Sub­Saharan Africa
Africa as a continent covers 1/5 of the Earth’s land surface
­there is no mountain range to break Africa off –deserts do this instead
*The Kalahari in the south
*and the Sahara
­Jungles also do a lot to separate Africa –the Congo ­4 major rivers:
Zambizi in the south,Congo in central Africa,Nigear in the northwest,and the Nile that starts in the south and travels north east into Egypt ­4 major divisions:
West Africa,East Africa, Equatorial Africa,Southern Africa
West Africa
Arid desert north,then a semi­arid area,then a coastal land(all travel east to west) these are extreme physiographic places which led to extremely different cultures
Slavery had the biggest impact along the west coast
*modern infrastructure does not exist in these areas *The coastal areas are the ones that had the most contact with colonists
*All of these areas have had civil wars and boundary disputes
Equatorial Africa
­suffer from high heat with very little seasonal variation ­this area also has the most biodiversity within the rain forest of the Congo delta East Africa
­east of the Rift valley which runs all the way into Saudi Arabia all the way to the dead sea ­forms the East Africa Bantu people dominate this area and go as far as the Niotic people in the north
­a lot of savannas – most farming is by “swidden” or “shift cultivation” or slash and burn agriculture
Southern Africa
­lake Malawi ­mostly the Calahari desert
­this area is dominated by South Africa ( the country) ­this area is the richest as far as minerals(ivory,gold,platinum,etc.) ­same latitude as Virginia they have things such as vineyards,etc. Describing Africa
­“Black Africa” this has nothing to do the people there ,Europeans made this up because they did not know what was there
­Gondwana land – all the land masses put together With this, Africa is in the center Earliest History the “discovery” of Africa pertains to the British – obviously Africa had already been discovered by the people who lived there but Europeans did not consider this because they thought the people there were “backwards” **Royal Geographic Society in London
*funded many trips here *Dr. Livingston was one of the most famous explorers and he was also a missionary Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke
­ both of these were very famous explorers ­both suffered severe wounds on the first trip so they aborted the mission
2nd trip:
­ Speke is credited with being the first European to find the source of the Nile he died from in a hunting accident Henry Stanley – found Dr. Livingston dying in Africa and brought him back ­ people went to Africa for glory,wealth,etc.
What we do know is that Africa is at the heart of the world believed that the first hominids were formed here who created the first languages and used the first tools *From Africa, people used the Sinai land­bridge into Asia Wheat comes from the Fertile Crescent – if you want to find the most diversity in wheat, must go to the Fertile Crescent **The same theory can be put to Africa – Africa is where humans came from – therefore there is the most diversity among people is in Africa
Unfortunately, most of the African history that dates to pre­colonial times has been lost because of European mis­education and because the people there did not have written languages Greeks and Romans went into Africa
*Trade routes along the Nile River as well as in Sub­Saharan Africa along the coast mostly for the ivory *trade routes travel east to west
*The salt route took salt up to North Africa(Timbuktu)from Sahara into Europe
*Also the gold route that came from Goa into Europe *Gold,spices,ivory,salt were the most lucrative things that were being traded *In the savannas, herding cultures were the most important produced meat that they traded with other groups *Each group has its own thing –Regional Complimentary going on
Timbuktu was the capital city in West Africa during the time of the Mali culture – was once one of the largest cities in the world *had the greatest univertities and mosques
*was the most important trade center in Africa
*millet and sorgom were the most important grains grown here – some rice but not must *North=herding, South=Agriculture
*the Mali kingdom was overthrown by the Songhi Empire who moved the capital to Goa –They were both Muslim Empires
Modern Ethiopia –mostly inside the borders that are known today
*They were a Christian Kingdom
Europeans did not bring state­division into Africa, they already had this *Africa had boundaries
*Buganda was a regional area that had a king as well as a Parliament Europeans changed Africa African slave trade had been going on for centuries *Arabians took slaves mostly from the island of Zanzibar and Tania (present day Tanzania) took slaves and sold them in the Middle East
Nothing compares to the European slave trade that came from the Western Coast of Africa ­­ took them from the Mozambique area and brought them into Brazil ­­Portuguese were first – tried to cut off oceanic trade route between Africa,India, and Middle East could not completely cut off land trade because they did not occupy the area ­­Portuguese had a severe occupation of Africa
*Did not want to colonize necessarily – mostly because all who stayed there died from tropical disease (malaria,yellow fever, etc.) *The first African slaves were brought over in an attempt to save indigenous populations Spanish priest named Bartholomew convinced the Spanish king to save the last few Carribbean slaves because they had not yet been converted yet so they would not be saved suggested that they bring slaves from Afirca Portuguese and Spanish first then British and French soon followed *Africans were much less susceptible to diseases because they had already been in contact with them
*1/3 less Africans died than the Indians – therefore this was successful
first years 1700 per year from 1650­1675 14,700 slaves per year were brought over from 1675­1700 28,000 per year from 1700­1720 45,000 per year
