Central Africa

Cameroon Twice the size of Utah Densely forested coastal plain Central plateau High mountains in the West (13,000 ft) Grasslands in the north Cocoa, coffee, cotton, fish, oil…

Equatorial Guinea Size of Maryland Island of Bioko and Rio Muni (mainland) Very poor – less than $300 per capita income Cocoa, coffee, bananas

Gabon Size of Colorado One of West Africa’s most prosperous countries (by African standards) Lots of foreign investment Some industry Cocoa, coffee, rice, oil, manganese, uranium

Congo Slightly smaller than Utah Thick forest in the south Savanna in the north 2% arable land Palm oil, cocoa, coffee, fish, oil

Democratic republic of the Congo Formerly Zaire Larger than Alaska, Texas and Montana Huge rainforest Congo River Mountains in the West Timber, oil, copper, gold, cobalt (2/3 of the world’s supply!)

Sao Tome & Principe Size of New York City Two main islands and smaller islands Covered in Forest Agriculture and fishing

Central African Republic Two times larger than New Mexico Mostly savanna with rain forest in the south and desert in the north Mostly plateau (average 2,000 elevation) Cotton, coffee, diamonds

“Movement” Rivers & Rail Rivers have cataracts (waterfalls) Rainforest is thick and difficult to traverse Urbanization

Congo River Also known as the Zaire River Source near the ocean, yet flows 2,900 miles before finding the ocean again River and its tributaries total more than 9,000 miles! Boats can travel from Boyoma Falls in the northeast to Kinshasa. Where the river is blocked by waterfalls, goods are taken overland by rail

Physical Geography & Movement Rainforest –Barrier to travel –Hard to harvest resources except along river and rail –Contains valuable woods, but poor soil Savanna –More travel and trade –Surrounds the rain forest on three sides –Poor soil

Migration Poor soil and difficulty in harvesting resources has led people to move to plantations on more fertile soil, or cities like Kinshasa and Brazzaville

Urbanization Kinshasa has more than 6 million people Explosive growth during the second ½ of the 1900’s Mix of wealth and poverty Rich culture

Interdependence Brazzaville (Congo) lies across the river from Kinshasa (Democratic Rep. of Congo) Countries often disagree politically, but they share the river Both have rail connections to the coast Rail also serves the landlocked nations of Chad and Central African Republic which ship minerals down the river to Brazzaville and then to the sea by rail.

CFA African financial community. Use currency called the “CFA Franc” (common currency – like the EU uses the Euro)

Natural Resources Renewable –Rivers –forests Non-Renewable –Copper –Cobalt –diamonds

Renewable Rivers (+) escarpments –Fish –irrigation Rivers (-) –Damming a river for hydropower changes the fishing and farming downstream forever

Renewable Forests (+) –Lumber –Habitats for animals species –Absorb carbon dioxide –Food products Forests (-) –Deforestation –Planting new forests costs more than most countries can afford

Non-Renewable Plus –Copper –Cobalt –Industrial Diamonds Minus –Strip mining –Economic and political problems kept it from reaching its potential

An example of History: Democratic Republic of the Congo Within a week of gaining independence from Belgium in 1960 it faced a revolt by its army. Southern province of Katanga seceded

Mobutu Country was torn apart for years as Belgian troops, United Nations forces, rebel armies and mercenaries battled for power. Eventually a general emerged as a dictator and changed the country’s name to Zaire.

Zaire Zaire regained control of Katanga Improved mining and industries BUT, nation fell deeply into dept By the 1990’s Zaire owed foreign banks nearly 9 billion dollars. (Ironically, the dictator’s personal wealth was estimated to be billions of dollars…..)

The democratic change sweeping the world in the late 80’s seemed to reach Zaire. In 1990, the dictator announced that he was permitting the formation of other political parties and allowing a premier to rule in his place However…..

Even after the new premier was installed, Mobuto refused to give up power – he still controlled the military and the police. People were forced to resort to bartering in order to exchange goods without the use of money.

1997 – Mobutu’s government was overthrown by Laurent Kabila Kabila changed the countries name to Democratic republic of the Congo

Civil war broke out with several opposition groups leading uprisings against the government. Neighboring countries used this as an opportunity to try and grab Congo’s resource rich land Two million Congolese became homeless during the warfare.

Kabila was assassinated in 2001, and his son took over Since then there has been a cease fire deal in effect, with UN forces monitoring the peace. The country’s future is uncertain

Stay Tuned For: Lifeline of a Nation Pygmies Rainforest – Nat’l Geographic