Sub-regions of North and Tropical Africa. SOUTH AFRICA. Tropical and southern African countries
New story. Tropical Africa
Until the end of the XIX century. Africa served as a source of supply of slaves to the slave markets of America and the West Indies (see). The local African states in the coastal areas increasingly played the role of intermediaries in the international trade in slaves. The growth of the slave trade in Africa led to huge human losses and the desolation of entire regions. In some areas not directly affected by the slave trade, its consequences were indirect: there was a reorientation of the main trade routes across the Sahara towards the Atlantic coast to the detriment of the former trans-Saharan trade. Slave hunting and the importation of firearms by Europeans destabilized the political situation in a number of areas.
Among the states of the Sudanese zone until the XIX century. the most significant role was played by Bagirmi and Vadai. In Western Sudan, political fragmentation reigned, which was intensified by the beginning of about the middle of the 17th century. migration to the south of several groups of Tuareg of the Sahara. At the end of the XVII century. nomads inflicted heavy damage on the state of Born. XVIII-XIX centuries were the time of the assertion of the hegemony of the Fulani in a significant part of Western Sudan. At the end of the 70s. 18th century Fulbe created a Muslim theocratic state. The movement of the Fulban and Hausan lower classes that began in 1804 under the leadership of the Muslim preacher Osman dan Fodio, who proclaimed a “holy war” (jihad) against the “pagan” aristocracy of the Hausa city-states, ended with the creation by the 20s of the 20th century. 19th century Caliphate of Sokoto. Since the end of the 30s. 19th century this state actually broke up into several emirates, headed by the Fulba emirs (or "lamido"). Part of the emirates corresponded to the former states of the Hausa - Kano, Katsina, etc., part was created anew, like, for example, all the lamidates on the territory of modern Cameroon - Iola, etc. In the first half of the 19th century. another Fulbe state - - began to play a prominent role in Western Sudan. In the 60s. most of Masina came under the rule of the Tukuler ruler Hajj Omar, who also subjugated the states of the Bamana (Bambara) people in the interfluve of the Niger and Senegal rivers - Kaartu and. However, with the death of Hajj Omar in 1864, his state fell apart. The political fragmentation and weakness of most states in the Sudanese zone facilitated the conquest of this part of Africa by the French and British colonialists.
East Africa in the 17th century. was characterized by a sharp struggle of the population of the coastal cities with the Portuguese invaders. XVIII-XIX centuries marked by a gradual increase in power on the African coast of the Indian Ocean of the Omani sultans. After the expulsion of the Portuguese at the beginning of the XVIII century. coastal cities were in the hands of many petty emirs, who only nominally recognized the power of the Omani rulers. Beginning in 1822, the coastal regions and part of the interior of the territory of modern Tanzania and Kenya fell under the rule of Zanzibar. In the interior regions of Tanzania, east of Lake Tanganyika, from the end of the 18th century. early political associations of the peoples of the Nyamwezi group began to take shape. Throughout the 19th century some of such associations, such as, for example, the state of Mirambo, which subjugated the entire territory of the Nyamwezi by 1870, arose as a result of the Arab-Swahili slave trade (the entire economy of Zanzibar and Oman was based on the use of slave labor) and as a means of counteracting it.
Another important factor in the history of East Africa was the migration of the Bantu-speaking peoples of the Nguni group. Started in the second quarter of the 19th century, they covered a significant part of the territory of modern Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi. Nguni defeated or subjugated the previously existing state formations on the territory of Zimbabwe and in the upper reaches of the river. Zambezi. The state of Barotse in the west of modern Zambia, created by the peoples of the Lozi group in the 18th century, was conquered by the Makololo people; however, in 1873 the power of the Makololo was overthrown, and Barotse was restored.
period from the end of the 17th century. characterized by the rapid rise of a number of states of the Guinean coast; they were all associated with trade between coastal and inland areas. At the same time, the states of the eastern part of the region - Oyo, Dahomey, Benin, and others - served as the most important intermediaries in the slave trade for export to America. In the western part of the Guinean coast, gold occupied the main place in trade (for example, in the export of the Ashanti state with its capital in Kumasi). Ashanti by the beginning of the 19th century. became the most powerful power in this part of Africa. Participation in the slave trade and the growing demand for palm oil from European merchants stimulated the expansion of the use of slave labor in the economy of most countries in the region; in its eastern part, oil palm plantations appeared and constantly grew, on which slave labor was used. Relatively little is known about the nature of social relations within the coastal states. Some researchers believe that in Ashanti, in the Yoruba city-states, the development of feudal relations began among the Bariba people in the northern part of modern Benin. At the same time, many remnants of older forms remained. public organization, the main of which was the ubiquitous large-family community.
African societies of the river basin. Congo since the end of the 17th century. still lagged behind West Africa; the state of the Congo broke up into a number of small principalities and by the beginning of the 19th century. actually ceased to exist. Luba and Lund during the 18th century. expanded their borders in the south and east. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. Lub's army made a number of campaigns against the state of Cuba. To the southeast of Lund, the state of Kazembe was formed. As in the previous period, the Portuguese slave trade played a significant role in strengthening these states, in which Lunda and Luba acted as the most important intermediaries, the export of slaves to Brazil from the ports of the Angolan coast continued until the end of the 70s. 19th century
Arab-Swahili traders penetrated into the East African Interlake region in the middle of the 19th century. Trade accelerated the formation of a class society, especially in the state of Buganda, which by the second half of the 19th century. became a political and military hegemon in the northern part of the Mezhozerye. The strengthening of Buganda led to the weakening of its main rivals - Unyoro and Karagwe. In Buganda itself, the despotic power of the kabaka increased. In the southern part of the Mezhozerye, the rivalry between Burundi and Rwanda continued, which at the beginning of the 19th century. finally decided in favor of Rwanda. A society with a peculiar class-caste stratification has developed here (see Twa, Hutu, Tutsi). At the same time, in contrast to Buganda, in the southern part of the Mezhozero region, the use of slave labor has not received any noticeable distribution.
Ethiopia after exile in the middle of the 17th century. Portuguese for several centuries was almost isolated from outside world Turkish dominions. Centrifugal tendencies prevailed in the country, and by the beginning of the 19th century. it actually broke up into independent principalities. Only in the middle of the XIX century. The territory of Ethiopia was reunited by Emperor Tewodros II, which was facilitated by the need to deal with the threat of foreign invasion. The strengthening of the centralized Ethiopian state was a major event that largely predetermined the success of the struggle against the intrigues of the European powers. The states of Eastern Sudan Sennar and the Darfur Sultanate, on the contrary, during the XIX - early XX centuries. lost their independence, becoming the object of Turkish-Egyptian occupation and foreign exploitation. In Madagascar in the XVIII-XIX centuries. there was a distribution of the power of the state of Imerina to most of the territory of the island, and also starting from the 40s. 19th century contacts with European countries have significantly expanded.
L. E. Kubbel.
European expansion in Tropical Africa intensified. In addition to the Portuguese, the Dutch, British, and French were strengthening on the African shores. In the 17th century the Dutch for some time captured the main Portuguese settlements of the Guinean coast, and in East Africa the Portuguese were pressed out by the Arabs from Oman. In the XVIII century. the positions of Great Britain and France were noticeably strengthened. The achievements of the industrial revolution, expressed, in particular, in the improvement of military-technical means on land and at sea, made it possible to maintain the superiority of the capitalist states of Europe over the rest of the world. The efficiency of European merchant fleets grew, in particular in the 19th century. after the appearance of heavy and high-speed clippers. Thus, the possibilities of world trade were expanding, for which the ocean routes were becoming increasingly important.
At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. Great Britain seized important positions on the coasts of West Africa (the colonies of Sierra Leone and the Gambia), on routes in East Africa (Cape Town), and in the Indian Ocean (Mauritius Island). In the 20s. 19th century The British settled on the Gold Coast. In 1841 they sent a consul to Zanzibar, where they had previously enjoyed influence by virtue of an agreement with the Sultan of Oman. In the 50s. "consular jurisdiction" was established over Lagos. Freetown in Sierra Leone and Bathurst (modern Banjul) in the Gambia, Lagos, Zanzibar became the centers from which a number of geographical expeditions were sent into the depths of Africa, paving the way for further European expansion (see the History of geographical discoveries and research section).
The French have become noticeably more active in West Africa since the 1940s. XIX century: expanded their possessions along the river. Senegal (where they settled in the 17th century) placed garrisons at several points along the Guinean coast as far as Gabon. As a result, serious clashes broke out between them and the leaders of the Tukuler, Wolof, and other states. The Portuguese kept several settlements in Upper Guinea, as well as the coastal regions of modern Angola and Mozambique, constantly organizing expeditions against the local population, especially in the basin of the river. Zambezi.
Participation in anti-colonial wars left an imprint on the history of a number of peoples in coastal areas. External danger stimulated the strengthening of local institutions of power, for example, in Ashanti and Dahomey. However, in most cases, the spread of European influence contributed to political instability, entailed wars to capture slaves for sale on the ocean coast. From a technical and economic point of view, trade contacts with Europeans had significant consequences. Since the time of the Great Geographical Discoveries, new food crops have spread, primarily corn and cassava, imported by Europeans from America, which increased the potential of agriculture. At the same time, there was a process of degradation of various aspects of economic activity: a reduction in the range of food products (many of them were replaced by new crops), the decline of crafts under the influence of European competition.
