Central Africa Today...

Develping stable governments and economies for poor Central African countries is difficult due to war, diseade, and environmental problems. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the bad government and the crimes have scared away the foreign buisnesses eventhough it has lots of minerals that could make the country rich such as gold, diamonds, and cobalt. Central African Republic has minerals, but as it doesn't have transportation, it can't export the resources. Because Cameroon has steady economy unlike other countries in Central Africa, the people of Cameroon have a high standard of living. Most people of Equatorial Guinea are poor although economies grew due to the recent foundation of oil. Sao Tome and Principe have unstable economy and have few resources, but they found oil in water that might help their economy. Gabon has highest standard of living in the region, and more than half of the country's income comes from oil. The income of the Republic of Congo comes mostly from oil like Gabon, and the country is mostly urban and is growing. Angola has been struggling with its poor and unstable economy. Most of its income comes from farming, and it still has hope as there are diamonds and oil in the country. Zambia is rich with copper mines but its economy growth is slow as it has high debts and inflation. The economy growth of Malawi is even slower as it depends on aid from outside of the country, not its own industries.
As you can see, many countries of Central Africa are poor and very unstable. These are effects of the cause of many things. Firstly, as there are so many ethnic groups, who compete each other for power, there were many civil wars that affected the economies of the region. Secondly, diseases like Malaria and AIDS are common in Central Africa and affect the economies also as there are a lot of young peole compared to the older people. Thirdly, partly because of war and decrease in food production caused food shortage, which means there are not enough resources to feed the civilians living in the region and the resources need to be more developed. Lastly, as the environment is one of the most important resources in Central Africa and should be managed, but the growing industries are destroying the environment. It makes us hard to choose whether to keep the resource or grow the industries. Overall, the countries of Central Africa is having hard time making the countries stable and rich, but it's difficult due to many issues and challenges.

Feedback November 10-14 - Imperialism Cartoon

The main visual elements are the shape of Africa and a huge footstep on it. I think the issue of this political cartoon is about how Europeans came and left their footsteps behind which I think represents the influence of the Europeans on the whole continent Africa. I think the cartoonist's opinion on this issue is quite negative as the picture is very dark with whitish gray footstep, which I think represents the Europeans, stomped on the continent of Africa. I think the cartoonist could have made the footstep whiter to really show clearly that the footstep represents the Europeans.

History and Culture of Central Africa

European colonists and the West African tribes influenced a lot of Central Africa's history and culture. About 2000 years ago, the tribes from West Africa migrated to Central Africa and built several kingdoms there. The Kongo Kingdom, which was found in the 1300s near the mouth of the Congo River, was the most important of the all the kingdoms. The West traded the resources in the Central Africa such as animal skins, shells, slaves, and ivory and became very rich. Later in the 1400s, European colonists came to the region and desired for the forest products and the resources such as ivory. They also traded with some kingdoms in Central Africa for slaves. The Europeans started to influence the Central Africa. In the late 1800s, Central Africa was divided into colonies among the European countries, who were France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Ignoring the tribes living in Africa, they started dividing the lands and many different ethnic groups were stuck together against their will. Because of the difference they had among the tribes that were lumped together, they had many conflicts, especially when they gained independence after WWII. Some colonies fought bloody wars for independence, and eventually, all the colonies became independent in 1975 when Angola finally won their independence from Portugal. Though they became independent from European powers, the different ethnic groups fought each other.
There are many different ethnic groups with different customs in Central Africa. The people of Central Africa speak different dialects. Most ethnic groups have their own dialect. Also, there are many official languages in Central Africa that are European languages such as English, French, etc. as the European colonists influenced Central Africa. The Europeans had influenced the religions, too. As you can see, outsiders had come to Central Africa and influenced many things.

Humanities 2-8 Scramble for Africa

Q. What strategy did you use to claim land?
A. I used natural resources map to claim land. I found the lands where there were full of natural resources that I wanted and claimed them.

Q. What factors did you consider in claiming land?
A. The factors I considered in claiming land was mainly the natural resources that the land had and if the land matched my country's goals.

Q. Who won the Scramble for Africa?
A. I think Great Britain won in claiming the most land but the land had to have some valuable things to really see who won. So I can't really tell who won by just seeing the map we colored in.

Q. Who lost in the Scramble for Africa?
A. I think Spain lost as they didn't claim a lot of land, which also means they don't have as much valuable things as other countries have that they can get from the lands they claimed.

Africa News Current Event 2

TITLE OF ARTICLE: Congo rebels make roadblock out of bodies <http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/13/congo.fighting.ap/index.html>

The article, which was updated on November 13, 2008, is about the serious war in Democratic Republic of Congo, which seems to be not easing at the moment. In addition, the war might draw in some other countries in the region.

The road that leads into rebel-controlled Congo had roadblocks made from the dead bodies of the army by the Congo rebels as a meaning of warning to the government army and the citizens of Congo. This shows that the war in Democratic Republic of Congo is not easing and will not ease for a while. On Wednesday, Georges Chicoty, Angolan Deputy Foreign Minister, said that Angola was prepared to send troops to Democratic Republic of Congo in fear of the conflict engulfing the region. Some reporters have seen some soldiers who seemed like Angolans, but Angola opposed to it because if the presence of Angolans in Congo is announced, it might draw in Rwanda, who sent troops to support Nkunda, too. Both sides, the government troops and the rebels, blamed everything on each other such as the violation of the cease-fire and the Tuesday's clash.

I think this article is news worthy because the news is very recent. Also, the huge conflict between the government troops and the rebels is quite interesting as the same kind of war had happened before and now it's caused by some violations of the cease-fire. Besides, the size of the war is quite big; the war might draw in other countries in the region. In addition, the war is really conflicted, and people might want to see who will going to win the war.

Physical Geography of Central Africa

Central Africa has three important physical features- the Congo River, tropical forests, and rich mineral resources. Along the Congo River's route towards the Atlantic Ocean, there are many rapids and waterfalls, especially near its mouth. They hinder the ships from traveling from the interior to the ocean, but the Congo managed to provide a crucial transportation routes in the interior. Central Africa is along the equator and in the low latitudes, therefore, most parts of Central Africa have a humid tropical climate. This kind of climate helps maintaining a large and dense tropical forest, where many animals such as gorillas, elephants, wild boars, and okapis live. The climate also is good for growing crops, which is why most people living in the region are farmers. Coffee, bananas, and corn are the common crops. Also, Central Africa is rich in natural resources and has many valuable minerals like diamond, copper, gold, etc. Overall, Central Africa is full of interesting features such as the Congo River, animals of the tropical rainforests, crops, etc.

TBAS - Can we trust?

I think the book "To Be a Slave" is a trustworthy book. Firstly, I think it's truthful because the author cites all the information in the book, which makes it more trustworthy. Secondly, the author of this book, Julius Lester's ancestor was a slave, so I think that the information would be most likely to be true. Lastly, the reason I believe that this book is truthful is because the information, that's in a chapter or a few pages, is all similar to each other. These are the reasons why I think that the book "To Be a Slave" by Julius Lester is truthful.