1.
French colonial empire
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The French colonial empire constituted the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. The second empire came to an end after the loss of bitter wars in Vietnam and Algeria, competing with Spain, Portugal, the United Provinces, and later Britain, France began to establish colonies in North America, the Caribbean, and India in the 17th century. A series of wars with Great Britain and other European major powers during the 18th century, France rebuilt a new empire mostly after 1850, concentrating chiefly in Africa, as well as Indochina and the South Pacific. Republicans, at first hostile to empire, only became supportive when Germany started to build her own colonial empire and it also provided manpower in the World Wars. It became a mission to lift the world up to French standards by bringing Christianity. In 1884 the leading proponent of colonialism, Jules Ferry declared, The higher races have a right over the lower races, full citizenship rights – assimilation – were offered, although in reality assimilation was always receding the colonial populations treated like subjects not citizens. At its apex, it was one of the largest empires in history, including metropolitan France, the total amount of land under French sovereignty reached 11,500,000 km2 in 1920, with a population of 110 million people in 1939. In World War II, Charles de Gaulle and the Free French used the colonies as bases from which they fought to liberate France. However, after 1945 anti-colonial movements began to challenge European authority, the French constitution of October 27,1946, established the French Union which endured until 1958. Newer remnants of the empire were integrated into France as overseas departments. These now total altogether 119,394 km², which amounts to only 1% of the pre-1939 French colonial empires area, by the 1970s, says Robert Aldrich, the last vestiges of empire held little interest for the French. He argues, Except for the decolonization of Algeria, however. During the 16th century, the French colonization of the Americas began, the story of Frances colonial empire truly began on 27 July 1605, with the foundation of Port Royal in the colony of Acadia in North America, in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada. A few years later, in 1608, Samuel De Champlain founded Quebec, which was to become the capital of the enormous, New France had a rather small population, which resulted from more emphasis being placed on the fur trade rather than agricultural settlements. Due to this emphasis, the French relied heavily on creating friendly contacts with the local First Nations community and these became the most enduring alliances between the French and the First Nation community. The French were, however, under pressure from religious orders to them to Catholicism. Through alliances with various Native American tribes, the French were able to exert a loose control over much of the North American continent, areas of French settlement were generally limited to the St. Lawrence River Valley. Prior to the establishment of the 1663 Sovereign Council, the territories of New France were developed as mercantile colonies
2.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
3.
Saint-Louis, Senegal
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Saint-Louis, or Ndar as it is called in Wolof, is the capital of Senegals Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, Saint-Louis was the capital of the French colony of Senegal from 1673 until 1902 and French West Africa from 1895 until 1902, when the capital was moved to Dakar. From 1920 to 1957 it also served as the capital of the colony of Mauritania. The heart of the old city is located on a narrow island in the Senegal River,25 km from its mouth. At this point the river is separated from the Atlantic Ocean to the west by a sand spit, the Langue de Barbarie. Yet a third part of the city, Sor, lies on the mainland and is nearly surrounded by tidal marshes. Saint-Louis is situated on the Mauritanian border, though the crossing is at Rosso,100 km upstream. Three characteristics give Saint-Louis its distinctive appearance, the Sahel, the marshes. The marshes are flood basins that form during the season when the river overflows into the countryside, creating ponds and stretches of mangroves that attract birds like flamingos. The Langue de Barbarie, a 600 km long stretch of sand from Nouadhibou in Mauritania to Saint-Louis and its vegetation mainly consists of Filao trees, propagated to prevent soil erosion in sandy and salty soils. A2011 documentary described Saint-Louis as the African city most threatened by rising sea levels, Saint-Louis was established in 1659 by French traders on an uninhabited island called Ndar. It was baptized Saint-Louis-du-Fort in homage to the former French king Louis IX and it was the first permanent French settlement in Senegal. The fortified factory commanded trade along the Senegal River, slaves, hides, beeswax, ambergris and, later, gum arabic were exported. During the Seven Years War, in 1758 British forces captured Senegal, in February 1779, French forces recaptured Saint-Louis. In the late 18th century, Saint Louis had about 5,000 inhabitants, Saint-Louis became the leading urban centre in sub-Saharan Africa”. Between 1659 and 1779, nine chartered companies succeeded one another in administering Saint-Louis, as in Gorée, a Franco-African Creole, or Métis, merchant community characterized by the famous signares, or bourgeois women entrepreneurs, grew up in Saint-Louis during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Métis were important to the economic, social, cultural and political life of the city and they created a distinctive urban culture characterized by public displays of elegance, refined entertainment and popular festivities. They controlled most of the river trade and they financed the principal Catholic institutions
4.
Dakar
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Dakar is the capital and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city in the Old World as well as on the African mainland. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, the area around Dakar was settled in the 15th century. The Portuguese established a presence on the island of Gorée off the coast of Cap-Vert, France took over the island in 1677. Following the abolition of the trade and French annexation of the mainland area in the 19th century, Dakar grew into a major regional port. In 1902, Dakar replaced Saint-Louis as the capital of French West Africa, from 1959 to 1960, Dakar was the capital of the short-lived Mali Federation. In 1960, it became the capital of the independent Republic of Senegal, Dakar is home to multiple national and regional banks as well as numerous international organizations. From 1978 to 2007, it was also the finishing point of the Dakar Rally. The Cap-Vert peninsula was settled no later than the 15th century, by the Lebou people, the original villages, Ouakam, Ngor, Yoff and Hann, still constitute distinctively Lebou neighborhoods of the city today. In 1444, the Portuguese reached the Bay of Dakar, initially as slave-raiders, peaceful contact was finally opened in 1456 by Diogo Gomes, and the bay was subsequently referred to as the Angra de Bezeguiche. The Portuguese eventually founded a settlement on the island of Gorée, the mainland of Cap-Vert, however, was under control of the Jolof Empire, as part of the western province of Cayor which seceded from Jolof in its own right in 1549. A new Lebou village, called Ndakaaru, was established directly across from Gorée in the 17th century to service the European trading factory with food, Gorée was captured by the United Netherlands in 1588, which gave it its present name. The island was to switch hands between the Portuguese and Dutch several more times before falling to the English under Admiral Robert Holmes on January 23,1664, and finally to the French in 1677. Though under continuous French administration since, métis families, descended from Dutch and French traders and African wives, the infamous House of Slaves was built at Gorée in 1776. In 1795 the Lebou of Cape Verde revolted against Cayor rule, a new theocratic state, subsequently called the Lebou Republic by the French, was established under the leadership of the Diop, a Muslim clerical family originally from Koki in Cayor. The capital of the republic was established at Ndakaaru, in 1857 the French established a military post at Ndakaaru and annexed the Lebou Republic, though its institutions continued to function nominally. The Serigne of Ndakaaru is still recognized as the political authority of the Lebou by the Senegalese State today. The slave trade was abolished by France in February 1794, however, Napoleon reinstated it in May 1802, then finally abolished it permanently in March 1815
5.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
6.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
7.
Hausa language
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Originally the language of the Hausa people stretching across southern Niger and northern Nigeria, it has developed into a lingua franca across much of western Africa for purposes of trade. In the 20th and 21st centuries, it has more commonly published in print. Hausa belongs to the West Chadic languages subgroup of the Chadic languages group, native speakers of Hausa, the Hausa people, are mostly found in Niger, in the north of Nigeria, and in Chad. Furthermore, the language is used as a trade language across a much larger swathe of West Africa, Central Africa and in northwestern Sudan and it is taught at universities in Africa and around the world. The language is the most commonly spoken language in Nigeria, but unlike Yoruba and Igbo, it is widely spoken outside Nigeria, especially in Niger, Ghana, Cameroon. Radio stations like BBC, Radio France Internationale, China Radio International, Voice of Russia, Voice of America, Arewa 24 Deutsche Welle, and IRIB broadcast in Hausa. Eastern Hausa dialects include Dauranchi in Daura, Kananci in Kano, Bausanchi in Bauchi, Gudduranci in Katagum Misau and part of Borno, and Hadejanci in Hadejiya. Western Hausa dialects include Sakkwatanci in Sokoto, Katsinanci in Katsina, Arewanci in Gobir, Adar, Kebbi, and Zamfara, Katsina is transitional between Eastern and Western dialects. Northern Hausa dialects include Arewa and Arawci, Zazzaganci in Zazzau is the major Southern dialect. The Daura and Kano dialect are the standard, the BBC, Deutsche Welle, Radio France Internationale and Voice of America offer Hausa services on their international news web sites using Dauranci and Kananci. In recent language development Zazzaganci took over the innovation of writing and speaking the current Hausa language use, the western to eastern Hausa dialects of Kurhwayanci, Daragaram and Aderawa, represent the traditional northernmost limit of native Hausa communities. These are spoken in the northernmost sahel and mid-Saharan regions in west and central Niger in the Tillaberi, Tahoua, Dosso, Maradi, Agadez and these dialects also have the quality of being non-tonal or pitch accent dialects. The Ghanaian Hausa dialect, spoken in Ghana, Togo, and western Ivory Coast, is a distinct western native Hausa dialect-bloc with adequate linguistic and media resources available. Gaananci forms a group from other Western Hausa dialects, as it now falls outside the contiguous Hausa-dominant area, and is usually identified by the use of c for ky. Because of this, and the presence of surrounding Akan, Gur and Mande languages, Hausa is also widely spoken by non-native Gur and Mande Ghanaian Muslims, but differs from Gaananci, and rather has features consistent with non-native Hausa dialects. Hausa is also various parts of Cameroon and Chad, which combined the mixed dialects of northern Nigeria. In addition, Arabic has had an influence in the way Hausa is spoken by the native Hausa speakers in these areas. This creates confusion among non-native and native Hausa speakers, as non-native pronunciation does not distinguish words like daidai and ɗaiɗai, another difference between native and non-native Hausa is the omission of vowel length in words and change in the standard tone of native Hausa dialects
8.