From the 70s. 19th century Africa has become an arena for a broad colonial expansion of the European powers, which have entered the imperialist phase of their development. The desire to annex African countries was determined by both economic (search for markets and sources of raw materials) and political (military-strategic, prestigious, etc.) reasons. “The non-economic superstructure growing on the basis of finance capital, its policy, its ideology intensify the desire for colonial conquest,” wrote V. I. Lenin (Poln. sobr. sobr., vol. 27, p. 382). Thus, Great Britain envisaged the creation of an uninterrupted chain of possessions between South and North Africa along the Cape Town-Cairo line. To implement this plan, the British in 1887 took from Zanzibar a part of its continental possessions - the coast of modern Kenya - as a "concession". According to the Anglo-German Treaty of Heligoland in 1890, Zanzibar fell into the sphere of British rule. In 1889, she received a royal charter to govern the territories where Southern and Northern Rhodesia were formed. In the 90s. 19th century Great Britain imposed its "protection" on Buganda and other states that later became part of the English protectorate of Uganda. In 1895, the territory of Kenya was declared a British East African protectorate (in 1902, the eastern part of Uganda also became part of it). In 1891, the British "patronage" was accepted by Barotse, who managed to negotiate for her state the status of an autonomous administrative unit within the English possessions.
In Sudan, in 1896, the British launched large-scale military operations against the Mahdist state. In 1898, the capital of the Mahdists was captured and plundered, their army was defeated. The new colony of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was declared a condominium of Great Britain and Egypt, although the British were in fact in charge of it. In West Africa, the British fought wars in what is now Nigeria and Ghana. Especially stubborn resistance was put up by the Ashanti (see). In 1873-74 they inflicted heavy losses on the enemy and forced Great Britain to temporarily abandon the establishment of a protectorate over their country. The capital of the state of Ashanti Kumasi was captured in 1896, but in 1900 a powerful uprising broke out in the country, caused, in particular, by the fact that the British imposed a large indemnity on the population. The Ashanti besieged the capital for 4 months. Only after fierce battles, which cost the British heavy losses, the uprising was crushed. After a fierce struggle with the troops of the Sultan of Sokoto, by 1904 the British had completed the establishment of de facto control over for the most part territory of modern Nigeria.
In opposition to Great Britain, France hatched a project to create a continuous strip of its possessions from Senegal to Somalia. South of the Sahara, it captured vast but relatively sparsely populated territories of Western and Equatorial Africa, forming here the colonies of the French Congo (from 1910 - ) and (formed in 1895). The selfless struggle against the French troops advancing in the 80-90s. from Senegal into the depths of the Sudanese savannas, they led Wolof, malinke, tukulers. Samory, who united under his rule a number of small Malinke states, led the resistance to the French for 16 years. France's attempts to expand its possessions in Equatorial Africa in an easterly direction, capturing the Upper Nile Valley, were unsuccessful. The French detachment that had captured Fashoda was forced to leave it in 1898 due to the opposition of Great Britain (see Fashoda Crisis). In 1896, France declared a protectorate over the island of Madagascar.
The division of Africa proceeded in the conditions of sharp rivalry between the imperialist powers. They seized any territory, including those that promised benefits only in the distant future. Sometimes small military detachments were sent to the hinterland just to prevent the expansion of the possessions of rivals. Disputes that flared up were usually resolved by bilateral and multilateral agreements of the European powers (see the Brussels Conferences of 1876 and 1889-90, the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885).
The most extensive and economically important areas (most of West Africa, Eastern Sudan) were captured by Great Britain and France, which had powerful industrial and military potential, as well as experience in colonial policy.
Germany joined the struggle for colonial conquests in Africa in 1884, declaring that it would take under its "protection" the Angra-Pekena (modern Lüderitz) region in South-West Africa, and starting the conquest of the territories of Togo and Cameroon and suppressing the armed resistance of the Baquiri, Bas and Bakogo, Poppy, Nzem, etc. These seizures contributed to the further aggravation of relations between Great Britain, France and Germany. In 1885, having imposed a number of treaties on the leaders of African tribes by force of arms, Germany began annexations on the east coast of Africa (see).
The Italians, who in 1869 bought a section of the coast near Assab Bay, began to prepare for the capture of Ethiopia. In the battles near Saati (1887), the Ethiopians destroyed one of the detachments of the Italians. However, according to the Treaty of Uchchal, Italy received part of the territory of modern Ethiopia. In 1890, Italy united all its possessions on the Red Sea into the colony of Eritrea, and in 1894 launched a war against Ethiopia. In the Battle of 1896, the Ethiopians defeated the Italian troops. Italy was forced to abandon encroachments on the independence of Ethiopia. Along with Great Britain and France, Italy participated in the division of the Somali Peninsula, capturing its southeastern part (see,).
Since 1879, the Belgians began to capture in the basin of the river. Congo. International agreements of 1884-85 secured the transformation of this territory into, which was in the possession of Leopold II. In 1908, Leopold II handed over the Congo to Belgian control for a large compensation; Congo officially became a Belgian colony (). Portugal at the beginning of the 20th century owned such large colonies as Angola and Mozambique, as well as Portuguese Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands. Spain captured part of Morocco () and the western coast of the Sahara (). These European states retained their possessions in Africa, taking advantage of the fact that the struggle for spheres of influence did not stop between the large European countries. At the same time, Belgium and Portugal were forced to make various concessions to their big competitors. Portugal provided Britain with ample opportunities for commercial expansion in Angola and Mozambique; Belgium in 1885 agreed to create a tai called the Convention Basin of the Congo, within which uniform customs duties were established for all countries.
african republic Liberia was in fact in complete economic dependence on European countries and USA. Great Britain provided loans to Liberia at usurious interest, France expanded its possessions at the expense of the territory of Liberia.
The capture of the most developed African countries required special efforts from the colonial powers. Operating mainly in small expeditions, the colonialists kept 20-30 thousand troops in West and Equatorial Africa in the 1990s, that is, during the period of the most intensive operations. In 1896, the Italians concentrated 50,000 soldiers and officers in Ethiopia and Eritrea and still lost the war.
Where resistance was stronger (Ethiopia, Western and Eastern Sudan), the colonialists cooperated with the local nobility, and the forms of this cooperation (direct or indirect control, see the article Colonial Administration Systems) were dictated, on the one hand, by the peculiarities of colonial policy European powers, and on the other hand, the peculiarities of the liberation struggle in various regions. In particular, in German East Africa, indirect control was widely used in the areas of settlement of the hehe people, who strongly resisted the Germans in 1891-92. The peoples who stood at a lower stage of development and offered less resistance (the Congo basin) were colonized in the most barbaric forms that were destructive to their way of life.
By 1900, 9/10 of the African continent was in the hands of the colonial invaders. The colonies were turned into agricultural and raw material appendages of the metropolises. The foundations were laid for the specialization of agriculture in the production of export crops (cotton in the Sudan, peanuts in Senegal, cocoa and palm oil in Nigeria, etc.). The involvement of Tropical Africa in the world capitalist market was carried out through the merciless exploitation of its natural and human resources, through political and social discrimination against the indigenous population. To ensure its profits, capitalist Europe has repeatedly turned to the methods of exploitation characteristic of the times of slavery and feudalism and the Africans who brought innumerable disasters.
Colonial societies in Tropical Africa were multiform structures that occupied a subordinate position within the framework of imperial structures. Pre-capitalist natural structures prevailed. Small-scale production developed primarily in the coastal regions, which were most affected by colonization. Capitalism, with the exception of areas where European settlers lived (Kenya, Rhodesia), was represented by individual elements in the cities. The beginnings of a working class, exploited mainly by foreigners, appeared there, and the position of local commercial capital was strengthened. The main producers of colonial societies were communal peasants.
Colonial oppression provoked resistance from the Africans. In Nigeria and Cameroon, the uprisings did not stop until the 1st World War. In Somalia, defensive wars continued throughout the pre-war and war periods. In French West Africa, major uprisings took place in Guinea, Dahomey, and the Ivory Coast. A number of uprisings took place in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The most significant in their scale were: the Herero and Hottentot uprising of 1904-1906 in South-West Africa, 1905-07 in German East Africa, the Zulu uprising of 1906. 05). In the Belgian possessions, where the most severe system of forced labor was introduced, which ensured the export of raw materials, mainly rubber, uprisings broke out one after another. Since the beginning of the 90s. the Belgian "Independent State of the Congo" was shaken by uprisings of kusu, tetel and other peoples (see). In Angola in the 80s and 90s. there were constant clashes between the local population and the Portuguese colonialists. Along with the uprisings that united various segments of the population, at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, especially in the most developed colonies of Great Britain and France, the first independent performances were noted. populace city, the emerging intelligentsia. Nationalist organizations appeared on the Gold Coast, in Senegal (Young Senegalese), Togo and other countries.
