1.
Haitian Vodou
–
Haitian Vodou is a syncretic religion practiced chiefly in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. Practitioners are called vodouists or servants of the spirits, Vodouists believe in a distant and unknowable Supreme Creator, Bondye. According to Vodouists, Bondye does not intercede in human affairs, religious practices of contemporary Vodou are descended from, and closely related to, West African Vodun as practiced by the Fon and Ewe. In Haiti, whereas a small number of Roman Catholics combine their faith with aspects of Vodou. Vodou is a Haitian Creole word that referred to only a small subset of Haitian rituals. Two of the major speaking populations of Ayizo are the Ewe and these two peoples composed a sizable number of the early enslaved population in St Dominique. These terms also refer to the religion as a whole, outside of Haiti, the term Vodou refers to the entirety of traditional Haitian religious practice. Originally written as vodun, it is first recorded in Doctrina Christiana, in the following centuries, Vodou was eventually taken up by non-Haitians as a generic descriptive term for traditional Haitian religion. There are many used orthographies for this word, today, the spelling Vodou is the most commonly accepted orthography in English. The spelling voodoo, once common, is now generally avoided by Haitian practitioners and scholars when referring to the Haitian religion. Vodou is popularly described as not simply a religion, but rather an experience that ties body, the concept of tying that exists in Haitian religious culture is derived from the Congolese tradition of kanga, the practice of tying ones soul to something tangible. This tying of soul is evident in many Haitian Vodou practices that are still exercised today, Vodouisants believe in a Supreme God called Bondye, from the French bon good + Dieu God. When it came in contact with Roman Catholicism, the Supreme Creator was associated with the Christian God, since Bondye is considered unreachable, Vodouisants aim their prayers to lesser entities, the spirits known as loa, or mistè. The most notable loa include Papa Legba, Erzulie Freda, Simbi, Kouzin Zaka and these loa can be divided into 21 nations, which include the Petro, Rada, Congo, and Nago. Each of the loa is associated with a particular Roman Catholic saint, for example, Legba is associated with St. Anthony the Hermit, and Damballa is associated with St. Patrick. The loa also fall into groups who share a surname, such as Ogou, Ezili. For instance, Ezili is a family, Ezili Danto and Ezili Freda are two individual spirits in that family, vodous moral code focuses on the vices of dishonor and greed. There is also a notion of relative propriety—and what is appropriate to someone with Dambala Wedo as their head may be different from someone with Ogou Feray as their head, for example, one spirit is very cool and the other is very hot
2.
Afro-Argentines
–
At the Argentine national census of 2010 the total population was 40,117,096, of whom 149,493 identified as Afro-Argentine. The Afro-Argentine population resulting from the trade during the centuries of Spanish domination of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata had a major role in Argentine history. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries they comprised up to fifty percent of the population in some provinces, by the late 19th century the Afro-Argentine population consisted mainly of women, who mixed with the large numbers of European immigrants. Over 5% of Argentines state they have at least 1 black ancestor, today there is still a notable Afro-Argentine community in the Buenos Aires districts of San Telmo and La Boca. There are also quite a few African-descended Argentines in Merlo and Ciudad Evita cities, as part of the process of conquest, the economic regimes of the European colonies in America developed various forms of forced labor exploitation of the American aboriginals. This led the Spaniards to supplement aboriginal manpower with slaves from sub-Saharan Africa, mexico and Peru alone lost nearly 90% of their indigenous population in the first 50 years after the Conquest. Well into the 19th century, mining and agriculture accounted for the bulk of activity in America. In the case of Argentina, the influx of African slaves began in the colonies of the Rio de la Plata in 1588, slave traders kidnapped Africans, who were then sold and shipped from West Africa to the Americas and the Caribbean. Trafficking flourished through the port of Buenos Aires when the city allowed English traders to import slaves through it, to provide slaves to the East Indies, the Spanish crown granted contracts known as Asientos to various companies from other countries, mainly Portuguese, English, Dutch and French. By 1713 Britain, victorious in the War of the Spanish Succession, had the monopoly of this trade, the last Asiento was drawn up with the Royal Society of the Philippines in 1787. Until the 1784 ban, African slaves were measured and then branded, before the 16th century slaves had arrived in relatively small numbers from the Cape Verde islands. Five Africans are estimated to have perished on the voyage for each arrival, the slaves were forced to work in agriculture, livestock, domestic work and to a lesser extent crafts. In urban areas, many slaves made handicrafts for sale, while revenues went to their masters, the Buenos Aires neighborhood of San Telmo and Monserrat housed a large quantity of slaves, although most were sent to the interior provinces. An important part of the African population also inhabited other provinces, today one of the slums of the city of Corrientes is still known as Camba Cuá, from the Guarani kamba kua, meaning cave of the Blacks. The area most densely populated by Africans was located in the neighborhood of Monserrat, also known as Barrio del Tambor, slaves would group themselves in societies they called nations, some of which were Conga, Cabunda, African Argentine, Mozambique, etc. The commonalities among the places of the nations included artificially flattened and sanded opened spaces for dancing. In some cases the rooms were carpeted, and curtained, having been provided these items by the slave owner, the nation had its king and queen, previously chosen by democratic election, and a throne was erected where the flag of a particular nation was displayed. The headquarters was the site of social gatherings and dances, often the Afro-Argentine societies centered around the barrios, such as the del Mondongo nation or the del Tambor society
3.
