AFRICA

BASIC INFO

 Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia.
 The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, both the Suez Canal and the Red
Sea along the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to
the west.
 The continent has 54 sovereign states, including Madagascar, various island groups, and the Sahrawi Arab
Democratic Republic, a member state of the African Union whose statehood is disputed by Morocco.
 Africa, particularly central eastern Africa, is widely regarded within the scientific community to be the
origin of humans and the Hominidaeclade (great apes), as evidenced by the discovery of the
earliest hominids and their ancestors, as well as later ones that have been dated to around seven million
years ago – including Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis, Homo
erectus, H. habilisand H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens (modern human) found
in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago.
 Currency - the currency of South Africa is the Rand
 Natural resources:
o Gold, limestone, soda ash, salt barytes, rubies, fluorspar, garnets, wildl
 Agriculture:
o Coffee, tea, corn(Maize), wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables; dairy products, beef, pork, poultry,
eggs.
 Industries:
o Small-scale consumer goods (plastic, furniture, batteries, textiles, soap, cigarettes, flour),
agricultural processing; oil refining, cement; tourism
o Regions:
 eastern : Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimba
bwe as well as the islands of Madagascar, the Seychelles,Mauritius and Comor.
 Southern: South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia and Angola.
 central : Chad, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo and Zambia
 western: Senegal and the Gambia, of Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, Sierra
Leone and Liberia, of the inland plains of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, the coastal
nations of Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon and the
Republic of the Congo as well as islands such as Sao Tome and Principe.

LANGUAGES

 More than 1,000 different languages .

 Although most countries in Eastern and Southern Africa have adopted colonial European
languages for official government business, most people speak indigenous or local
languages.

 Due to their colonial pasts, the majority of the countries in West Africa have adopted French,
English, Spanish, or Portuguese as national languages. The majority of each countries'
inhabitants, however, also speak one or more indigenous languages. Cameroonians may
speak one or more of 24 different languages, in addition to French or English.

 In Ethiopia, people may speak one or more of 70 unique languages or 200 different dialects.
A dialect is a form or variety of a spoken language.
Religion:

 Some are Muslim, although the majority of the people are Christian. The religion they believe in is
called Islam.
 Some people, however, choose to follow ancient religions and believe that natural spirits
and ancestors affect everyday life.

 Christian 68% (includes most whites and Coloreds, about 60% of blacks and about
40% of Indians),
 Muslim 2%,
 Hindu 1.5% (60% of Indians)
 indigenous beliefs and animist 28.5%

CULTURE

FOOD
 .Traditionally, the various cuisines of Africa use a combination of locally available fruits, cereal
grains and vegetables, as well as milk and meat products.

MUSIC
o African popular music, like African traditional music, is vast and varied.
o Most contemporary genres of African popular music build on cross-pollination with western
popular music.
o Genres: blues, jazz and rumba derive to varying degrees from musical traditions from Africa,
taken to the Americas by African slaves. These rhythms and sounds have subsequently been
adapted by newer genres like rock, rhythm and blues.
o The appealing Afro-Euro hybrid the Cuban son (music) influenced popular music in Africa.

 Bells, drums, guitars, likembes (thumb pianos), strung bows, trumpets, and xylophones are just some of the
many instruments played by people in Africa.
 Drums are a common instrument, but some parts of Africa have few trees, so you will find flutes and
trumpets in treeless areas.
 Many African songs are work chants that are sung while the seeds are being planted or the crops are being
harvested. The smallest children are taught to sing and dance. They may be taught to play music and even
build their own instruments.

FASHION

 African clothing is the traditional clothing, often vibrantly coloured, worn by the indigenous peoples
of Africa. In some instances these traditional garments have been replaced by western clothing
introduced by European colonialists.
 North Africa: Djellaba
 South Africa:Madiba shirt
 Zimbabwe: Safari shirt
 Ethiopia: (men) Ethiopian dashiki and (women) Ethiopian coffee dress.
 Somalia: (men) khameez with a small cap called a koofiyad.
 the Kanzu
 o is the traditional dress worn by Swahili speaking men.
 Generally women: Kanga and Gomesi.