**Basically doubles every year
**Totaled 10 million African slaves worked for European colonies ­ this does not mean this is the whole number many died in transit on the way to North America ­­ this is one leg of the Triangular Trade *Europeans took manufactured goods to Africa to be traded in exchanged for slaves *Then took the slaves to Carribbean to get spices and were traded into Europe for a huge profit *Europeans wanted African Slaves they did not care where in Africa they were from ­the people realize this and start kidnapping people from the interior to bring to the coast so that their own people would not have to go
­this destroyed relationships between West Africa Central Africa has a low population because the men were going west and the women were being taken east by the Arabs There was a major psychological effect both on how Africans saw each other and how Europeans saw them Europeans saw them as barbaric because they only looked along the coast – the civilizations were in the interior where they did not bother to look Asante tribe was expanding during this time
­ they were a coastal tribe that looked to the interior to get people to sell to the Europeans In 1884 a conference in Berlin called “ The Conference in Berlin” was called to discuss the future of Africa
­wanted to decide on the future ­Germany,France,Portugal,Belguim,Britain all ran to grab a chunk of Africa when they realized everyone wanted it ­By the end of the conference – 90% of Africa was in European hands ­the division of Africa was completely random and decided by Europeans fighting civilizations were put together and unified groups were ripped apart
Liberia and Ethiopia were kept independent: freed slaves from north America were brought here because the Americans did not want them to stay there By this time, Europeans were trying to stop slaving Most of the conquest of Africa was out of fear that one of the other European superpowers would find something that would put them at an advantage ­France carved out an empire 9 times the size of France France and Portugal wanted the people in Africa to be just like them ­Portuguese wanted to create a class that was half white and half black to be the administrators of Africa ­Britain,Germany,and Belgium were unlike France and Portugal wanted nothing to do with the people and only wanted to export raw materials ­There were many uprisings against German discipline – as punishment, the Germans would go in and burn an entire crop of a village and the people would starve to death as an example ­The Belgium king –Leopold II­treated his area the worst –considered the worst treatment
*The King owned the Congo 900,000 acres *Leopold ended up burning all written evidence about his conquest in the Congo
*The major export was rubber – work was enforced onto every single person
*taxes were levied per person, not per output *He went about this through land grants: he would grant people areas of land and he would get a payment from them and they could have all the profit
­if a person could not make their payments, left hand of daughter was cut off,right hand, the son, and on and on people worked themselves to death to ensure that this did not happen ­population of Congo was reduced in half – a lot of it was due to starvation, people did not have time to grow crops because they were worried about making rubber *The colonial system lasted for 70 years –this laid the foundation for Africa’s modern geography
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Almost all of the middle east is Arid(dry)
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­ many deserts Sahara means desert ­some deserts are very sandy
­some are rocky
­some are salty ­oasis: usually date palm in the middle east, they are also surrounded by river valleys *basically, over all dry area with pockets of water 3 language families:
1st: Afro­Asiatic –Hemites and Semites Arabic(In northern Africa and Saudi Arabia) and Hebrew(Spoken in Israel) Arab people are from Arabia
2nd: Altaic( includes Turkish and Turkmenistan) 3rd: Indo­European – German,Russian, Hindi,Persian, and Kurdish Religion
Overwhelmingly Muslim In the areas of Israel they are Hebrew
Lavant – 4 countries:Lebanon,Syria,Jordan,Israel­Palestine Sunni Muslims reside in northern Africa and Saudi Arabia
Shia – Iran,Iraq, ½ Lebanon
There are Christians in Egypt,Lebanon,Syria, and Israel­Palestine 11/21/2011
Lebanon: 52 percent Christian in 1932 – refused to have a census since then The course of monotheism
­All other areas have had polytheistic beliefs, Middle East started monotheism
Atenism
* the deification of the sun’s sphere as God *Akhenaton and his wife Nefertiti moved the capital from Thebes to *****
*He only had daughters – not a problem because one becomes pharaoh through marrying the pharoah’s daughter *Tutenkaten married Akhenaton’s daughter – he moved the capital back to Thebes,turned back to polytheism, died at a young age and his name was changed to Tutekkamon
Judaism *started with Abraham and Sara – they were Mesopotamian *Under god’s orders he went to present day Israel­Palestine *Jews came from Isaac, and Muslims came from Ishmael *Christians came from the birth of Jesus, died around 33 A.D – until Luke and Paul, meant only for Jews *Christianity became a religion that wanted converts Constantine of Rome became Christian on his death bed – before this, Christianity was a rebellious religion Zoroastrianism
The religion of Iran
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Founded by Zoroaster – the time is unknown Zoroaster was from present day Iran He said that there was only one god Ahura­Mazda – but because there has to be an opposite Daemon ( because he was surrounded by Daemons, or demons)
Seems like there are two gods – he said that Daemon is not a god, but a lie – when you follow the lie, you follow Daemon In Iran, purity is expressed as fire when you died, you had to be burned before you could see Ahura­
Mazda **Sounds like purgatory**
In early Judaism, there was no hell – either you saw heaven or you just died
*During the conquest of the Middle East by the Persians – main Jews, including the prophet Daniel, were taken to Iran they got the ideas of hell and paradise from Zoroastrianism Daniel died in Susa – he is considered a very holy person by Iranians ??
