Summarize the historical geography of North Africa, identify the major physical features and the main cities, and understand who the people are and where most of the population lives in the region.
Understand the unique geographic qualities of the Maghreb and explain how this region is connected to Europe.
Outline the political issues in North Africa and understand the transitions and conflicts occurring in the governments of the region.
Describe the main qualities of the African Transition Zone and explain how the dynamics of this zone are affecting the country of Sudan.
The
Transatlantic slave trade radically impaired Africa's potential to
develop economically and maintain its social and political stability.
The arrival of Europeans on the West African Coast and their
establishment of slave ports in various parts of the continent triggered
a continuous process of exploitation of Africa's human resources,
labor, and commodities. This exploitative commerce influenced the
African political and religious aristocracies, the warrior classes and
the biracial elite, who made small gains from the slave trade, to
participate in the oppression of their own people. The Europeans, on the
other hand, greatly benefited from the Atlantic trade, since it allowed
them to amass the raw materials that fed the Industrial Revolution to
the detriment of African societies whose capacity to transform their
modes of production into a viable entrepreneurial economy was severely
halted.
