Stages of development. After the end of World War II, there were only three independent states in this region: Ethiopia, Liberia and the Union of South Africa (SAU), which in 1960 was proclaimed the Republic of South Africa (RSA).
During the war and after its end, the economies of African countries developed very quickly. Foreign investment in the mining industry, transport and energy production, and agriculture has increased. If in 1938, African countries gave the metropolitan countries a tribute of 1 billion dollars a year, then in 1955 it increased to 5.44 billion dollars. In African countries, social changes occurred very quickly. There are more workers, townspeople, national entrepreneurs, and intelligentsia. The number of workers in the 50s exceeded 10 million people. Trade unions, public organizations and parties were formed in each country. African youth, having completed their studies in the cities of Europe and America, began to take part in the national liberation movement.
In the second half of the 20th century. The national liberation struggle of the peoples of Africa went through several stages:
Mid 40s - mid 50s. The period of the organization of national forces, the formation of socio-political groups, the beginning of the struggle;
Mid-50s - 1960 In Tropical Africa, Ghana (1957) and Guinea (1958) embarked on the path of independence. In 1960, a serious blow was dealt to the foundations of the colonial system; it became the Year of Africa: 17 states achieved freedom;
60s - 70s. The peoples of Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe won freedom in an armed struggle against the colonialists;
80 - 90s. Eradicating violent tactics and remnants of colonial power. Namibia, South Africa, Eritrea achieved freedom.
Thus, Africa was freed from colonial dependence and 52 sovereign states were formed.
Development problems. Many countries in the African region are classified as underdeveloped (Somalia, Chad, Central African Republic, Angola, Eritrea, etc.). During the period of independence, the economies of African countries began to develop noticeably. Gross domestic product growth reaches an average of 3-4% per year, but this figure is not typical for all countries. In 24 African countries the situation has not improved. This is due to several reasons. Firstly, tribal and semi-feudal relations in Africa were not completely destroyed. More than 100 million peasants use primitive tools. Secondly, the population grew rapidly. Ethnic, territorial and political conflicts, civil wars also hindered their development.
One of the richest countries in Africa is Nigeria with a population of about 115 million people. From the late 60s to the 90s, it experienced several military coups. After elections in March 1999, civil authority was established here. It was headed by O. Obasanjo.
At the beginning of the 21st century. Africa was gripped by the process of creating a multi-party system. Although the roots of authoritarianism and military dictatorships have not yet been completely torn out, the process of democratization of society is underway. Of course, due to various factors, it has its own characteristics. Firstly, the creation of many small political parties that bear the stamp of tribalism, clanism, confessionalism or even factionism. Thus, there were 30 parties in Nigeria, 47 in Mali, 122 in Madagascar, 176 in Cameroon, 70 in Togo, 78 in Chad, 160 in Benin, and 260 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many of them turned out to be unviable and soon disintegrated. Nevertheless, the emergence of parties reflecting the interests of certain groups remains strong. Secondly, many of them do not have clear program guidelines and do not have grassroots organizations, and have little connection with the masses. During the political struggle, they engage more in demagoguery or exposing each other’s mistakes and shortcomings.
Further, calling themselves democratic, if they come to power they begin to pursue a policy of authoritarianism. All this stems from the disunity of African society, the lack of political culture, and the weakness of parties in organizational terms. Sometimes the opposition manages to create united coalitions and even defeat ruling parties that have been in power for a long time. Thus, in Kenya, the national rainbow coalition led by M. Kibaki managed to defeat D. Arai Moi, who was president for 24 years (2002). But in Kenya, in 2007, a scandal occurred when the opposition led by R. Odinga challenged the results of the presidential elections. Only after bloody clashes in the country, with the assistance of the UN and OAU, was it possible to relieve tensions.
Zimbabwe- a relatively developed country even during the colonial period - during the 27 years of R. Mugabe's rule, it found itself far thrown back. At the beginning of 2008, the presidential elections, according to the opposition, brought them victory in the first round, but the authorities, through fraud, held the second round without the participation of the main opponent. Mugabe retained his post, but Western powers declared a boycott of the country. After much wrangling, with the assistance of the Union of Africa, the opposition leader was allowed to take the post of prime minister, and thus there was relative calm in the country.
For almost half a century, D. Ratsiraka was the president of Madagascar. In 2001, his rival M. Ravalomanana received more votes, nevertheless Ratsiraka tried not to cede power. Many Africans are experiencing food shortages and armed clashes have broken out. Only with the participation of drinking water from African countries was the conflict resolved and the winner became president. In 2006, Ravalomanani was again elected president.
At the same time, in some countries there are political parties with national programs (Botswana, Zambia, Kenya, Congo, Mali, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Tanzania, South Africa). Socialist slogans have disappeared from party programs, and instead they talk about the development of a market economy.
In April 2007, presidential elections were held in which Umar Yar'Adua won. That same year, on December 30, presidential elections were held in Kenya. The victory of the current head of state, Mwai Kibeki, was declared, but his rivals did not recognize it, which led to unrest in the country and the death of many people.
In South Africa, a split occurred in the ruling African National Congress. In the spring of 2009, its leader D. Zuma became president.
Foreign policy. African countries who have become independent belong to the “third world”. They participate in the non-aligned movement. With the participation of K. Nkrumah (Ghana), J. Nyerere (Tanzania), Emperor Haile Selasie (Ethiopia), K. Kaunda (Zambia), S. Toure (Guinea), M. Keita (Mali), L. Senghor (Senegal) , leaders of Arab countries G. A. Nasser (Egypt), Hassan II (Morocco), A. bin Bella (Algeria), etc. On May 25, 1963, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) was formed. In 1980-1990 economic cooperation gave rise to integration processes in the regions. There are several organizations operating on the mainland. African countries maintain close ties with their former metropolises.
In 2002 African states decided to create a Union of Africa with the aim of integrating their economies and, through cooperation, overcoming the acute socio-economic crisis. It is no secret that due to the neocolonial policies of the West, as well as the weakness of the political elite and the corruption of many leaders, African countries have not been able to overcome their backwardness. Although in the 60-90s there was an increase in production, the wealth of Africa ended up either in Western banks, or was eaten up by bureaucrats that had increased in numbers tens and hundreds of times, or were pocketed by corrupt regimes. In the Central African Republic (CAR), Liberia, Uganda, Mali, Congo, Chad, and Ethiopia, embezzlers ruled for many years. Figures such as Idi Amin (Uganda), Mengistu Haile Mariam (Ethiopia), Musa Traore (Mali) enjoyed the patronage of the USSR, and Mobutu Sese Seko (Congo), E.K. T. Bokassa (CAR), X. Habré (Chad) was under the patronage of the United States.
The continent suffers from tribal and religious tensions. In the 90s, a terrible clash between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes took place in Rwanda and Burundi, which spread to neighboring Uganda and Congo, where their fellow tribesmen live.
More than 1.5 million people died. Christian-Muslim massacres frequently rock Nigeria, Africa's most populous country (more than 100 million people).
The dominance of foreign companies, ineffective leadership, increased military spending and other factors led to a large ... debt in Africa: from 31.6 billion dollars in 1975 to 370 billion dollars by 2000. Although a number of developed Western countries began to write off some of them debt, but African countries bear almost half of the debt of all developing countries in the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) is alarmed by the rising incidence of AIDS in Africa.
In the mid-80s and 90s, there was a trend towards strengthening democracy in Black Africa. Odious regimes fell in Congo, Chad, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Mali. Many embezzler dictators fled to other countries. Their names are covered in shame.
In 2003, dictatorship in Liberia was eliminated. Relative calm has been restored in Rwanda and Burundi.
In recent years, the activity of Islamic extremists has been intensifying in a number of African countries (Chad, Somalia, Nigeria, Senegal, etc.). In Ethiopia, Congo, Nigeria, separatist organizations are raising their heads. On the coast of Somalia, sea pirates pose a serious threat to merchant ships. Cases of black racism are on the rise in South Africa. There, local residents use violence against immigrants from neighboring countries.
Africa's problems attract the attention of great powers, the EU, and the UN. In 2004-2007 they wrote off the debts of the continent's poorest countries and reviewed and proposed new schemes for their development. In 2008, large sums were allocated to supply countries suffering from food shortages. The natural resources of Africa are arousing growing interest from both the former metropolises, the USA, China, Japan, Russia, and India, which is leading to a new round of rivalry between them. Kazakhstan still has diplomatic relations with South Africa.
LATIN AMERICA COUNTRIES
Main trends in the socio-economic and political development of Latin American countries in the first post-war decades. A characteristic feature of the development of Latin American countries has become the process of carrying out various economic, political, legal and sociocultural reforms. Depending on the level of economic and political development, these countries are divided into three groups.
The most developed countries in Latin America are Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, which took the path of capitalism earlier than others. This group includes Brazil and Mexico. Later, Venezuela and Colombia joined them. Their development is characterized by great dynamism. Overall, these seven countries account for 80-85% of the region's economy. They determine the appearance and level of its development.
