ALC GEOGRAPHY
Introduction to Sub-Saharan Africa
*Africa
as a whole is the world’s 2nd largest continent (covering about
11,677,240 square miles), and its 2nd most populous (with over 887
million people).
*Africa has 54 independent states, as well as several colonies and
territories held by non-African nations, and the disputed area of
Western Sahara (which may or may not be a state).
*Africa is about 40% Moslem, particularly in North Africa and the more
northern parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, about 40% Christian, especially
in South Africa and in Ethiopia, and about 20% of African still follow
traditional religions often characterised as animism (a belief in many
different spirits, and the power of the human spirit) and as
ancestor-worship. There are also a few Jewish communities and
groups that claim to have Jewish heritage.
*Africa can be divided into several different regions, and the textbook
has chosen to present North Africa as part of the Middle East, and all
the rest as another region: Sub-Saharan Africa. This is largely
for racial reasons, as Africa south of the Sahara is traditionally
viewed as being the Black part of the world, although, in fact, it is
home to many different ethnic groups, some of which are quite different
from one another, and which sometimes wage terrible wars over ethnic
and tribal differences.
*Traditionally, Sub-Saharan Africa was also more heavily influenced by
European colonialism, although all of Africa (including North Africa)
was, at various times, controlled by foreign powers. By 1914 (the
start of WWI) only two countries in all of Africa were still
independent: Liberia (which had still been founded by Americans)
and Ethiopia (which was taken over by Italy in 1936). Most of
these only became independent in the 1950s and 1960s, and some did not
become independent until the 1970s, 80s, or even 1990 in the case of
Namibia (controlled by South Africa since the end of WWI).
*There are over 2,000 African languages, although linguists have grouped these into six or seven different groups.
*Arabic and related languages are spoken in North Africa and East Africa.
*Bantu languages are spoken in Central and Southern Africa, and related
languages are spoken in West Africa. One of the most important
Bantu languages is Swahili.
*Khoi-San languages are spoken by the Khoi and San (formerly known as
Hottentots and Bushmen), mostly around the Kalahari Desert of Southern
Africa. There are not many Khoi-San speakers left, and many of
their languages are considered to be endangered. These are the
languages famous for their clicking sounds (although a few neighbouring
Bantu languages have picked up clicks).
*The people of Madagascar do not speak an African language at all, and
are thought to have come from Indonesia at some point, as their
language, in the Austronesian family, most reselbles dialects now
spoken in Borneo. Despite this, most Malagasy are African in
appearance.
*There is even a native Indo-European language in South Africa,
Afrikaans, which is derived from Dutch, but has been separate for so
long that it is now regarded as a separate language.
*In addition to Afrikaans, many other Indo-European languages are
spoken in Africa due to the presence of Europe as a colonial
power. The most commonly-spoken European languages are French and
English, but Spanish, Portuguese, are also official languages in some
African countries, and occasional speakers of German, Italian, and
other languages appear, too.
*The largest country in Africa (and the 10th in the world, just behind
Kazakhstan) is Sudan (967,498 square miles). 2nd is Algeria
(919,595 square miles), 3rd is the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(905,567 square miles), 4th is Libya (679,362 square miles), and 5th is
Chad (495,755 square miles). Niger, Angola, Mali, South Africa,
and Ethiopia are just slightly smaller than that.
*The smallest African country is Seychelles (#180 worldwide), an island
nation in the Indian Ocean (176 square miles), and the smallest
mainland nation is The Gambia (4,007 square miles; #159 worldwide).
*Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the 9th most
populous country in the world, with 133 million people. Next is
Egypt (74.7 million), 3rd is Ethiopia (67.6 million), 4th is Congo
(58.3 million), and 5th is South Africa (43.6 million).
*Africa has the world’s highest birth rate and the highest death rate
(due in large part to HIV and AIDS, which affect about 7.4% of
Africans), and the population of sub-Saharan Africa is expected to
double in just 35 years.
*Because of the rapid growth of its population, which has not been
matched by a growth in the economy, most of Africa (unlike much of the
rest of the world) is distinctly poorer than it was 25 years ago.
*Africa is a poor continent, with a combined GDP of $1.65 trillion, and
a GDP/capita of $671 ($1,968 adjusted for purchasing power
parity). The wealthiest country by either measure is South Africa
($160 billion in 2003, about $10,000 per capita in 2002). In
terms of national GDP, Egypt is second ($82 billion), Algeria is third
($66 billion), Nigeria is fourth (50 billion), and Morrocco is fifth
(44 billion). Next are Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, Kenya, and the
Ivory Coast—of the top ten nations, five are in North Africa.
*The tiny islands of São Tomé and Príncipe have
the lowest GDP, $50 million per year, while Burundi and Sierra Leone
are estimated to be the lowest GDPs/capita, with each nation having
$116 per person per year, although this is hardly definite.
*Africa’s poverty and the fact that most of its national borders were
drawn by foreign powers with little regard for local ethnic, tribal, or
cultural boundaries have meant that the continent has suffered terrible
warfare since decolonisation.
*Today Africa is one of the most unstable regions in the world.