Central African civilization (Black Africa)- a cultural and historical region located south of the Sahara. Black Africa is the first cradle of humanity, which does not have centuries-old written traditions, is experiencing a complex process of formation of civilizational identity and is characterized by high conflict. The colonization of Black Africa destroyed the existing multidimensional space, including social, economic, trade and other communications. During the process of decolonization, the ideas of Pan-African ideology and “Afrosocialism” became widespread. Political institutions, imported from Europe and inorganic to the local soil, could not ensure the modernization of Black Africa. Military coups and civil wars became especially destructive for the young statehood. Attempts at a federal structure have failed, with the exception of South Africa. The largest federal state, Nigeria, is not stable and occupies one of the leading places in the world in terms of government corruption.
The languages of statehood and interethnic communication in Tropical Africa are English, French, Portuguese and other European “colonial” languages.
The problems of Tropical Africa are discussed in the article. In most countries in the region, communities and clans remain the basis of society, and kinship and ethnic interests dominate over social ones. The role of the traditional elite is played by rulers and leaders, and the new elite is formed on the basis of social groups that received European education and adopted Western culture. The new elite is represented primarily by bureaucrats and politicians, rather than by the industrial aristocracy. In Africa, the “enlighteners” who proposed using European traditions instead of local African ones and creating a “Black Europe” were defeated. Supporters of “cultural nationalism” advocate the preservation of distinctive African culture. The ideology of local nationalism is the concept of Pan-Africanism, uniting the peoples of the Negroid race that survived colonialism and the slave trade.
Christianity dominates among the new African elite, while Islam is gaining ground among the poor masses. If in the past, Christianity was associated with colonialists, now it is as a conductor of globalization, increasing the marginalization of African society.
More than 600 million people live in Black Africa, of which 80% are rural. In contrast to other regions of the world, with the exception of Eastern Europe, the number of people living below the poverty line is growing (46% of the population). Most countries have huge external debt, and industrial exports account for only 0.1% of the world.
Neoliberal globalization led to the change of several authoritarian regimes, but at the same time weakened the fragile foundations of statehood and social relations and increased the international criminalization of the economy (drugs, arms trafficking). A large number of unrooted urban residents, formed as a result of mass migration from the African countryside, becomes an important environment for the development of Islamic fundamentalism.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the geopolitical situation in Africa changed. Even in the recent past, especially Black Africa was divided between the superpowers into zones of influence. The USSR provided military and economic assistance to local regimes in the construction of “socialism.” Moreover, determining the political orientation of African countries was elementary simple. When students had difficulty with this issue in geography exams, the author recommended taking a closer look at the economic map of the continent. Countries poor in mineral resources and with poorly developed economies, as a rule, “built” socialism. And, conversely, countries with relatively developed economies and rich natural resources followed the path of capitalism. When the confrontation between the two political and economic ended, the relative stability on the African continent was disrupted. If previously superpowers provided significant and often free assistance for political orientation, which corrupted local authorities, now this is no longer necessary.
A dramatic socio-economic situation has developed in Black Africa. Bloody civil strife is observed at the borders of the influence of Islam and other faiths. Many local politicians claim that life under colonialism was many times better than it is today. For example, in Zaire, where before the declaration of independence in 1960, 140 thousand km operated. paved roads, only 15 thousand km survived. Factories have been destroyed in Angola, Somalia and other countries. Most citizens of African countries are disillusioned with the abilities and integrity of the national elite and do not trust political leaders.
In most countries of Black Africa, the gross national product is declining every year, there is a shortage of food, and international humanitarian aid is being stolen. Local national models of social development turned out to be untenable. Politicians who came to power on the wave of democracy on the principle of “rags to riches” have compromised the national path of revival and are quickly losing authority and trust. Many "democratic" leaders turned out to be incompetent and corrupt.
The social marginalization of Black Africa, which is experiencing the most acute social crisis in history, is increasing. As a result of the national liberation movement, anti-colonial neo-traditionalism was formed, based on egocentrism (negative attitude towards the West) and the intrinsic value of the African model of “spiritual harmony of civilization without machines.” The ineffectiveness of yet another appeal to traditional values, which have already twice demonstrated their weakness in clashes with the outside world, is revealed. The inability of Africans to integrate world achievements by revitalizing traditional values by borrowing from outside or turning to science is noted. This path, which showed progress in the Asia-Pacific region, turned out to be unacceptable in Africa, where psychology is at a medieval level and scientists are hated.
The above examples deny the existence of universal development strategies. Economic liberalization in developing countries does not always lead to the desired results. The gap between North and South, Center and Periphery of the world capitalist economy is growing. “Shock therapy” became a “lost decade” for many countries in Latin America and Africa. It became obvious that it is necessary not only to take into account the functions of place and social time, but also the unpreparedness of local elites for positive transformations.
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The discovery of rich deposits of copper and polymetallic ores in South Africa at the end of the 19th century stimulated the influx of English capital. As a result, Northern Rhodesia from 1924 to 1953 became a colonial possession. “The British South African Company, which received from London a monopoly right to develop a vast territory from the origins of the Congo to the Zambezi, developed the mining industry, built cities, railways and roads. Thanks to white settlers from Europe, the colony developed successfully and efficient agricultural farms were created. But since the beginning of the decolonization process, the situation has changed dramatically.
In Black Africa there is a world pole of poverty and misery. Every year the gross national product decreases, the level and quality of life falls, corruption grows, and countries cannot exist without foreign loans and humanitarian aid. Local models of social development have failed, and “life-changing” economic revitalization programs imitate business activity. Politicians who came to power on the wave of democracy quickly lose authority and trust. Many “democratic” leaders have proven themselves to be not only incompetent, but also corrupt on an impressive scale.
Black Africa has become the epicenter of conflicts on the continent and in the world. In West Africa, military coups and civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia led to complete economic collapse. In East Africa, hotbeds of conflict constantly arise in the countries of the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia).
Liberia(“Land of the Free”) was founded in 1847 by free descendants of African slaves who returned from the United States to their historical homeland. Therefore, historically trusting interstate Liberian-American relations have developed. In the early 80s, Liberia was a prosperous African country where offshore business flourished and the Liberian flag was one of the most convenient for foreign shipowners. In the nineties, civil war in Liberia and Sierra Leone plunged the countries into absolute chaos. African Americans, united by the local Masonic lodge, kept local blacks as semi-slaves for more than a century, so during the civil war, American-Liberians fled the country. Liberia has become one of the poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa (life is worse only in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe).
Armed struggle in Angola(18.5 million inhabitants) has been going on since independence since the 60s. Local groups have long been supported on the one hand by the USSR and Cuba, and on the other by the United States. During the civil war, which lasted 27 years, more than 2 million people died, 8 million lost their homes or became refugees. There are over 3 million disabled people in the country who were blown up by anti-personnel mines. The country has emerged from a bloody confrontation with a destroyed economy.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo(formerly Belgian Congo), after independence, ethnic conflicts and civil war began in the most mineral-rich province of Katanga, and then in the eastern provinces. The country became the epicenter of the First African World War, including the First and Second Congo Wars. According to Forbes magazine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the most dangerous countries to visit in the world, along with Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. But this does not stop Russian amateur tourists from visiting the eastern provinces with permanent conflicts.
Located on the border with Rwanda, the “capital” of the Congolese province of North Kivu, Goma, is today considered a relatively safe city compared to the turbulent 90s. Because people kill and rape here mostly at night. Despite the curfew and UN peacekeepers stationed in buildings surrounded by barbed wire. There is terrible poverty and unsanitary conditions all around. It was in Goma that the Second Congolese or Great African War began in 1998.
