Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century African History

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
TWENTIETH-CENTURY
AFRICAN HISTORY
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
TWENTIETH-CENTURY
AFRICAN HISTORY
Editor: Paul Tiyambe Zeleza
Deputy Editor: Dickson Eyoh

First published 2003
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
# 2003 Routledge
Typeset in Baskerville by Taylor & Francis Books Ltd
Indexed by Indexing Specialists (UK) Ltd
Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd,
Padstow, Cornwall
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Encyclopedia of twentieth-century African history /
edited by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza and Dickson Eyoh
Includes bibliographical references and index
1. Africa–History–20th century–Encyclopedias.
I. Zeleza, Tiyambe, 1955- II. Eyoh, Dickson, 1954-
DT29 .E53 2003
960.3'1'03–dc21
2002031682
ISBN 0–415–23479–4
Contents
Editorial team vi How to use this encyclopedia xv

List of contributors vii Thematic entry list xvi
Introduction xi Entries A–Z 1
Acknowledgments xiv Index 627
v
Editorial team
General editor Valerie Hoffman

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Paul Tiyambe Zeleza
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA Eboe Hutchful
Wayne State University, USA
Deputy editor Bogumil Jewswiecki
Université Laval, Canada
Dickson Eyoh
University of Toronto, Canada Cheryl Johnson-Odim
Columbia College Chicago, USA
Associate editors Zine Magubane
Keletso Atkins
University of Minnesota, USA Wunyabari Maloba
University of Delaware, USA
Bruce J. Berman
Queen’s University, Canada Amina Mama
University of Cape Town, South Africa
Sara Berry
Johns Hopkins University, USA Mahmood Mamdani
Columbia University, USA
Frederick Cooper
New York University, USA Thandika Mkandawire
United Nations Research Institute for Social
Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch
Development (UNRISD), Switzerland
Université Paris VII, France
Nkiru Nzegwu
Mamadou Diouf
Binghamton University, USA
University of Michigan, USA
Atieno Odhiambo
Toyin Falola
Rice University, USA
University of Texas at Austin, USA
Fatima Sadiqi
William Freund
University of Fes, Morocco
University of Natal, South Africa
vi
List of contributors
Hamdi Abdulrahman Elabbas Benmamoun

Cairo University, Egypt University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Agbenyega Adedze Redie Bereketeab

Illinois State University, USA Uppsala University, Sweden
Oforiwaa Aduonum Bruce J. Berman

Illinois State University, USA Queen’s University, Canada
Josephine Ahikire Nemata Blyden

Center for Basic Research and Makerere Uni- University of Texas at Dallas, USA
versity, Uganda Eyamba Bokamba
Emmanuel Akyeampong University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Harvard University, USA Benn L. Bongang
Savannah State University, USA
Ousseina D. Alidou
Rutgers University, USA Elias K. Bongmba
Rice University, USA
Mark D. Alleyne
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA Richard A. Bradshaw
Center College, Danville, Kentucky, USA
James Amanze
University of Botswana, Botswana Sheila Bunwaree
Council for the Development of Social Science
Nicole D. Anderson Research in Africa (CODESRIA), Senegal
James Busumtwi-Sam
Samuel Aryeetey-Attoh Simon Fraser University, Canada
University of Toledo, USA
Joseph S. Caruso
Eric Aseka Columbia University, USA
Kenyatta University, Kenya
Frederick Cooper
Sosina Asfaw New York University, USA
Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch
Lisa Aubrey Université Paris VII, France
Ohio University, USA
Jean-Philippe Dedieu
Lamissa Bangali Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA France
vii
LaRay Denzer Eltigani Abdelgadir Hamid

Northwestern University, USA Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences,
USA
T.J. Desch-Obi
New York University, USA Nicole Hawkes
Boston University, USA
Jan-Georg Deutsch
Center for Modern Oriental Studies, Germany Sean Hawkins
University of Toronto, USA
Momar Coumba Diop
Cheikh Anta Diop University, Senegal Cheryl Hendricks
University of Rochester, USA
Mamadou Diouf
University of Michigan, USA Fred Hendricks
Rhodes University, South Africa
Matthew B. Dwyer
Columbia University, USA Pablo Idahosa
York University, Canada
Romanus Ejiaga
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA Amir H. Idris
Fordham University, USA
M.A. El-Khawas
University of the District of Columbia, USA Uwem E. Ite
Lancaster University, UK
Moha Ennaji
Lynette Jackson
University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Dickson Eyoh
Michelle C. Johnson
University of Toronto, Canada
Bucknell University, USA
Laura Fair
Peter P. Jones
University of Oregon, USA
University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Toyin Falola
Peter Kagwanja
University of Texas at Austin, USA
Sheila Finnie Ezekiel Kalipeni
Vancouver, Canada University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Antonia Folarin-Schleicher Ackson M. Kanduza
University of Wisconsin at Madison, USA University of Swaziland, Swaziland
Richard A. Fredland Tabitha Kanogo
Indiana University, USA University of California, Berkeley, USA
John G. Galaty Riham Mahrous Khafagy
McGill University, Canada University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Olakunle George Martin Klein
University of Oregon, USA University of Toronto, Canada
Bakary Gibba Kwaku Larbi Korang
University of Toronto, Canada University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Azzedine Haddour Chima J. Korieh
University College London, UK University of Toronto, Canada
viii
Bertin K. Kouadio Godwin Murunga

University of Missouri, USA Kenyatta University, Kenya
Benjamin Nicholas Lawrence Abdul Raufu Mustapha

Stanford University, USA Oxford University, UK
Kafureeka Lawyer Shadrack Wanjala Nasong’o

Center for Basic Research, Uganda University of Nairobi, Kenya
Janet MacGaffey Brent Never

Bucknell University, USA Indiana University, USA
Zine Magubane Abderrahmane N’Gaı̈de

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA Paris, France
Fallou Ngom
Wunyabari Maloba
University of Delaware, USA
Sada Niang
Tiyanjana Maluwa
University of Victoria, Canada
United Nations Commission for Human Rights
(UNCHR), Switzerland Tandeka Nkiwane
Smith College, USA
Mahmood Mamdani
Columbia University, USA Francis B. Nyamnjoh
University of Botswana, Botswana
Guy Martin
New York University, USA Nkiru Nzegwu
Binghamton University, USA
Robert Maxon
West Virginia University, USA Cyril I. Obi
Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Nigeria
Alamin M. Mazrui
Ohio State University, USA Godson C. Obia
Eastern Illinois University, USA
Gertrude Mianda
Akin Ogundiran
York University, Canada
Florida International University, USA
Judith Mitchell
Philomina Okeke
McGill University, Canada
University of Alberta, Canada
Thandika Mkandawire Akura Okong’o
United Nations Research Institute for Social Miami University, USA
Development (UNRISD), Switzerland
Modupe Olaogun
Alois Mlambo York University, Canada
University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
Adebayo O. Olukoshi
Jama Mohamed Council for the Development of Social Science
Wake Forest University, USA Research in Africa (CODESRIA), Senegal
Lupenga Mphande Joseph Ransford Oppong
Ohio State University, USA University of North Texas, USA
Mustafa A. Mughazy William Y. Osei
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA Algoma University College, Canada
ix
Tiffany Ruby Patterson Charles Stewart

Binghamton University, USA University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Neville W. Pule Wisdom J. Tettey

University of Lesotho, Lesotho University of Calgary, Canada
John Rapley Dominic Thomas

University of the West Indies, Jamaica University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Carina E. Ray Tom Turino

Cornell University, USA University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Jeremy Rich Jane Turrittin

