Africa
11, 724,000 square miles of land bestowed
with the splendor of the world's reserves and scarce resources, Africa serves as a home
for 686 million people and a spectacularly unique blend of wildlife such as lemurs,
hyenas, and elephants, to name a few. Even resources such as uranium, bauxite, copper, and
half the world's supply of gold and diamonds come from Africa. The world’s longest
river, the Nile, stretches from the tip of Egypt and curves down to Ethiopia while the
other arm stretches down to Uganda. Other rivers are the Niger River from Guinea which
passes through Mali, Niger and Nigeria and then exits to the Atlantic Ocean, the Congo
River which comes from Zaire and flows out to the Atlantic Ocean, and the
Zambesi.
These were the resources that enticed European colonizers to occupy the
land. One of the first colonizers were the Portuguese, who were then followed by the
British. It was then that the Logos in Sierra Leone was established and the Cape Colony
became English territory (1814). In the Ivory Coast, French roots were planted while the
Belgians moved into the Congo.
Launched by African gold, the Anglo-Boer war was fought between Dutch
settlers in South Africa (Boers/Afrikaaners) and Anglos (German and Scandinavian
immigrants to England) for the possession of gold in Witwaterstrand. It was because of
these invasions that men emerged in pursuit of a free continent. But despite of all these
wonders of Africa, why does the continent remain in poverty?
Africa's diversity created conflicts that led to the detriment of it's own
holistic growth. Instead of being constructive, Africa's conflict was violent. As a
result, human development resources were allocated for conflict management.
But how did these conflicts arise? It is believed that 19th
century colonizers have very much to do with it. Western colonizers literally injected
themselves into African soil and left the natives to become slaves and lower citizens of
their own continent. In 1948, racial segregation known as apartheid was legally formulated
by the South African government. It was then that Africans like Albert Luthuli strived to
fight for what was rightfully theirs.
[ Page 1 ] [ Page
2 ] |