Muslim
*Zoroastrianism had not been around for 100s of years – it was culture based, meaning you could not be this unless you were Persian
*Christianity continued to be the dominate religion until the 8 th century *In the 8th century, Muslims came from Mecca and Medina and took over large parts of the Middle East ­ they did not care whether you were Christian because Christians paid more taxes only polytheists had to convert ­ most people converted because there was a religious war going on within Christianity monophisides and diphisides (diff. aspects of Christianity) were killing each other ­ Muslims came in and converted them to follow Allah people may have converted more money because when you converted you had better chance to trade Islam conversion was quite easy Of all groups of people and all areas that have been conquered – Saudi Arabia has never been conquered
*Area is mostly desert with oasis
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*Culture developed here over clientage(people you do business with but is subordinate to you) *the idea of markets comes from the Middle East Religion
Iran, where most Shiites reside, are okay with art depicting Muhammad, but Sunnis do not think this is okay Started in Saudi Arabia he came from the middle class, he was chosen to follow God and accept the Koran this is historical because he was illiterate so he could not have read it anywhere else * he lived in a place that was a very important trading post – people were not allowed to bring weapons into this place he tried to get everyone of different religions to convert ( because all religions were accepted in this area) *He escaped the Hijira or Hajj in 622 this is the start of the Muslim calendar he went to Mecca and these people converted and they helped him overtake Medina *Islamic armies came out of Arabia and started conquering the middle east and Africa *Schism occurred after the death of Muhammad ­­ some people thought that it should stay within the family and go to his son Ali Shiites ­­ others believed that it should stay with the clergy these are Sunnis, who came the majority of the religion and wanted it to stay within the “friends” of the prophet Ali became the leader but was assassinated – this is the Shiite branch The 12th Imam disappeared and will reappear on judgement day The 7th Imam had another break and some followed Ishmael and they became Ismalia (Pakistan)
Ayatollah are the leaders Agakhan is the leader of the Ismalia (Pakistan) Islam is made up of five pillars
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In Sunni religion – the life of the prophet Muhammad and the Koran
­“There is no prophet but God, and Muhammad is his messenger” ­pray 5 times a day called from minarets (tall buildings that stick out and imams call to pray – today they use megaphones)
­Zakat: almsgiving ­Sawm: fasting during the month of Ramadan ( cannot eat, drink, smoke, or have sex) because they follow a lunar calendar Ramadan is different every year exceptions: elderly,sick,pregnant Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca – you do not have to do this but if you have the means then do it Early Culture Hearths/ centers Egypt and Mesopotamia are the two biggest centers Cathagians, Romans, Persians, Turks, etc. many groups came into this area Islamic Academic centers, specifically in Baghdad, have most of their historic texts – translated them from different languages Huge advances were made in geography they mapped these areas
Great advances in algebra, medicine in Europe you could not touch a dead body but in Islam this was not a problem so they discovered a lot The first University was founded in Cairo in 988 The Ecological Trilogy:
1st: villages – economic backbone of the middle east and still today maintains around 60­70 percent of the people * come in all shapes and sizes * in them you will find wheat,barley,dates, etc. they are all located around water * generally existed in a very closed system except for trading with the other two groups 2nd group: Nomads – controlled the oasis and controlled the trade within them 11/21/2011
*Spatial Nomadism: oasis to oasis across vast places with your tribe *Transhumance: aka “vertical nomadism” the seasonal movement of people in the summer time you go to the high elevation where it is cool and water, in the summer when it starts snowing you go down the mountain and into the river valley in the winter People in the mountainside showed continuity – they did not change
3rd:cities – reflect all the changes that have come across this area *cities began in the middle east (in Sumer) * until 300 BC the largest city in the world was in the Middle East – moved to India, China, Rome, etc. – ends up in Tokyo ­everywhere in the world, the focus was village life **Middle East is the ONLY area with this three tier system Cities in the Middle East
1. most of them include a high wall around them they were like this even before the creation of Islam
2. citadels – a walled core 3. central religious structure extraordinarily ornate 4. next to the mosque is the bazaar things from the country side and within the city are sold here *no supermarkets, this is where people buy groceries 5. the streets are very narrow – this protects from invasion and also protects from the sun 6. ends in cul­de­sacs foreigners are not allowed to go in these places 7. all houses have the same façade – this is because they do not want people to know how rich a family is 8. inside – the decoration comes into play 9. privacy for women is kept in mind – there are screens on the windows so that women can see out but people cannot see in 10. inside of a home, there is a large courtyard where people entertain guests – this is their yard 11/21/2011