Afro-Mexicans
–
Afro-Mexicans are Mexicans who have a heritage from Sub-Saharan Africa. According to The Atlantic Slave Trade an estimated 200,000 enslaved Africans disembarked in New Spain, from the beginning, the slaves, who were mostly male, intermarried with indigenous women. In some cases Spanish colonists had unions with female slaves, Spanish colonists created an elaborate racial caste system, classifying people by racial mixture. This system broke down in the late colonial period, after Independence. Evidence of this history of intermarriage with Mestizo and indigenous Mexicans is also expressed in the fact that in the 2015 census,64. 9% of Afro-Mexicans also identified as indigenous. It was also reported that 9. 3% of Afro-Mexicans speak an indigenous language, about 1. 2% of Mexicos population has significant African ancestry, with 1.38 million recognized during the 2015 Intercensus Estimate. Numerous Afro-Mexicans in the 21st century are naturalized black immigrants from Africa, the 2015 Intercensus Estimate was the first time in which Afro-Mexicans could identify themselves as such and was a preliminary effort to include the identity before the 2020 census. Although the vast majority had their roots in Africa, not all made the trip directly to America. Those from Africa belonged mainly to groups coming from Western Sudan, the origin of the slaves is known through various documents such as transcripts of sales. Originally the slaves came from Cape Verde and Guinea, later slaves were also taken from Angola and the Canary Islands. To decide the sex of the slaves that would be sent to the New World, calculations that included physical performance, later on, only one third of the total slaves were women. From the African continent dark skinned slaves were taken, the first true blacks were extracted from Arguin, later in the sixteenth century, black slaves came from Bran, biafadas and Gelofe. Black slaves were classified into types, depending on their ethnic group and origin. The first, called Retintos, also called swarthy, came from Sudan, the second type were amulatados or amembrillados of lighter skin color, when compared with other blacks and were distinguishable by their yellow skin tones. Mexican anthropologist Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán estimated that there were six blacks who took part in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, notable among them was Juan Garrido, a black soldier born in Africa, Christianized in Portugal and who participated in the conquest of Tenochtitlan and Western Mexico. Another conquistador, Pánfilo de Narváez, brought an African slave who has blamed for the smallpox epidemic of 1520. Early slaves were likely personal servants or concubines of their Spanish masters, Mexico never became a society based on slavery, as happened in the U. S. south or Caribbean islands, but its economy did use slaves for many years during the colonial period. While a number of people were enslaved during the conquest period
4.
Afro-Peruvian
–
Afro-Peruvians are citizens of Peru descended from Africans who were enslaved and brought to the Western hemisphere with the arrival of the conquistadors towards the end of the slave trade. The first Africans arrived with the conquistadors in 1521, mostly as slaves and they also fought alongside the conquistadors as soldiers and worked as personal servants and bodyguards. In 1533 Afro-Peruvian slaves accompanied Spaniards in the conquest of Cuzco, two types of black slaves were imported to Peru. Those who were native-born in Africa were commonly referred to as bozales and these slaves could have been directly shipped from west or southwest Africa or transported from the Spanish Indies or other Spanish colonies. Afro-Peruvians previously acculturated to Spanish culture and who spoke Spanish were called Ladinos, some were mixed-race, descendants of Spanish men, people of color performed skilled and unskilled functions that contributed to Hispanic colonization. In urban areas Afro-Peruvians were cooks, laundresses, maids, handymen, in some cases, they worked in the navy, hospitals, churches and charitable institutions. In 1587,377 people of African descent worked in the shipyards, the industry included a significant number of blacks working in quarries, kilns and construction projects. There were not enough Spanish workers to build the colony, so blacks essentially kept the economy running, gradually, Afro-Peruvians were concentrated in specialized fields that drew upon their extensive knowledge and training in skilled artisan work and in agriculture. In the social hierarchy of the slave stratum, the black artisans had the highest rank due to their skills and they worked as carpenters, tailors, blacksmiths, swordsmiths and silversmiths. This group enjoyed more freedom than their fellows who worked at large haciendas or in private households, Spanish small-business keepers would dispatch a whole team of servant-artisans to do a job independently and then return to their owner. As the prices for artisans rose, black artisans gained better treatment, skilled trades were a major avenue of social progress for the colored population. Due to their skills, Afro-Peruvians gained prestige among Spanish noblemen. They occupied a low social stratum but had some status related to the natives. As the mestizo population grew, the role of Afro-Peruvians as intermediaries between the residents and the Spaniards lessened. The mestizo population increased through liaisons between Spanish and indigenous Peruvians, the elite Spanish developed a caste system based on racial descent and color, to protect their privileges and their Spanish and mestizo children. In this system, Spaniards were at the top, mestizos in the middle, and Africans, mestizos inherited the privilege of helping the Spanish administer the country. As additional immigrants arrived from Spain and settled Peru, the tried to keep the most lucrative jobs for themselves. In the early period, Afro-Spaniards and Afro-Peruvians frequently worked in the gold mines because of their familiarity with the techniques
5.