During World War I, Africa was the source of the human and material resources of the metropolises. In the French army, there were over a quarter of a million soldiers - natives of the colonies of Tropical Africa and Madagascar. IN armed forces There were more than 60,000 African soldiers in the British Empire. There were about 20,000 African soldiers in the German troops, including up to 15,000 in East Africa. Colonial military units participated in battles in Western Europe and Africa. From their possessions in Tropical Africa, Great Britain and France during the war years exported livestock products, vegetable oils, mineral raw materials. Hundreds of thousands of indigenous people were mobilized to build roads and carry goods for the armies. The hardships caused by military operations (in Togo, Cameroon, German East Africa, German South-West Africa), requisitions, recruitment of labor, mobilization into the army, served as the reason for the strengthening of the anti-colonial movement. The uprisings took place in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Nyasaland. Marka, Senufo, Tuareg rose in French West Africa. The suppression of the uprisings was accompanied by cruel repressions and harsh requisitions.
As a result of hostilities between Germany and the countries of the Entente, the German colonies were occupied, and after the war they were turned into mandated territories by the decisions of the League of Nations.
V. A. Subbotin.
States and peoples on the territory of East Africa on the eve of the colonial partition.
The states of the Lower Niger basin in the first half of the 19th century.
The struggle of the peoples of Africa against colonial aggression in the 19th - early 20th centuries.
State formations in Central Sudan, Central and South Africa in the 16th - mid-19th centuries.
The colonial division of Africa in the XIX - early XX centuries.
Second half of the 17th century
Capital of Benin.
Engraving of the 17th century.
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Part of Africa south of the Sahara.
Ancient history According to most scientists, Africa is the cradle of mankind. The finds of early hominids there are up to 3 million years old. A number of finds aged from 1.6 to 1.2 million years belong to the same species of hominid, which in the process of evolution led to the appearance of Homo sapiens. The formation of ancient people took place in the grassy savannah zone, then they spread throughout the continent. The tools of the Acheulean culture are fairly evenly distributed throughout Africa. However, due to the uniqueness historical conditions And natural environment African archaeological cultures are not always comparable to traditional nomenclature). The Late Stone Age in Africa was characterized by a transition from hunting and gathering to a productive economy. The transition to agriculture and cattle breeding began in different regions at different times, but in general ended in most territories by the middle of the 4th millennium BC. e. By the end of the ancient period, iron tools spread in sub-Saharan Africa. The cultures of the Bronze Age did not develop on the African continent, but there was a transition from the Neolithic stone industry to iron tools. Most scientists believe that iron metallurgy was borrowed from Western Asia c. middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. From the Nile Valley iron metallurgy gradually spread to the west and southwest. The earliest Iron Age culture south of the Sahara is the Nok culture (Central Nigeria, 5th century BC - 3rd century AD). Iron industry in Central and East. Africa dates back to about the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e. The appearance of iron in the south of the territory of the modern Democratic Republic of the Congo (in the upper reaches of the Lualaba River and in the Shaba region) is also dated. OK. 5th-9th centuries in Shaba and in the south of modern Nigeria, independent centers for the smelting and processing of copper developed. The spread of iron tools, facilitating the clearing of land for crops, contributed to the development of new areas that were previously inaccessible to human habitation, primarily the tropical forest zones on both sides of the equator. The process of mass migration to the south and southeast of peoples speaking the languages of the Bantu family began, as a result they settled throughout Africa south of the equator. During these migrations, which continued until the beginning of the 2nd millennium, the Bantu moved around the zone equatorial forests, some of their groups mastered the forest areas bordering the savannah. Bypassing the forest zone, the Bantu pushed back to the north and south the ancient population of the east and southeast of the mainland. In southern Africa, the spread of agriculture and tools of the Iron Age is also associated with the migrations of the Bantu peoples there. Their gradual spread across the southern part of the mainland lasted for centuries. It went in two streams. One moved along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and reached modern Namibia. Other groups moved in three ways: 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 the 3rd century Bantu reached the borders of modern South Africa, and by the 4th century. spread across a number of areas. The Bantu were highly organized peoples with a developed social hierarchy, their relationship with the San (Bushmen) and Koi (Hottentots, Nama) South. Africa included both peaceful coexistence and war. Displacement dignity in unfavorable natural conditions of the area Yuzhn. Africa had an inhibitory effect on the development of their economy and social organization, they never created a productive economy. OK. 9th century BC e on the territory of Kush in Lower Nubia, the state of Meroe arose, which soon extended its power to Upper Egypt. In the VI century. BC e - VIII century. n. e. Meroe was the largest center of ferrous metallurgy in Africa south of the Sahara, bronze and gold metallurgy, and jewelry craft also developed. The peoples of Tropical Africa in ancient times maintained trade relations with the Mediterranean, Front and South. Asia. Precious metals, precious stones, exotic animals, and later slaves were exported from Africa. Salt, grain, handicrafts were imported. To the turn new era The Sahara has finally turned into a desert, so an important role in the development and strengthening of ties between the societies of the Zap. and Central Sudan from the North. Africa and the Nile Valley were played by the use of a camel imported from Asia Minor to the North for trans-Saharan transport. Africa by the Romans. There were also maritime contacts across the Indian Ocean, as evidenced by a large migration at the beginning of a new era from the South. Asian population groups of Indonesian origin on about. Madagascar, which became one of the foundations of the Malgash ethnos. There were three regions of Afro-Mediterranean and Afro-Asian contacts: the Nile Valley, the West. and Central Sudan, coastal regions of East. Africa. In the Middle Ages and Modern times, the social organization of the peoples of Africa was diverse. Along with locally large states, there was the so-called primitive periphery - peoples who did not create other social structures, except for communal-tribal ones. Played a big role geographic factor - soil fertility, proximity to external centers of civilization, etc. The main unit of society has been and remains the community, which, as a rule, is an association of several family and clan groups. Even in modern times, among most African peoples, the transition of the community from tribal to neighboring was not fully completed. A number of reasons contributed to the emergence of supra-communal structures. In the supra-communal structure, as a rule, the “best” community was singled out, from which the supra-communal leaders, the conical clan, were nominated. A universal structure for all mankind on the way to the formation of a state is the chiefdom, an ethnically homogeneous structure, familiar with social and property inequality, division of labor and headed by a leader, often sacralized. The chiefdom is a relatively complex structure that had several levels of government - central, regional and local. Social inequality in the chiefdom is not very pronounced - the life of the leader is not too different in quality from the life of his subjects. The states that emerged in pre-colonial Africa were early states (with the exception of Ethiopia). They had a clear administrative-territorial division, they were headed by a hereditary supreme ruler, who was often deified by his subjects or was a high priest. The population of the early states, as a rule, belonged to different peoples - the "main" and the conquered. The institutions of the tribal society harmoniously grew into the early African states, the tribal aristocracy and family ties played an important role. Western Sudan Geographically, Sudan is a part of Tropical Africa, stretching in a wide belt from west to east of the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to Ethiopia. Conditional border Zap. and Vost. Sudan - lake. Chad. In Zap. Sudan in the IV-XVI centuries. successive states of Ghana, Mali and Songhai. Ghana flourished in the 7th-9th centuries, Mali in the 12th-14th centuries, Songhai in the 15th-16th centuries. From the 13th century Islam became the state religion in Mali, and then in Songhai. In the second half of the XV century. Songhai subjugated the main commercial and cultural centers of the West. Sudan - Timbuktu and Djenne. To the south in the XIV-XV centuries. several states of the Mosi people arose, the first of which was Ouagadougou. In the VIII-IX centuries. appeared in the middle of the thirteenth century. the state of Kanem reached its greatest prosperity to the east of the lake. Chad. At the end of the XIII century. the state fell into decline, from the end of the XIV century. its center has moved to the southwest of the lake. Chad in the region Born. The state of Bornu reached its highest power in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In the XII-XIII centuries. increased migration to the West. Fulbe people in Sudan. Fulbe (Fulani, Pel) is one of the mysteries of the region. Anthropologically, they differ sharply from their neighbors in more subtle features faces and lighter skin, but speak one of the local languages. Some scientists consider the Fulani to be newcomers from the Vost region. Sudan - Ethiopia. At the end of the XIV century. in Masina in the middle delta of the Niger, the Fulbe state developed, in the 16th-17th centuries. subjected to attacks by neighbors, which caused a chain of new migrations of the Fulani. The statehood of the Hausa originated in the 13th century, and in the 14th-15th centuries. Islam spread. The military-political estate and the clergy grew. The Khausan emirates in the Middle Ages were in the sphere of influence of Mali, and then - the Songhai state. It was from there, from Timbuktu, that Arabic writing came, on the basis of which the Hausa created their own alphabet - ajam. After the fall of the Songhai state in 1591, the centers of trans-Saharan trade and Muslim theology moved to the Hausan emirates. