Africa

• North - Cape Blanco (Ben-Secca, Ras Engel, El Abyad) 37 ° 20′28 ″ p. sh. 9 ° 44′48 ″ c. d.
• South - Cape Agulhas (Agulhas) 34 ° 49′43 ″ S. sh. 20 ° 00′09 ″ c. d.
• West - Almadi cape 14 ° 44′27 ″ with. sh. 17 ° 31′48 ″ h. d.
• East - Cape Ras Khafun 10 ° 27′00 ″ with. sh. 51 ° 24′00 ″ c. d.

Initially, the word "afri" residents of ancient Carthage called the people who lived near the city. This name is usually referred to as Phoenician afar , which means "dust." After the conquest of Carthage, the Romans called the province of Africa ( Latin Africa ) ^[4] . Later, Africa also began to call all known regions of this continent, and then the continent itself. Another theory is that the name of the people "afri" is derived from the Berber ifri , "cave", meaning cave dwellers. The Muslim province of Ifriqia, which arose later on this place, also preserved this root in its name.

There are other versions of the origin of the toponym .

• Josephus Flavius , a first-century Jewish historian, claimed that this name comes from the name of the grandson of Abraham Ether ( Gen. 25: 4), whose descendants settled Libya .
• The Latin word aprica , meaning "sunny", is mentioned in The Principles of Isidore of Seville , vol. XIV, section 5.2 (6th century).
• The version about the origin of the name from the Greek word αφρίκη, which means "without cold," was proposed by the historian Leo African . He assumed that the word φρίκη (“cold” and “horror”), combined with the negative prefix α-, means a country where there is neither cold nor horror.
• Gerald Massey , a poet and Egyptologist self-educated person, in 1881 put forward a version about the origin of the word from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, "turn to face the opening of Ka." The ka is the energy double of each person, and “the hole of the ka” means the womb or place of birth. Africa, therefore, for the Egyptians means "homeland" ^[5] .
• According to the paleontologist and writer I. Efremov , the word “Africa” came from the ancient language Ta-Kem (ancient Greek. “Afros” is a foamy country). This is due to the collision of several types of currents that form foam as they approach the continent in the Mediterranean .

Prehistory

At the beginning of the Mesozoic era , when Africa was part of the single continent of Pangea ^[6] , and until the end of the Triassic period , theropods and primitive bird- thaws dominated in this region. The excavations related to the end of the Triassic period indicate a greater population of the south of the continent, rather than the north ^[6] .

Human Origins

Africa is considered the birthplace of man . Here are found the remains of the oldest species of the genus Homo . Of the eight species of this genus, only one survived - a reasonable person , and in a small amount (about 1000 individuals) began to settle in Africa about 100,000 years ago. And already from Africa, people migrated to Asia (about 60-40 thousand years ago), and from there to Europe (40 thousand years), Australia and America (35-15 thousand years). At the same time, the oldest traces of human activity belong to the Syrian steppe, the finds in which are almost one and a half times as ancient as those found in Ethiopia. The ceramic vessels found in the Gobi, dating from 150 thousand BC, are considered controversial. er

Africa in the Stone Age Period

The oldest archaeological finds that testify to the processing of grain in Africa, dated to the thirteenth millennium BC. er Cattle breeding in the Sahara (not yet turned into a desert) began approx. 7500 BC er , and organized agriculture in the Nile area appeared in the 6th millennium BC. er

In the Sahara, which was then a fertile territory, lived groups of hunters - fishermen , according to archaeological finds. Across the Sahara (present-day Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Chad, and others), many petroglyphs and rock paintings dating from 6000 BC are found. er until VII century n. er The most famous monument of primitive art in North Africa is the Tassilin-Adjer Plateau .

In addition to a group of Saharan monuments, rock art is also found in Somalia and South Africa (the oldest drawings date back to the 25th millennium BC. ^[7] ).

Linguistic data show that the ethnic groups speaking Bantu languages ( Kosa , Zulu, and others) migrated in a southwesterly direction , displacing the Khoisan peoples from there (see Bushmen , Hottentots , etc.). In the Bantu settlements, a characteristic set of crops suitable for tropical Africa, including cassava and yams, was found .

A small number of ethnic groups, such as the Bushmen , continue to lead a primitive lifestyle, engaging in hunting and gathering , as their ancestors did thousands of years ago.

