Africa (1400s-Present)

Triangular Trade

Jan 1, 1400

~The Triangular Trade was started with Portugal's new interest in slaves instead of gold and rumored treasures.
~European nations needed new workers because the natives of the New World were dying from diseases.
~1st stage: European goods shipped to Africa in exchange for slaves.
~2nd stage: (Middle Passage) African slaves shipped to America.
~3rd stage: American plantation products shipped to Europe.

Africa (1400s-Present)

Period: Jan 1, 1400 to May 4, 2012

Portuguese Ships explore West African coast

Jan 1, 1430

~Portugal took the lead when they began exploring the coast of Africa.
~The Portuguese fleet commanded by Francisco de Almeida seized port cities in the early 16th century.
~The Portuguese wanted Prester John, a Christian king, in the interior of Africa.
~Diego Cao sailed close to the West Afrfican coast and came across the Congo River.
~The Congo River served as a major source for trade throughout Africa.
~Many of the slaves shipped to the Americas came from the Congo.

Middle Passage

Jan 1, 1450

~The captives were marched from where they were captured to the coast of Africa to travel to the Americas.
~Ships usually carried several hundred slaves and roughly thirty crew members.
~Enslaved Africans were chained together by their hands and feet and packed at the bottom of ships.

Sao Tome

Jan 1, 1485

~Founded by Portugal in 1485.
~The Portuguese wanted the country so that sugar could be grown more easily; Portugal is located near the equator, so the warmer climate was more suited for sugar cane growing.
~The fire plantation was made in the early 1500s.
~The country was subjected to numerous slave rebellions in 1953; they were called the Batepa Massacre because many people died.
~Soa Tome overthrew the Caetano dictatorship in April 1974.

Ashanti Kingdom

Jan 1, 1680

~It was founded in 1680 and took part in the flourishing trade in gold and slaves on Africa's west coast.
~The strongest and most unified of the west African states and one of the last to survive as an independent state.
~In the early 1800s the Ashanti threatened European outposts and trade routes along the Gold Coast.
~In the 1820s they resisted the British, French, and American attempts to destroy the slave trade.

Portuguese expelled from Mombasa

Jan 1, 1730

~Mombasa was a major port city and it was plagued with several attacks from the Portuguese.
~In 1585 Turks led by Emir Ali Bey caused revolts from Mogadishu to Mombasa against the Portuguese.
~Mombasa became controlled by the Sultanate of Omar and later came under Portuguese rule.

Boer's Great Trek in South Africa

Jan 1, 1830

~Between 1835 and the early 1840s, 14,000 Boers (descendants of Dutch settlers) emigrated from Cape Colony in South Africa.
~The trek was a rebellion against the policies of the British government and a search for fresh pastuerlads.
~Also known as the Afrikaans Grot Trek.

French seize Algeria

Jan 2, 1830

~The French seizure of Algeria lasted between 1830 and 1847.
~Algeria wanted to be independent from France, thus creating a civil war between loyalist Algerians and insurrectionist Algerian Muslims.
~This was characterized by guerilla warfare, marquis fighting, terrorism, and torture usage.

Slave Trade declared illegal in Great Britain

Aug 1, 1834

~The Slavery Aboltion Act of 1833 banned slavery completely in Great Britain.
~Traders took to smuggling slaves to continue making a profit between 1836 and 1845.
~Slaves were still needed because plantations needed workers and the economy was growing.
~Between 1780 and 1867 the last slave ships entered Cuba's ports.
~The U.S. declared the slave trade illegal in 1808, following Britain's example.

Opening of Suez Canal

Apr 25, 1859

~Ferdinand de Lesseps signed a conctract to begin construction of the canal.
~The Suez Canal was 25 feet deep, 72 feet wide at the bottom, and 200-300 feet wide at the surface.
~In 1875, Great Britain became the largest shareholder in the Suez Canal Company, when it bought up the stock of the new Ottoman governor of Egypt.
~In 1882, Britain invaded Egypt and the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, in 1936, made Egypt independent.

Boer War

May 9, 1880

~There were two wars fought between the British and the descendents of the Dutch, the Boers.
~The first Boer War was fought from 1880-1881, and resulted with the Boers being granted self-government in the Transvaal, a province in South Africa.
~The second Boer War was fought from 1899-1902, due to the Boers trying to prevent the colonial rule from the British.
~The Boer War ended with the Treaty of Vereenigina, which was signed on May 1902.

