Africa is a continent that is full of life, history, and future discoveries that should be regarded as one of the learning meccas of the world. It is the second largest continent by area and population, which makes it three times as large as the United States. Africa is a place many people travel to in order to learn, relax, and discover new ideas in order to improve the country. Africa is sometimes shed a bad light on due to its poverty in some parts of the continent. But many of the everyday things we use come from African countries. Also, many exotic plants and animals live in Africa that is not available for purchase anywhere else in the world. Growing up in both private and public schooling, Africa has not been a major topic of interest …show more content…
Petroleum oil and natural gas is one of Africa’s greatest contributors to the economy. Countries like Nigeria, Congo, Ghana, and Liberia are the main exporters of petroleum and natural gas. While natural gas is important, Africa is very famous for its gold. It has approximately 21% of all the gold in the world. South Africa and Tanzania are two countries that are famous for their gold production. In fact, South Africa is the largest producer of gold in the world and has the strongest economy in Africa. Another mineral that countries in the past have killed over are diamonds. Diamonds are very popular in Sierra Leone. Diamonds are used in order to make jewelry, furniture, and used in some clothing. But actually getting all of these minerals is the hard part. The oldest known mine on archaeological record is the “Lion Cave” in Swaziland, which radiocarbon dating shows to be about 43,000 years old. The ancient Egyptians mined a mineral called malachite. While the gold minds of Nubia were among the largest and most extensive in the world (Atlanta Black …show more content…
African art creates one of the most diverse legacies on earth. Though many casual observers usually generalize "traditional" African art, the continent consists of a wide diversity of people, each with a special visual culture (Boundless). Most African sculpture was historically in wood and other organic materials that have not survived from earlier than at most a few centuries ago. Elder pottery figures are found from a number of areas, usually northern Africa. Masks are important elements in the art of many peoples, along with human figures, often highly stylized. The human figure has always been the key subject matter for most African art, and this importance even had an impact on certain European traditions. For example, in the fifteenth century Portugal traded with the Sapi, culture close to Côte d 'Ivoire in West Africa, who created decorative ivory saltcellars that were hybrids of African and European designs. Additionally, the African art of dance was performed at many spiritual ceremonies, celebrations, and performances. It is mistaken that the Greeks were the first philosophers, but in fact it was Africans. The African continent has two major divisions, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, with very different political and cultural philosophies. North African philosophers made significant contributions to Greek, Jewish, Islamic, and Christian
In the essay “Why Africa? Why Art?” by Kwame Anthony Appiah, he talks about basically how Africa is thought to be an uncivilized barren and that’s the stereotypical thing that comes to most people’s mind when thinking about this continent. African art has to look a certain way to be able to be called “African.” It has to be made by a tribe, not just one person which is why he says that most African pieces are signed with a tribe name, not just one name. Appiah gives an example of these Asante gold weights that his mother had a collection of. Their use value was to weigh gold dust, which used to be the method of currency. They were made as a utilitarian product, not for art, but many people started to recognize the aesthetic value. He says, “…in appreciating and collecting these weights as art, we are doing something new with them…” These days art is defined to be a certain way and look a certain way. It can’t just be anything, it has to have an aesthetic value to be considered art and to fall into the “guidelines”.
Europe, in the late 1800’s, was starting for a land grab in the African continent. Around 1878, most of Africa was unexplored, but by 1914, most of Africa, with the lucky exception of Liberia and Ethiopia, was carved up between European powers. There were countless motivations that spurred the European powers to carve Africa, like economical, political, and socio–cultural, and there were countless attitudes towards this expansion into Africa, some of approval and some of condemnation.
The history and popularity of diamonds in Africa all began in 1866 when the first diamond was found along the banks of the Orange River. In the next fifteen years, Africa became the leading supplier of diamonds in the world, exporting more than nations such as India and Brazil. The discovery of these highly valued and highly demanded diamonds brought an immense amount of trade into Africa, a continent known for its poverty. One diamond company in particular, De Beers, instantly became interested in African diamond mines. By 1888, the company controlled the entire market, connecting African diamonds to wealthy humans all over the world. In 1929, De Beers began marketing diamonds to the middle class as well and associated the diamond with engagement and marriage, increasing the demand of the diamond worldwide. Though the company felt they had a hold on the market, they were wrong. Soon Lebanese traders discovered the enormous profit they could make by smuggling diamonds out of the country. As a result illicit mining and trading increased throughout countries in Africa and especially in Sierra Leone. To make matters worse, the government seemed to overlook the problem, if not sometimes encourage it. One Sierra Leone leader, Siaka Stevens, encouraged illicit trading to gain more control over the diamond mines. Succeeding leaders did the same, and with a corrupt government, the country of Sierra Leone was very vulnerable for a rebellion. Instead of bringing the continent of Africa out of its years of poverty stricken hardship, the discovery of diamonds in Africa only brought more of a curse as it fueled civil war, created political instability between governments, and caused unimaginable human suffering for African citizens.
When the Age of Imperialism began in 1875, it effected Africa in many ways. Nowhere was the competition for colonies more intense than in Africa. Europeans went after North and South Africa splitting up the continent. Egypt and Sudan were taken over by Britain to obtain the Suez Canal. Imperialism helped to develop Africa’s economy and turned it into a continent of colonies.