When the French came in, their first instinct was to bulldoze these cities however, they did not do this, they just built new ones General Lowentine built new cities with big streets and high­rises There are often parallel cities that run right next to each other Cairo
“The mother of the world” “the gift of the Nile” etc. ­ the largest city in Africa
­ the city of Giza goes basically right up the paws of the Sphinx ­ it is incredibly over populated ­ ****center of the Middle East *****
Culture Ecology of Middle East
*Looking at the way ecology of an area shapes the culture 3 climates:
1. BWh – tropical and subtropical desert (in northern Africa and Saudi Arabia)
2. Cs ­ Mediterranean dry 3. BSh – tropical and subtropical stepp
­ a plain is basically solid grass, a stepp is patches of grass because it is so hot without a lot of precipitation 11/21/2011
The middle east differs from other places because there have always been urban centers in this area *agriculture has been the main job in middle east until recently – farmers lived in villages *nomadism also still exists in these places – this is decreasing over time *the country in north Africa that has the most water and the most extensive agriculture is Morracco ­­** mountains trap the water – on the other side of these mountains, there is desert *in a desert, the only water will be spring­fed water – water from oasis, these areas have more extensive herding * in oasis, the major crop is date palm – provide a great amount of protein *a lot of people in these areas are troglodytic – means they live under ground * when people live in the Sahara, people are constantly moving around to different oasis *water­intensive crops today come from morocco – tomatoes, cucumbers, melon, etc. they use both very modern means( pipes for drip irrigation) most things are still done by springs on oasis *intercropping: means that you are putting more than one crop in one place
*olives are a huge crop in the Mediterranean – olive harvesting is very labor­intensive, not a lot of machinery *During the Roman times – is a Roman legionnaire made it to retirement – he was given a lot of acres in the Sahara – they would build terraces to trap sediment as is comes down the hillside – this enables people to plant – these still produce today Coastal Area Agriculture:
­the Nile River Valley had the most productive soil in the world until recently and had had it for at least 6000 years – this is caused by an annual ecological occurrence The flood of the Nile
­rivers usually flood in the spring, but the Nile floods during mid­summer in the flood, silt comes from upstream and the silt was settle into the group – there was a new layer of silt every year and this is why the area never salinated ­the history of irrigation is considered the history of the middle east because this area could not survive without it ­Shaduf: a simple mechanism for lifting water (moving it is not a problem,it is lifting it) basically a rod with a rock on one end and a bucket on the other end – bucket goes into water, picks it up, and dumps it into canal ­water wheel: much more efficient – sometimes extremely elaborate Syria took it to the highest level mosques need water for bathing before prayer 11/21/2011
­ The Nile river is very difficult to work with – 3 canal system: first canal comes of the Nile is called the primary canal and the purpose is to slow down the water, 2 nd is the secondary canal is smaller and will slow it down even further, 3rd is the tertiary canal and these are the ones that actually go into the fields
—slow trickle by this time ­Qanat: developed before Cyrus the great the first thing that must be done is to dig a mother well – this is done to find the depth of the water table once you find this point, you dig a perpendicular tunnel within one degree of this point in most systems, a plot of land gets two times for water in a week, this time is usually about 20 minutes entire life is built around when the water comes into your field ­Mirob: this literally means head of water, usually the father of the family ­social stratification in these places is determined by where you are in the village – the richest man has the first house in the city because water is the purest here *only 3.7 percent of Egypt is farmable *wheat for bread, barley for beer Flooding in the Nile stopped in the 1960s when the Aswan High dam was built *this changed Egypt to a 2 to 3 crop system from a 1 crop system – this means that food production went up *these progressions have been passed by population pressure *it allows them to avoid drought *side effects:
1. no new silt on the land because the dam stops the water and pushes it into the lake 2. before the dam, the silt used to go into the Med. Sea – fisheries fed off the nutrients – the soil is not keeping the delta up and so it is shrinking 3. large amounts of money were spent on this dam – the land would have salinated unless they put in a multimillion dollar drainage system to get rid of all the excess water the soviets built this 4. the rising water table is ruining monuments in Egypt – tourism is very important in this area the valley of Kings is starting to be flooded – there is elaborate painting on the tombs – people breathing inside of the tombs makes the paint chip off as well as the water behind it 5. Mediterranean Fishing System is being destroyed – there is no more nutrients to the fish, instead pesticides and fertilizers are being pumped into the water and the fish are dying 6. with more water standing year round, you have more water born diseases Bilharzias: this is a water born parasite that comes into the body via tiny snails – like HIV in the sense that it does not kill you 7. large amounts of water being evaporated