Ancient Africa

North Africa

By the 6th-5th millennium BC. er in the Nile Valley, agricultural cultures ( Tassi culture , Fayum culture , Merimde ) were formed, on the basis of which in the 4th millennium BC. er arose Ancient Egypt . To the south of it, also on the Nile, a Kerma- Kushitsky civilization was formed under its influence, which was replaced in the 2nd millennium BC. er Nubian ( Napata public education). Aloa , Mukurra , the Nabatean kingdom, and others, under the cultural and political influence of Ethiopia, Coptic Egypt and Byzantium , were formed on its fragments.

In the north of the Ethiopian Highlands, the Ethiopian civilization arose under the influence of the South Arabian Sabean kingdom : in the V century BC. er Ethiopian kingdom was formed by immigrants from southern Arabia, in the II — XI centuries AD er there was the Axum kingdom , on the basis of which Christian Ethiopia was formed (XII-XVI centuries). These foci of civilization were surrounded by Libyan cattle tribes, as well as the ancestors of the modern Cushito and Nilo - speaking peoples.

As a result of the development of horse breeding (which appeared in the first centuries AD), as well as camel farming and oasis farming in the Sahara, the trading cities of Telgi , Debris , Garama appeared, a Libyan letter appeared .

On the Mediterranean coast of Africa in the XII — II centuries BC. er Phoenician - Carthaginian civilization flourished. The neighborhood of the Carthaginian slave-owning power had an impact on the Libyan population. K IV. BC er large alliances of the Libyan tribes — the Mauretans (modern Morocco to the lower reaches of the Mulu River ) and the Numidians (from the Mulu River to the Carthaginian possessions) were formed. By the III century BC. er conditions for the formation of states were established (see Numidia and Mauretania ).

After the defeat of Carthage by Rome, its territory became the Roman province of Africa . East Numidia in 46 BC. er was transformed into the Roman province of New Africa, and in 27 BC. er both provinces were united into one, governed by proconsuls . The Mavretan kings became vassals of Rome, and in 42 the country was divided into two provinces: Mauretania Tingitanskaya and Mauretania Caesarea .

The weakening of the Roman Empire in the III century caused a crisis in the provinces of North Africa, which contributed to the success of the invasions of barbarians ( Berbers , Goths , Vandals ). With the support of the local population, the barbarians overthrew the power of Rome and formed several states in North Africa: the kingdom of the Vandals , the Berber kingdom of Jedar (between Muluy and Ores ) and a number of smaller Berber principalities.

In the 6th century, North Africa was conquered by Byzantium , but the positions of the central government were fragile. African provincial nobility often entered into allied relations with the barbarians and other external enemies of the empire. In 647, the Carthaginian exarch Gregory (the great-nephew of Emperor Heraclius I ), taking advantage of the weakening of imperial power as a result of the attacks of the Arabs, settled down from Constantinople and declared himself the emperor of Africa. One of the manifestations of discontent of the population with the policy of Byzantium was the wide distribution of heresies ( Arianism , donatism , monophysitism ). The Muslim Arabs became an ally of the heretical movements. In 647, Arab troops defeated Gregory’s army in the battle of Sufetula , which led to the rejection of Egypt from Byzantium. In 665, the Arabs repeated the invasion of North Africa and by 709 all the African provinces of Byzantium became part of the Arab Caliphate (for more, see the Arab conquests ).

Sub-Saharan Africa

In sub-Saharan Africa in the I millennium BC. er iron metallurgy spread throughout the country. This contributed to the development of new territories, first of all - tropical forests, and was one of the reasons for the resettlement of the Bantu-speaking peoples for the most part of the Tropical and Southern Africa, who displaced the Ethiopian and Capoid races to the north and south.

Foci of civilizations in Tropical Africa spread from north to south (in the eastern part of the continent) and partly from east to west (especially in the western part).

The Arabs who penetrated North Africa in the 7th century, right up to the appearance of Europeans, became the main intermediaries between Tropical Africa and the rest of the world, including across the Indian Ocean . The cultures of Western and Central Sudan have formed a single West African, or Sudanese, cultural zone, stretching from Senegal to the modern Republic of Sudan . In the II millennium, most of this zone was part of the large state formations of Ghana , Kanem-Borno , Mali (XIII-XV century), Songai .

To the south of the Sudanese civilizations in the VII — IX centuries AD. er The Ife state was formed, which became the cradle of the Yoruba and Bini civilization (Benin, Oyo ); neighboring nations also experienced their influence. To the west of it, in the 2nd millennium, the Akano - Ashanty proto - civilization was formed , which flourished in the 17th – early 19th century.

In the region of Central Africa during the XV — XIX centuries. gradually emerged various state formations - Buganda , Rwanda, Burundi , etc.