Corby College, USA York University, Canada
Mieka Ritsema Meredeth Turshen

Yale University, USA Rutgers University, USA
Charles Ukeje
Stephen J. Rockel
Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria
University of Toronto at Scarborough, Canada
Cassandra Rachel Veney
Mutuma Rutere
Illinois State University, USA
Kenya Human Rights Commission, Kenya
Bjorn Westgard
Ahmed Ali Salem
Gavin Williams
Zakia Salime Oxford University, UK
Alex Winter-Nelson
Ebrima Sall University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Sweden
Stephen R. Wooten
Gerhard Seibert University of Oregon, USA
Instituto de Investigação Cientı́fica Tropical, Por-
tugal A.B. Zack-Williams
Central Lancashire University, UK
Robert W. Shenton
Queen’s University, Canada Paul Tiyambe Zeleza
Ahmad Sikainga
Bahru Zewde
Ohio State University, USA
Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Jacqueline S. Solway
Trent University, Canada
x
Introduction
This encyclopedia explores the history of Africa in placed in the context of the pertinent historiogra-
the twentieth century, during which the continent phical debates.
not only experienced profound transformations, The twentieth century was one of the most
but African history as a field of scholarly inquiry tumultuous centuries in world history. Whether in
came into its own. Although the writing of African culture and the arts, economy and society, science,
history goes back to the origins of the discipline of medicine and technology, politics and ideology,
history itself, at the beginning of the twentieth relations of race, class and gender, demographic
century Africa was dismissed as a historical waste- and spatial structures, environmental and epide-
land in the narratives of imperialist and Euro- miological conditions, epistemological, theoretical
centric historiography, which emphasized instead and representational–expressive systems, the cen-
the civilizing impact of European activities on the tury was characterized by massive, complex, and
continent, now reduced to a sub-Saharan contrap- contradictory transformations in all domains of
tion from which North Africa was severed. human experience. It was a century of Janus-faced
Critiques of imperialist historiography, combined extremes. Globally the century saw the apogee of
with nationalist struggles against colonialism that mass production and mass marketing, and their
led to decolonization and the emergence of new consummation in mass consumption and mass
independent nations, culminated in the rise of a leisure; it inaugurated the age of mass commu-
nationalist historiography that emphasized African nication and mass education; it ushered in the era
activities. Later other historiographical traditions of mass nationalisms and mass revolts driven by
emerged, influenced by a motley array of intellec- utopian ideals. But it was also a century of mass
tual, ideological, and social movements, especially hysteria and mass murder, mass oppression and
Marxism, feminism, poststructuralism, develop- mass poverty, mass ignorance and mass disease.
ment studies, cultural studies, and environmental The century of unparalleled technological and
studies, which emphasized the role of class, gender, scientific achievement, economic prosperity and
identity, dependency, culture, and ecology, among population growth, progressive modernization and
many other things, in the historical evolution of globalization, was also one marked by unprece-
African societies. By the end of the twentieth dented global warfare and genocide, seemingly
century, therefore, African history was truly a irreconcilable social and geopolitical divisions,
house of many mansions, a vast scholarly enterprise major population dislocations, national and ethnic
with its own specialized journals, presses, and conflicts, racial, factional and religious chauvin-
discourses, a subject taught in schools and isms, and various manifestations of colonialism,
universities across the continent and in many other authoritarianism, and totalitarianism. For all the
parts of the world. This encyclopedia seeks to epic victories won by the movements for national
capture this intellectual ferment in African histor- liberation, for class and gender equality, and for
ical studies by offering entries, especially the longer civil and human rights, the twentieth century
ones, that present critical interpretation which is nevertheless closed with the gaps between rich and
xi
Introduction
poor, both within and between nations, growing discussion of the phenomenon or process in
ever wider. question in its relevant historiographical context.
What was the nature of Africa’s encounter with Collectively these entries seek to examine the
this most global of centuries – with its triumphs and strengths and limitations of the epistemological
tragedies, its accomplishments and failures, its and discursive frameworks that have informed
passionate pronouncements and painful reversals, analysis and debate about Africa’s twentieth-
its uneven developments and complex demands? In century experience, and identify analytical chal-
what ways were the peoples and polities, the lenges and visions for Africa, African history, and
societies and states, the psychologies and cultures, African studies more generally as we turn towards
the economies and ecologies, of the continent the twenty-first century. The second group, also
affected by – on the one hand – and themselves covering specific topics, themes, or events, consist
influenced – on the other – the changes and events of shorter entries of 2,000 words each. In selecting
that occurred during the century? This encyclope- the topics, we were guided by three considerations:
dia seeks to survey the constellation of global and first, that major events that had a profound impact
local forces that interacted to shape political, on African societies were covered; second, that key
economic, social, cultural, artistic, and environ- thematic areas were covered (these included
mental developments and relationships within economic, political, social, cultural, demographic,
Africa and between Africa and the rest of the and environmental transformations); and, third,
world. Within this framework the entries examine that conventional and novel areas of African
patterns across the continent and within particular historical research and writing were covered. The
regions and countries. A major emphasis of the third group of entries consisted of ‘‘area surveys’’
encyclopedia is on examining and capturing how organized by region (geographical, environmental,
ordinary people’s lives changed as a result of the and linguistic regions, and regional integration
ways in which they responded to, mediated, and schemes), country, and major city, ranging from
initiated the forces of change. 3,000 words for some of the regional entries,
through 1,000–1,500-word entries for the coun-
tries, to 600-word entries for the cities. These
Coverage and contributors
entries were designed to examine, respectively, the
In drawing up our list of entries we tried to balance various ways in which regions and regional
breadth and depth of coverage with a number of identities in Africa were formed and developed
other considerations. It was key to our conception over the course of the twentieth century; the
of the encyclopedia that the entries should, unless salient economic, political, social, and cultural
clearly marked by temporal or spatial referents, histories of each of the continent’s countries; and,
cover the entire twentieth century; authors were finally, the histories of Africa’s major cities.
therefore encouraged to trace the historical devel- Each entry also has a ‘‘Further reading’’ list,
opment of the process, phenomenon, or place which varies according to the length of the entry.
being discussed from the beginning to the end of Entries are also internally cross-referenced (cross-
the century. Also, in the same vein, we wanted the references are marked with small capitals), and the
encyclopedia to cover the entire continent, includ- longer ones sometimes list related entries under
ing North Africa, so authors were expected to draw the heading ‘‘See also.’’ All the entries aim to
examples from across the continent and make the combine essential factual description with evalua-
pertinent interregional comparisons. tion and analysis. The longer entries seek to
To help us arrive at a list of entries that was outline and interrogate the theoretical frameworks
both comprehensive and manageable, we divided and paradigms that have been used to analyze the
the entries into three broad groups of different topic in question. Overall the entries combine to
lengths. The first group consisted of long (4,000- make this an exceptionally rich collection of
word) entries that would explore key topics and, as interdisciplinary analyses, firmly rooted in histor-
broad interpretive essays, would present the ical perspectives, of the major economic, political,
xii
Introduction
social, cultural, demographic, and environmental as advertising through many of the leading African
changes that Africa underwent in the twentieth history and African studies email discussion groups,
century. such as H-Africa, and contacting several research
The strengths of the encyclopedia lie in the team networks, including the Council for the Develop-
of editorial advisers and authors assembled. We ment of Social Science Research in Africa (CO-
were advised by a team of twenty distinguished DESRIA) and the US Association of African
historians and social scientists from Africa, Europe, Studies Programs (AASP). In selecting authors we
and North America. The final list of entries was wanted to balance considerations of gender, nation-
drawn up after extensive consultations with them. ality, career status (senior and junior scholars),
The advisers also suggested names of possible location, and expertise. We believe we succeeded in
authors, and several volunteered to write some of assembling a team of authors whose vast knowledge
the entries themselves. To ensure access to the is amply demonstrated in the text that lies before
widest possible pool of potential authors, we drew you. We acknowledge our indebtedness to them.
up extensive lists based on our personal contacts
and suggestions from the editorial advisers, as well Paul Tiyambe Zeleza and Dickson Eyoh
xiii
Acknowledgments
Producing an encyclopedia requires the collabora- was the professional and personal support from
tive efforts of hundreds of people and many Cassandra Rachel Veney. The amused inquiries
institutions. We would first like to thank Fiona from his daughter, Natasha Thandile, as to why the
Cairns at Routledge who suggested the project encyclopedia was taking so long, provided a
itself, and Dominic Shryane, also at Routledge, reminder better than the official deadline from
who oversaw its progress. Fiona and Dominic have the publisher that the encyclopedia should not
the kind of cheerful qualities of skill, patience, and linger forever.
ability to offer good advice that authors only find Eyoh would like to thank Cheryl Hendricks for
occasionally among publishers. We are profoundly intellectual and personal support over the time it
grateful to the friends and colleagues, too numer- has taken to complete the encyclopedia. Our
ous to mention, who gave us advice, support, and daughter, Malaika, was but a few weeks old when
sometimes contributions, often taking time from we began working on it, and has grown to associate
extremely busy schedules because they believed in the word ‘‘encyclopedia’’ with things that too often
this project. Above all we are deeply indebted to all kept daddy on the phone or computer at incon-
the authors for being so generous with their time venient times. Her impatience with such distrac-
and expertise, and sometimes for being patient tions was sufficient motivation to complete the
with our occasionally anxious deadline reminders. project as soon was possible.
We would like to thank Fallou Ngom for translating It is to our daughters, Natasha and Malaika,
four of the entries from French. that we dedicate this encyclopedia, whose narra-
Each of us has more specific personal debts to tives of the past century will shape their future in
acknowledge. Zeleza would like to thank the staff the new century.
and colleagues at the Center for African Studies at
the University of Illinois for all their assistance Paul Tiyambe Zeleza
throughout the project, and to the university itself Champaign, Illinois
for granting him leave in the fall semester of the Dickson Eyoh
2000–1 academic year and sabbatical during the Toronto, Ontario
2001–2 academic year, during which he was able to 28 January 2002
concentrate on the encyclopedia. Also invaluable
xiv
How to use this encyclopedia
This encyclopedia is intended to offer a relatively Unity and the United Nations), major lan-
comprehensive outline and survey of African guages and linguistic communities (such as
history in the twentieth century. Written by experts anglophone Africa and Arabic), and major
in their fields, the entries seek to offer brief but ecological zones (such as the Niger Delta and
authoritative analyses of the main themes in tropical rain forest).
twentieth-century African history. They have been . 2,000 word entries: These offer more in-depth
structured and organized to facilitate easy refer- overviews and analysis of particular events (such
ence and cross-reference. All the entries are as First World War), processes (such as migrant
accompanied by a ‘‘Further reading’’ section, labor or international trade), topics (such as
which can be used for additional reading on the genocides or sports), and issues (such as
topic or area. Cross-references are provided both human rights or sex and sexuality).
in the text (where they appear in bold) and in the . 3,000 word entries: These offer comprehensive
‘‘See also’’ sections that sometimes appear at the overviews and in-depth analysis of the con-
end of entries. The thematic entry list and tinent’s five regions (North Africa, West Africa,
comprehensive index also enable the reader to Central Africa, East Africa, and Southern
quickly locate other relevant entries in the Africa), and a variety of important topics and
encyclopedia. themes (from the Great Depression and law to
There are five entry sizes: race and ethnicity and telecommunications).
. 4,000 word entries: These article-length entries
. 600 word entries: These are short entries offering
cover major topics and themes in twentieth-
basic information and trends in the twentieth-
century African history, and offer original and
century history of some fifty-eight major cities.
extensive analysis of the topic, theme, process, or
. 1,000 word entries: These offer historical over-
phenomenon concerned. These range from
views of the continent’s fifty-three countries (the
African diasporas and agrarian change to
largest countries – such as Algeria, Democratic
visual arts and youth. As interpretive essays
Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria,
these entries seek to interrogate the pertinent
Sudan, and South Africa – are covered in 1,500
historiographical and theoretical debates and
word entries), regional and international orga-
offer the reader fresh analytical insights.
nizations (such as the Organization of African
xv
Thematic entry list
Africa and global history Congo

Côte d’Ivoire
African diasporas
Democratic Republic of Congo
Cold War
Djibouti
First World War
Egypt
globalization
Equatorial Guinea
Great Depression
Eritrea
non-African diasporas Ethiopia
Pan-Africanism Gabon
Second World War Gambia
Third World Ghana
Guinea
Africa and world organizations Guinea-Bissau
Kenya
Commonwealth Lesotho
European Union Liberia
Francophonie Libya
international financial institutions Madagascar
League of Arab States Malawi
Non-Aligned Movement Mali
Organization of the Islamic Conference Mauritania
United Nations Mauritius
Morocco
Countries Mozambique
Namibia
Algeria Niger
Angola Nigeria
Benin Rwanda
Botswana São Tomé and Prı́ncipe
Burkina Faso Senegal
Burundi Seychelles
Cameroon Sierra Leone
Cape Verde Somalia
Central African Republic South Africa
Chad Sudan
Comoros Swaziland
xvi
Thematic entry list
Tanzania theater
Togo visual arts
Tunisia
Uganda
Major cities
Zambia
Zimbabwe Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
Accra, Ghana
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Economic history
Alexandria, Egypt
agrarian change Algiers, Algeria
capitalisms and capitalists Antananarivo, Madagascar
debt crises Asmara, Eritrea
economy: colonial Bamako, Mali
economy: post-independence Bangui, Central African Republic
food crises Banjul, Gambia
international trade Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
manufacturing: indigenous Blantyre, Malawi
manufacturing: modern Brazzaville, Congo
merchants Bujumbura, Burundi
migrant labor Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
pastoralism Cairo, Egypt
peasants Cape Town, South Africa
plantation agriculture Casablanca, Morocco
structural adjustment programs Conakry, Guinea
telecommunications Cotonou, Benin
trading diasporas Dakar, Senegal
transport Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
workers Douala, Cameroon
Durban, South Africa
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Environmental history
Gaborone, Botswana
environmental change Harare, Zimbabwe
environmental movements Ibadan, Nigeria
Johannesburg, South Africa
Juba, Sudan
Demographic history
Kampala, Uganda
genocides Kano, Nigeria
health and disease Khartoum, Sudan
population Kigali, Rwanda
slavery Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Kumasi, Ghana
Lagos, Nigeria
Intellectual history
Lome, Togo
development of African history Luanda, Angola
intellectuals: colonial Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo
intellectuals: post-independence Lusaka, Zambia
literature Maputo, Mozambique
xvii
Thematic entry list
Maseru, Lesotho law

Mbabane, Swaziland nationalist movements
Mogadishu, Somalia non-governmental organizations
Mombasa, Kenya peasant movements
Monrovia, Liberia refugees
Nairobi, Kenya socialisms and socialists
N’Djamena, Chad state: colonial
Niamey, Niger state: post-independence
Nouakchott, Mauritania women’s movements
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Rabat, Morocco
Regional histories
Tripoli, Libya
Tunis, Tunisia Central Africa
Windhoek, Namibia East Africa
Yaounde, Cameroon North Africa
Zanzibar, Tanzania Southern Africa
West Africa
Major ecological zones
Regional integration
Great Lakes
Niger Delta African Development Bank
Rift Valley Arab Maghreb Union
Sahara Central African Federation
savanna Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
tropical rain forest East African Community
Economic Community of West African States
French Equatorial Africa
Major languages and linguistic communities
French West Africa
anglophone Africa Organization of African Unity
Arabic regional integration
francophone Africa Southern African Development Community
Fulani
Hausa
Religious history
Lingala
lusophone Africa African religions
Swahili Christian reform movements
Yoruba Christianity
Zulu Islam
Islamic reform movements
Political history
Social history
civil society
colonial Africa alcohol and drugs
colonial conquest and resistance architecture
decolonization cinema
human rights dance
labor movements education: colonial
xviii
Thematic entry list
education: post-independence radio and television

