HISTORY OF AFRICA

history of Africa

Cradle of humanity, Africa was the fish pond  many prosperous kingdoms  until the end of the Middle Ages. The countries of Africa,  conquered by Europeans  between  the xvi ^E  and  the xix ^E century, found their independence during second half of  the xx ^E century.

AFRICA IS The CRADLE OF HUMANITY

Many archaeological discoveries established that  the origin of the man is in Africa. Approximately 8 million years ago, whereas Africa is populated large monkeys, a geological upheaval makes emerge a barrier of mountains between the east and the west of the continent. To survive, the large monkeys (insulated in the east) are obliged to adapt to a drier climate and a rarer vegetation. They are raised for better seeing the danger and start to go on their two legs back: they  become biped. They is probably as were born our ancestors, in an area of Africa called the Valley Rift.

The oldest skeletons of monkeys préhumains (6,5 million years) were found in Africa. They are then  the Australopithecus, like Lucy (in Ethiopia, 3,5 million years), then the Homo  kind:  Homo habilis  then Homo erectus  and finally Homo sapiens,  150 000 years ago At the Neolithic period, of new cultures develop in north, like those of Ajjers (today in Algeria and Libya).

AFRICA DURING ANTIQUITY

It is still a climatic accident which causes a major evolution of the settlement and civilization:  the Sahara, hitherto fertile,  becomes a desert. The populations are forced to leave.

The migrations bantoues towards the south of Africa

The people living in the south of the Sahara move away little by little from the desert. They move more in the south, towards current Niger where they settle.  The tribes speaking the bantou  which live on these grounds are then forced to migrate in their turn. In a slow shift in population, they gradually descend the continent  to reach the south of Africa  (Angola, Namibia, Mozambique, South Africa, etc).

Appearance of Egyptian civilization

Since the north of the continent, the people fleeing the Sahara join  the valley of the Nile  in the east. They contribute to the rise of  the Egyptian civilization, which lasts approximately 3 000 years. All along the Nile, of Abou Simbel in Louxor and to the delta of the river, the Egyptians build temples, tombs and large pyramids dedicated to the Pharaons (in particular in Gizeh).

Successive conquests of North Africa

During Antiquity, several foreign people in the continent seek to settle in the north of Africa. 

–The populations coming from Arabia of the South settle to  O C century before J-C in Abyssinie (today Ethiopia). 
– Phéniciens  come from the Middle East melt a series of colonies, in particular in Carthage (towards 800 before J-C), at the edge of the Mediterranean. 
– The Romans  also try to conquer North Africa. But their domination is limited to the Mediterranean littoral because, towards the interior of the grounds, the legions run up against the Berber ones. 
–Lastly,  the cruel invasions  begin with the Vandals (into 429), to which are opposed Byzantins which directs the Eastern part of the Roman Empire. 

POWERFUL EMPIRES WITH THE MIDDLE AGES

The Islamization of North Africa

To the vii ^E century, the Arabs settle in North Africa and unify the area around Islam. The Moslems try to diffuse this new religion more in the south, but they run up against the Christians of Abyssinie.

Great empires of Black Africa

In Black Africa, many cities reign on an area, even on a country. Most significant of these quote-States are in Nigeria (Ife, Oyo) and with the Benign one. Then, thanks to the rise of the trade with the Islamic kingdoms of North Africa  —which are done by  caravans of dromedaries  crossing the Sahara—, of  great empires  appear in Black Africa, in the areas in edge of the desert. Between  the ix ^E  and  the xv ^E century follow one another the kingdom  of Tekrour thus,  the kingdom of Mandingues, the empire of Ghana, the empire of Mali  then the Empire songhaï  (whose principal city is Tombouctou).

These great States must face the attacks of the Moslem kingdoms, which have as an ambition to convert these populations especially practising  the religion animist  (which grants a heart to the things as with the human beings). These attacks involve the disappearance of the empire of Ghana to  the xi ^E century, whereas, for its part, the empire of Mali adopts Islam like religion. More in the east, between Niger and the lake Chad, the quote-States of Haoussa thrive (benefitting from the fall of Songhaï), just as the empire of Kanem-Bornou.