Mossi language
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It is the language of the Mossi people, spoken by approximately 5 million people in Burkina Faso, plus another 60, 000+ in Mali and Togo. The Mossi language consists of the sounds, Remark, The semivowel /j/ y is pronounced in front of nasal vowels. Remark, All the vowels are pronounced equivalently to their nasal counterparts, All the vowels are pronounced equivalently to their lengthened counterparts. Other linguists include the vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/, here, these vowels are analyzed as diphthongs, in Burkina Faso, the Mossi alphabet uses the letters specified in the national Burkinabé alphabet. Languages of Burkina Faso PanAfrican L10n wiki page on Moore Database of audio recordings in Mòoré - basic Catholic prayers Protestant Mission, ouagadougou, Upper Volta, World Digital Library
9.
Wolof language
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Wolof is a language of Senegal, the Gambia, and Mauritania, and the native language of the Wolof people. Like the neighbouring languages Serer and Fula, it belongs to the Senegambian branch of the Niger–Congo language family, unlike most other languages of Sub-Saharan Africa, Wolof is not a tonal language. Wolof originated as the language of the Lebu people and it is the most widely spoken language in Senegal, spoken natively by the Wolof people but also by most other Senegalese as a second language. Wolof dialects vary geographically and between rural and urban areas, dakar-Wolof, for instance, is an urban mixture of Wolof, French, and Arabic. Wolof is the spelling and may refer to the Wolof people or to Wolof culture. Variants include the older French Ouolof and the principally Gambian Wollof, Jolof, jollof, etc. now typically refers either to the Jolof Empire or to jollof rice, a common West African rice dish. Now-archaic forms include Volof and Olof, the English language is believed to have adopted some Wolof words, such as banana, via Spanish or Portuguese, and yum/yummy, from Wolof nyam to taste, nyam in Barbadian English meaning to eat. Wolof is spoken by more than 10 million people and about 40 percent of Senegals population speak Wolof as their native language, in the whole region from Dakar to Saint-Louis, and also west and southwest of Kaolack, Wolof is spoken by the vast majority of the people. Typically when various groups in Senegal come together in cities and towns. It is therefore spoken in almost every regional and departmental capital in Senegal, nevertheless, the official language of Senegal is French. In Serekunda, the Gambias largest town, although only a minority are ethnic Wolofs. The official language of the Gambia is English, Mandinka, Wolof, in Mauritania, about seven percent of the population speak Wolof because of the river that is shared with Senegal. There, the language is used only around the coastal regions. Wolof is one of the Senegambian languages, which are characterized by consonant mutation and it is often said to be closely related to the Fula language because of a misreading by Wilson of the data in Sapir that have long been used to classify the Atlantic languages. Senegalese/Mauritanian Wolof and Gambian Wolof are distinct national standards, they use different orthographies, however, both the spoken and written languages are mutually intelligible. Lebu Wolof, on the hand, is unintelligible with standard Wolof. Note, Phonetic transcriptions are printed between square brackets following the rules of the International Phonetic Alphabet, the Latin orthography of Wolof in Senegal was set by government decrees between 1971 and 1985. The language institute Centre de linguistique appliquée de Dakar is widely acknowledged as an authority when it comes to spelling rules for Wolof, Wolof is most often written in this orthography, in which phonemes have a clear one-to-one correspondence to graphemes
10.
Berber languages
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Berber or the Berber languages or the Amazigh language are a family of similar and closely related languages and dialects indigenous to North Africa. Large Berber-speaking migrant communities, numbering today about 4 million, have been living in Western Europe, about half of this population was born in Europe. Berber constitutes a branch of the Afroasiatic language family, and has been attested since ancient times, the number of Berbers is much higher than the number of Berber speakers. The bulk of the populations of the Maghreb countries are considered to have Berber ancestors, in Algeria, for example, a majority of the population consists of Arabized Berbers. There is a cultural and political movement among speakers of the closely related varieties of Northern Berber to promote and unify them under a standard language, called. The name Tamaziɣt is the current native name of the Berber language in the Moroccan Middle-Atlas region, the Rif regions, in other Berber-speaking area this name was lost. There is historical evidence, from medieval Berber manusctipts, that all native North Africans from Libya to Morocco have called their language, Tamaziɣt. The name Tamaziɣt is currently being used by educated Berbers to refer to the written Berber language. Around 90 percent of the Berber-speaking population speak one of six major varieties of Berber and they are, in the order of demographic weight, Tashelhit, Kabyle, Atlas Tamazight, Riffian, Shawi and Tuareg. The Berber languages and dialects have had a tradition, on and off, for about 2,500 years, although the tradition has been frequently disrupted by cultural shifts. They were first written in the Libyco-Berber and Tifinagh abjad, still used by the Tuareg, the oldest dated inscription is from about 200 BCE. The Berber Latin alphabet was used by most European and Berber linguists during the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 19th and 20th century European and native Berber linguists, a modernized form of the Tifinagh alphabet, called Neo-Tifinagh, was adopted in Morocco in 2003 for writing Berber, but many Moroccan Berber publications still use the Berber Latin alphabet. Algerians mostly use the Berber Latin alphabet in Berber language education at public schools, Mali and Niger recognize a Tuareg-Berber Latin alphabet customized to the Tuareg phonological system. However, traditional Tifinagh is still used in those countries, the term Berber has been used in Europe since at least the 17th century, and is still used today. It was borrowed from Latin Barbari, the Latin word is also found in the Arabic designation for these populations, البربر, al-Barbar, see names of the Berber people. Etymologically, the Berber root Mazigh means free man, noble man, the feminine Tamazight traditionally referred specifically to the Riffian and Central Atlas Tamazight languages. European languages distinguish between the words Berber and barbaric, while Arabic has the same word al-barbari for both meanings, some other Berber writers, especially in Morocco, prefer to refer to Berber with Amazigh when writing about it in French or English
11.
New Imperialism
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New Imperialism or Neo-imperialism was a period of colonial expansion by European powers, the United States, and the Empire of Japan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The period is distinguished by a pursuit of overseas territorial acquisitions. At the time, states focused on building their empires with new advances and developments, making their territory bigger through conquest. During the era of New Imperialism, the Western powers conquered almost all of Africa, the new wave of imperialism reflected ongoing rivalries among the great powers, the economic desire for new resources and markets, and a civilizing mission ethos. Many of the colonies established during this era gained independence during the era of decolonization that followed World War II, the qualifier new is used to differentiate between imperialism which generally refers to the first wave of European colonization between the 15th and early 19th centuries. In the first wave of colonization, European powers conquered and colonized the Americas and later established outposts in Africa, the American Revolution and the collapse of the Spanish Empire in Latin America around 1820 ended the first era of European imperialism. Especially in Great Britain these revolutions helped show the deficiencies of mercantilism, in 1846, the Corn Laws were repealed and manufacturers gained, as the regulations enforced by the Corn Laws had slowed their businesses. With the repeal in place, the manufacturers were able to trade more freely. Thus, Britain began to adopt the concept of free trade, the establishment of nation-states in Germany and Italy resolved territorial issues that had kept potential rivals embroiled in internal affairs at the heart of Europe, to Britains advantage. The years from 1871 to 1914 would be marked by an unstable peace. The imposition of rule in terms of effective occupation necessitated routine recourse to armed force against indigenous states and peoples. One of the goals of the conference was to reach agreements over trade, navigation, however, of all of the 15 nations in attendance of the Berlin Conference, none of the countries represented were African. The main dominating powers of the conference were France, Germany, Great Britain and they remapped Africa without considering the cultural and linguistic borders that were already established. At the end of the conference, Africa was divided into 50 different colonies, the attendants established who was in control of each of these newly divided colonies. They also planned, noncommittally, to end the trade in Africa. In Britain, the age of new imperialism marked a time for significant economic changes, because the country was the first to industrialize, Britain was technologically ahead of many other countries throughout the majority of the nineteenth century. However, by the end of the century, other countries such as Germany, the United States, Russia. After several decades of monopoly, the country was battling to maintain a dominant economic position while other became more involved in international markets
12.
