, people moved south.
* Camels became important to the survival of the people. They can
carry heavy loads for long distances and can go for long periods
without water.
* They became the perfect domesticated animals for desert dwellers.
* The Bantu people inhabited West Africa in Ancient times
* 2,000 BC developed farming
* 1000 BC a vast migration of Bantu people began
* Wherever they moved to, they brought their culture.
* For 1,000s of years, the Sahara was a barrier between West and
North Africa.
* 700 AD, Arabs controlled trade in the North. They soon realized
that West Africa offered opportunities for conversion to Islam.
* The Berber People of North Africa, Almoravids – Fierce fighters that
wanted to spread their faith.
* Ghana was a powerful west African kingdom
* Controlled gold-for-salt trade in the region
* 1,000 AD the Almoravids conquered Ghana
* Their rule brought about a decline in this kingdom
* Desertification, lack of trade, and famine ruined the once thriving
area.
* Mali grew rich from the gold-for-salt trade after the decline of
Ghana
* It reached its height under the emperor Mansa Musa
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Became a center for Islamic culture.
During the emperor’s pilgrimage to mecca the world learned of the
powerful Mali empire.
Songhai replace Mali
A strong army and navy controlled the Niger River and trade in the
region.
It also became a center for Islamic learning
It fell to the Moroccans by the end of the 1500s
Slavery in the Region
* Slavery had been practiced in Africa for centuries.
* Muslims from North Africa and Asia had bought enslaved people
from south of the Sahara.
* European colonists began to buy slaves to do the work in their
colonies in the Western Hemisphere.
* Small African kingdoms along the Atlantic coast became highly
profitable in these kingdoms.
* When Europeans outlawed the slave trade, the kingdom’s
economies began to fail.
European Domination
What were some of the factors that aroused European interest in exploring
and colonizing Africa?
* 1807 – the British outlawed the slave trade
* 1787 – Sierra Leone – a safe haven for runaway or freed enslaved
persons.
* 1822 – Liberia – founded by Americans as a home for freed
American slaves.
* To make up for the loss of revenue from the slave trade, Britain
started to develop and then profit from the palm oil trade.
* 1869 – Suez Canal opened and Diamonds found in South Africa
* These two events increased European interest in the area.
Imperialism
* Imperialism – the practice of seizing control of other places to
create an empire.
* 1884-1885 Berlin Conference to divide up Africa
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Some colonies were ruled more harshly than others.
Settlers could force Africans off the best lands
Africans resisted violently, but to no avail.
Independence
1957
* Ghana became and independent states. Was the Gold Boast under
British Rule
* For many years it was troubled by conflict.
* 1992 – adopted a new constitution.
* Has become a model of political reform in West Africa
1960
* Mauritania
* Niger
* Cote D’lvoire
* Gamiba
* Burkina Faso
* Declared independence from France
* 1914 – British combined the Igbo – Christian tribes in the south, and
the Hausa – Muslim tribe in the North, into one country under the
Nigerian Protectorate.
* When Nigeria gained independence in 1960, tensions flared.
* Thousands of Igbo in northern Nigeria were massacred.
* 1967 – The eastern region became the republic of Baifra (they
seceded, or withdrew formally)
* Military forces invaded and reclaimed the region.
* Millions of people were killed and the area was left in ruins.
* Since then, Nigeria has been mostly under military rule.
* 1978-consitution was written
* 1999 – the first democratically elected president ruled the region.
* Liberia and Sierra Leone have also been plagued by civil war and
military coups.
* Ethnic conflict in the region has been rampart.
* 50,000 people lost their lives and 2 million people lost their homes
in civil war and destruction.
Life in West Africa
* Independence from colonial rule did not lead to peace.
* Most countries maintained their colonial borders after
independence.
* This lead to ethnic strife in the region.
* People in this region tend to identify more with their ethnic
background than their national background.
* Members of the same ethnic group may live in multiple countries.
Languages
* Most independent countries continue to use the languages brought
in by the colonist to this day for business and government.
* Arabic is often a national language.
* Most ethnic groups use their traditional African languages in the
region.
* This has created a pidgin language. A simplified language used by
people who cannot speak each other’s languages but need to
communicate.
* When two or more languages combine to create a new language it
is called a creole language.
Religion
* Islam was established in many parts of western Africa
* In some parts, Christianity is also a prevalent religion.
* Many other people continue to practice traditional African religions.
* Animasts – people who believe a supreme creator or god created all
things. They believe in spirits – the spirits of their ancestors, the air,
the earth, and rivers.
Settlement
* The air is traditionally made up of scattered villages.
* They are homesteads of extended families – families made up of
parents, children, and other close relatives.
* Population density is dependent on land sustainability.
* In the north, density is low due to water shortages.
* Most large cities are capital cities.
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The largest city in West Africa is Lago, Nigeria with 10.5million
people.
Culture and Arts
* The area is cultural diverse.
* Mali, Mauritania, and Niger are influenced by North Africa
* People in cities are influenced by western culture
* Village life is traditional to African culture.
* Cities are ethnically diverse
* Ethnic pride still causes conflict in rural areas.
* Dance is used for healing
* Music blends many sounds and combines traditional and modern
instruments.
Challenges Facing the Region
* Infrastructure – underlying framework of an area
* Europeans did not invest in infrastructure in the area.
* They also concentrated their development of the colonial
economies around minimal resources.
* Therefore, the area needs to develop additional resources and
develop infrastructure in order for their economies to be successful.
* Foreign investments in the area did not help.
* They lead to corruption and mismanagement of funds and increased
debt in the area.
* Debt relief provided by the International Monetary Fund and World
Bank have been very important to the stabilization of the region.
HIV/AIDS and Education
* Sub-Saharan Africa holds 22.9 million of the 34 million people in the
world living with HIV or Aids.
* People dealing with the disease have several challenges.
* West Africa’s population is growing quickly.
* The educational system must also grow to meet the needs of new
generations.
* A lack of funding for education means that some countries cannot
afford to make update or improvements to their schools.