The Dark Continent

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The Dark Continent

• Presented by
• Susan Saenz-Solis and Doug Littlefield
• Prepared by COL Fred Solis
• 321st Civil Affairs Brigade
• U.S. Army Special Operations Command

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Early Africa

• Migrations from the Middle East spread South into
  Africa and the first civilization to be
  established was along the Nile River.
• These early tribes adopted animistic religions.
• Egypt, the oldest African civilization, built the
  great pyramids as "houses for eternity.
• Expansion of the Sahara Desert pushed tribes
  further South.
• Kush controlled Egypt for a century until 715 BC
  when the Assyrians forced them down into
  Ethiopia.
• King Solomon sent trading fleets to the Somali
  Peninsula for gold, silver, sandalwood and gems.
• Kush was famous for its gold and reached its
  height around 200 B.C.

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Nile River

• The Nile flows from Lake Victoria, Uganda (the
  source of the river) to the Mediterranean Sea.
• It takes water three months to complete a
  journey of 4,500 miles.

• The Nile is the only river in the world that
  flows from South to North.
• It continues to be a source of food and
  transportation as it has for hundreds of years.

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The Dark Continent

• Africa was known as the "Dark Continent" not for
  the color of native skin but for the mystery it
  was for the Europeans.
• During the 1400's, Portuguese traders began
  accepting slaves (kidnapped by other tribes) from
  the Kongo.
• As sugar plantations grew off the coast of West
  Africa, so did the demand for slaves.
• By the early 1500's African slave traders had
  raided and kidnapped so many tribes that Kongo's
  King Alfonso complained to his Catholic brother,
  the King of Portugal.
• Afonso's complaints to the Pope fell on deaf ears
  as the demand for slaves intensified with the
  colonization of the Americas.
• The social fabric of Africa continued to unravel
  as a mix of war captives, debtors, criminals and
  innocent kidnapped victims were sold to sail the
  middle passage of the triangle trade route.

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Slave Trade Leads to Colonization

• Led by Christian officials such as
  Willberforce, Great Britain outlawed the slave
  trade in 1807 and slavery itself in 1834.
• British ships started to patrol the African
  coast to try to prevent other nations from
  engaging in the slave trade.
• At the same time, more explorers began to
  explore Africa.

• At first African diseases and hostile natives
  repulsed most expeditions into Africa. However,
  as European society made progress with new
  inventions and discoveries such as the Maxim
  (machine) gun and quinine.
• Armed with these innovations, explorers began
  to cut their way through the African jungle and
  natives. Great Britain led the way in African
  colonization with colonies in South Africa.

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Export Point to the Americas
Goree Island holding cells for slaves to be sold
and transported to the Americas.
Main entrance to the slave market on Goree Island
off the coast of Dakar, Senegal. This was the
central distribution point for slave labor.
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• France invaded Tunisia in 1881, and Great
  Britain took over Egypt which Great Britain and
  France had previously ruled jointly.
• Europeans were interested in feeding their
  factories the raw materials required by the
  industrial revolution.
• Nationalism intensified as the European
  imperialists scrambled to carve artificial
  boundaries across tribal lands and geographic
  features at the Berlin Conference of 1884.
• Boundaries divided ethnic groups and lumped
  hostile tribes together because the imperialist
  governments only cared for their own interests.

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Africa Today

• Most of Africas peoples still exist as they
  did several hundred years ago employing ancient
  methods of daily living.

• To this day, missionaries continue their work
  in attempting to teach farming, health, and
  education.

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Assimilation into Colonizers Societies

• Some tribes fought for their colonizers as a
  matter of survival, continuation of the slave
  trade, and exploitation of natural resources.
• Natives assimilated into colonizer societies
  and to this day maintain respective official
  languages in addition to tribal languages.
• This tomb of a Ungandan king contains British
  military medals and artifacts.
• Some of the former British colonies had more
  capable citizens than the former French and
  Belgian colonies because of the importance of the
  education due to the missionaries.

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War, sickness, famine,and Imperialism

• Prolonged famines have resulted from
  desertification of the encroaching Sahara along
  with mismanagement of limited resources.
• Sickness is compounded through illiteracy and
  superstitious religious beliefs. AIDS continues
  to decimate much of continent with the notable
  exception of Uganda, which has turned the tide
  through Christian Radio broadcasting of
  abstinence education.

• Health care remains poor in Africa with malaria
  and dysentery each accounting for 25 (totaling
  50) of deaths.
• Rwandas genocide in 1994 demonstrated the
  tragic consequences the greed of the imperialists
  sometimes had.

COL Solis in Kampala, capitol of Uganda.
Dont get snake-bit on the weekend.
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Result of Imperialism

• Imperialism forced rapid change in Africa.
• The benefits of transportation, communication,
  medicine, and education outweighed by the
  depletion of natural resources.
• Although the imperial powers often constructed
  railroads and telegraph lines, these usually ran
  from the coast inland to facilitate the
  exploitation of natural resources.
• As a result, they often failed to create
  effective networks of transportation and
  communication. At the same time, the natural
  resources were severely depleted.

