And then North Africa. They began to trade with the local population, and gradually these regions became rich through trade. South of the Sahara were covered with dense thickets that were difficult to clear. In addition, there was a threat in these areas dangerous diseases. As Africans mastered the processing of iron and the manufacture of durable iron tools, they moved further south, clearing the land and plowing fields with their help.

West African states

Arab merchants began to make regular trips across the Sahara. They bought gold in West Africa and sold it in Mediterranean ports. Thanks to trade, the population of African countries grew richer. Magnificent cities with palaces and mosques began to be built there. The most famous city of all was the city of Timbuktu, which is shown in the picture. Some of the African kings ruled large states. One of the most powerful among them was Mali. Those who visited these countries kept travel notes and described their impressions of the luxury they saw, especially at the courts of the kings. Here are shown Arab merchants who came to a reception at the palace of an African king.

Since 1420, the Portuguese prince Henrique, nicknamed the Navigator, organized expeditions to explore the west coast of Africa and establish trade with Africans. Arab traders bought lotto, ironwork, tusks and coconuts from East African merchants in Kilwa and other east coast towns. From there, on their fast ships, they transported goods to India and China.

The picture on the left shows a Christian church in Ethiopia. In the north, only Ethiopia was able to resist the advance of Islam and preserve the Christian faith.

Life in Southern Africa

The tribes that lived in southern Africa differed, among other things, in the way of life they led. In the Kalahari Desert, the Bushmen obtained their food by hunting wild animals. The pygmies living in the tropical jungle also hunted, but in addition to this, they also collected berries and fruits in the jungle. Tribes living on the open plains of the east kept livestock and cultivated the land. People who knew how to process iron and make tools from it were indispensable to their fellow tribesmen.

In the East, in ancient times, under the influence of Egypt and trade relations between the Mediterranean, Arabia and India, the states of Nubia and Aksum (present-day Ethiopia) arose. Starting from the 7th century, Arab and Berber merchants brought salt, highly valued in Africa, and some other goods from the Mediterranean to the Western Sudanese lands. At the intersection of trade routes, trading centers began to grow: Aukar, Ghana, Timbuktu, Gao, Mali, etc. They were inhabited mainly by Muslim traders and local trading nobility. They gradually seized power in the resulting medieval states. In the Middle Ages, the first states were formed in the basins of the Niger and Senegal rivers: Ghana, Mali, Songhai. The earliest of these in Western Sudan was Ghana. It arose in the 8th century, and in the 10th century. reached the pinnacle of her power.

Remember!
Ghana, Mali, Songhai and Aksum are the first medieval states of Africa.

One of the main sources of income for Ghana was the trade duty paid by visiting merchants, Arabs, Berbers, and Jews. However, her main wealth was gold.

Trade in gold and salt brought great income to the ruler of Ghana and its nobility.

The ruler had a large army consisting of 200 thousand warriors, 40 thousand of them were archers and a large cavalry army. There were legends about the wealth of Arab merchants and the countless treasures of the ruler of Ghana. This attracted the attention of warlike neighboring tribes to her. In 1076

Sultan of Morocco Abu Bekr, at the head of a Muslim army, conquered Ghana and plundered it. The ruler of Ghana pledged to pay tribute and, together with his nobles, converted to Islam. Although popular uprisings 1087 ended Moroccan rule and Ghana disintegrated. Its successor was the new state of Mali.

State of Mali.

Although Mali was formed as a state in the 8th-9th centuries, its further development was hampered by the power of Ghana.

In the 11th century The population of Mali converted to Islam, which contributed to the influx of Muslim merchants into the country.

As a result of the development of crafts and trade by the 13th century. Mali is reaching the peak of its power.

The ruler of Mali, Sundiata Keith (1230-1255), created a large army. He conquered neighboring territories where caravan routes passed and gold was mined, incl. and the ancient lands of Ghana. The Malian rulers appointed their relatives and associates as governors of the conquered territories. The governors allocated land to distinguished military leaders. Their duties also included collecting taxes from the population. Soon Mali became famous throughout the Arab world. Its ruler, Musa I, performed the hajj to Mecca in 1324. According to legend, he carried a lot of gold with him and generously distributed it during his journey. He was accompanied by 8 thousand warriors and 500 slaves, who carried 10-12 tons of gold. Long years after that, the price of gold remained low in the Arab world.

The capital Niara and other cities of Mali were built up with rich buildings and mosques. Crafts and trade flourished. The clan nobility played a major role. In order to protect themselves from claims to power by close relatives, rulers elevated warriors and officials from among foreigners, primarily foreigners - slaves. The ruler's guard also consisted of slaves.

The bulk of the population lived in large communities consisting of patriarchal families. Foreign slaves lived on the farm as family members. Already in the second generation they became free.

From the end of the 14th century. Due to infighting between dynasties, political fragmentation increased, and the state fell into decay.

Songhai State.

The Songhai tribe lived northeast of Ghana and Mali, near the trading center of Gao.

In the XI-XII centuries. the Songhai state union was under the rule of Mali. With its weakening at the end of the 14th century. The Songhairs, who by that time had converted to Islam, led by their ruler Ali, defeated the Malians and created a large state with its capital in Gao. At its peak, Songhai occupied the entire territory of the Niger River basin.

The country was divided into provinces, which were ruled by the ruler's associates. The main income to the treasury came from transit trade and gold mining. Higher officials were generously distributed lands on which the labor of slaves - foreigners - was used. After a certain time, they turned into dependent peasants, and their descendants became owners of small plots of land, which they paid taxes to the state. A special mercenary army was created in Songhai.

Remember!
Since the end of the 16th century, the Songhai state pursued an independent policy; its capital was the city of Gao. At the end of the 16th century. Songhai is conquered by the Sultan of Morocco.

State of Aksum.

In ancient times, in the north of what is now Ethiopia, there was the state of Aksum, which flourished in the 4th-5th centuries.

The coast of South Arabia, along with the caravan routes, and part of Eastern Sudan came under the authority of its rulers. Aksum maintained close ties with the Roman Empire and later with Byzantium. The ruler and his entourage accepted the Christian faith.

In the 7th century The Arabs conquered the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, which was controlled by Aksum, and began to advance to the continental part of the country. Aksum suffered defeat after defeat in the 10th century. it was destroyed, and power passed to a dynasty that did not profess Christianity. According to legend, the first ruler of Aksum is the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba - the ruler of Arabian Saba, with whom the Aksumites were closely associated in ancient times - Manelik. This indicates that Aksum's relations with Arabia have been good since ancient times, and the name of the dynasty has a historical basis.

Africa in 10 questions

Is it true that Africans eat bananas, why are twins and albinos considered sorcerers, what were the mistakes of the first Europeans who came to the continent, the secret of local languages ​​and other things you need to know about Africa.