DANCE

 Adumu
o is a Maasai dance which is performed during Eunoto, the coming of age ceremony of warriors.
o This dance, also referred to as aigus, or ―the jumping dance‖ by non-Maasai.
o often photographed during, this competitive jumping.
o A circle is formed by the warriors, and one or two at a time will enter the center to begin jumping
while maintaining a narrow posture, never letting their heels touch the ground. Members of the
group may raise the pitch of their voices based on the height of the jump.
 Kpanlogo
o from Ghana, more specifically the Ga ethnic group.
o known as a highlife dance form performed to conga-like drums.
 Mohobelo
o "striding dance" of the Sotho features striding, leaping, and in some cases, sliding, and almost
slithering along the ground.

o Yankadi and Macru

o are two common dances.
o from Guinea, West Africa.
o Yankadi is slow and mellow, while Macru has a faster tempo with lots of movement.
o The men and women who participate in the dance face each other in rows; everyone has a scarf,
and the dancers put their scarf on the one whom they wish to dance with.

 Moribayasa
o dance used by women who have bad luck.
o The women prepares by putting on ragged and dirty clothes, then goes with a group of drummers
to the tree. The group plays, and she sings and dances all around the village before returning to the
tree. There she digs a hole and removes her ragged clothing; she buries these at the foot of the tree
with a prayer for help.
 Agbekor
o comes from the Fon and Ewe people.
o It is an ancient dance once known as Atamga. Agbekor is often performed at cultural events and at
funerals. This dance is performed with horsetails, and the movements mimic battlefield tactics
such as stabbing with the end of the horsetail. This dance consists of phrases of movements. A
phrase consists of a "turn" which occurs in every phrase and then a different ending movement.
These phrases are added back to back with slight variations within them.
 Agahu
o dance was created by the Egun speaking people of Ketonu.
o popular social dance in West Africa.
o Dance movements are closely related to the percussive rhythms and songs. The lead drum called
an agboba, a large barrel-shaped drum, can distinguish Agahu from other dances.
o In this dance there are two circles, one with men and the other with women.

SPORTS

o FOOTBALL/SOCCER
o Fifty-three African countries have teams in the Confederation of African Football, while
Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, and Ghana have advanced to the knockout stage of recent
FIFA World Cups. South Africa hosted the 2010 World Cup tournament, becoming the
first African country to do so.
 o CRICKET
o The three countries, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya jointly hosted the 2003 Cricket
World Cup. Namibia is the other African country to have played in a World Cup.
o RUGBY

ARTS

o constitutes one of the most diverse legacies on earth

o Though many casual observers tend to generalize "traditional" African art, the continent is full of people,
societies, and civilizations, each with a unique visual special culture.
o Emphasis on the human figure:
o \symbolize the living or the dead, may reference chiefs, dancers, or various trades such as
drummers or hunters
o even may be an anthropomorphic representation of a god or have other votive function.
o Another common theme is the inter-morphosis of human and animal
o Visual abstraction:
o African artworks tend to favor visual abstraction over naturalistic representation.
o sculpture.
o One of the greatest contributions Africa has made to the cultural heritage of mankind
o highly developed art form with thousands of years of history behind it.
o Early humans created painting and engravings on rock walls.
LITERATURE

 As George Joseph notes on the first page of his chapter on African literature in Understanding
Contemporary Africa, while the European perception of literature generally refers to written letters, the
African concept includes oral literature.

As George Joseph continues, while European views of literature often stressed a separation of art and content,
African awareness is inclusive:

o "Literature" can also imply an artistic use of words for the sake of art alone. Without denying the
important role of aesthetics in Africa, we should keep in mind that, traditionally, Africans do not
radically separate art from teaching. Rather than write or sing for beauty in itself, African writers,
taking their cue from oral literature, use beauty to help communicate important truths and
information to society. Indeed, an object is considered beautiful because of the truths it reveals and
the communities it helps to build.

Oral literature

 may be in prose or verse.

 Prose
o is often mythological or historical and can include tales of the trickster character.
 Storytellers in Africa sometimes use call-and-response techniques to tell their stories.
 Poetry
o often sung, includes: narrative epic, occupational verse, ritual verse, praise poems to rulers and
other prominent people.
 Praise singers, bards sometimes known as "griots", tell their stories with music.
 Also recited, often sung, are: love songs, work songs, children's songs, along with epigrams, proverbs and
riddles.