8. loss of indigenous Nubian culture – they had to be moved out because the water was rising, 11/21/2011
the dam was built to feed the people of Egypt – however because of population pressure they cannot feed themselves again
Oil
*water is more important, oil also is *the largest known reserves are in the Persian gulf – mostly out in deserts * the largest areas of Kuwait,UAE,Saudi Arabia,Iran,Iraw,Lybia,Algeria *only Iraq, Algeria, and Iran have large populations *all dominated by desert landscapes *275 million people in the middle east live in non­oil producing areas *of these countries, only Iraq and Algeria have had close to democratic elections – others are run by theocracy or royal households *many of these countries have tried to become agriculturally dependent since finding oil *they are afraid of becoming pariah states so they are desperate for food and water *normal agriculture – date palm plantations with integrating crops ­ they are trying to make the desert bloom – trying to become self­sufficient ­if you are too close to the coast, salt water infuses with water supply and all is worthless
Caused a lot of issues in Middle East:
*people have to migrate from non­oil producing countries to work in oil­producing countries *most of the population of these places is not indigenous 11/21/2011
Industrialization of Middle East Ottoman Empire began to crumble – the universities,buildings,etc.
*Europeans began to take chunks away for colonization – wanted raw materials
In 1875, the Ottoman Empire went bankrupt –Europeans take over *textile companies in Egypt was ordered to be closed *Europeans assigned people to run their interests – chose Jews and Christians to help them with their administration never Muslims this started to issues between the religions *the foreign powers felt that they could better trust Christians – Muslims did not like this *in the country side, wheat and barley were the main crops French settlements arise *Egyptian cotton is the best in the world *coffee in Yemen – in the city of Mocha ­­ most of the best land in these lands was taken over by cash crops that the British wanted *all of this was happening that the reconstruction was going on in the United States no crops coming out of south, so Egypt exploded as cotton exporters prior to European occupation, this area was better off than Japan or India *Europeans did not see any reason to invest in these areas 3 characteristics:
1. no social development 2. commercialization of agriculture 3. spatial emphasis on port cities Alexandria over Cairo, Beirut over Damascus 11/21/2011
Ottoman Empire entered WWI on side of Germans ­T.E Lawrence he helped lead Arab forces against the Ottomans, because of this the British were able to defeat the Ottomans ­Arabs were told that they would be able to have a kingdom with its seat in Damascus,instead the British and the French divided up the middle east – Fisal was given the Kingdom of Iraq, his brother was given Jordan,France got Syria and Algeria,Egypt and Sudan and Yemen and Palestine go to Britian ***got Palestine
­Kemal Ataturk from Turkey rounded up Turkish people to fight against the French to stop it from being split up *adopted westernization – changed from Arabic to the Latin script Reza Shah Pahlavi in Iran brought together the Iranians During this time, no one was able to unite the Arab regions The CousCous rice line divides Libya Saudi Arabia established by the Saud family Yemen and Egypt are not typical Arab cultures
*The Kurds – did not get any land, their land was split up between the other nations ­southern Iraq went in different ways economically during Sadam *Palestinians lost a lot of their land The Balfour declaration stated that the British government was not opposed to a Jewish homeland as long as it did not displace Arabs King Farouk of Egypt – became independent ­in 1952, Gamal Abdul Nasser overthrew the monarchy and set up the republic tried to do the same thing as Reza Shah and Ataturk and set up an Arab national state a secular government, not Islamic *this did not work – Syria joined but this did not last long *Syria was a Christian state – Lebanon has not had a census because they don’t want anyone knowing how Christian they are 11/21/2011
* The peripherals were given independence ­­ Moracco
Algerian Independence – 1962
*had to kick the French out Today, with the exception of Turkey and maybe Iraq, there are no real democracies
*In Israel, every Jew has to be in the army if you are not in the army, you do not have the same rights as people who were in the army some orthodox Jews opt out of the army because they believe that a Jewish state cannot exist until the Messiah comes and he must set up the Jewish state
­ Arabs do not have the same rights, they have the right to vote but do not have access to the same opportunities * most other Arab nations are monarchies (King Mohammad VI of Moracco) or dictatorships (President Bashar al­Asad in Syria he took over after his father) (Saddam Hussein – most of this leaders live lavishly while the people within the countries are poor) Turkey: just had a recent election and they just elected the AK party into power AK party used to have ties with Islam in turkey it is illegal for a woman to wear a headscarf in publicly owned buildings , they do not want religion to interfere with politics the AK party president is trying to join the European union and towards secularism looking for the same rights for Muslims as in America freedom of religion Iran: Islamic terrorism is very prominent here in our time, 3 great revolutions: American revolution, French revolution, Iranian revolution