The second group of countries are Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and small states of Central America and the Caribbean. The manufacturing industry is less developed in them, agriculture predominates, and patriarchal remnants are more noticeable.
The third group consists of the least developed countries of the Central American subregion and the Caribbean (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Haiti), as well as Paraguay. In these countries, agriculture dominates with significant patriarchal remnants, there remains a strong dependence on foreign monopolies, a low standard of living, poverty for the vast majority of the population, instability of political life, and the role of the army is significant (with the exception of Costa Rica). The dominance of the American trading and manufacturing company United Fruit Company (USFCO) in this subregion has become a feature of its economy.
A common feature of the economies of the countries in the region was the predominance of the agricultural and raw materials export economy. It has traditionally been associated with the bourgeois-landlord oligarchy and foreign capital. The implementation of agrarian reforms led to changes in the structure of production. The rapid growth of local industry due to a reduction in imports from the warring countries led to the development of “import-substituting industrialization.” In turn, the number of workers and employees at enterprises, which were replenished by migrant peasants, increased. The city becomes the center of political life.
The political situation in the region in the post-war period was characterized by instability and fragility of constitutional, democratic forms of government, party and political structures. The armed forces put pressure on constitutional governments and carried out coups d'etat, replacing one government with another.
The Catholic Church retains a significant role in the social life of the region. The region is home to about half of the world's Catholics. In areas with a compact Indian population, a significant weight of Indian traditional society and its communal structure remain.
National reformist movements in Latin America. In the post-war decade, nationalist and reformist parties were created. They used a revolutionary vocabulary that was accessible to the sentiments of the broad masses. The most popular national reformist parties included: in Peru - the Aprist People's Party, in Venezuela - Democratic Action, in Bolivia - the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement, in Mexico - the Institutional Revolutionary Party, in Costa Rica - National Liberation, etc.
The most massive national reformist movement was Peronism in Argentina. The most influential figure of that time was General Juan Domingo Pero, who became the President of Argentina after the war (1946-1955). Peron's policy was based on the ideas of justicialism and a special Argentine path of development. “Justicialism” (from Spanish - “justice”) was the concept of the unity of all layers of the Argentine nation under the slogan of “Greater Argentina”.
Being a military man, X. Peron chose an authoritarian method of governing the country. Along with the Peronist Party, the government also included trade unions. A number of radical reforms were carried out: railways, telephones, the Central Bank, and other enterprises were nationalized, and national capital was encouraged. Social legislation provided broad social rights to workers, their guarantee was the constitution adopted in 1949. But in September 1955, as a result of the military coup X. Peron was forced to flee the country.
Peronism played a positive role in national revival and development. This is evidenced by the return of X. Peron comes to power after a 17-year military regime in Argentina.
In Mexico, democratic reforms were carried out by the government of L. Cardenas, the goal of which was the national revival of the country. National reformism was firmly rooted in the Mexican labor movement. After the war, the Institutional Revolutionary Party became the leading and most popular and massive party in Mexico. Trade unions - the confederation of workers in Mexico - actively cooperated with the government and the party.
Reformist alternative. “Union for Progress.” Since the second half of the 50s, revolutionary and armed insurgent movements have gained momentum, the goal of which was a radical solution to numerous problems. These include crisis phenomena in the global economy, falling prices for exports of goods from Latin American countries, deterioration of the financial sector, rising prices, and high unemployment. The situation was complicated by the demographic explosion - population growth, which exacerbated social tensions.
In addition, the unfavorable political climate of dictatorial regimes served as a prerequisite for the rise of the revolutionary democratic movement. As a result, dictatorships in Peru, Colombia, Honduras, and Venezuela were overthrown. In Argentina, the military transferred powers to the constitutional president, Fropdisi. An anti-dictatorship movement developed in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Bolivia.
The “Union for Progress” program was the embodiment of the ideas of national reformism. This program for the economic, social and political modernization of Latin America was proposed by US President John Kennedy as part of the “new frontier” policy and adopted by the 19 Latin American republics in August 1961. It was planned to allocate $100 billion over 10 years. Of these, 20 billion dollars were provided by the United States and 80 billion by the Latin American countries themselves.
The rise of the anti-dictatorship struggle. Cuban revolution. The most striking events of the 50-80s in the fight against dictatorial regimes were the revolutions in Cuba, Chile, and Nicaragua.
The revolutionary struggle in Cuba against the dictatorial regime of F. Batista began in the 50s. The rebel troops were led by a young lawyer, Fidel Castro Ruz, the son of a wealthy landowner. He renounced his class, had enormous will, courage, and aroused universal admiration among the Cubans. The first attempt was an unsuccessful attack on a military barracks in Santiago on July 26, 1953.
The rebel army, whose leadership included famous revolutionaries, including the Castro brothers, Che Guevara, Valdez Menendez and others, fought a guerrilla war in the mountains in the east of the island. The Batista regime collapsed. On January 1-2, 1959, Havana was occupied by rebel army units. Revolutionary transformations and the construction of socialism began in the country. A totalitarian regime gradually emerged, based on a one-party system, the dominance of one ideology, and the cult of the leader.
In Cuba, the private sector in the countryside was liquidated, all small industrial enterprises, trade and services were nationalized. After the resolution of the Caribbean Crisis of 1962, Cuba's diplomatic and economic relations with the countries of the region were restored. Cuba entered the non-aligned movement. To this day, it remains one of the last socialist countries in the world.
In 2005-2007 F. Castro began to step away from power due to illness. In 2008, he resigned as a representative of the State Council. All his powers passed to his brother Raul Castro.
Revolutionary development in Latin American countries. The victory of the Cuban Revolution had a strong influence on the liberation movement in Latin America.
In the 60-70s, mass movements for national liberation were organized in Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. As a result, leftist forces came to power in these countries. The elected presidents, in the interests of their countries, pursued an independent national course, including in international politics. Panama regained sovereignty over the canal zone through a treaty with the United States (1977).
The Chilean Revolution (1970-1973) was the apogee of revolutionary and democratic changes. In 1969, leftist parties and organizations created the Popular Unity bloc led by socialist Salvador Allende. The victory in the presidential elections on September 4, 1970 allowed the formation of the Government of Popular Unity.
One of the first laws in the economic sphere was the Law on the Nationalization of Large Foreign Enterprises. Building socialism was the goal of transformation in Chile.
On September 11, 1973, a military coup took place, the Government of Popular Unity was overthrown, and Allende himself was killed. The military junta of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) came to power in Chile.
The revolution in Nicaragua resulted in a Central American conflict, which became the object of confrontation between two superpowers - the USA and the USSR. The main prerequisites for the revolution were the backwardness syndrome - the costs of the dependent agro-export economic model and the anti-people policy of the Somoza clan. Revolutionary struggle in the form of guerrilla warfare began in Nicaragua in the late 1950s. In 1961, a single political organization was created - the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). In 1979, as a result of successful military operations, the Sandinistas overthrew the dictator.
After several years of internal difficulties of the transition period and the threat of external intervention from the United States and other neighboring states, in 1984 the Sandinistas, led by one of the leaders of the FSLN, D. Orth, again won the general elections. In 1990, presidential powers were transferred to V. Chamorro, a right-wing candidate. However, in 2000, D. Ortega was again elected president.
The policy of modernization of military regimes of the 70-80s. The overthrow of the Popular Unity government in Chile was not the only defeat of the democratic left. Leftist nationalist governments were overthrown in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, Uruguay, and Ecuador. In the mid-70s, the situation as a whole in the region changed: military dictatorial regimes of an authoritarian type (military juntas) were established.
Repressive regimes brutally dealt with leftist forces and the opposition. Gradually, general economic transformations forced them to evolve towards policy liberalization.
The peculiarities of authoritarian military regimes were influenced by changes in world development caused by scientific and technological revolution, the growth of internationalization of the economy, and the strengthening of neoliberal market regulation. The new role of the military in Latin America was explained by the growth in the number of proletarian and middle urban strata in society, which led to the replenishment of the officer corps with people from these low-income strata. Under the influence of scientific and technological revolution, educated officers were able to understand the reasons for the backwardness of their countries and adopted new doctrines to limit dependence on foreign capital and local oligarchy.
Thus, the military authorities of Argentina and Brazil, by reducing the public sector and strengthening the private sector, stimulated export production, actively attracting foreign capital. The impressive progress in the Brazilian economy was called the “Brazilian miracle”: every year for 7 years the GDP growth rate was 11%. Economic reforms in Chile and stable GDP growth rates have led to talk of a Chilean “economic miracle.” The result of the evolution of the A. Pinochet regime in Chile were nationwide days of protest and a referendum in 1988. 53% of Chileans voted against the dictator, and in December 1989, the leader of the Christian Democratic Party P. Eilwin was elected president, to whom on March 11, 1990. A. Pinochet transferred power.