families sex and sexuality
leisure society: colonial
music society: post-independence
press sports
professionals urbanization
race and ethnicity youth
xix
A
500,000 by the mid-1970s, and 2,000,000 in 1985.
Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
In 1970, that is ten years after independence, the
Abidjan is the principal city and economic capital port of Abidjan was one of the most dynamic in
of Côte d’Ivoire, with an estimated population of Africa. It contributed significantly to the growth of
3.5 million. The city is situated in the homeland of the city by attracting many migrant workers and
the Ebrie people. The birth and growth of Abidjan their families. After the war Abidjan became the
are closely related to the colonial history of Côte center of political activity in the colony, which was
d’Ivoire. Grand Bassam was the first capital of the part of French West Africa.
new colony (from 1895 to 1900), then Bingerville By the late 1970s Abidjan was one of the most
became the capital from 1900 to 1934. After that it cosmopolitan cities in West Africa, famous for its
moved once again, this time to Abidjan, which was shopping, for skyscrapers housing offices of na-
chosen because the colonial authorities needed a tional companies and international organizations,
location that was economically viable. With the and burgeoning import substitution industries. It
construction in Abidjan of a port, a railway attracted migrants from rural areas and neighbor-
terminus that connected the coast with interior of ing countries, not all of whom could find jobs, so
the country and the Vridi Canal, major economic the city faced increasing criminal activity, trans-
activity gradually came to an end in Grand portation problems, and unemployment. These
Bassam. Abidjan was now economically and reasons, the desire to diversify development, and
politically equipped to be the capital of modern the fact that Abidjan was the center of political
Côte d’Ivoire. Another key factor in the choice of discontent, especially among students and faculty
Abidjan as the capital was the yellow fever at the University of Abidjan, led to the decision by
epidemic that killed a third of the white population President Houphouët-Boigny in 1983 to make
of Grand Bassam in 1899. The survivors fled both Yamoussoukro, his native town, the country’s new
from there and from Bingerville. From that time political capital. The transfer of political institu-
on, Abidjan attracted all types of people from tions and infrastructure from Abidjan to Yamous-
Africa and other continents. soukro was still going on by 2000. Despite this,
When the Crosson–Duplessis mission started Abidjan remained the premier commercial and
railway construction in 1903, only six Europeans cultural center, and the preferred place of residence
and 378 skilled African workers lived in what is for most Ivoiriens, including government officials.
now Abidjan. In 1912 the population increased to In fact, Abidjan concentrated even more on its
1,400 and the workers moved farther north. There commercial role, notwithstanding the economic
were 15,400 inhabitants by 1921, 17,000 when crisis and political instability that followed a
Abidjan became the capital in 1934, 45,000 by the military coup in the 1990s. Abidjan was home to
end of the Second World War, 127,000 in 1955, the National University of Côte d’Ivoire where
1
Accra, Ghana Accra, Ghana
many of the first West African intellectuals were aries. Some of these institutions – such as the
trained. A city noted for its vibrant cultural University College of Ghana (Legon), Achimota
institutions and entertainment, Abidjan is full of College and Korle Bu Hospital – are still famous
contrasts, with ultra-modern residential areas landmarks in Accra today. Successive post-
(Cocody, Riviera, Les-Deux-Plateaux), over- independence governments expanded the colonial
crowded sections (Adjame, Trechville), and suburbs infrastructure but, like most African capitals,
(Abobo-gare). Accra’s exponential growth (from 388,000 people
in 1960 to 1,000,000 in 1980 and 2,000,000 in
2000) was not matched by a corresponding
Further reading
improvement of the infrastructure. In the absence
Diabaté, H., Kodjo, L. and Bamba, S. (1991) Notre of planned development, home construction
Abidjan, Abidjan: Mairie d’Abidjan, Ivoire boomed without adequate road networks and
Média. utilities, leading to traffic jams and lack of efficient
LAMISSA BANGALI
water, electricity, and telephone distribution.
Although Accra’s economy was traditionally
based on fishing and subsistence farming, the retail
and small-scale manufacturing industries are now
Accra, Ghana pre-eminent. The famous Makola market dom-
Accra is the capital city of Ghana with an inates the retail sector and the industrial base is
estimated population of 2,000,000 people, located made up of textile mills, salt production, chemical
in the southeastern region of Ghana bordering the industries, wood and furniture industries, handi-
Atlantic Ocean. Although Accra today is a multi- crafts, and so on. However, the government
ethnic and international city, it is also the home of remains the single most important employer in
the Ga peoples. The name Accra is believed to be a the city, despite the fact that in accordance with the
European corruption of Nkran (meaning ‘‘driver World Bank’s structural adjustment program it has
ants’’), a name given to the Ga by their Fante privatized several government industries leading to
neighbors to the west in remembrance of the Ga layoffs. Despite this setback, Accra is relatively
migration to their present home. better off than some of the other cities in West
In the sixteenth century, Europeans changed the Africa and therefore attracts migrants from other
settlement pattern of the region forever. They built regions of Ghana and neighboring countries.
forts and castles from which they conducted their Furthermore, after Ghana was declared inde-
trade. By the end of the nineteenth century, the pendent on 6 March 1957, Accra became a major
British had bought out the other Europeans and center of Pan-Africanism, an ideology fervently
become the sole masters of the Gold Coast. In an espoused by Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first
effort to effectively extend their control over the president. Famous Pan-Africanists like George
protectorate, the British decided to move the seat Padmore and W.E.B. DuBois spent their final days
of the colonial administration in 1877 from Cape in Accra and were buried there. Nkrumah had
Coast to Accra. From then on, Accra became the vowed at independence that Ghana’s indepen-
new seat of government and Ghana’s leading dence would be meaningless unless all of Africa
commercial city. was liberated. Subsequently, Accra hosted in 1958
As the center and symbol of colonial rule and the All Africa People’s Conference to support anti-
oppression, any anti-British activities that were colonial struggles. Nkrumah Mausoleum and the
formerly aimed at Cape Coast were now redirected DuBois Center are major tourist attractions.
towards Accra. For the smooth running of the Besides its political significance, Accra is also
colony, the British took certain steps to spruce up famous for its cultural activities. While there are
the infrastructure of Accra by building roads, diverse modern forms of entertainment, the
railways, an airstrip, utility services, hospitals, traditional annual Homowo (harvest festival) of
schools, and residential areas for British function- the Ga people with its attendant rituals is a
2
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
reminder of the pre-eminence of African customs this attempt was aborted by their expulsion in
over new cultural forms. 1941, the westward extension endured and gave
the city its major commercial center, Mercato,
reputed to be the largest open-air market in
Further reading
Africa.
Agbodeka, F. (1972) Ghana in the Twentieth Century, In the period after 1941, the southward
Accra: Ghana University Press. expansion of the city continued. Two airports (the
Buah, F.K. (1998) A History of Ghana, London: first built in the southwestern part of the city, the
Macmillan Education Ltd. second in the southeast) became major residential
centers for the affluent and for the growing
AGBENYEGA ADEDZE
expatriate community. The selection of Addis
Ababa as headquarters of the Economic Commis-
sion for Africa in 1958 and the Organization of
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia African Unity in 1963 elevated this hitherto
Addis Ababa (‘‘New Flower’’ in Amharic) was largely insular city into an African metropolis. A
founded in Ethiopia in 1886 by Empress Taytu, construction boom in the 1960s gave it some of its
wife of Emperor Menilek II (reigned 1889–1913). major architectural landmarks – Africa Hall, the
The prime attraction of the site was its hot springs, City Center, the Hilton, and, appropriately en-
which formed the nucleus for the urban settlement ough, its point of origin: the Hot Springs (Fel Weha).
that soon developed. What assured its permanence Addis Ababa was also the seat of the national
was the influx and settlement of foreigners after the university, Haile Selassie I University, founded in
Ethiopian victory at Adwa (1896) and the importa- 1961. Student agitation, spurred by growing social
tion of eucalyptus trees from Australia, which and economic ills, formed the background to the
solved the country’s perennial problem of provid- eruption of the Ethiopian Revolution in 1974. The
ing enough wood and thereby averted the other- major events of that revolution, leading to the
wise inevitable shift to another center. overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie I in Septem-
In the early twentieth century, the city had two ber 1974, unfolded in the city. Following the
nodal points: the Imperial Palace (or Gebbi) and nationalization of urban land and houses in July
the religious-cum-commercial center Arada. Res- 1975, a new administrative structure was put in
idences of members of the nobility served as place. The city was divided into neighborhood
smaller centers around which the settlements of associations (Qabale), which became the basic unit
their dependents and retainers sprouted. With the of administration for the rest of the century.
arrival of the Djibouti–Addis Ababa railway in With the change of regime in 1991 and the ethos
1917, another center was created in the southern of decentralization that then prevailed, the national
outskirts of the town. This ultimately had the effect importance of Addis Ababa declined somewhat.
of pulling the town southwards. Before 1935 the The neglect or breakdown of services gave it a
dominant architectural tradition was Indian. The rather drab character. The expansion of its
coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1930 population, estimated to be about 3,000,000 in
gave the city international prominence, as repre- 2000, compounded the problem. The only positive
sentatives of foreign powers and the Western press notes were struck by the first-class Sheraton Hotel
flocked to attend the colorful event. that graced downtown Addis and a ring road that
The short-lived Italian occupation of the was under construction but expected to revolutio-
country (1936–41) left its impact on the city. The nize motorized traffic.
Italians introduced their own distinctive architec-
tural style, specimens of which survived to the end
Further reading
of the century. Following the colonial tradition,
they also tried to set up a separate quarter for Zekaria, A., Zewde, B. and Beyene, T. (eds) (1987)
Ethiopians in the western part of the city. While Proceedings of the International Symposium on the
3
African Development Bank African Development Bank
Centenary of Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa: Institute of of financial resources. Two facilities for conces-
Ethiopian Studies. sionary loans were added: the African Develop-
ment Fund in 1973 and the Nigeria Trust Fund in
BAHRU ZEWDE
1976. The African Development Fund admitted,
for the first time in the AfDB Group’s young
history, non-regional participants. The Develop-
African Development Bank ment Fund started to operate in 1974 with thirteen
The African Development Bank (AfDB) was non-African states and the Bank. The Nigeria
founded in August 1963 in the first wave of Trust Fund is a specific partnership between the
independence and began operations from its Bank and the Nigerian government. The regional
headquarters in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, in July sovereignty of the Bank was most notably dimin-
1966. Its creation is deeply rooted in the ambition ished by the adhesion of non-regional members in
of the founding African states to have at their 1982, in spite of the strong opposition of Algeria,
disposal the financial and political means for their Libya, and Nigeria. Faced with unbearable macro-
own development, independently from former economic pressure (oil shocks, falling commodity
colonial powers and developed countries. Its very prices, drought), a rising number of countries were
African character was and remains the main in arrears with their debt payments, threatening
characteristic of this regional institution. The first the financial stability and international stature of
president, Mamoun Beheiry, was Sudanese. Since the Bank. The opening of capital and voting rights
then, the presidency has tended to reflect various to non-regional members was the only solution if
linguistic affiliations and geographical equilibria, the Bank was to continue its activities, enabling it
thereby avoiding potential divisions stemming from to raise extra funding from the international capital
the considerable diversity of the continent. As the markets. This measure was accepted under strict
main guarantee of its independence, the African conditions: The president of the Bank would have
Development Bank asserted its pan-African inten- to be African and the headquarters would remain
tions by denying membership and voting rights to on the continent. In addition, non-regional parti-
countries outside the region, unlike its institutional cipants were limited to only a third of the Bank’s
peers that were founded at roughly the same period voting power. The Bank’s authorized capital
(the InterAmerican and the Asian Development amounted to US$23.29 billion at the end of
Banks). Due to its apartheid policies, South Africa 1996. By 2000 the Bank’s membership comprised
was the only African state to be excluded; this fifty-three African countries and twenty-four non-
required a special resolution from the membership. African countries from the Americas, Asia, and
It was only reintegrated in 1995, becoming the Europe.
fifty-third regional member of the Bank. The Bank, Despite these substantial modifications to the
as stated by the Article 1 of its charter, was original spirit of the Bank, it has largely fulfilled its
dedicated ‘‘to contribut[ing] to the economic mandate. Since its creation, its staff have become
development and social progress of its members increasingly professional. Trying to attract and
individually and jointly.’’ Unlike the World Bank, train the best and brightest Africans, by December
the African Development Bank was controlled by 2000 only 101 out of a total of 1,051 members of
its borrowers. Its capital basis was collectively and staff were from member countries outside Africa.
equally shared by its regional members, and its The Bank has also tremendously strengthened its
main target was the allocation of loans enabling the methods for appraising the financial and economic
emerging nation-states to develop. viability of projects financed and monitored loans.
The African status of the Bank was, however, Through the implementation of internationally
endangered and reduced by successive economic, standard procedures, its legitimacy among multi-
financial and debt crises crippling the continent. lateral organizations has been enhanced and this
Since its inception, several adjustments have been regional institution has been able to attract
made to the original structure to tackle the scarcity external resources from international capital mar-
4
African diasporas African diasporas
kets, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Further reading