1. Is it true that human history began in Africa?

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Modern science believes that the biological species Homo sapiens originates from East Africa. It was here, in the central part of the rift valley, in the territory of Southern Ethiopia, Kenya or Tanzania, that many millennia ago the first man was born, whose genetic and physical structure generally corresponded to the modern one. Genetic studies prove that all people on Earth descend from him (or rather, from them - after all, there were clearly two first people). This cute couple is believed to have lived in the tall grasses of the East African savannah approximately 200 thousand years ago. Both of our first ancestors were black: according to Gloger's rule, the level of pigmentation of human skin depends on the heat and humidity of the surrounding climate, so the first people who lived in Africa should have had dark skin, like today's Africans. At the same time, Mongoloid and Caucasian people with light skin lost their pigment during thousands of years spent away from the bright sun, in temperate latitudes. But this happened much later than the era of the first people: only one hundred thousand years after the genetic Adam and Eve, their descendants left Africa to set off on their great journey around the planet.

2. Has the Sahara always been a great desert?

Sahara Desert

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Once upon a time, the Sahara was even larger than it is today. But the end of the last ice age, marked in temperate latitudes by the extinction of mammoths and other large herbivores, in Africa was expressed in an increase in humidity levels and the growth of lands suitable for human settlement. After just a couple of thousand years (for ancient man not a period) after the beginning of this wet period, the Sahara truly blossomed: rare oases turned into fertile valleys, wide, deep rivers flowed through them, and the largest lake in Central Africa - Chad - increased in size almost eight times. All this allowed the Neolithic inhabitants of Africa to quickly populate the Sahara. When approximately 7-9 thousand years ago in the region of the Fertile Crescent, including Western Asia and the Nile Valley, people found ways to cultivate the first grain crops (wheat, barley, millet) and domesticated livestock, these new technologies of that time were quite quickly spread across Africa north of the equator.

Subsequently, the Sahara began to dry out again and gradually returned to its original desert state. But every cloud has a silver lining: having moved to the Nile Valley, people from it created the first civilization on Earth - the ancient Egyptian one.

3. How long have Africans been eating bananas?

Yam festival in the Ashanti state (territory of modern Ghana).

The stereotypical belief that Africans lived solely by harvesting bananas and mangoes that fell from the sky is not true. Neither bananas nor mangoes, surprisingly, are local crops and were introduced to Africa relatively recently. Bananas, for example, arrived with immigrants from the islands of Indonesia. But the Africans came up with their own crops: in West Africa they domesticated yams (still a very common food there), wild rice (not the same as in Asia, but also very tasty), various types of millet and oil palm. It is very likely that a special type of wild ungulates was domesticated in Africa - the ancestors of today's long-horned cows of the African savannah.

4. Was there really no state in Tropical Africa before the arrival of the first Europeans?

Ruins of Great Zimbabwe

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Only the first Europeans themselves thought so. When the gigantic ruins of Great Zimbabwe were discovered in southern Africa in 1871, the scientists, travelers and missionaries who came to inspect them decided that Zimbabwe could in no way have been built by Africans. In European geographical societies they said that the Egyptians, Romans, Phoenicians, and Arabs should be considered the builders of such a large-scale stone city; that the granite tower is the acropolis of the ancient Greeks, and the oval temple is the ruin of the legendary “mines of King Solomon.” Only the later work of historians, archaeologists and ethnographers carried out here proved: Greater Zimbabwe was the capital of a powerful South African state created by the Shona people in the 12th-14th centuries.

Since ancient times, in West Africa there have been states that were more powerful than the European kingdoms of that time. For example, Ghana, about which Arab travelers wrote that “gold grows there like carrots and is harvested at sunrise.” Or the Empire of Mali, whose ruler Kankan Musa went on a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, taking with him no less than thirteen tons of gold to distribute to residents of the Middle Eastern cities. After his visit, prices for the yellow metal in Egypt and the Middle East fell for at least a decade. And finally, the largest of the West African empires was the Songhai, which was slightly larger in size than all of Western Europe.

East Africa saw the glory and power of Ethiopia, the wealth of the city-states of Zanzibar and Kilwa. In the south, the states of Congo and Monomo-tapa flourished. By the time the division of Africa by Europeans began in 1870, there were at least 40 fully formed states on the continent—almost as many as today.

5. How many slaves were taken from Africa?

A commonly cited figure is 10-12 million people sold into slavery from West, South and East Africa between the 16th and 19th centuries. Exact numbers can hardly be established, especially since at least 10-15% of slaves died on the way across the ocean. But the unfortunate people were taken not only to American plantations. IN Indian Ocean the long-standing traditions of the slave trade received additional impetus, and in the 15th-18th centuries the volume of export of slaves from the east coast of Africa to Persia, Arabia and India constantly increased. The export of slaves across the Sahara to Egypt and the Middle East also continued unabated: almost 90% of the eunuchs valued at the courts of the Middle Eastern sultans and emirs were exported in exchange for weapons from the Kanem-Bornu empire, located along the shores of Lake Chad. A good eunuch in the Middle East was valued ten times higher than the most beautiful slaves.

Human trafficking lay equally on the conscience of both the seller and the buyer. European powers rarely captured slaves on their own - there was no need for this, because they were willingly put up for sale by the leaders of coastal principalities and tribes, who understood perfectly well that they were sending their neighbors to eternal hard labor or death. We do not know how many of them experienced pangs of conscience. In Africa, selling into slavery was not considered a crime at all; this tradition existed here for thousands of years and was stopped only after, in the middle of the 19th century, trade and ownership of people were outlawed in European countries - England and France, and then in USA. The last country where slavery was legally prohibited was the one that remained outside European control - Ethiopia. Slavery was abolished there only in 1942. But even today, in some areas of the continent, where the central government is still weak, domestic slavery continues to exist.

6. How many peoples and languages ​​are there in Africa?

Modern science counts at least 2,000 independent languages ​​on the continent, despite the fact that the line between language and dialect is very blurred, and many of them have not yet been properly studied. Often a language is distributed over no more than five or six villages, and some countries of rather modest size, such as Cameroon, are inhabited by peoples who speak several hundred languages. And peoples (or ethnic groups, as they can be more accurately called) in Africa there may be twice or three times as much. It is not surprising, therefore, that most Africans have been fluent in several languages ​​since childhood: their own, a couple of neighboring languages, the prestigious language of the entire region, as well as colonial English, French or Portuguese, which is taught in schools and broadcast on television.

Scientists, however, believe that all this linguistic diversity comes from just four great ancestral languages ​​and, thus, can be united into four large families: Afroasiatic (mainly in the North and East Africa), Niger-Congo (in Western and Southern Africa), Nilo-Saharan (in East and Central Africa) and Khoisan - the most mysterious family of languages.

7. What is the mystery of the “clicking” language of the Bushmen?

The smallest - only 30 languages ​​- but also the most unusual linguistic community in Africa is the Khoisan, the languages ​​of which are spoken by Hottentot pastoralists living in the southern part of the continent (they call themselves Khoi) and semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers - the Bushmen (San). The Khoisan people are one of the most interesting riddles Africa, and not only in the field of language, but also in origin. According to research by geneticists, the structure of the Khoisan genome is sharply opposed to the genome of all other people on Earth. This may indicate that the ancestors of the Bushmen and Hotten Tots were the first branch to separate from the family tree of all mankind.