From the 10th century, Swahili Muslim culture flourished in East Africa ( Kilwa , Pathe , Mombasa , Lamu , Malindi , Sofala , etc., the Sultanate of Zanzibar ).

In Southeast Africa, the Zimbabwean ( Zimbabwe , Monomotapa ) proto-civilization (10th-19th centuries), in Madagascar, the state formation process was completed at the beginning of the 19th century by the unification of all the early political formations of the island around Imerin .

Exploring Africa by Overseas Travelers

Since ancient times, Africa has attracted the attention of the peoples of Southern Europe and South-West Asia. The search by the Portuguese for a journey to India, the wealth of which was told by legends, expanded their acquaintance with the coast of Africa. In 1498, the Portuguese Vasco da Gama , completing the discovery of the sea route to India, rounded South Africa, passed along the eastern coast of the continent, for the first time from Europeans crossed the Indian Ocean and reached the shores of India .

The appearance of Europeans in Africa

The penetration of Europeans into Africa began in the 15th and 16th centuries; The greatest contribution to the development of the continent at the first stage was made by the Spaniards and the Portuguese after the completion of the Reconquista . Already at the end of the 15th century, the Portuguese actually controlled the west coast of Africa and, in the 16th century, launched an active slave trade . Behind them, almost all the Western European powers rushed into Africa: the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, France, England, and even a small Kurland .

The slave trade with Zanzibar gradually led to the colonization of East Africa; Morocco’s attempts to seize the Sahel failed.

All North Africa (except Morocco ) by the beginning of the XVII century became part of the Ottoman Empire . With the final division of Africa between the European powers (1880s), a colonial period began , forcing Africans to become part of an industrial civilization.

Colonization

The process of colonization became widespread in the second half of the XIX century, especially after 1885 with the beginning of the so-called race or fight for Africa . Virtually the entire continent (except the remaining independent Ethiopia and Liberia ) by 1900 was divided between a number of European states: Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and their old colonies were preserved and somewhat expanded by Spain and Portugal.

The most extensive and richest were the possessions of Great Britain . In the southern and central part of the continent:

• Cape Colony
• Natal ,
• Bechuanaland (now Botswana ),
• Basutoland ( Lesotho ),
• Swaziland ,
• Southern Rhodesia ( Zimbabwe ),
• Northern Rhodesia ( Zambia ).

In the east:

• Kenya
• Uganda
• Zanzibar ,
• British Somalia .

In the north-east:

• Anglo-Egyptian Sudan , formally considered a co-ownership of England and Egypt.

In the West:

• Nigeria
• Sierra Leone ,
• Gambia
• Gold Coast .

In the indian ocean

• Mauritius (island)
• Seychelles .

The French colonial empire was not inferior in size to the British, but the population of its colonies was several times smaller and its natural resources poorer. Most of the French possessions were located in Western and Equatorial Africa and a large part of their territory fell on the Sahara, the adjacent semi-desert Sahel region and tropical forests :

• French Guinea (now the Republic of Guinea ),
• Ivory Coast ( Ivory Coast ),
• Upper Volta ( Burkina Faso ),
• Dahomey ( Benin ),
• Mauritania ,
• Niger
• Senegal ,
• French Sudan ( Mali ),
• Gabon
• Chad ,
• Congo Middle ( Republic of Congo ),
• Ubangi-Shari ( Central African Republic ),
• French coast of Somalia ( Djibouti ),
• Madagascar
• Comoros ,
• Reunion .

Portugal owned Angola , Mozambique , Portuguese Guinea ( Guinea-Bissau ), which included Cape Verde ( Republic of Cape Verde ), Sao Tome and Principe .

Belgium owned the Belgian Congo ( Democratic Republic of the Congo , and Zaire in 1971-1997 ), Italy - Eritrea and Italian Somalia , Spain - Spanish Sahara ( Western Sahara ), Northern Morocco , Equatorial Guinea , the Canary Islands ; Germany - German East Africa (now - the continental part of Tanzania , Rwanda and Burundi ), Cameroon , Togo and German South-West Africa ( Namibia ).

The main incentives that led to the hot fight of the European powers for Africa are considered economic. Indeed, the desire to exploit the natural wealth and population of Africa was of paramount importance. But one cannot say that these hopes were immediately justified. The south of the continent, where the world's largest deposits of gold and diamonds were discovered , began to give huge profits. But before incomes were obtained, large investments were first needed to explore natural resources, create communications, adapt the local economy to the needs of the metropolis, suppress indigenous protests and find effective ways to make them work for the colonial system. All this took time. Another argument of the ideologues of colonialism was not immediately justified. They argued that the acquisition of colonies would open up many jobs in the metropolitan countries themselves and eliminate unemployment, since Africa would become a capacious market for European products and the vast construction of railways, ports and industrial enterprises would begin there. If these plans were carried out, then more slowly than expected, and on a smaller scale. The argument that the surplus population of Europe would move to Africa turned out to be untenable. Resettlement flows were less than expected, and were mainly limited to the south of the continent, Angola, Mozambique, and Kenya, countries where climate and other natural conditions were suitable for Europeans. The countries of the Gulf of Guinea , known as the “grave of the white man,” were seduced by very few people.