As a result of the Western-provoked civil war in Black Africa between the African Tutsi and Hutu tribes, power in Rwanda the American protege Paul Kagame, an ethnic Tutsi, came. In Rouen, the French-backed Hutu tribes made up 85% of the country's population, while the US-backed Tutsis were in the minority (15%). In 1994, the plane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down and the balance of power changed. Naturally, the American intelligence services had nothing to do with this. The Hutu tribes considered themselves victims and began to destroy the Tutsu using improvised means - machetes and hoes. About one million African lives were paid for American-style democracy with the inaction of UN peacekeeping forces. 2 million Hutus fled Rwanda. And along with the established cannibalistic democracy, Washington gained access to rich deposits of cobalt, necessary for the US military-industrial complex. The grateful American stooge supported the uprising of his fellow tribesmen in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. Local Tutsis have opposed China's development of a rich copper deposit in one of the Congolese provinces.
If you today enter the capital of Rwanda - Kigali - from the territory of the Congo or Kenya, then after the broken roads and dirt you will be amazed by the European appearance of the city with the central streets safe for walking. We can say that this is not typical for Central African countries. Moreover, in the 90s, Rwanda was the epicenter of the bloodiest interethnic African conflict, which is reminiscent of the memorial and museum dedicated to the genocide. Auschwitz rests in front of primitive technologies for the extermination of a million people.
Rich in natural resources Mozambique(coal, titanium, natural gas, hydropower) after declaring independence in 1975 and choosing a socialist path of development, civil war broke out and the country became one of the poorest in the world.
“Brothers of the Slavs” visiting the states of Black Africa are surprised to discover many similarities with their native fatherland.
IN Equatorial Guinea power and business belong to the "family" of the Nguemo dynasty. This African country, like Russia, is rich in oil and kleptocracy (elites with an irresistible desire to embezzle). Key positions in politics and business are occupied by relatives, wives, children, and mistresses. The local dictator has ruled the country since 1970, Forbes estimates his modest fortune at only one billion dollars with oil exports worth 13 billion. Since the head of state won the last uncontested “democratic” elections, the United States considers him the right dictator and welcomes him to the White House. The dictator's son was seen wanting to buy a luxury yacht worth several hundred thousand dollars, just like the one owned by the outstanding Russian businessman Roma Abramovich. In terms of GDP (at the exchange rate) per capita of about $16 thousand or in terms of GDP (at purchasing power parity) $32 thousand, the country is the leader in Black Africa. This indicator reflects the “average hospital temperature”, since 70% of the population lives below the poverty line (less than $2 a day).
The next country in Black Africa that is close in terms of living standards to democratic Russia is Gabon (not to be confused with the priest Gapon). Both countries, where per capita GDP at the exchange rate is approximately $15 thousand, live off the “oil” needle. The ruling party in Gabon resembles the infallible and honest United Russia, but thanks to the rampant African democracy, each tribe is allowed to have its own parties. The possibility of them coming to power is approaching absolute zero. The country was ruled by a dictator for four decades, and after his death his son became president. As is known in Russia, power belongs to the immortal and permanent Kremlin tandem.
World record holders for independent poverty. The results of the geopolitical transformation of Black Africa are especially clearly demonstrated by two former British colonies. In 1953 – 1963 There was a Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and in 1964 the independence of Northern Rhodesia was proclaimed, which became known as a republic Zambia. The independent country proclaimed the construction of anti-capitalist “Zambian humanism”. Government regulation increased, and the copper industry, which was strategic for the economy, was nationalized. Whites were expelled from the country and their places as managers and farmers were taken by nationalists - comrades in the party in power. Economic degradation, unemployment, and food shortages began. And independent Zambia, rich in natural resources, thanks to independent patriots, turned into one of the poorest countries in the world.
Zimbabwe(formerly the British colony of Southern Rhodesia) was also one of the most developed countries in Africa before gaining independence. And then local nationalist patriots came to power. They drove away white citizens of a non-titular nation (approximately 270 thousand), including farmers and specialists, and sank the country to record depths. A world record for inflation (200,000,000%) of the independent currency against the US dollar was set. The state treasury was empty, and the corrupt party in power began smuggling diamonds.
In 2009, the government was forced to stop using the local currency and switch to American dollars and South African rands. Therefore, local bills of 10 - 100 trillion have become the main souvenir for foreign tourists who come to admire Victoria Falls. Zimbabwe is gradually recovering from the crisis with the help of mainly Chinese loans - infrastructure is being developed and hotels are being built. But compared to neighboring Botswana and especially South Africa, Zimbabwe remains one of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, despite the relatively high literacy rate of the population (over 90%).
Nigeria. The shine and poverty of black gold. Nigeria was considered one of the richest countries in West Africa several decades ago. But having become hooked on the oil needle, the country quickly degraded. The political elite and officials, the army and the police are corrupt. There is a chronic lack of money for medicine, education, culture and science. Unemployed and illiterate young citizens join the army of militants, and foreign companies import specialists for oil production. Perhaps this Nigerian model serves as a guiding light for the Russian party in power. In terms of GDP per capita, oil-rich Nigeria ranks 13th in sub-Saharan Africa and 177th in the world. Periodic military coups bring new marauders to power. A dangerous stratification of society has occurred into a handful of super rich and a poor population (over 80%).
Nigerian oil generates over 90% of foreign exchange earnings and provides 80% of government budget revenues. During the years of political stability, tourism provided an additional $10 billion in income per year. There is a shortage of professional national managers in the country. Despite the reforms carried out in recent years (privatization of the largest oil refinery and the introduction of free prices for gasoline), there are no tangible positive results yet.
Nigeria, ranked seventh in the world in the production of “black gold,” has become one of the poorest countries in the world. Enormous revenues from oil exports are appropriated by a small group of "elite in law", including members of the government and other corrupt officials. Intercommunal clashes on social and religious grounds between Christians and Muslims have been going on for several years. There are attacks on oil fields, and large-scale theft of oil from pipelines is rampant.
As a result of the barbaric exploitation of oil fields, the Niger Delta is on the verge of an environmental disaster. Contaminated soils are taken out of agricultural use, drinking water is contaminated, fish are poisoned, and diseases are widespread. Rebel detachments (in common parlance, bandits) rule here. Militants of the anti-government organization “Movement for the Liberation of the Niger Delta” are fighting against foreign transnational corporations (Shell, ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, etc.), and in order to feed themselves they capture foreign specialists as hostages.
Unauthorized seizure and theft of petroleum products from pipelines is reaching large scales. There is a great danger of civil war in the country between Muslims and Christians. Prominent members of the local national "elite in law" live in "haciendas" lined with marble, decorated with gilding and surrounded by barbed wire and walls with machine-gun nests. Whole families often live nearby in cardboard boxes. Executive class cars rush along broken roads.
Conclusions. Central African civilization is undergoing a complex process of formation of self-awareness and is characterized by high levels of conflict. The colonization of Black Africa destroyed the existing multidimensional space, including social, economic, trade and other communications. During the process of decolonization, the ideas of Pan-African ideology and “Afrosocialism” became widespread. In Africa, the “enlighteners” who proposed using European traditions instead of local African ones and creating a “Black Europe” were defeated.
The new African elite is represented primarily by bureaucrats and politicians rather than by industrial aristocracy. Christianity dominates among this elite, while Islam is gaining ground among the poor masses. If in the past, Christianity was associated with colonialists, now it is as a conductor of globalization, increasing the marginalization of African society.
Neoliberal globalization led to the change of several authoritarian regimes in Sub-Saharan Africa, but at the same time weakened the fragile foundations of statehood and social relations and increased the international criminalization of the economy (drugs, arms trafficking). Poor Africans are becoming an important environment for the development of Islamic fundamentalism.
Food for thought. When the “brothers Slavs” from the democratic states of Eastern Europe visit the independent states of the countries of Black Africa, they pay attention not only to the local exoticism, but note many similarities with the processes taking place in the post-Soviet space (deindustrialization, demoralization, deintellectualization of public life). True, Black Africa, thanks to home-grown nationalists, has already taken its rightful place on the world periphery, and Russia and Ukraine are persistently and consistently striving there. When you watch television programs from sub-Saharan African countries, they often resemble programs from Russian pro-Kremlin channels. In both cases there is glorification of the vigorous activity of local tribal “democratic” leaders, replaced by songs and dances of primitive local show business, which performs the important function of dulling the electorate. Most of the newly independent states of the post-Soviet space successfully compete with Black Africa in terms of basic macroeconomic indicators, corruption and poverty of the population. Where “democratic” bais and khans rule, having created a “family business” that is maddened by fat.