The fall of dictatorships and the restoration of democratic regimes (80s - early 90s). By the mid-80s, an evolution of military-authoritarian regimes took place. There was growing dissatisfaction in the countries that mass repressions continued, there was a lack of democratic freedoms, and human rights were violated. This was increasingly opposed by the opposition, which was supported by the broad masses of the people. Dictatorships were losing social and political support. The process of eliminating dictatorships has accelerated.
In 1983, the civil opposition candidate R. Alfonsin won the presidential elections in Argentina, which put an end to military rule. In 1985, in Brazil and Uruguay, the military transferred power to civilian presidents. In 1986, Haiti fell to the tyrannical dictatorship of the Duvalier family. At the same time, the dictatorships in Guatemala and Honduras fell, and in 1989 the Paraguayan dictator A. Stroessner was overthrown.
For the first time in the history of the continent, power passed almost everywhere to constitutional governments, and they restored democratic freedoms. However, states found themselves in difficult economic conditions. Modernization, continued under new conditions, failed to improve the socio-economic and political situation. At the same time, the financial, economic, scientific and technical dependence of the region increased, and contradictions between states intensified.
Modern problems of development of Latin American countries. Integration processes. Focus on external factors and financial and economic support from outside are a characteristic trend in the development of the economies of the countries of the region. Huge foreign debt is constantly growing. If in 1970 it amounted to 20 billion dollars, in the 80s - 400 billion, then by mid-2000 it increased to 770 billion dollars.
The main direction of the current political and economic efforts of Latin American governments is the search for an alternative. Soberly assessing their position in the world, they understand that alone the countries of the continent are doomed to complete lawlessness, especially in relations with the United States. Life itself forces them to improve the ways of regional integration. The general trend in the development of integration is to unite efforts in protecting common interests. A feature of economic integration in Latin America is the existence of several trade and economic groupings.
In the 60s, the largest integration associations were the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAST) and the Central American Common Market (CACM). LAST includes 11 South American countries and Mexico. CAOR consists of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
In 1967, the states of the region signed the Treaty of Tlatelolco (named after the area of the Mexican capital where it was signed) to create a nuclear-free zone. In the course of integration, subregional groupings emerged. In 1969, the Andean group (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile) appeared within LAST, and Venezuela joined it. In 1995, the Andean Group was transformed into the Andean Integration System.
In 1975, the Latin American Economic System was created, consisting of 25 states, with the aim of promoting their economic cooperation.
Brazil and Argentina entered into an Economic Union Agreement in 1986. In March 1991, it was transformed into the South American Common Market (MEREOSUR) within Brazil,
Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay (70% of South America). On January 1, 1995, MERCOSUR became a Customs Union, where 90% of goods were exempt from customs duties.
There is another trend in the integration process of Latin American states. It lies in rapprochement and, in the future, integration with the United States, up to the creation of a common free trade zone with them in the Western Hemisphere.
Currently, integration associations in Latin America, especially MERCOSUR, are rapidly developing ties with the European Community. Over the past 10 years, trade turnover has increased fivefold.
In 2004-2008 in a number of countries (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Mexico, etc.), anti-American politicians came to power as a result of elections. They are trying to get rid of the dominance of North American monopolies. This policy is actively supported by Cuba and especially Venezuela.
Lecture 42
Topic: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE XX - BEGINNING OF THE XXI centuries.
1. The division of the world into two warring blocs in the second half of the 1940s - early 1950s.
2. Confrontation between NATO and the Department of Internal Affairs.
3. Cold War politics.
4. Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
5. Problems of disarmament. The peace movement and the US-Soviet agreements.
6. Integration processes in the world.
7. International terrorism at the present stage.
1. The North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) was formed in 1949 by representatives of 12 countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Great Britain and the United States of America. Greece and Turkey joined NATO in 1952, the Federal Republic of Germany in 1955, Spain in 1982. The Treaty of the North Atlantic Alliance, signed in Washington on April 4, 1949, provided for mutual defense and collective security, initially against the threat of aggression from Soviet Union. It was the first post-war alliance created by the United States of America. The reason for creating the treaty was the increasing scope of the Cold War.
NATO was developed in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which provided for the right of collective self-defense by regional organizations. This committed NATO member nations to the defense of all of Western Europe and the North Atlantic. In addition, the treaty was also developed with the aim of deepening the political, economic and social ties between its members.
The main body determining NATO policy is the North Atlantic Council, which meets in Brussels (until 1967, when meetings took place in Paris). The NATO Military Committee consists of senior military representatives from each NATO member country (except Iceland, which has no armed forces and is represented by a civilian, and France, which withdrew from the military alliance in 1966 while remaining a NATO member). The armed forces of NATO member countries include a peacetime designated commander who, in the event of war, will carry out local orders from the military committee.
In 1955, 6 years after the formation of NATO, the Warsaw Pact Organization (WTO) was founded, which included the European states of the socialist camp, except for Yugoslavia, which traditionally adhered to a policy of non-alignment. Within the framework of the Department of Internal Affairs, a joint command of the Armed Forces and a Political Advisory Committee were created - a body coordinating the foreign policy activities of the countries of Eastern Europe. Representatives of the Soviet army played a decisive role in all military-political structures of the Department of Internal Affairs.
2. The creation of NATO was a consequence of the Cold War and therefore all its activities were aimed at a tough confrontation with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. In 1949, the US atomic monopoly was eliminated, which led to a sharp increase in the tendency of competition and an increase in the production of weapons of mass destruction.
The first major international crisis after the Second World War, related to the Korean War, began a year after the formation of NATO in 1950. The US military command intended to use atomic weapons against the DPRK; it was restrained only by the fear of similar retaliatory measures from the USSR. In the current situation, the USSR considered it necessary to provide military-technical assistance to North Korea. In addition to the USSR, the PRC and other socialist countries provided assistance to the DPRK. By mid-1951, the situation in Korea had stabilized, peace negotiations began, as a result of which an armistice agreement was signed on July 27, 1953.
Thanks to the change in the top leadership of the USSR and the so-called Khrushchev Thaw, in 1954 a meeting of the foreign ministers of the USA, Great Britain, France and the USSR was held on a number of issues about collective security in Europe and a number of crises. By 1954, US military forces were stationed in 49 foreign countries. Since Western representatives promoted the defensive nature of NATO at the meeting, after the meeting the Soviet government came up with a proposal for the USSR to join NATO and conclude a treaty on collective security in Europe with the participation of the United States. All these proposals were rejected by the West. NATO refused all further initiatives of the Soviet Union to begin negotiations on concluding a non-aggression pact between NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries and declared these initiatives propaganda. At the same time, in 1955-1960. The USSR unilaterally reduced the number of its armed forces by almost 3 million people, bringing it to 2.4 million people.
After the creation of thermonuclear weapons in the 50s, the USSR directed its efforts to establish military-strategic parity with the United States, which occurred at the turn of the 60s-70s.
The most dangerous international crisis arose in the fall of 1962 in connection with the situation around Cuba. During World War II, the United States built 434 naval bases and 1,933 army and strategic air bases. American armed forces were located on all continents, American missiles with nuclear warheads deployed in Western Europe, Turkey and other countries were aimed at several dozen large cities of the USSR and socialist countries. After the revolution in Cuba and the coming to power of a socialist government there, the Soviet Union, taking advantage of Cuba's proximity to the United States, began deploying missiles there capable of carrying nuclear warheads. In response to this, the United States pulled its fleet to the island (one of the largest US military bases, Guantanamo Bay, is located on Cuban territory) and issued an ultimatum to withdraw Soviet troops from Cuba. At the negotiations that began, a compromise was reached and Soviet missiles were withdrawn from Cuba.
The leaders of the USA and the USSR during the Caribbean and Korean crises, despite mutual hostility, managed to avoid a direct military clash, which would likely have led to a nuclear war with all its consequences. Subsequently, the world community became aware that in the 50s. In the USA, secret plans were developed to start a war against the USSR, which included atomic bombing of dozens of Soviet cities. Violating the norms of international law, American military aircraft flew at high altitudes for several years in the airspace of the USSR for reconnaissance purposes,
With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, NATO's role in European military affairs became uncertain. The focus of NATO's activities in Europe has shifted towards cooperation with European organizations - such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) - with the aim of planning policies with "less threat to continental security". NATO is also working towards the inclusion of former Warsaw Pact countries and CIS countries.
Currently, NATO's role has changed somewhat. The European Union, which is based on NATO member states, seeks to limit US interference in European affairs. For its part, the United States, which today does not have a sufficiently strong political and military counterweight throughout the world and is practically unlimited in its actions, stated that it does not need the support of its policies from any interstate alliances and do not intend to bind themselves to any international obligations. In the first years of the 21st century. NATO leaders in continental Europe - Germany and France - pursued a policy of rapprochement with Russia and the creation of a European community capable of resisting the dictates of the United States.