French Fifth Republic
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Alsace-Lorraine would be restored at the end of World War I. Unlike other European countries France did not experience a population growth in the mid and late 19th century. From a population of around 39 million in 1880, France still had only a population of 40 million in 1945, the post-war years would bring a massive baby boom, and with immigration, France reached 50 million in 1968. This growth slowed down in 1974, since 1999, France has seen an unprecedented growth in population. In 2004, population growth was 0. 68%, almost reaching North American levels, France is now well ahead of all other European countries in population growth and in 2003, Frances natural population growth was responsible for almost all the natural growth in European population. Today, France, with a population of 62 and a million, or 65 million including overseas territories, is the third most populous country of Europe, behind Russia. Immigration in the 20th century differed significantly from that of the previous century, the 1920s saw great influxes from Italy and Poland, in the 1930-50s immigrants came from Spain and Portugal. Since the 1960s however, the greatest waves of immigrants have been from former French colonies, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Mali, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam. Much of this recent immigration was initially economical, but many of these immigrants have remained in France, gained citizenship, estimates vary, but of the 60 million people living in France today, close to 4 million claim foreign origin. Eastern-European and North-African Jewish immigration to France largely began in the mid to late 19th century, in 1872, there was an estimated 86,000 Jews living in France, and by 1945 this would increase to 300,000. Many Jews integrated into French society, although French nationalism led to anti-Semitism in many quarters, since the 1960s, France has experienced a great deal of Jewish immigration from the Mediterranean and North Africa, and the Jewish population in France is estimated at around 600,000 today. By far the largest of these is Paris, at 2.1 million inhabitants, followed by Lille, Lyon, much of this urbanization takes place not in the traditional center of the cities, but in the suburbs that surround them. With immigration from countries, these cités have been the center of racial. Compounding the loss of regionalism is the role of the French capital, the post-war years saw the state take control of a number of French industries. The modern political climate has however been for increasing regional power, many French intellectuals welcomed the war to avenge the humiliation of defeat and loss of territory to Germany following the Franco-Prussian War of 1871. A pacifist, was assassinated at the start of the war, Prime Minister Rene Viviani called for unity—for a Union sacrée --Which was a wartime truce between the right and left factions that had been fighting bitterly. However, war-weariness was a factor by 1917, even reaching the army. The soldiers were reluctant to attack, Mutiny was a factor as soldiers said it was best to wait for the arrival of millions of Americans, the economy was hurt by the German invasion of major industrial areas in the northeast
13.
French West African franc
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The franc was the currency of French West Africa. The French franc circulated, together with distinct banknotes from 1903 and it was replaced by the CFA franc in 1945. In 1944, aluminium-bronze 50 centimes and 1 franc coins were issued and these were the only coins struck before the introduction of the CFA franc. The Banque de lAfrique Occidentale began issuing notes in 1903,100 franc notes were introduced that year, followed by 5 francs in 1904,500 francs in 1912,25 francs in 1917,1000 francs in 1919 and 50 francs in 1920. 10 franc notes were introduced in 1943, in 1944, the government issued notes for 50 centimes, and 1 and 2 francs. The notes of the Banque de lAfrique Occidentale continued to circulate after the introduction of the CFA franc
14.
French Sudan
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French Sudan was a French colonial territory in the federation of French West Africa from around 1880 until 1960, when it became the independent state of Mali. The colony was formally called French Sudan from 1890 until 1899 and then again from 1921 until 1958, the colony was initially established largely as a military project led by French troops, but in the mid-1890s it came under civilian administration. A number of reorganizations in the early 1900s brought increasing French administration over issues like agriculture, religion. Following World War II, the African Democratic Rally under Modibo Keita became the most significant political force pushing for independence, Mali initially retained close connections with France and joined in a short-lived federation with Senegal in 1959, but ties to both countries quickly weakened. In 1960, the French Sudan colony formally became the Republic of Mali and began to distance itself further from Senegal, French Sudan originally formed as a set of military outposts as an extension of the French colony in Senegal. Though the area offered France little economic or strategic gain, the military effectively advocated greater conquest in the region. French conquest began in 1879, when Joseph Gallieni was dispatched to the area to establish a fort and this was followed with the establishment of a number of French forts and political alliances with specific leaders in the region in the early 1880s. Desbordes gradually took more territory, often using inter-ethnic rivalries. Archinard led military campaigns against Samori Ture, Ahmadu Tall, and other resistant leaders in the region, Archinards campaigns were often executed through direct military control, without civilian oversight. As costs increased, the French administration decided to replace Archinards control over the area with a civilian governor, the region was governed under a number of different names between 1880 and 1960. The area was Upper River from 1880 until 18 August 1890, on 10 October 1899, French Sudan was divided, with the southern cercles joining coastal colonies, and the rest split into two administrative areas called Middle Niger and Upper Senegal. In 1902, the region again was organized as a colony under the name Senegambia. The name changed again in 1904 to Upper Senegal and Niger, finally, in 1921, the name changed back to French Sudan. Borders and administration of the colony similarly changed a number of times, originally, and for the initial period, the colony vacillated between military administration and civilian administration from Senegal. In 1893, French Sudan formally came under administration, which lasted until 1899. At that point, a reorganization of the colony split 11 southern provinces to other French colonies like French Guinea, the area that was not reorganized was governed in two administrations linked to other French colonies. Following this, the territory of the colony was reestablished in 1902, though the borders shifted slightly, there was little territorial change until 1933. At that point, the colony of the French Upper Volta dissolved, in 1947, Upper Volta was reestablished, and the French Sudan borders became those that eventually became the borders of Mali
15.
French Guinea
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French Guinea was a French colonial possession in West Africa. Its borders, while changed over time, were in 1958 those of the independent nation of Guinea, French Guinea was established in 1891, taking the same borders as the previous colony of Rivières du Sud. Prior to 1882, the portions of French Guinea were part of the French colony of Senegal. In 1891, Rivières du Sud was placed under the lieutenant governor at Dakar. In 1894 Rivières du Sud, Cote dIvoire and Dahomey were separated into independent colonies, in 1895, French Guinea was made a dependent colony, and its Governor then became a Lieutenant Governor to a Governor-General in Dakar. In 1904, this was formalised into French West Africa, French Guinea, along with Senegal, Dahomey, Cote dIvoire and Upper Senegal and Niger each were ruled by a lieutenant governor, under the Governor General in Dakar. Guinea was ruled by France until 1958 and it became independent from France in 1958 following the rejection of Charles de Gaulles Constitution of 1958. At the time French Guinea was the colony to refuse the new constitution. French Guinea became the modern day country of Guinea keeping French as its official language, Guinea History of Guinea French West Africa List of French possessions and colonies Timeline of Conakry Jean Suret-Canale. French Colonialism in Tropical Africa 1900–1945, Guinea in the Colonial System, in Essays on African History
16.
French Upper Volta
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Upper Volta was a colony of French West Africa established on March 1,1919, from territories that had been part of the colonies of Upper Senegal and Niger and the Côte dIvoire. The colony was dissolved on September 5,1932, with parts being administered by the Côte dIvoire, French Sudan, after World War II, on September 4,1947, the colony was revived as a part of the French Union, with its previous boundaries. On December 11,1958, it was reconstituted as the self-governing Republic of Upper Volta within the French Community, on August 4,1984, the name was changed to Burkina Faso. The name Upper Volta indicates that the contains the upper part of the Volta River. The river is divided into three parts, called the Black Volta, White Volta and Red Volta, when the French arrived and claimed the area in 1896, Mossi resistance ended with the capture of their capital at Ouagadougou. In 1919, certain provinces from Côte dIvoire were united into a colony called the Upper Volta in the French West Africa federation. In 1932, the new colony was dismembered in a move to economize, after World War II, the Mossi renewed their pressure for separate territorial status and on September 4,1947, Upper Volta became a French West African territory again in its own right. A revision in the organization of French Overseas Territories began with the passage of the Basic Law of July 23,1956 and this act was followed by reorganizational measures approved by the French parliament early in 1957 that ensured a large degree of self-government for individual territories. Upper Volta became a republic in the French community on December 11,1958. Upper Volta achieved independence on August 5,1960, the first president, Maurice Yaméogo, was the leader of the Voltaic Democratic Union. The 1960 constitution provided for election by universal suffrage of a president, soon after coming to power, Yaméogo banned all political parties other than the UDV
17.
French Dahomey
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French Dahomey was a French colony of and a part of French West Africa from 1904 to 1958. After World War II, by the establishment of the French Fourth Republic in 1947, on 11 December 1958, the French Fifth Republic was established and the French Union became the French Community. The colony became the self-governing Republic of Dahomey within the Community, under the dynasty established by Ewuare the Great, the most famous of the obas, Dahoneys territory expanded to cover a region between the Niger River delta and what is now the Nigerian city of Lagos. The obas brought great prosperity and an organized state to Benin. They also established relations and an extensive slave trade with the Portuguese. The decline of the began in the 18th century when a series of internal power struggles began which lasted into the 19th century. Colony The French takeover and colonization of the Kingdom of Dahomey began in 1872, the First Franco-Dahomean War in 1890 further weakened it. The Second Franco-Dahomean War resulted in it becoming a French protectorate in 1894, in 1904, the Dahomey territory was incorporated into French West Africa as Dahomey. Under the French a port was constructed at Cotonou, and railroads were built, school facilities were expanded by Roman Catholic missions. In 1946, Dahomey became a territory with its own parliament. On 4 December 1958, it became the Republic of Dahomey, independence On 1 August 1960, the Republic of Dahomey gained full independence from France. The republics first president was Hubert Maga, who had been the Prime Minister during the territorys last year under French rule. List of the governors of French Dahomey Kingdom of Dahomey French West Africa Chafer. The End of Empire in French West Africa, Frances Successful Decolonization
18.