Berlin West Africa Conference

Nov 15, 1884

~14 European countries and the US met from Nov. 15, 1884 to Feb. 26, 1885.
~It confirmed that any European nation could claim a colony as long as other countries were informed.
~African areas were created based on historical precedence.
~Portugal- Mozambique, Angola, and Guinea.
~England- Nigeria (British Royal Niger Company).
~Germany- East Africa (German East African Company).
~Italy- Eritrea, Somaliland.

Jomo Kenvatta

Jan 1, 1900

~Jomo was born in 1894 as Kamau Ngengi.
~He is considered the Founding Father of the Kenyan Nation.
~He was the first prime minister and president of Kenya.
~He launched a monthly newsletter called Mwigithania that was aimed at getting support from all the Kikuyu, who were the Bantu people of Kenya.
~The newsletter had a mild tone yet preached self-improvement.
~The British commission recommended a closer union of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika.

Brazzaville Declaration

Jan 6, 1944

~Held to revise the relationship between France and its colonies in Africa after the fall of France in WWI.
~Stated six things: The French Empire emains united; Semi-autonomous assemblies are established; Colonial citizens share equal rights; Colonial citizens have the right to vote for French Parliament; Native population employed in public serivce postitions in colonies; Economic reforms made to repair France and the colonies' relationship.

South African Apartheid

Jul 1, 1948

~After a series of laws that were passed in South Africa, the word apartheid was offically used to describe the conditions of racism in Africa.
~It was a movement that took place in South Africa that gave minorities and native Africans little freedom to the British decendents.
~The Group Areas Act was passed on April 27, 1950. It banned certain races from certain urban areas.
~The Bantu Education Act was passed to reduce the amount of education that any African could recieve in South Africa.

Ghana statehood

Mar 6, 1957

~Ghana became the first African country to gain independence.
~People of Ghana fought along the British and the French during both World Wars, and soon after wanted independence.
~Dr. Kwame Nkrumah led the country,and he was the General
Secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention.
~After they gained independence, Ghana's economy failed and debt increased.
~Nkrumah declared himself dictator of Ghana.

Apartheid ending

May 31, 1961

~On May 31, 1961, South Africa became a republic.
~In 1962, Nelson Mandela was arrested for starting a strike and he served 27 years in prison.
~On May 10, 199,4 Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa in the first multi-racial election.
~On May 8, 1996, a new constitution was written and took effect in 1997; it was written as a non-discriminatory document that gave equal rights to every race in South Africa.

Organization for African Unity

May 25, 1963

~Established in 1963 and disbanded in 2002.
~The main goals of the OAU was as follows:
To unify and solidify the African coninent, to act as one voice for the African people, to maintain cooperation between African states, to eradicate all forms of colonialism in Africa, and to defend the independence of African states.

Algerian independence

Jul 5, 1963

~Algeria was under the control of the Berbers, Carthage, Rome, France, and the Ottomans.
~Algeria was influenced by French culture and customs.
~This usurping was characterized by guerilla warfare, marquis fighting, terrorism, and torture usage.

United States in Somalia

Jan 1, 1992

~Jimmy Carter's foreign policy was the protection of human rights.
~The U.S. became concerned with the Soviet influence in Somalia, which was the area between the Red Sea and Yemen.
~In 1979, Soviet troops went into Afghanistan to make a Marxist regime resistant of internal resisting Muslims.
~Military power was used by the U.S. under the Carter Doctrine to safeguard a Western access to the oil reserves in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East.

Rwandan Genocide

Jan 1, 1994

~The Tutsi controlled power of Rwanda for centuries and were sympathized by the Europeans.
~There was a tension build-up due to the uneven control of power and led to devastating deaths of all Tutsi and pro-peace Hutu, regardless of gender or age.
~This was a pre-planned genocide coordinated by the Rwandan government, local military, civil officials, and the mass media.
~The UN evacuated only U.S. citizens.
~France sent a small group to control the conflict.
~800,000 people were killed.

Kony

Jan 1, 2012

~Joseph Kony is the representative leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, the LRA.
~LRA rapes women, destroy villages, and abducts children at night (Night Commuters). Kidnapped children are forced to become soldiers and are killed, mutilated, and forced to commit violent acts.
~Kony defends his actions by saying he fights for the 10 Commandments and uses many justifications from the Bible.
~The U.S. considers the LRA a terrorist group and they send troops to find and kill them.