3. The Cold War policy was proclaimed in W. Churchill’s keynote speech on March 5, 1946 in the American city of Fulton, in which he called for the creation of an Anglo-American alliance to fight “world communism led by Soviet Russia.” Beginning in 1946, people began to talk about a “cold war” (as opposed to a nuclear “hot war”) between two blocs of countries. The essence of this policy was to aggravate international tension, create and maintain the danger of a “hot war” (“brinkmanship”). The goal of the Cold War was to suppress by economic and political methods the USSR as the most possible competitor of the United States in the struggle for world domination, to justify huge government expenditures on the maintenance of the army and the production of weapons, to justify the neocolonial policy of the United States and its fight against workers, anti-racist and liberation movements.
The Cold War consisted of: the formation of a system of military-political alliances (NATO, SEATO, CENTO, ANZUS, etc.) directed against the USSR and its allies. In contrast to these blocs, the countries of the socialist bloc were united under the leadership of the USSR into the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA, 1949) and the defensive Warsaw Pact Organization (WTO, 1955);
Creation of a wide network of military bases in all strategically important points of the world;
Accelerating the arms race, including nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction;
The use of force, the threat of force or the accumulation of weapons as a means of influencing the policies of other states (“nuclear diplomacy”, “politics from a position of strength”);
Use of economic pressure (discrimination in trade, etc.); intensification and expansion of subversive activities of intelligence services; encouraging putschs and coups d'etat;
Ideological propaganda (“psychological warfare”);
Sub-Saharan Africa is usually divided into three broad stripes that cross the continent: Sudan, Tropical Africa, and South Africa. The northern border of Tropical Africa runs approximately along the 5th parallel of northern latitude, the southern border along the river. Zambezi, from the mouth to Victoria Falls, and further west, to the mouth of the river. Kunene. From a physical-geographical point of view, the identification of this strip is extremely arbitrary. The climatic zone characteristic of this strip does not coincide with the indicated boundaries; The tropical forest is taking over the Guinean coast of Sudan. But from an ethnographic point of view, these boundaries have a solid justification. The fifth parallel is the northern border of the Bantu-speaking peoples; beyond it begins the region of the Sudanese peoples, in many respects completely different from the Bantu.
Africa south of the Zambezi is inhabited, like Tropical Africa, mainly by tribes and peoples who also speak Bantu languages, but these are mainly pastoralists, while the Bantu of Tropical Africa are predominantly or even exclusively farmers. These are not state boundaries, but ethnic ones, and like any ethnic boundaries, they are to a certain extent arbitrary.
Tropical Africa is in turn divided into two geographically and ethnographically distinct parts: Eastern and Western. Western Tropical Africa is the river basin. Congo; this is a huge basin, the central part of which is covered with tropical forest, turning into a park savanna on the outskirts of the basin. Eastern Tropical Africa is a mountain plateau with deep fault valleys and high mountains; it is a savannah, or dry steppe, turning in places into a semi-desert. Both parts are inhabited by tribes Bantu, but the Bantu of the western part are engaged exclusively in agriculture and hunting, and the Bantu of the eastern part combine agriculture with cattle breeding. The Bantu of the western part developed independently before the start of European colonization, experiencing no external influence. On the contrary, the shores of the eastern part of Africa were visited by the Greeks in very distant times. and Arab traders. The influence of Arabs, Persians, and partly Indians is reflected in many features of the Bantu culture of East Africa. The Bantu peoples of the region of Lakes Victoria, Albert, Kivu, and others assimilated the Nilotic and partly Cushitic tribes of cattle breeders who came from the north.
The dividing line between the western and eastern Bantus runs approximately along the line of lakes Edward, Kivu, Tanganyika and then approximately 30° east. d.
The physical and geographical appearance of Eastern Tropical Africa is characterized by extreme diversity of relief and landscape, which is not repeated anywhere else in Africa. Overall it is a plateau, most of which lies above 1000 m above sea level. The lowland strip, narrow in its middle part and reaching a width of 300-400 km in the north and south, is located only along the coast of the Indian Ocean. The Great and Western fault valleys stretch across the entire plateau in the meridional direction. The Great Fault Valley begins at the Red Sea, crosses Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanganyika, Nyasalendi ends at the Zambezi. At the bottom of this valley there are lakes, of which the most significant are Lakes Rudolf and Nyasa. From the northern end of the lake. Nyasa leaves the Western fault valley; at its bottom lie lakes Tanganyika (after Baikal - the deepest lake in the world), Kivu, as well as Edward and Albert^ rivers connected to each other. Semliki. Between the highlands of these two valleys is located the largest lake in Africa - Victoria, second in area (68 thousand km 2) only to the Caspian Sea and Lake Superior in North America. Near the deep depressions of the lakes are the highest mountains of the mainland: Kilimanjaro (6010 m), Kenya (5195 m), Rwenzori (5100 m), etc.
The continent's two largest rivers, the Nile and the Congo, originate in Eastern Tropical Africa. Source of the Nile, r. Kagera is born in the mountains northeast of the lake. Tanganyika, at an altitude of 2120 m above sea level. It flows into the lake. Victoria, from which it flows under the name Quivira, forming the Ripon Falls immediately after its exit. Further on the river passes the lake. Kyoga and behind the Murchison Falls (about 40 m high) flows into the lake. Albert and then flows due north. On the border of Rhodesia and Tanganyika, one of the sources of the river originates. Congo - r. Chambesi, which flows into the lake. Bangweolo. Flowing from it, this river receives the name Luapula, and in its further course it merges with the Lua Laba and forms the Congo. The third of Africa's largest rivers, the Zambezi, flows along the southern border of Northern Rhodesia, crossing Mozambique. Other significant rivers in this part of the continent include the Ruvuma, Rufiji with its tributary Ruaha, Pangani and Tana. There are a lot of smaller rivers, and almost all of them flow from west to east, to the Indian Ocean. Navigation is possible only on some rivers. The river is navigable along its entire length. Shire, connecting the lake. Nyasa with the lower reaches of the Zambezi and the ocean. A huge waterway of southern Africa, the Zambezi is navigable only in certain areas between the rapids; along the river Tana small steamships can rise 100 km from the mouth. Water transport is now widely developed only on lakes.
The diversity of the relief corresponds to the diversity of climate and vegetation. On the peaks of Kilimanjaro, Kenya and Rwenzori there are eternal snows and glaciers, and the plateau is characterized by a mild tropical climate. There are neither high nor low temperatures here; the average monthly temperature varies: in Zomba from 16.1 in July to 23.3° in November; in Dar es Salaam between 23.3 in July - August and 27.8° in January - February; in Entebbe, on the northwestern shore of the lake. Victoria, the amplitude of oscillations is even smaller - from 21.1 to 22.8°. The climate here is of eternal spring. The year is divided into seasons depending on the amount of precipitation. The average rainfall throughout the East African plateau does not exceed 1140 mm per year. Wetter areas are located on the western and northern coasts of the lake. Victoria: Bukoba, for example, receives up to 1,780 mm of rainfall per year. The driest: the Turkana plains adjacent to the lake. Rudolph, which receive no more than 100-125 mm of annual precipitation; areas located south and north of these plains - up to 375 mm; the Laikipia plateau (Kenya) - up to 700 mm, and the western part of Northern Rhodesia, where, for example in Colombo, at Victoria Falls, the average annual precipitation does not exceed 740 mm.
In the Zomba region, the year is sharply divided into two seasons: rainy and dry; The amount of precipitation by month ranges from 2.5 mm in August to 278.0 mm in January. Near Mombasa, the year is divided into four seasons: two rainy, of which one is long, the other short, and two dry; The amount of precipitation by month ranges from 20.3 mm in January to 348.0 mm in May. In Naivasha, near the lake of the same name at the bottom of the Great Fault Valley, precipitation is distributed more or less evenly throughout the year - a minimum of 27.9 mm in January and a maximum of 162.5 mm in April. There are also two rainy seasons, but they are not particularly noticeable.
The characteristic landscape of East Tropical Africa is savannah, sometimes turning into dry steppes and semi-deserts. There are no deserts in the proper sense of the word, with the exception of the western part of the Turkana plains. The East African steppes are covered with tall, tough grasses, up to a meter in height, but they do not grow as densely as in the savannah; during periods of drought they turn yellow and often die. In savannas, among dense and tall grasses, there are more or less significant groups of trees, sometimes reaching 20 m in height; In some places they form small forests - this is an area of park savanna.
In the humid areas of Mezhozerye, large areas are covered with marsh vegetation: reeds, reeds and papyruses cover standing waters with a continuous carpet. This is primarily the lake area. Kyoga and the northwestern coast of the lake. Victoria, the deltas of the Ruvuma and Rufiji rivers, as well as small areas on the coast against the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba. Kagera and other rivers flowing into the lake. Victoria from the west, flow along channels 8-13 km wide, half overgrown with papyrus, which rises 2.5-3 m above the water level; All around there are large expanses of standing water, chains of small lakes and, in places, tropical forest.