Afro-Puerto Ricans
–
The history of Puerto Ricans of African descent begins with free African men, known as libertos, who accompanied the Spanish Conquistadors in the invasion of the island. The Spaniards enslaved the Taínos, many of whom died as a result of new infectious diseases, spains royal government needed laborers and began to rely on slavery to staff their mining and fort-building operations. The Crown authorized importing enslaved West Africans, when the gold mines in Puerto Rico were declared depleted, the Spanish Crown no longer considered the island to be a high colonial priority. Its chief ports served primarily as a garrison to support naval vessels, the Spaniards encouraged free people of color from British and French possessions in the Caribbean to emigrate to Puerto Rico, to provide a population base to support the Puerto Rican garrison. The Spanish decree of 1789 allowed slaves to earn or buy their freedom, however, the expansion of sugar cane plantations drove up demand for labor and the slave population increased dramatically as new slaves were imported. Throughout the years, there were slave revolts in the island. Slaves who were promised their freedom joined the 1868 uprising against Spanish colonial rule in what is known as the Grito de Lares, on March 22,1873, slavery was abolished in Puerto Rico. The contributions of ethnic Africans to the music, art, language, when Ponce de León and the Spaniards arrived on the island of Borikén, they were greeted by the Cacique Agüeybaná, the supreme leader of the peaceful Taíno tribes on the island. Agüeybaná helped to maintain the peace between the Taíno and the Spaniards, according to historian Ricardo Alegria, in 1509 Juan Garrido was the first free black man to set foot on the island, he was a conquistador who was part of Juan Ponce de Leóns entourage. Garrido was born on the West African coast, the son of an African king, in 1508, he joined Juan Ponce de León to explore Puerto Rico and prospect for gold. In 1511, he fought under Ponce de León to repress the Carib and the Taíno, Garrido next joined Hernán Cortés in the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Another free black man who accompanied de León was Pedro Mejías, Mejías married a Taíno woman chief, by the name of Yuisa. Yuisa was baptized as Catholic so that she could marry Mejías and she was given the Christian name of Luisa The peace between the Spanish and the Taíno was short-lived. The Spanish took advantage of the Taínos good faith and enslaved them, forcing them to work in the gold mines, many Taíno died, particularly due to epidemics of smallpox, to which they had no immunity. Other Taínos committed suicide or left the island after the failed Taíno revolt of 1511, friar Bartolomé de las Casas, who had accompanied Ponce de León, was outraged at the Spanish treatment of the Taíno. In 1512 he protested at the council of Burgos at the Spanish Court and he fought for the freedom of the natives and was able to secure their rights. The Spanish colonists, fearing the loss of their labor force and they complained that they needed manpower to work in the mines, build forts, and supply labor for the thriving sugar cane plantations. As an alternative, Las Casas suggested the importation and use of African slaves, in 1517, the Spanish Crown permitted its subjects to import twelve slaves each, thereby beginning the slave trade in their colonies
6.