Some newly independent states from the post-Soviet space successfully compete with Black Africa in terms of basic macroeconomic indicators, corruption and poverty of the population. Fraternization with Black Africa occurs thanks to successful deindustrialization, professional incompetence and corruption of nationalists and comrades in the party in power. In terms of the level of corruption and poverty of the population, Russia, Ukraine and most other post-Soviet states confidently compete with Black Africa. The oligarchic model of democracy in Russia and the nationalist model in Ukraine have turned out to be untenable, and “life-changing” economic revival programs imitate business activity. In both cases, politicians who came to power on the wave of democracy are quickly losing authority and trust. Many “democratic” leaders turned out to be not only incompetent, but also corrupt on a scale that impressed the West.
Russia is gradually but surely losing its status as a great power. But if the modernization of corruption is successfully carried out, the Moscow Kremlin can align its ranks with African Nigeria. There is much in common between democratic Russia and no less democratic Nigeria:
- Both countries are excessively oil rich, making true modernization impossible. State budgets depend on the price of exported oil.
- Both there are corrupt political elites and officials.
- Federal powers. In Russia there are 200 nationalities, in Nigeria there are more than 250 aboriginal peoples and nationalities. Islam is professed by 50.4% of the population, 48.2% are Christians.
- Both countries still have approximately the same demographic power. The population of Russia is 143 million, and the population of Nigeria is 152 million people (2010). But in Nigeria the population is growing, while in Russia it is declining.
- Many “democratic” leaders turned out to be not only incompetent marauding managers, but also corrupt on an especially large scale.
- In Nigeria, the local “elite in law” is already taking up arms against the poor people. In Russia, opponents of the corrupt party in power predict the Nigerian scenario in the coming decades.
Black Africa and post-Soviet states are leaders in business using public resources, corruption in the global sex industry - the sale of women. According to Canadian journalist Victor Malarek (author of the book “Natashas for Sale”), half a million women from Russia “work” in the sex industry abroad.
Black Africa sends special warm greetings to the Ukrainian independent patriots who have relegated the country to the global periphery. Ukraine's GDP (PPP) is more than half that of the African states of South Africa and Botswana. The fraternization of Ukraine with Black Africa occurs thanks to successful deindustrialization, professional incompetence and corruption of nationalists and comrades in the party in power. All this inspires optimism that, despite the failures of European integration, the true fraternization of independent Ukraine with Black Africa will be completed in the next decade.
American Angel of Chaos on the African Continent
Red Africa. "Bloodthirsty" neo-colonialism of China
The hot edges of the Sahara
Horn of Africa. Geopolitical confrontation
Black Africa. The world pole of self-inflicted poverty and misery
Black Africa meets ancient Mexico
Supporters of long-standing pre-Columbian contacts between the black inhabitants of the African continent and America especially often turn to Mexico in their hypothetical constructions. True, the number of scientists who defend the idea of this kind of contacts remains insignificant to this day. This can be explained as follows. First, as already stated, the study of the pre-colonial past of African peoples has only just begun; Many, even fundamental, problems remain very far from a final solution. Secondly, there is a widespread belief in scientific circles that the inhabitants of the Dark Continent, who lived south of the Sahara, have always been land people, unable to make long ocean voyages. And finally, thirdly, one should not discount the Eurocentric views still popular in the historical science of Western countries, according to which black tribes and peoples are not naturally given to be skilled sailors and builders of prosperous states.
Scientists provide various evidence for the existence of long-standing transatlantic ties between the two continents.
This includes data from botanical science - plants characteristic of one region and found in another (cotton, gourd, tobacco, maize, etc.), and materials from physical anthropology, from which it follows that the skeletons of American Indians of the pre-Hispanic era were found Negroid features. There is also talk about works of ancient Mexican art depicting people with a clearly Negroid type of face. Finally, the last thing that justifies the emergence of hypotheses about the penetration of Africans into the New World in pre-Columbian times is evidence from written sources about the distant voyages of black fleets into the blue expanses of the Atlantic. Moreover, it is believed that intensive Mexican-African contacts began during the era of the Olmec culture (1500–1000 BC) and continued until the 14th century.
Without being able to analyze in detail all the hypotheses of this kind existing in science, I will dwell only on some of them, the most significant and original.
The first person to fully open the African theme when considering the problem of pre-Columbian connections between the Old and New Worlds was professor-philologist from Harvard University (USA) L. Wiener. In 1920–1923, he published a solid three-volume book, “Africa and the Discovery of America,” where he tried, based on evidence from ancient written sources, to prove the existence of a continuous and long-term influence of the Dark Continent on the origin and development of pre-Columbian cultures of the American Indians.
Later, in 1930, the Frenchman J. Cuvier argued in his book “Berbers in America” that the inhabitants of this North African region crossed the Atlantic more than once and had a noticeable influence on the aborigines of the New World. Proof of this was the “coincidence” in the names of peoples and places: for example, the Lipi tribes from Bolivia and the ancient Libyans; brain from the Sahara and American muskogee, moki, mosquito, mojo, midge, etc.
For his part, the American R. Harris (1936) argued that the geographical names in the area of the Gulf Coast and the Antilles completely coincide with the North African ones. However, these linguistic manipulations are not scientific. The languages of the ancient Indians are absolutely not similar in grammatical structure and vocabulary to either Indo-European or African. These are completely different language groups, and by snatching random sound equivalents, would-be theorists commit a gross methodological error, which, naturally, entails false conclusions.
Currently, the most active preacher of L. Wiener’s somewhat adjusted views is a certain L. Clegg. Citing impeccable, in his words, facts from anthropology, archeology, folklore and art history, he argues that Negroid groups of settlers came to the New World in ancient times: not only before the Europeans, but also long before the Mongoloids - the recognized forefathers of the Indian population of America . For Clegg, even Australoids - dark-skinned people with thick hair - are just a variant of African Negroids. He further states that the Olmec civilization—the first vibrant and highly developed culture of pre-Columbian Mexico—was created solely by newcomers from Sub-Saharan Africa.
Particularly often used to prove transoceanic contacts between America and Africa are some ancient Mexican sculptures depicting people with clearly African features (giant stone heads belonging to the Olmec culture on the Gulf Coast; clay figurines and stone sculptures of the Nahua Indians, Zapotecs, Totonacs, Mayans, etc. Central and Southern Mexico).
In 1869, a small note signed by X. M. Melgar appeared in the Bulletin of the Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics. Its author, an engineer by profession, claimed that in 1862 he was lucky enough to discover near the village of Tres Zapotes (Veracruz state) on a sugar cane plantation an amazing stone sculpture, unlike all known so far - the head of an African. The note was accompanied by a fairly accurate drawing of the statue itself. And already in 1871, Melgar announced, referring to the “clearly Ethiopian” appearance of the sculpture he discovered: “I am absolutely convinced that blacks have visited these parts more than once and this happened in the first era from the creation of the world.” It must be said that such a statement was absolutely groundless, but it fully corresponded to the general spirit of the then dominant theories in science, which explained any achievement of the American Indians by cultural influences from the Old World.
Giant stone heads in helmets, carved from blocks of basalt, were subsequently found repeatedly in various areas of the southern Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco (Gulf Coast). As it turned out, all of them (11 are now known) belong to the ancient Olmec culture, which, according to some scientists, flourished in the 1st millennium BC. e. (800–400 BC), according to others - in the 13th–10th centuries BC. e. After carefully studying them, it was found that these stone sculptures depict the heads of people of the Mongoloid race. Africans tend to be long-headed people with a strongly projecting lower face, and Olmec sculptures feature round heads of the Mongoloid type.
In the swampy jungles of Southern Mexico, you can still find purebred Indians, exactly like the ancient sculptures of the Olmecs.