French Togoland
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French Togoland was a French colonial League of Nations Mandate from 1916 to 1960 in French West Africa. In 1960 it became the independent Togolese Republic, and the present day nation of Togo, French troops landed at Little Popo on August 6,1914, meeting little resistance. The French proceeded inland, taking the town of Togo on August 8, on August 26,1914, the German protectorate of Togoland was invaded by French and British forces and fell after five days of brief resistance. The colony surrendered without conditions with British and French troops landing in Kamina on August 27,1914, period news reports suggest the Germans had used expanding bullets during the campaign and had armed native people not under their control, both violations of the Hague Conventions. They also exclaimed via a release that the German Government naturally leaves nothing undone to prevent an interpretation of the treaty which would justify Frances alleged intention. The value of the colony to France was found in the railways, permitting a new link to the railway in Dahomey at Atakpamé. After World War II, the became a UN trust territory. By statute in 1955, French Togoland became a republic within the French union. A legislative assembly elected by adult suffrage had considerable power over internal affairs. These changes were embodied in a constitution approved in a 1956 referendum, on September 10,1956, Nicolas Grunitzky became prime minister of the Autonomous Republic of Togo. However, due to irregularities in the plebiscite, a general election was held in 1958. List of colonial heads of French Togoland History of Togo French West Africa French colonisation in Africa French colonial Empire
19.
French Community
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The French Community was an association of some states which were once a part of the Second French Empire. During 1958 it replaced the French Union, which had succeeded the French colonial empire during 1946. The constitution of the Fifth Republic, which created the French Community, was a consequence of the war in Algeria, in reality, the colonies had little power, with all power remaining centralized in the French Parliament. This was an attempt to quell the concerns over Algerian independence, however, this did not stop the demands for independence. The 1 million French colonists in Algeria were determined to resist any possible Algerian independence, the trouble, which threatened to become a civil war, provoked a political crisis in France and caused the end of the Fourth Republic. General Charles de Gaulle was recalled to power and a new constitution was written and this attitude was manifest in the new constitution, which provided for the right of the overseas territories to request complete independence. Under this new constitution, the French Union was replaced by the French Community, become a state of the French Community. None of the overseas territories opted to become overseas departments, by early 1959, the members of the French Community were as follows, The French Republic, which was one and indivisible. All the inhabitants were French citizens and participated with the election of the president of the republic and it consisted of, European France, including Corsica. These areas, considered a part of France, were divided into departments,13 in Algeria and 2 in Sahara. All the inhabitants were French citizens, but the Muslims preserved their own juridical status, all sent representatives to the French assemblies and elected municipalities. Their administration and legislation were in principle those of the metropole, the French Southern and Antarctic Territories, with no permanent population, were administered directly from Paris. The member states, which were initially, Central African Republic, although there was only one citizenship of the Community, the territories that became Community member states did not form part of the French Republic, and were granted broad autonomy. They had their own constitutions and could create unions among themselves, agreements of Association could also be made by the Community with other states. Associated with the Community were the United Nations trust territories of French Cameroun and French Togoland, article 91 of the constitution stipulated that the institutions of the Community were to be established by 4 April 1959. These were as follows, The President of the Community was the President of the French Republic, the member states also participated with his election and he was represented in each state by a High Commissioner. During 1958 President de Gaulle was elected by an majority in all the states. To promote autonomy within France, Gaulle gave autonomy to the colonies so that they would stay within the community
20.
Republic of Dahomey
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The Republic of Dahomey was established on December 11,1958, as a self-governing colony within the French Community. Prior to attaining autonomy it had been French Dahomey, part of the French Union, on August 1,1960, it attained full independence from France. The Republic of Dahomey became independent of France on 1 August 1960, upon independence, Maga became the first president of Dahomey. This compromise, however, was unable to solve Dahomeys problems, and an uprising broke out in October 1963, culminating in a coup détat, and this also failed to bring about stability, and Apithy was removed in another coup, in December 1965. Following the 1965 coup, Colonel Christophe Soglo became president, a veteran of the French Army, he saw himself as a Dahomeyan Charles de Gaulle, banning all political activity with the stated aim of stabilising the country. In October 1972, a coup led by Mathieu Kérékou removed a civilian government, Kérékou would go on to proclaim his support for Marxism-Leninism, declaring the end of the Republic of Dahomey and the establishment of the Peoples Republic of Benin on 30 November 1975. Jacques, Gloria Foster, Zakes Mokae, Paul Ford, Georg Stanford Brown, Peter Ustinov, Douta Seck, the movie is the story of an adulterous affair placed against the backdrop of Haiti during the tumultuous dictatorship of François Duvalier. Dahomey resembled Haiti in many ways, both geographically and culturally, and it was safer to film there than in Haiti
21.
Guinea
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Guinea /ˈɡɪni/, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a country on the West coast of Africa. Guinea has a population of 10.5 million and an area of 245,860 square kilometres, the president is directly elected by the people and is head of state and head of government. The unicameral Guinean National Assembly is the body of the country. The judicial branch is led by the Guinea Supreme Court, the highest, the country is named after the Guinea region. Guinea is a name for the region of Africa that lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It stretches north through the tropical regions and ends at the Sahel. Guinea is a predominantly Islamic country, with Muslims representing 85 percent of the population, Guineas people belong to twenty-four ethnic groups. French, the language of Guinea, is the main language of communication in schools, in government administration, and the media. Guineas economy is dependent on agriculture and mineral production. It is the second largest producer of bauxite, and has rich deposits of diamonds. The country was at the core of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, human rights in Guinea remain a controversial issue. In 2011 the United States government claimed that torture by security forces, the land that is now Guinea belonged to a series of African empires until France colonized it in the 1890s, and made it part of French West Africa. Guinea declared its independence from France on 2 October 1958, from independence until the presidential election of 2010, Guinea was governed by a number of autocratic rulers. What is now Guinea was on the fringes of the major West African empires, the Ghana Empire is believed to be the earliest of these which grew on trade but contracted and ultimately fell due to the hostile influence of the Almoravids. It was in period that Islam first arrived in the region. The Mali Empire was ruled by Mansa, the most famous being Kankou Moussa, shortly after his reign the Mali Empire began to decline and was ultimately supplanted by its vassal states in the 15th century. The most successful of these was the Songhai Empire, which expanded its power from about 1460 and it continued to prosper until a civil war over succession followed the death of Askia Daoud in 1582. The weakened empire fell to invaders from Morocco at the Battle of Tondibi just three years later, the Moroccans proved unable to rule the kingdom effectively, however, and it split into many small kingdoms
22.
Ivory Coast
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Ivory Coast or Côte dIvoire, officially the Republic of Côte dIvoire, is a country located in West Africa. Ivory Coasts political capital is Yamoussoukro, and its economic capital and its bordering countries are Guinea and Liberia in the west, Burkina Faso and Mali in the north, and Ghana in the east. The Gulf of Guinea is located south of Ivory Coast, prior to its colonization by Europeans, Ivory Coast was home to several states, including Gyaaman, the Kong Empire, and Baoulé. Two Anyi kingdoms, Indénié and Sanwi, attempted to retain their identity through the French colonial period. Ivory Coast became a protectorate of France in 1843–1844 and was formed into a French colony in 1893 amid the European scramble for Africa. Ivory Coast achieved independence in 1960, led by Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the country maintained close political and economic association with its West African neighbors while at the same time maintaining close ties to the West, especially France. Since the end of Houphouët-Boignys rule in 1993, Ivory Coast has experienced one coup détat, in 1999, the first took place between 2002 and 2007 and the second during 2010-2011. As a result, in 2000, the adopted a new Constitution. Ivory Coast is a republic with an executive power invested in its President. Through the production of coffee and cocoa, the country was a powerhouse in West Africa during the 1960s and 1970s. Ivory Coast went through a crisis in the 1980s, contributing to a period of political and social turmoil. Changing into the 21st-century Ivorian economy is largely market-based and still heavily on agriculture. The official language is French, with indigenous languages also widely used, including Baoulé, Dioula, Dan, Anyin. In total there are around 78 languages spoken in Ivory Coast, popular religions include Islam, Christianity, and various indigenous religions. Originally, Portuguese and French merchant-explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries divided the west coast of Africa, very roughly, there was also a Pepper Coast also known as the Grain Coast, a Gold Coast, and a Slave Coast. Like those, the name Ivory Coast reflected the major trade occurred on that particular stretch of the coast. One can find the name Cote de Dents regularly used in older works and it was used in Ducketts Dictionnaire and by Nicolas Villault de Bellefond, for examples, although Antoine François Prévost used Côte dIvoire. In the 19th century, usage switched to Côte dIvoire and it retained the name through French rule and independence in 1960
23.