At the foot of the mountain ranges there are virgin forests of the equatorial type, similar to the forests of the Congo Basin: huge trees, multi-tiered vegetation, dense undergrowth. As you climb the mountains, you can observe a complete change of vertical plant zones. At an altitude of about a thousand meters, the virgin tropical forest gives way to a park savanna, followed by a savanna with very tall grasses, where trees are very rare. This is an agricultural zone; there are many settlements surrounded by fields and plantations. At an altitude of 2-3 thousand, and sometimes 4 thousand m, forests characteristic of a temperate climate reappear: less tall, not so dense and with weaker foliage. They are followed by a zone of alpine meadows, and at an altitude of about 5 thousand m, a zone of eternal snow and glaciers begins.
The natural conditions of Eastern Tropical Africa create a natural basis for a wide variety of human economic activities. Along with delicate tropical and subtropical crops, crops characteristic of the temperate climate zone can be grown here. Bananas, sugar cane, rubber plants, oil palms, sweet potatoes, cassava, ground nuts, rice, sesame, cotton, cocoa, coffee, tea, tobacco, corn, barley, millet, peas and beans, ordinary potatoes and wheat - this is far from a complete list of crops growing in different areas of East Tropical Africa. Agriculture is possible everywhere, and only in the northern regions of Kenya does irrigation require complex hydraulic structures.
Wild animals do not suffer from the bite of the tsetse fly, but are carriers of trypanosomes. In some areas of Africa, particularly in the Zambezi basin, attempts were made to combat the spread of the disease by mass destruction of wild animals. Among domestic animals, only goats, donkeys and mules are immune.
The riches of the earth's interior have not yet been explored. Currently, diamonds are mined in Tanganyika, Northern Rhodesia and Uganda, tin in Uganda and Tanganyika, copper, lead, zinc, vanadium and magnesite in Northern Rhodesia. Iron ores are found everywhere, but have no industrial significance. Coal was discovered in the south of Tanganyika. Eastern Tropical Africa is rich in “white coal” - it is possible to build powerful hydroelectric power stations on the waterfalls and rapids of its rivers. Eastern Tropical Africa is undoubtedly a region rich in potential.
The total area of Tropical Africa is more than 20 million km 2, the population is 600 million people. It is also called Black Africa, since the population of the subregion overwhelmingly belongs to the equatorial (Negroid) race. But in terms of ethnic composition, individual parts of Tropical Africa differ quite greatly. It is most complex in West and East Africa, where at the junction of different races and language families the greatest “strip” of ethnic and political borders arose. The people of Central and Southern Africa speak numerous (with up to 600 dialects) but closely related languages of the Bantu family (the word means “people”). The Swahili language is especially widespread. And the population of Madagascar speaks languages of the Austronesian family. .
There is also much in common in the economy and settlement of the population of the countries of Tropical Africa. Tropical Africa is the most backward part of the developing world, within its borders there are 29 least developed countries. Nowadays this is the only large region a world where agriculture remains the main sphere of material production.
About half of rural residents live subsistence agriculture, the rest are low-commercial. Hoe tillage predominates with the almost complete absence of a plow; It is no coincidence that the hoe, as a symbol of agricultural labor, is included in the image of the state emblems of a number of African countries. All main agricultural work is performed by women and children. They cultivate root and tuber crops (cassava or cassava, yams, sweet potatoes), from which they make flour, cereals, cereals, flatbreads, as well as soy, sorgo, rice, corn, bananas, and vegetables. Livestock farming is much less developed, including due to the tsetse fly, and if it plays a significant role (Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia), it is carried out extremely extensively. In the equatorial forests there are tribes and even nationalities that still live by hunting, fishing and gathering. In the savannah and tropical rainforest zones, the basis of consumer agriculture is the fallow-type slash-and-burn system.
Areas of commercial crop production with a predominance of perennial plantings - cocoa, coffee, peanuts, hevea, oil palm, tea, sisal, spices - stand out sharply against the general background. Some of these crops are grown on plantations, and some on peasant farms. They primarily determine the monocultural specialization of a number of countries.
According to their main occupation, the majority of the population of Tropical Africa lives in rural areas. Savannahs are dominated by large villages near rivers, while tropical forests are dominated by small villages.
The life of the villagers is closely connected with the subsistence farming they lead. Among them, local traditional beliefs are widespread: cult of ancestors, fetishism, belief in nature spirits, magic, witchcraft, various talismans. Africans believe. that the spirits of the dead remain on earth, that the spirits of ancestors strictly monitor the actions of the living and can harm them if any traditional commandment is violated. Christianity and Islam, introduced from Europe and Asia, also became quite widespread in Tropical Africa. .
Tropical Africa is the least industrialized region of the world (not counting Oceania). There is only one fairly large mining region, the Copper Belt, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. This industry also forms several smaller areas that you already know.
Tropical Africa is the least urbanized region in the world(see Figure 18). Only eight of its countries have millionaire cities, which usually tower over numerous provincial towns like lonely giants. Examples of this kind are Dakar in Senegal, Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nairobi in Kenya, Luanda in Angola.
Tropical Africa also lags behind in the development of its transport network. Its pattern is determined by “penetration lines” isolated from each other, leading from the ports to the hinterland. In many countries there are no railways at all. It is customary to carry small loads on the head, and over a distance of up to 30-40 km.
Finally, in T Environmental quality is rapidly deteriorating in tropical Africa. Desertification, deforestation, and depletion of flora and fauna have assumed the most alarming proportions here.
Example. The main area of drought and desertification is the Sahel zone, which stretches along the southern borders of the Sahara from Mauritania to Ethiopia across ten countries. In 1968-1974. Not a single rain fell here, and the Sahel turned into a scorched earth zone. In the first half and mid-80s. catastrophic droughts recurred. They claimed millions of human lives. The number of livestock has decreased significantly.
What happened in this area came to be called the “Sahel tragedy.” But it is not only nature that is to blame. The onset of the Sahara is facilitated by overgrazing of livestock and destruction of forests, primarily for firewood. .
In some countries of Tropical Africa, measures are being taken to protect flora and fauna and national parks are being created. This primarily applies to Kenya, where international tourism income is second only to coffee exports. . (Creative task 8.)
New story. Tropical Africa
Until the end of the 19th century. Africa served as a source of slave supplies to the slave markets of America and the West Indies (see). Local African states in coastal areas increasingly played the role of intermediaries in the international slave trade. The growth of the slave trade in Africa led to enormous human losses and the desolation of entire regions. In some areas not directly affected by the slave trade, its consequences were felt indirectly: there was a reorientation of the main trade routes across the Sahara towards the Atlantic coast, to the detriment of the previous trans-Saharan trade. The slave hunt and the importation of firearms by Europeans destabilized the political situation in a number of areas.
Among the states of the Sudanese zone until the 19th century. the most significant role was played by Bagirmi and Vadai. Political fragmentation reigned in Western Sudan, which was intensified by the beginning of the 17th century. southward migration of several groups of Saharan Tuaregs. At the end of the 17th century. The nomads inflicted heavy damage on the state of Bornu. XVIII-XIX centuries were the time of assertion of Fulani hegemony in large parts of Western Sudan. At the end of the 70s. XVIII century The Fulani created a Muslim theocratic state. The movement of the Fulban and Hausan lower classes, which began in 1804 under the leadership of the Muslim preacher Osman dan Fodio, who proclaimed a “holy war” (jihad) against the “pagan” aristocracy of the Hausan city-states, culminated in the creation of the Hausa city-states by the 20s. XIX century Sokoto Caliphate. Since the late 30s. XIX century this state actually split into several emirates, headed by Fulban emirs (or “lamidos”). Some of the emirates corresponded to the former Hausa states - Kano, Katsina, etc., some were created anew, like, for example, all the lamidates on the territory of modern Cameroon - Iola, etc. In the first half of the 19th century. Another Fulani state began to play a prominent role in Western Sudan. In the 60s Most of Masina came under the rule of the Tukuler ruler Haj Omar, who also subjugated the states of the Bamana (Bambara) people in the area between the Niger and Senegal rivers - Kaartu and. However, with the death of Haj Omar in 1864, his state collapsed. The political fragmentation and weakness of most of the states in the Sudanese zone facilitated the conquest of this part of Africa by the French and British colonialists.
In East Africa in the 17th century. was characterized by an intense struggle between the population of coastal cities and the Portuguese invaders. XVIII-XIX centuries marked by the gradual strengthening of power on the African coast of the Indian Ocean by the Omani sultans. After the expulsion of the Portuguese at the beginning of the 18th century. the coastal cities were in the hands of many small emirs, who only nominally recognized the authority of the Omani rulers. Since 1822, the coastal areas and parts of the interior of the territory of modern Tanzania and Kenya fall under the rule of Zanzibar. In the interior of Tanzania, east of Lake Tanganyika, from the end of the 18th century. Early political associations of the peoples of the Nyamwezi group began to take shape. Throughout the 19th century. Some of these associations, such as, for example, the state of Mirambo, which by 1870 subjugated the entire territory of the Nyamwezi, arose as a result of the Arab-Swahili slave trade (the entire economy of Zanzibar and Oman was built on the use of slave labor) and as a means of counteracting it.