Period of colonial rule

World War I

The First World War was a struggle for the redistribution of Africa, but it did not affect the lives of most African countries very strongly. Military operations covered the territory of the German colonies. They were conquered by the troops of the Entente and after the war, by decision of the League of Nations, transferred to the countries of the Entente as mandated territories: Togo and Cameroon were divided between Great Britain and France , German South-West Africa went to the Union of South Africa (South Africa), Burundi - was transferred to Belgium , the other - Tanganyika - Britain.

With the acquisition of Tanganyika, the long-standing dream of the British ruling circles came true: a continuous band of British possessions from Cape Town to Cairo arose. After the end of the war, the process of colonial development of Africa accelerated. Colonies increasingly turned into agrarian and raw material appendages of the metropolis. Agriculture increasingly focused on export.

Interwar Period

In the interwar period, the composition of crops grown by Africans changed dramatically - the production of export crops increased dramatically: coffee - 11 times, tea - 10, cocoa beans - 6, peanuts - more than 4, tobacco - 3 times and t . e. An increasing number of colonies became the countries of monocultural economy. On the eve of the Second World War in many countries from two-thirds to 98% of the value of all exports accounted for any one culture. In Gambia and Senegal , peanuts became such a crop, cloves in Zanzibar , cotton in Uganda , cocoa beans on the Gold Coast, bananas and pineapples in French Guinea, and tobacco in Southern Rhodesia. In some countries, there were two export crops each: on the Ivory Coast and in Togo - coffee and cocoa, in Kenya - coffee and tea, etc. In Gabon and some other countries, valuable species of forest have become monoculture.

The industry that was created - mainly the mining industry - was even more designed for export. It developed quickly. In the Belgian Congo, for example, copper mining from 1913 to 1937 increased more than 20 times. By 1937, Africa occupied an impressive place in the capitalist world in the production of mineral raw materials. It accounted for 97% of all diamonds mined, 92% for cobalt , more than 40% for gold , chromites , lithium minerals , manganese ore, phosphates and more than a third of platinum production. In West Africa, as well as in most parts of Eastern and Central Africa, export products were produced mainly on the farms of the Africans themselves. European plantation production did not take root there due to climatic conditions difficult for Europeans. The main exploiters of the African manufacturer were foreign companies. Exported agricultural products were produced on farms belonging to Europeans located in the Union of South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, parts of Northern Rhodesia, Kenya, South-West Africa.

World War II

The fighting during the Second World War on the African continent is divided into two directions: the North African campaign that affected Egypt , Libya , Tunisia , Algeria , Morocco and was an integral part of the most important Mediterranean theater of operations , and the autonomous African theater of operations wore of secondary importance.

During World War II, hostilities in tropical Africa were conducted only in Ethiopia , Eritrea, and Italian Somalia . In 1941, British troops together with the Ethiopian partisans and with the active participation of Somalis occupied the territories of these countries. In other countries of the Tropical and South African military operations were not conducted (with the exception of Madagascar ). But in the metropolitan army, hundreds of thousands of Africans were mobilized. An even greater number of people had to serve the troops, work for military needs. Africans fought in North Africa, Western Europe, the Middle East, Burma , Malaya . On the territory of the French colonies there was a struggle between the Vichyists and supporters of the “Free France”, which did not lead, as a rule, to military clashes.

Decolonization of Africa

After World War II , the process of the decolonization of Africa quickly began. The year of Africa - the year of liberation of the largest number of colonies - was declared 1960 . This year, 17 states gained independence ^[8] . Most of them are French colonies and UN Trust Territories under French control: Cameroon , Togo , Malagasy Republic , Congo (formerly French Congo), Dahomey , Upper Volta , Ivory Coast , Chad , Central African Republic , Gabon , Mauritania , Niger , Senegal , Mali . Independent were proclaimed the largest country in Africa in terms of population - Nigeria , which belonged to the UK, and the largest in terms of territory - the Belgian Congo. The British Somalia and the Somali Trust, under Italian administration, were merged and became the Somali Democratic Republic.

