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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.
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