Another frequently encountered argument in favor of the existence of pre-Columbian voyages of Africans to Central America is the figures of dark-skinned people painted on clay vessels of the ancient Mayans. But the drawings clearly show that people are depicted during the performance of some religious rituals and only their faces and some parts of the body are painted.
Black was considered a sacred and ominous color by the Mayans. Priests usually painted themselves to participate in human sacrifices. Mayan artists used the same paint to depict the gods of thunderstorms, war and death.
In 1961, two speleologists from the United States discovered a strange stone sculpture of a Negroid man in the depths of the Loltun cave on the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico). Some idle heads immediately declared this to be reliable evidence of the presence of blacks in the country of the ancient Mayans. Long-forgotten lines from Mayan manuscripts about the arrival from the east, from the sea, of ferocious black people - eaters of human flesh - were also brought to light. However, experts immediately rejected these absurd speculations, convincingly proving that the Mayan chronicles spoke of one of the raids on Yucatan by the cannibal Caribs - the warlike inhabitants of the Antilles.
Sometimes, guided by the desire to prove the presence of significant cultural achievements among the ancient population of Tropical Africa, modern authors allow obvious exaggerations in their conclusions. Thus, G. Lawrence in the article “African Discoverers of the New World” claims that Negroid tribes discovered and colonized America long before the voyages of Columbus and Vespucci. In support of his views, he refers to ancient Mexican depictions of anthropomorphic creatures with Negroid features, as well as burials in the New World of people of clearly Negroid appearance (in the Pecos River Valley, in Texas and the Virgin Islands). Alas, recent research in this area has completely refuted his hypotheses. Studying the blood types of American Indians, anthropologist E. Mattson (USA) and his colleagues convincingly proved: the Amerindians (native inhabitants of America) were not descendants of ancient African aliens, since their blood does not contain any elements characteristic of Negroid groups.
Some Soviet authors also contributed to this “Pan-African boom”. Thus, E. Lvova, known for her works on the history and ethnography of Africa, also tried to find the “Negroid roots” of ancient American civilizations. At the same time, it used the argumentation of many of the authors mentioned above, including G. Lawrence.
“The Spaniards,” says E. Lvova, “met animals unfamiliar to them in America - non-barking dogs. According to later reports, Europeans met such animals only in one place in the world - West Africa... It is impossible not to mention the “African” motifs imprinted in the visual arts art of America. These are sculptural images at Chichen Itza of “tall figures with narrow heads, thick lips and curly short hair that gives the impression of wool...”
However, the evidence presented here for the existence of ancient African-American connections across the Atlantic does not stand up to scrutiny. First, about the non-barking dog. Such animals were distributed throughout the world and in America too (they are found in both the north and south of this part of the world). It is unlikely that they come from the same and necessarily Mexican source. Most likely, they were bred completely independently in different regions of our planet.
E. Lvova’s mention of sculptures of people with Negroid features should rather be considered as a curiosity, rather than as serious evidence in a scientific dispute. The fact is that the people who are depicted on reliefs and copper-gold disks from Chichen Itza do not have “African” hair or Negroid facial features at all. The Okies are depicted wearing round, shaggy (possibly fur) hats or helmets - a common part of Toltec warrior clothing. Legions of Toltec conquerors invaded Mayan lands from Central Mexico in the 10th century and settled there in the north of the Yucatan Peninsula, turning the Mayan city of Chichen Itza into their capital.
How some evidence of African-American connections emerges can be seen in the discovery of an "ancient African object" in El Salvador, "at a depth of over two meters from the surface of the earth."
Local professional archaeologist S. Boggs decided to check the reliability of this fact and went to the town of Colon (El Salvador). It turned out that the object was discovered in an undisturbed layer of earth at a depth of more than 2 meters, which clearly indicated its antiquity. It is made from a curved hippopotamus tusk, about 19 centimeters long, and is a stylized image of a monster (crocodile or snake) swallowing a naked female figurine. According to authoritative experts, this thing is truly of African origin and was most likely made in Eastern Congo, but... not earlier than the end of the 19th century. The object was discovered near the road in a layer of volcanic ash thrown out of a nearby ditch during excavation work, which gave it such a depth of 2 meters. Not far from the ditch in the 19th century stood the house of a colonel - a collector of ancient weapons and other rare things, and there is no doubt that the item belonged to him. This is the ending of this story. But the job was done. Rumors about the discovery spread quite widely, penetrated local newspapers, and the “Salvadoran masterpiece” for the most ardent diffusionists became another argument in favor of African influences on pre-Columbian America.
In debates about pre-Columbian connections between Africa and America, such an argument is often used as the presence of Negroid features in ancient Mexican sculptures depicting anthropomorphic creatures (for example, terracotta figurines from the graves of the Olmecs, Nahuas, Totonacs, Zapotecs, Mixtecs and Mayans). West German art critic and diplomat Alexander von Wutenau collected an extensive collection of such rarities and presented his views on the problem of interest to us in two colorful books: “Terracotta Art in Pre-Columbian Central and South America” and “Unexpected Faces in Ancient America, 1500 BC.” BC - 1500 AD." The main postulate of the diplomat-archaeologist is simple: Indian masters would not have been able to depict typically African faces and details of African jewelry and costume without seeing the Africans themselves.
But do not the indigenous people of the New World exhibit a great variety of physical type, hair, skin color and other characteristics throughout the entire territory of this part of the world - from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego? And who, if not the anthropologists themselves, after long debates and careful study of the facts, unanimously decided that many of the genetic traits of the American aborigines were brought to America through the Bering Strait and Alaska by the first settlers from Northeast Asia. Among these primitive hunter-gatherers there were people with Mongoloid, Negroid, and Caucasoid features. “Therefore, Negroid skeletons (as well as images of people with Negroid features - V.G.) are not evidence that any flotilla or individual ships crossed the South Atlantic in pre-Columbian times.”
The most serious arguments in favor of ancient African-American connections are biological, or rather, botanical data - finds of plants characteristic of one region and found in the territory of another. Of course, the main role among them is played by maize (corn) - a crop, as is known, is originally American and cultivated by the Indians of Mexico and Peru almost from the 5th millennium BC. e. Wild maize pollen was found in the soil that experts took from a deep well dug in Mexico City. Scientists have determined that pollen entered the soil about 80 thousand years ago, that is, long before man appeared in the New World.
Until now, it was believed that maize was brought to Africa by the Portuguese after their discoveries in South America (Brazil), no earlier than the first half of the 16th century. But archaeologist A. Goodwin, during excavations in the city of Ife (Nigeria), the capital of the ancient Yoruba state, discovered several fragments of ceramic vessels decorated with imprints of corn cobs. Another archaeological enthusiast, M. D. Jeffreys, hastened to determine the age of these ornamented shards - 1000–1100 years. Thus, it turned out that the Yoruba tribes from West Africa knew corn 400–500 years before the voyages of Columbus. How could she get to the Dark Continent? Who brought her there? Finally, is the age of such an important find accurately determined?
The last question is by no means a tribute to modern archaeological fashion. The final answer depends on his decision: whether the inhabitants of Black Africa maintained transoceanic contacts with the Indians. Moreover, the problems of chronology and periodization in the history of pre-colonial Africa are still far from their final solution. The finds in the city of Ife were no exception in this regard. Shards with impressions of maize, along with other thousands of fragments of ceramics, formed a pavement in one of the city blocks. Under what king did ceramic pavement appear? It is not yet possible to answer this question accurately. How did the date 1000–1100 come about then?
M.D. Jeffries derived it purely speculatively, based on the following reasoning. Some old Yoruba traditions say that the first capital of this African state was located in Ile-Ife (i.e., Ife). But during the reign of the fourth king of the local dynasty, the capital was moved to the city of Oyo. According to other sources, it is known that between 600 and 1000 the country was flooded by some newcomers from the east, who founded Ile-Ife. What follows is a simple technique: both semi-mystical legends are combined, and the functioning of Ile-Ife as a capital is limited to the year 1000. There is also evidence that the city of Oyo was founded around 1100. Maize was found in Ife, which means that the archaeological layer with shards dates back to no later than 1000–1100 years.