Mali Federation
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The Mali Federation was a Federation in West Africa linking the French colonies of Senegal and the Sudanese Republic for a period of only two months in 1960. It was founded on 4 April 1959 as a territory with self-rule within the French Community, the Sudanese Republic officials resisted this dissolution, cut off diplomatic relations with Senegal, and defiantly changed the name of their country to Mali. After World War II, the colonies of French West Africa began pushing significantly for increased self-determination, following the May 1958 crisis, the colonies of French West Africa were given the chance to vote for immediate independence or to join a reorganized French Community. Only Guinea voted for independence and the other colonies of French West Africa voted to join the French Community. In the 1958 election to decide the issue of independence, two parties split the countries of west Africa, the African Democratic Rally and the African Regroupment Party. The two regional groupings of parties struggled against one another on the issue of independence and the extent of ties with France. The RDA was the party in the Ivory Coast colony, the French Sudan colony. The two parties also were part of governments in French Upper Volta, Niger, and French Dahomey. While the two struggled with one another to shape the political future of the region, Mauritania often became a neutral party which would break any deadlocks. The vote of 1958 revealed a number of divisions within the parties, the resulting deadlock was so severe that the meeting was officially said to have never taken place. In late November 1958, French Sudan, Senegal, Upper Volta and Dahomey all declared the intention to join the French Community, French Sudan called for representatives of each of the four countries to Bamako on 28 to 30 December to discuss the formation of the federation. The result is only the colonies of French Sudan and Senegal were engaged in the discussions of the formation of the federation by 1959. Elections in March 1959 in both French Sudan and Senegal cemented the power of the major parties pushing for the formation of a federation, although Senghor won the elections by a large margin, some conservative Islamist marabouts supported the candidacy of Cheikh Tidjane Sy. Sy was arrested on election day as a result of rioting which was blamed on his party. After the elections, the assemblies of Senegal and French Sudan approved the federation and this involved three different political projects with the principle of parity enshrined in each, A federal government, united social movements, and a shared political party for both countries. The federal government was going to have an assembly composed of 20 members from each of the colonies, a President, until the President was elected, the Premier of the Mali Federation was to be Keïta and the vice-Premier was to be Mamadou Dia from Senegal. Further, as part of the parity principle, any legislative initiatives required a signature by both the Premier and the responsible for that issue. The colonies were to share the import and export taxes raised in the port of Dakar between them and this sharing was to the advantage of French Sudan which had almost a third of its 1959 budget provided by this tax income
24.
Mauritania
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Mauritania /mɔːrɪˈteɪniə/, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in the Maghreb region of western Africa. The country derives its name from the ancient Berber Kingdom of Mauretania, approximately 90% of Mauritanias land is within the Sahara and consequently the population is concentrated in the south, where precipitation is slightly higher. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, located on the Atlantic coast, the government was overthrown on 6 August 2008, in a military coup détat led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. On 16 April 2009, Aziz resigned from the military to run for president in the 19 July elections, about 20% of Mauritanians live on less than US$1.25 per day. Mauritania suffers from several human rights issues, including slavery, as at least 4% of the population are enslaved against their will, the Bafours were primarily agriculturalist, and among the first Saharan people to abandon their historically nomadic lifestyle. With the gradual desiccation of the Sahara, they headed south, many of the Berber tribes claimed Yemeni origins. There is little evidence to such claims, but a 2000 DNA study of Yemeni people suggested there might be some ancient connection between the peoples. Other peoples also migrated south past the Sahara to West Africa, in 1076, Moorish Islamic warrior monks attacked and conquered the large area of the ancient Ghana Empire. Over the next 500 years, Arabs overcame fierce resistance from the population to dominate Mauritania. The Char Bouba war was the final effort of the peoples to repel the Yemeni Maqil Arab invaders. The invaders were led by the Beni Hassan tribe, the descendants of the Beni Hassan warriors became the upper stratum of Moorish society. Hassaniya, a Berber-influenced Arabic dialect that derives its name from the Beni Hassan, berbers retained a niche influence by producing the majority of the regions marabouts, those who preserve and teach Islamic tradition. Imperial France gradually absorbed the territories of present-day Mauritania from the Senegal River area and upwards, in 1901, Xavier Coppolani took charge of the imperial mission. Through a combination of strategic alliances with Zawiya tribes, and military pressure on the Hassane warrior nomads, he managed to extend French rule over the Mauritanian emirates. Trarza, Brakna and Tagant quickly submitted to treaties with the colonial power, Adrar was finally defeated militarily in 1912, and incorporated into the territory of Mauritania, which had been drawn up and planned in 1904. Mauritania was part of French West Africa from 1920, French rule brought legal prohibitions against slavery and an end to inter-clan warfare. During the colonial period, 90% of the population remained nomadic, many sedentary peoples, whose ancestors had been expelled centuries earlier, began to trickle back into Mauritania. After gaining independence, larger numbers of indigenous Sub-Saharan African peoples entered Mauritania, educated in French language and customs, many of these recent arrivals became clerks, soldiers, and administrators in the new state
25.
Niger
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Niger, officially the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. Niger is bordered by Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, and Algeria to the northwest. Niger covers a area of almost 1,270,000 km2, making it the largest country in West Africa. The countrys predominantly Islamic population of about 19 million is mostly clustered in the far south, the capital city is Niamey, located in the far-southwest corner of Niger. Niger is a country, and is consistently one of the lowest-ranked in the United Nations Human Development Index. Much of the portions of the country are threatened by periodic drought. The economy is concentrated around subsistence and some export agriculture clustered in the fertile south. Nigerien society reflects a diversity drawn from the long independent histories of its ethnic groups and regions. Historically, what is now Niger has been on the fringes of large states. Since independence, Nigeriens have lived under five constitutions and three periods of military rule, following a military coup in 2010, Niger has become a democratic, multi-party state. A majority live in areas, and have little access to advanced education. Early human settlement in Niger is evidenced by archaeological remains. In prehistoric times, the climate of the Sahara was wet and provided favorable conditions for agriculture, in 2005–06, a graveyard in the Tenere desert was discovered by Paul Sereno, a paleontologist from the University of Chicago. His team discovered 5, 000-year-old remains of a woman and two children in the Tenere Desert, the evidence along with remains of animals that do not typically live in desert are among the strongest evidence of the green Sahara in Niger. It is believed that progressive desertification around 5000 BCE pushed sedentary populations to the south and south-east. By at least the 5th century BCE, Niger became an area of trade, led by the Berber tribes from the north. This trade has made Agadez a pivotal place of the trans-Saharan trade and this mobility, which would continue in waves for several centuries, was accompanied with further migration to the south and interbreeding between southern black and northern white populations. It was also aided by the introduction of Islam to the region at the end of the 7th century, several empires and kingdoms also flourished during this era up to the beginning of colonization in Africa
26.
Republic of Upper Volta
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The Republic of Upper Volta was a landlocked West African country established on December 11,1958, as a self-governing colony within the French Community. Before attaining autonomy it had been French Upper Volta and part of the French Union, on August 5,1960, it attained full independence from France. Thomas Sankara came to power through a military coup détat on August 4,1983, after the coup, he formed the National Council for the Revolution, with himself as president. Under the direction of Sankara, the changed its name on August 4,1984, from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso. The name Upper Volta indicated that the contains the upper part of the Volta River. The river is divided into three parts—the Black Volta, White Volta, and Red Volta, which form the colors of the flag corresponding to parts of the river. History of Burkina Faso List of governors of Upper Volta List of heads of state of Burkina Faso List of heads of government of Burkina Faso
27.
Italian Libya
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The Adriatic Seas opposite western Balkans shore, with Dalmatia, Montenegro, and Albania, was planned for Italian expansion as the Third Shore, with Libya on the Mediterranean becoming the fourth. Thus the Fourth Shore was the part of Greater Italy. After the Italian Empire conquest of Ottoman Libya in the 1911–1912 Italo-Turkish War and this group, first under the leadership of Omar Al Mukhtar and centered in the Jebel Akhdar Mountains of Cyrenaica, lead the Libyan resistance movement against Italian settlement in Libya. Resistance leaders were executed or escaped into exile, the forced migration of more than 100,000 Cyrenaican people ended in Italian concentration camps. Afterwards Libya was predominantly Italianized, and many Italian colonists moved there to populate Italian North Africa, the Italians in Libya numbered 108,419 at the time of the 1939 census. They were concentrated on the Mediterranean coast around the city of Tripoli, Libya was made an integral part of Italy in 1939 and the local population were granted a form of Italian citizenship. Tunisia was conquered by Italy in November 1942 and was added to the 4th Shore – Quarta Sponda – because of the community of Tunisian Italians living there. Italian colony During less than thirty years in Libya the Kingdom of Italy developed the cities and they built huge public works, such as new town districts with streets and buildings, modern ports, the Italian Libya Railways, and long highways. The Libyan economy and trade flourished very much, similar to what happened during the ancient Roman empire colony era, Italian farmers cultivated lands that had returned to being native desert for many centuries. Even archeology flourished, with ancient city of Leptis Magna rediscovered and used as a symbol of the Italian right to recolonize the region, Libya was considered the new America for Italian emigrants of the 1930s. Indeed in 1938 the governor, Italo Balbo, brought 20,000 Italian farmers to colonize Italian Libya, the 22,000 Libyan Jews were allowed to integrate without problems in the society of the 4th Shore. However after the summer of 1941, with the arrival of the German Nazi Afrika Korps, all these new villages each had a mosque, a school, a social center with sports facilities and a cinema, and a small hospital. Italian state On January 9,1939, the colony of Italian Libya was incorporated into metropolitan Italy, the French, in 1848, had incorporated French Algeria in this manner. By 1939 the Italians had built 400 kilometres of new railroads and 4,000 kilometres of new roads, the most important and largest highway project was the Via Balbo, an east-west coastal route connecting Tripoli in western Italian Tripolitania to Tobruk in eastern Italian Cyrenaica. Most of these projects and achievements were completed between 1934 and 1940 when Italo Balbo was governor of Italian Libya, as it became the Fourth Shore, fezzan, designated as South Tripolitania, remained a military territory. A governor general, called the first consul after 1937, was in direction of the colony, assisted by the General Consultative Council. Traditional tribal councils, formerly sanctioned by the Italian administration, were abolished, administrative posts at all levels were held by Italians. An accord with Britain and Egypt obtained the transfer of a corner of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, known as the Sarra Triangle, in 1939 Libya was incorporated into metropolitan Italy
28.