Another important factor in the history of East Africa was the migration of the Bantu-speaking peoples of the Nguni group. Beginning in the second quarter of the 19th century, they covered a significant part of the territory of modern Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi. The Nguni defeated or subjugated the previously existing state formations on the territory of Zimbabwe and in the upper reaches of the river. Zambezi. The state of Barotse in the west of modern Zambia, created by the Lozi peoples in the 18th century, was conquered by the Makololo people; however, in 1873 the Makololo power was overthrown and Barotse was restored.
The period from the end of the 17th century. characterized by the rapid rise of a number of states on the Guinea coast; all were associated with trade between the coastal and inland areas. At the same time, the states of the eastern part of the region - Oyo, Dahomey, Benin, etc. - served as the most important intermediaries in the trade of slaves for export to America. In the western part of the Guinean coast, gold occupied the main place in trade (for example, in the export of the Ashanti state with its capital in Kumasi). Ashanti by the beginning of the 19th century. became the most powerful power in this part of Africa. Participation in the slave trade and the growing demand for palm oil from European merchants stimulated the expansion of the use of slave labor in the economy of most countries in the region; in its eastern part, oil palm plantations appeared and constantly grew, on which slave labor was used. Relatively little is known about the nature of social relations within the coastal states. Some researchers believe that in Ashanti, in the Yoruba city-states, the Bariba people in the northern part of modern Benin began to develop feudal relations. At the same time, many remnants of more ancient forms of social organization remained, the main of which was the ubiquitous large family community.
African societies of the river basin Congo from the end of the 17th century. still lagged behind West Africa; the state of Congo broke up into a number of small principalities and by the beginning of the 19th century. actually ceased to exist. Luba and Lunda during the 18th century. expanded their borders in the south and east. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. Luba's army made a number of campaigns against the state of Cuba. The state of Kazembe was formed southeast of Lund. As in the previous period, the Portuguese slave trade played a significant role in the strengthening of these states, in which Lunda and Luba acted as the most important intermediaries; the export of slaves to Brazil from the ports of the Angolan coast continued until the end of the 70s. XIX century
Arab-Swahili traders entered the East African Interlake region in the mid-19th century. Trade accelerated the formation of class society, especially in the state of Buganda, which by the second half of the 19th century. became the political and military hegemon in the northern part of Mezhozerye. The strengthening of Buganda led to the weakening of its main rivals - Unyoro and Karagwe. In Buganda itself, the despotic power of the kabaka increased. In the southern part of the Interlake region, the rivalry between Burundi and Rwanda continued, which at the beginning of the 19th century. was finally decided in favor of Rwanda. A society with a peculiar class-caste stratification has developed here (see Twa, Hutu, Tutsi). At the same time, unlike Buganda, in the southern part of Mezhozerye the use of slave labor did not become noticeably widespread.
Ethiopia after the expulsion in the mid-17th century. The Portuguese found themselves almost isolated from the outside world by Turkish possessions for several centuries. Centrifugal tendencies prevailed in the country, and by the beginning of the 19th century. it actually broke up into independent principalities. Only in the middle of the 19th century. Ethiopia's territory was reunified by Emperor Tewodros II, driven by the need to combat the threat of foreign invasion. The strengthening of the centralized Ethiopian state was a major event that largely predetermined the success of the struggle against the machinations of the European powers. The states of Eastern Sudan Sennar and the Darfur Sultanate, on the contrary, during the 19th - early 20th centuries. lost their independence, becoming the object of Turkish-Egyptian occupation and foreign exploitation. In Madagascar in the 18th-19th centuries. the power of the Imerina state spread over most of the island, and also starting in the 40s. XIX century Contacts with European countries have significantly expanded.
L. E. Kubbel.
European expansion in Tropical Africa intensified. In addition to the Portuguese, the Dutch, British, and French fortified themselves on the African shores. In the 17th century The Dutch for some time captured the main Portuguese settlements on the Guinea coast, and in East Africa the Portuguese were pushed out by the Arabs from Oman. In the 18th century The positions of Great Britain and France have noticeably strengthened. The achievements of the industrial revolution, expressed, in particular, in the improvement of military-technical means on land and at sea, made it possible to maintain the superiority of the capitalist states of Europe over the rest of the world. The efficiency of European merchant fleets increased, particularly in the 19th century. after the advent of heavy-duty and high-speed clippers. Thus, the possibilities of world trade expanded, for which ocean routes became increasingly important.
At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. Great Britain captured important positions on the shores of West Africa (the colonies of Sierra Leone and Gambia), on the routes in East Africa (Cape Town), and in the Indian Ocean (the island of Mauritius). In the 20s XIX century The British settled on the Gold Coast. In 1841 they sent a consul to Zanzibar, where they had previously enjoyed influence by virtue of an agreement with the Sultan of Oman. In the 50s "consular jurisdiction" was established over Lagos. Freetown in Sierra Leone and Bathurst (modern Banjul) in the Gambia, Lagos, and Zanzibar became centers from where a number of geographical expeditions were sent deep into Africa, paving the way for further European expansion (see section History of geographical discoveries and exploration).
The French have become noticeably more active in West Africa since the 40s. XIX century: expanded their possessions along the river. Senegal (where they settled in the 17th century), set up garrisons at several points on the Guinean coast as far as Gabon. As a result, serious clashes broke out between them and the leaders of the states of Toukouler, Wolof and others. The Portuguese held several settlements in Upper Guinea, as well as the coastal regions of modern Angola and Mozambique, constantly organizing expeditions against the local population, especially in the river basin. Zambezi.
Participation in anti-colonial wars left an imprint on the history of a number of peoples in the coastal regions. External danger stimulated the strengthening of local government institutions, for example, in Ashanti and Dahomey. However, in most cases, the spread of European influence contributed to political instability, leading to wars to capture slaves for sale on the ocean coast. From a technical and economic point of view, trade contacts with Europeans had significant consequences. Since the Great Discovery, new food crops, most notably corn and cassava, introduced by Europeans from the Americas, have spread, increasing the potential of agriculture. At the same time, there was a process of degradation of various aspects of economic activity: a reduction in the range of food products (many of them were replaced by new crops), the decline of crafts under the influence of European competition.
Since the 70s XIX century Africa turned into an arena for widespread colonial expansion by European powers, which entered the imperialist phase of their development. The desire to annex African countries was determined by both economic (search for markets and sources of raw materials) and political (military-strategic, prestige, etc.) reasons. “The non-economic superstructure growing on the basis of financial capital, its policies, its ideology intensify the desire for colonial conquest,” wrote V.I. Lenin (Complete Works, vol. 27, p. 382). Thus, Great Britain envisaged the creation of a continuous chain of possessions between South and North Africa along the Cape Town - Cairo line. To implement this plan, the British in 1887 took from Zanzibar a “concession” of part of its continental possessions - the coast of modern Kenya. According to the Anglo-German Heligoland Treaty of 1890, Zanzibar moved into the sphere of English rule. In 1889 she received a royal charter to administer the territories where Southern and Northern Rhodesia were formed. In the 90s XIX century Great Britain imposed its “patronage” on Buganda and other states that later became part of the British protectorate of Uganda. In 1895, the territory of Kenya was declared a British East African Protectorate (in 1902 it also included the eastern part of Uganda). In 1891, British “patronage” was accepted by the Barotse nobility, who managed to negotiate for their state the status of an autonomous administrative unit within the British possessions.
In Sudan, the British began large-scale military operations against the Mahdist state in 1896. In 1898, the capital of the Mahdists was captured and plundered, their army was defeated. The new colony of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was declared a condominium of Great Britain and Egypt, although in fact it was ruled by the British. In West Africa, the British fought wars in what is now Nigeria and Ghana. The Ashanti showed especially stubborn resistance to them (see). In 1873-74 they inflicted heavy losses on the enemy and forced Great Britain to temporarily abandon the establishment of a protectorate over their country. The capital of the Ashanti state, Kumasi, was captured in 1896, but in 1900 a powerful uprising broke out in the country, caused, in particular, by the fact that the British imposed a large indemnity on the population. The Ashanti besieged the capital for 4 months. Only after fierce battles, which cost the British great losses, was the uprising suppressed. After a fierce struggle with the troops of the Sultan of Sokoto, by 1904 the British had completed the establishment of actual control over most of the territory of modern Nigeria.
