AFRICA
OVERVIEW
The African continent comprises 54 countries, including islands in the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. The population of Africa is notably young: three-quarters of Africans are under age 35.
Many countries in Africa struggle with poverty and instability. Many of the poorest countries in the world are in Africa, and one in three Africans live below the global poverty line. No African country ranks in the top 20 world economies. Of the UN’s Fragile States Index, seven out of the ten most fragile states are in Africa. 33 African countries are listed as “Least Developed Countries” by the UN (compared to 9 Asian countries, and only 1 country in the Americas, Haiti.)
Freedom House ranks only five countries in Africa as Free (South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Ghana, Tunisia) in their report on political and civil liberties; most of North and Central Africa is ranked “Not Free” and most of West and East Africa is ranked as “Partly Free.”Reports of corruption are high in almost every African country (per the Corruption Perceptions Index.) Literacy rates are low in many Sub-Saharan African countries. Conflict and humanitarian crisis is ongoing in the Sahel region and in Somalia, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Many of these problems can be traced back to the rampant exploitation of the continent by European empires in the 16th-20th centuries.
The transatlantic slave trade, which destabilized and devastated West Africa in the 16th-19th centuries, extracted millions of men, women, and children, caused instability which prevented development.
The subsequent European colonization in the 19th-20th centuries extracted wealth from the continent but did little to modernize it. All of Africa except Ethiopia and Liberia was colonized by European powers by the 20th century, in the Partition of Africa. When the colonies became independent nations during decolonization in the second half of the 20th century, countries were formed along arbitrary lines without concern for the heritage of the people living there, making national cooperation challenging and setting the stage for later conflicts.
REGIONS
A distinction is often made between North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. The countries of North Africa are predominantly Arab, relatively more developed and economically prosperous, and are often grouped together with the Middle East.
Generally, Islam is the main religion in the Northern half of the continent, and Christianity in the souther half.
In recent years the Sahel region has been in the global spotlight for instability, conflict, and environmental problems. The region spans east-west across the continent across several countries, including Mali, Niger, and Chad.
Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa have the continent’s highest GDPs, and are considered the most powerful African countries. Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, and Cape Verde have been known for maintaining stable democracies. And tourist havens Mauritius and the Seychelles enjoy high levels of development and high per-capita GDP.
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
UN Headquarters in Africa are in Nairobi, Kenya.
All 54 countries of the African continent are members of the African Union, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which promotes international cooperation and economic development. It was formed in 2002 in South Africa as a successor to the OAU (Organization of African Unity) which was formed in the 1960s to promote pan-African unity and self-determination during the process of decolonization.
The African Economic Community manages the African central bank, free trade areas and regional trade blocs.
The recently enacted AfCTA (African Continent Free Trade Area) agreement establishes a single market.
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF RECENT HISTORY
COLONIZATION
At the time of European colonization, in the late 19th century, Africa was home to many diverse kingdoms and cultures. Many European powers held coastal trading posts in Africa but had not yet moved inland. The Dutch had established a settler community in South Africa. The slave trade had been decimating West African populations and destabilizing society for two centuries.
In 1884-1885, at the Berlin Conference, or so-called Scramble for Africa, Western European powers, motivated by imperial rivalry as well as economic interests, met to agree on the partition of Africa.
This was followed by a period of colonial invasions. By 1901, most of Africa was divided up amongst European powers.
Generally, France held much of West and North Africa; the UK claimed much of Southern and East Africa; Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Italy had smaller territorial claims around the continent; and Belgium’s King Leopold claimed the Congo. Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent.
Europeans created oppressive systems of land seizure and forced labor, and prioritized growing cash crops for export which led to food shortages.
Colonial exploitation not only took wealth out of Africa, but also did little to modernize and industrialize it. This would leave countries in a precarious position when they later achieved independence. The arbitrary boundaries that colonizers drew between tribal lands also led to disunity and instability.
WORLD WAR I AND WORLD WAR II
In World War I, a large number of Africans served in the colonial armies.
After the war, Germany lost its colonies to France, UK, and Belgium; other European powers strengthened their hold in Africa.
In the interwar period and during World War II (during which many Africans served), the nationalist and pan-African movements gained momentum, especially in West Africa. After the war, the weakened colonial powers gradually began to foresee decolonization.