Bushmen light a fire

The Khoisan languages ​​are famous for their famous “click” consonants. These sounds are truly unique. The clicking of the tongue “tsk-tsk-tsk”, which we heard from our grandmother as a reprimand for eating jam ahead of schedule, or the click of the tongue on the back teeth, with which a rider urges his steed who has fallen into thought, we do not consider as sounds of the Russian language and not we use them in words. In Khoisan languages, these and other clicks (linguists call them clicks, from the English clicks - “clicks”), produced with the help of the lips, tongue, palate and teeth, can form entire words and are even more frequent than ordinary consonant sounds . Clixes can be labial (similar to the sound of a dry kiss), dental (exactly that same grandmotherly sound with an unambiguous “don’t play around”), palatal (the back of the tongue touches the palate), alveolar (the tip of the tongue touches the alveoli above upper teeth) and lateral (the tongue, back teeth and cheek are involved, this is the sound of a jockey). The five cliques listed are called “bases,” but in most Khoisan languages ​​they are also supplemented by articulations involving the vocal cords—and sometimes the number of these articulations (or “outcomes”) almost reaches two dozen. So, for example, in the Khoong language of the Bushmen there are at least 70 clicking sounds.

There are various hypotheses about the origin of the klixs: it is very likely that these sounds were common in the language of primitive man, and subsequently disappeared everywhere except Africa. But no less surprising than the clicking sounds is the set of vowels in the Khoisan languages. In the same khong, according to some estimates, there are 88 vowel sounds (in Russian there are only six). They can be long, short, nasal, pronounced with laryngeal and back-lingual articulation. A special series consists of the so-called whisper vowels, which require noticeably less participation of the vocal cords during pronunciation. Linguists are lost in search of an answer to the question of what role such a number of vowel sounds plays for the functioning of the language and why it was impossible to get by with fewer of them. Perhaps these mysteries are a consequence of the extreme antiquity of the Khoisan language, which some scientists are inclined to consider a remnant of the very first language of mankind.

8. What do Africans believe?

Despite the fact that today's Africa is almost equally divided between Christians and Muslims, neither of them has ever lost their ancient traditions. The inhabitants of Tropical Africa have long been not particularly devoted to one religious system and were not accustomed to the harsh totalitarian dogmas of religion, so beloved by Europeans or residents of the Middle East. Even medieval Arab chronicles bitterly stated that even the rulers of the Islamic states of Africa, having formally accepted new faith, continued to participate in traditional ceremonies and did not restrain themselves in food during the holy month of Ramadan. They disdained the need for five daily prayers and did not understand why limit themselves to four wives when they could have one hundred and forty-four. In the 14th century, the Muslim Ibn Battuta wrote with indignation about how the daughters of African Muslim rulers danced in the streets of the city, not only without covering their faces, but even completely naked. The peasants for the most part continued to adhere to the religion of their ancestors, and even if they went to the mosque, they were in no hurry to abandon their previous beliefs.

Even today, the veneration of ancestors, nature spirits (stones, trees and groves, rivers and lakes), sacred totem animals goes well with visiting a church or mosque. Many Africans believe that Christ fulfills requests free of charge, but not always and not immediately, while the local spirit of Zangbeto is more punctual and prompt, but takes too much in return. In Ghana, many traditional priests use in their ceremonies not only crushed monkey skulls, amulets and incense, but also Holy Bible. For a 100% effect, just in case, the Koran can be added to them.

IN modern society faith and religion are very different things. So, someone may not go to church at all and not really know a single Orthodox holiday except Easter, but at the same time believe in God, as well as in the black cat, horoscopes and esoteric living knowledge. In addition, the sphere of action of supernatural forces is constantly narrowing: most of us no longer consider lightning to be a divine hand, and only the most desperate enthusiasts believe in conspiracies, divination and dream books.

In traditional African society everything is different. The African consciousness does not at all imply a division of the world into the natural and the supernatural. For him, these concepts simply do not exist: the world of gods, spirits, people and animals is one. Yes, some of the creatures in it are invisible to the eye, but, as a resident of Uganda said, “the bug is also invisible, but no one thinks of talking about its supernatural nature.” Moreover, he added after long reflection, spirits can appear to a person in any guise if they want, but bedbugs never do this.

9. Africa has always been famous for its witchcraft. How common is it on the continent today?

Almost any misfortune that happens to a person, family, city or even state in Africa is still attributed to witchcraft. The death of livestock, lack of rain, unexpected death from illness, the death of a newborn child or the grain harvest eaten by birds due to the oversight of a fallen watchman - all this has only one reason: one of the ill-wishers used black magic against the inhabitants. This simple explanation, oddly enough, really helps not only to understand the world, but also to cope with difficulties. If a person gets sick, it just means that a sorcerer flew into his house at night on the wing of a bat and inserted a malicious fetish 

Even the 21st century cannot cope with witchcraft. The laws of a number of countries officially prohibit witchcraft; in the Seychelles, gris-gris sorcerers are outlawed and are wanted as real criminals. The governments of African states create special “witch camps” to which they bring from all over the country witches and sorceresses expelled from their homes by their relatives. Sorcerers are often found among crippled, lame, deaf people, they will almost inevitably be considered albinos, and often the fear of witchcraft extends to twin children, who in many parts of Africa are considered harbingers of misfortune for the community.

There are cases when, under the influence of anti-witchcraft hysteria, under the pressure of which Africans constantly live, a person himself begins to feel like a sorcerer or a witch. But after a certain ritual is performed on him, the spell dissipates, and yesterday’s witch will consider herself cured all her life.

10. Is it true that Africa is filled with many diseases unknown to science?

Until recently, before the Ebola fever, other diseases of Africa receded into the background in public opinion, but the most serious illnesses on the continent continue to be malaria, yellow fever, typhus, sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis), amoebiasis, schistomatosis and, of course, AIDS, In terms of the breadth of its distribution, Africa is the leader among the continents. Most diseases can be easily prevented by vaccination: these are, first of all, typhoid fever and yellow fever. But, for example, there are no vaccinations against malaria. This disease has existed in tropical regions of Africa for tens of thousands of years, and between one and a half to three million people die from malaria every year - 15 times more than from AIDS and 500 times more than from Ebola. According to some estimates, a child dies of malaria in Africa every 30 seconds. Until the end of the 19th century, malaria killed thousands of European settlers in Africa, until the discovery of quinine made defeating the disease possible.

Tsetse fly. Illustration from Meyer's Encyclopedic Dictionary. 1888-1890

Trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, is transmitted by the same tsetse fly that all Russian children know and fear. In fact, the tsetse preys mainly on cows and is the cause of the largest epidemics for savannah pastoralists. But its bite is also terrible for humans. Even if trypanosomiasis is not treated, death occurs only after a few years, but modern medicine is armed with a powerful arsenal of means that can destroy the disease at almost any stage. In addition, the tsetse fly can be easily repelled not only by repellents, but also simply by wearing loose white clothing.