Meanwhile, even without taking into account the above dubious chronological calculations of M.D. Jeffreys, we can refer here to critical speeches against the idea of the growth of maize on African soil in the pre-Columbian era by a number of scientists, including F. Willet, who proved with the help facts indicate a clear Portuguese participation in the spread of this valuable agricultural crop in the west of the Black Continent. Other authors have suggested that it was not an ear of maize that was “rolled” across the wet clay, but some other similar cereal - for example, sorghum. But, despite the objections of experts, the sensational news that corn cobs came to Africa from overseas 400–500 years before Columbus instantly spread throughout the world and continues to successfully pass from book to book.
Another plant commonly used to prove African-American ties in ancient times is the gourd. It has always been considered only African culture. But already the first Europeans who arrived in the New World in the 16th century were amazed to see the same plant among the Indians. So, there were transoceanic connections after all? Don't rush to conclusions. The fact is that the remains of gourd gourd seeds have now been found in mountain caves in Mexico in layers dating back to 7000–5000 BC. e.. But not a single one, even the most fanatical supporter of pre-Columbian contacts, has claimed that at that time the primitive inhabitants of Africa could cross the ocean. Moreover, long-term experiments by scientists T. Whitaker and J. Carter with gourd pumpkin seeds proved that these seeds can be in salty sea water without changing their properties for more than 225 days, that is, time quite sufficient for their natural drift from Africa to the Americas shores
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Black Africa: past and present. A textbook on the New and Contemporary History of Tropical and Southern Africa
THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
INSTITUTE OF WORLD HISTORY
CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES
DMITRY POZHARSKY UNIVERSITY
Edited by A. S. Balezin, S. V. Mazov, I. I. Filatova
Prepared for publication and published by decision of the Academic Council of Dmitry Pozharsky University
A. S. Balezin, A. B. Davidson, A. V. Voevodsky, A. L. Emelyanov, L. V. Ivanova, I. V. Krivushin, M. S. Kurbak, S. V. Mazov, A. D. Savateev, I. I. Filatova, G. V. Tsypkin, N. G. Shcherbakov
Scientific editors:
A. S. Balezin, S. V. Mazov, I. I. Filatova
Reviewers:
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the School of Historical Sciences of the National Research University Higher School of Economics A. L. Ryabinin, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chief Researcher of the Institute of Historical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Center for French Historical Studies of the Institute of Historical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences Π. P. Cherkasov
Introduction
This book is about the history and present day of Black Africa. Otherwise, this region is called Sub-Saharan Africa or Tropical and Southern Africa.
Why not about the entire continent? It so happened historically that the countries of North Africa - Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia - since the Arab conquest (in the 7th-8th centuries AD) have become part of the Arab world and are included in the sphere of interests of Arabists. Africanists are concerned with the rest of Africa. Of course, this does not mean that there are no pan-African problems; Africa is trying to solve them jointly, in particular, within the framework of the African Union, which unites all the countries of the Black Continent. There have always been connections between the two regions of the continent, but the history of Southern and Tropical Africa was very different from the history of the northern part of the continent.
Why about the past and present? The present is disturbing. Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the most disadvantaged regions in the world. The enormous conflict potential that has accumulated there is turning into an increasingly explosive mixture. Protracted civil wars, numerous interstate, ethnic, religious conflicts, weakness of centralized statehood, flagrant backwardness and poverty, a huge number of refugees, the growth of Islamic fundamentalism and black racism are not a complete list of the troubles that sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing. This region is a powerful generator of “waves of instability”, which, thanks to globalization, have even reached Russia.
Map 1.
Armed resistance to colonial expansion in Tropical and Southern Africa in the 19th – early 20th centuries.
Map 2.
Results of the colonial division of Africa. 1914
Map 3.
Regional map of Africa. 2015
Map 4.
Political map of Africa. 2015
The title of the book mentions New and Contemporary times. The definition of these concepts causes endless debate among historians. We begin a “new” stage in the history of Africa with the Great Geographical Discoveries, at the turn of the 15th–16th centuries, when the Black Continent increasingly became part of a single world, and the “newest” - from the beginning of the 20th century, when Black Africa found itself irreversibly tied to the world economy and politics through colonial conquests.
We see as our readers educated people who are interested in history, but are not Africanists. We believe that the book will be a useful guide for students studying history, and for historians dealing not only with the East, but also with general historical problems.
The volume of the textbook did not allow us to cover all the problems of the history and present day of Africa, all African pre-colonial and modern states. We tried to focus on the main and most typical things. We examined both social and political history, touched upon the history of culture and literature of Africa, and paid special attention to the history of relations between Russia and Black Africa. The book has country, regional, and pan-African sections. The overlap and overlap of materials with this approach is inevitable. We don't consider this a disadvantage. On the contrary, the same event, presented in different chapters from different angles (for example, on colonization and anti-colonialism), is shown to be more multifaceted.
The selection of documents for the documentary application was difficult due to their large number, and we selected the main ones. Several publications of sources on the history of Black Africa have been published in Russia, the main ones are listed in the bibliography. Almost all the authors of this book participated in such publications, as they worked a lot with sources, including archival ones. The team of authors almost exclusively belongs to the Africanist school of academician A. B. Davidson, one of the main features of which is its reliance on primary sources. Belonging to one scientific school, we believe, gives us the advantage of a holistic view of the history of the Dark Continent. This is what we offer to our readers.
It was under the editorship of Davidson that, back in 1989, the first textbook in our country on the history of Tropical and Southern Africa was published. It covered the period from 1918 to 1988, and many of us contributed to its writing 1
History of Tropical and Southern Africa. 1918–1988 M., 1989.
In the current century, several textbooks on the New and Contemporary history of the Black Continent have already been published - from the course of lectures by A. S. Balezin 2
Balezin A. S. Tropical and Southern Africa in New and Contemporary Times: people, problems, events. Tutorial. M., 2008.
Before the three-volume book by A. L. Emelyanov 3
Emelyanov A. L. A new history of sub-Saharan Africa. Tutorial. M., 2009; It's him. Colonial history of sub-Saharan Africa. Tutorial. M., 2011; It's him. Postcolonial history of sub-Saharan Africa. Tutorial. M., 2011.
Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. In this book we have tried to increase the former and avoid the latter as much as possible.
A. S. Balezin, S. V. Mazov, I. I. Filatova
Part I
General information
§ 1. Political map
Politically, Tropical and Southern Africa (this region is also called Black, or Sub-Saharan, Africa) is a collection of states located on the African continent south of the Sahara, as well as on the adjacent islands. Currently, Tropical and Southern Africa includes 48 independent states and 3 dependent territories. The region is divided into 4 subregions: Eastern (18 states and 2 dependent territories; 8 million 868 thousand km 2; 394 million people), Western (16 states and 1 dependent territory; 5 million 113 thousand km 2; 340 million people. ), Central (9 states; 6 million 613 thousand km 2 ; 133 million people) and South Africa (5 states; 2 million 676 thousand km 2 ; 60.6 million people).
East Africa is divided into 5 zones: the Southern Nile, the Horn of Africa, the Great African Lakes, Southeast Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.
The South Nile zone includes the Republic of Sudan (1 million 886 thousand km2; 40.2 million people in 2015) with its capital Khartoum and the Republic of South Sudan (620 thousand km2; 12.3 million people in 2015). ) with its capital Juba.
The Horn of Africa zone includes the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1 million 104 thousand km 2; 99.5 million people in 2015) with the capital Addis Ababa, the State of Eritrea (118 thousand km 2; 6.4 million people in 2014) with the capital of Asmara, the Republic of Djibouti (23 thousand km 2; 810 thousand people in 2014) with the capital of Djibouti and the Federal Republic of Somalia (638 thousand km 2; 10.8 million people in 2014 .) with the capital Mogadishu, most of the territory of which is occupied by the self-proclaimed state of Somaliland with its capital Hargeisa (former British Somalia), as well as the autonomous entities of Puntland (in northeastern Somalia), the State of the Central Regions (in the central part of the country), Jubaland and South-East Somalia. Western state (in the south).