In 1948, South Africa began apartheid: a system of racial segregation and oppression of the Black majority.
DECOLONIZATION
The 1956 Suez Crisis was a key moment in the path to Africa’s decolonization. Although Egypt had been independent for several decades, the Suez Canal was still under British and French control until Egyptian President Nasser announced plans to nationalize it. Anglo-French forces invaded to try to regain control but failed, setting the stage for a new era with a different balance of power.
Most African countries gained independence during the 1960s — (1960 was dubbed the “Year of Africa”, when 17 African countries became independent) — and decolonization continued on for the next few decades, into the 1990s. Some countries, like Algeria and Kenya, endured long and violent resistance in their battle for independence.
In 1963, the Organization for African Unity (now the African Union) was formed, an intergovernmental organization to promote solidarity amongst African states.
After achieving independence, many African countries became trapped in a relationship of “neo-colonialism” with world powers exerting financial and political influence over them in order to maintain indirect control.
LATE 20TH CENTURY
The 1976 Soweto Uprising, the massacre of students protesting apartheid, brought worldwide attention to the injustice of the South African regime and marked a turning point in the fight against apartheid. Worldwide resistance to apartheid increased, and eventually by the early 1990s the system was dismantled.
In 1994 in Rwanda, the Tutsi minority suffered a government-sponsored genocide by their longstanding enemy the Hutu people. 800,000 people were killed in the conflict.
The 1997-2003 Second Congo War (also called the Great African War) had roots in the refugee crisis caused by the Rwandan genocide. The war drew in eight other African countries into the conflict and caused millions of deaths.
In 1998, US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by al-Qaeda operatives, killing over 200 people.
Since 2003, genocide and ethnic cleansing have been perpetrated against black African Muslims in Sudan’s Darfur region by the Arab militia Janjawee
CURRENT ISSUES
Current issues in Africa include: destabilization in Mali, Boko Haram in Nigeria, violence in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Sudan’s Darfur region, humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia’s Trigray region and in Burkina Faso, civil war in Libya and in South Sudan, and rise of terrorist group in Somalia. More details on each of these in the Region By Region section below.
REGION BY REGION
NORTH AFRICA
MOROCCO
ALGERIA
TUNISIA
LIBYA
EGYPT
SUDAN
North Africa includes the Magrheb region (Arabic for “west”) and the Sahara desert and the Mashriq region (Egypt and Sudan)
This region includes the most developed countries in Africa, per the UN’s Human Development Index.
EGYPT
Egypt is considered the most powerful country in Africa, with the largest military, second largest GDP, and one of the largest populations.
In the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, former President Hosni Mubarek was deposed.
SUDAN
Sudan has suffered two long civil wars in recent history.
Since 2003, genocide and ethnic cleansing have been perpetrated agains black African Muslims in the Darfur region by the Arab militia Janjaweed.
In 2011, South Sudan split from Sudan.
Sudan and Egypt are considered to be part of the Middle East. Find more info on these countries in the Middle East post.
ALGERIA
Algeria is the largest country in Africa by area, (roughly a quarter of the size of the United States) and is covered largely by the Sahara desert.
Algeria’s long war for Independence from France in the 1950s-60s was characterized by French brutality and war crimes.
Algeria experienced a civil war from the 1991-2002 in which Islamist militants killed more than 100,000 civilians.
CIVIL WAR IN LIBYA
A former Italian colony, oil-rich Libya was governed for 42 years by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who was deposed and killed in the 2011 Arab Spring populist uprisings.
Since Gaddafi was deposed, Libya has struggled to rebuild state institutions, and there is no primary governing body. The UN-backed government in Tripoli, the GNA, faces challenges from the Libyan National Army, from other armed militant groups fighting for control over the oil fields, and Islamic State has secured a stronghold in coastal city Sirte.
In 2012, an Islamist militant group coordinated attacks on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing four Americans.
WEST AFRICA
Most of West Africa was colonized by the French, and is still French-speaking in the Afrique Francophone region.
West Africa, particularly the coast, was at the center of the slave trade with the US in the 18th-19th centuries.
The African nationalist movement began in West Africa in the 19th century.
Most of the world’s cocoa beans for chocolate comes from this region, particularly Ivory Coast and Ghana.