Another famous African disease is amebiasis, or amoebic dysentery. Its causative agent, dysentery amoeba, can be easily swallowed along with raw water. That is why in Africa you should be careful with water - drink it only from factory-sealed bottles or boil it, and if this is not possible, dilute it generously with chlorine tablets. This gives the water a persistent, disgusting taste, but it preserves life and health. Well, the disease is successfully treated with antimicrobial drugs.

Dubbed the “plague of the 20th century,” HIV is believed to have originated in monkeys in the Congo and been transmitted to humans in the late 19th or early 20th centuries. Today there are about 34 million people living with HIV in the world, two thirds of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa. Fortunately, the disease has already passed its peak and the number of people infected with HIV is gradually decreasing. However, up to 26% of the population of Swaziland, up to 23% of the population of Botswana and 17% of residents of South Africa are still carriers of the virus.

The history of the peoples of Africa goes back to ancient times. In the 60-80s. 20th century On the territory of Southern and Eastern Africa, scientists found the remains of human ancestors - Australopithecus monkeys, which allowed them to suggest that Africa could be the ancestral home of humanity (see The Formation of Humanity). In the north of the continent, about 4 thousand years ago, one of the most ancient civilizations arose - ancient Egyptian, which left numerous archaeological and written monuments (see Ancient East). One of the most populated areas of Ancient Africa was the Sahara, with abundant vegetation and diverse wildlife.

Starting from the 3rd century. BC e. There was an active process of migration of Negroid tribes to the south of the continent, associated with the advance of the desert into the Sahara. In the 8th century. BC e. - 4th century n. e. in northeast Africa there were the states of Kush and Meroe, associated in many ways with the culture of Ancient Egypt. Ancient Greek geographers and historians called Africa Libya. The name "Africa" ​​appeared at the end of the 4th century. BC e. from the Romans. After the fall of Carthage, the Romans founded the province of Africa on the territory adjacent to Carthage, then this name spread to the entire continent. North Africa met the early Middle Ages under the rule of barbarians (Berbers, Goths, Vandals). In 533-534. it was conquered by the Byzantines (see Byzantium). In the 7th century they were replaced by Arabs, which led to the Arabization of the population, the spread of Islam, the formation of new state and social relations, and the creation of new cultural values.

Left: the head of the "Queen Mother". Benin. 1515-1550.

In ancient times and early middle ages In West Africa, three large states arose, replacing each other. Their formation is associated with the expansion of intercity trade in the Niger River basin, pastoral agriculture, and the widespread use of iron.

Written sources about the first of them - the state of Ghana - appear in the 8th century. with the arrival of the Arabs in sub-Saharan Africa, and oral traditions date back to the 4th century. Its heyday dates back to the 8th-11th centuries. Arab travelers called Ghana the country of gold: it was the largest supplier of gold to the Maghreb countries. Here, crossing the Sahara, caravan routes passed to the north and south. By its nature, it was an early class state, whose rulers controlled the transit trade in gold and salt and imposed high duties on it. In 1076, the capital of Ghana, the city of Kumbi-Sale, was captured by newcomers from Morocco - the Almoravids, who laid the foundation for the spread of Islam. In 1240, King Malinke from the state of Mali Sundiata subjugated Ghana.

In the 14th century (the time of its greatest prosperity), the huge state of Mali stretched from the Sahara to the edge of the forest in the south of Western Sudan and from the Atlantic Ocean to the city of Gao; its ethnic basis was the Malinke people. The cities of Timbuktu, Djenne, and Gao became important centers of Muslim culture. Early feudal forms of exploitation spread within Malian society. The well-being of the state was based on income from caravan trade, agriculture along the banks of the Niger, and cattle breeding in the savannah. Mali was repeatedly invaded by nomads and neighboring peoples; dynastic feuds led to its demise.

The state of Songhai (the capital of Gao), which came to the fore in this part of Africa after the fall of Mali, continued the development of the civilization of Western Sudan. Its main population was the Songhai people, who still live along the banks of the middle reaches of the Niger River. By the 2nd half of the 16th century. an early feudal society developed in Songhai; at the end of the 16th century. it was captured by the Moroccans.

In the Lake Chad region in the early Middle Ages there were the states of Kanem and Bbrnu (9th-18th centuries). The normal development of the states of Western Sudan was put an end to the European slave trade (see Slavery, Slave Trade). Meroe and Aksum - the most significant states of North-East Africa in the period between the 4th century. BC e. and 6th century. n. e. The kingdoms of Kush (Napata) and Meroe were located in the north of modern Sudan, the state of Aksum was on the Ethiopian Highlands. Kush and Meroe represented the late phase of ancient Eastern society.

Few archaeological sites have survived to this day. In temples and on steles near Napata, several inscriptions in Egyptian have been preserved, which make it possible to judge the political life of the state. The tombs of the rulers of Napata and Meroe were built in the form of pyramids, although they were significantly smaller in size than the Egyptian ones (see Seven Wonders of the World). The transfer of the capital from Napata to Meroe (Meroe was located about 160 km north of modern Khartoum) was obviously associated with the need to reduce the danger from invasions by the Egyptians and Persians. Meroe was an important center of trade between Egypt, the Red Sea states and Ethiopia. A center for processing iron ore arose near Meroe; iron from Meroe was exported to many African countries.

The heyday of Meroe spans Sv. BC. - 1st century n. e. Slavery here, as in Egypt, was not the main thing in the system of exploitation; the main hardships were borne by village community members - plowmen and cattle breeders. The community paid taxes and supplied labor to build the pyramids and irrigation systems. The Meroe civilization remains underexplored - we still know little about Everyday life state, its relations with the outside world.

The state religion followed Egyptian models: Amon, Isis, Osiris - the gods of the Egyptians - were also gods of the Meroites, but along with this, purely Meroitic cults arose. The Meroites had their own written language, the alphabet contained 23 letters, and although its study began in 1910, the Meroe language still remains difficult to access, making it impossible to decipher the surviving written monuments. In the middle of the 4th century. King Ezana of Aksum inflicted a decisive defeat on the Meroitic state.

Aksum is the forerunner of the Ethiopian state; its history shows the beginning of the struggle waged by the peoples of the Ethiopian Highlands to preserve their independence, religion and culture in a hostile environment. The emergence of the Aksumite kingdom dates back to the end of the 1st century. BC e., and its heyday - by the 4th-6th centuries. In the 4th century. Christianity became the state religion; Monasteries arose throughout the country, exerting great economic and political influence. The population of Aksum led a sedentary lifestyle, engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. The most important crop was wheat. Irrigation and terrace farming developed successfully. Aksum was an important trading center connecting Africa with the Arabian Peninsula, where in 517-572. South Yemen belonged to him, but the powerful Persian power ousted Aksum from the south of Arabia. In the 4th century. Aksum established connections with Byzantium and controlled the caravan routes from Adulis along the Atbara River to the middle reaches of the Nile. The Aksumite civilization has brought cultural monuments to this day - the remains of palaces, epigraphic monuments, steles, the largest of which reached a height of 23 m.