The African Great Lakes zone includes the Republic of Kenya (581 thousand km 2; 45 million people in 2014) with its capital Nairobi, the United Republic of Tanzania (945 thousand km 2; 51.8 million people in 2014) with the capital Dodoma, Republic of Uganda (241 thousand km 2; 36.8 million people in 2013) with the capital Kampala, Republic of Rwanda (26 thousand km 2; 11.3 million people in 2015) with the capital Kigali and the Republic of Burundi (28 thousand km 2; 11.2 million people in 2015) with the capital Bujumbura.
South-East Africa includes the Republic of Mozambique (802 thousand km 2; 24.7 million people in 2014) with the capital Maputo, the Republic of Malawi (118 thousand km 2; 16.6 million people in 2014) with the capital of Lilongwe, the Republic of Zambia (753 thousand km 2; 16.2 million people in 2015) with the capital Lusaka and the Republic of Zimbabwe (391 thousand km 2; 13 million people in 2012) with the capital Harare.
The Indian Ocean island zone includes the Republic of Madagascar (587 thousand km2; 22.4 million people in 2014) with the capital Antananarivo, the Republic of Mauritius (2 thousand km2; 1.3 million people in 2014) with the capital Port Louis, Republic of Seychelles (459 km 2; 92 thousand people in 2012) with the capital Victoria, Union of Comoros (2.2 thousand km 2; 744 thousand people in 2013) with the capital Moroni and the overseas departments of France Mayotte (374 km 2; 227 thousand people in 2015); administrative center of Mamoudzou) and Reunion (2.5 thousand km 2; 845 thousand people in 2013) with the administrative center of Saint-Denis.
West Africa divided into 3 zones: Guinean, Western Sahel and islands of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Guinea zone includes the Republic of Senegal (197 thousand km 2; 13.6 million people in 2013) with the capital Dakar, the Republic of Gambia (10.7 thousand km 2; 1.9 million people in 2013) with the capital Banjul, Republic of Guinea-Bissau (36 thousand km 2; 1.7 million people in 2014) with the capital Bissau, Republic of Guinea (246 thousand km 2; 11.6 million people in 2014) with the capital Conakry, Republic of Sierra Leone (72 thousand km 2; 6.2 million people in 2013) with the capital Freetown, Republic of Liberia (111 thousand km 2; 4.5 million people in 2015) with the capital Monrovia, Republic of Cote d'Ivoire (322.5 thousand km 2; 23.9 million people in 2014) with the capital Yamoussoukro, Republic of Ghana (238.5 thousand km 2; 27 million people in 2014) with the capital Accra, Togolese Republic (57 thousand km 2; 7.6 million people in 2015) with the capital Lomé, Republic of Benin (115 thousand km 2; 10.9 million people (2015) .) with the capital Porto-Novo and the Federal Republic of Nigeria (924 thousand km 2; 182 million people in 2015) with the capital Abuja.
West Sahel(the zone between the Sahara desert and the Sudanese savannah) includes the Republic of Mali (1 million 240 thousand km 2; 15.8 million people in 2014) with the capital Bamako, Burkina Faso (274 thousand km 2; 17.3 million people in 2014) with the capital Ouagadougou, the Republic of Niger (1 million 267 thousand km 2; 17.1 million people in 2012) with the capital Niamey, as well as the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (1 million 31 thousand km 2 ; 4.1 million people in 2015) with the capital Nouakchott, which is sometimes considered part of North Africa.
The Atlantic Ocean island zone includes the Republic of Cape Verde (4 thousand km 2; 525 thousand people in 2015) with the capital Praia and the British overseas territory of St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (394 km 2; 7.7 thousand people in 2014) with the administrative center of Jamestown.
Part Central Africa includes the Republic of Angola (1 million 247 thousand km 2; 24.4 million people in 2014) with the capital Luanda, the Republic of Cameroon (475 thousand km 2; 22.5 million people in 2013) with the capital Yaounde , Central African Republic (CAR) (623 thousand km 2; 4.7 million people in 2014) with the capital Bangui, Republic of Chad (1 million 284 thousand km 2; 13.7 million people in 2015) with the capital N'Djamena, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (2 million 345 thousand km 2; 81.7 million people in 2015) with the capital Kinshasa, Republic of the Congo (342 thousand km 2; 4.7 million people in 2014) with the capital Brazzaville, Republic of Equatorial Guinea (28 thousand km 2; 1.2 million people (2015) with the capital Malabo, Gabonese Republic (268 thousand km 2; 1.7 million people in 2014 ) with the capital Libreville, Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe (964 km 2; 190 thousand people in 2014) with the capital Sao Tome.
South Africa includes the Republic of Namibia (826 thousand km 2; 2.1 million people in 2011) with the capital Windhoek, the Republic of Botswana (582 thousand km 2; 2.2 million people in 2014) with the capital Gaborone, South Africa Republic (South Africa) (1 million 221 thousand km 2; 55 million people in 2015) with the capital Pretoria, the Kingdom of Lesotho (30 thousand km 2; 2.1 million people in 2014) with the capital Maseru and The Kingdom of Swaziland (17 thousand km 2; 1.1 million people in 2015) with the capitals Lobamba and Mbabane.
All currently sovereign countries of Black Africa, with the exception of Liberia, were in the past dependent territories of Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Earlier than others (1931), South Africa gained sovereignty (until 1961 - the Union of South Africa). In 1942–1944 Ethiopia, captured by Italy in 1936, restored its statehood. The main wave of decolonization occurred in the second half of the 1950s - the second half of the 1970s; Zimbabwe (1980) and Namibia (1990) were the last to gain independence. 4
Although the UN formally liquidated South Africa’s mandate to govern Namibia back in 1966.
The states of Tropical and Southern Africa inherited their borders from the colonial period. These borders remained inviolable throughout the Cold War. However, after its end, two new states appeared on the map of East Africa - Eritrea (1993) and South Sudan (2011), separated, respectively, from Ethiopia and Sudan, although the first established itself within the borders of the former Italian Eritrea.
African countries, with the exception of Somalia and Ethiopia, also inherited official languages from their former European metropolises or mandate holders; in addition, Rwanda added English to its official languages, in addition to French, Equatorial Guinea, in addition to Spanish, added French and Portuguese, the Seychelles, in addition to English, added French and a local creole dialect based on French. At the same time, some states gave official status to Arabic (Mauritania, Chad, Sudan, Djibouti and Comoros) or local African languages (Uganda - Swahili, Madagascar - Malagasy, Burundi - Kirundi, Rwanda - Kinyarwanda, Swaziland - Swati, Comoros islands - Shima Siwa, South Africa - Zulu and eight other languages 5
Including Afrikaans, created on the basis of the Dutch language.
And Zimbabwe - Nyanja and fourteen others).
Most of the states of Black Africa are secular. There is a state religion in only four countries: Djibouti (Islam), Mauritania, Somalia and the Comoros Islands (Sunni Islam).
During the period of independence, the countries of Black Africa were characterized by authoritarian tendencies. That is why the vast majority of them still have a unitary state system and a presidential or semi-presidential form of government. Six countries are federations: Sudan (1956), Nigeria (1963), Comoros (1975), Ethiopia (1995), South Sudan (2011) and Somalia (2012); There are five parliamentary republics: South Africa (1961), Botswana (1966), Ethiopia (1991), Mauritius (1992), Somalia (2012), and in South Africa and Botswana the president heads the government, unlike traditional parliamentary republics. In addition, a constitutional parliamentary monarchy, in which the king retains purely ceremonial functions, has become established in Lesotho (1966–1986 and since 1993). At the same time, Swaziland maintained an absolute monarchy (2005) 6
According to tradition, Swaziland has a diarchy: power is shared by the king (the lion) and the queen mother (the elephant), but in reality the latter has no real political powers.