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. the cities of Katsina and Kano rise, in the 18th century. - Zamfara and Gobir in the west of the Land of Hausa. But in 1764 Gobir defeated Zamfara and became, along with Katsina, the chief of the Hausan city-states. In Zap. Fulbe settled in Sudan from the XIII-XIV centuries. on the territory of several modern states. They created states on the Futa Toro Plateau (Senegal) and the Futa Jalon Plateau (Guinea). In 1727-1728, the Fulbe began a jihad under the leadership of Ibrahim Sambegu Bariya. The locals were assimilated by the Fulani. The emerging state was characterized high level cultural development. Here writing was widely spread, and not only Arabic, but also in the Fulbe language. The country was ruled by the supreme head of the alma, who was elected by the Council, which in turn was elected by the Fulba nobility. The emergence of the Sokoto Caliphate was associated with the name of Osman dan Fodio (1754-1817). He was the son of a teacher of the Koranic school. In 1789 he received the right to preach, then he created a religious community of the discontented. In his writings, Osman dan Fodio spoke out against the Sarki regime, the ruler of Gobir. In 1804, he declared himself the head of all Muslims (amir-el-muminin), began a jihad against the rulers of Gobir, and in 1808 the rebels captured Alcalava, the capital of Gobir. Osman dan Fodio announced the end of jihad. He proclaimed himself caliph of the new Sokoto empire. In 1812 the caliphate was divided into two parts - western and eastern. They were led by the brother and son of Osman, Dan Fodio, respectively. The emirates that were part of the caliphate were ruled by the so-called royal emirs, local representatives of the Fulba nobility, active participants in jihad. Below, power was exercised by a whole pyramid of governors from the Fulban aristocracy, including judges - alcali. After the death of Osman dan Fodio in 1817, his son Mohammed Belo became the head of the Caliphate. He kept the old Hausan emirates within their borders under the rule of the Fulban aristocracy. In the second half of the XIX century. the Sokoto caliphate was a relatively stable large state. One of the centers of civilization in the region in modern times is the city-state of the Yoruba. The genesis of statehood began among the Yoruba in the 10th-12th centuries; the cradle of their statehood and culture is Ile-Ife in the southwest of modern Nigeria. In modern times, the city of Oyo becomes one of the notable centers of the Yoruba. It was founded around the 14th century, and from the 17th century. the period of its rise and expansion begins, which lasted two centuries. As a result, the state of Oyo became one of the largest military-political formations in the region. From 1724, Oyo waged war with neighboring Dahomey, which was conquered in 1730. As a result, Oyo significantly expanded territorially and gained access to the Atlantic Ocean. However, at the beginning of the XIX century. Dahomey again fell away from Oyo, weakened by internecine wars and internal strife. Oyo finally fell in 1836 under the blow of the Sokoto Caliphate. The state of Dahomey was formed c. 1625. Its ethnic basis was the Aja people of the Fon group. The rise of Dahomey took place by the beginning of the 18th century. The capture of the slave ports of Ardra (Allada) and Vida on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, which took place in 1724-1725, contributed to the further strengthening of the state. The same fact, however, also contributed to the subjugation of Dahomey by the powerful neighbor Oyo, who needed access to the ocean coast. From 1730 Dahomey became a tributary of Oyo, and the son of its ruler was sent there as a hostage. In 1748, an agreement between Dahomey and Oyo consolidates the established relationship of dependence. At the end of the XVIII - beginning of the XIX century. a new rise of Dahomey begins, and it falls away from Oyo. Dahomey's eastern neighbor was Benin. The heyday of this state, the ethnic basis of which was the Edo people, fell at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries. The new rise of Benin began in the 19th century, but was interrupted by the French conquest. The so-called bronzes of Benin are widely known - reliefs and heads made of bronze with extraordinary skill. For the first time, Europe became acquainted with Benin bronzes, when in 1897, during the looting of the palace, its treasures and even bas-reliefs from the outer walls were taken out. Nowadays, any major art museum exhibits Benin bronzes. Art historians divide them into 3 periods: early - until the middle of the 16th century, middle - 16th-18th centuries. and late - the end of the XVIII-XIX centuries. With the development of the transatlantic slave trade in the delta of the river. Several political entities emerged in Niger, which are commonly called mediator states. The most important of them were Ardra (Allada) and Vida, the ethnic basis of which was the Aja people. The slave trade caused a transformation in the social organization of these cities. Traditionally, settlements were divided into quarters (polo), and those, in turn, into sub-quarters (vari). The settlements were ruled by a meeting of the entire adult population, headed by an elder - amayonabo. He served as the high priest and commander of the army. With the development of the slave trade in the region in the XVIII-XIX centuries. the power of the amayonabo was strengthened, and the wari was transformed into a new type of social organization - the house. The house, unlike the vari, included not only blood relatives, but also slaves. The main source of acquiring slaves was not capture, but purchase. Slave markets developed in the cities of the delta. The Ashanti people live in the north of modern Ghana. The basis of the Ashanti economy in modern times was left by the slave trade and the gold trade. The basis of the ethno-social organization of the Ashanti was Oman - the union of family and tribal communities. Each community was headed by a council of elders, military detachments were created on the basis of the communities. The army of each Oman was an association of such detachments. The clear Ashanti military organization was unparalleled in the region. The Omans were self-sufficient structures, but at the very end of the 17th century. Ashanti created the so-called confederation - the union of the Omans - to fight their neighbors. The first asantehene (supreme leader) - Osei Tutu - united all the Ashanti under his rule in 1701 and ruled for 30 years. Subsequent rulers controlled more and more lands, and by the beginning of the twentieth century. Asantehene power extended almost to the entire territory of modern Ghana. Central and Eastern Sudan Kanem was located at the northern tip of the lake. Chad. Gradually, the center of this association of the ancestors of the modern Kanuri people shifted to the west in the region. Born. The basis of the economy that existed until the middle of the XVI century. powers Kanem-Born was trans-Saharan trade with the countries of the North. Africa, interested in obtaining purely African goods - ivory and slaves. In exchange, northern Nigerian territories received salt, horses, fabrics, weapons produced in Europe and the Maghreb countries, and various household goods. Significant difficulties were caused by the constant raids of the Saharan Tuareg tribes united for these purposes. In the western part of the East. Sudan in the XVI-XIX centuries. the Sultanate of Darfur existed. Its ethnic basis was the For (Konjara) people. At the beginning of the XIX century. The population of the Sultanate was ca. 3-4 million people, and the army reached the number of 200 thousand people. The power of the Sultan was almost absolute. He had a main council of the highest nobility, a small privy council and several especially important dignitaries. The sultanate was divided into provinces headed by the governors of the sultan, who had police forces at their disposal - detachments of armed slaves. The villagers had to pay a natural tax in favor of the Sultan up to 1/10 of their income - grain, skins, meat, etc. The same applied to the Arab nomads who lived on the territory of the Sultanate. The country was dominated by a subsistence economy, but there was exchange and markets. The role of money was played by tin and copper rings, bars of salt, and slaves. The Sultanate also conducted foreign trade, exporting slaves, camels, ivory, ostrich feathers, and gum arabic. Firearms, metals, fabrics, paper, etc. were imported. Cities stood on caravan routes, the capital of the sultanate was the city of El Fasher. In 1870 the Sultanate of Darfur recognized its dependence on Egypt. In the eastern part of the East. Sudan in the XVI-XIX centuries. the Sultanate of Sennar existed. Its ethnic basis was the Fung people. Sennar was an association under the rule of the fungi of a whole chain of territories along the Nile from the third threshold in the north to Sennar proper (the Blue Nile) in the south. The Sultanate lived by irrigated agriculture, its inhabitants skillfully built canals, dams and water mills. They grew wheat, millet, corn, gourds, peppers and cotton. They bred cattle - meat, dairy and draft - and were skilled in the manufacture of a special cotton fabric. Principles state structure were based on Sharia law. The Sultan, with him - a council of the nobility from the highest dignitaries, a secret council of four, the chief judge - a qadi. Dependent provinces paid more taxes, and the Sennar proper paid a poll tax, a tax on livestock and land, and 1/10 of the crop. Construction was widely developed in the Sultanate - even in the villages there were fortified castles, while in the cities the rich quarters consisted of adobe houses with a flat roof. The capital of the Sultanate, the city of Sennar, totaled by the end of the 18th century. OK. 100 thousand inhabitants. Slave labor was widely used in the country - up to 8 thousand slaves worked on the Sultan's lands alone. The army was also strong, numbering several tens of thousands of soldiers. Sennar was a country of Muslim learning, Arabic served as the state language, the percentage of literate people who studied in schools at mosques was high. From the founding of the Sultanate to 1912, historical chronicles were kept. The Sultanate of Sennar was captured by Khedive Egypt in 1821. Ethiopia In the first centuries of the new era, the Aksumite kingdom was formed on the territory of modern Ethiopia. In the 4th-6th centuries, during the heyday of Aksum, the hegemony of Aksum extended to Nubia, where the states of Mukurra, Aloa and Nabatia replaced the ancient Meroitic kingdom. During this period, Christianity began to spread there (in the 4th-6th centuries in Aksum, in the 5th-6th centuries in Nubia). In the first half of the XI century. Aksumite kingdom finally collapsed. By the New Age, Ethiopia is already a fairly vast and militarily powerful state, the economic basis and political superstructure of which allow us to speak of the presence of developed feudalism in the country. In the middle of the XVI century. the country entered a devastating 30-year war with the once vassal Muslim sultanates. Calling on the help of the Portuguese, armed firearms , Ethiopia with great difficulty managed to defeat the Muslim army and defend its independence. Attempts by the Portuguese clergy to convert the country's population to Catholicism caused stubborn resistance from the Ethiopian clergy and flock, who did not want to move away from the "pure faith of the fathers." An important factor in the history of Ethiopia was the mass migration of the Oromo tribes from the Red Sea coast. Within two centuries, the Oromo managed to capture the fertile regions of the country, including in its central part. The country was in a state of self-isolation, and under pain of death, Europeans were forbidden to be within its borders. The main content of domestic political life was the constant internecine wars of the feudal lords for the expansion of their possessions. Centrifugal tendencies, which intensified by the middle of the 18th century, led to the “time of princes”. The power of the emperor was purely nominal, and the country turned into a conglomerate of virtually independent region-states. With the weakening of the central government, there was a process of strengthening and development