Countries (OPEC), and foreign governments. Since
English, E.P. and Mule, H.M. (1996) The African
1967 five general capital increases have been
Development Bank, Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
carried out. The international rating agencies
Jerlstrom, B. (1990) Banking on Africa: An Evaluation of
granted the Bank their highest rating.
the African Development Bank, Stockholm: Swedish
The Bank’s operations cover the major sectors, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
with particular emphasis on agriculture, public Mingst, K.A. (1990) Politics and the African Develop-
utilities, transport, industry, health and education, ment Bank, Lexington: University Press of Ken-
as well as cross-sectoral concerns such as poverty tucky.
reduction, environmental management, gender
mainstreaming, and population activities. Be- JEAN-PHILIPPE DEDIEU
tween 1967 and 2000, 19.3 percent of the
Bank’s lending was devoted to the strategic
agricultural sector. Most Bank financing is African diasporas
designed to support specific projects. However,
African diasporas are communities of Africans and
the Bank also provides program-, sector-, and
African-descended peoples who were dispersed
policy-based loans to enhance national economic
outside the continent through forced and voluntary
management. The Bank also finances non-pub-
migrations. These communities are found around
licly guaranteed private-sector operations. The
the globe – in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The
AfDB has granted an outstanding and increasing
formation of these communities began in ancient
amount of credit, almost equally distributed over
times but those found in modern times are the
the continent but with a noticeable advantage
result of three historical forces:
given to northern Africa due to its advanced
level of industrialization. 1 forced migration and the slave trade, which
The AfDB has also coordinated its African scattered African peoples into Europe, across the
capacity-building activities with regional organiza- Atlantic to the Americas, and through the
tions (including the Organization of African Indian Ocean into Asia;
Unity), non-governmental organizations and 2 ‘‘voluntary’’ migrations, generally resulting from
other international financial institutions movements associated with European colonial-
(IMF, World Bank). Although AfDB subscribes to ism and world wars; and
the Structural Adjustment Programs’ liberal or- 3 labor migrations related to both colonialism and
ientation, AfDB’s relationship with the World decolonization.
Bank is multi-faceted, being both collaborative A conceptual difficulty in mapping the history of
through co-financed loans and competitive in African diasporas is the very meaning and defini-
lending activities. The World Bank is an extremely tion of the term ‘‘diaspora.’’ Many definitions do
powerful and influential organization, gaining a not explain diasporas formed through voluntary
large share of the lending market on the continent migration with no thought of return, nor the
– sometimes to the detriment of the AfDB. development of a diasporic consciousness and
However the symbolic African status of the Bank identity that is sustained over many generations,
is an invaluable political asset, making it an even after the loss of a relationship with a
intermediary between the African states and the homeland. The concept of ‘‘diaspora’’ originated
developed countries. The AfDB Group is still in other historical and cultural contexts – namely
voicing the social, economic, and financial con- Jewish and Greek history. ‘‘Diaspora’’ is the Greek
cerns of the continent. At the beginning of the word for ‘‘dispersal,’’ though its most common
twenty-first century, it remains the continent’s usage has been in reference to the scattering of
premier financial institution. Jews throughout the West. For African-Americans,
however, the Biblical roots of the concept of
See also: Pan-Africanism diaspora have particular meaning. Early activists,
5
historians, and clergy frequently cited Psalm 68: commercial purposes and through systems that
31, which says ‘‘Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her define and limit access based on race and gender.
hands unto God,’’ as a way of describing the black This occurs in both open and segregated societies.
(world) condition and the source of liberation. Finally, diaspora moves along imperial lines
Ethiopia has been a metaphor for a black world- through the international development of ‘‘Jim
wide movement against injustice, racism, and Crowed’’ modes of industrial production. We must
colonialism. also pay attention to the ways in which differences
The modern usage of the term ‘‘African in empire – the French, English and Spanish, or
diaspora’’ is a product of the scholarship and US for that matter – defined colonial/subordinate
political movements of the 1950s and 1960s. It subjects and structured definitions of race/gender,
served in the scholarly debates as both a political citizenship, and national identity. In other words,
term with which to emphasize unifying experiences the arrangements that this hierarchy assumes may
of African peoples dispersed by the slave trade and vary from place to place but it remains a gendered
an analytical term that enabled scholars to talk racial hierarchy.
about black communities across national bound-
aries. Much of this scholarship examined the
Overview of African diasporas
dispersal of people of African descent, their role
in the transformation and creation of new cultures, African diasporas in Europe date back to at least
institutions, and ideas outside of Africa, and the the eighth century, when Moors from North Africa
problems of building Pan-African movements entered Spain. They ruled there until the Recon-
across the globe. Obviously, specific historical quista in 1492. The role of Moorish Spain in
contexts determine the relative importance of each launching the Renaissance in Europe has not been
of these elements. A real or symbolic homeland is studied to a significant degree. Yet it was medieval
not necessary to articulate a relationship between universities, academies of music, and translation
diasporas. A shared history of displacement, centers in Moorish Spain that facilitated cultural
suffering, adaptation, or resistance may be as input to medieval Italy and Spain from Asia, the
important as a teleology of origin/return. Middle East, and North and West Africa. Africans
There are distinct differences between nations entered other European countries before the slave
and diasporas. Diasporas are both of and beyond trade as well. But it was Europe’s involvement in
the nation. Diaspora is both a process and a the slave trade that brought large numbers of
condition. As a process it is constantly being re- Africans across to Europe. As Europe cemented its
made through movement, migration, and travel, as colonial rule over Africa at the end of the
well as imagined through thought, cultural produc- nineteenth century, more Africans were displaced
tion, and political struggle. Yet, as a condition, it is for use as labor or in the military, to acquire a
directly tied to the process by which it is being colonial education, and often to live in political
made and re-made. In other words, the African exile.
diaspora itself exists within the context of global The transatlantic trade scattered more than
race and gender hierarchies that are formulated fifteen million Africans throughout the Americas
and reconstituted across national boundaries and from the end of the fifteenth to the middle of the
along several lines. These include legal lines that nineteenth centuries. Slavery and freedom shaped
curtail citizenship in polities that claim to be the formation of the African diasporas in every
democratic and economic lines through the country in North and South America. Though
planned persistence of plantation/colonial econo- these societies were distinguished by language,
mies and a world market that makes those national heritage, and cultural articulations, they
economies untenable. It also includes cultural and were linked by the development of a new world
social lines which ascribe negative cultural value to Africanicity, plantation economies, racial identities,
indigenous forms, while simultaneously appropriat- and cultural forms that transcended national
ing these expressive cultures for political and formations.
6
As in Europe, the African presence in Asia dates that never allowed complete assimilation, although
back to the East African slave trade which began as distinctions were made by Europeans between
early as AD 100, although its volume was then North Africans and West Africans – in France, for
relatively small. Slaves were used in the pearl- example, North Africans were still characterized as
diving industry, on date plantations, as soldiers ‘‘dirty Arabs.’’ The Arabic identity at times
throughout Arabia, Persia and India, and as dock trumped the African identity of North Africans
workers on the Indian Ocean. They were also used but colonial realities reminded Algerians in France
as concubines and domestic servants in Muslim and the Sudanese in London that they were also
communities. The history of these communities is African.
fragmentary – although new research is uncovering Africans, West Indians, and African-Americans
more information – and it is unclear to what extent established their own institutional structures in
these communities can be identified as diasporas. European cities which also became sites of cultural
By the end of the nineteenth century, African and political activity that had important implica-
diasporas – communities with distinct African tions for the homeland. Of particular significance
identities – were located around the globe. in this period is the political activity in these
Colonialism, empire building, world wars, wars of communities. Though colonial rule was just
liberation, and decolonization expanded these becoming institutionalized in Africa, anti-colonial
communities worldwide. By the beginning of the activity had already begun both on the continent,
twentieth century, African diasporas were global. in the colonies in the Caribbean, and within
Europe itself. The development of the Pan-African
movement is one example of this activity. It began
Africans in Europe
in Europe and was led by Africans from the
At the beginning of the twentieth century, cities like Americas. The first Pan-African Congress was
London, Paris, and Lisbon had substantial pockets convened in London by Henry Sylvester Williams,
of African people. Though most were not citizens a Trinidadian barrister. He was aided, and the
but members of the colonial world from Africa, the conference was attended, by several prominent
Caribbean, and even North America, they con- African-Americans, including W.E.B. DuBois, later
stituted part of the workforce and were becoming known as the ‘‘father of Pan-Africanism,’’ and
an integral part of the culture, despite the representatives from the Caribbean and Africa.
discrimination they faced, which created a com- This meeting was the first of seven such
mon cause and consciousness among them. meetings through the 1920s, four of which took
Algerians and Africans from French West Africa place in Europe. The next four meetings were
worked in port cities on the docks, in restaurants as convened by DuBois between 1919 and 1927 in
waiters and janitors, and as servants in the homes Paris, London and Brussels, London and Lisbon,
of the elite in France. Racial bias and cultural and New York. Within diaspora communities the
difference set them apart from the larger society fate of the race was always the foundation for
and they tended to cluster in separate neighbor- political activity. What is significant about African
hoods. There were sources of division even within diasporas is that national identities often become
the diaspora communities. Class, religion, and submerged within racial identities. The end of the
national origin sometimes presented barriers to First World War created many new problems in
communication. Algerians, who were Islamic and both the French and British empires. For African
North African, tended to cluster in their own people in France the problem of assimilation and
communities within the larger diaspora commu- the representation of the colonies in the metropo-
nity. Another source of division was generational. litan parliament was elevated to serious debate.
New arrivals often had to make a place for While most Africans in both Paris and London
themselves among those that had been in Europe worked in menial jobs, for black French intellec-
for several generations. Yet their identity as tuals the end of the war brought disillusionment
Africans was safeguarded by a European racism and dissatisfaction. Political representation in the
7
French parliament by Blaise Diagne and Gratien In short order, they encountered considerable
Candace, which was accepted before the war, was prejudice. Most Englishmen held negative views of
not accepted any longer. Indeed, many who had African people from Africa and the Caribbean, and
fought in the war on the side of the French felt a fringe group were openly hostile. By 1962 racism
betrayed by these black deputies. These and many had entered politics. In 1959 there was a move to
other issues spoke to feelings of alienation of set immigration controls by Tory MPs. In 1962 the
Africans in European society. first Commonwealth Immigrants Bill became law.
By 1929 these issues of African identity, culture, Two years later, Peter Griffiths, a Tory candidate,
and political representation expressed themselves defeated a Labour minister with the slogan, ‘‘If you
in the literary protests of the Negritude movement. want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Labour.’’
Students from the Caribbean and French colonies By the mid-1970s two out of every five black
in Africa were led by Léopold Senghor from people in Britain were born in the country. In the
Senegal, Aimé Césaire from Martinique, and Léon key areas of employment, housing and education,
Damas from French Guiana. At the heart of the they still faced substantial discrimination, and the
debate for these ‘‘black Frenchmen’’ was the issue of police racism became a major subject of
question of whether one was African or French. debate. In response, a black resistance movement
But Africans from the Caribbean and West emerged. In 1981 the conflict between the police
Africa were not the only ones to look to France for and black youth exploded in Brixton in south
freedom from colonialism and racism. Many London and spread to other cities. These racial
African-Americans had fought in France and tensions were to shape the fabric of relations in
returned there after the war, believing that they England into the twenty-first century.
could escape the harsh racism of the United States By the end of the century, the migration of
in a country where they had been treated Africans into European countries had exploded.
differently. Ironically, these Americans saw a racial Significant numbers of Senegalese and Somalis
paradise where many African workers from French were migrating to Italy, Moroccans were flocking to
West Africa and Algeria lived a hell. On the Germany and the Netherlands, Algerians to France,
margins of European society, the Africans none- Ethiopians to Sweden, Congolese to Belgium, and
theless created communities that were vibrant in Nigerians and Ghanaians to Britain and all across
their culture. The Americans too found a place in Europe. In short, African migration in Europe
Europe, particularly in France where they built spread from the United Kingdom, France, and
communities and businesses. They also became Portugal, formerly dominant imperial powers in
important producers of music, especially jazz, just Africa, to the northern European countries, princi-
as those from West Africa became artists and pally Germany and the Netherlands, as well as
writers. southern ones, including Italy and Spain, which
African communities in Europe expanded after had until the 1970s themselves been countries of
the Second World War. Britain, like all other emigration. This intense migration is the result of
European countries, was desperate for labor. In economic displacement in African countries and
1948 the Nationality Act granted citizenship to the desire of Africans from the continent and
citizens of Britain’s colonies and former colonies. diasporas to carve out a better life for themselves.
With citizenship and a British passport came the These Africans are forming new communities in
right of lifelong residence in Britain. Initially hostile terrain. They foreshadow the continuing
Africans from the Caribbean were slow in taking development of the globalization of African people
Britain up on its offer. Migration from West Africa and the economic and social tensions that these
was equally slow. But as unemployment sky- diasporas will generate. Their identity as Africans is
rocketed on the islands, Caribbean migrants began becoming one that is transnational and global, as
to arrive to take jobs, especially in transport, hotels many must communicate with family scattered
and restaurants, and nursing. They were young and around the globe and all the while confront racial
took English citizenship. forms of discrimination.
8
Africans in the Americas work in the tobacco industry. Few Afro-Cubans