In the political conditions of tropical and southern Africa, the role of formal institutions established by the constitution often does not correspond to their real significance. Although the one-party state model that prevailed in the region during the Cold War era is now preserved only in Eritrea (the Popular Front for Democracy and Justice has been the sole ruling party since 1993), half of the modern countries in the region have a political system with one dominant party: for the majority states of Central (Angola, Gabon, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Chad, Equatorial Guinea), Eastern (Djibouti, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, South Sudan) and Southern Africa (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa) and for two Western countries (Gambia, Togo). The Gabonese Democratic Party (since 1958), the Democratic Rally of the Cameroonian People (since 1960), the Tanzanian Chama Cha Mapinduzi (since 1961), the Congolese Labor Party (1963–1992 and since 1997) have been in power longer than the others. ), the Botswana Democratic Party (since 1965) and the Rassemblement of the Togolese People (since 1969).
All states of Black Africa are members of the UN and the African Union. The former colonies of France and Belgium, as well as Ghana, Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe are members of the International Organization of Francophonie; former British colonies (except Gambia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia), as well as Namibia, Mozambique and Rwanda - into the Commonwealth of Nations; former Portuguese colonies - into the Commonwealth of Portuguese-speaking countries; the states of West Africa (except Ghana, Liberia and Cape Verde), as well as Chad, Cameroon, Gabon, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Uganda, Mozambique and the Comoros Islands - to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. There is no specific regional organization that unites all sub-Saharan African countries. Integration is carried out to a greater extent at the subregional, mainly at the economic level: the states of Central Africa and Burundi form the Economic Community of Central African Countries (1983), the countries of the Great African Lakes zone - the East African Community (1967–1977 and since 2000), the states of South Africa and South-East Africa, as well as Angola, DRC, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles - Southern African Development Community (1992), West African states, except Mauritania - Economic Community of West African Countries (1975).
The post-colonial era became a period of acute internal political conflicts for Tropical and Southern Africa. Most of the outbreaks occurred in the late 1980s and 1990s. civil wars have now ceased, but the guerrilla warfare of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda (since 1987), the armed conflict in Somalia (since 1991), which in 2009 evolved into a guerrilla war of Islamist groups against the central government, are still ongoing , and ethnic clashes in Darfur in western Sudan (since 2003). Since July 2009, the jihadist movement Boko Haram has launched a struggle against the central government of Nigeria; in December 2012, a civil war began in the Central African Republic between the regime of President F. Bozizé and the Seleka coalition of Muslim rebels, which escalated into an interfaith conflict between Muslims ( “Séléka”), on the one hand, and Christians and animists (anti-balaka militia), on the other; in December 2013, a civil war broke out in South Sudan between the regime of President S. Cyprus and rebel groups from the Nuer people.
The political situation in the region is also complicated by interstate territorial conflicts. The most acute of these is the border dispute between Sudan and South Sudan over the oil-bearing areas of Abyei and Kafia Kingi and the cities of Heglig, Jau and Kaka; he is of recent origin. However, the vast majority of modern territorial conflicts are a consequence of the arbitrary delimitation of borders during the colonial period. First of all, the dispute between Ethiopia and Somalia - over the Ogaden region, between Ethiopia and Eritrea - over the city of Badme, the Bure region and the village of Zalambessa, between Eritrea and Djibouti - over the Ras Doumeira region on the Red Sea coast, between DRC and Uganda - because of the island of Rukwanzi on Lake Albert, between Malawi and Tanzania - because of the islands in Mbambo Bay on Lake Nyasa, between Swaziland and South Africa - because of part of the South African province of Mpumalanga. Another category of territorial conflicts is represented by conflicts caused by the claims of independent African states to certain strategically important zones over which the former metropolitan countries continue to maintain control. Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles claim the uninhabited Eparce Islands (scattered around Madagascar) remaining under French rule, the Comoros Islands claim the French overseas department of Mayotte, and Mauritius claims the British-held Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean.
§ 2. Population
Formation of an ethnolinguistic map. Despite the ongoing disagreements among scientists and the emergence of more and more new data, the overwhelming majority of paleoanthropologists agree that both the ancestors of modern humans and Homo Sapiens, And Homo Sapiens Sapiens, appeared in Africa. The most ancient remains Homo Sapiens Sapiens were discovered in the territory of modern Ethiopia. Their age is 195–200 thousand years.
From here, from Africa, Homo Sapiens Sapiens spread throughout the world. The date of the “exodus” has not yet been established: the results of various genetic studies give a very wide time range - from 50 to 120 thousand years ago, and some archaeological data contradict genetic data. However, genetics leaves no doubt that the original group that left the continent was small and homogeneous. This explains the significantly greater genetic, physical and linguistic diversity of the population of the African continent compared to the population of other regions of the world.
Here are the unusually tall Nilotes with blue-black skin, the very short San (formerly called Bushmen) with yellowish-brown skin and Mongoloid features, and the light-skinned Fulani with Caucasoid features. But physical similarity or difference is the most imprecise and politically compromised way to define any population group. Therefore, African peoples are defined mainly on linguistic grounds.
Judging by the oldest Egyptian written and pictorial evidence about the inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa, several thousand years ago this region, as now, was inhabited by dark-skinned peoples. But it is difficult to judge what exactly they are and what relation they have to the peoples inhabiting the continent now. The exception here is the same San, who still live in the desert regions of South Africa and Namibia. Their ancestors migrated here from the central and eastern regions of the African continent about 140 thousand years ago. This means that the ancestors of the San and related peoples, who inhabited the southern tip of the African continent, up to the latitude of the Great Lakes, were the most ancient autochthonous population of this part of the continent. The San were hunter-gatherers, lived in small communities and had no leaders. In caves throughout southern Africa they left rock paintings and petroglyphs depicting animals, ritual scenes, hunting, war, etc. These drawings are similar in type to rock paintings in the oases of the Sahara and the caves of France, but in Tropical and Southern Africa this is the only similar source. The earliest of these images is 27 thousand years old.
About 2000 years ago, in the south of the continent, in the area of modern Botswana, the first pastoralists appeared - the ancestors of the Khoikoi (Koi, Khoikoin or Hottentots). Their DNA also contains elements characteristic of the original population of the continent, but also elements of DNA of Eurasian origin and even some elements of Neanderthal DNA. These elements are inherited from people who returned to Africa from Europe about 3,000 years ago.
The Koikoi spoke languages related to the San languages, and as they moved southward they mixed with them. By the 1st century And. e. bunk reached the Cape of Good Hope. The physical appearance of the koikoi and san are similar, but cultural and linguistic differences persist to this day. The Khoikoi lived in large groups and were the first people of the region to develop social hierarchy and inequality.
The appearance of agriculture and Iron Age tools in this part of the continent is associated with the spread of peoples who spoke Bantu languages. About one and a half thousand years before. e. they began to spread from the territory of modern Cameroon, possibly due to the drying and expansion of the Sahara. This was not exactly a migration, but rather a gradual spread of the Bantu-speaking population across the southern part of the mainland, which lasted for centuries. It came in two streams. One moved along the Atlantic coast and reached modern Namibia. The movement of this group to the south was stopped by the Namib Desert. Other groups settled in the Congo River valley by 1000 BC. e. reached the Great Lakes. From the area of modern Tanzania, they moved south along three routes: to the territory of modern Zambia, to the territory of modern Zimbabwe through Malawi, and to the territory of the modern South African province of KwaZulu-Natal through Mozambique. By 300 AD. e. The Bantu-speaking population reached the eastern coast of modern South Africa, then spreading throughout the eastern and central parts of the country. The descendants of the first wave of this migration were the Xhosa.