*The Shah of Iran was overthrown by Ayatollah Khomeini,who was kicked out of Iran and was living in France he got people to support him via Sony walkmans where he would record his speeches *Khomeini felt that the Shah was nothing more than an American puppet America overthrew the president because they wanted to nationalism oil Khomeini did not like this *The Shah escaped to Panama *Shiites run the government Saudi Arabia:
*Sunnis run the government They are wahabists: believe that you should go back to the seventh century to figure out what you’re supposed to do with your life *funded Koranic schools educated Taliban *very strict religious beliefs will make sure that no men and women are together – women cannot sit in the same room as a man who is not in her family – women cannot drive *religious police are very involved in the daily lives 11/21/2011
*Osama bin Laden is from Yemen – same kind of religion Today,more and more people are moving into the cities *this means more pollution
*Cairo university has a quarter of a million students students must take the Baccalaureate which determines what you can do with your life Dubai
have a lot of oil money have over half the working cranes in the world wealthy people are contributing the construction
85 percent of the Emirates are foreign workers Egypt will not allow Ethiopia and Sudan to use water from the Nile In Palestine and Israel – most of the water is in the west bank The Israelis depend on agriculture and water resources, but it is running out the dead sea (between Jordan and Israel) is drying up Theodor Herzl – European who dreamed of a Jewish homeland *Zionists: people who wanted a Jewish paradise
­they would go to rich Jewish Europeans to buy plots of land ­they kicked Palestinian Arabs off the land because they owned it ­Kibbutz: a socialist farm – work it communally for the good fo the community 11/21/2011
­Europeans only wanted a Jewish homeland if they were not displacing Arabs ­After WWII, Europeans felt very bad about the Holocaust – in the declaration of Palestine declared Israel as a state a series of wars broke out between Arabs and Israelis oil crisis of 1973 – nearly wrecked US economy Palestinian Diaspora – led many Palestinians to terrorist acts ­ might be hope for a Palestinian state 11/21/2011
Environmental Geography:
Many issues that face Africa:
Distinction of plants and animals
Destruction of environments
Poor land practices
Poor agricultural practices
Warfare creating chaos on areas so that they decline Desertication the process of desert expansion into productive areas * places that are adjacent to the two main deserts ­­ Sahara desert could *take over middle Africa or Sahel *possible reasons:
global warming
human misuse population pressure
over­grazing
extension of farmlands into fragile environments *All of these things have taken place in the Sahel – natural cycle of drying that human activity is speeding up ­gathering of firewood ­increasing cattle – eat a lot ­these areas are prone to dry conditions – water is extremely precious 11/21/2011
­all of the issues have lowered the quality of water ­Djiobti’s 460, 6 square miles of irrigation Species destruction:
­poaching is a problem in areas that are supposedly protected animals used for skin,tusks,taxidermy items
­a great number of species are disappearing
­carnivores are killed to protect livestock
­carnivores are also killed because they are thought to be dangerous to people ­Rhino’s horns are greatly desired by: 1. Yemen and Oman – they need a curved dagger and 2. Chinese who use it for ED
Governments have tried to intervene with these issues but they are not very successful ­Warfare – Congo areas or the “protected areas” are run by rebel groups, animals killed all the time ­­ plants are also lost in the Congo Political Geography:
3 things that effect the geography –
*famine
*warfare
*poor leadership Famine:
1. Darfur,Somalia,Mali,and Ethiopia are all in fear of going into famine this winter these places suffer from severe malnutrition 11/21/2011
*it is not that there isn’t enough food, there are groups (rebel groups) that will not allow food in
*It is not that they do not have good land – they do * the problem is distribution: when war goes on, transporting food is hard to get to people Kenyata ( in Kenya) and Mandela( South Africa) these are the only two that were not elected via colony or U.S
Other leaders are put into place by other countries until they are overthrown by rebel groups
Uganda: Edi Amin – was a bad leader 1. blamed South Asians for the troubles (Asians put there by colonists) kicked them all out
2. power was taken from him Nigeria: Sani Abacha and Mobutu Sesu Secko stole millions of dollars from Nigeria – much remains missing today 1. Abacha also known for his lifestyle – very lavish, lived on a 100 million dollar barge Sierra Leone:
1. located in west Africa near Liberia on the coast and is by any measure one of the worst living areas in the world 2. population of 4.8 million and the birth rate is one of the highest in the world (47 per thousand) death rate is 24, life expectancy is 40 for men and 39 for women (one of the lowest in the world) infant mortality is 165 ( highest in the world) 3. has about every tropical disease that you can name – HIV is present but not as bad as South Africa 4. 75% of people live below 2 dollars a day 5. a civil war fueled by diamond mining ½ population displaced thousands mutilated