The 1960s changed the whole situation on the African continent. The dismantling of the remaining colonial regimes has already become inevitable. Sovereign states have been proclaimed:

• in 1961, the British possessions of Sierra Leone and Tanganyika;
• in 1962 - Algeria , Uganda , Burundi and Rwanda ;
• in 1963 - Kenya and Zanzibar ;
• in 1964 - Northern Rhodesia (which called itself the Republic of Zambia, after the river Zambezi ) and Nyasaland (Malawi); in the same year, Tanganyika and Zanzibar united, creating the Republic of Tanzania ;
• in 1965 - the Gambia ;
• in 1966 - Bechuanaland became the Republic of Botswana and Basutoland - the Kingdom of Lesotho;
• in 1968 - Mauritius , Equatorial Guinea and Swaziland ;
• in 1973 - Guinea-Bissau ;
• in 1975 (after the revolution in Portugal ) - Angola , Mozambique , Cape Verde and Sao Tome and Principe , as well as 3 of the 4 Comoros ( Mayotte remained in possession of France );
• in 1977 , the Seychelles , and French Somalia became the Republic of Djibouti ;
• in 1980 , Southern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zimbabwe ;
• in 1990 - the trust territory of South-West Africa - the Republic of Namibia .

The proclamation of independence of Kenya, Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique and Namibia was preceded by wars, uprisings, guerrilla warfare. But for most African countries, the final stage of the journey was completed without major bloodshed, it was the result of mass demonstrations and strikes, the negotiation process, and in respect of the Trust Territories - the decisions of the United Nations.

Due to the fact that the borders of African states during the “race for Africa” were artificially carried out without taking into account the resettlement of various peoples and tribes, as well as the fact that traditional African society was not ready for democracy , in many African countries, after independence, civilians began of war . In many countries, dictators came to power. The resulting regimes are characterized by a disregard for human rights , bureaucracy , totalitarianism , which, in turn, leads to a crisis of the economy and growing poverty.

Currently, under the control of European countries are:

• Spain enclaves in Morocco Ceuta and Melilla , Canary Islands ( Spain ),
• St. Helena , Ascension , Tristan da Cunha and the Chagos Archipelago ( UK ),
• Reunion , Eparse Islands and Mayotte ( France ),
• Madeira ( Portugal ).

Change of State Names

During the period when African countries gained independence, many of them changed their names for various reasons. It could be secessions , associations, regime change or the acquisition of sovereignty by the country. The phenomenon of renaming African names of their own (names of countries, personal names of people) in order to reflect African identity was called Africanization .

* The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire did not change its name as such, but demanded that the French name of the country ( fr. Côte d'Ivoire ) be used in other languages, rather than its literal translation into other languages ​​(Ivory Coast, Ivory Coast , Elfenbeinküste , etc.).

Africa covers an area of ​​30.3 million km². The length from north to south is 8 thousand km, from west to east in the northern part - 7.5 thousand km.

Relief

Mostly - flat, in the north-west Atlas mountains are located, in the Sahara - highlands Ahaggar and Tibesti . In the east - the Ethiopian Highlands , to the south of it, the East African Plateau , where Kilimanjaro Volcano (5895 m) is located, is the highest point of the mainland. In the south are the Cape and Drakensberg Mountains . The lowest point (157 meters below sea level) is located in Djibouti , this is the salty lake of Assal . The deepest cave is Anu Ifflis , located in the north of Algeria in the Tel Atlas mountains.

Minerals

Africa is known primarily for its rich deposits of diamonds ( South Africa , Zimbabwe ) and gold (South Africa, Ghana , Mali , Republic of the Congo ). There are large oil fields in Nigeria and Algeria . Bauxite is mined in Guinea and Ghana. Phosphate rock resources, as well as manganese , iron and lead - zinc ores are concentrated in the zone of the northern coast of Africa.

Inland waters

In Africa there is one of the longest rivers in the world - the Nile (6852 km) ^[9] , flowing from south to north. Other major rivers are the Niger in the west, the Congo in central Africa, the Zambezi , the Limpopo and the Orange in the south.

The largest lake is Victoria (average depth 40 m, maximum 80 m). Other large lakes are Nyasa and Tanganyika , located in lithospheric faults. One of the largest salt lakes - Lake Chad , located on the territory of the same state.

Climate

Africa is the hottest continent on the planet. The reason for this is in the geographical location of the continent: the whole territory of Africa is located in hot climatic zones (including subtropical) and the continent is crossed by the equator line. It is in Africa that the hottest place on earth is Dallol .