The Bantu were highly organized peoples with a developed social hierarchy and leaders, and it was they who gave rise to the first state formations in this part of the continent. Their relationship with the San and Koikoi was complex: the ancestors of the Xhosa were much better armed than the Koikoi and San, and pushed them to the west, fought with them, but at the same time coexisted, exchanged various goods and products, mixed and adopted each other’s languages. Among the rock paintings of the San there are many images of short San, armed with bows and arrows, running from giants armed with spears - the Bantu.
The question of when exactly the Bantu crossed the Zambezi and especially the Limpopo has been a political one until recently. In 1652, the Cape Colony was founded at the Cape of Good Hope. Since the beginning of the 20th century. (i.e., at the beginning of ethnographic research), the descendants of the Dutch colonists - the Afrikaners - began to claim that they appeared on the territory of South Africa before the Bantu, or at least simultaneously with them. This is how they proved their right to the territory of the country (the San and Koi, obviously, were not taken into account). Research that contradicted this interpretation of history was suppressed. With the end of the regime apartheid the date of the Bantu's arrival on the territory of modern South Africa began to move further back into the depths of centuries.
The ethnic picture north of the Great Lakes latitude to the Sahara Desert in the region called Sudan is complex and confusing. The DNA of the peoples living there also contains some elements characteristic of the original population of the continent, but different from the DNA of the San. Historians believe that the entire western part of Sudan was once dominated by peoples who spoke Bantu languages, similar to the Bantu languages, but now these languages are few in number and survive only in the central part of Western Sudan. To the north of them, Nilo-Saharan languages are widespread (for example, Songhai in the middle reaches of the Niger River), which were spoken by the population of the medieval states of Western Sudan, Niger-Congo languages (for example, Bamana in Mali and Senegal, Ashanti and Fanti in southern Ghana, Yoruba and Igbo in the west and east of the southern part of modern Nigeria), as well as Afroasiatic languages, the largest of which is the Hausa language in the north of modern Nigeria. These languages are close to those of the Berbers of North Africa and the people of ancient Egypt - evidence that their speakers migrated south as the Sahara dried up.
There was no single stream of major migrations. The population grew in years with good weather conditions and decreased in years of drought or other natural disasters. Individual groups moved chaotically, settling in places that could be protected and where there was water. In some places, the variety of languages here is so great that residents of villages located very close by do not understand each other’s languages. Along the coast of the Gulf of Guinea live peoples who speak Guinean languages, related to the Bantoid languages, but very different from them.
The ethnolinguistic situation in Eastern Sudan is even more complex. For centuries, the area suffered from raids by Arab slave traders and internecine wars. The diversity of languages and their large number make us think that more or less large groups of the population were fragmented here as a result of chaotic migration from the west and north. One of the largest linguistic groups in this region is Nilothecae. Among the peoples speaking the languages of this group are Turkana, Maasai, Kalenjin, Luo.
Now the Nilotes inhabit the upper reaches of the Nile and differ sharply from their neighbors in both language and physical appearance. They migrated here from the north: Egyptian monuments have preserved images similar to their appearance. Moving south, some of them reached the Great Lakes region and conquered the Bantu peoples living there. Gradually, this group mixed with the local population and adopted their language, but retained their physical appearance. This mixed population became the ethnic base of the states of the Inter-Zake region.
Girls of the Chagga people. German East Africa, 1906/1918
Many peoples of Northeast Africa - modern Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia - speak languages of the Cushitic group belonging to the Afroasiatic language family, but the languages of Amhara, Tigre and some other peoples of Ethiopia are Semitic. This group appeared here as a result of the resettlement of South Arab tribes to the territory of present-day Eritrea. They mixed with the local population, but retained the language, although it was heavily “Cushiticized.”
One of the languages of East Africa, Swahili, was strongly influenced by Arabic. In structure, it belongs to the Bantu group of languages, but its vocabulary contains many Arabic words. Swahili was originally the language of the mixed African-Arab population of the city-states of the East African coast. But gradually, partly due to the slave trade, it became the language of intertribal communication throughout the eastern part of the continent.
The eastern and central part of Africa's largest island, Madagascar, is inhabited by a people who speak a language closely related to the languages of Southeast Asia and have similar physical features to the Indonesians. The Malagasy legends mention migration from the East, but it has not yet been possible to establish any details of this migration. The east of the island is dominated by groups who speak Bantu languages similar to the Bantu languages of Mozambique.
In modern times, the process of ethnogenesis on the continent was greatly influenced by such events as the slave trade, the formation of pre-state political entities and the emergence of Europeans.
One of the results of the transatlantic slave trade was the destabilization and fragmentation of ethnic groups in the areas that served as sources of slave supply. In West Africa, these are the areas of the upper reaches of the river. Volta and the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers, and in Central - the region of the middle and lower reaches of the river. Kasai, a tributary of the Congo. The Arab slave trade in Northeast Africa had the same impact on the southern regions of the modern state of Sudan, and in the East - on the eastern part of the modern Democratic Republic of the Congo, between Lake. Tanganyika and r. Lualaba, another tributary of the Congo. At the same time, the need to unite in defense against the slave trade, or the desire to participate in it as intermediaries, contributed to the consolidation of some previously disparate clans into organized groups, as happened with the Nyamwezi in modern Tanzania and the Yao in modern Mozambique.
Folklore of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa. Work on collecting and studying African folklore has been carried out since the end of the 19th century. Europeans - missionaries, travelers, colonial officials, and later scientists - linguists,... ...
This term has other meanings, see Africa (meanings). Africa on the map of the hemisphere ... Wikipedia
Africa. Ancient history- An ancient human site near Lake Rudolf (Turkana). Kenya. North and Northeast Africa. In the second half of the 4th millennium BC. e. in the northeastern part of Africa, social differentiation has intensified, from many small... ... Encyclopedic reference book "Africa"
Africa. Middle Ages- North Africa and Egypt in the 8th and first half of the 12th centuries. North and Northeast Africa. The Middle Ages of North Africa and Egypt are closely connected with the Northern Mediterranean. Since the 3rd century. Egypt and the countries of North Africa that were part of... ... Encyclopedic reference book "Africa"
Africa. Physico-geographical sketch. Flora and vegetation- Floristic zoning. The nature and distribution of African vegetation are determined by the current geographical situation, as well as the geological past of the continent. Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a significant number of systematic... Encyclopedic reference book "Africa"
Africa. I. General information There is great disagreement among scholars regarding the origin of the word “Africa”. Two hypotheses deserve attention: one of them explains the origin of the word from a Phoenician root, which, given a certain... ...
Africa. Historical sketch- Literature: Marx K., Economic manuscripts 1857 1859, Marx K. and Engels F., Works, 2nd ed., vol. 46, part 1 2; Engels F., Anti Dühring, ibid., vol. 20; Lenin V.I., Imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism, Complete Works, 5th ed.,... ... Encyclopedic reference book "Africa"
I I. General information There is great disagreement among scientists regarding the origin of the word “Africa”. Two hypotheses deserve attention: one of them explains the origin of the word from a Phoenician root, which when... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
General information. A. the second largest continent after Eurasia. Area 80.3 million km2 (including islands). It is crossed almost in the middle by the equator. A. is washed: on the N. Mediterranean Sea (part of the Atlantic Ocean), on the W. Atlantic. approx., on the east. Indian approx. and incoming... Soviet historical encyclopedia
Books
- Black Africa. Past and present. A textbook on the New and Contemporary History of Tropical and Southern Africa, Alexander Balezin, Sergey Mazov, Irina Filatova. The team of authors - employees of the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and teachers of Russian universities (ISAA MSU, MGIMO, National Research University Higher School of Economics) - presented in an accessible and concise form...
- Black Africa: past and present. Tutorial , . The team of authors - employees of the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and teachers of Russian universities (ISAA MSU, MGIMO, National Research University Higher School of Economics) - presented in an accessible and concise form...
- Black Africa past and present A textbook on the New and Contemporary History of Tropical and Southern Africa, Balezin A., Mazov S., Filatova I., eds. Author team - employees of the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and teachers of Russian universities (ISAA Moscow State University, MGIMO, National Research University Higher School of Economics) - presented in an accessible and concise form...