In the 7th century n. e., with the beginning of the Arab conquests in Asia and Africa, Aksum lost its power. Period from 8th to 13th centuries. characterized by the deep isolation of the Christian state, and only in 1270 did its new rise begin. At this time, Aksum loses its significance as the political center of the country, and the city of Gondar (north of Lake Tana) becomes it. Simultaneously with the strengthening of central power, the role of the Christian Church increased; monasteries concentrated large land holdings in their hands. Slave labor began to be widely used in the country's economy; Corvee labor and natural supplies are being developed.

Leader statue. Ife culture. 12-15

The rise also affected the cultural life of the country. Such monuments are being created as chronicles of the lives of kings and church history; the works of Copts (Egyptians professing Christianity) on the history of Christianity and world history are translated. One of the outstanding Ethiopian emperors, Zera-Yakob (1434 - 1468), is known as the author of works on theology and ethics. He advocated strengthening ties with the Pope, and in 1439 the Ethiopian delegation took part in the Council of Florence. In the 15th century The embassy of the King of Portugal visited Ethiopia. Portuguese at the beginning of the 16th century. assisted the Ethiopians in the fight against the Muslim Sultan Adal, hoping to then penetrate the country and capture it, but failed.

In the 16th century The decline of the medieval Ethiopian state began, torn apart by feudal contradictions and subjected to raids by nomads. A serious obstacle to the successful development of Ethiopia was its isolation from the centers of trade relations on the Red Sea. The process of centralization of the Ethiopian state began only in the 19th century. On the east coast of Africa, the trading city-states of Kilwa, Mombasa, and Mogadishu grew in the Middle Ages. They had extensive connections with the states of the Arabian Peninsula, Western Asia and India.

The Swahili civilization arose here, absorbing African and Arab culture. Since the 10th century. Arabs played an increasingly important role in the connections between the east coast of Africa and a large number Muslim states of the Middle East and South Asia. The appearance of the Portuguese at the end of the 15th century. disrupted the traditional ties of the east coast of Africa: a period of long struggle of African peoples against European conquerors began. The history of the interior of this region of Africa is not well known due to the lack of historical sources. Arabic sources of the 10th century. reported that between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers there was large state, which had a large number of gold mines. The Zimbabwean civilization (its heyday dates back to the early 15th century) is best known during the period of the Monomotapa state; Numerous public and religious buildings have survived to this day, indicating a high level of construction culture. The collapse of the Monomotapa empire occurred at the end of the 17th century. due to the expansion of the Portuguese slave trade.

In the Middle Ages (12-17 centuries) in the south of West Africa there was a developed culture of the Yoruba city-states - Ife, Oyo, Benin, etc. They reached high level development of crafts, agriculture, trade. In the 16th-18th centuries. these states took part in the European slave trade, which led to their decline at the end of the 18th century.

The major state of the Gold Coast was the confederation of Amanti states. This is the most developed feudal formation in West Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the Congo River basin in the 13th-16th centuries. there were early class states of Congo, Lunda, Luba, Bushongo, etc. However, with the advent of the 16th century. Their development was also interrupted by the Portuguese. Historical documents There is practically no information about the early period of development of these states.

Africa in antiquity and the Middle Ages Warriors in national clothes. Burundi. Modern photo.

Madagascar in the 1st-10th centuries. developed in isolation from the mainland. The Malagasy people who inhabited it were formed as a result of the mixing of newcomers from Southeast Asia and Negroid peoples; the island's population consisted of several ethnic groups - Merina, Sokalava, Betsimisaraka. In the Middle Ages, the kingdom of Imerina arose in the mountains of Madagascar. The development of medieval Tropical Africa, due to natural and demographic conditions, as well as due to its relative isolation, lagged behind North Africa.

Penetration of Europeans at the end of the 15th century. became the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade, which, like the Arab slave trade on the east coast, delayed the development of the peoples of Tropical Africa and caused them irreparable moral and material damage. On the threshold of modern times, Tropical Africa found itself defenseless against the colonial conquests of Europeans.

Details Category: Fine arts and architecture of ancient peoples Published 03/26/2016 17:40 Views: 2424

The art of Tropical Africa became known to Europeans only at the end of the 19th century. But the perfection of this art was amazing.

The original art of the peoples of Tropical Africa developed mainly in its western part: in western Sudan, on the Guinea coast and in the Congo.
Of course, African art is very diverse; different styles of African art can be distinguished with their own special features. But within the confines of one short article there is no opportunity to consider this topic in more detail, so we give only a generalized description of all the art of the peoples of Tropical Africa.
The art and culture of Africa have not yet been fully studied; there are still many mysteries and gaps in this issue. Although discoveries are made all the time. Archaeologists are confident that African art developed not only in Tropical Africa, but also in many areas of Southern and Northern Africa, including the Sahara mountains, which 7-8 thousand years ago was inhabited by peoples engaged in hunting, cattle breeding and agriculture. Thousands of rock paintings and paintings of various styles and periods have been found in the Sahara. The oldest of them date back to the 5th millennium BC, the later ones - to the first centuries AD

The existence of prehistoric paintings in the Sahara had been known for a long time, but only after the expedition of the French scientist A. Lot in 1957 did it become widely known: he brought to Paris more than 800 copies of rock paintings from the area of ​​the Tassilin mountain range. Nowadays, rock carvings have been found in almost all of Africa.

Landscape of Tassilien-Adjer
The huge desert plateau of Tassilien-Adjer (area 72 thousand km²) is located in the Central Sahara, in the southeast of Algeria. The surface of Tassil-Adjer is crossed by canyons and beds of dried ancient rivers. In the rocks of Tassili there are many grottoes and caves, as well as hot volcanic springs.

The ancient inhabitants of Tassil-Adjer left over 15 thousand rock paintings and reliefs dating from the 7th millennium BC. e. until the 7th century n. e. This is one of the largest monuments of rock art of the Sahara, a UNESCO site. The drawings refer to different time periods. The earliest are petroglyphs, they are made in a naturalistic style and date back to 6000-2000 BC. e.

Hunting scene
These are mainly scenes of hunting and images of animals of the “Ethiopian” fauna: elephants, rhinoceroses, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, ostriches, antelopes, an extinct species of buffalo, etc.

Buffaloes
Animals are depicted very realistically. There are some drawings made later - their style is already different. The people depicted here belong to the so-called “Bushman type”. These are masked people with bows and arrows. Henri Lot, who studied the drawings in 1956-1957, called them “round-headed people.”
Later drawings from the end of 3000-1000 BC. e. made with paints and depict domestic animals: sheep, goats, large cattle. There are also images of horses, dogs, mouflons, elephants and giraffes. The drawings are made more conventionally than the previous group. People are usually masked, with bows and arrows, darts, axes and crooked sticks. Men wear short, wide cloaks, women wear bell-shaped skirts.