Benin
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Benin, officially the Republic of Benin and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, the majority of its population lives on the small southern coastline of the Bight of Benin, part of the Gulf of Guinea in the northernmost tropical portion of the Atlantic Ocean. The capital of Benin is Porto-Novo, but the seat of government is in Cotonou, Benin covers an area of 114,763 square kilometers and its population in 2015 was estimated to be approximately 10.88 million. Benin is a nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with substantial employment. The official language of Benin is French, however, indigenous languages such as Fon and Yoruba are commonly spoken. The largest religious group in Benin is Roman Catholicism, followed closely by Islam, Vodun and this region was referred to as the Slave Coast from as early as the 17th century due to the large number of slaves shipped to the New World during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. After slavery was abolished, France took over the country and renamed it French Dahomey, in 1960, Dahomey gained full independence from France, and had a tumultuous period with many different democratic governments, many military coups and military governments. A Marxist–Leninist state called the Peoples Republic of Benin existed between 1975 and 1990, in 1991, it was replaced by the current multi-party Republic of Benin. During the colonial period and at independence, the country was known as Dahomey, on 30 November 1975 it was renamed to Benin, after the body of water on which the country lies—the Bight of Benin—which, in turn, had been named after the Benin Empire. The country of Benin has no connection to Benin City in modern Nigeria, the form Benin is the result of a Portuguese corruption of the city of Ubinu. The new name, Benin, was chosen for its neutrality, the current country of Benin combines three areas which had different political and ethnic systems prior to French colonial control. Before 1700, there were a few important city states along the coast, the situation changed in the 1600s and early 1700s as the Kingdom of Dahomey, which was of Fon ethnicity, was founded on the Abomey plateau and began taking over areas along the coast. The Dahomey Kingdom was known for its culture and traditions, young boys were often apprenticed to older soldiers, and taught the kingdoms military customs until they were old enough to join the army. This emphasis on preparation and achievement earned Dahomey the nickname of black Sparta from European observers. The kings of Dahomey sold their war captives into transatlantic slavery, by about 1750, the King of Dahomey was earning an estimated £250,000 per year by selling Africans to the European slave-traders. Court protocols, which demanded that a portion of war captives from the many battles be decapitated, decreased the number of enslaved people exported from the area. The number went from 102,000 people per decade in the 1780s to 24,000 per decade by the 1860s, the decline was partly due to the banning of the trans-Atlantic slave trade by Britain and other countries. This decline continued until 1885, when the last slave ship departed from the coast of the present-day Benin Republic bound for Brazil, a former Portuguese colony, the capitals name Porto-Novo is of Portuguese origin, meaning New Port
29.
Burkina Faso
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Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in Africa around 274,200 square kilometres in size. It is surrounded by six countries, Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, in 2014 its population was estimated at just over 17.3 million. Burkina Faso is a country and French is an official language of government. Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, the country was renamed Burkina Faso on 4 August 1984 by then-President Thomas Sankara, residents of Burkina Faso are known as Burkinabé. Before the conquest of what is now Burkina Faso by the French, after gaining independence from France in 1960, the country underwent many governmental changes. Blaise Compaoré was the most recent president and ruled the country from 1987 until he was ousted from power by the popular youth upheaval of 31 October 2014 and this resulted in a semi-presidential republic which lasted from October 2014 to September 2015. On 17 September 2015 the provisional government was in turn toppled by an apparent military coup carried out by the Regiment of Presidential Security. On 24 September 2015, after pressure from the African Union, ECOWAS, and the forces, the military junta agreed to step down. Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, the country was renamed Burkina Faso on 4 August 1984 by then-President Thomas Sankara, the bé suffix added onto Burkina to form the demonym Burkinabé comes from the Fula language and means men or women. The northwestern part of todays Burkina Faso was populated by hunter-gatherers between 14,000 and 5000 BC and their tools, including scrapers, chisels and arrowheads, were discovered in 1973 through archeological excavations. Agricultural settlements were established between 3600 and 2600 BC, the Bura culture was an Iron-Age civilization centered in the southwest portion of modern-day Niger and in the southeast part of contemporary Burkina Faso. Iron industry, in smelting and forging for tools and weapons, had developed in Sub-Saharan Africa by 1200 BC, historians began to debate about the exact dates when Burkina Fasos many ethnic groups arrived to the area. During the Middle Ages the Mossi established several kingdoms including those of Tenkodogo, Yatenga, Zandoma. Sometime between 1328 and 1338 Mossi warriors raided Timbuktu but the Mossi were defeated by Sonni Ali of Songhai at the Battle of Kobi in Mali in 1483, during the early 16th century the Songhai conducted many slave raids into what is today Burkina Faso. During the 18th century the Gwiriko Empire was established at Bobo Dioulasso and ethnic groups such as the Dyan, Lobi, starting in the early 1890s a series of British, French and German military officers made attempts to claim parts of what is today Burkina Faso. At times these colonialists and their armies fought the local peoples, at times they forged alliances with them, the colonialist officers and their home governments also made treaties amongst themselves. Through a complex series of events what is Burkina Faso eventually became a French protectorate in 1896, the eastern and western regions, where a standoff against the forces of the powerful ruler Samori Ture complicated the situation, came under French occupation in 1897. By 1898, the majority of the corresponding to Burkina Faso was nominally conquered, however
30.
Libya
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The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica. With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometres, Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa, Libya has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world. The largest city and capital, Tripoli, is located in western Libya, the other large city is Benghazi, which is located in eastern Libya. Libya has been inhabited by Berbers since the late Bronze Age, the Phoenicians established trading posts in western Libya, and ancient Greek colonists established city-states in eastern Libya. Libya was variously ruled by Carthaginians, Persians, Egyptians and Greeks before becoming a part of the Roman Empire, Libya was an early center of Christianity. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the area of Libya was mostly occupied by the Vandals until the 7th century, in the 16th century, the Spanish Empire and the Knights of St John occupied Tripoli, until Ottoman rule began in 1551. Libya was involved in the Barbary Wars of the 18th and 19th centuries, Ottoman rule continued until the Italian occupation of Libya resulted in the temporary Italian Libya colony from 1911 to 1943. During the Second World War Libya was an important area of warfare in the North African Campaign, the Italian population then went into decline. Libya became an independent kingdom in 1951, a military coup in 1969 overthrew King Idris I, beginning a period of sweeping social reform. Since then, Libya has experienced a period of instability, the European Union is involved in an operation to disrupt human trafficking networks exploiting refugees fleeing from wars in Africa for Europe. At least two political bodies claim to be the government of Libya, the Council of Deputies is internationally recognized as the legitimate government, but it does not hold territory in the capital, Tripoli, instead meeting in the Cyrenaica city of Tobruk. Parts of Libya are outside of either governments control, with various Islamist, rebel, the United Nations is sponsoring peace talks between the Tobruk and Tripoli-based factions. An agreement to form an interim government was signed on 17 December 2015. Under the terms of the agreement, a nine-member Presidency Council, the leaders of the new government, called the Government of National Accord, arrived in Tripoli on 5 April 2016. Since then the GNC, one of the two governments, has disbanded to support the new GNA. The name Libya was introduced in 1934 for Italian Libya, reviving the name for Northwest Africa. The name was based on use in 1903 by Italian geographer Federico Minutilli. It was intended to supplant terms applied to Ottoman Tripolitania, the region of what is today Libya having been ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1551 to 1911
31.
Mali
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Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of just over 1,240,000 square kilometres, the population of Mali is 14.5 million. The countrys economy centers on agriculture and fishing, some of Malis prominent natural resources include gold, being the third largest producer of gold in the African continent, and salt. About half the population lives below the poverty line of $1.25 a day. A majority of the population are Muslims, present-day Mali was once part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade, the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire, and the Songhai Empire. During its golden age, there was a flourishing of mathematics, astronomy, literature, at its peak in 1300, the Mali Empire covered an area about twice the size of modern-day France and stretched to the west coast of Africa. In the late 19th century, during the Scramble for Africa, France seized control of Mali, French Sudan joined with Senegal in 1959, achieving independence in 1960 as the Mali Federation. Shortly thereafter, following Senegals withdrawal from the federation, the Sudanese Republic declared itself the independent Republic of Mali. After a long period of one-party rule, a coup in 1991 led to the writing of a new constitution and the establishment of Mali as a democratic, multi-party state. In January 2012, a conflict broke out in northern Mali, in which Tuareg rebels took control of by April and declared the secession of a new state. The conflict was complicated by a coup that took place in March. In response to Islamist territorial gains, the French military launched Opération Serval in January 2013, a month later, Malian and French forces recaptured most of the north. Presidential elections were held on 28 July 2013, with a second round held on 11 August. The name Mali is taken from the name of the Mali Empire, the name was originally derived from the Mandinka or Bambara word mali, meaning “hippopotamus”, but it eventually came to mean the place where the king lives. The word carries the connotation of strength, D. Niane suggests in Sundiata, An Epic of Old Mali that it is not impossible that Mali was the name given to one of the capitals of the emperors. 14th century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta reported that the capital of the Mali Empire was indeed called Mali and this name could have formerly been that of a city. In old Mali there is one village called Malikoma which means “New Mali. ”Another theory suggests that Mali is a Fulani pronunciation of the name of the Mande peoples. It is suggested that a sound shift led to the change, whereby in Fulani the alveolar segment /nd/ shifts to /l/, Mali was once part of three famed West African empires which controlled trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt, slaves, and other precious commodities
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Senegal
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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
33.