Central Africa and the coastal areas of the Gulf of Guinea belong to the equatorial belt, there is heavy rainfall there throughout the year and there is no change of seasons. To the north and south of the equatorial belt are located subequatorial belts. Here in the summer dominated by wet equatorial air masses ( rainy season ), and in winter - the dry air of tropical trade winds (dry season). North and south of the subequatorial belts are the northern and southern tropical zones. They are characterized by high temperatures with low rainfall, which leads to the formation of deserts.

In the north there is the largest Sahara desert in the world, in the south - the Kalahari desert, in the south-west the Namib desert. The northern and southern extremities of the mainland are included in the corresponding subtropical belts.

Natural areas

The flora of the tropical , equatorial and subequatorial belts is diverse. Ceiba , pipdathenia , terminalia , kombretum , brachistegia , isoberline , pandanus , tamarind , sundew , pemphigus , palm trees and many others grow everywhere. Low trees and thorny bushes ( acacia , terminalia , bush ) predominate in savannas.

Desert vegetation, by contrast, is sparse, consists of small communities of grasses, shrubs, and trees growing in oases, high-altitude areas, and along the water. Salt- resistant halophytic plants are found in cavities. On the least water-rich plains and plateaus, species of grass grow, small bushes and trees resistant to droughts and heat. Flora of desert areas is well adapted to rainfall irregularities. This is reflected in a wide variety of physiological adaptations, habitat preferences, the creation of dependent and related communities and reproduction strategies. Perennial drought-resistant grasses and shrubs have an extensive and deep (up to 15–20 m) root system . Many of the herbal plants are ephemera that can produce seeds in three days after sufficient moisture and sow them for 10-15 days thereafter.

In the mountainous regions of the Sahara desert , relict Neogene flora occurs, often related to the Mediterranean, and many endemics . Among the relict woody plants growing in mountainous areas are some types of olives , cypress and mastic . Also presented are species of acacia , tamarisk and wormwood , dum-palm , oleander , date palmate , thyme , ephedra . In the oases cultivated dates , figs , olive and fruit trees, some citrus fruits , various vegetables . Herbal plants growing in many parts of the desert are represented by the genera triostnitsa , polevichka and millet . On the coast of the Atlantic Ocean grows riparian and other salt-resistant grasses. Various combinations of ephemera form seasonal pastures, called achebami. Algae are found in water bodies.

In many desert areas (rivers, hamads, partly sand accumulations, etc.), vegetation cover is completely absent. Human activities ( grazing , gathering useful plants, fuel procurement, etc.) had a strong impact on the vegetation of almost all areas.

A remarkable plant of the Namib desert is the tumboa , or Welvichia (Welwitschia mirabilis). It grows two giant leaves, slowly growing throughout its life (more than 1000 years ), which can exceed 3 meters in length. The leaves are attached to the stem, which resembles a huge conical radish with a diameter of from 60 to 120 centimeters, and sticks out of the ground for 30 centimeters. Velvichia roots go down to the ground to a depth of 3 m. Velvichia is known for its ability to grow in extremely dry conditions, using dew and fog as the main source of moisture. Velvichia - endemic to northern Namib - is depicted on the national emblem of Namibia .

In a little more humid places of the desert, another known Namiba plant is found - nara ( Acanthosicyos horridus ), ( endemic ) that grows on sand dunes. Its fruits are the food base and the source of moisture for many animals, African elephants , antelopes , porcupines , etc.

Since prehistoric times, Africa has preserved the largest number of megafauna representatives. Tropical, equatorial and sub-equatorial belt is inhabited by a variety of mammals: okapi , antelope (duiker, bongo), pygmy hippopotamus , bush pigs , warthog , galago , monkeys , flying squirrel (chaetura), lemurs (on the island of Madagascar.), Civets , chimpanzees , gorillas and etc. Nowhere in the world is there such an abundance of large animals as in the African savanna : elephants , hippos , rhinos , lions , giraffes , leopards , cheetahs , antelopes (cannes), zebras , hyenas , African ostrich . Some elephants, kaffe buffaloes and white rhinos live only in reserves.

Among the birds dominate the Jaco , turaco , guinea fowl , hornbill ( hornbill ), marabou .

Reptiles and amphibians of the tropical equatorial and subequatorial belt are a mamba (one of the most venomous snakes in the world), a crocodile, a python, a tree frog , a tree frog , and a marble frog .

In humid climatic zones, the malaria mosquito and tsetse fly are common , causing sleeping sickness in both humans and mammals.

Ecology

The pressing problems of African ecology

The main environmental problems of Africa: desertification - the problem of the northern part, deforestation of tropical forests - in the central part.