Camels
Images of horses and carts with wheels dating back to the mid-2nd millennium BC were also found. e. - beginning of our era.
The appearance of the camel in drawings (200-700 AD) marks the "camel period".
Among the rocks, many arrowheads, scrapers, bones, grain graters, stone knives and other human tools were also found.
During the Neolithic era, this area was rich in water and various species of deciduous and coniferous trees, oleander, myrtle, oak, citrus and olive trees. In those places where you can now see valleys filled with sand, deep rivers flowed. There were a lot of fish and large river animals: hippopotamuses, crocodiles - this is evidenced by preserved bones.

Petroglyphs of Fezzan

The petroglyphs of Fezzan are considered the pinnacle of primitive art. The area where these images are located is currently a lifeless desert. On the rocks you can clearly see images of elephants, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, giraffes, bulls, antelopes, ostriches and other animals, as well as figures of archers, hunters with darts, etc. The sizes of the figures reach several meters.

In the 4th millennium BC. e. From the rock paintings, giraffes, ostriches, and antelopes remain, but images of predators and the first figures of bulls appear. Bulls in different poses and angles, sometimes with long or short horns, with horns curved back or curved in the shape of a lyre, become the main object of the image.
Around the middle of the 4th millennium BC. e. Cattle breeding tribes settled in Tassilin, so large rock paintings appeared depicting cattle drives, scenes of war, hunting, and gathering grains.
Ancient artists carved their works into rocks or painted them with mineral paints with a predominance of yellow, brown, blue and reddish tones. Egg white was used as a binding material. Paints were applied by hand, brushes and feathers.

Nok culture

Nok's area of ​​activity

The oldest known African culture was discovered in 1944 in the town of Nok (Nigeria), between the Niger and Benue rivers. Sculptural portraits and details of figures were found in tin mines, made almost in life size from baked clay. This culture was called the Nok culture. Since then, many objects of this culture have been found. They were dated using the radioactive carbon method. The Nok civilization arose in Nigeria around 900 BC. e. and mysteriously disappeared in 200 AD. e. (end of the Neolithic (Stone Age) and beginning of the Iron Age). It is believed that the Nok civilization was the earliest in the sub-Saharan region to produce terracotta figurines.

Figurine of a Woman. Height 48 cm. Age: from 900 to 1500 years

Terracotta sculpture of Nok
The Nok civilization is also known for the spread of iron metallurgy to sub-Saharan Africa. Bronze sculptures also belong to their culture. They were made using the “lost wax method.” A rough clay block was coated with a thick layer of wax, from which the model was sculpted. Then it was covered with clay again and molten metal was poured into a specially left hole. When the wax flowed out, the model was dried, the outer layer of clay was broken and the resulting bronze figurine was carefully polished. This method was known back in Ancient Egypt, but there is no convincing evidence of a connection between ancient Egypt and Nok.
The perfection of sculpting and firing suggests that the Nok culture developed over a long period. Perhaps it was preceded by some other, even more ancient culture.

Sao people

Legends about the mysterious Sao people who lived in the Lake Chad region have survived to this day. This archaeological culture existed in the X-XIX centuries. n. e. in the area of ​​the lower reaches of the Shari and Logone rivers (the territory of the modern Republic of Chad). According to legend, the Sao people came to the Lake Chad region from the Bilma oasis in the Sahara. The population was engaged in hunting, fishing and agriculture, knew the metallurgy of iron, copper and bronze; Various crafts were developed. Excavations carried out in the mid-20s. XX century The remains of numerous settlements have been explored. The ruins of city walls and adobe houses, many items made of clay (sculpture, funeral urns, children's toys, jewelry, large vessels for storing grain), metals, bones, horn, and mother-of-pearl were discovered. The most interesting works of clay sculpture (mainly from the 10th century) are heads and statues, striking in their grotesque deformation of facial features.

Sao sculpture
There is a legend about the Sao people - they were giants who blocked rivers with one hand, made bows from palm trunks and easily carried elephants and hippos on their shoulders. Archaeological finds have confirmed that indeed in the X-XVI centuries. Here lived a people who created a unique culture.
The Sao built large cities surrounded by adobe walls 10 meters high, and created sculptures from clay and bronze, which usually combined human and animal features.
In addition to sculptural works, bronze reliefs with various subjects that decorated the pillars and walls of the palace galleries have also reached us. Benin craftsmen also created works from Ivory and wood: masks-pendants, wands, salt shakers, etc.

Rock art (Southern Rhodesia)
Monuments of ancient African art were also discovered in South Africa. In the 20s XIX century Rock paintings of mythological content were found in the Matopo Mountains. Among these images there are scenes of agricultural rituals, making rain, killing a king, mourning, and ascending to heaven.

Relief (Southern Rhodesia)

Wood sculpture

The most common form of art in Tropical Africa was folk sculpture made of wood. It was created by almost all peoples from the Sahara to South Africa, except for the eastern regions where Islam was widespread. Although the age of the oldest works that have come down to us does not exceed 150-200 years, it is believed that wooden sculpture has existed in Tropical Africa for a long time, but in a humid tropical climate, wood very quickly collapses.

Folk sculpture consists of two large groups: sculpture itself and masks. The sculpture was mostly cult (images of various spirits, ancestors), and masks were used during rites of initiation of young men and women into members of the community, as well as during various ceremonies, holidays, masquerades, etc.

Each African people had its own original style of sculpture, but it has many common features. It was usually carved from fresh, undried softwood, painted with three colors - white, black and red-brown, sometimes green and blue. African masters greatly exaggerated the size of the head, while the rest of the figure remained disproportionately small. Masks often combined human and animal features.

Rich original artistic traditions have been preserved in the territory that flourished in the 16th-18th centuries. in the depths of the equatorial forests of the Bushongo state (in the upper reaches of the Kassai River, a tributary of the Congo).
In many areas of Tropical Africa, the art of wooden sculpture still exists.

Art of Medieval Africa

Ife culture

Ife is a city in southwestern Nigeria. This is one of the most important centers ancient civilization in West Africa. In the XII-XIX centuries. Ife was a city-state of the Yoruba people. In Ife, terracotta heads, monumental bronze heads of gods and rulers, and expressive bronze half-figures covered with ornamental decorations were found (most likely, these were the kings of Ife).
Bronze sculpture of Ife had a great influence on the development of the artistic culture of Benin, a state that existed until the end of the 19th century. on the territory of Nigeria. The Yorubas still consider Ife to be their ancestral home.
When, as a result of the expeditions of 1910 and 1938. Bronze and terracotta sculptures were found here, which were not inferior to the best examples of ancient art, then these finds amazed Europe. It is difficult to establish the time of execution of these figures, but approximately this is the 12th-14th centuries.

The portrait sculptures from Ife are almost life-size. They are distinguished by proportionality and harmony - the embodied ideal of human beauty of that time. Moreover, the bronze casting of these figures was as perfect as the forms.
According to legend, the art of bronze casting dates back to the 13th century. brought from Ife to the city-state of Benin. Here, as in Ife, it served kings—both. Foundry masters lived in a special quarter of the city, and special officials strictly monitored the preservation of the secret of bronze casting.
The city was destroyed during the English punitive expedition of 1897, and many works of art were lost in the fire.