Louisiana Creole people
–
Louisiana Creole people, are persons descended from the inhabitants of colonial Louisiana during the period of both French and Spanish rule. The term creole was originally used by French settlers to distinguish persons born in Louisiana from those born in the country or elsewhere. As in many other societies around the world, creole was a term used to mean those who were native-born. It also came to be applied to African-descended slaves and Native Americans who were born in Louisiana, Louisiana Creoles share cultural ties, such as the traditional use of the French language and a predominance of practice of Catholicism. As more refugees were allowed in Louisiana, Haitian émigrés who had first gone to Cuba also arrived and these groups had strong influences on the city and its culture. Later immigrants to New Orleans, such as Irish, Germans and Italians, Louisiana Creoles are mostly Catholic in religion. Through the 19th century, most spoke French and were connected to French colonial culture. Only the small Spanish Creole communities of Saint Bernard Parish and Galveztown spoke Spanish and they have maintained cultural traditions from the Canary Islands, where their ancestors came from, to the present. The varieties of Louisiana Creoles shaped the culture, particularly in the southern areas around New Orleans. Louisiana is known as the Creole State, other enclaves of Creole culture have been located in south Louisiana, Frilot Cove, Bois Mallet, Grand Marais, Palmetto, Lawtell, Soileau and others. These communities have had a history of cultural independence. Another area where many creoles can be found is within the River Parishes, St. Charles, St. John, and St. James. Through both the French and Spanish regimes, parochial and colonial governments used the term Creole for ethnic French, parisian French was the predominant language among colonists in early New Orleans. Later the regional French evolved to contain local phrases and slang terms, the French Creoles spoke what became known as Colonial French. Because of isolation, the language in the colony developed differently from that in France and it was spoken by the ethnic French and Spanish and their Creole descendants. The commonly accepted definition of Louisiana Creole today is a person descended from ancestors in Louisiana before the Louisiana Purchase by the United States in 1803. An estimated 7,000 European immigrants settled in Louisiana during the 18th century, Louisiana attracted considerably fewer French colonists than did its West Indian colonies. After the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, which lasted more than two months, the colonists had numerous challenges ahead of them in the Louisiana frontier
7.
African Americans
–
African Americans are an ethnic group of Americans with total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. The term may also be used to only those individuals who are descended from enslaved Africans. As a compound adjective the term is usually hyphenated as African-American, Black and African Americans constitute the third largest racial and ethnic group in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved peoples within the boundaries of the present United States. On average, African Americans are of 73. 2–80. 9% West African, 18–24% European, according to US Census Bureau data, African immigrants generally do not self-identify as African American. The overwhelming majority of African immigrants identify instead with their own respective ethnicities, immigrants from some Caribbean, Central American and South American nations and their descendants may or may not also self-identify with the term. After the founding of the United States, black people continued to be enslaved, believed to be inferior to white people, they were treated as second-class citizens. The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited U. S. citizenship to whites only, in 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American to be elected President of the United States. The first African slaves arrived via Santo Domingo to the San Miguel de Gualdape colony, the ill-fated colony was almost immediately disrupted by a fight over leadership, during which the slaves revolted and fled the colony to seek refuge among local Native Americans. De Ayllón and many of the colonists died shortly afterwards of an epidemic, the settlers and the slaves who had not escaped returned to Haiti, whence they had come. The first recorded Africans in British North America were 20 and odd negroes who came to Jamestown, as English settlers died from harsh conditions, more and more Africans were brought to work as laborers. Typically, young men or women would sign a contract of indenture in exchange for transportation to the New World, the landowner received 50 acres of land from the state for each servant purchased from a ships captain. An indentured servant would work for years without wages. The status of indentured servants in early Virginia and Maryland was similar to slavery, servants could be bought, sold, or leased and they could be physically beaten for disobedience or running away. Africans could legally raise crops and cattle to purchase their freedom and they raised families, married other Africans and sometimes intermarried with Native Americans or English settlers. By the 1640s and 1650s, several African families owned farms around Jamestown and some became wealthy by colonial standards and purchased indentured servants of their own. In 1640, the Virginia General Court recorded the earliest documentation of slavery when they sentenced John Punch. One of Dutch African arrivals, Anthony Johnson, would own one of the first black slaves, John Casor
8.