Geographic research

About the existence of Africa, the peoples of Eurasia have been known for a long time. Especially a lot of historical and geographical information about the major states of the Mediterranean is found in the manuscripts and maps of ancient Greek and Roman scholars. The reason for the insufficient study of the interior of the continent was the presence of huge inaccessible deserts, which hampered the researchers.

First swimming

The first voyage around the continent made the Phoenicians around the 6th century BC.

Ibn Battuta

In the 14th century, the Arab traveler Ibn Battuta explored the peninsula of Somalia , traveled through the territory of Timbuktu and Mali.

Vasco da Gama

In the years 1497-1499, a Portuguese expedition led by Vasco da Gama rounded Africa and headed from Somalia to India.

David Livingston

David Livingston decided to explore the rivers of South Africa and find natural passes into the mainland. He sailed the Zambezi, discovered the Victoria Falls, determined the watershed of Lake Nyasa, Tanganyika and the River Lualaba. In 1849, he was the first European to cross the Kalahari desert and explore Lake Ngami. During his last journey, he tried to find the origins of the Nile.

Heinrich Barth

Heinrich Barth found that the lake Chad is drainless, the first European to study the rock paintings of the ancient inhabitants of the Sahara and expressed his assumptions about climate change in North Africa.

Russian researchers

Mining engineer, traveler Egor Petrovich Kovalevsky helped the Egyptians in search of gold deposits, he studied the tributaries of the Blue Nile. Vasily Vasilyevich Junker explored the watershed of the main African rivers - the Nile, Congo and Niger. In 1926–1927, another Russian scientist N. I. Vavilov organized a trip to the Mediterranean countries of North Africa. He collected the largest - more than 6000 samples - a collection of seeds of cultivated plants and proved that Ethiopia is the birthplace of valuable solid wheat varieties.

There are 55 countries and 5 self-proclaimed and unrecognized states in Africa. Most of them were colonies of European states for a long time and gained independence only in the 1950s and 1960s . Prior to that, only Egypt (c 1922 ), Ethiopia (since the Middle Ages), Liberia (since 1847 ) and South Africa (since 1910 ) were independent; In the Republic of South Africa and Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), until the 80-90s of the XX century, the regime of apartheid discriminated against the indigenous population. Currently, many African countries are ruled by regimes that discriminate against the white population. According to the research organization Freedom House, in recent years in many African countries (for example, in Nigeria, Mauritania, Senegal, Congo (Kinshasa) and Equatorial Guinea) there has been a tendency to retreat from democratic achievements towards authoritarianism ^[10] .

In the north of the continent are the territories of Spain ( Ceuta , Melilla , Canary Islands ) and Portugal ( Madeira ).

African Union

In 1963, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) was created. This organization was officially transformed into the African Union on July 9, 2002 . It currently includes 55 countries.

The chairman of the African Union is elected for a period of one year the head of one of the African states. The administration of the African Union is in Addis Ababa , Ethiopia .

The objectives of the African Union are:

• promoting political and socio-economic integration of the continent;
• promotion and protection of the interests of the continent and its population;
• achieving peace and security in Africa;
• promoting the development of democratic institutions, wise leadership and human rights.

The last, twenty-fourth summit of the African Union was held in late January 2015 ^[19] .

General economic and geographic characteristics of African countries

A feature of the geographical position of many countries in the region is the lack of access to the sea. At the same time, in the countries overlooking the ocean, the coastline is poorly indented, which is unfavorable for the construction of large ports.

Africa is exceptionally rich in natural resources. Especially large reserves of mineral raw materials - manganese ores, chromites , bauxites , etc. In the depressions and coastal areas there is fuel raw materials . Oil and gas are produced in North and West Africa ( Nigeria , Algeria , Egypt , Libya ). Huge reserves of cobalt and copper ores are concentrated in Zambia and the DRC; manganese ores are mined in South Africa and Zimbabwe ; platinum , iron ore and gold in South Africa ; diamonds - in both Congo ( DRC and RK ), Botswana , South Africa , Namibia , Angola , Ghana ; phosphorites - in Morocco , Tunisia ; uranium - in Niger , Namibia .

Africa has fairly large land resources, but soil erosion has become catastrophic due to improper treatment. Water resources throughout Africa are distributed extremely unevenly. Forests occupy about 10% of the territory, but as a result of predatory destruction, their area is rapidly decreasing.

In Africa, the highest rates of natural population growth. The natural increase in many countries exceeds 30 people per 1000 inhabitants per year. A high proportion of childhood ages (50%) and a small proportion of older people (about 5%) remain.