More in the south, the kingdoms bantous

More in the south of the continent (which is apart from the influence of Islam), the Middle Ages are especially marked by great shifts in population. Thus,  Peul  settle in the area of current Guinea. In center-is,  the people bantous  melt starting from  the xiv ^E century  the kingdom of Kongo  (in the estuary of the Congo river) and, in Southern Africa,  the kingdom of Monomotapa  (in current Zimbabwe).

The ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS

First counters

In 1488, the Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias reaches the course of Good-Hope (located at the extreme south of the continent). A little later Vasco de Gama skirts is of Africa.  Europeans arrive. They are besides the Portuguese who them first install small colonies ("counters ") along the coasts or the mouths of the rivers to trade with the Africans.

Trade of the slaves

At the same time, the discovery of the American continent by Europeans has dramatic consequences in Africa. Indeed, in order to exploit the territories of America, Europeans decide to take in Africa their labour: men, women and children are thus reduced to slavery.

At that time, the trade of the slaves  (called draft of the Blacks) already exists: since  the vii ^E century, the Arab kingdoms buy black slaves or seize some by wars. With the new European application, the traffic becomes extensive without precedent. Europeans find support at certain African States which help them to develop this trade.

It is estimated that, between  the xvii ^E  and  the xix ^E century, nearly 12 million slaves were taken along of force of Africa towards America, and 7 million towards the Arab countries.

An unrestrained colonization

It is necessary to await the medium of  the xix ^E century (1833 in England and 1848 in France) so that slavery is definitively removed in Europe. At this point in time Europeans start  to occupy of the territories  inside the African grounds and  to found colonies. The new objective of the colonizers is to exploit the richnesses of Africa  (forest, ores) and to create large agricultural plantations (cocoa, coffee, groundnut, etc).

The Dutchmen settle in South Africa;these colonists (called Boers) run up against the local populations, Bantous and Zoulou.  The French  colonize North Africa since 1830 (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia) and most of the west of the Black Africa, but they encounter a savage resistance, in particular that of king Behanzin in Dahomey (in the south of Benign of today).  The British  occupy is continent (Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, South Africa) as well as Nigeria and Ghana. The king of  the Belgians  has Congo;  Portuguese  Angola and Mozambique; Italy, Germany  and Spain  also have some territories.

At the end of the xix ^E century, only Ethiopia remains an independent kingdom, as well as Liberia (a small State granted to slaves freed returned from America).

DECOLONIZATION TO  The XX ^E CENTURY

Impact of the two world wars

In first half of  the xx ^E century, the two world wars change the situation in the colonies of Africa. The African soldiers  took part in the combat  of  the First World War  (1914-1918) for their metropolises (for example, Senegalese riflemen come to help France); this is why the Africans  hope for a recognition  on behalf of the colonizing countries: to grant to the Blacks the voting rights, or to allow the election of black deputies to the French National Assembly. But their waitings are disappointed.

Again, during  the Second World war  (1939-1945), whereas France is occupied by Germany,  North Africa gives its support for the French Resistance  directed by General de Gaulle from London. In return, promises of autonomy or independence are made with the French colonies, but the things evolve/move little.

The independence of the African States

The shortly after the Second World war, independence movements multiply in the colonies of Africa. The French government chooses to repress them hard, as in Sétif in Algeria (in 1945) or in Madagascar (in 1949). The situation is particularly delicate in North Africa. If Morocco and Tunisia obtain their independence without too much violence (in 1956 and 1957), Algeria  is released only after one long and fatal  war of decolonization  (1954-1962). Lastly, in 1960, thanks to the action of great men (like  Léopold Sédar Senghor  in Senegal,  Sékou Touré  in Guinea or  Felix Houphouët-Boigny  in Côte.d'ivoire), the countries of French Black Africa obtain their independence, just as the Belgian possessions (Belgian Congo).

British colony, Ghana reaches independence in 1957. It is the first colony of Black Africa to find its freedom. The other British colonies obtain their independence at the beginning of the years 1960. It should be waited until 1974-1975 so that the Portuguese leave their colonies.