Haiti
–
Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti and formerly called Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican Republic, the region was originally inhabited by the indigenous Taíno people. Spain discovered the island on 5 December 1492 during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus across the Atlantic, when Columbus initially landed in Haiti, he had thought he had found India or Asia. On Christmas Day 1492, Columbus flagship the Santa Maria ran aground north of what is now Limonade, the island was named La Española and claimed by Spain, which ruled until the early 17th century. Competing claims and settlements by the French led to the portion of the island being ceded to France. The development of plantations, worked by slaves brought from Africa. Upon his death in a prison in France, he was succeeded by his lieutenant, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the Haitian Revolution lasted just over a dozen years, and apart from Alexandre Pétion, the first President of the Republic, all the first leaders of government were former slaves. The Citadelle Laferrière is the largest fortress in the Americas, Henri Christophe – former slave and first king of Haiti, Henri I – built it to withstand a possible foreign attack. It has the lowest Human Development Index in the Americas, most recently, in February 2004, a coup détat originating in the north of the country forced the resignation and exile of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. A provisional government took control with security provided by the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, the name Haïti comes from the indigenous Taíno language which was the native name given to the entire island of Hispaniola to mean, land of high mountains. The h is silent in French and the ï in Haïti, is a mark used to show that the second vowel is pronounced separately. In English, this rule for the pronunciation is often disregarded, the name Haïti was restored by Haitian revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines as the official name of independent Saint-Domingue, as a tribute to the Amerindian predecessors. The Taíno name for the island was Haiti. The people had migrated over centuries into the Caribbean islands from South America, genetic studies show they were related to the Yanomami of the Amazon Basin. They also originated in Central and South America, after migrating to Caribbean islands, in the 15th century, the Taíno were pushed into the northeast Caribbean islands by the Caribs. In the Taíno societies of the Caribbean islands, the largest unit of organization was led by a cacique, or chief. The caciquedoms were tributary kingdoms, with payment consisting of harvests, Taíno cultural artifacts include cave paintings in several locations in the country. These have become symbols of Haiti and tourist attractions
9.
Africa
–
Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earths total surface area and 20.4 % of its land area. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the human population. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos and it contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states, nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. Africas population is the youngest amongst all the continents, the age in 2012 was 19.7. Algeria is Africas largest country by area, and Nigeria by population, afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas, it is the continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Africa hosts a diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countries colonized most of Africa, Africa also varies greatly with regard to environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. However, most present states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century, afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of Africa, which in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the Mediterranean. This name seems to have referred to a native Libyan tribe. The name is connected with Hebrew or Phoenician ʿafar dust. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province of Africa Proconsularis, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya. The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote a land, the later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while Asia was used to refer to Anatolia, as Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge. 25,4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya, isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2. Suggests Africa comes from the Latin aprica, meaning sunny, massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning to turn toward the opening of the Ka. The Ka is the double of every person and the opening of the Ka refers to a womb or birthplace
10.
Spain
–
By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
11.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
12.
Senegal
–
Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country in West Africa. Senegal is bordered by Mauritania in the north, Mali to the east, Guinea to the southeast, and Guinea-Bissau to the southwest. Senegal also borders The Gambia, a country occupying a narrow sliver of land along the banks of the Gambia River, Senegal also shares a maritime border with Cape Verde. Senegals economic and political capital is Dakar and it is the westernmost country in the mainland of the Old World, or Afro-Eurasia, and owes its name to the Senegal River, which borders it to the east and north. The name Senegal comes from the Wolof Sunuu Gaal, which means Our Boat, Senegal covers a land area of almost 197,000 square kilometres and has an estimated population of about 15 million. The climate is Sahelian, but there is a rainy season, the territory of modern Senegal has been inhabited by various ethnic groups since prehistory. Organized kingdoms emerged around the century, and parts of the country were ruled by prominent regional empires such as the Jolof Empire. The present state of Senegal has its roots in European colonialism, which began during the mid-15th century, the establishment of coastal trading posts gradually led to control of the mainland, culminating in French rule of the area by the 19th century, albeit amid much local resistance. Senegal peacefully attained independence from France in 1960, and has since been among the politically stable countries in Africa. Senegals economy is centered mostly on commodities and natural resources, major industries are fish processing, phosphate mining, fertilizer production, petroleum refining, construction materials, and ship construction and repair. As in most African nations, agriculture is a sector, with Senegal producing several important cash crops, including peanuts, sugarcane, cotton, green beans, tomatoes, melons. Owing to its stability, tourism and hospitality are also burgeoning sectors. A multiethnic and secular nation, Senegal is predominantly Sunni Muslim with Sufi, French is the official language, although many native languages are spoken and recognized. Since April 2012 Senegals president has been Macky Sall, Senegal has been a member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie since 1970. Senegal is named after the Senegal River, the etymology of which is contested, one popular theory is that it stems from the Wolof phrase sunu gaal, which means our canoe, resulting from a miscommunication between 15th-century Portuguese sailors and Wolof fishermen. The our canoe theory has been embraced in modern Senegal for its charm. It is frequently used in appeals to national solidarity, frequently heard in the media, modern historians believe the name probably refers to the Sanhaja, Berbers who lived on the northern side of the river. A competing theory is that it derives from the town of Sanghana