African countries have not yet succeeded in changing the colonial type of sectoral and territorial structure of the economy, although the pace of economic growth has somewhat accelerated. The colonial type of sectoral structure of the economy is characterized by the predominance of low-value, consumer agriculture, the weak development of the manufacturing industry, the lag in the development of transport. The greatest successes achieved in Africa are in the mining industry. In terms of mining of many minerals, Africa holds the leading and sometimes monopolistic place in the world (in the extraction of gold, diamonds, platinoids, etc.). The manufacturing industry is represented by light and food, other industries are absent, with the exception of some areas near the availability of raw materials and on the coast ( Egypt , Algeria , Morocco , Nigeria , Zambia , DRC ).

The second branch of the economy, which determines the place of Africa in the world economy, is tropical and subtropical agriculture . Agricultural production is 60-80% of GDP. The main commercial crops are coffee , cocoa beans , peanuts , dates , tea , natural rubber , sorghum , spices . Recently began to grow crops: maize , rice , wheat . Livestock plays a subordinate role, with the exception of countries with arid climate. Extensive cattle breeding prevails, characterized by a huge number of livestock, but low productivity and low marketability. The continent does not provide itself with agricultural products.

Transport also preserves the colonial type: the railways run from the areas of raw materials extraction to the port, while the regions of one state are practically not connected. Relatively developed rail and sea transport. In recent years, other types of transport have been developed - automobile (the road is laid across the Sahara), air, and pipeline.

All countries, with the exception of South Africa, are developing, most of them are the poorest in the world (70% of the population lives below the poverty line).

Problems and difficulties of African states

In most African states, a swollen, unprofessional and inefficient bureaucracy has emerged. When the social structures were amorphous, the army remained the only organized force. The result - endless military coups. The dictators who came to power appropriated countless riches. The capital of Mobutu, President of the Congo, at the time of its overthrow was $ 7 billion. The economy was not functioning well, and this gave room for a “destructive” economy: drug production and distribution, illegal mining of gold and diamonds, even human trafficking. Africa’s share of world GDP and its share in world exports declined, and per capita output declined.

The formation of statehood was extremely complicated by the absolute artificiality of state borders. Africa inherited them from the colonial past. They were established when the continent was divided into spheres of influence and have little in common with ethnic boundaries. Established in 1963, the Organization of African Unity, realizing that any attempt to correct a particular border could lead to unpredictable consequences, called for these boundaries to be considered unshakable, no matter how unfair they were. But these borders nevertheless became a source of ethnic conflicts and displacements of millions of refugees.

The main sector of the economy of most countries of tropical Africa is agriculture, designed to provide food for the population and serve as the raw material base for the development of the manufacturing industry. It is occupied by the majority of the active population of the region, creating the bulk of the total national income. In many countries of Tropical Africa, agriculture occupies a leading place in exports, providing a significant portion of foreign exchange earnings. In the past decade, with the growth rate of industrial production, an alarming picture has been observed, which suggests that the region is actually deindustrializing. If in 1965–1980 they (on average per year) amounted to 7.5%, then in the 80s only 0.7%, the fall in growth rates took place in the 80s both in the mining and manufacturing sectors. For a number of reasons, the mining industry has a special role in ensuring the socio-economic development of the region, but even this production is reduced by 2% annually. A characteristic feature of the development of tropical Africa is the weak development of the manufacturing industry. Only in a very small group of countries (Zambia, Zimbabwe, Senegal), its share in GDP reaches or exceeds 20%.

Integration Processes

A characteristic feature of the integration processes in Africa is the high degree of their institutionalization. Currently, there are about 200 economic associations of various levels, scale and orientation on the continent. But from the point of view of studying the problem of the formation of a subregional identity and its relationship with the identity of national and ethnic interest, such large organizations as the West African Economic Community ( ECOWAS ), the Southern African Development Community ( SADC ), the Economic Community of Central African States ( ECAC ), etc. The extremely low impact of their activities in previous decades and the onset of the era of globalization required a sharp acceleration of the integration processes essov a qualitatively different level. Economic cooperation is developing in the new - in comparison with the 1970s - the conditions of the contradictory interaction of the globalization of the world economy and the increasing marginalization of the positions of the African states in its framework and, of course, in a different coordinate system. Integration is no longer seen as a tool and a basis for the formation of a self-sufficient and self-developing economy with self-reliance and as opposed to the imperialist West. The approach is different, which, as mentioned above, represents integration as a way and means of integrating African countries into the globalizing world economy, as well as an impulse and indicator of economic growth and development in general.