* people were mutilated by drug fueled rebel groups if they backed the government ruining any chance of life ( most of them were farmers) * Government did the same thing if they thought people were backing the rebels 11/21/2011
* Because of rebels terrorizing the country side – agriculture came to a stand still All infrastructure collapsed *Once the war was over – there were no jobs *Also, people who fled had nothing to come back to
Rwanda:
1.Rwanda and Burundi – pigmies, Hutu ­80%, and the Tootsie 18­19%
2. Tootsie’s moved in about 200 years ago they were herders and they started to control everything
3.Hutu’s were farmers 4.In Burunudi: the Tootsies killed all Hutu’s with a 4 th grade education or higher 5. Rwanda had a democratic election – Hutu elected by Tootsies ran the military – Hutu killed 600,000 Tootsies in three weeks Tootsies turned around and started killing Hutus –drove them into refugee camps that were infested with disease and had little food *Destabilized the whole region – in total, over 1 million people died *this horrific death/destruction could have been foreseen but was not All of these scenarios lead to a reputation of Africa that it is a hopeless continent – it is impossible to be hopeless Sudan:
1. Muslim­Arab leaders in Kartu waging war against Christians in the south 2. people care because they have oil and because China cares about it – they want oil, Chinese money used for war Congo:
1. going through 11th civil war in 14 years 11/21/2011
Zimbabwe:
1. going through an electoral nightmare South Africa:
1. Apartheid – means apartness in Dutch 2. Dutch thought that the races could not mix (mostly Dutch Calvinists who are very conservative)
3. When it became independent – land was split up and the black people were given the worst lands – if they wanted to go into white territory, they did not have to be paid minimum wage 4. In the early 1990s, the white government fell peacefully – Mandela was released after 30 years in prison and became the first president 5. Today, white people still own most of the land – but now, there are equal job opportunities 6. Much of the wealth comes from minerals – gold and diamonds 7. First diamonds were found in Kimberly, South Africa in 1867
8. Diamonds are worthless price­wise – artificial diamonds are flawless and cheaper 1950s – Angry diamond companies DeBeers
*used celebrities for ad­campaigns South Africa: ­­ revolt was not completely bloodless, but considering what could have happened, it wasn’t that bad End of Apartheid: Easy transition
Debt relief: *Most African countries are in terrible debt to the World Bank *500% more than their ability to pay –Equatorial Africa 11/21/2011
*Other areas not so bad, but still in debt *Because of all the debt – not paying for schools,infrastructure,health care, **Future** *Leaders also stealing it – causes more problems *Tony Blaire is paving the way to try to get African debt relieved Democracy:
1. a few countries in 1970 that had democratically elected government
2. more and more as time goes on – not necessarily fair but at least they are moving in the right direction Mozambique:
1. When Portuguese colonists left – civil war broke out
2. Government backed by Soviet Union, U.S backed the rebels
3. War ended and peace treaty signed within six weeks
4. Today, they have possibly the best/most beautiful coast line in the world, still problems with landmines and flooding – still moving in a positive direction 5.
Future of Africa:
Africa is important both economically and to our species This is where humans came from Africa is the place to look for cures for diseases because they have all of them People are striving for a better life, they are hopeful 11/21/2011
In the old soviet union, everything had to be quantified – always had to do with numbers they did not feel that they could quantify environmental protection, so they did not bother with it as much as they could get came out of the ground 11/21/2011
Amu Daria and Seer Daria in Uzbekistan into the Aral Sea
­ most water comes from melted snow ­has maximum discharge in the months of June and July – this is very good all water owned by the state
­underusage of groundwater and there is no penalty for overusing water ­Uzbekistan is the largest consumer of the water – only 4% precipitation per year In central Asia, there was a movement to increase cotton production ­production went to 2,7000 hectars, to 200,000 hectars massive increase ­ the largest canal was built ­people were not penalized for input, they were praised for output problems:
­during the cotton picking season, they would take the children from the school on busses to get pick cotton – called this a “holiday” they did not get paid to do this, the men who ran the farm did ­everything revolves around cotton
plants in this area went from hydrophytic plants (water loving) to xerophydic (zero water) plants and salt accepting plants the closer to the Aral river, the harder it is to plant anything because of all the over­ watering, there is too much salt deposit ­all fish species in the Aral sea have died because of all the salt ­ the Aral sea has shrunken drastically 11/21/2011
city of ***** ­ a port city where people used to fish and people would vacation and go to the beach In Soviet union, there were SSRs, and ASSRs ( they did not become independent after the fall of the soviet union) – one of them was Karakal­ Pakstan group—mostly herders and fishermen *** do not have their own