In 1980, Rhodesia directed by the white minority becomes Zimbabwe, where the capacity from now on is exerted by the Blacks. In South Africa also, the capacity is transferred from the minority White to the majority Blacks in 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela  to the presidency of the Republic.

AFRICA Today

Today, of many conflicts take place between the various African States or inside even of the countries. They are  conflicts between ethnos groups, like that which opposed Nigeria to the freedom fighters of the area of Biafra (1967-1970), or that which opposed, in Rwanda, Hutu in Tutsi (1994) and caused the death of at least 500 000 people. They are also  religious conflicts  as in Algeria where a civil war against the islamists was held of 1992 to 1999.

Among the other major problems of the African continent that of health appears. Most of the population is reached  AIDS  and  the famine  returns regularly to Ethiopia, Somalia and to Sudan.

TO GO FURTHER

? Africa

? old Egypt
? Egyptian pyramids
? medieval Islam
? colonizing Europe to  the xix ^E century
? the First World War
? the Second World war
? decolonization
? the war of Algeria

? Dogon
? Massaïs
? Touareg

 ©  2013    www.amanitheophile.blogspot.com. All rights reserved.

HISTORY OF AMERICA

history of America

The history of America can be divided into three great periods: the continent  before its discovery by Christophe Colomb  (one speaks about civilizations précolombiennes); the continent for  the colonial period of Europeans; finally, the continent  since the independence  of the States to  the xix ^E century.

AMERICA PRÉCOLOMBIENNE

A relatively late settlement

The settlement of America is rather recent, in comparison with that of the other continents. It is probable that the first men  from Asia  70 000 years ago, while crossing to foot the cold Bering Strait (in the north of the continent). Towards the end of the VIII ^E thousand-year-old before J-C, agriculture makes its appearance. The first prehistoric companies develop starting from the II ^E thousand-year-old before J-C, in particular in the south-west of the current United States (like Pueblo), then in Mexico (Olmèques, Zapotèques, etc).

Great civilizations précolombiennes

It is starting from the III ^E century after J-C, and more still starting from  X ^E century, than are born  great civilizations  known as  précolombiennes  (i.e. before the arrival of Christophe Colomb):  Mayas,  Toltèques,  the Aztec ones  and  Incas. The three first are primarily in Central America; Incas for their part are installed in the Andes cordillera (in South America). Drawing their power from agriculture and equipped with political and religious structures developed, these civilizations with their way founded each one of great empires. The archaeological traces that they left are significant: Palenque, Tikal and Chichén Itzá (quoted Maya), Assemble Albán (quoted zapotèque) or Machu Picchu (quoted INCA).

As brilliance as that is to say their art, these civilizations précolombiennes appear fragile, of technical training and a genuine metallurgy. They do not resist the attacks of Europeans who unload on the continent starting from  the xvi ^E century.

THE DISCOVERY OF THE "NEW WORLD"

Today, there is not any more a doubt that  ships Vikings, ordered by the Scandinavians Erik the Red and Leif Eriksson (his son), reached the coasts of America with  X ^E century. However, the capital date remains that of  the voyage of Christophe Colomb  in 1492, because this one opens the period of European colonization. On board three caravels, Christophe Colomb, with the service of Spain, accosts on  October 12 the 1492  shores of the islands of the Bahamas (or San El Salvador), before discovering Cuba, Haiti and Saint-Domingue. The navigator accomplishes then two other voyages, believing to have joined Asia, from where the name of Indians whom it gives to the inhabitants of the New World (one speaks today about Amérindiens).

To its continuation, other European navigators launch out in the adventure. In 1497,  Jean Cabot  discovers the coasts of Canada. Three years later,  Pedro Alvarez Cabral  reaches Brazil. In 1513,  Vasco Núñez de Balboa  crosses the isthmus of Panamá and sees the Pacific Ocean. In 1520,  Fernand of Magellan  crosses the strait which carries since its name, in the extreme south of America. Lastly, between 1534 and 1541,  Jacques Cartier  explores the coasts of North America on behalf of the king François I ^er  of France.

