The Cultures of Central and Southern Africa

1
The Cultures of Central and Southern Africa
2
The Cultures of Central and Southern Africa

• Central Africa extends from the forests of the
  Congo River basin to the highlands of Zimbabwe
  and Angola.
• Modern products and technology are imported and
  paid for with exports of minerals and cash
  crops..
• Aid from developed countries help.
• Most large industries are managed by
  multinational companies, and profits go overseas.

3
The Cultures of Central and Southern Africa

• Most people of Central Africa are subsistence
  farmers.
• They produce their own food and live far from the
  centers of government and economic progress.
• With little investment capital and few skilled
  business managers, prosperity remains out of
  reach for most people.

4
The Cultures of Central and Southern Africa

• Most of Central Africa has a wet and dry
  tropical/subtropical climate.
• It is mostly plateaus and rolling plains, covered
  with tropical forests and savannas.
• Central Africa has two great river systems-the
  Congo and the Zambezi.

5
The Cultures of Central and Southern Africa

• Central Africa imports many manufactured goods
  from developed countries. Exports of minerals
  and cash crops provide income to pay for these
  goods.
• Most of the countries of this region must import
  food.
• The expanding population of Central Africa has
  forced many people to seek work in the cities.

6
The Cultures of Central and Southern Africa

• Cities are overcrowded, and many people live in
  poverty.
• Politics and ethnic relations are often complex
  and strained in this region.

7
The Cultures of Central and Southern Africa

• The economies of Central Africa have been
  shifting from subsistence to commercial
  agriculture.
• Many people are migrating away from rural areas
  to seek jobs with cash wages.
• Food production often has not kept up with the
  rapidly increasing populations.

8
The Cultures of Central and Southern Africa

• Southern Africa is a region in conflict.
• Proud traditions of black Africa are clashing
  with a modern, industrialized economy.
• At stake in this conflict is control over the
  vast mineral wealth of the region.
• Beneath the surface are some of the worlds
  greatest mineral deposits.

9
The Cultures of Central and Southern Africa

• A region of South Africa near the Cape of Good
  Hope was originally settled by the Dutch, more
  than 2 centuries before Europeans established
  colonies elsewhere in Africa.
• South Africa was administered by the British from
  1806-1910.

10
The Cultures of Central and Southern Africa

• Abundant mineral resources have made South Africa
  the wealthiest nation on the continent.
• It has more than half of Africas industrial
  firms but only 6 of Africas population.
• Under apartheid, South Africa was divided into
  black and white regions. Blacks total more than
  70 percent of the population, but political and
  economic power rests with the white minority.

11
The Cultures of Central and Southern Africa

• Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland are small
  countries with underdeveloped mineral resources.
• They must often depend on South Africa.
• The future of South Africa seems to rest on the
  sharing of economic and political power between
  blacks and whites.