had been allowed to benefit from the lucrative
African diasporas in the Americas were originally a
employment in tobacco in Cuba, hence their desire
direct outgrowth of the transatlantic slave trade.
to migrate. Most were relegated to the sugar
Slave societies peppered the landscape bordering
plantations and rural agriculture or menial em-
the North and South Atlantic and, when slavery
ployment in the cities.
ended, African peoples in the Americas shared the
The United States had acquired Puerto Rico
legacy of slavery as they entered the twentieth
from Spain after the end of the Spanish–Amer-
century. Labor exploitation, racial discrimination,
ican–Cuban–Filipino War in 1898 and, as a result,
struggle over citizenship rights, and the creation of
Puerto Ricans began migrating to New York City
vibrant cultural forms that defined and were
in large numbers. Many of these Puerto Ricans
rejected by the nation are the characteristics shared
by African people in the Americas. The specific were of African descent. By mid-century then,
nature of these characteristics varied from society there was an African Caribbean diaspora in the
to society. United States.
Labor exploitation continued to define African Those in the French Antilles, particularly
life experiences in the Americas long after slavery Martinique and Guadeloupe, and French Guiana
ended, and migration was one the major responses were part of France’s départements et territoires d’outre-
to this labor problem. In the United States, former mer and, therefore, French territory. Their eco-
slaves were relegated to the plantations or became nomic situation was little different from the other
menial labor in urban locales. After the turn of the islands but most did not migrate; when they did,
century, racial violence and economic motives they migrated to France or other French-speaking
drove many to migrate to the urban south, then countries. Haitians, on the other hand, migrated to
the western United States, and finally to northern other islands, particularly the Dominican Republic,
industrial cities, such as Chicago, Pittsburgh, and to work the sugar plantations, as well as to Jamaica
New York, where African-Americans worked as and Cuba. They also began migrating to the
domestics, maintenance workers, or in hotels and United States in the early twentieth century, a
other service industries, or sought employment in migration that has continued into the twenty-first
industries such as steel and automobile manufac- century. With growing nativism in the United
turing, or on the railroads. States, many Haitians and other black migrants are
In the Caribbean, well into the twentieth encountering increased discrimination.
century, African peoples remained in rural agri- Though Brazil has been touted as a ‘‘racial
culture and on sugar plantations. As industry paradise,’’ the lived experience of Afro-Brazilians
spread, such as bauxite mining, many sought does not support this representation. After the
employment away from the agricultural sector. end of slavery, Afro-Brazilians were well repre-
Economic depression forced thousands to migrate sented in the agricultural sectors where they
to other islands, seeking work in agriculture and continued to work on sugar and coffee planta-
creating new diasporas within older diasporas. For tions. But they were also firmly rooted in the
example, in the early twentieth century, workers urban sector. In Salvador, São Paulo, and Rio de
from the British West Indies began migrating to Janeiro, despite official claims to the contrary,
Cuba to work on sugar plantations, to Costa Rica Afro-Brazilians – like their counterparts in other
to work the coffee plantations, and finally to the societies in the Americas – suffered from racial
Panama Canal zone to work for Americans. In the discrimination, albeit with a twist. Most Afro-
canal zone they encountered American forms of Brazilians in these cities live in the favelas or slums
racial discrimination. From there many migrated which ring these cities and they are the targets of
to the cities on the Eastern seaboard of the United police violence and economic exploitation. This
States, particularly New York City. Cubans mi- profile of Africans in Latin America is repeated in
grated to Miami but many, particularly Afro- Colombia, Honduras, Peru, Chile, Nicaragua,
Cubans, migrated to Ybor City and Tampa to and El Salvador.
9
Thus Africans in the Americas have continued identity, coupled with an equal determination to be
to face racial discrimination. In the Unites States, fully participating citizens of the nation, led to the
until the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, so-called ‘‘race war’’ of 1912 in which thousands of
African-Americans lived in conditions similar to the Partido members were massacred by the
those created by apartheid. Though de jure and Cuban army. The outcome of this struggle limited
technically de facto segregation has disappeared, the ability of Afro-Cubans to organize nationally
racial violence has continued into the twenty-first along racial lines and curtailed their efforts to
century. Many organizations were formed at the define their citizenship in such terms. But this
beginning of the century to fight this discrimina- struggle did not destroy the formation of an Afro-
tion, including the National Association for the Cuban identity. That identity moved to cultural
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the forms in music and religion.
Urban League. The Jamaican migrant Marcus Notions of race in Brazil were complicated and
Garvey formed the Universal Negro Improvement shaped by changing demographic and regional
Association (UNIA), a black nationalist organiza- variation. Social convention established a distinc-
tion which spread throughout the Caribbean, tion between mulattos and blacks, a distinction
Africa, and Europe. The African Blood Brother- found in certain official records like the census. In
hood (ABB), a Marxist–nationalist organization, the minds of all Brazilians, blackness was incom-
was founded in the early twentieth century by patible with social and economic advancement, so
radical West Indians. After its demise, many of its success was itself a source of whitening. In
members joined the Communist Party in the Salvador, social protest was couched in the fight
United States. Also, as students from the continent for cultural autonomy for African-based cultural
learned of racism in the United States, they expressions like candomblé and capoeira. In São Paulo,
became active in the Pan-African movement. The a strong black press flourished in conjunction with
most prominent of these was Kwame Nkrumah. political organizations such as the Frente Negra
In Cuba, the struggle to end racial discrimina- Brasileira. In each instance, Afro-Brazilians re-
tion also took a political form. Africans in Cuba sponded to the material and political reality that
were not homogeneous, being divided by free confronted them and found ways to struggle for
ancestry, cultural, educational, class, sexual, and equality in those locales.
regional differences. Yet African cultural traditions As a protest against discrimination and a process
were widespread and nurtured in the cabildos de of cultural creativity, Africans in the Americas have
nación, religious and mutual aid societies in urban produced a rich cultural heritage that is now
areas. In urban centers, such as Havana and claimed by the nations that continue to marginalize
Matanzas, secret societies like the all-male Abakua African people. In the 1920s the Harlem Renais-
flourished. Though not all black Cubans remained sance, in conjunction with the Negritude and Latin
close to their African heritage, the number who did American Negrismo movements, produced litera-
was nevertheless significant. But these identities ture and art that captured the colonial imagination.
were refined and redefined in the 1868 and 1898 Writers such as Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen,
wars for national liberation. Afro-Cuban participa- Zora Neale Hurston, and the Jamaican writer
tion was widespread in both, and the military Claude McKay were in contact with writers of the
leaders became leaders of the fight for political Negritude movement such as Senghor, Césaire,
equality after the wars ended. Further, the military and Damas, as well as Jean Price-Mars and Jacques
experience created networks that proved useful in Roumain of Haiti, and Nicolás Guillén of Cuba.
organizing the black population for political At the end of the twentieth century, Africans
struggle. Afro-Cubans fought for the right to be from all over the continent were migrating to the
both Cuban and black, and this struggle led to the United States for education and jobs. Many who
first black political organization in the Americas: came as students remained as workers in the
the Partido de Independiente de Color. The transportation industry as cab drivers or at airports
determination to maintain their cultural and racial in major American cities such as New York, Los
10
African religions African religions
Angeles, and Chicago. They also worked in hotels, Cultural Politics of Race and Nation, Chicago:
in restaurants, and in construction. Many have University of Chicago Press.
become peddlers selling goods from Africa on city Ifekwunigwe, J.O. (1999) Scattered Belongings, Lon-
streets or in flea-markets in the southwest. North don: Routledge.
Africans find communities of Muslims in cities like James, W. (1998) Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia:
Atlanta and Chicago, and establish businesses and Caribbean Radicalism in Early Twentieth-Century
mosques. Many also worked in American univer- America, London: Verso.
sities as professors, in the medical professions, and LeMelle, S. and Kelley, R.D.G. (eds.) (1994)
as engineers. Many encountered an American Imagining Home: Class, Culture, Nationalism in the
form of racism that for some was bewildering African Diaspora, London: Verso.
and for others part of the development of a Stovall, T. (1996) Paris Noir: African-Americans in the
diasporic identity. City of Light, New York: Houghton Mifflin.
As African people from all over the Americas
TIFFANY RUBY PATTERSON
continue to migrate back and forth across national
boundaries, the discovery of a self-identity as a
raced population is increasing. At the same time,
African-Americans are succeeding economically in African religions
the United States. But this success is double-edged. Religious pluralism in Africa
A growing number of African-Americans are
rejecting identification with other oppressed people There are a variety of religions in Africa.
and have become completely ‘‘Americanized.’’ Indigenous religion, the focus of this entry, is
They are now helping to make the imperialistic practiced in different forms, although these prac-
policy that restricts the lives of many African tices may not always be called ‘‘religion.’’ Religion
peoples. Furthermore, the political realities in is a way of life and an expression of what Paul
Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America are Tillich has described as ‘‘ultimate concerns.’’
such that many African rulers and leaders assist Religious traditions have been documented all
over Africa and it has become customary to refer to
willingly in maintaining global racial hierarchies. It
Yoruba religion, Zulu religion, Dinka religion,
is even profitable for them to do so. The outcome
Nupe religion, Akan religion, and so on. These
of these experiences in a global world increasingly
religions are distinctive, and have developed
dominated by the United States and its imper-
differently. However, there are common features
ialistic policies promises new formations that are
that allow us to discuss them together. Scholars do
just becoming apparent.
not agree on what to call these religions. They are
See also: non-African diasporas; Pan-Africanism variously described as ‘‘traditional,’’ ‘‘local,’’ ‘‘in-
digenous,’’ or even ‘‘classical’’ religions – or simply
as ‘‘African’’ religions (the term used in this
Further reading
encyclopedia). This latter designation is not meant
Brock, L. and Fuertes, D.C. (eds.) (1998) Between to imply that Christianity and Islam are any less
Race and Empire: African-Americans and Cubans Before African for their adherents, some of whose societies
the Cuban Revolution, Philadelphia: Temple Uni- have been following these religions for many
versity Press. centuries, some even going back to the period
Butler, K.D. (1998) Freedoms Given, Freedoms Won: immediately after the two religions were founded.
Afro-Brazilians in Post-Abolition São Paulo and Thus Africa is home to many religious traditions,
Salvador, New Brunswick: Rutgers University including the so-called ‘‘monotheistic religions.’’
Press. Christianity entered Africa in antiquity and
Carter, D.M. (1992) States of Grace; Senegalese in Italy colonial missionary expansion brought a European
and the New European Immigration, Minneapolis: version of it to Africa. Modern Christianity arrived
University of Minnesota Press. in Africa in a violent and divisive manner because it
Gilroy, P. (1991) Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack: The came in the form of denominations. Islam also has
11
a long history in Africa, having entered North (1986) notion of ‘‘triple heritage’’ involved in many
Africa not many years after the birth of the religion. ways a violent confrontation, because the prosely-
Today nearly half of the people in Africa practice tizing Christian and Islamic traditions uncompro-
Islam. Judaism exists in Africa; it used to have a lot misingly demanded the rejection of other religions
of followers in North Africa and has a large by people who had converted to the new versions of
following in South Africa where a lot of Jews have Christianity and Islam, and in some cases even the
settled. In addition to these three, Africa is also forced resettlement of those people. Both religions
home to religions like Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism, brought social services and stronger evangelical
Baha’i, and Parsee and Chinese religions. marketing techniques – African religions could not
compete with these innovations. Missionaries
derided African gods as pagan, and preached
African indigenous religions in history
against African traditions and belief in spiritual
African indigenous religions have a long but often forces, magic, sorcery, sacrifices, and ancestor
neglected history. Their genesis is rooted in the veneration. They made fun of African rituals and
emergence of human settlements in Africa. African competed with local rainmakers in order to
indigenous religions are historical religions because humiliate and discredit them. Missionaries’ impa-
each society has developed with its sense of ultimacy, tient desire for change led to assaults on rites, such
and we can have access to the symbols that make up as female circumcision among the Kikuyu in
their sense of ultimacy by studying their myths, Kenya, and brought social upheaval. Even those
rituals and moral ethos. The history of these religions sympathetic to African religiosity often considered
is different because, in reconstructing one, scholars it merely to be preparatio evangelica. The verbal and
do not look for a towering founding figure but rather institutional violence thus perpetrated against
at the evolution of a historical community, its African religion has been described by Bolaji Idowu
spirituality, and engagement with the symbols that in his classic work African Traditional Religion: A
provide access to extra-human power that can be Definition (1973) and fictionalized by several African
used to organize and concretize life on earth. writers, including Chinua Achebe and Mongo Beti.
Participants at the 1971 Dar es Salaam conference Colonial authorities on their part frequently
on African religions were convinced that interrogat- engaged in the destruction of African religiosity.
ing oral traditions and archival material would They passed judgment on witchcraft controversies
enable scholars to reconstruct histories of religion in when evidence – even from anthropologists with
Africa. One of the participants at the Dar es Salaam colonial ties – demonstrated that it was a complex
conference, Dr. Matthew Schoffeleers, later pub- system for dealing with misfortune. They destroyed
lished his ground-breaking work River of Blood: The shrines and executed priests. British colonial
Genesis of a Martyr Cult in Southern Malawi, c. AD 1600. authorities suppressed the Cult of Katawere on the
Schoffeleers’ success in mapping out the develop- Gold Coast (Ghana), the Mau Mau uprising, and
ment of the M’Bona cult in the Lower Shire Valley, the Bamucapi regional cult in southeastern Africa.
and M.L. Daneel’s study The God of the Matopo Hills: The introduction of Western education and
An Essay on the Mwari Cult in Rhodesia (1970), social services created ambiguity and confusion
demonstrate that by studying the religious institu- among many Africans about their religions. This
tions of the community, language, and oral tradition, opened up a new type of class distinction based on
as well as the degree to which religious life is a capitalist economy and bureaucratic system.
interwoven with political, symbolic, and ritual The so-called ‘‘modern’’ elites who benefited from
authority, one can reconstruct the history of these colonial modernity and its new religions experi-
religions. enced what DuBois called ‘‘double conscious-