of certain parts of Ethiopia, primarily the Shoah. Second half of the 19th century - a time of unceasing struggle for the creation and strengthening of a centralized Ethiopian state, for the preservation and strengthening of statehood. The “scramble for Africa” that began during this period between the Western European imperialist powers made the process of creating a strong and united Ethiopian state a task of prime necessity. This problem was solved during the reign of three emperors who went down in history as unifying emperors: Tewodros II, Yohannys IV and Menelik II. Acting in different ways depending on the specific historical situation, they managed to suppress the resistance of the separatist feudal lords to varying degrees and strengthen the central government. Through the efforts of Menelik II, that Ethiopia was created, which lasted until the revolution of 1974, at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. the country acquired modern geographical outlines, an administrative reform was carried out, and its own currency appeared. A cabinet of ministers was created, postal and telegraph services were organized, and the first European-style schools were opened. The end of the 19th century, known in the historiography of Africa as the period of the "scramble for Africa", was also alarming for Ethiopia. Italy was especially active in the Horn of Africa region. Unable to impose her protectorate on Ethiopia through diplomacy, she decided to achieve her goal by force. The Italo-Ethiopian war of 1895-1896 resulted in three battles: at Amba-Alag, at Mekel and Adua. In the decisive battle on the night of March 1, 1896, the skillful leadership of Emperor Menelik, the courage of the Ethiopian soldiers, coupled with the tactical mistakes of the Italian command, led to the complete defeat of the colonialists. East Africa The territories lying between the African Great Lakes are called the East African Inter-Lakes. Here, at the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia, the state of Kitara arose, which flourished in the 12th-14th centuries. The state was formed as a result of the interaction of agricultural and pastoral peoples. The agricultural culture was brought by the peoples of the Bantu group, the pastoral culture was brought by the peoples of the Nilotic group, who came to the Mezhozerje, as they say, from the Ethiopian highlands. By the beginning of the New Age, Kitara had to cede leadership in the Mezh-lake region to its former small and inconspicuous southern province - Buganda, whose inhabitants were called "Baganda". Buganda became one of the largest states in pre-colonial Tropical Africa. From Kitara, Buganda inherited the division into provinces, but here they were divided into smaller districts. Each province or district was headed by a governor appointed directly by the supreme ruler - a tavern. Kabaka was considered a link with the spirits of their ancestors, who ascended to the legendary founder of Buganda. Kabaka had absolute power. Clans, or clans, were a stable unit of social organization. The elders or their representatives occupied certain court positions, which were hereditary, and at first made up the majority of the administrative class. However, in the XVIII century. there is a gradual formation and strengthening of the service aristocracy, on which the taverns increasingly relied. Buganda reached its greatest prosperity under the tavern Mutesa I (reigned 1856-1884), who created the beginnings of a standing army and a fleet of war canoes. Mezhozerie developed in relative isolation from the outside world. Merchants, including slave traders from the coast of the Indian Ocean, came here only in the second half of the 18th century. They, representatives of the Swahili civilization, brought Islam with them. The first Christian Europeans were seen in Buganda only in 1862, they were famous English travelers J. Speke and J. Grant. And in 1875 another famous traveler, G. M. Stanley, visited Buganda. On his initiative, European missionaries appeared in the country, followed by colonial expansion. In the 7th-8th centuries on the ocean coast. Africa, at the junction of local cultures and Islamic culture, brought by settlers from Arabia and Persia, the Swahili civilization arose. By the XIII century. coastal trading settlements grew into large city-states of Kilwa, Pate, Lamu, etc. The Swahili civilization was a hotbed of trade and stone urban construction, a rich spiritual culture flourished here, which was characterized by lyrical songs and epic poems in the local Swahili language. Chronicles were kept in every city-state. The Swahili city-states fell into decline after the Great Geographical Discoveries, as a result of which the Portuguese gradually seized the initiative in maritime trade - the basis of the economic prosperity of the Swahili civilization. The successor of this civilization was the Zanzibar Sultanate, which arose at the behest of the Omani Sultan Sayyid Said. By 1832, he moved there, including in his possessions up to 300 large and small neighboring islands. Clove plantations were established on Zanzibar and neighboring islands, which became the basis of the economic prosperity of the Sultanate. Another important article was the slave trade - the sultanate became one of its largest centers, supplying slaves from the hinterland of the East. Ariki to the Middle East. After the death of Sayyid Said in 1856, his empire was divided between the heirs into two parts - the Omani and Zanzibar sultanates. The Zanzibar sultans pursued an active foreign policy; consulates of all the leading European powers and the United States were opened on the island. Zanzibar became the gateway to the East. Africa for European goods, and the slave market was closed in 1871 by Sultan Seid Bargash under pressure from European powers. In the course of the "scramble for Africa", the Zanzibar Sultanate eventually became dependent on Great Britain. Equatorial Africa Central Africa is one of the most difficult regions for human life. Here are thick rainforests give way to savannas on the plateau, rising in ledges from the ocean deep into the continent. On the easternmost of these plateaus, Shaba, the Bantu, in the course of their migrations, consolidated at the turn of the 1st-2nd millennia and began secondary migrations. By the beginning of the New Age, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean south of the mouth of the river. Bakongo settled to the south of them, in the territory of modern Angola, - bambundu, in the interfluve of Kasai and Sankuru - bakuba, on the Shaba plateau - baluba, and in the northeast of Angola - balunda. In the XIII century. south of the river mouth. Congo, on the territory of modern Angola, the state of the Congo arose, the rulers of which - the manikongo - as a result of contacts with the Portuguese in the 15th century. adopted Catholicism. During its heyday (XVI - first half of the XVII century), the Congo was divided into 6 provinces, there were many court positions with magnificent titles. In the second half of the XVII century. internecine wars broke out in the country more than once. The so-called Antonian heresy contributed to the final disintegration of the state, when a certain prophetess Beatrice appeared in the country, announcing that St. Anthony. She preached, in particular, hatred for the missionaries and the king who was in their hands. Beatrice was burned at the stake in 1706, and her supporters were defeated by the royal troops only in 1709. After that, practically only the province surrounding the capital, Mbanza-Kongo (San Salvador), remained from the Congo. The state of Angola (Ndongo) arose on the southern periphery of the Congo c. 15th century It was populous and polyethnic. The basis of its economy was shifting agriculture and cattle breeding, as well as metal processing (iron and copper), pottery and weaving. Ndongo had a strong army at that time, numbering up to 50 thousand soldiers. It was this circumstance that determined the stubborn resistance of the state to Portuguese penetration (the so-called Angolan wars from 1575). Resistance to the Portuguese was led by Nzinga Mbandi Ngola (born c. 1582), first a princess, and from 1624 the ruler of Ndongo. She waged a long war with the Portuguese, concluding an alliance with Holland in 1641 against them. In October 1647 Angolan-Dutch troops defeated the Portuguese. However, they took revenge in 1648. The death of Nzinga in 1663 contributed to the further decline of Ndongo, and from the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries. Portugal subjugates Angola. In the depths of Equatorial Africa, the states of the Bakuba, Baluba and Balunda peoples successively reached their peak. The first, called Bushongo, arose towards the end of the 16th century. , flourished in 1630-1680, is known, in particular, for the slave guard and the specialization of judges in various types of cases. The heyday of the Luba state - the end of the 18th - the beginning of the 19th centuries. At that time, it extended from west to east for 600 km. The title of the supreme ruler of the state is mulohve. Under him, there was a council of nobility and a nominal mother co-ruler. The title of the supreme ruler of the balunda state is muata yamvo. The state reached its peak in the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries. The expansion of the balund to the east led to the emergence of approx. 1750 state of Kazembe, arranged according to a similar pattern. By the end of the XVIII century. Kazembe became the dominant force in the south of what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. The state conducted trade with the East African ocean coast and in 1798-1799 successfully repulsed the attacks of the Portuguese military expedition. The states of the hinterland of Equatorial Africa had much in common. For a long time they developed almost in complete isolation. At the head of each of them was the supreme hereditary ruler, determined by the norms of maternal law. Under the ruler, there was a council of nobility and numerous courtiers. Each state had several levels of administration. The residence of the ruler was in an urban-type settlement, but the location of the capital was constantly changing. The state of Bakuba was the most stable in composition, the Baluba state was less stable, and even less stable was the Balunda state. In general, it can be noted that these were typical of the so-called early African states. South Africa Africa is one of the regions of anthropogenesis. Australopithecus remains were found here. It is believed that it was in this region that the formation of the Khoisanids took place: the Saan (Bushmen) and the Khoi, or Nama (Hottentots). They are considered a sub-race of the Negroid race. The Saan are hunters and gatherers. Koi (Nama) have long since switched to cattle breeding, by the beginning of the New Age they formed conical clans. Archaeological excavations show that already at the end of the XV century. Bantu began to appear in the region. Bantu South. Africa by the New Age, there was a property inequality. There was a supreme elder, he had advisers, below were the elders of the exogamous clans. From time immemorial, their associations were not tribal, but territorial. The clan was the basic unit of social organization; in parallel, conical clans were formed and chiefdoms were formed. In the interfluve of the Zambezi and Limpopo, starting from the 9th century. civilization of Zimbabwe. The ethnic basis is the Karanga and Rozvi peoples, two branches of the Bantu-speaking Shona people. Civilization lasted approx. 