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SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Chapter 9

Objectives

This chapter should enable you to

Understand what made Sub-Saharan Africa the world’s poorest region, and how it is now finally breaking out of poverty

Know how the region came to have the world’s greatest HIV/AIDS and Ebola outbreaks, and how these epidemics can be stopped

Consider the pressures on African wildlife and the unique approaches taken to protect the animals

Objectives (cont’d.)

Appreciate the diversity and richness of African cultures, and the role of ethnicity in the region’s conflicts

See how Africans have leapfrogged communications challenges with mobile phones and are developing new IT hubs

Recognize why, after decades at the sidelines, Sub-Saharan Africa is considered important again in geopolitical affairs

Objectives (cont’d.)

Appreciate what corrupt leadership has done to impoverish people in countries with enormous oil and other natural resource wealth, and how good governance is taking its place

Area and Population

Second largest land area of all the major world regions

Covers 8.7 million square miles (2x size of U.S.)

Population of 920 million

Overpopulated in areas, yet much of the region is sparsely populated

One in five Africans lacks food, health care, and clean water

Political Geography

Figure 9.2 Political geography of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Landscapes of Africa

Most of Africa is vast series of plateaus

Typical elevation more than 1,000 feet

The character of African rivers

Rapids and waterfalls block navigation a short distance inland

Great potential for hydroelectric energy

Africa’s discontinuous inland waterways are interconnected by railroads and highways

Africa’s Biomes and Climates

Equator bisects Africa

About two-thirds of the region lies in the low latitudes

Precipitation in region is high, but unevenly distributed

Drought is a persistent problem

Desertification

Climate and Biomes

Figure 9.7 (a) Climates and (b) biomes of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Africa’s Wildlife

Numerous populations of large mammals

Agriculture takes place at the expense of wildlife

Poaching and habitat destruction

Elephants

Rhinoceros

Cultural and Historical Geographies

African continent was the original home of humankind

Four culture hearths:

Ethiopian Plateau

West African savanna; West African forest

Forest-savanna boundary of West Central Africa

Domestication of important crops

Millet, sorghum, yams, cowpeas, okra, watermelons, coffee, and cotton

The Languages of Africa

About 2,000 languages

Three broad language groups:

Niger-Congo

Afro-Asiatic

Khoisan

The African Union uses six official languages

English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, and Arabic

Languages

Figure 9.11 Languages of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Africa’s Belief Systems

Spiritualism

Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Dominant religions

Sufi Islam

Christianity

Indigenous African religions

Animism

The Origins and Impacts of Slavery

Over a period of 12 centuries, as many as 25 million people from sub-Saharan Africa were forced to become slaves

Began in the seventh century

Arab merchants using trans-Saharan camel caravan routes to exchange goods

Slave traffic

Provided motivation for European commerce along African coasts

Largest slave traffic was the European-controlled slave trade

The Origins and Impacts of Slavery (cont’d.)

Transatlantic slave trade peaked between 1700 and 1870

80% of an estimated 10 million slaves made the crossing

More than 10 million others probably died

Prized commodity in the triangular trade

Slavery has not yet died out in the region

Enslavement of children persists in West Africa

The Impacts of Colonialism

Portugal was the earliest colonial power to build an African empire

Conference of Berlin in 1884 and 1885

European powers carved up Africa

Produced underdevelopment

Nigerian “mistake of 1914”

Modern boundaries do not correspond to indigenous political or ethnic boundaries

Colonial Africa

Figure 9.14 In the 1870s, the European presence in Africa was mostly limited to several small coastal settlements. Less than half a century later, European powers controlled nearly the entire continent.

Economic Geography

Characterized by great poverty

30 of the world’s 35 poorest countries are located there

As of 2015, 11 of the world’s 20 fastest growing economies in Africa

Emerging middle class

Durable strengths and resources

Subsistence Agriculture

Famine and malnutrition

Subsistence agriculture

Commercial agriculture and marginalization

Food shortages result from cash crops

Most valuable export crops are:

Coffee, cacao, cotton, peanuts, oil palm products

International trade policies disadvantage African farmers

Mineral Resources

Notable mineral exports

Destined principally for Europe, the U.S., and China

Large multinational corporations

Controls migration within sub-Saharan Africa

Mineral Resources

Figure 9.18 Many African economies are heavily dependent upon mineral exports, especially the oil-rich countries of West Africa.

Commodities: Boom! Crash!

Dependence on primary commodity exports sustains underdevelopment

Economic shocks

Poor governance

High incidence of civil war

Manufacturing and Services

Growing steadily

More economic diversification

Potential to boost services sectors

Many English speakers

Tourism

Trade Not Aid!