­Karakalpaks are greatly effected by the Soviets not taking care of the environment: the Uzbeks are not doing anything about this 60,000 jobs have evaporated, water in the delta is a toxic mix of pesticides(DDT), defolients, fertilizers, and raw sewage, air contains salt, dust, etc and other dangerous things
effects:
*70 percent of the populations is affected by this dust resulting in high respiratory and stomach problems including TB, and birth defects
*23 percent of the population have high levels of strontium in their thyriods from Soviet Union testing nuclear bombs in them *every single pregnant women tested in 1994 and 1999 were found to be anaemic and to have DDT in her breast milk *kidney diseases are up 60% including 20% of all young women aged 13­19
*30 fold increase in bronchitis,60 fold increase in arthritis disease, and hepititus up 10 fold *in 1998, the Soviet government buried its cache of weapons­grade anthrax and other biological weapons in Vozrozhdeniye Island to keep the west from knowing about it ( now its exposed) ­ 110 out of 1000 babies die before the age of 1 (58 for Uzbekistan as a whole)
­Large increases in babies born without a hand,leg,brain damaged, etc. ­Anaemia up 600%
­Respiratory diseases up 600%
­Cancer of the throat and mouth up 500%
­99% of Karalpacks live in the ASSR
­Malthusian ( Malthus said there will be a crash because of environmental problems)
­environmental genocide
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­ecocide – the deliberant murder of the environment Afghanistan
*during the 20th century, the country was mostly a Pashtun community who lived in the south
*in 1973 there was couth over the king by his cousin (David) and set himself up as king – however he was killed a few years later and a communist party was put into place *On Christmas day in 1979 the Russians invaded Afghanistan – the doctrine of the president of Russia said that any country that had gone Communist could not go back (to capitalism) the Russians invaded Afghanistan on Christmas day so that they west would be distracted *in 1984, Ronald Reagan started sending stinger missiles to the Mujahiddin – funded by the CIA they could use the missiles on the soviet helicopters *this went on until 1988 at the Geneva Accords – the Soviets had to get out of Afghanistan – America got what it wanted “a defeat over communism” and Afghanistan got nothing ***not Afghan input at the Geneva Accord***
*Soviets said only 15000 died, not true – they always lie *over 1 million Afghanis died – 5 million refugees *Mujahiddin cut down all the trees so that no one could hide behind them *Afghanistan is one of the most mined places in the world *most people are involved in agriculture * in a place that is 83% mountainous and 100% arid
made of 3 groups: Pashtuns – percentage?(in the south and east, the Tajiks about 25%(live in the west) and the Hazara (18% and live in the center,the are Shiite and they are of Mongolian descent) and Uzbeks (8%, descedents of Turkey, they are in the north near the border
Ahmed Sha Masoud (Tajik) was the main leader and had to fight against all the groups ­Communist Leader – Majibullah ­Taliban came in and brutally killed the communist leader
Taliban:
­extremist version of Islam(Wahabist,came from Saudi Arabia) almost all of the Taliban are Pashtun ­women had to wear burqa – if their ankle was showing, could be whipped as a prostitute 11/21/2011
­music and movies were banned 9/9 of 2001: Ahmed Sha Masoud was killed by Taliban – considered the worst day in history by Afghans
* 2 days later, attack on America (9/11)
* 90% of the worlds heroin came from Afghanistan we know this because they would tax it Taliban made a lot of money off of this *After 911, America entered the war on side of Northern Alliance and went into Kabul * today, Afghanistan is being rebuilt ­ the north, or the “rich” side of Afghanistan not very damaged ­the Kabul museum was destroyed – managed to save archives and Alexandrian gold ­there are no working factories in the country ­there is construction night and day to get stuff rebuilt – major job boom in construction ­all but one market was destroyed dried goods,trade goods,fruits and vegetables everything is hand done Dual Economy:
1. foreigners are not allowed to stay in Afghan hotels – have to stay in American hotels and pay more money 2. people who deal with foreigners make a lot of money – have to know English
3. everyone else is poor Infrastructure
1. bridges are not very sturdy
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2. not everywhere has good water they are rebuilding wells to get water 3. nomads live here – they are mostly Pashtun ( do not speak Persian)
cannot do anything without irrigation ­ all machinery is communally owned ­most things still done by human and animal labor Taliban resurgence:
1. when the attention was taken off of Afghanistan, Taliban crept back on
2. Taliban is mostly southern Pashtun 3. they are still using drug trade to make money 4. all the opium grows in south and east – this is where the Taliban are 5. surrounding countries has mass amount of heroin addicts because the trade goes through these counties there is not a working landline – everyone has cell phones
postage is not very good – they use email
TVs are either from 1960s or they are flat screens – they skipped the 20 th century Northern Aral Sea Northern part and southern part
The northern part is near
They built a major dam – do not care about the Uzbeks anymore