Togo
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Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its capital Lomé is located, Togo covers 57,000 square kilometres, making it one of the smallest countries in Africa, with a population of approximately 7.5 million. From the 11th to the 16th century, various tribes entered the region from all directions. From the 16th century to the 18th century, the region was a major trading center for Europeans to search for slaves, earning Togo. In 1884, Germany declared Togoland a protectorate, after World War I, rule over Togo was transferred to France. Togo gained its independence from France in 1960, in 1967, Gnassingbé Eyadéma led a successful military coup détat after which he became president. At the time of his death in 2005, Gnassingbé was the leader in modern African history. In 2005, his son Faure Gnassingbé was elected president, Togo is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with a climate that provides good growing seasons. The official language is French, with other languages spoken in Togo. The largest religious group in Togo consists of those with indigenous beliefs, Togo is a member of the United Nations, African Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, La Francophonie and Economic Community of West African States. Archaeological finds indicate that ancient tribes were able to produce pottery and that name Togo is translated from Ewe language language as land where lagoons lie. Not much is known of the period before arrival of the Portuguese in 1490, during the period from the 11th century to the 16th century, various tribes entered the region from all directions, the Ewé from the east, and the Mina and Guin from the west. Most of them settled in coastal areas, in 1884, a treaty was signed at Togoville with the King Mlapa III, whereby Germany claimed a protectorate over a stretch of territory along the coast and gradually extended its control inland. Its borders were defined after the capture of hinterland by German forces and signing agreements with France, in 1905, this became the German colony of Togoland. The local population was forced to work, cultivate cotton, coffee and cocoa, a railway and the port of Lomé were built for export of agricultural products. The Germans introduced modern techniques of cultivation of cocoa, coffee and cotton, during the First World War, Togoland was invaded by Britain and France, proclaiming the Anglo-French condominium. On 7 December 1916 the condominium collapsed and Togo was divided into British,20 July 1922 Great Britain received the League of Nations mandate to govern the western part of Togo and France to govern the eastern part. In 1945, the received the right to send three representatives to the French parliament
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Fula people
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The Fula people or Fulani or Fulɓe, numbering between 20 and 25 million people in total, are one of the largest and a widely dispersed Muslim ethnic group in Sahel and West Africa. The Fula people are believed to have roots in the people from North Africa and the Middle East. As an ethnic group they are bound together by the Fula language, culture, history, their religious affiliation and their efforts to spread Islam in Sahel region and the West Africa. A significant proportion of the Fula – a third, or an estimated 7 to 8 million – are pastoral people, the majority of the Fula ethnic group consisted of semi-sedentary people, as well as sedentary settled farmers, artisans, merchants and nobility. Spread over many countries, they are mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa. Many Fulbe was also taken to the New World during 16th to 19th century Atlantic Slave Trade and they were largely captured from the Senegal and Guinea with a significant percentage also taken from Mali and Cameroon. Some of the Fulbe of note were Bilali Muhammad, Ayuba Diallo, Salih Bilali, Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori, some of Bilali Muhammads known descendants still live on Salepo Island Georgia and he also left descendants in the Bahama Archipelago who are not known. Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori and many others have many descendants in the USA, there are many names used in other languages to refer to the Fulɓe. Fulani in English is borrowed from the Hausa term, Fula, from Manding languages, is also used in English, and sometimes spelled Fulah or Fullah. Fula and Fulani are commonly used in English, including within Africa, the French borrowed the Wolof term Pël, which is variously spelled, Peul, Peulh, and even Peuhl. More recently the Fulfulde / Pulaar term Fulɓe, which is a noun has been Anglicised as Fulbe. In Portuguese, the terms Fula or Futafula are used, the terms Fallata Fallatah or Fellata are of Kanuri origins, and are often the ethnonyms by which Fulani people are identified by in Sudan. The Fula people are distributed, across the Sahel from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea. Alongside, many speak other languages of the countries they inhabit. Such languages include Hausa, Bambara, Wolof, and Arabic and this is the area known as the Fombina, literally meaning The South in Adamawa Fulfulde, because it represented the most southern and eastern reaches of Fulɓe hegemonic dominance in West Africa. In this area, Fulfulde is the lingua franca. Further east of this area, Fulani communities become predominantly nomadic, the Fulani People occupy a vast geographical expanse located roughly in a longitudinal East-West band immediately south of the Sahara, and just north of the coastal rain forest and swamps. There are an estimated 20-25 million Fulani people, there are generally three different types of Fulani based on settlement patterns, viz, the Nomadic/Pastoral or Mbororo, The Semi-Nomadic and the Settled or Town Fulani
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Federation
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A federation is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions under a central government. The governmental or constitutional structure found in a federation is known as federalism and it can be considered the opposite of another system, the unitary state. Federations are often multiethnic and cover an area of territory. The initial agreements create a stability that encourages other common interests, at some time, that is recognized and a movement is organized to merge more closely. At other times, especially when common cultural factors are at such as ethnicity and language. The Old Swiss Confederacy was an example of formal non-unitary statehood. Several colonies and dominions in the New World consisted of autonomous provinces, the oldest continuous federation, and a role model for many subsequent federations, is the United States. Some of the New World federations failed, the Federal Republic of Central America broke up into independent states ten years after its founding, others, such as Argentina and Mexico, have shifted between federal, confederal, and unitary systems, before settling into federalism. Brazil became a federation only after the fall of the monarchy, australia and Canada are also federations. Germany is another nation-state that has switched between confederal, federal and unitary rules, since the German Confederation was founded in 1815, the North German Confederation, the succeeding German Empire and the Weimar Republic were federations. The Russian Federation has inherited a similar system, Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Malaysia became federations on or shortly before becoming independent from the British Empire. In some recent cases, federations have been instituted as a measure to handle ethnic conflict within a state, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iraq since 2005. The component states are in some sense sovereign, insofar as certain powers are reserved to them that may not be exercised by the central government, however, a federation is more than a mere loose alliance of independent states. The component states of a federation usually possess no powers in relation to foreign policy, however, German Länder have that power, which is beginning to be exercised on a European level. Some federations are called asymmetric because some states have more autonomy than others, an example of such a federation is Malaysia, in which Sarawak and Sabah agreed to form the federation on different terms and conditions from the states of Peninsular Malaysia. A federation often emerges from an agreement between a number of separate states. The purpose can be the will to solve problems and to provide for mutual defense or to create a nation state for an ethnicity spread over several states. The former was the case with the United States and Switzerland, however, as the histories of countries and nations vary, the federalist system of a state can be quite different from these models
36.
Africa
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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
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Four Communes
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The Four Communes of Senegal were the four oldest colonial towns in French controlled west Africa. In 1848, the French Second Republic extended the rights of full French citizenship to the inhabitants of Saint-Louis, Dakar, Gorée, and Rufisque. Most of the African population of towns were termed originaires, those Africans born into the commune. Despite this legal framework, Évolués still faced discrimination in Africa. On 2 April 1852 the parliamentary seat for Senegal was abolished by Napoleon III, following the downfall of the French Second Empire the Four Quarters was again allowed a parliamentary seat which was granted by law on 1 February 1871. It was only in 1916 that originaires were granted voting rights while maintaining legal protections. Blaise Diagne, who was the prime advocate behind the change, was in 1914 the first African deputy elected to the French National Assembly. From that time until independence in 1960, the deputies of the Four Communes were always African, du Bois to Charles Evans Hughes, June 23,1921. The Emergence of Black Politics in Senegal, The Struggle for Power in the Four Communes, Senegal, Colonial Period, Four Communes, Dakar, Saint-Louis, Gorée, and Rufisque, in Kevin Shillington, Encyclopedia of African History,3 Volumes,3, 1334–35
38.