EUROPEAN COLONIZATION

In 1507, the New World is baptized "America", in homage to the explorer Amerigo Vespucci who, the first, spoke about these new grounds like new continent. America then gives birth to covetousness from the European powers. Since 1493, the pope distributes the future grounds to be discovered between the Spaniards and the Portuguese, starting from an artificial line traced in the Atlantic Ocean and dividing the world into two parts;  the treaty of Tordesillas, signed the following year by Spain and Portugal, is strongly disputed by the other European countries, in particular by England and France.

Spanish Empire

Spain launches out the first in the conquest of America. In 1519,  Hernán Cortés  unloads in Mexico. With a hundred soldiers, the conquistadors, the weather  seizes the Aztec Empire  in less than two years, being captive the last emperor, Moctezuma II A little later between 1532 and 1533,  Francisco Pizarro  conquers the INCA Empire, in Peru.

On all the continent, thanks to their weapons with fire and their horses, a handle of Spanish adventurers come to end from resistance from Amérindiens. In a few years, the Spanish territories in America become  a colonial empire very well organized, directed by senior officials come from the court of Spain.  The gold mines, and more still  the mines of money  of Peru, feed the treasure of the Spanish Crown regularly.

The exploitation of the richnesses of the continent requires a significant labour: Amérindiens are then reduced in slavery. Made indignant by this practice, missionnaire Bartolomé de Las Put obtains in 1542 of king d' Espagne an improvement of their fate… which leads however to the development of  the traffic of black slaves of Africa.

Gradually, the Spaniards build cities, where a Baroque architecture  specific  develops to the continent (in particular in the churches). Many catholic priests, in particular the Jesuits, try  to convert Amérindiens  with their religion.

Portuguese Empire

The Portuguese colonize for their part  Brazil  since 1500. At the end of  the xvii ^E century, the discovery of great  quantities of gold  reinforces the role of the American colony within the vast Portuguese empire. In spite of the treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, the quarrels of borders between Portuguese and Spanish possessions in America are regulated definitively only in second half of  the xviii ^E century.

The Empires British and French

As of the xvi ^E century, the French take possession of part of Canada ( News-France) and the Antilles. Thus,  Samuel Champlain  melts the town of Quebec in 1608. In 1682,  Cavelier of the Room  reaches the mouth of Mississippi (today in the United States) and calls this area  Louisiana, in homage to the king Louis XIV.

Following the political struggles and chocolate éclairs which tear England to  the xvii ^E century, several religious minorities are expatrient in America with the hope to found a city or a colony. Thus, arriving on the East coast  on board  Mayflower  in 1620,  the Fathers Pilgrims  melt in Massachusetts  the first permanent colony in America. A little later the British repurchase with the Dutchmen the peninsula of Manhattan and melt the town of New York  there. Enough quickly,  thirteen British colonies  is established on the East coast of North America.

At the end of the xvii ^E century, British and French dispute the control of the trade of the furs and clash during fatal conflicts, each one being pressed on tribes amérindiennes. This long continuation of battles is completed by  the British victory  with the Plains of Abraham and by the catch of Quebec (1759). The treaty of Paris, signed in 1763, only leaves in France Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon and of the islands in the Antilles. But this victory was expensive Britanniques who increases the taxes and the customs duties in their American colonies.

The ACCESSION OF The CONTINENT To INDEPENDENCE

The creation of the United States

The increase in the British taxes causes a revolt of the American colonists. They elect a continental Congress, adopt  a declaration of Independence of the United States of America  (on July 4, 1776) and name George Washington ordering as a head of their armies. The colonists oblige the British to capitulate in Yorktown, and in 1783, at the end of the war of American Independence, Great Britain must recognize the independence of the United States.

Wars of independence of South America

This victory of the colonists of the north of the continent has a great repercussion in South America, where the hope to release itself from the Spaniards and the Portuguese animates also the Creoles (Spaniard descendants born in America). The weakening of Spain (allied of France at the time of the wars napoléoniennes) gives to the Creoles the signal of the revolt. The government of Madrid does not have any more the means of sending troops to restore the order.