Africa is knowing as one of the riches soils in the world. It is also knowing as the motherland for African American. Olaudah Equiano experienced Slavery in Africa on a journey for West Indies which arrived in Barbados.. Equiano and his sister was kidnapped from their family and separated from each other. Equiano talks about his experience being a slave. He mentions how at moment they were nice to him and that he was allowed to see his sister. The other villages were inferior of each other. There were times when the community leaders were not watching. The bad men would make deals with other criminals and become allies. He talks about the long walk to the coast and how they were nice to him and helped him
In all, ancient Africa was able to advance its civilization by having a complex government, multiple land and sea routes, and a strong education for those who could attend. Cultural diffusion played a part in Africa’s advancements introducing new ideas to an already diverse advanced cultures. Ancient Africa was able to proceed and create a great nation without the help of the
Now we all know that Africa is some of the most fertile, lush land in the world. Africa abounds with game and almost any type of fruit and berries imaginable. The actual deserts in Africa are quite small, and those images of starving African Negroes you see on your TV is only a very tiny portion of Africa's vast abundance. Any geography professor will tell you this, and they will tell you it has been like this for millennia.
Anthony Appiah explains the question of what is African art? From the introduction to the catalogue of the exhibition ‘Africa: The Art of a continent’ at the Royal Academy in London in 1995. He states that ‘it’s only recently the idea of Africa came to figure importantly in the thinking of many Africans, and those who took up this idea got it, by and large, from European culture’. In addition to that, Appiah is hinting at a new kind of
Throughout history, imperialism has led countries to extend their rule over weaker countries and then colonized those countries to expand their own power. Imperialism allows the ruling countries to use the weaker countries for their resources. Colonizing other countries would then lead to growth and a better reputation for the dominating country. There are many examples of imperialism throughout European history. When many European countries “scrambled” for Africa, it seemed as though Africa had no say in anything. During the 19th century, Europe found a way to use Africa for their own growth and power. Using Africa for their resources, the Europeans colonized Africa without a second thought. European imperialism in Africa had a negative impact because of social disarray, cultural loss, and death it caused.
In the early 1880’s, the powers of Europe started to take control of regions in Africa and set up colonies there. In the beginning, colonization caused the Africans little harm, but before long, the Europeans started to take complete control of wherever they went. The Europeans used their advanced knowledge and technology to easily maneuver through the vast African landscape and used advanced weapons to take control of the African people and their land. The countries that claimed the most land and had the most significant effect on Africa were France, England, Belgium, and Germany. There were many reasons for the European countries to be competing against each other to gain colonies in Africa. One of the main reasons was that the Europeans believed that the more territory a country was able to control, the more powerful it could become and the more powerful it would be seen as by other countries. Other reasons for the desire to control African land included the many natural resources that could only be found in Africa, such as diamonds, gold, and as time progressed, rubber. It also provided new markets in surrounding places so that manufactured goods could be sold for a larger profit. The Europeans had many motives for imperialism in Africa. Yet the true motives were often shielded as they tried tom present themselves as humanitarians when in reality they were making Africa a terrible place to live with brutality and harsh treatment of the African natives. The ways of the Europeans had many physical and emotional costs for the people of Africa. The imperialism process also took a toll on the people of Europe. The European imperialistic colonization in Africa was motivated by the desire to control the abundant natural resources an...
(a) Africans and Europeans have relations that date all the way back to the origins of humans and human migrations. Scholars have hypothesized that Homo erectus found in Europe about 800,000 years ago originated and migrated from Africa Europeans and Africans also had religious relations; which is evident from the spread of Christianity, introduced by the Byzantines, throughout Africa specifically in North Africa, the Nile Valley, and the Horn of Africa. Aside from religious relations, Africans and Europeans also had economic and political relations as a result of European colonization and conquest of the African regions. Economic relations were a result of Europeans coming into Africa and taking natural resources to benefit from in the production of goods and trade. Another specific example of economic relations between Europeans and Africans is the practice of mercantilism, in which European nations were the mother countries and countries of Africa were the colonies. As the mother country, Europeans, would take natural resources from the colony, African regions, to produce goods, which would then be sold back to the colony. This also attributed to the political relations between Africans and Europeans because the economic desires of the Europeans often led to them controlling the Africans to maximize profit and their own personal benefits; which is directly related to slavery, one of the biggest relations between Africans and Europeans. Slavery and the slave trade in turn created social relations because slaves were considered to be a class of their own. Another social relation that resulted from slavery was the creation a “new race” known as the...
The African continent is rich with natural and intellectual resources. Northern Africa has rich oil deposits that, once discovered, have made billions of dollars. Sub-Sahara Africa is rich with deposits of precious minerals such as gold and diamonds. Throughout much of history Africa has been thought of as a rich land. But the Africa we know today as being plagued by famine, poverty and war came about at a much later date.
There is no doubt that European colonialism has left a grave impact on Africa. Many of Africa’s current and recent issues can trace their roots back to the poor decisions made during the European colonial era. Some good has resulted however, like modern medicine, education, and infrastructure. Africa’s history and culture have also been transformed. It will take many years for the scars left by colonization to fade, but some things may never truly disappear. The fate of the continent may be unclear, but its past provides us with information on why the present is the way it is.
The majority of the continent of Africa has not been as economically progressive as the other continents in today’s world. However, over the past few years, it has been rapidly growing. Although there have been multiple countries in Africa that have reflected a strong growing economy, such as South Africa and Botswana, there are many other countries that are still corrupt and are still struggling to grow as a nation. There are many challenges that are facing Africa currently. Some of these major challenges being, corrupt governments, vicious cycles of aid, and poverty traps. However, among these challenges, there still lies to be great opportunities for Africa within their technology and business sectors.
The craftiness of colonialism on Africa changed its history forever but there were good and bad effects because they built schools and improved medical care but they also had segregated benefits and resource drainage.