10 centuries, known for large stone buildings for public and cultural purposes. In the XV century. one of the rulers of the state took the title of Mwene mutapa, and the state became known as Monomotapa. Its decline, like that of the Swahili city-states, was brought about by the Portuguese conquests in the East. Africa and the Portuguese monopolization of maritime trade in the Indian Ocean. On April 6, 1652, a fort was founded at the foot of Table Mountain, which became the beginning of the city of Kapstaada (now Cape Town). The Dutch East India Company established a stronghold there. Some of its employees became farmers, and farmers also moved directly from the Netherlands. The population of the Cape Colony also grew rapidly due to immigrants from German lands, and later French Huguenots. The development of farming led to a massive drive of the Nama from the lands. Wars accompanied the entire subsequent history of the whites in southern Africa - this was the main way of the territorial expansion of the Cape Colony. From 1654, the East India Company imported slaves from the island of Madagascar into the Cape Colony. The Boers became a new ethnic group that arose in Yuzhn. Africa as a result of mixing immigrants from the Netherlands, German lands, France. Their language - Cape-Dutch (now Afrikaans) - gradually moved away from classical Dutch. The system of administration of the Cape Colony remained almost unchanged until it passed into the hands of the British in 1806. The colony was headed by a governor. He presided over the Political Council, which played the role of the highest authority in the colony. The provinces were ruled by landdrosts, who headed the respective councils. There was no standing army, but farmers were required to perform military service in the event of hostilities. The possessions of the Dutch East India Company on the Cape is the first settlement, or resettlement, colony on the African continent, immigrants from Europe settled there forever and ran a productive economy. Since 1806, British rule was finally established in the Cape Colony. In 1820-1821, more than 5,000 families of settlers came to the Cap, as a result, the white population of the colony doubled. The Boers became a minority even among the whites. In 1808, the British authorities on the Cape banned the slave trade, and in 1834, the prohibition to own slaves. All this undermined the foundations of the Boer economy and overwhelmed their patience. The Boers decided to leave the Cape Colony, which they once founded. The most large-scale resettlement, carried out under the leadership of Peter Retief, began in 1835, having received the name of the Great Trek. Over 5 thousand Boers crossed the river. Orange and left the Cape Colony. By 1845 the number of settlers had increased to 45,000. In 1839, the South-East. In Africa, an independent Boer state arose - the Republic of Natal. However, after 4 years, the British captured this territory as well. Afrikaners were forced to migrate again to the hinterland of the South. Africa, where two new republics were formed: in 1852 the Republic of South Africa (since 1856 it was also called the Transvaal) with its capital in Pretoria, and in 1854 the Orange Free State with Bloemfontein as its capital. Since the size of many farms reached 50-100 thousand acres, the labor of native laborers and slaves was actively used. From the very beginning of the existence of the Cape Colony, there were anti-colonial uprisings and uprisings by the Khoi, and then by the Bantu-speaking peoples. The eastward expansion of the Cape Colony led to protracted wars with the Xhosa people. The so-called Kaffir wars continued with varying success from the 70s of the XVIII century. until the 80s of the XIX century. The development of the South African Bantu was not uniform. The processes of ethnic consolidation manifested themselves to the greatest extent among the Zulu and Sotho. In the 1820s and 1840s, these processes, which coincided with the expansion of European expansion and the Great Trek, were called "umfekane" - "grinding" in the Zulu language. In the course of this complex phenomenon, the Zulu ethnos appeared and the so-called empire of Chaka arose. At the same time, the Ndebele ethnos was formed and the Mzilikazi empire arose, the Basotho ethnos and the Mshweshwe empire arose. During the Great Trek, the Boers clashed with the Zulus, who had a well-trained regular army. December 16, 1838 on the river. Buffalo between the army of Chaka's successor - Dingaan and several hundred Boer settlers happened decisive battle . The Boers, armed with firearms, killed more than 3,000 Zulus. After the defeat of Dingaan, his state fell apart. The Zulus were first left the territory north of the river. Tugela, but then these lands were captured by Europeans. The autochthonous population of Namibia are the Saan (Bushmen). Later, the Nama and the Herero came there. Migrating to the north of modern Namibia, the Ovambo have long bred large and small cattle, the main agricultural crops for them were cereals. At the beginning of the New Age, they had social supra-clan structures - chiefdoms and early states. Herero constantly moved in search of pastures and water, overcoming great distances. Their economic unit was a community headed by an elder, but by the middle of the 19th century. the institution of omukhona - a hereditary supra-communal leader - and chiefdoms appeared. These chiefdoms were completely independent. One of these omuhon was Magarero (Kamagerero, the self-proclaimed supreme leader of the Herero), who came to the fore during the wars against the Nama (1863-1870). Separate Nama groups moved northward into the territory of modern Namibia. One of the manifestations of the Umfekane process was the invasion of Namaz-speaking groups to the Eagles there. Their invasion disrupted the traditional way of life of the local population and the fragile socio-political balance in these parts. In the 1830s and 1850s, the Orlam leader Jonker Afrikaaner subjugated many Nama and Herero groups and created a military-territorial entity whose authority extended to most of the central regions of modern Namibia. After the death of Jonker Afrikaaner in 1861, his state collapsed, but the Herero kept the Nama in constant fear. Wars between the Herero and the Nama continued intermittently for almost the entire 19th century. In 1890, in the face of a common danger for the Herero and Nama - German colonialism - peace was finally concluded between them. The giant island of Madagascar is inhabited mainly by representatives not of the Negroid, but of the Mongoloid race, speaking the languages of the Malayo-Polynesian family. Archaeological finds indicate that the formation of the peoples inhabiting Madagascar took place in the course of numerous migrations and assimilation of immigrants from Indonesia, East. Africa and countries of the Arab East. By the beginning of the XVI century. The island has approx. 18 ethnic groups differing from each other in the form of economic activity. In the XVI-XVII centuries. several early political formations arose on the territory of Madagascar, the most significant of them is Imerina, the ethnic basis of which was the geldings. Until the end of the XVIII century. Imerina experienced a period of civil wars. Andrianampuinimerina became the unifier of the state. By this time, three main social strata had developed there: the nobility, ordinary community members, and patriarchal slaves. 19th century - the time of the rapid development of Imerina as a single state. Radama I (reigned 1810-1828) created a regular army according to the European model, numbering up to 10 thousand people, and managed to subjugate almost all the peoples who lived in the lowland coastal regions of the island. Under him, missionaries opened schools, the first printing press appeared, and the foundation was laid for the introduction in 1876 of universal free education for children from 8 to 16 years old. The construction of the first canal in the coastal zone of the island began, and in 1825 a sugar factory was opened. The throne of Radama was inherited in 1828 by his wife Ranavaluna I, who continued to strengthen the state, under her the first legal code was published - the Code of 46 Articles. The last absolute monarch of Imerina, Radama II, opened the doors to the island to the French, signing an agreement with them in 1862. In 1863-1896, the de facto ruler of Imerina was the prime minister and husband of three queens, Rainilaiarivuni. In 1868 he declared Christianity in the form of Anglicanism (see Church of England) the state religion of Imerina. Under him, Madagascar flourished. The legislative system and the state apparatus were strengthened. French expansion to the island resumed in 1882. As a result of two Franco-Malagasy wars (1883–1895), France abolished the local monarchy and in June 1896 declared the island its colony. Neither the heroic armed resistance of the inhabitants of Madagascar, nor the firm position of their ruler helped. The colonial division of Africa The colonial division of Africa began in the last quarter of the 19th century. An important stage was the Berlin Conference on the division of the river basin. Congo (November 1884 - March 23, 1885). Russia also participated in it, chaired the conference German Chancellor O. Bismarck. On February 26, 1885, the most important document of the conference was adopted - final act, who declared freedom of trade in the Congo basin, its mouths and surrounding countries. The so-called principle of “effective occupation” was established, that is, the colonial powers were obliged not only to declare their sovereignty over a particular territory, but also to create a management system there, impose taxes, build roads, etc. The colonial division of Africa ended in mostly towards the end of the 19th century. As a result, the entire Tropical and South. Africa, with the exception of Liberia and Ethiopia, found itself in one form or another in colonial dependence on the metropolises - Great Britain, France, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Italy. Tropical and South Africa in the XX - early XXI century. In the history of the Tropical and Southern. Africa in the 20th century there are several defining moments that are closely related to key events in world history. These were the results of the First World War of 1914-1918 and the emergence of the mandate system; the impact of the victory in World War II 1939-1945 of the Anti-Hitler coalition; the confrontation between the capitalist and socialist blocs and the acceleration of decolonization (the year of Africa - 1960). An equally important milestone was the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. The final formation of colonial regimes in most African possessions took place at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. XX century in the Tropical and Southern. Africa is the time of formation and evolution of colonial societies. Colonial society is not intermediate historical stage"modernization" or transition from a pre-capitalist society to a capitalist one, but a special social phenomenon with its own laws of development, social groups, political institutions, etc. Colonial society as a type of sociality does not end with the achievement of political independence by African countries, but remains there with some modifications almost until so far. The colonies gradually turned into agrarian-raw material appendages of the metropolises. S. x. and the emerging industry of the African colonies (mainly mining and manufacturing) were designed mainly for export. On the lands appropriated by the Europeans, large farms or plantations arose. In dealing with pre-capitalist societies, the colonial authorities themselves inevitably used pre-capitalist methods of their exploitation, such as forced labor, as well as mass expulsions of Africans from the lands and their resettlement in reserves. The latter was characteristic of the resettlement colonies, in particular Kenya, Sev. and Yuzhn. Rhodesia (Zambia and Zimbabwe), Southwest. Africa (Namibia). The clash of pre-capitalist societies with the realities of European capitalism led to the fact that the capitalist way of life in Africa was not purely capitalist: as a rule, forced labor or the labor of otkhodniks was used there. The otkhodnik is one of the central social figures of the colonial society. This is an individual who spends part of his life on earnings (seasonally, sporadically, or several years at a time), but is not excluded from his original economy, where his family continues to live and work. In reality, the colonial peasant is a otkhodnik, a farm laborer with an allotment, a community worker who practically leads a subsistence economy, etc. An important element social structure colonial societies - the so-called native leaders and rulers. Having become part of the colonial system, they contributed to the integration of ordinary community members into colonial society, performing the functions of “native” administrations on the ground - collecting taxes, organizing public works, maintaining law and order. Even at the dawn of the history of colonialism in Africa, many of its peoples with weapons in their hands tried to defend their independence. Herero and Nama uprisings in the Southwest. Africa (1904-1907), Maji-Maji uprising of 1905-1907 in the German East. Africa and other performances inevitably waited for defeat due to the inequality of forces. The “mastering” of the African continent by European powers, the formation and evolution of colonial societies gave rise to new forms of African protest. At the first stage, until the end of the First World War, the struggle of Africans developed not so much against colonialism as such, but for the regulation of relations between the colony and the mother country. Later, anti-colonial protest took on new forms and was realized in other spheres of life. For many years, in many parts of Africa, one of the most important forms of anti-colonialism was Afro-Christian and Islamic movements and sects. Passive protest resulted in non-payment of taxes, boycott of European goods, flight to neighboring colonies, etc. The decolonization of the African continent was not a straightforward process with a predetermined goal. In the interwar 20th anniversary, the public mind of Africans began to form ideas about the possibility of alternative ways of development - not only under the auspices of European metropolises, but also within the framework of self-government, the principles of which were widely discussed by numerous socio-political organizations that arose at that time (African National Congress of South Africa , established in 1912, the National Congress of British West Africa, established in 1920, and other movements and parties). Of great importance in their formation were the ideas of pan-Africanism, which originated in the New World and fought against discrimination against all peoples of African descent. Socialist and communist ideas were also of some importance, especially in the South. Africa, where the Communist Party arose as early as 1921 and was accepted into Communist International. Political parties of the modern type, which put forward demands for the independence of their countries, arose in Africa mainly after the Second World War. It was these organizations that led the movement for political independence in the third stage of decolonization, which began with the end of World War II. The allies in this struggle, which bore peaceful and armed forms, for the African peoples were, first of all, the countries of the Eastern Bloc and various international, regional and national non-governmental organizations. Big influence for clearance general principles decolonization process was supported by the United Nations and its specialized bodies, constantly enriching the international legal foundations of this process. The Fifth Pan-African Congress (1945) proclaimed a course towards achieving independence. Mass parties arose, old ones were established and new political leaders came to the fore. The British colony of the Gold Coast was the first to gain independence in 1957, taking the historical name of Ghana. In 1960, 17 African colonies gained political independence at once, mostly former possessions of France, which is why it went down in history as the year of Africa. Further, in the 60s, the British colonies in Tropical Africa became independent, after the Portuguese revolution, in 1975 - the former Portuguese possessions, in 1980 - the British South. Rhodesia, known as Zimbabwe. The declaration of independence of the last colonies of Black Africa falls on the 1990s: in 1990, Namibia, occupied by South Africa, gained independence, and in 1994, the special colonial regime was ended in South Africa, where, after the first general elections, a black majority government came to power. Delaying the process of decolonization of the continent in its southern regions can be explained primarily by the peculiarities of the development of so-called internal colonialism in countries with a complex ethnic composition population. In addition, it should be borne in mind that decolonization has always been seen as an important aspect of the confrontation in the ideological struggle between the Eastern and Western blocs, which allowed or deliberately provoked the emergence of “hot spots” within the framework of the Cold War. The decolonization of Africa did not lead to the resolution of all its former problems. Moreover, in the course of decolonization, new ones were outlined or emerged. In particular, the most serious problem that many African countries faced either on the eve of independence or shortly after its declaration was separatism. In Uganda, on the eve of independence, Buganda attempted secession. In Zaire (the former Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), immediately after independence, two provinces were separated - Katanga and Kasai. In Nigeria in 1967-1970 there was a civil war with the seceded "Republic of Biafra". Until today, a tense balance continues between the need to respect the right of peoples to self-determination, recorded in many international documents, including the fundamental documents of the UN, and the principle of maintaining territorial integrity, protected by every capable person. modern state. Another problem is the search by African countries for their place in the world, including the problem of choosing a model for socio-economic and political development, alliances with leading world and regional blocs. Another important problem faced by African countries was the need for spiritual decolonization, which has been discussed since the middle of the 19th century. said prominent members of the African intellectual elite, considering such a liberation a priority and much more important than obtaining the status of an independent state. In general, economic, political and ethnic issues in Tropical and Southern. Africa at the turn of the twentieth century. escalated. The average African's standard of living continued to fall. The militarization of many countries has intensified. A number of new and some old hotbeds of instability and conflicts have emerged in Somalia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, the Congo and other countries.
Russian Historical Encyclopedia
Africa is the second largest continent in the world (after Eurasia). Its subregions (their economy, population, nature and states) will be discussed in this article.
Options for dividing the territory of the continent
The territory of Africa is the largest geographical region of our planet. Therefore, the desire to divide it into parts is quite natural. The following two large areas stand out: Tropical and North Africa (or Africa north of the Sahara). Between these parts there are quite large natural, ethnic, historical and socio-economic differences.
Tropical Africa is the most backward region of the developing world. And in our time, the share of agriculture in its GDP is higher than the share industrial production. 28 of the 47 least developed countries in the world are located in Tropical Africa. Also here is the maximum number of countries that do not have access to the sea (there are 15 such states in this region).
There is another option for dividing Africa into regions. According to him, its parts are South, Tropical and North Africa.
Let us now turn to the consideration of regionalization itself, that is, the allocation of large macroregions (subregions) of the continent of interest to us. Currently, it is considered that there are only five of them. Africa sub-regions has the following: South, East, Central, West and North Africa (on the map above). At the same time, each of them has specific features of the economy, population and nature.
North Africa
North Africa goes to Red and mediterranean sea as well as to the Atlantic Ocean. Thanks to this, its ties with Western Asia and Europe have been established since ancient times. Its total area is approximately 10 million km 2, on which about 170 million people live. The Mediterranean "façade" defines the position of this sub-region. Thanks to him, North Africa is adjacent to Southwest Asia and has access to the main sea route that runs from Europe to Asia.
Cradle of civilization, Arab colonization
The sparsely inhabited spaces of the Sahara desert form the "rear" of the region. North Africa is the cradle of the civilization of Ancient Egypt, which made a great contribution to culture. The Mediterranean part of the continent in ancient times was considered the granary of Rome. To this day, among the lifeless sea of stone and sand, you can find the remains of underground drainage galleries, as well as other ancient structures. Many cities located on the coast trace their roots back to Carthaginian and Roman settlements.
Arab colonization, which took place in the 7th-12th centuries, had a huge impact on the culture of the population, its ethnic composition and way of life. And in our time, the northern part of Africa is considered Arab: almost the entire local population professes Islam and speaks Arabic.
Economic life and population of North Africa
The economic life of this subregion is concentrated in the coastal strip. Here are the main manufacturing enterprises, as well as the main areas of agriculture. Naturally, almost the entire population of this subregion lives here. Mud houses with earthen floors and flat roofs predominate in rural areas. Cities also have a very characteristic appearance. Therefore, ethnographers and geographers single out the Arabic type of city as a separate variety. It is characterized by the division into the old and the new part. North Africa sometimes referred to as the Maghreb, but this is not entirely accurate.
Economy
There are currently 15 independent states. Republics are 13 of them. Most of the states of North America are underdeveloped. In Libya and Algeria, the economy is somewhat better developed. These countries have a significant supply of natural gas and oil, which are today a hot commodity on the world market. Morocco mines phosphorites used in the production of fertilizers. Niger is a major producer of uranium, but remains one of the poorest countries in North Africa.
Very poorly populated South part this subregion. The agricultural population lives in oases, where the main commercial and consumer crop is the date palm. Only nomadic camel breeders can be found in the rest of the region, and even then not everywhere. There are gas and oil fields in the Libyan and Algerian parts of the Sahara.
A narrow "band of life" only along the Nile valley wedged into the desert far to the south. For the development of Upper Egypt is very importance had the construction of the Aswan hydroelectric complex on the Nile with the technical and economic assistance of the USSR.