Between 1808 and 1826,  wars of liberation  are carried out on all the territory of South America  by large revolutionists: Vénézuélien  Simón Bolívar  (called  el Libertador, "the Liberator") releases Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru;it is also at the origin of the creation of Bolivia; Argentinian  José de San Martín  and Vénézuélien  Antonio José de Sucre  take part in the release of the Latin America, in particular of Chile and Peru. For its part, Brazil releases itself peacefully from the supervision of the Portuguese in 1822.

Thus at the beginning of the xix ^E century, the American continent is disengaged overall from the influence of Europe; there still remain nothing any more but some States under European supervision, as British Canada (which starts its process of autonomy in 1867).

THE AMERICAN CONTINENT SINCE ITS INDEPENDENCE

Birth of the power of the United States

Throughout xix ^E century, the United States does not cease developing. They enter in  war against Mexico  (1846-1848) to conquer frontier territories (Texas, New Mexico and California). They launch out to  the conquest of the territories of the West, destroying and  massacring many tribes amérindiennes. Seriously touched by  the American Civil War  (1861-1865)  —which is completed by the victory of North over the South favorable to slavery—, the United States  abolishes slavery  during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln.

In same time, the country starts to impose its capacity. The United States repurchases Alaska  in Russia (in 1867), seize the Spanish territories of  Puerto Rico  (1898) and  the Philippines  (1898), obtain the concession of a ground in  Panamá —in order to build a channel connecting the Atlantic Oceans and the Pacific. They send their soldiers in America everywhere where their interests must be defended. They thus occupy during the first decades of  the xx ^E century  Nicaragua,  Haiti,  the Dominican Republic  and control the island of  Cuba.

Political and economic difficulties in South America

In many countries of South America, the army plays a significant role and  authoritative  dictatorships or modes are with the capacity since their independence: to  Mexico, Porfirio Díaz directs to three recoveries the country between the end of  the xix ^E  and the beginning of  the xx ^E century; in  Brazil, Getúlio Vargas controls by twice between the years 1930-1950; in  Argentina, Juan Perón asserts itself twice during years 1940-1970; in  Uruguay, Alfredo Stroessner directs the country of the medium of  the xx ^E century at the end of the years 1980.

To this absence of democracy is often added  economic  misery: the populations amérindiennes are put at the variation and the ground belongs to very great landowners. One often practises  monoculture  (only one culture), to sell the production in Europe, without taking account of the needs for the population: culture of  the coffee  in Brazil and in Colombia, of  sugar  in Cuba,  bananas  in the countries of Central America. The question of the land reform is in the heart of the political problems of these countries.

As from the years 1960,  guerrillas  ignite many countries of Latin America, where the population claims a better distribution of the grounds. The first guerrilla sees the victory of the guérilleros of  Fidel Castro, who founds in 1959  a dictatorship in Cuba. In  Chile, the government of El Salvador Allende (elected democratically) is reversed in 1973 by  the coup d'etat of the Pinochet General, who imposes a dictatorial régime as of the following year.

Relations between American States

Created in 1948, the Organization of the American States (the OAS) aims at an economic co-operation and a policy of common defense of the Member States located on the continent. However, in spite of the creation of the OAS and the installation of a Common Market, the Latin America always knows problems of development. A many countries must accept the assistance of international organizations, whose measurements dissatisfy the local populations. In 2002, the election with the presidency of Brazil of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula (in favour of a universalization more favorable to the poor countries) raised much hope in South America.

TO GO FURTHER

? America

On America précolombienne: 
? Olmèques
? Mayas
? Toltèques
? the Aztec ones
? Incas

On the discovery of the New World: 
? great explorations to  the xv ^E  and  xvi ^E centuries
? to be a pioneer of the New World
? News-France

On the recent history: 
? the war of American Independence
? the American Civil War
? the First World War
? the Second World war
? the cold war
? the war of Viêt Nam

? Inuit
? characters:  Christophe Colomb –Jacques Cartier –Hernán Cortés –Samuel de Champlain –George Washington –Davy Crockett –Simón Bolívar –Abraham Lincoln –Woodrow Wilson –Al Capone –Franklin Delano Roosevelt –Che Guevara –John Fitzgerald Kennedy –Martin Luther King

©  2013 " www.amanitheophile.blogspot.com ".  All rights reserved.