Precolonial literature

 Examples of pre-colonial African literature are numerous.

 Oral literature of west Africa includes the Epic of Sundiata composed in medieval Mali, The older Epic of
Dinga from the old Ghana Empire.
 In Ethiopia, originally written in Ge'ez script is the Kebra Negast or book of kings.
 One popular form of traditional African folktale is the "trickster" story, where a small animal uses its wits
to survive encounters with larger creatures.
o Anansi, a spider in the folklore of the Ashanti people of Ghana
o Ijàpá, a tortoise in Yoruba folklore of Nigeria
o Sungura, a hare found in central and East African folklore.
 wide array of topics:
o Astronomy, Poetry, Law, History, Faith, Politics, and Philosophy among others.
o Swahili literature
 draws inspiration from Islamic teachings but developed under indigenous circumstances.
 One of the most renowned and earliest pieces of Swahili literature being Utendi wa
Tambuka or "The Story of Tambuka"
o In Islamic times, North Africans such as ibn Khaldun attained great distinction within Arabic
literature. Medieval north Africa boasted Universities such as those of Fez and Cairo, with copious
amounts of literature to supplement them.
Colonial African literature

 The African works best known in the West from the period of colonization and the slave trade are primarily
slave narratives, such as Olaudah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
(1789).
 In the colonial period, Africans exposed to Western languages began to write in those tongues.
o 1911, Joseph Ephraim Casely-Hayford (also known as Ekra-Agiman) of the Gold Coast (now
Ghana)
 published what is probably the first African novel written in English, Ethiopia Unbound:
Studies in Race Emancipation
 Although the work moves between fiction and political advocacy, its publication and
positive reviews in the Western press mark a watershed moment in African literature.
 African plays began to emerge.
o 1935,Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo of South Africa published the first English-language African
play , The Girl Who Killed to Save: Nongqawuse the Liberator.
o 1962, Ngugi wa Thiong'o of Kenya wrote the first East African drama, The Black Hermit, a
cautionary tale about "tribalism" (racism between African tribes).
 late colonial period (between the end of World War I and independence):
o increasingly showed themes of liberation, independence, and (among Africans in French-
controlled territories) négritude.
o One of the leaders of the négritude movement, the poet and eventual President of Senegal,
Léopold Sédar Senghor, published the first anthology of French-language poetry written by
Africans in 1948, Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et malgache de langue française
(Anthology of the New Black and Malagasy Poetry in the French Language), featuring a preface
by the French existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre.
 African literature in the late colonial period (between the end of World War I and independence)
increasingly showed themes of liberation, independence, and (among Africans in French-controlled
territories) négritude. One of the leaders of the négritude movement, the poet and eventual President of
Senegal Léopold Sédar Senghor, published the first anthology of French-language poetry written by
Africans in 1948, Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et malgache de langue française (Anthology of
the New Black and Malagasy Poetry in the French Language), featuring a preface by the French
existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre.

Postcolonial African literature

 With liberation and increased literacy since most African nations gained their independence in the 1950s
and 1960s, African literature has grown dramatically in quantity and in recognition, with numerous African
works appearing in Western academic curricula and on "best of" lists compiled at the end of the 20th
century.
 African writers in this period wrote both in Western languages (notably English, French, and Portuguese)
and in traditional African languages.
 Ali A. Mazrui
o themes: the clash between Africa's past and present, between tradition and modernity, between
indigenous and foreign, between individualism and community, between socialism and capitalism,
between development and self-reliance and between Africanity and humanity.
 Other themes in this period include social problems such as corruption, the economic disparities in newly
independent countries, and the rights and roles of women.
 Female writers are today far better represented in published African literature than they were prior to
independence.
 Wole Soyinka
o became the first post-independence African writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Algerian-
born Albert Camus had been awarded the 1957 prize.
NOVELS

 Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (Nigeria)

o The novel depicts the life of Okonkwo, a leader and local wrestling champion in Umuofia—a
fictional group of nine villages in Nigeria, inhabited by the Igbo ethnic group. In addition it
focuses on his three wives, his children, and the influences of British colonialism and Christian
missionaries on his traditional Igbo (archaically "Ibo") community during the late nineteenth
century.
 Thomas Mofolo, Chaka (South Africa)
o Chaka is the most famous novel by the writer Thomas Mofolo of Lesotho. Written in Sotho, it is a
mythic retelling of the story of the rise and fall of the Zulu emperor-king Shaka. It was named one
of the twelve best works of African literature of the 20th century by a panel organized by Ali
Mazrui. The book has been translated into English on two separate occasions.
 Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions (Zimbabwe)
o The story is told by and from the perspective of Tambudzai, a young Shona girl living in a small
village in Rhodesia, whose own story begins with the death of her brother, Nhamo.

 The clash of cultures: the novel's primary theme is the clash between traditional
African cultures and the cultures of the Western colonial powers. The clash covers
social traditions, religious beliefs, the roles of women and children, racial
distinctions, and the view that Western culture is more sophisticated.
 The role of women: Tambu herself struggles against the societal proscription on a
role for women beyond housewife, as she wishes to be educated and move beyond
the small and isolated world of her own village. She sees the results of similar
struggles as her mother, cousin, and aunt all face consequences for their attempts to
break out of the narrow roles society has given them.
 Retaining "traditional" culture: Tambu sees the void in Nyasha's life as she tries to
re-integrate into Zimbabwean society without the knowledge of or respect for her
country's traditions. Retaining culture and tradition as a part of one's identity even as
a society evolves is a major conflict within the novel.

 Ngugi wa Thiong'o, A Grain of Wheat (Kenya)

o A Grain of Wheat is the third and best-known novel by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, a novelist from
Kenya. The novel weaves several stories together during the state of emergency in Kenya's
struggle for independence (1952–1959), focusing on the quiet Mugo, whose life is ruled by a dark
secret. The plot revolves around his home village's preparations for Kenya's independence day
celebration (Uhuru day). Former resistance fighters General R and Koinandu plan on publicly
executing the traitor who betrayed Kihika (a heroic resistance fighter hailing from the village) on
that day.
 Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa, The Forest of a Thousand Demons(Nigeria)
o This book contains a very interesting story and adventure of a West African Hunter in a dreadful
forest, who eventually found the secret of lasting happiness and peace of mind. The author is
Daniel Fagunwa. Wole Soyinka, a Nobelist translated the story. This book had 140 pages of jam-
packed action.
 Mariama Bâ, Une si longue lettre (So Long a Letter) (Senegal)
o So Long a Letter recounts the personal narrative of a recently widowed Senegalese woman,
Ramatoulaye, in the form of a letter to her best friend from childhood, Aïssatou. Following the
death of her husband, Moudo Fall, Ramatoulaye writes to her friend during the period of mourning
mandated by her Islamic faith.
  Ousmane Sembène, Xala (Senegal)
o Xala (1973) is a novel by Ousmane Sembène. It is about El Hadji Abdou Kader Beye, a
businessman who is struck by impotence on the night of his wedding to his third wife. It was
adapted into a movie, also called Xala and directed by Sembene.
 Mia Couto, Terra Sonâmbula (A Sleepwalking Land)(Mozambique)
o Land is Mia Couto's first novel set in Mozambique during the end of the civil war when the
pressure to end the war was at its highest point. The two main characters, Tuahir and Muidinga,
travel down a road that had been abandoned. They encounter the many signs of the war including
a charred bus and many bodies. Next to one of these bodies they find a set of notebooks written by
Kindzu. The narration alternates between Tuahir and Muidinga and what is written in the
notebooks.

FOLKTALES

 Many cultures in Africa have traditions of oral story telling.

 Skilled storytellers would memorize folktales and captivate audiences with their stories of adventure.
 Many African folktales have morals, or lessons, for the young audiences.