West Africa
The sub-regions of the continent we are interested in is a rather extensive topic, so we will limit ourselves to their brief description. Let's move on to the next sub-region - West Africa.
Here are the zones of savannahs, tropical deserts and humid equatorial forests, which are located between and the Sahara Desert. It is the largest sub-region of the continent by population and one of the largest by area. The natural conditions here are very diverse, and the ethnic composition of the local population is the most complex - represented various peoples Africa. This sub-region was in the past the main region of the slave trade. At present, agriculture is developed here, represented by the production of various plantation consumer and cash crops. There is also industry in the subregion. Its most developed industry is mining.
Population of West Africa
According to 2006 data, the population of West Africa is 280 million people. It is multi-ethnic in composition. The largest ethnic groups are the Wolof, Mande, Serer, Mossi, Songhai, Fulani and Hausa. Indigenous people According to the language, it is divided into 3 metagroups - Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Congo and Afro-Asiatic. Of the European languages in this subregion, English and French are common. The main religious groups of the population are Muslims, Christians and animists.
Economy of West Africa
All the states here are developing countries. As we have already said, there are significant differences in economic terms sub-regions of Africa. The table presented above characterizes such an important economic indicator countries of the continent of interest to us, as a gold reserve (data of 2015). The West African states in this table include Nigeria, Ghana, Mauritania and Cameroon.
The leading role in the creation of GDP in this subregion is played by agriculture, as well as the extractive industry. The minerals available in West Africa are petroleum, iron gold, manganese, phosphates and diamonds.
Central Africa
From the very name of this subregion it is clear that it occupies the central part of the mainland (equatorial). The total area of the region is 6613 thousand km2. A total of 9 countries are located in Central Africa: Gabon, Angola, Cameroon, Congo and Democratic (these are two different states), Sao Tome and Principe, Chad, the Central African Republic and Also here is the island of St. Helena, which is a British Overseas Territory.
They are located in the zones of savannahs and humid equatorial forests, which greatly influenced their economic development. This sub-region is one of the richest regions, not only in Africa, but also in the world. The ethnic composition of the local population, unlike the previous region, is homogeneous. Nine-tenths of it consists of the Bantu peoples of Africa, who are related to each other.
Economy of the subregion
All states of this subregion, according to the UN classification, are developing. Agriculture plays the main role in the creation of GDP, as well as the mining industry. In this respect, West and Central Africa are similar. The minerals mined here are cobalt, manganese, copper, diamonds, gold, natural gas, and oil. The sub-region has a good hydropower potential. In addition, significant reserves of forest resources are located here.
These are the main central.
East Africa
It is located in the tropical and subequatorial climate zones. East Africa goes to the Indian Ocean, so it has long maintained trade relations with the Arab countries and India. The mineral wealth of this subregion is less significant, but the diversity natural resources overall very large. This is what largely determines various options their economic use.
East African population
East Africa is a highly mosaic sub-region ethnically. The borders of many countries were set arbitrarily by former colonial powers. At the same time, the cultural and ethnic differences that the population of East Africa has were not taken into account. Due to significant social and cultural differences, there is significant conflict potential in this sub-region. Often there were wars, including civil ones.
South Africa
It is located in the southern part of the continent, which is the most remote from Asia, America and Europe, but it goes to the sea route that goes around the southern tip of Africa. This subregion is located in subtropical and tropical latitudes southern hemisphere. There is a significant amount of natural resources, of which mineral resources stand out especially. The Republic of South Africa (South Africa) is the main "core" of this subregion. This is the only economically developed state on the continent.
Population and Economy of South Africa
A significant number are of European origin. Bantu peoples make up the vast majority of the inhabitants of this subregion. The local population is generally poor, but South Africa has a well-established road network, effective air traffic, there is a good tourist infrastructure. Mining, as well as deposits of gold, platinum, diamonds and other minerals form the basis of the economy. In addition, southern Africa is increasingly developing technology, tourism and manufacturing industries.
Finally
As you can see, in general, the mainland is not very developed economically. Its population is unevenly distributed. Currently, about a billion people live on a continent like Africa. Its subregions were briefly characterized by us. In conclusion, I would like to note that this continent is considered the ancestral home of mankind: the oldest remains of early hominids, as well as their probable ancestors, were found here. There is a special science of African studies, which studies the cultural, political, economic and social problems of Africa.
1. On the map of peoples, determine the ethnic composition of the population of Tropical Africa.
In terms of ethnic diversity, the considered region of Africa is second only to Asia. There are several hundred peoples belonging to the large Negroid race. The largest of them are the Yoruba, Hausa, Fulbe, for in West Africa, the Amhara in Ethiopia, etc. Closely related Bantu peoples live in Central Africa.
2. What is the past of the countries of Tropical Africa?
In the recent past, all the countries of this sub-region were the possessions of European powers (France, Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Italy). The process of decolonization of Africa began after the Second World War. Only since the 60s. 20th century the formation of their state sovereignty began. Year of Africa - year of liberation largest number colonies - was declared 1960.
3. What are the features of the nature of the countries of the region?
The natural conditions of the region are so diverse that they cannot be assessed unambiguously. Thus, the relief as a whole is favorable for the economic development of the territory, but in most of its climatic conditions and uneven distribution water resources adversely affect people's lives and their economic activities. Large areas are occupied by arid regions, vast areas are subject to periodic droughts (the Sahel zone south of the Sahara, some areas in South and East Africa). In the equatorial zone, however, the amount of precipitation is so high that excessive moisture makes it difficult for the economic development of the territory. The nature of Africa is characterized by increased environmental vulnerability. In contrast to the Asian and American tropics, where intensive agricultural systems were developed, which ultimately led to the formation of stable cultural landscapes, in Tropical Africa, the centuries-old practice of fallow farming and pastoralism led to extremely negative anthropogenic changes in local landscapes.
4. What are the demographic problems facing the countries of Tropical Africa?
In terms of natural population growth, Tropical Africa is ahead of all other regions of the world. The dynamics of the population of Tropical Africa is characterized by an exceptionally high birth rate - sometimes more than 30%. Only in the second half of the XX century. Africa's population has increased more than 3 times, which has led to a sharp aggravation of food and other social problems.
Many countries of Tropical Africa inherited from the colonial period the mismatch of state and ethnic borders, many closely related peoples turned out to be “cut” by state borders. In terms of illiteracy, the region ranks first in the world, it has the highest infant mortality and the shortest life expectancy.
5. What are the specifics of the economy of the countries of the region?
In terms of the structure of the economy, most countries are agrarian, in some the mining industry has developed, and only in a few the manufacturing industry is emerging. Speaking about the geography of the economy, one should keep in mind a few relatively developed territories - metropolitan regions, places of extraction and export of mineral raw materials.
The leading branch of agriculture is agriculture, which in many countries has a monocultural character, associated with specialization mainly in one crop. Animal husbandry, occupying one of the first places in the world in terms of livestock, is characterized by extensiveness, low productivity and low marketability.
One of the reasons for the backwardness of agriculture is archaic agrarian relations. Here, communal land ownership and subsistence farming are preserved, which are slowly being transformed into small-scale peasant farming.
6. Why is agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa monocultural?
The monocultural nature of agriculture in the countries of Tropical Africa is a direct consequence of their colonial past, in which it met the specific food needs of the metropolises.
7. What explains the diversified nature of the South African economy?
The development of diversified industry was facilitated by the exceptional wealth of mineral resources (gold, diamonds, uranium ore, platinum, etc.). Only 15% of the area of South Africa is suitable for agriculture. However, it can be said that, unlike most other countries in Africa, where soil erosion occurs, this 15% is used wisely - advanced agrotechnical achievements of South Africa and the leading countries of the world are used to protect soils and efficient agriculture. Compared to other African countries, South Africa has a developed transport network. External transportation is carried out through large seaports - Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, to which railways lead.
8. National composition countries of Tropical Africa is different:
a) relative homogeneity; b) extreme diversity.
9. Determine which statements apply to the countries of Tropical Africa:
1) The region includes most of the world's least developed countries.
2) The leading industry is the automotive industry.
3) Large areas are occupied by arid regions.
4) The region is rich in minerals.
5) Railway transport is developed in the region.
b) The food problem is an urgent one for the countries of the region.
All but 2 and 5.
11. Give the economic and geographical characteristics of South Africa. To do this, use the text of the textbook, atlas maps, materials from periodicals.
The Republic of South Africa is a state in the southern part of the African continent. In the north it borders on Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, in the northeast - on Mozambique and Swaziland. Inside the territory of South Africa is the state-enclave of Lesotho.
South Africa is the most developed on the African continent and at the same time the only country that is not classified as a Third World. GDP for 2009 amounted to 505 billion dollars (26th in the world). GDP growth was at the level of 5%, in 2008 - 3%. The country is still not among the developed countries of the world, despite the fact that its market is actively expanding. In terms of purchasing power parity, it ranks 78th in the world according to the IMF (Russia 53rd), according to the World Bank 65th, according to the CIA 85th. It has a huge stock of natural resources. Telecommunications, electric power industry, financial sphere are widely developed.
Main import items: oil, foodstuffs, chemical products; exports: diamonds, gold, platinum, machinery, vehicles, equipment. Imports ($91 billion in 2008) exceed exports ($86 billion in 2008).
It is a member of the international organization of ACT countries.