Nineteenth Century & Regional Diversity

This coming week we will look at different regions of Africa in the period just before full scale European colonization in Africans, chapter 8 on Tuesday. On Thursday we will discuss the important classic, Things Fall Apart.  Lucky for us, we have a nice long rainy weekend to put our feet up with a good book!

Check out this map (it is particularly pertinent for this chapter).

Reading Questions for Africans, Chapter 8:

• Northern Africa: What was the chief reason for demographic stagnation? 
• How did Muhammed Ali change Egypt? What did the British do about it? 
• What did a strong Egypt mean for the Sudan?
• What was notable about Ethiopia in this period?
• Why did the French invade Algeria? What were the initial effects of the conquest?
• How did attempts to modernize effect Tunisia and Morocco?

• The West African Savanna: This was a period of political fragmentation but huge growth in what?
• What was the most important event in nineteenth-century West Africa?
• Why was the Sokoto Caliphate able to endure?
• What made Hausaland the most prosperous region in tropical Africa?
• How did slavery there contrast with South African estate slavery?

• Southern Africa: Who created a large Zulu kingdom, and how did he do it? 
• In contrast, how did the Sotho-Tswana people overcome segmentation? How did they resist white aggression?
• How was the Lesotho kingdom created?
• Why did the Britain introduce 5000 British settlers into the Eastern Cape in 1820?
• What was the "Great Trek"? 
• What is "Cape liberalism"?
• How did the Africans view missionaries? What about the Zulu king?
• What may have aided growth in South Africa?
• How did the discovery of diamonds change the political situation?

• Eastern Africa: What role did the Oman play in East Africa and what effect did it have on Swahili culture? 
• What were the main imports and exports, and how were they transported?
• Why did Livingstone say that eastern Africa was the open sore of the world?
• What beneficial effects did long-distance trade have?
• What was most responsible for population decline?
• What was the context for the ensuing colonial rule of Africa?