Colonial domination of Africa was violent in all ness.’’ They tried to recover what was lost through
forms and African religions became direct targets the Negritude movement, a search for authenti-
for attack by colonial authorities and by modern city, and other forms of Africanization, but these
versions of Christianity and Islam. Ali Mazrui’s did not necessarily include thoroughgoing at-
12
tempts to recover suppressed religious values. different religions share common characteristics in
Double consciousness at times was manifested in their attempts to deal with the spiritual, social,
urban areas with people who had forgotten the cultural, and material dimensions of life, and the
rudiments of indigenous religions depending on interaction between humanity and divinity. The
others who claimed to practice traditional healing, components of these religions include mythology,
but perverted traditional medical systems. How- divinity, spirits, rituals, spirit possession, human
ever, it must be pointed out that, despite these agency, morality, and a world beyond.
assaults, indigenous religions survived.
Mythology and cosmology
African response to colonial violence
In each community, religious views draw from
First, there were passive responses. Many Africans narratives that we generally call ‘‘myths’’ but,
continued to practice their religion, rejecting following Paul Ricoeur (1976), may call ‘‘primary
conversion to new religions. Others practiced language.’’ Myths legitimize authority, space, social
bricolage, becoming Christians without abandoning organization, a moral universe, and the practices
indigenous faith. For such people, Islam and that ensure its continued existence. These charter
Christianity were merely additional schemes by stories recall the past, engage the present, and
which to explain the human condition. Robin shape the future. Myths inform people of the
Horton (1993) argues that for these people new creation of the world and the separation between
religions were merely a catalyst for change that the abodes of divinity and human beings, assigning
would have come to African societies with time. For responsibility for this separation to human disobe-
them, it was not merely the ability to manipulate dience. For example, Susanne Blier (1987) has
symbolic practices, but an intellectual question recorded myths from the Batammaliba elders,
dealing with how one could be Christian or which indicate the Kuiye, the Batammaliba deity,
Muslim and yet remain true to cherished African created the world and humanity, and provided
traditions. everything the first humans needed. However,
Second, Africans used their religion to fight humanity complained because Kuiye did every-
against colonial violence. The Nyabingi cult, which thing for them and this forced divinity to withdraw
started in the late nineteenth century in East into the sky. This resulted in the coming of death,
Africa, was a resistance cult that used medicines to and difficulties, but divinity also provided rain, and
protect itself from European weapons. The colonial the materials and tools needed to survive under
authorities defeated them in 1928. Similarly, the their new circumstances. Myths also present the
Maji Maji movement of Kinjikitile organized beginning of social conflicts, marriage, the idea of a
resistance against the Germans in East Africa, human family, and ways for humanity to remain in
believing that sacred water would protect them touch with divinity and seek wisdom for difficult
against European bullets. Elsewhere, the Mambo decisions. According to Dogon myths, Amma, the
cult in Kenya, Mwari cult in Zimbabwe, and Poro supreme deity, created the world beginning with a
cult in Sierra Leone were all used to fight against primordial egg, which was divided into two
colonial power. The Kikuyu established indepen- placentas. Each placenta had a male and female
dent schools and churches. Prophetic leaders twin. Ogo, the male twin, decided that he was
emerged in different parts of the continent, going to create his own world and forced himself
rejecting colonial society and seeking ways of out of the egg. What he created was not pure. He
including African traditions in the search for a later returned to recover his female pair, but she
new social order. was no longer there. He returned to earth and
started to populate it, but with beings who were
imperfect because he had created them through
Basic ideas about African religions
incest. The result was chaos. Amma restored
Indigenous religious life is locally specific, although creation by killing the female twin and using her
13
blood to cleanse the chaos created by her twin living water, who is revered as the great mother. In
brother Ogo. the town of Oshogbo she is worshipped and
petitioned with particular fervor, as it is believed
that the town was blessed by her and this has made
Divinity and spirits
the townspeople wealthy. The Oshun festival in
African communities believe in divinity, lesser Oshogbo has become an important cultural as well
divinities, and spirits. Divinity created the world, as religious event for the entire community.
is transcendent, provides for humanity, and knows Other spirits include spirits of the dead who may
everything. African gods have been erroneously come back to bother people who have ignored
described as deus otiosus and deus remotus, because it their responsibilities to them. People often offer
was believed they were removed from the people. sacrifices to ward off such spirits. Ancestral spirits
African theologians John Mbiti from Kenya, E. come back and help people to conduct personal
Bolaji Idowu from Nigeria, and Gabriel Setiloane and communal business, and understand and
of South Africa have been critical of colonial follow moral precepts. Elders often consult them
officials and missionaries for belittling the African by pouring libations of food and wine. It is also
understanding of god. But they, in turn, have been believed that the ancestors and their spirits will
accused by some scholars of Christianizing African punish members of the community who neglect
gods or reducing the complexity of African them or forget to offer them a share of food and
religions to a monotheistic system. Beyond the drink.
controversy, the reality of God in African society
cannot be denied. God’s name is Olorun or
Religious authorities
Olodumare for the Yoruba, Inkosi Yezulu (Chief
of the Sky) for the Zulu, Chukwu for the Igbo, Many indigenous religions have a simple structure
Amma for the Dogon, and Kwoth for the Nuer. in which heads of households provide vital services
The lesser divinities and spirits derive their such as consultation with ancestors. Such a role is
authority from God, and people worship and offer filled by many elders in Lugbara society in
sacrifices to them. African divinities represent, northern Uganda. Religious specialists include
serve, and carry out the will of divinity. In the diviners, who serve as consultants and counselors.
Dogon religious tradition, some of the spirits give They help people make decisions in life and also
and restore life. The 401 Yoruba divinities are determine the cause of misfortunes through
called Orishas; these are people who had lived divination. Divination sessions can be elaborate
good lives and were deified on their deaths. The activities during which the diviner, in the case of
first two Orishas, Obatala and Oduduwa, were Yoruba religion for example, uses a special divining
sent to earth by God to create people. Other tray and other instruments. The diviner, who is
divinities include Shango, the divinity of thunder, called babalawo (literally ‘‘father of secrets’’), uses a
who is believed to have been the fourth King of tray and dice to produce a combination of numbers
Oyo. Shango is connected with healing and people out of a possible 256 that speaks to one’s problem.
always keep a pot of water in his sacred area from The resulting combination is then linked to verses,
which people can drink and with which they can called odu, which can be interpreted to give
wash themselves. Esu is an important divinity guidance to a seeker. Other religious specialists
because he opens the way. He is also an ambiguous include spirit mediums that receive messages and
character, rewarding people or punishing those communicate to people.
who forget their duty to divinity and to Esu himself. Priests in African religions have specific func-
Orunmila is the Orisha of wisdom who provides tions to perform for the community. Evans-
counsel and divination. He is associated with law, Pritchard (1956) indicates that the Nuer priest is
order, and harmony. Ogun is the Orisha of iron a respected religious authority who has powers to
and war. There are also female divinities in the assist people but can also inflict punishment
Yoruba pantheon, including Oshun, the goddess of through curses. The priest is expected to be an
14
honest person, a peacemaker who provides sanc- rituals continue to reenact the historical and social
tuary for fugitives and negotiates on behalf of practices of a community. Life-crisis rituals include
criminals. He also assists people in time of sickness, birth rituals and development rituals, such as
performs rituals, controls rainmaking, and helps initiation, that are supposed to transform boys
people succeed in hunting and in war. and girls into men and women. During these
Prophets call on their communities to act justly, rituals, the adult members of the community pass
speak on behalf of divinity, and inspire religious on to the neophytes those values of importance to
changes in society. Nuer prophets responded to the community. Life-cycle rituals include funeral
social and economic dislocations in colonial society ceremonies to honor the dead. Among the
by performing rituals aimed at empowering people, Wimbum of Northwest Province in Cameroon,
healing diseases, and carrying out protests against the funeral ceremonies of a chief last three weeks
the colonial government. These prophets some- and there is generally no work in the village during
times even separated themselves from their com- these ceremonies.
munities as a means of empowering themselves in Rituals of affliction are performed to rebuff a
the service of those communities. Some well-known spirit that has come to afflict someone. Certain
prophets were Ngundeng, a Nuer prophet who spirits often return to afflict those who have
fought against British colonialism, and Kinjikitile, ignored them. Such affliction may include illness,
who led the Maji Maji revolt in Tanzania. failure in business, barrenness, and so on. The
afflicted individual gets help from a ritual specialist,
who performs healing rituals. It is not always the
Sacred spaces
case, however, that affliction is negative. Sometimes
Africans worship God in different spaces, which afflictions are a sign that one has been called to
include shrines that may be located in individual become a healer or join a cult; the rituals
homes, at palaces, or in other specifically desig- performed in such as case would be initiation into
nated places. Sacred places may also be by water, a healing cult.
or in forests, ancient ancestral settlements or sacred
groves, or the burial places of kings as with the
Spirit possession
sacred shrines of Buganda. The Oshun festival
takes place in the courtyard of the Oba and the Religious life involves the experience of possession,
sacred grove of Oshun. Liturgical life in Africa thus which affects individuals and members of a cult,
takes place in what Zahan called ‘‘elementary and takes place among practitioners of indigenous
cathedrals,’’ the elements being water, earth, air, religions, Christians and Muslims, and is not
and fire. Sacred places associated with water limited to one gender. Earlier literature suggested
include streams, rivers, lakes, and springs; the ones that spirit possession among women of the Sar cult
associated with earth include the ground itself, in Somalia was a form of protest against their
rocks, crossroads, hollows, hills, and mountains; marginalization in society. However, Janice Boddy
those associated with air include trees and groves; (1989) argues that possession in the Zar cult in
and those Zahan associates with fire include the Sudan demonstrates a multi-layered phenomenon
hearth where food is prepared, the blacksmith’s and is not limited to life on the periphery. In
forge, and the fires of a volcano. general, someone who is possessed experiences the
presence of a spirit that controls and influences
their behavior. Possession can be sudden, and the
Rituals
one who is possessed speaks for the spirit. The
Rituals and ceremonies can be defined as repetitive relationship of the possessed to the spirit is
symbolic action used to communicate and institu- described as a marriage. Some mediums induce
tionalize community values with the aim of possession by going to a sacred place to smoke the
effecting change in the life of the individual or sacred pipe and wait till the spirit possesses them.
society. Jean Comaroff (1985) demonstrates that Illness may also be an indication that someone is
15
possessed. Possessed people seek treatment from Mveng (1964) once described African art as ‘‘a
those who have experienced possession themselves. cosmic liturgy and religious language.’’ In affirm-
Women who manage the crises of possession are ing these spiritual dimensions in African art, we
referred to as Zar doctors. Spirit possession can must insist that first and foremost African art
also reflect discontent with the political situation or reflects the creative and aesthetic endeavor of
express nationalist ideologies, as was the case in individual artists to reflect on their world. Rosalind
Zimbabwe during the lead-up to revolution when Hackett (1996) demonstrates that African art
political activity among the African population was focuses on and shapes understanding of humanity,
still restricted by the white-minority regime. destiny, death, procreation, secrecy, power, divinity,
It is difficult to map out all of the subtleties of spirits, and healing. Susanne Blier (1987) has
spirit possession, but one important lesson that can argued that art brings together the worldview of
be drawn from the phenomenon is that spirit people and its use in architecture is very important
possession offers an opportunity for understanding in human settlements. William Bascom (1993)
individuality, relations with the body, and how suggests that there is a close association between
affected individuals continually reconceptualize the African sculpture and religion. Religious ideas were
self. Islam and Christianity have not eliminated also brought out in votive figures, the design of
spirit possession, as the existence of the Nya cult of initiation stools, divination materials, staffs used for
Mali demonstrates. In some other parts of Africa, various performances, and musical instruments. To
adherents to Christianity have tried to adapt that list can be added the masquerade figures of
aspects of spirit possession into Christianity. In different associations, like the Gelede of the Yoruba
the literature, both men and women may be or the Kwifon of the Kwifon Society of the
involved in spirit possession. northwest province of Cameroon, which claim
spiritual as well as political power.
Personhood and morality
African religion in the post-colonial world
African religions recognize individual personhood
as well as community identity, even though the idea Indigenous religions remain alive in African
of community has often been advanced at the communities, despite the attacks by people who
expense of individuality. Yoruba religious ideas have converted to other religions and see indigen-
portray the creation of individual persons with ous religion as a form of ‘‘paganism.’’ Hackett
distinct destinies. Individuals are also responsible (1996) argues that indigenous religions are being
for making sure that they fulfill their destinies or revitalized today precisely because of universaliza-
ask divinity to bless them and help them attain tion, modernization, politicization, commercializa-
their destiny. Morality is not necessarily a set of tion, and individualization. Their survival and
rules, but rather the living of life in such a way as to appeal lies in the fact that they continue to inform
fulfill one’s destiny and contribute to the general and provide the basis for morality, culture, and
good of the community. Evil is that which distorts authority at the local level. Royal authority,
personal relationships and causes social dis-ease. coronations, rituals, and community festivals are
Evildoers can use evil magic and negative occult often linked to these religions. Moreover, healing
powers to bring misfortune to others and the and local knowledge of medicinal plants remains
community. Diviners help members of the com- an important part of health care in many parts of
munity find out the causes of misfortune and the Africa.
sacrifices they need to offer to restore healthy Political domination, economic crises, and the
relationships and wholeness to the community. decline of the state have posed new questions for
many Africans, who argue that the people are
suffering because the ways of the ancestors have
Religion and art
been ignored in the wake of modernity. There is a
Cameroonian theologian and historian Engelbert desire among some to recover the values that had
16
yielded to other explanatory schemes. In addition, References and further reading

