East Africa

Landforms  Great Rift Valley  Rift Valley: Places on Earth’s surface where the crust stretches until it breaks  Mountains, plateaus, volcanoes lay along these rifts  Kilimanjaro: most famous of the rift’s volcanoes  Highest mountain in Africa  Lake Victoria: World’s second largest lake  Source of the Nile: Ethiopia (Blue) and Lake Victoria (White)

Great Rift Valley

Mt. Kilimanjaro

Lake Victoria

Climates  Close to the equator  Periods of wet and dry  Kenya and Uganda – spring-like climates  Farther from the equator – more droughts  Northern Sudan = Sahara  Weather is unpredictable

Effects of Droughts/Rain  Droughts  Grass dies  cattle die  Cattle die  people who depend on livestock begin to starve  people move to areas with vegetation  Result: Overgrazing and desertification  Too much rain  Locust populations increase  Grasshoppers eat trees/plants  Result: Animals and people starve

Serengeti Plain  Plains area in Eastern Africa that has an abundance of wildlife  Tsetse Fly: kills livestock because it carries sleeping sickness (also can infect humans)  Result: Few humans or livestock and an abundance of native animals  Annual migration

Natural Resources  Not rich in energy or mineral resources  Sudan began producing oil recently  Soil is not very productive  Scenery = best natural resource  Wildlife viewing, tours, etc

History  Earliest human remains found in East Africa  Greatest Kingdom in ancient times was the Kush  Built pyramids  Modern day Sudan  Conquered by the Askum (who adopted Christianity)  Arab Traders  Established ports along the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa about 1,500 years ago to trade gold/ivory from interior  Europeans  Drew boundaries without thought to ethnic groups or enemy groups  Ethiopia remained free  Grew cash groups (coffee, cotton, tea)  Established cities  Independence: During the 50s and 60s (Djibouti 1977; Eretria broke off from Ethiopia in 1993)

Culture  Several hundred ethnic groups  Divided by language – 3 main groups  Arab traditions are seen along the coast  Religious diversity: Islam (Arab traders), Christianity, Traditional beliefs  Traditional African beliefs systems  Honor ancestors  Spirits of ancestors are strong forces in daily life  Word contains spirits (in animals, mountains, trees, etc.)

Injera

Economic Activity  Farming and herding are the backbone of the economies in Eastern Africa  All countries have developing economies  Raw materials are the biggest export  Most economies are market  Ethiopia attempted a command economy, but it failed  Import many manufactured goods  Kenya has the highest GDP in the region  Tourism has potential, but violence has hurt the industry

Challenges  Population growth  Poverty  Not enough food  Lack of health services  Lack of education opportunities  Ethnic conflict  Struggles over land and fair distribution of government aid and jobs

Rwanda  Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people  1994  Majority Hutu tried to wipe out the minority Tutsi

Somalia  Problems in Somalia are not a result of ethnic conflict  Country often has no central government of any kind  Since 1991  Tried to take over land in Ethiopia

Ghosts of Rwanda: Hutus v. Tutsis  Two very similar ethnic groups  Speak the same language  Live in same area  Follow same traditions  Hutus: Ethnic majority in Rwanda  Tutsis: Ethnic minority in Rwanda  Taller and Thinner  Origins might be in Ethiopia

Ghosts of Rwanda  Belgian Rule  Said the Tutsis were superior  All people had to wear ethnic identify cards  Revolution in 1959  Resentment by Hutus against Tutsi rule  20,000 Tutsis were killed  Many fled to neighboring countries (Uganda)  Independence in 1962  Hutus took control of government  Tutsis were portrayed as cause of all problems

Ghosts of Rwanda Vocab  UN = United Nations  Peace keeping group formed after WWII  International Red Cross  Humanitarian Institute (centered in Switzerland)  Protect victims of international and internal armed conflicts  International Declaration of Human Rights  Adopted by UN in 1948  Goal was to protect human rights (rights to which all humans are inherently entitled)  Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)  Tutsi refugees in Uganda  Goal was to overthrow Habyarimana (president of Rwanda in 1994) and return to their homeland