MAURITANIA
MALI
SENEGAL
GAMBIA
GUINEA-BISSEAU
SIERRA LEONE
GUINEA
LIBERIA
GHANA
BENIN
IVORY COAST
TOGO
BURKINA FASO
NIGER
NIGERIA
CAPE VERDE
Nigeria —the most populous country in Africa and one of the most populous in the world— is Africa’s largest oil producer and has the continent’s largest GDP. Former capital city Lagos, largest city in Africa with a population of over 20 million people, is a major economic and cultural hub, with its prolific Nollywood film industry and one of the busiest seaports on the continent. However, the country also ranks among the world’s most fragile states, with ongoing issues including the presence of Islamic militant group Boko Haram which has conducted terrorist attacks in the country since 2011. In 2014 Boko Haram drew international outrage for orchestrating the kidnapping of over two hundred schoolgirls in Chibok for forced marriages, slavery, and prisoner exchanges. Some of the girls were rescued but many are still missing.
Liberia was founded in 1822 as a republic for freed American slaves.
Ghana, the first sub-Saharan country to gain independence, in 1957, is one of the wealthier countries in West Africa and is rich in natural resources including gold and other minerals.
Jihadist violence has been escalating in Burkina Faso the past few years and the country has suffered two coups and the displacement of more than a million people.
Mali experienced a coup in August 2020 which the UN has condemned. The country has been a breeding ground for Islamist militant groups in the Sahel region.
The Sahel region, which spans several of these countries, has for the past decade been the site of violent extremism due to weak governance.
CENTRAL AFRICA
CHAD
CAMEROON
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
GABON
REPUBLIC OF CONGO
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
ANGOLA
SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE
The Central African Republic (CAR), the DR Congo, and Chad are all in the top ten of the UN’s Fragile States Index.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the poorest and most unstable countries in the world, and its civilians have been subject to ongoing violence, human rights violations and poverty.
It is one of the largest countries of Africa, both by population and area, and possesses great untapped resource wealth, such as mineral deposits like coltan (used in cell phones).
2019 saw the country’s first peaceful transfer of power.
In the late 19th century, the country was colonized privately by King Leopold of Belgium, who conducted a reign of brutal violence and exploitation before it was taken over by the Belgian government in the early 1900s. Independence was gained in 1960, followed by a period of civil war. Later in the 20th century the country was known as Zaire.
GREAT AFRICAN WAR
The Second Congo War, or Great African War, had roots in the refugee crisis in Zaire caused by the 1994 Rwandan genocide. From 1997 to 2003, the war drew in other countries into the conflict and caused the death of millions (exact figures are contested.)
The CAR (Central African Republic) is experiencing a humanitarian crisis due to conflict between Muslim and Christian factions, leading to war crimes on both sides and the crippling of the economy.
ANGOLA CIVIL WAR
After the Portuguese withdrew from Angola in 1975 without handing over power, the country endured a 27 year civil war which caused lasting damage to the country’s economy and infrastructure.
Despite being a resource-rich country—- a top oil and diamond producer — poverty is widespread in Angola.
EAST AFRICA
THE HORN OF AFRICA
ERITREA
ETHIOPIA
DJIBOUTI
SOMALIA
Since 2020, Ethiopia’s Tigray region has been the site of an ongoing civil conflict involving regional militias, the federal government, and the Eritrean military.
Eritirea was part of Ethiopia until 1993 when it gained independence.
Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa with a fast-growing economy and was one of two countries which retained independence after the European colonization of Africa.
Haile Selassie I was emperor of Ethiopia from 1930-1974 and modernized the country.
In recent years, Somalia has been listed as one of the most fragile states in the world due to the ongoing civil war, insecurity, and humanitarian crises.
The country collapsed into anarchy in 1991 with the ousting of President Mohamed Siad Barre, launching the country into a decades-long, and still ongoing, civil war.
In 1993, the US launched a military mission in Somalia to capture allies of a Somali warlord, but met with resistance from a militia. Referred to as the Black Hawk Down incident, two US helicopters were shot down, and eighteen US soldiers were killed as well as hundreds of Somalis. After this, public opinion of US involvement in Somalia changed, and the US withdrew soon after.