In contrast to Great Britain, France hatched a project to create a continuous strip of its possessions from Senegal to Somalia. South of the Sahara, it captured vast but relatively sparsely populated territories of Western and Equatorial Africa, forming here the colonies of the French Congo (from 1910 - ) and (formed in 1895). Selfless struggle against the French troops advancing in the 80-90s. from Senegal to the depths of the Sudanese savannahs, they led the Wolof, Malinke, and Tukulers. Samori, who united a number of small Malinke states under his rule, led the resistance to the French for 16 years. France's attempts to expand its possessions in Equatorial Africa eastward by capturing the Upper Nile Valley were unsuccessful. The French detachment that captured Fashoda was forced to leave it in 1898 due to opposition from Great Britain (see Fashoda Crisis). In 1896, France declared a protectorate over the island of Madagascar.
The division of Africa took place in conditions of intense rivalry between the imperialist powers. They captured any territory, including those that promised benefits only in the distant future. Sometimes small military detachments were sent into the hinterland only to prevent the expansion of rivals' possessions. Disputes that broke out were usually resolved by bilateral and multilateral agreements between European powers (see Brussels Conferences of 1876 and 1889-90, Berlin Conference of 1884-1885).
The most extensive and economically important areas (most of West Africa, Eastern Sudan) were captured by Great Britain and France, who had powerful industrial and military potential, as well as experience in colonial politics.
Germany entered the struggle for colonial conquest in Africa in 1884, declaring that it would take under its “protection” the Angra-Pequena region (modern Lüderitz) in South-West Africa, and began the conquest of the territories of Togo and Cameroon and the suppression of the armed resistance of the Bakwiri, Bas and Bakogo, poppy, nzem, etc. These seizures contributed to a further aggravation of relations between Great Britain, France and Germany. In 1885, having imposed a series of treaties on the leaders of African tribes by force of arms, Germany began annexations on the east coast of Africa (see).
The Italians, who bought a section of coast near Assab Bay in 1869, began to prepare for the capture of Ethiopia. In the battles of Saati (1887), the Ethiopians destroyed one of the Italian detachments. However, according to the Treaty of Uchchala, Italy received part of the territory of modern Ethiopia. In 1890, Italy united all its possessions on the Red Sea into the colony of Eritrea, and in 1894 it started a war against Ethiopia. At the Battle of 1896, the Ethiopians defeated Italian troops. Italy was forced to abandon its attacks on Ethiopian independence. Along with Great Britain and France, Italy participated in the division of the Somali Peninsula, capturing its southeastern part (see,).
Since 1879, the Belgians began to take over the river basin. Congo. International agreements of 1884-85 secured the transformation of this territory into, which was in the possession of Leopold II. In 1908, Leopold II transferred the Congo under the control of Belgium for large compensation; The Congo officially became a Belgian colony (). Portugal at the beginning of the 20th century. owned such large colonies as Angola and Mozambique, as well as Portuguese Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands. Spain captured part of Morocco () and the western coast of the Sahara (). These European states maintained their possessions in Africa, taking advantage of the ongoing struggle for spheres of influence between major European countries. At the same time, Belgium and Portugal were forced to make various concessions to large competitors. Portugal provided Great Britain with ample opportunities for trade expansion in Angola and Mozambique; Belgium in 1885 agreed to create the Congo Convention Basin, within which uniform customs duties were established for all countries.
The African Republic of Liberia was actually in complete economic dependence on European countries and the United States. Great Britain provided Liberia with loans at usurious interest rates, France expanded its possessions at the expense of the territory of Liberia.
The capture of the most developed African countries required special efforts from the colonial powers. Acting mainly in small expeditions, the colonialists kept 20-30 thousand troops in Western and Equatorial Africa in the 90s, that is, during the period of the most intense operations. In 1896, the Italians concentrated 50 thousand soldiers and officers in Ethiopia and Eritrea and still lost the war.
Where resistance was stronger (Ethiopia, Western and Eastern Sudan), the colonialists cooperated with the local nobility, and the forms of this cooperation (direct or indirect control, see the article Colonial management systems) were dictated, on the one hand, by the peculiarities of colonial policy European powers, and on the other hand, the peculiarities of the liberation struggle in various regions. In particular, in German East Africa, indirect control was widely used in the areas of settlement of the Hehe, a people who offered decisive resistance to the Germans in 1891-92. Peoples who were at a lower stage of development and showed less resistance (the Congo Basin) were subjected to colonization in the most barbaric forms, destructive to their way of life.
By 1900, 9/10 of the African continent was in the hands of colonial invaders. The colonies were turned into agricultural and raw materials appendages of the metropolises. The foundations were laid for agricultural specialization in the production of export crops (cotton in Sudan, peanuts in Senegal, cocoa and palm oil in Nigeria, etc.). The involvement of Tropical Africa in the world capitalist market was carried out through the merciless exploitation of its natural and human resources, through political and social discrimination of the indigenous population. To ensure its profits, capitalist Europe has repeatedly turned to methods of exploitation characteristic of the times of slavery and feudalism and which brought untold misfortunes to Africans.
Colonial societies in Tropical Africa were multistructured structures that occupied a subordinate position within the framework of imperial structures. Pre-capitalist natural structures prevailed. Small-scale production developed primarily in coastal areas, which were most influenced by colonization. Capitalism, with the exception of areas where European settlers lived (Kenya, Rhodesia), was represented by individual elements in cities. The beginnings of a working class, exploited mainly by foreigners, appeared there, and the position of local commercial capital strengthened. The main producers of colonial societies were communal peasants.
Colonial oppression provoked resistance from Africans. In Nigeria and Cameroon, uprisings did not stop until the 1st World War. In Somalia, defensive wars continued throughout the pre-war and war periods. In French West Africa, major uprisings took place in Guinea, Dahomey, and the Ivory Coast. A series of uprisings occurred in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The most significant in scale were: the Herero and Hottentot uprising of 1904-1906 in South-West Africa, 1905-07 in German East Africa, the Zulu uprising of 1906. The people of Madagascar waged a stubborn struggle against the colonialists (Sakalava uprising 1897-1900, Malagasy uprising 1904- 05). In the Belgian possessions, where a brutal system of forced labor was introduced to ensure the export of raw materials, mainly rubber, uprisings broke out one after another. Since the beginning of the 90s. The Belgian “Independent State of the Congo” was rocked by uprisings of the Kusu, Tetela and other peoples (see). In Angola in the 80-90s. There were constant clashes between the local population and the Portuguese colonialists. Along with the uprisings that united various segments of the population, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, especially in the most developed colonies of Great Britain and France, the first independent actions of the masses of the city, the nascent intelligentsia, were noted. Nationalist organizations appeared on the Gold Coast, in Senegal (the Young Senegalese), Togo and other countries.
During the First World War, Africa was a source of human and material resources for the metropolises. There were over a quarter of a million soldiers in the French army, natives of the colonies of Tropical Africa and Madagascar. There were more than 60 thousand African soldiers in the armed forces of the British Empire. There were about 20 thousand African soldiers in the German troops, including up to 15 thousand in East Africa. Colonial military units took part in battles in Western Europe and Africa. During the war, Great Britain and France exported livestock products, vegetable oils, and mineral raw materials from their possessions in Tropical Africa. Hundreds of thousands of indigenous people were mobilized to build roads and carry goods for armies. The hardships caused by military operations (in Togo, Cameroon, German East Africa, German South-West Africa), requisitions, recruitment of labor, mobilization into the army, caused the strengthening of the anti-colonial movement. Uprisings occurred in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Nyasaland. In French West Africa, the Mark, Senufo, and Tuaregs rose. The suppression of the uprisings was accompanied by brutal repressions and harsh requisitions.
As a result of hostilities between Germany and the Entente countries, the German colonies were occupied, and after the war they were turned into mandate territories by decisions of the League of Nations.
V. A. Subbotin.
States and peoples in East Africa on the eve of colonial division.
States of the Lower Niger basin in the first half of the 19th century.
The struggle of the peoples of Africa against colonial aggression in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
State formations in Central Sudan, Central and South Africa in the 16th and mid-19th centuries.
Colonial division of Africa in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Second half of the 17th century.
Capital of Benin.
17th century engraving
Division of Africa into subregions: two main ones.
The economic regionalization of Africa has not yet taken shape. In educational and scientific literature, it is usually divided into two large natural and cultural-historical subregions: North Africa and Tropical Africa (or “Sub-Saharan Africa”). As part of Tropical Africa, in turn, it is customary to distinguish Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa(but without South Africa).
North Africa: image of the territory.
The total area of Northern Africa is about 10 million km 2, the population is about 200 million people. The position of the subregion is primarily determined by its Mediterranean “façade”, thanks to which North Africa actually neighbors Southern Europe and South-West Asia and receives access to the main sea route from Europe to Asia. The “rear” of the region is formed by the sparsely populated areas of the Sahara.
