1. What is a “social problem”
What is a “social problem”? What are some social problems we have here in the United States?

2. What are some social problems you know of in Africa?

3. Malaria

5. AIDS

7. Child Soldiers

9. Poor Sanitation

11. Why does Africa struggle with these social issues?
Why is Africa so poor?

12. Roots of Africa’s struggles
Slavery
Europeans set up ports in Africa to find a water route to India and Middle East
These ports became centers for slave trade
Between , some scholars estimate up to 30 million black Africans were enslaved
Europeans wanted slaves for plantations in the Americas
African merchants traded slaves for guns

13. Roots of Africa’s struggles
Colonialism
By 1870, slave trade ended (think Civil War)
At this time, Africa was made up of hundreds of different ethnic groups that spoke hundreds of different languages
Africa became valuable to European leaders when they realized it had natural resources
Europeans wanted the raw materials to fuel the Industrial Revolution in Europe

15. Roots of Africa’s struggles
Berlin Conference
Europeans did not want to fight over Africa
14 European nations held the Berlin Conference in to divide up Africa
No African rulers were invited

16. Roots of Africa’s struggles
Berlin Conference
Europeans decided that any European country could claim African territory by showing that they could control the area
Split up ethnic and language groups
Berlin Conference is one of the root causes of political violence and ethnic conflicts in Africa

18. Ethnic Groups of Africa

19. Roots of Africa’s struggles
African Resources
One of the richest continents for minerals
Gold, diamonds, copper and platinum
Europeans developed African resources for export to Europe to manufacture goods there
African nations have been slow to develop industry

20. South Africa’s Violent Past
Apartheid
Legal Separation of the races
From 1948 to 1994:
Blacks were denied citizenship and placed in Homelands
government segregated education, medical care, and other public services, and provided black people with services greatly inferior to those of whites.

22. Homelands

23. Homelands

27. This man led the resistance movement against apartheid.

28. WHO IS HE?
Nelson Mandela

29. “During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” Nelson Mandela