PEOPLE

 Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)

o is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor at Brown University and critic.
o He is best known for his first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the most widely read book
in modern African literature.
 Wole Soyinka (Nigeria)
o Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright.
o He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, the first African to be so honoured.
o In 1994, he was designated United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of African culture, human rights, freedom of
expression, media and communication.
 Christopher Okigbo (Nigeria)
o Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo was a Nigerian poet, who died fighting for the independence of
Biafra.
o the outstanding postcolonial English-language African poet and one of the major modernist
writers of the twentieth century.
 Lenrie Peters (Gambia)
o a Gambian surgeon, novelist, and poet.
o Novels
 1965: The Second Round
o Poetry
 1964: Poems
 1967: Satellites
 1971: Katchikali
 Kofi Anyidoho (Ghana)
o is a Ghanaian poet and academic who comes from a family tradition of Ewe poets and oral artists.
o He is currently Professor of Literature at the University of Ghana.
o He has received numerous awards for his poetry, including the Valco Fund Literary Award, the
Langston Hughes Prize, the BBC Arts and Africa Poetry Award, the Fania Kruger Fellowship for
Poetry of Social Vision, Poet of the Year (Ghana), and the Ghana Book Award.
 Dennis Brutus (South Africa)
o was a South African activist, educator, journalist and poet best known for his campaign to have
apartheid South Africa banned from the Olympic Games.
  Dunbar, Paul Laurence
African American poet, often remembered for his dialect poetry.
a. wrote this poem, " Its words may express his own regrets about the direction of his literary
career. Dunbar was the most famous African American poet, and one of the most famous
American poets, of his time.
b. His career brought him international fame and by any measure was a tremendous success.
Although Dunbar felt his best work was his poetry in standard English, he was celebrated
almost exclusively for his folk poetry about African Americans written in dialect—the "jingle
in a broken tongue."
 Harper, Fances Ellen Watkins

African American writer and antislavery, women's rights, and temperance activist. As a lecturer,
activist, poet, and novelist, Harper dedicated her life to promoting social uplift—of women, of African
Americans, and of African American women in particular—in as many forums as she could find. In the
process, she became one of the best-known and most respected black women of the 19th century

 Eloise Bibb

 was seventeen when she made her literary debut with Poems (1895), published by Monthly
Review Press in Boston.
 Horton, George Moses
 African American poet.
 George Moses Horton, who was enslaved for most of his life, has been called the first
professional black poet in America. Even as a slave, Horton made money by composing
poems for students at the University of North Carolina and became the first African American
in the South to publish a book, receiving local fame as "The Colored Bard of North Carolina."
But Horton's creative potential was continually frustrated by the limits on his freedom.

FACTS

Facts About Africa

 From the Sahara Desert to Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa is continent of extremes.

 Some areas have tremendous natural resources while other areas are barren.
 There are a tremendous number of facts about Africa, but here are the basics.

 Africa is the second biggest continent on Earth.

 Africa is the second most populous content, home to roughly 12 percent of all humans or 840
million people.
 Cairo is the largest city with over nine million inhabitants.

 The largest country in Africa is Sudan.

 The coastline of Africa is 18,950 miles long.
 The longest river is the Nile with a length exceeding 4,150 miles.
 The Nile is the longest river in the world.
 Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and feeds the Nile.
 Africa has 8% of the world’s oil reserves.
 Africa produces nearly 50 percent of the gold in the world.
 Africa produces 50 percent of the diamonds in the world.
 The largest mountain is Mount Kilimanjaro at over 19,317 thousand feet.
 With over 11 million square miles of land, it accounts for 5.7 percent of the Earth surface and over
20 percent of the total land surface of the earth.
 The Sahara Desert is the largest in the world.
 The Sahara is more than 3.5 million square miles in size.
 Africa was connected to South America millions of years ago before the tectonic plates moved
away from each other.
 Africa is currently moving slowly in a northeast direction.

 The Romans termed the continent ―Africa Terra‖, which evolved into Africa.
 Africa is the place where humans first existed.
 Fossil remains show humans existed in Africa over 4 million years ago and perhaps as long as 7
million years.
 The first recorded dominant civilization in Africa was the Egyptians in 3,300 B.C.
 Egypt remained the dominant culture until 343 B.C.
 Phoenicians established Carthage in the north around the 9th century B.C.
 Romans conquered the Phoenicians in 146 BC and ruled much of North Africa until the 4th
Century A.D.
 Arabs put their mark on Africa starting in the seventh century A.D. and spread Islam throughout
the country.
 In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, European powers began to dominate and eventually
colonize much of Africa.
 In the mid to late twentieth century, most African nations gained independence.
 Africa is currently considered the poorest continent on Earth.