there are two things that hold out hope for
indigenous religions. First, these religious ideas Bascom, W. (1973) ‘‘A Yoruba Master Carver:
thrive in the African diaspora in a variety of forms Duga Meko,’’ in W. D’Azevedo (ed.), The
of religious expression that scholars call ‘‘African- Traditional Artists in African Societies, Bloomington:
derived religions.’’ As these religious traditions Indiana University Press.
explore their African roots, they are likely to build Behrend, H. and Luig, U. (eds.) (1999) Spirit
new fires and rekindle dying flames back in Africa. Possession: Modernity and Power in Africa, Madison:
Second, the academic study of African religions University of Wisconsin Press.
has developed and matured as a field of inquiry at Blier, S. (1987) The Anatomy of Architecture: Ontology
leading universities in Africa, Europe, and the and Metaphor in Batammaliba Architectural Expression,
Americas. Institutional validation has come from Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
the creation of the African Religions Group at the Boddy, J. (1989) Wombs and Alien Spirits: Women and
American Academy of Religion (AAR), the Inter- Men in the Zar Cult in Northern Sudan, Madison:
national Association of the History of Religions University of Wisconsin Press.
(IAHR) and regional associations for the study of Comaroff, J. (1985) Body of Power, Spirit of Resistance:
religion in Africa. African religions have survived The Culture and History of a South African People,
being disparaged by travelers, missionaries, and Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
colonial anthropologists to become a critical Daneel, M.L. (1970) The God of the Matopo Hills: An
discipline. While such study is not an evangelical Essay on the Mwari Cult in Rhodesia, Leiden:
activity, the respectability African religions are African Studies Center.
beginning to enjoy will certainly contribute to the Evans-Pritchard, E.E. (1956) Nuer Religion, London:
growth of those religions. Oxford University Press.
Modernity, colonialism, post-colonialism, and Hackett, R.I.J. (1996) Art and Religion in Africa,
postmodernism have radically altered certain London: Cassell.
religious practices. However, the magic and occult Horton, R. (1993) Patterns of Thought in Africa and the
powers generally called ‘‘witchcraft’’ or ‘‘sorcery’’ West: Essays on Magic, Religion and Science, Cam-
continue to offer rival explanations and means of bridge: Cambridge University Press.
control of social reality. Although colonial autho- Idowu, E.B. (1973) African Traditional Religion: A
rities, the Christian tradition, and even leaders of Definition, Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
indigenous religions have attacked occult practices, Mazrui, A. (1986) The Africans: A Triple Heritage,
they remain an important part of the worldview of Boston: Little Brown.
many people in Africa today. Scholars have begun Mveng, E. (1964) ‘‘Black African Arts as Cosmic
to recognise the fluidity and complexity of this Liturgy and Religious Language,’’ in K. Appiah-
system of knowledge; others appreciate this, but Kubi and S. Torres (eds.), African Theology En
raise ethical questions about its discourse and Route, Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
alleged practices, calling for the development of an Olupona, J.K. (ed.) (1991) African Traditional
ethical perspective that will enable people to deal Religions in Contemporary Society, New York: Para-
with indigenous religions in more productive ways gon House.
than excommunicating or executing people who Ranger, T. and Kimambo, I.N. (eds.) (1972) The
are suspected of misusing occult power. The Historical Study of African Religion, Berkeley:
indigenous religious authorities who have to deal University of California Press.
with such issues are faced with a difficulty, not
Ricoeur, P. (1976) The Symbolism of Evil, Boston:
least because these powers have now invaded the
Beacon Press.
state and authority structures of many African
Schoffeleers, J.M. (1992) River of Blood: The Genesis of
countries.
a Martyr Cult in Southern Malawi, c. AD 1600,
See also: Christianity; Christian refor m Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
movements; Islam; Islamic reform movements Van Binsbergen, W.M. and Schoffeleers, M.J. (eds.)
17
agrarian change agrarian change
(1985) Theoretical Explorations in African Religion, change may be driven by changing market
London: Kegan Paul International. conditions which may be tied to improved access,
the emergence of new demands or the disappear-
ELIAS K. BONGMBA
ance of previous markets. Sixth, changes may be
driven by demographic and environmental pres-
sures. Finally, change is often dictated by the
agrarian change colonial, settler, and post-colonial states; by their
Agrarian change is a social and historical concept actions and inaction, their ambitions and preju-
based on the changing relations between land, dices. Access to land, to labor, and to markets
labor, markets, states, and ideologies in the process depend on the actions of political authorities. States
of agricultural production. These attributes take not only seek to control access to land, they also
particular forms and appear in distinct combina- authorize, regulate, enforce, and tolerate the rights
tions in various places at different times, giving rise of husbands, fathers, employers, chiefs, and the
to different agrarian structures and agrarian state itself over the labor of others. They also define
systems of production. the rights of workers and their organizations.
Agrarian change also connotes a number of Landowners have often found it impossible to
distinct elements. First, it contains notions of recruit, direct, and maintain a labor force through
systemic change, from one type of agrarian wage payments alone. They have used their access
production to the other – for example, from to national governments, and commonly their
subsistence to export production or from peasant control over local government, to secure various
to capitalist production. This may sometimes measures to restrict the mobility of labor and to
involve a change in the scale of operation. A deny farm workers access to better jobs or to
systemic change at this level will affect the agrarian independent incomes. It is the totality of these
structure, changing the relative mix of small, structural, sociopolitical, and historical processes
medium and large farms within agriculture. which amounts to agrarian change in any parti-
Second, there may be changes in the agricultural cular society. It is neither unilinear nor irreversible,
produce, as in the shift from groundnuts to cereals but its effects are often long-lasting.
in some parts of the Sahel in the 1970s. Third, Agrarian change in twentieth-century Africa
there may be changes in the organization of the was a long and complex process. A key theme in
production process itself. Land is crucial to this process is the role of the colonial state. In
agriculture, and access to it is determined by Africa, the colonial states facilitated the expansion
social, ideological, and political factors. Land is of commodity production. They subjugated other
necessary, but not sufficient, for agricultural political authorities – African, Arab, and Afrikaner
production. People must use their tools to work – and brought economic transactions under the
the land. Access to, and command over, labor is jurisdiction of the colonial courts and administra-
therefore equally central to any system of agricul- tion. They established common currencies, and
tural production. Labor may be recruited through invested in railways and, belatedly, roads. They
a variety of means, and the relative importance of defined the territorial boundaries within which,
the control of land, labor, and capital may change and the transport routes along which, trade would
over time, giving rise to changes in labor regimes expand. They also secured supplies of labor for
which then have systemic consequences. Different themselves, for settler farmers, and for mining
types of tenancy may ebb and flow, while the work companies, appropriated and allocated land, and
and social conditions, and the political outlook, of defined people’s different rights to land. Colonial
different classes in the production process may governments not only promoted and constrained
change. Fourth, agrarian change may be driven by economic activities, but also directed their benefits
changes in the technologies and techniques of to favored groups – indigenous, settler, and
production. An example is the introduction of metropolitan. Pre-colonial Africa was character-
irrigation projects in many parts of Africa. Fifth, ized by a great variety of forms of political
18
organization, agricultural production, allocation of tion and, especially in the twentieth century, wage
livestock, religious practices, access to land, kinship, employment. Farm and non-farm, wage and non-
and inheritance systems. Rulers and other office- wage incomes complement one another; most rural
holders claimed a variety of payments in recogni- households increasingly depend on both to meet
tion of their authority and of the services they their needs and obligations. The twentieth century
rendered. Colonial rule and the expansion of saw the increasing importance of the non-farm
commerce and of capitalist production did not sector and Deborah Bryceson’s theory of ‘‘de-
eliminate diversities, but it did lead to a restructur- agrarianization’’ (Bryceson and Jamal 1997) even
ing and, in important respects, a certain homo- suggests that non-farm incomes may have become
genization of social arrangements. Where predominant. Finally, diversity is an important theme
colonial forms of political authority or land tenure of agrarian change in Africa. The colonial period
were retained, they acquired new substance under saw the development of peasant and proletarian
changed circumstances. households, as well as many households that
A second theme in the process of agrarian combined both statuses. The expansion of com-
change is the commercialization of agriculture modity production took different forms in different
which, even early in the century, undermined the colonies, and within each colony. State policies
all-embracing myth of subsistence production. This varied in response both to different combinations
commercialization of not only the products of of class interests and to states’ own needs to secure
agriculture but also of land, labor, and the the revenues to fund their activities. Hancock
implements of agriculture intensified as the century (1942) distinguished between the ‘‘trader’s frontier’’
wore on. A third theme is the intensified integra- and the ‘‘settler’s frontier’’ in Africa. In the former,
tion into the capitalist world economy leading, in colonial governments promoted peasant agricul-
many instances, to monocrop economies that can ture; colonial companies sought to profit from, and
be characterized as ‘‘dessert and beverage econo- colonial governments to tax, trade in peasant
mies.’’ A fourth theme is developmentalism and its produce. In the latter the requirements of settler
modernist pretensions. At the start of the twentieth farmers and mining companies for labor took
century, colonial societies appeared to offer great precedence. In the ‘‘settler’s frontier’’ of South
opportunities for social engineering. Various colo- Africa, for example, the ‘‘alliance’’ of gold and
nial proconsuls sought to remake African societies maize led to the development of an elaborate and
in accordance with their own peculiar visions. extensive labor migrancy system, while in the
Colonial ‘‘development’’ had an explicitly moral ‘‘trader’s frontier’’ of Nigeria, continued African
dimension. It would extend the benefits of control of land and the dominance of agriculture
‘‘civilization’’ to Africa by promoting commerce, by peasant smallholders led to a peasant-based
agriculture, and, with reservations, wage labor and trajectory; the expansion of agricultural production
Christianity. At the same time, the colonial state has not always required, or followed from, the
would protect the native ‘‘community’’ and the soil concentration of holdings into large-scale enter-
from the disruption attendant on the spread of prises. This distinction can, however, be too heavily
commercial relations. Thus the colonial state gave drawn. Several colonies accommodated both
rise to developmentalism and the emphasis on soil settler farmers and African peasant producers in
conservation, ‘‘betterment’’ planning, large irriga- an uneasy relationship. Colonial ideologies and
tion schemes. More recently it has also given rise to policies concerning rural societies often trans-
the post-colonial state’s emphasis on the green gressed territorial boundaries; they were freely
revolution and biotechnology. imported into African colonies from other parts of
A fifth theme, particularly in the final decades of Africa, from India, and from the metropolitan
the twentieth century, is the share of non-farm worlds of Britain and the United States. The
incomes in the total income of African farmers. diversity of processes and outcomes, for both the
Rural households usually combine farming with colonial and post-colonial periods, is best illustrated
other ways of earning incomes, both craft produc- on a country-by-country basis. In the second part
19
of this article, we explore the divergent trajectories settlement. Others migrated to work in the mines
of some of Africa’s largest countries and econo- and towns, initially to acquire money to buy guns
mies: South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria. or cattle, and later to secure their own subsistence
needs and to contribute to the needs of their
families and to the costs of farming in the reserves.
Agrarian change in South Africa, Egypt, and
Before 1913 some purchased land and others
Nigeria
became squatters on white-owned land. Urbaniza-
In South Africa, capitalism came to predominate in tion created opportunities for Africans with access
agricultural production, as in mining and manu- to land and to markets to increase the production
facturing. White settlers appropriated most of the of maize, sorghum, wheat, wool, and meat for sale.
country’s land. They used the military, adminis- Peasant commodity production developed particu-
trative, and fiscal powers of the state to establish, larly in areas where black farmers acquired title to
subsidize, and sustain variants of capitalist agricul- their land, or on mission lands. Production also
ture, employing black farm workers and, in the rose in the native reserves and black tenants
later decades of the twentieth century, adopting extended peasant commodity production on to
advanced mechanical and chemical technologies. the land designated for white farming.
Mining wealth provided the revenues that allowed Black farmers competed with whites for the use
the state to subsidize the costs of capitalist farming of land, for labor, and in the markets for
in the twentieth century. Commodity production commodities. White farmers in turn competed for
by African peasant farmers was marginalized. labor with mineowners and with commercial and
Capitalist agriculture in South Africa had its industrial firms. ‘‘Native’’ policy, that is labor
origins in many forms of recruitment and control policy, was the outcome of a series of uneasy and
of labor, including initially slave and indentured unstable compromises between mining, agrarian,
labor, and later tenant, forced, migrant, and wage commercial, and industrial interests. Africans were
labor. Restrictions on access to land and obligations to be confined to the native reserves, which
on all adult males to pay taxes were used to get provided a reservoir of migrant labor. Whereas
Africans to work for wages. Workers’ freedom was mineowners looked to the reserves, and to
constrained by passes and by vagrancy laws to neighboring territories, to supply their labor,
restrict their mobility. Production was expanded to farmers were generally more concerned to restrict
meet South African, African, and overseas markets. blacks’ access to land and the ability of black farm
For maize, wheat, wine, sugar, milk, and vegetables laborers to seek work elsewhere. Africans were
– indeed most crops other than wool and some neither to own nor to rent land in white areas.
