Most African communities (not countries) were stateless societies

Stateless Society: when people rely on family lineage to govern themselves rather than elect someone or have a monarch

Africa has MANY natural resources◦ Gold◦ Cobalt◦ Chromium◦ Phosphates◦ Diamonds◦ copper

In the 19th Century Colonialism starts ◦ Europe’s industrialized nations become interested

in Africa’s Resources

◦ Europeans didn’t want to fight over the resources, so they held the Berlin conference Berlin Conference (1884-1885): 14 European

nations gathered to establish and discuss political control over Africa because they did not want to fight over it

King Leopold II: Belgian king who opened up the African interior to European trade along the Congo River

By 1884, he controlled the area known as the Congo Free State

He used forced labor (slavery) to gather rubber, palm oil, ivory and other resources

European Nations divided Africa without any regard to where African ethnic or linguistic groups lived

When they set boundaries, they combined ethnic groups together that had always been enemies

Why would this be negative? ___________________________________

Many African Nations gain independence in the 1960s

Since the Europeans did not pay attention to ethnic boundaries when they divided Africa, each “country” was very diverse and had many problems with civil conflict

Economics◦ Africa's’ economies are still recovering from

colonialism Loss of resources Disruption of political systems Cultural and ethnic oppression of people

They have very poor InfrastructureInfrastructure- basic support systemsneeded to keep an economy going, including power, communications, transportation, water, sanitation and educational systems.

Infrastructure

European Colonialism in Africa during the late 1800s-1960s has left the continent struggling for economic, political and social instability throughout the entire continent