French Second Republic
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The French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the 1851 coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, the Second Republic witnessed the tension between the Social and Democratic Republic and a liberal form of Republic, which exploded during the June Days Uprising of 1848. The industrial population of the faubourgs was welcomed by the National Guard on their way towards the centre of Paris, barricades were raised after the shooting of protestors outside the Guizot manor by soldiers. On 23 February 1848 Guizots cabinet resigned, abandoned by the petite bourgeoisie, the heads of the Left Centre and the dynastic Left, Molé and Thiers, declined the offered leadership. Odilon Barrot accepted it, and Bugeaud, commander-in-chief of the first military division, in the face of the insurrection which had now taken possession of the whole capital, Louis-Philippe decided to abdicate in favour of his grandson, Philippe, comte de Paris. The Republic was then proclaimed by Alphonse de Lamartine in the name of the government elected by the Chamber under the pressure of the mob. But this time the Palais Bourbon was not victorious over the Hôtel de Ville and it had to consent to a fusion of the two bodies, in which, however, the predominating elements were the moderate republicans. It was uncertain what the policy of the new government would be, the other party wished to maintain society on the basis of its traditional institutions, and rallied round the tricolore. The first collision took place as to the form which the 1848 Revolution was to take. On 5 March the government, under the pressure of the Parisian clubs, decided in favour of a reference to the people, and direct universal suffrage. This added the uneducated masses to the electorate and led to the election of the Constituent Assembly of 4 May 1848, the socialists thus formed a sort of state-within-a-state, complete with a government and an armed force. Even this pitiful dole, with no obligation to work, proved attractive, and all over France, workmen quit their jobs and traveled to Paris, where they swelled the ranks of the army under the red flag. The socialist economic plan was straining state finances, and as the émeute of 15 May had proven that it constituted a menace to the state. The socialist party was defeated and afterwards its members were deported, by the massacres of the June Days, the working classes were also alienated from it. The Duke of Wellington wrote at this time, France needs a Napoleon, the granting of universal suffrage to a society with Imperialist sympathies would benefit reactionaries, which culminated in the election of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte as president of the republic. The new constitution, proclaiming a republic, direct universal suffrage. Under the new constitution, there was to be a single permanent Assembly of 750 members elected for a term of three years by the scrutin de liste, the Assembly would elect members of a Council of State to serve for six years. Laws would be proposed by the Council of State, to be voted on by the Assembly and he was to choose his ministers, who, like him, would be responsible to the Assembly
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Blaise Diagne
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Blaise Diagne was a French political leader and mayor of Dakar. He was the first black African elected to the French Chamber of Deputies, and he studied in France before joining the French customs service in 1892. He served in Dahomey, French Congo, Réunion, Madagascar, in September 1899, while in Réunion, Diagne became a freemason, joining a lodge affiliated with the Grand Orient de France. Diagne was elected to the Chamber of Deputies of France in 1914 as Senegals representative and he was reelected several times, serving until his death in 1934. In 1914 after recently becoming the elected deputy of Senegal. In 1916 Diagne convinced the French parliament to approve a law granting citizenship to all residents of the so-called Four Communes in Senegal, Dakar, Gorée, Saint-Louis. This measure constituted a considerable element of the French colonial policy of a civilizing mission and he was a leading recruiter for the French army during World War I, when thousands of black West Africans fought on the Western Front for France. After the war, Diagne embarked on a career in addition to his responsibilities as a parliamentary deputy. From October 1918 to January 1920 he served as Commissioner General of the Ministry of Colonies with supervision of personnel from the colonies. He represented France in the International Labor Office, the secretariat of the International Labour Organization, from January 1931 to February 1932 he was Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, a junior level cabinet position. From 1920 to 1934 he served as mayor of Dakar and he died in Cambo-les-Bains in 1934. He was a pioneer of black African electoral politics and an advocate of equal rights for all and he encouraged African accommodation of French rule and the adoption of French cultural and social norms. Though he was ahead of his time in 1914, by the years of his life. He continued to advocate an African role in France while most Western-educated African elites embraced African nationalism and it is alleged that he was not buried in the Muslim cemetery of Soumbedioune in Dakar because of his freemasonry. However, a boulevard and a high school in Dakar were named in his honor, as well as Senegals new international airport. His like-named grandson was born in Paris in 1954 to his son Adolphe, the younger Blaise became mayor of the French village of Lourmarin in the Lubéron mountains of Provence in 2001 and was reelected in 2008. According to him the memory of his grandfather was scarcely mentioned within the family and his mother and grandmother were both French white women. When interviewed in 2005, the younger Blaise said he had not travelled to Senegal since 1960, Black Death, White Medicine, Bubonic plague and the Politics of Public Health in Colonial Senegal
40.
Rufisque
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Rufisque is a city in the Dakar region of western Senegal, at the base of the Cap-Vert Peninsula. It has a population of 179,797, in the past it was an important port city in its own right, but is now a suburb of Dakar. Rufisque is also the capital of the department of the name and is lying 25 kilometres south-east of Dakar. In 1840 a couple of Saint Louis merchants built warehouses on the waterfront to stock peanuts, there followed a period of commercial expansion as peanut production in Cayor boomed. In 1859 a fort was built by the French and Rufisque was annexed to the Colony of Senegal, the Escale commercial and administrative neighborhood along the waterfront was laid out in 1862—the African inhabitants being pushed out in the process. Rufisque became a commune in 1880 and its port was connected to the Dakar-Saint Louis railroad in 1885, in 1909 Galandou Diouf was elected to represent Rufisque in the General Council of the colony in Saint Louis, being the first African elected to that position. Early in the 20th century the growth of neighboring Dakar, with its port facilities. Ndiawar Touré took office as Mayor of Rufisque on 8 June 2002, previously, Mbaye-Jacques Diop was Mayor from 1987 to 2002, and he was subsequently designated as Honorary Mayor. Railway stations in Senegal Rufisque News, online version of Rufisque-based newspaper, portions of this article were translated from French language Wikipedias fr, Rufisque
41.
Scramble for Africa
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The Scramble for Africa was the invasion, occupation, division, colonization and annexation of African territory by European powers during the period of New Imperialism, between 1881 and 1914. It is also called the Partition of Africa and the Conquest of Africa, in 1870, only 10 percent of Africa was under European control, by 1914 it had increased to 90 percent of the continent, with only Ethiopia, the Dervish state and Liberia still being independent. The Berlin Conference of 1884, which regulated European colonization and trade in Africa, is referred to as the starting point of the scramble for Africa. The latter years of the 19th century saw the transition from informal imperialism, by influence and economic dominance, to direct rule. But Europeans showed comparatively little interest in the interior for some two centuries thereafter, European exploration of the African interior began in earnest at the end of the 18th century. By 1835, Europeans had mapped most of northwestern Africa, in the middle decades of the 19th century, famous European explorers included David Livingstone and H. M. Stanley, each of whom mapped vast areas of Southern Africa and Central Africa. Arduous expeditions in the 1850s and 1860s by Richard Burton, John Speke and James Grant located the central lakes. By the end of the 19th century Europeans had charted the Nile from its source, traced the courses of the Niger, Congo and Zambezi Rivers, and realized the vast resources of Africa. Even as late as the 1870s, European states still controlled only ten percent of the African continent, the most important holdings were Angola and Mozambique, held by Portugal, the Cape Colony, held by the United Kingdom, and Algeria, held by France. By 1914, only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent of European control, technological advances facilitated European expansion overseas. Industrialisation brought about rapid advancements in transportation and communication, especially in the forms of navigation, railways. Medical advances also played an important role, especially medicines for tropical diseases, the development of quinine, an effective treatment for malaria, made vast expanses of the tropics more accessible for Europeans. Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the last regions of the largely untouched by informal imperialism, was also attractive to Europes ruling elites for economic. In addition, surplus capital was more profitably invested overseas, where cheap materials, limited competition. Additionally, Britain wanted the southern and eastern coasts of Africa for stopover ports on the route to Asia and its empire in India. However, in Africa – excluding the area became the Union of South Africa in 1910 – the amount of capital investment by Europeans was relatively small. Consequently, the involved in tropical African commerce were relatively small. Rhodes had carved out Rhodesia for himself, Léopold II of Belgium later, John A. Hobson argued in Imperialism that this shrinking of continental markets was a key factor of the global New Imperialism period
42.
Gabon
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Gabon, officially the Gabonese Republic, is a sovereign state on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, Gabon is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo on the east and south, and the Gulf of Guinea to the west. It has an area of nearly 270,000 square kilometres and its capital and largest city is Libreville. Since its independence from France in 1960, Gabon has had three presidents, in the early 1990s, Gabon introduced a multi-party system and a new democratic constitution that allowed for a more transparent electoral process and reformed many governmental institutions. Gabon was also a member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2010–2011 term. GDP grew by more than 6% per year from 2010 to 2012, however, because of inequality in income distribution, a significant proportion of the population remains poor. Gabons name originates from gabão, Portuguese for cloak, which is roughly the shape of the estuary of the Komo River by Libreville, the earliest inhabitants of the area were Pygmy peoples. They were largely replaced and absorbed by Bantu tribes as they migrated, in the 15th century, the first Europeans arrived. By the 18th century, a Myeni speaking kingdom known as Orungu formed in Gabon, on February 10,1722, Bartholomew Roberts, a Welsh pirate known as Black Bart, died at sea off Cape Lopez. He raided ships off the Americas and West Africa from 1719 to 1722, French explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza led his first mission to the Gabon-Congo area in 1875. He founded the town of Franceville, and was later colonial governor, several Bantu groups lived in the area that is now Gabon when France officially occupied it in 1885. In 1910, Gabon became one of the four territories of French Equatorial Africa, in World War II, the Allies invaded Gabon in order to overthrow the pro-Vichy France colonial administration. The territories of French Equatorial Africa became independent on August 17,1960, the first president of Gabon, elected in 1961, was Léon Mba, with Omar Bongo Ondimba as his vice president. However, when Mba dissolved the National Assembly in January 1964 to institute one-party rule, French paratroopers flew in within 24 hours to restore Mba to power. After a few days of fighting, the coup ended and the opposition was imprisoned, French soldiers still remain in the Camp de Gaulle on the outskirts of Gabons capital to this day. When MBa died in 1967, Bongo replaced him as president, in March 1968, Bongo declared Gabon a one-party state by dissolving the BDG and establishing a new party—the Parti Democratique Gabonais. He invited all Gabonese, regardless of political affiliation, to participate. Bongo was elected President in February 1975, in April 1975, the position of president was abolished and replaced by the position of prime minister
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