Bronze reliefs of Ife
In addition to sculptural works, bronze reliefs with various subjects that decorated the pillars and walls of the palace galleries have also reached us. Benin craftsmen also created works of ivory and wood: pendant masks, wands, salt shakers, etc.
In some sculpted heads of the Ife culture, one can notice features of the transfer of similarities.

Bronze figure of the king
By the 15th century The state of Benin began to dominate the Yoruba people. The Portuguese conducted brisk trade with Benin (XVII-XVIII centuries), so there is a description of this state and its magnificent palaces. The French traveler Landolf even compared Benin with major French cities of that time. Bronze reliefs, heads and carved elephant tusks, now kept in museums in Europe and America, tell us about the former splendor of his palaces.

Benin bronze
The large bronze heads mainly depict the kings of Benin. To this day, in every house in Benin there is an altar where sacrifices are made to the ancestors, and above all to the deceased father. Carved wooden heads are usually placed on altars, conveying, as accurately as possible, a portrait likeness of the deceased.
According to legend, in the middle of the 13th century. (the reign of King Ogul), the foundry master Igwe-Iga was sent from the city of Ife to Benin, he taught other craftsmen who lived in a special quarter near the royal palace. The art of bronze casting was kept secret.

Bronze reliefs decorated the halls of palaces and galleries. They depicted various scenes from life, as well as kings, courtiers, etc.
The culture of Ife and Benin influenced the cultures of almost all the peoples of the Guinean coast.
For example, Ghanaian foundries made miniature bronze castings of weights for weighing gold. Gold casting was very common among the Baule peoples. Their golden masks are distinguished by their grace. They were worn around the neck or at the waist. Perhaps they depicted the heads of killed enemies. Baule masks are varied, but also have common features: oval face, almond-shaped closed eyes, long thin nose, hair in the form of twisted buns, etc.

Baule mask
The art of the ancient and medieval states of Tropical Africa suggests that the peoples of Africa reached a high level and created a unique, highly artistic culture.

Africa, whose history is full of secrets, mysteries in the distant past and bloody political events in the present, is a continent called the cradle of humanity. The huge continent occupies one fifth of all the land on the planet, its lands are rich in diamonds and minerals. In the north there are lifeless, harsh and hot deserts, in the south - virgin tropical forests with many endemic species of plants and animals. It is impossible not to note the diversity of peoples and ethnic groups on the continent; their number fluctuates around several thousand. Small tribes numbering two villages and large nations are the creators of the unique and inimitable culture of the “black” continent.

How many countries are on the continent, where they are located and the history of the study, countries - you will learn all this from the article.

From the history of the continent

The history of the development of Africa is one of the most pressing issues in archaeology. Moreover, if Ancient Egypt has attracted scientists since the ancient period, then the rest of the continent remained in the “shadow” until the 19th century. The continent's prehistoric era is the longest in human history. It was on it that the earliest traces of hominids living in the territory of modern Ethiopia were discovered. The history of Asia and Africa followed a special path; due to their geographical location, they were connected by trade and political relations even before the onset of the Bronze Age.

It is documented that the first trip around the continent was made by the Egyptian pharaoh Necho in 600 BC. In the Middle Ages, Europeans began to show interest in Africa and actively developed trade with eastern peoples. The first expeditions to the distant continent were organized by a Portuguese prince; it was then that Cape Boyador was discovered and the erroneous conclusion was made that it was the southernmost point of Africa. Years later, another Portuguese, Bartolomeo Dias, discovered the Cape of Good Hope in 1487. After the success of his expedition, other major European powers flocked to Africa. As a result, by the beginning of the 16th century, all territories of the western sea coast were discovered by the Portuguese, British and Spaniards. At the same time, the colonial history of African countries and the active slave trade began.

Geographical position

Africa is the second largest continent, with an area of ​​30.3 million square meters. km. It stretches from south to north over a distance of 8000 km, and from east to west - 7500 km. The continent is characterized by a predominance of flat terrain. In the northwestern part there are the Atlas Mountains, and in the Sahara Desert - the Tibesti and Ahaggar highlands, in the east - the Ethiopian, in the south - the Drakensberg and Cape Mountains.

The geographical history of Africa is closely connected with the British. Having appeared on the mainland in the 19th century, they actively explored it, discovering natural objects stunning in their beauty and grandeur: Victoria Falls, Lakes Chad, Kivu, Edward, Albert, etc. In Africa there is one of the largest rivers in the world - the Nile, which the beginning of time was the cradle of Egyptian civilization.

The continent is the hottest on the planet, the reason for this is its geographical position. The entire territory of Africa is located in hot climate zones and is crossed by the equator.

The continent is exceptionally rich in mineral resources. Known to the whole world largest deposits diamonds in Zimbabwe and South Africa, gold in Ghana, Congo and Mali, oil in Algeria and Nigeria, iron and lead-zinc ores on the northern coast.

Beginning of colonization

The colonial history of Asian and African countries has very deep roots, dating back to ancient times. The first attempts to subjugate these lands were made by Europeans back in the 7th-5th centuries. BC, when numerous Greek settlements appeared along the shores of the continent. This was followed by a long period of Hellenization of Egypt as a result of the conquests of Alexander the Great.

Then, under the pressure of numerous Roman troops, almost the entire northern coast of Africa was consolidated. However, it underwent very little Romanization; the indigenous Berber tribes simply went deeper into the desert.

Africa in the Middle Ages

During the period of the decline of the Byzantine Empire, the history of Asia and Africa made a sharp turn in the completely opposite direction from European civilization. The activated Berbers finally destroyed the hearths Christian culture in North Africa, “clearing” the territory for new conquerors - the Arabs, who brought Islam with them and pushed aside Byzantine Empire. By the seventh century, the presence of early European states in Africa was practically reduced to zero.

A radical turning point came only in the final stages of the Reconquista, when mainly the Portuguese and Spaniards reconquered the Iberian Peninsula and turned their gaze to the opposite shore of the Strait of Gibraltar. In the 15th and 16th centuries they pursued an active policy of conquest in Africa, capturing whole line strong points. At the end of the 15th century. they were joined by the French, English and Dutch.

Due to many factors, the new history of Asia and Africa turned out to be closely interconnected. Trade south of the Sahara Desert, actively developed by the Arab states, led to the gradual colonization of the entire eastern part of the continent. West Africa survived. Arab neighborhoods appeared, but Moroccan attempts to subjugate this territory were unsuccessful.

Race for Africa

The colonial division of the continent in the period from the second half of the 19th century until the outbreak of the First World War was called the “race for Africa.” This time was characterized by fierce and intense competition between the leading imperialist powers of Europe to conduct military operations and research in the region, which were ultimately aimed at capturing new lands. The process developed especially strongly after the adoption of the General Act at the Berlin Conference in 1885, which proclaimed the principle of effective occupation. The division of Africa culminated in the military conflict between France and Great Britain in 1898, which occurred in the Upper Nile.