Since 2006, an Al-Qaeda aligned transnational terrorism group has perpetrated attacks in Somalia and in neighboring Kenya and has at times controlled the Somalian capital Mogadishu and major ports.
The US has conducted air strikes against Somalia to try to drive out this terrorist group, and provides funding to the African Union forces battling the group.
Rampant piracy off the coast of Somalia took off in the years following the collapse of the state in the early 1990s, and reached a peak in the 2010s with hundreds of incidents in a five year period. It has since declined significantly.
TROUBLED REGION
SOUTH SUDAN
UGANDA
RWANDA
BURUNDI
These countries are all rated as Not Free by Freedom House’s report.
In Rwanda, the Tutsi minority suffered a government-sponsored genocide by the Hutu people in 1994. 800,000 people were killed in the conflict.
From 1971 – 1979, Uganda was ruled by dictator Idi Amin, considered one of the most brutal despots in world history.
Independent from Sudan since 2011 after a long civil war, South Sudan became embroiled in civil war again from 2013 - 2018, and in recent years has been listed as one the most fragile states in the world.
SERENGETI REGION
KENYA
TANZANIA
MOZAMBIQUE
MADAGASCAR
These countries are all listed as Partly Free in Freedom House’s report.
Kenya and Tanzania are among Africa’s larger countries by population.
In 1998 US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania were bombed by al-Qaeda operatives, killing over 200 people.
Kenya has been involved in the ongoing conflict in Somalia; in 2011 the country dispatched troops to Somalia to fight terrorist group Al-Shabab. In retaliation, Al-Shabab has waged over a hundred terrorist attacks in Kenya, including attacks at a shopping mall in 2013, a college in 2015, and the 2019 attack on a hotel in Nairobi.
Tanzania is home to Mount Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti National Park, and the Zanzibar island archipelago.
VICTORIA FALLS REGION
ZAMBIA
ZIMBABWE
MALAWI
Listed in the world’s top ten most fragile states, Zimbabwe is impoverished and suffers from high levels of food insecurity and inflation.
Former Prime Minister Robert Mugabe, dictator of Zimbabwe for 37 years, resigned in 2017. Mugabe was a controversial figure as he brought independence and an end to white-majority rule to the country, but later became a tyrant.
ISLANDS
SEYCHELLES
MAURITIUS
Heavily reliant on tourism, these beautiful islands are developed and stable.
SOUTHERN AFRICA
NAMIBIA
BOTSWANA
SOUTH AFRICA
LESOTHO
ESWATINI
One of the most stable countries in Africa, Botswana is famed for its diamonds. It generally ranks much lower for corruption than other African countries per the Corruptions Perceptions Index by Transparency International.
SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa is one of the larger countries in Africa by population, and is a major economic and political power.
South Africa was settled by the Dutch (Afrikaans) in the 17th century, then later colonized by the English under zealous diamond-mogul Cecil Rhodes, who incorporated large parts of Africa under British rule.
The Boer War was fought in 1899-1902 between the British and the Dutch Afrikaans over control of South African territory. Great Britain won the war, and the territory became part of the British Empire.
APARTHEID
Similar to the Jim Crow laws in the south of the US, but far more comprehensive, the rigorously oppressive and exploitative South African apartheid— a system of racial segregation and white minority rule — which began in 1948 disenfranchised blacks and non-white minority groups. The apartheid laws separated public facilities and education for different races, banned intermarriage, withdrew citizenship from blacks and established “homelands” where they were forced to live.
Opposition to apartheid included movements led by the African National Congress, and by activist Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for 27 years for his attempts to lead an armed resistance movement. The bloody repression of the protests in Sharpeville in 1960 and of the Soweto Uprising in 1976 helped draw attention from the international community to the injustices of apartheid. Nobel Prize winner Anglican bishop Desmond Tutu gained recognition for his campaign of non-violent resistance.
Although US foreign policy had initially lent support to the apartheid movement (because of wanting to back the non-Soviet aligned forces in Africa), by the 1980s the US and the international community had enacted anti-apartheid sanctions and embargoes against South Africa. In 1989, the new President Willem de Klerk began to reverse apartheid policies, and by the early 1990s the system was ended.
Mandela was released from prison in 1990, and in 1994 went on to become South Africa’s first black President.
For further reading on Africa please see bibliography here.