North Africa is the cradle of ancient Egyptian civilization, whose contribution to world culture is already known to you. In ancient times, Mediterranean Africa was considered the granary of Rome; traces of underground drainage galleries and other structures can still be found among the lifeless sea of sand and stone. Many coastal cities trace their origins to ancient Roman and Carthaginian settlements. The Arab colonization of the 6th-12th centuries had a huge impact on the ethnic composition of the population, its culture, religion and way of life. North Africa is still called Arab today: almost its entire population speaks Arabic and professes Islam.
The economic life of North Africa is concentrated in the coastal zone. Here are the main centers of manufacturing industry, the main areas of subtropical agriculture, including on irrigated lands. Naturally, almost the entire population of the region is concentrated in this zone. In rural areas, adobe houses with flat roofs and earthen floors predominate.
The cities also have a very characteristic appearance. Therefore, geographers and ethnographers highlight a special Arabic city type, which, like other eastern cities, is characterized by its division into two parts - old and new.
The core of the old part of the city is usually the kasbah - a fortification (citadel) located on an elevated place. The Kasbah is surrounded in a tight ring by other quarters of the old city, built up with low houses with flat roofs and blank courtyard fences. Their main attraction is the colorful oriental bazaars. This entire old city, often surrounded by protective walls, is called the medina, which means “city” in Arabic (see Figure 78). Already outside the medina there is a new, modern part of the city.
All these contrasts are most pronounced in the largest cities, the appearance of which acquires not only national, but also cosmopolitan features. Probably, first of all, this applies to Cairo - the capital and largest city of Egypt, an important political, cultural and religious center of the entire Arab world. Cairo is uniquely located where the narrow Nile Valley meets the fertile Delta, a major cotton-growing region where the world's best long-staple cotton is grown. This area was also called delta by Herodotus, who noted that its configuration resembles the ancient Greek letter “delta” (see map in the atlas). In 1969, Cairo celebrated its 1000th anniversary.
The southern part of the subregion is very sparsely populated. The agricultural population is concentrated in oases, where the main consumer and cash crop is the date palm. The rest of the territory, and even then not all of it, is inhabited only by nomadic camel breeders. and in the Algerian and Libyan parts of Sahara there are oil and gas fields.
Only along the Nile Valley does a narrow “strip of life” wedge itself into the desert kingdom far to the south. The construction of the Acyan hydroelectric complex on the Nile, with the economic and technical assistance of the USSR, was of great importance for the development of all of upper Egypt. . (Task 7.)
Task 1.
Using Table 1 in the Appendices, plot the African countries that gained political independence after World War II on an outline map. Indicate the dates of independence and compare the countries of Northern and Tropical Africa in this regard.
Using the “business card” on the flyleaf of the textbook, select the corresponding “pairs” of countries in Africa and foreign Europe, approximately equal in size to the territory.
Task 2.
Using atlas maps and tables 3-5 of the “Appendices”, classify African countries according to the degree of their wealth in mineral resources. Make a table in the following form:
Draw conclusions about the provision of these countries with raw materials and fuel for the development of heavy industry
Additional task (difficult).
Using the same sources, determine the main territorial combinations of minerals. Oxapacterize the composition of the fossils in each of them; try to connect it with the tectonic structure of the territory. Plot the mineral combinations on a contour map.
Task 3.
Using Figures 7, 8 and 9, tables 6, 7 and 8 in the “Appendices” and atlas maps, specify and supplement the characteristics of land, water and agroclimatic resources of Africa contained in the text of the textbook.
Task 4.
Using Table 3, quantify the urban explosion in Africa. What conclusions can be drawn based on these calculations?
Task 5.
Analyze Figure 77. Using the economic map of Africa in the atlas, indicate specifically which ore, non-metallic minerals, food products and types of agricultural raw materials determine the monocultural specialization of each of the countries indicated on the graph.
Task 6.
Using the physical and economic maps of Africa in the atlas, determine: 1) the main areas of the mining industry in Africa and their specialization, 2) the main areas of commercial agriculture and their specialization, 3) trans-African transport routes. Also use the pictures from Topic 5 of the textbook.
Additional task (creative!).
Using the atlas maps, make a table in your notebook “Zonal specialization of export and consumer crops in Africa” in the following form:
Draw all possible conclusions from the analysis of this table.
Task 7 (creative!).
Using the text of the textbook and the plan of Cairo in the atlas, prepare a message on the topic “Cairo - an Arab city in North Africa.” Also use additional sources of information.
Additional task (for fun).
Imagine that you have taken a journey along the Nile from Aswan to its mouth. Describe your trip in a letter to a friend. Try to create a colorful image of this territory.
Task 8 (creative!).
In your opinion, what needs to be done to prevent a repetition of the “Sahel tragedy” in the future? Give a rationale for your “project.”
Additional task (for fun).
In his novel Five Weeks in a Balloon, Jules Verne talked about traveling through Africa in a hot air balloon. “Repeat” the route of this trip. In what countries are the areas of Africa described by the writer located and what are they like today?
Task 9 (final).
1. (Work in a notebook.) Compare the countries of Northern, Tropical Africa and South Africa according to some indicators characterizing their population and economy. Identify similarities and differences. Present the necessary data in the form of a table.
2. Compare the major extractive industries of North Africa and Southwest Asia. What conclusion can be drawn from this comparison?
3. Compare the main export crops of Tropical Africa and South Asia. What conclusion can be drawn from this comparison?
4. For classroom demonstration, prepare a small album “African Geography on Postage Stamps.”
Self-control and mutual control block
Answer the questions:
1. Why is the population shift to the coasts of the oceans and seas in Africa less pronounced than in foreign Asia?
2. Why is the Congo River not used to export industrial products from the United Belt region?
3. Why is Cairo called “the diamond button that fastens the delta”?
4. Why is Senegal called the “peanut republic”?
Are the following statements correct:
1. Most African countries achieved independence in the second half of the twentieth century.
2. Africa is the region with the highest birth rate and highest death rate in the world.
3. African countries are characterized by high rates of urbanization.
4. Nigeria's main mineral resource is bauxite.
Choose the correct answer:
1. The largest country in Africa by population... (Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa).
2. The most important types of mineral resources in North Africa are... (coal, iron ore, bauxite, oil, natural gas, phosphorites).
3. The least developed countries in Africa include... (Algeria, Ethiopia, Chad, Niger, Somalia, South Africa).
4. The main export agricultural crops of Tropical Africa are... (wheat, millet, cotton, citrus fruits, peanuts, coffee, cocoa, natural rubber, sisal).
Can you:
1. Place on a contour map of the world from memory the following countries mentioned in the text and on text maps: Libya, Algeria, Sudan, Ghana, Congo, Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, Madagascar?
2. Show on the map the following cities mentioned in the text and on the maps: Cairo, Kinshasa, Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Lagos, Dakar, Luanda, Johannesburg?
3. Explain the meaning of the following concepts and terms: monoculture, subsistence farming, apartheid?
4. Indicate which of the following countries are the main producers and exporters of cocoa: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Angola?
Identify the countries to which the following statements apply:
1. A country located on an island with an area of 600 thousand km 2.
2. Countries located “inside” the territory of South Africa.
3. A country lying along the middle reaches of the Niger River and without access to the seas.
4. A country whose capital is Nairobi.
5. A country where 98% of the population is concentrated in an area occupying less than 4% of its total area.
Fill in the blanks in the following phrases:
1. The copper belt stretches from Zambia to the southeastern part... .
2. ... - Africa's largest oil producer and exporter, member of OPEC
3. South Africa produces... all of Africa's manufactured products.
Methodological keys to topic 8
What to remember
1. Political map and peoples of Africa. (Geography, 7th grade.)
2. Features of the physical and geographical position, relief, minerals, climate, waters, soils and vegetation of Africa, natural areas within its borders.
(Geography, 7th grade.)
3. Ancient Egypt. (History, 5th grade.)
4. The main content of the national liberation struggle of the peoples of Africa at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. (History, 8th grade.)
5. Material from part 1 of this textbook.
6. Concepts and terms: colony, bantustan, platform, desert, savannah, equatorial forest, kimberlite pipe, national park.
What you need to know
Leading ideas of topic 8.
Transforming the socio-economic structure of Africa requires great efforts on the part of both African peoples and the entire world community.
Main scientific knowledge of topic 8:
1. Characteristic features of the economic and geographical position, geography of natural conditions and resources, population, industry, agriculture, environmental problems of Africa.
2. The concept of monoculture.
3. Image of the territory of North Africa.
4. Image of the territory of Tropical Africa.
5. Brief overview of South Africa.
6. Key words of the topic: 1) colonial type of sectoral structure of the economy, 2) monoculture, 3) Arab type of city.
What you need to know
1. Using a textbook and atlas, independently obtain the necessary knowledge for characterization.
2. Provide comparative characteristics of industries, regions and cities.
3. Prepare a summary of a report on a given topic.
Maksakovsky V.P., Geography. Economic and social geography of the world 10th grade. : textbook for general education institutions
Subregions of Northern and Tropical Africa. South Africa