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Economic Development

• Investors continue to hesitate in full scale
  investment in Africa.
• The cost of installing land-line communications
  across Africa in order to conduct business has
  been cost prohibitive. It was believed that the
  answer was in satellite/wireless communications.
  The satellite systems are now in place, however
  post 9-11 security concerns have stagnated
  investor willingness to move into Africa.

• A small number of large companies such as Coca
  Cola have ventured into the Dark Continent.
• Africa is abundant with oil. Major oil
  companies are present but off of its coasts where
  drilling platforms can be secured.

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Small Business in Africa

• Small businessmen from Asian and Mediterranean
  countries are common throughout the Africa.
  Restaurants and services are popular investments
  however security remains an issue.
• One of Ugandas successes has been the return
  of small business after the fall of Amines
  dictatorship.

• Weapons are inexpensive and abundant and are
  shown here in the hands of Delta Force security
  guards outside a Greek restaurant in Kampala,
  Uganda.
• Similar to the United States and most other
  countries, private security companies are in
  demand.

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Drum maker and wood carver.
15
Black Market

• Illegal exportation of natural resources
  continues today.
• Exotic birds to diamonds to young girls.
• Diamonds from mines in Sierra Leone are known
  as blood diamonds.
• Black market economies (estimated) are often
  equal to or greater than a countrys national
  economy.

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Independence

• In 1957, Ghana became the first African nation
  to gain independence. Other independence
  movements soon followed. Before long, the entire
  continent was free of colonial rule.
• Exiting colonizers did not insure that Africans
  had the ability, education and experience to
  continue governing their country.
• After the independence movements of the 20th
  century, economic chaos followed as African
  warlords struggled for power. This continues
  today, and is evidenced by civil wars.
• The conflicts were intensified by the fact that
  the imperial powers had paid no attention to
  tribal, historical, or linguistic divisions when
  they drew artificial boundaries for their
  colonies.
• Unstable governments sought assistance from the
  first donor, whether communist or capitalist.

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Kampala, capital of Uganda
Downtown Kampala
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Balanced Security

• A representative government and freedom require
  the ability for a government to provide internal
  security and national defense.
• In fragile government states, a balance between
  national security and a working representative
  government must be maintained in order to prevent
  dictatorships.

• This is currently a common denominator with
  African nations, Afghanistan and Iraq.

• The United States has invested millions of
  dollars in 35 African countries in an attempt to
  support, stabilize and develop numerous countries
  via programs such as the 1996 African Crisis
  Response Initiative which provided subject
  matter expertise to various governmental
  functions such as disaster preparedness.

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Perception of Security

• Whos definition of security?
• A member of the community may feel secure but
  perceived security on the part of an investor may
  be totally different.
• Perceived lack of security affects investor
  willingness to invest in business or industry,
  therefore affecting continued economic
  development.
• Corrupt police agencies are often the worst
  offenders.
• Viable economic development marketing tools are
  often poor or non-existent.

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Economic Development needs Infrastructure

• Economic development requires roads in order to
  move goods to market.
• This was one of the factors in the fall of the
  Soviet Union. Abundant crops rotted in fields.

• Modes of ancient transportation do not meet
  todays needs.
• Economic development correlation with
  Afghanistan in addition to a lack of security,
  primary and secondary road networks are poor or
  non-existent.

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Present Day Trade Along The Nile

• Trade along the Nile River and the Sahara
  Desert carried the exchange of goods, technology,
  religion and other ideas.

• According to the Roman historian Herodotus,
  Carthaginians in North Africa traded in "perfect
  honesty" using silent barter with foreigners.
  Salt was nearly as valuable as gold in the dry
  Sahara.
• Africans are very honest people. To this day,
  they value and teach their children not to lie,
  cheat, or steal. The only exception may be
  stealing for the purpose of survival.

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Early Religion in Africa

• Christianity entered the area of Ethiopia and
  King Azana accepted Christ through the evangelism
  of two ship wrecked youths from Syria.
• Azana declared Christianity the official
  religion. Christianity grew strong in the kingdom
  of Aksum and kept its status even after 200 years
  when the kingdom of Nubia took power.

• As Christians fled Nubia, during the arrival of
  Islam in the 7th century, the gospel spread into
  other areas of Africa. Still, the region of
  Ethiopia remains one of the strongholds of
  Christianity in the 21st century.
• Well meaning Europeans took up the "white man's
  burden" to educate heathen peoples. Missionaries,
  such as Doctor David Livingston, and later Mary
  Slessor gave their lives to share the gospel and
  medical knowledge.

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Islam in Africa

• Much of North Africa, however, succumbed to the
  power of Islam during the Islamic expansion in
  the seventh and eighth centuries.
• It was from the Maghreb in North Africa that
  the Muslims sailed across the Strait of Gibraltar
  when they attacked and conquered Spain in 711.

• Northern Africa has remained in the hands of
  Muslims, and Islam continues to wield powerful
  influence in the region to this day.
• Since 9-11, several African countries have
  caused concern as suspected havens for radical
  Islamic terrorists.

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Any Questions ?