By 1902, 90% of Africa was under European control. Only Liberia and Ethiopia managed to defend their independence and freedom. With the outbreak of the First World War, the colonial race ended, as a result of which almost all of Africa was divided. The history of the development of colonies followed different paths, depending on whose protectorate it was under. The largest possessions were in France and Great Britain, with slightly smaller ones in Portugal and Germany. For Europeans, Africa was important source raw materials, minerals and cheap labor.

Year of Independence

The year 1960 is considered a turning point, when one after another young African states began to emerge from the rule of the metropolises. Of course, the process did not begin and end in such a short period. However, it was 1960 that was proclaimed “African”.

Africa, whose history did not develop in isolation from the rest of the world, found itself, one way or another, also drawn into the Second world war. The northern part of the continent was affected by hostilities, the colonies were struggling to provide the mother countries with raw materials and food, as well as people. Millions of Africans took part in the hostilities, many of them subsequently “settled” in Europe. Despite the global political situation for the “black” continent, the war years were marked by economic growth; this was the time when roads, ports, airfields and runways, enterprises and factories, etc. were built.

The history of African countries received a new turn after the adoption by England, which confirmed the right of peoples to self-determination. And although politicians tried to explain that they were talking about peoples occupied by Japan and Germany, the colonies interpreted the document in their favor as well. In matters of gaining independence, Africa was far ahead of the more developed Asia.

Despite the undisputed right to self-determination, the Europeans were in no hurry to “let” their colonies float freely, and in the first decade after the war, any protests for independence were brutally suppressed. A precedent-setting case was when the British in 1957 granted freedom to Ghana, the most economically developed state. By the end of 1960, half of Africa had achieved independence. However, as it turned out, this did not guarantee anything.

If you pay attention to the map, you will notice that Africa, whose history is very tragic, is divided into countries by clear and even lines. The Europeans did not delve into the ethnic and cultural realities of the continent, simply dividing the territory at their own discretion. As a result, many peoples were divided into several states, others united in one along with sworn enemies. After independence, all this gave rise to numerous ethnic conflicts, civil wars, military coups and genocide.

Freedom was gained, but no one knew what to do with it. The Europeans left, taking with them everything they could take. Almost all systems, including education and healthcare, had to be created from scratch. There were no personnel, no resources, no foreign policy connections.

Countries and dependent territories of Africa

As mentioned above, the history of the discovery of Africa began a very long time ago. However, the invasion of Europeans and centuries of colonialism led to the fact that modern independent states on the mainland were formed literally in the mid-second half of the twentieth century. It is difficult to say whether the right to self-determination has brought prosperity to these places. Africa is still considered the most backward continent in development, yet it has all the necessary resources for a normal life.

Currently, the continent is inhabited by 1,037,694,509 people - this is about 14% of the total population globe. The mainland is divided into 62 countries, but only 54 of them are recognized as independent by the world community. Of these, 10 are island states, 37 have wide access to the seas and oceans, and 16 are inland.

In theory, Africa is a continent, but in practice it is often joined by nearby islands. Some of them are still owned by Europeans. Including the French Reunion, Mayotte, Portuguese Madeira, Spanish Melilla, Ceuta, Canary Islands, English Saint Helena, Tristan da Cunha and Ascension.

African countries are conventionally divided into 4 groups depending on southern and eastern. Sometimes the central region is also isolated separately.

North African countries

North Africa is a very vast region with an area of ​​about 10 million m2, most of which is occupied by the Sahara Desert. It is here that the largest mainland countries by territory are located: Sudan, Libya, Egypt and Algeria. There are eight states in the northern part, so the SADR, Morocco, and Tunisia should be added to those listed.

The modern history of the countries of Asia and Africa (northern region) is closely interconnected. By the beginning of the 20th century, the territory was completely under the protectorate of European countries; they gained independence in the 50-60s. last century. Geographical proximity to another continent (Asia and Europe) and traditional long-standing trade and economic ties with it played a role. In terms of development, North Africa is in a much better position compared to South Africa. The only exception, perhaps, is Sudan. Tunisia has the most competitive economy on the entire continent, Libya and Algeria produce gas and oil, which they export, and Morocco produces phosphate rocks. The predominant share of the population is still employed in the agricultural sector. An important sector of the economy of Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco is developing tourism.

The largest city with more than 9 million inhabitants is Egyptian Cairo, the population of others does not exceed 2 million - Casablanca, Alexandria. Most northern Africans live in cities, are Muslim and speak Arabic. In some countries, French is considered one of the official languages. The territory of North Africa is rich in monuments ancient history and architecture, natural objects.

The development of the ambitious European Desertec project is also planned here - the construction of the largest system of solar power plants in the Sahara Desert.

West Africa

The territory of West Africa extends south of central Sahara, washed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, and is limited in the east by the Cameroon Mountains. Savannas and tropical forests are present, as well as a complete lack of vegetation in the Sahel. Before the Europeans set foot on the shores, states such as Mali, Ghana and Songhai already existed in this part of Africa. Guinea region for a long time was called a “grave for whites” because of dangerous diseases unusual for Europeans: fever, malaria, sleeping sickness, etc. Currently, the group of West African countries includes: Cameroon, Ghana, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Benin, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Liberia, Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Niger, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, Senegal.

The recent history of African countries in the region is marred by military clashes. The territory is torn by numerous conflicts between English-speaking and French-speaking former European colonies. Contradictions lie not only in the language barrier, but also in worldviews and mentalities. There are hot spots in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Road communications are very poorly developed and, in fact, are a legacy of the colonial period. West African countries are among the poorest in the world. While Nigeria, for example, has huge oil reserves.

East Africa

The geographic region that includes the countries east of the Nile River (excluding Egypt) is referred to by anthropologists as the Cradle of Humankind. This is where, in their opinion, our ancestors lived.

The region is extremely unstable, conflicts turn into wars, including very often civil ones. Almost all of them are formed on ethnic grounds. East Africa is inhabited by more than two hundred nationalities belonging to four language groups. During the colonial times, the territory was divided without taking this fact into account; as already mentioned, cultural and natural ethnic boundaries were not respected. The potential for conflict greatly hinders the development of the region.

The following countries belong to East Africa: Mauritius, Kenya, Burundi, Zambia, Djibouti, Comoros, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Mozambique, Seychelles, Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Eritrea.

South Africa

The Southern African region occupies an impressive part of the continent. It contains five countries. Namely: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, South Africa. They all united in the South African Customs Union, which produces and trades mainly in oil and diamonds.

The recent history of Africa in the south is associated with the name of the famous politician Nelson Mandela (pictured), who dedicated his life to the fight for the freedom of the region from the metropolises.

South Africa, of which he was president for 5 years, is now the most developed country on the mainland and the only one that is not classified as a “third world”. Its developed economy allows it to take 30th place among all countries according to the IMF. Has very rich reserves natural resources. Botswana's economy is also one of the most successful in terms of development in Africa. In the first place is livestock breeding and agriculture, in on a large scale diamonds and minerals are mined.