Obstacles to export

Many countries have closed doors to African imports

Subsidies, high tariffs, low quotas

Export processing zones

Free trade areas

African Growth and Opportunity Act

Ended tariffs and quotas for more than 1800 items that could be exported from more than 40 African countries

Down on Debt

Western countries lent money to African nations

Great difficulties meeting interest payments

Donor democracy

Strings attached to loans to promote democratic reforms

Foreign aid is controversial

China Steps In

China’s trade with sub-Saharan Africa increased nearly 50-fold between 1999 and 2014

Infrastructure-for-mineral swap

Mining goes to Chinese, Chinese build infrastructure

Region is still hampered

53-member African Union

New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEDPAD)

Africa’s Fragile Infrastructure: The Same Old Problems

Weak infrastructures

Deficiencies in telecommunications and power supply

Unreliable and costly transportation services

Poor geographic situating of manufacturing centers

Tyranny of distance

Geographic remoteness – cut off from shipping

Geopolitical Issues

Proxy wars

Terrorism hot spots

Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Niger, Chad, Mali

Al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)

Al Shabaab

Boko Haram

Asymmetric warfare

Geopolitical Issues (cont’d.)

HIV/AIDS

Link between U.S. and Africa via air traffic routes

Potential disease-related political instability or civil wars

Regional Issues and Landscapes

Millennium development goals

Eight goals with assigned target dates

Sustainable development goals

Seventeen goals

Kanju

“The specific creativity born from African difficulty”

Best solutions are local

Geography of Cities: Urbanization in Africa’s Future

Unprecedented urbanization

Explosive growth of slums

Reliance on resource exploitation

Migrants to cities are environmental refugees

“Eko Atlantic”

Ambitious eco-city project in Lagos

The Poor, Oil-Rich Delta of Nigeria

10th largest proven reserves in the world

Home to about 12 million mostly Christian people of many ethnic groups

Very little oil revenue returns to the area

Living conditions, educational opportunities, and medical care are poor

Natives becoming more militant in defending their rights to oil revenue

Sent shockwaves through the world economy

Cuts down oil production, resulting in shortages on world markets

East Africa: No More Divisionism?

Rwanda and Burundi

Hutu (Bahutu)

Tutsi (Watusi)

Speak the same language and share a common culture; their only difference is their level of wealth

Genocide unchecked by outside influences

African Standby Force

Helps ensure stability by military force

Africa’s First World War

The Congo Basin – virtual possession of Belgium during last quarter of the 19th century

Exploited by King Leopold II (rubber, ivory, tropical products)

Formally annexed by Belgium in 1908

Took the name Zaire in 1971

Following the overthrow of the government in 1997, the country was renamed Democratic Republic of Congo

Africa’s First World War (cont’d.)

Unrest in the region led to “Africa’s First World War”

Involved 9 countries and 20 rebel movements

More than 5 million deaths

Since 1998, most fighting has been over control of areas rich in minerals

Peace has been negotiated, but war could easily break out again

The Galápagos Islands of Religion

Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity

Ethiopia has long served as an isolated refuge for unique religious groups, including Falashas (Ethiopian Jews)

Rastafarianism

Rastafari movement of the Jah People

Ethnicity, Colonialism, Strife, and Reconciliation in South Africa

Europeanized landscape

Dutch colony in 1652, transferred to Great Britain in 1806

British and Boers united in 1910, Union of South Africa

Afrikaners – majority European group

Made up of mainly Dutch descendants

Exercised exclusive political dominance over black majority

Apartheid – 1948

Mandated geographic separation of races

South Africa (cont’d.)

Black unrest became so widespread and violent by the 1980s the government declared a state of emergency

African National Congress (ANC) led by Nelson Mandela

Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) led by Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi

Apartheid ended during Nelson Mandela’s presidency (1994-1999)

Employment Equity Act

Divided South Africa

Figure 9.31 South Africa established 10 “homelands” (often called Bantustans) to segregate its native black population from whites during apartheid. These homelands, created in the 1970s, had varying levels of autonomy, and some were declared independent nations outright, though no other countries ever recognized them. The Bantustans were reintegrated into South Africa upon the end of apartheid in 1994.

Madagascar and the Theory of Island Biogeography

Theory of island biogeography

The number of species found on an individual island correlates with the island’s area, with a 10-fold increase in area normally resulting in a doubling of the number of species

Distinctive flora and fauna

Deforestation has reached 90%

Theory of island biogeography suggests that half of the island’s species have become extinct