fruits – the most important markets were the mines These principles were embodied in numerous laws,
and the expanding towns and cities of South Africa notably the Native Land Act of 1913, which
itself. White farmers were served by railway branch reserved 7 percent of the country’s land area as
lines and low tariffs on crops, and by the Land ‘‘native reserves,’’ and the Natives Trust and Land
Bank. Poorer farmers sought state intervention to Act of 1936, which increased the land to be
secure their access to cheap land, cheap credit, available to Africans to 13.6 percent. The acts laid
cheap labor, and high prices. Agricultural market- the legal foundations, combined with successive
ing was dominated by state, cooperative, and pass laws, for the separation of the supplies of labor
corporate interests. for mining, agriculture and manufacturing, though
Rural blacks engaged in a long and bitter without bringing an end to competition for labor
struggle to maintain their control of land, and and the political battles this brought about.
some form of access to land where whites had Implementation of these laws would be a slow
excluded them from it, and to recover, retain, and process, extending over many decades. Similarly,
build up their herds of cattle. Indigenous peoples many of the consequences for agricultural produ-
sought to defend their polities from white conquest. cers in the reserves of these and other acts only
Some migrated beyond the frontiers of white became fully manifest over subsequent decades.
20
Farmers in the native reserves were increasingly story of the development of capitalist white farming
constrained by insufficient land for cultivation and and the elimination or marginalization of peasant
grazing, poor access to transport and markets, and African farming. When they were not left destitute,
the loss of males to migrant labor. Government rural Africans were steadily transformed into
sought to protect the soil and to raise agricultural proletarians, working for wages on farms, mines,
productivity by ‘‘betterment’’ planning, by which and in towns. By the end of the century, peasant
land would be allocated to woodland, arable, production appeared to have a past, but neither
grazing, and residential areas, and people relocated much of a present nor any sort of future. With the
into concentrated villages. But ‘‘betterment’’ dis- end of apartheid in 1994, land reform and land
rupted people’s lives and reduced the land available restitution were put on the political agenda, but
to them for farming. It was used as part of a this market-driven process has yet to deliver
strategy of resettling even more people into the substantial changes.
Bantustans (African reservations). It became a The history of agrarian change in Egypt took a
source and focus of local resistance to the chiefs different trajectory. Boasting one of the oldest
through whom it was imposed. While peasant agricultural systems in the world, Egyptian agri-
producers had been able to increase agricultural culture underwent important changes from the
production and maintain livestock numbers in at nineteenth century, as the country embarked on
least some of the native reserves during the first half modernization. New crops and irrigation systems
of the century, over the last three decades of the were introduced, all of which transformed cultiva-
twentieth century stagnating or even declining tion practices and land-ownership patterns. In the
production was accompanied by rapidly increasing nineteenth century, Mohammed Ali and his
population and the massive movement of people successors built canals and dams that facilitated
into the impoverished Bantustans. perennial irrigation, and they encouraged the
From the 1960s, the state carried out a cultivation of long-staple cotton for export as a
concerted and continuing assault against African way of earning foreign exchange. Over time, such
freehold rights, renting of land, and labor tenancy policies led to the development of a land-owning
on white farms; this was a significant part of the rural oligarchy and an impoverished peasantry.
massive relocation of black people in accordance Since time immemorial, Egypt depended on the
with the plans of the apartheid state. Labor waters of the Nile, so efficient water management
tenancy was formally abolished in 1980, though was crucial. During the twentieth century more
some farmers continued to employ people under dams were built, culminating in the giant Aswan
tenancy agreements. The prohibition of tenancy Dam built after the 1952 revolution. Improvements
ended in 1985. The prosperity of white farms in the water and irrigation systems made it possible
depended on state pricing and support policies, to expand the land under cultivation and increase
and was vulnerable to an ever-rising weight of the number of crops grown. For example, while
debts. In the 1980s capitalist farmers were one annual crop was grown after the Nile floods at
squeezed between rising interest rates and costs the beginning of the nineteenth century, by the
of inputs and stagnant prices for their produce. 1970s up to six different crops could be grown. But
The number of white farmers declined: in 1950 agricultural intensification required changes in
there were 117,000 farms, in 1980 there were fertilization, since it engendered declining soil
about 69,000 farms and fewer farmers – some fertility and mud from the Nile floods was no
59,000 in 1985, of whom 17,700 produced three- longer available as a result of the improvements in
quarters the total gross farm income. The con- water distribution. Because of costs it took many
tribution of agriculture to South Africa’s export decades for peasants to adopt the use of mineral
earnings also declined sharply from the 1960s. In fertilizer widely. Instead, they began to rely on
1991 the legal reservation of land to whites was dung from livestock, so that the close link between
finally ended. agriculture and livestock production, forged in the
Agrarian change in South Africa appears as a nineteenth century with the spread of saqqiyas for
21
irrigation which required animals to operate, The reforms produced little food security. In
became even closer. The growing importance of fact, Egypt’s dependence on food imports actually
livestock among peasants has also been associated grew to one of the highest levels in the world, by
with the spread of Alexandrian clover (bersim) 1980 it had risen to 70 percent of local consump-
production, and livestock’s growing food and tion for wheat alone. Despite various efforts to
economic value. By the end of the century bersim liberalize the agrarian sector through the early
production had eclipsed cotton, wheat, and even 1990s, it remained heavily regulated, with peasant
maize, which had become the main peasant staple cultivators frequently required to grow cotton
earlier in the century. which was purchased by the state at below-market
If water availability and management set the rates. Not surprisingly, this led to large-scale
physical parameters of agricultural production, evasion of cropping requirements by the peasantry,
peasant indebtedness and state policy set the social resulting in some easing of state controls. In 1992
contexts. The debt problem became so severe that in the state enacted a land-reform law that was aimed
1913 the government passed a law forbidding the at reversing many of the protections given to
expropriation of peasants’ land for debt non- peasants in the 1950s, and allowing landowners
payment. Under the law peasants could also not both to evict their tenants and to substantially
access agricultural credit without collateral, which increase rents. The impact of this law, implementa-
did little to improve their conditions. The rural tion of which was delayed until 1997, is debatable.
agrarian crisis deepened as population growth One the one hand, some observers see it as a
accelerated, and as extended family units gradually further indication of the market-driven transforma-
dissolved and land was subdivided into ever smaller tion of post-infitah Egyptian society and the
individual family parcels. During the first half of the abandonment of the ‘‘socialism’’ of the Nasser
twentieth century the differentiation and inequities era. On the other hand, it is not entirely clear to
between the big landowners and the peasants what extent the law actually came into force. Rural
became ever wider and more evident as a source violence in the lead-up to its implementation, and
of political conflict, despite the attainment of the involvement of radical urban activists on behalf
independence in 1922. The 1952 revolution sought of the peasantry, seems to have led the state to
to change that. In effect, however, it continued the refrain from sanctioning any large-scale disposses-
long tradition of state intervention in agriculture. sion of peasant cultivators.
Nasser’s radical government enacted a series of Of all the British colonies in Africa, Nigeria
land-reform laws that broke the power of the most clearly exemplified Hancock’s ‘‘trader’s
landowning oligarchy. These reforms fixed max- frontier.’’ Few plantations were set up, and they
imum sizes for holdings of land, thus allowing the had little success. Nigerian agriculture thus re-
state to confiscate large estates. The rents paid by mained more exclusively in peasant hands. The
peasants were capped and evictions were made building of railways by the colonial government
more difficult. Compulsory state cooperatives were created conditions for the expansion of commercial
set up. But the reforms were not targeted at all production of bulky arable and tree crops, and of
landowners, rather they mostly affected those the trade in livestock. By the end of the colonial
associated with the previous regime. In any case, period, Nigeria was the world’s largest exporter of
large estates constituted only 13 percent of the palm produce, groundnuts, and, after Ghana, of
arable land, so that expropriation was not, in itself, a cocoa. Nigeria also exported quantities of cotton,
solution to the country’s deepening land crisis. rubber, shea nut, and sesame seed. An oligopoly of
Indeed, whether intended or not, such measures foreign merchant companies dominated imports
and the state’s subsequent interventions in the and exports. African and Levantine traders dis-
agrarian sector tended to benefit not tenant farmers tributed and bulked these commodities to and from
but the so-called ‘‘rich peasantry’’ or ‘‘rural middle numerous local markets. The twentieth century
class’’ who were subsequently described as a key also saw a sustained expansion of agricultural
constituency of the post-1952 political order. production for the Nigerian market, and the
22
development of a complex and extensive network nated and most wage labor was recruited from
of trade in grains, roots, pulses, livestock, kola nut, local farming families. In the absence of a landless
and other crops, conducted by African traders. In class in the rural areas, agricultural wages
Nigeria peasants demonstrated their ability to remained relatively high.
produce exports and secured the government’s The colonial government tried to regulate
revenue base. The colonial government therefore cotton markets and promoted cooperative market-
resisted demands from some British businesses that ing of cocoa. During the Second World War, the
they provide land, labor, and trading monopolies state took over the export and pricing, first of cocoa
for plantations in southern Nigeria. The govern- and then of palm produce, groundnuts, and cotton,
ment itself assumed ownership of land in the north, using the merchant firms as its agents. After the
and vested control of land in the chiefs to protect war, the state marketing boards justified their
peasant land from alienation. In practice, Niger- licensing of produce traders by the need to regulate
ians bought and sold land, though in most rural competition and thereby protect the producers
areas the availability of farmland kept prices from exploitation by ‘‘middlemen.’’ From the
relatively low. In southern Nigeria, ‘‘native stran- Second World War until 1986, the state marketing
gers’’ gained access to land and crops through rent- boards used their monopoly over exports to impose
and share-tenancy agreements. very heavy taxation on rural producers. However,
Southern cocoa and palm produce generated agricultural exports only began to decline sharply
more exports and revenues than northern ground- (in the cases of groundnuts and palm nuts to zero)
nuts, cotton, and beniseed. Official policy was after the Nigerian civil war and the rise of mineral
generally cautious about interfering with existing oil exports. Imports of wheat, rice, maize, meat,
farming practices. Attempts were made in northern milk, day-old chicks, and even vegetable oils then
Nigeria to develop irrigation and to introduce ox- rose precipitately, accentuated by the overvaluation
ploughing and manuring. Some communities from of the naira. The experience of the 1972–4 Sahel
areas infected by tsetse fly, and others from densely drought combined with the rise in food imports to
populated districts, were resettled in villages. None justify enormous investments in gravity irrigation
of these policies made much impact on production. projects to produce wheat and rice in northern
In the 1940s cocoa farmers opposed the compul- Nigeria. Increased demand for food encouraged
sory cutting out of trees infected by swollen shoot. farmers, particularly in the northern states, to shift
Office-holders and merchants used various institu- production to, and expand production of, grain for
tions to try to secure labor from their subjects, urban and for rural markets in Nigeria and Niger.
clients or debtors, and to obtain irrigated land and In 1986 the marketing boards were abolished, the
contracts from the state. But they lacked the naira was devalued, and the import of a wide range
control of land necessary to subordinate producers of agricultural commodities banned. This raised the
to wage labor on their own terms. Throughout prices of export and locally consumed crops. Rising
Nigeria, peasant households emerged as the producer prices encouraged an expansion of cocoa
predominant form of rural producers. In many and cotton production, though not to the levels of
communities, the management of different crops 1970. Government initially welcomed rising food
was divided between men and women. Among exports, but banned them when prices rose sharply
both Yoruba and Hausa farmers, men managed after a poor harvest in 1987, thus raising the costs of
crop production and claimed the labor of their sons cross-border food trade. Devaluation, combined
and of their wives. Economic opportunities outside with the ban of wheat imports, sharply increased
the household enabled sons to contest these the price of wheat bread, encouraged the illegal
demands and to modify their terms and gave rise import of wheat flour, and justified massive
to conflicts, often covert, over men’s capacity to subsidies for wheat production, now under tubewell
command their wives’ labor-time. Seasonal mi- irrigation.
grant workers were recruited from diverse areas to State ‘‘modernization’’ of peasant agriculture is
harvest crops. Nevertheless, family labor predomi- a recurring theme in agrarian change in Nigeria.
23
alcohol and drugs alcohol and drugs
From the 1950s, Nigerian governments initiated Faris, M.A. and Khan, M.H. (ed.) Sustainable
various projects, some funded by international Agriculture in Egypt, Boulder and London: Lynne
agencies, to modernize peasant agriculture and to Rienner.
promote large-scale farming, capitalist and state- Forrest, T. (1981) ‘‘Agricultural Policies in Nigeria,
run. They financed settlement schemes, established 1900–1978,’’ in J. Heyer, P. Roberts and G.
plantations for cultivated oil palms, rubber, and Williams (eds.), Rural Development in Tropical Africa,
sugar, and set up state farms and ranches. London: Macmillan.
Governments also subsidized and distributed Hancock, W.K. (1942) Survey of British Commonwealth
credit, fertilizers, and tractors, promoted high- Affairs, vol. 2, part II, London: Oxford Uni-
yielding cocoa trees and yellow maize, as well as versity Press.
spending enormous sums on grandiose irrigation Helleiner, G. (1967) Peasant Agriculture, Government
projects. The 1979 Land Use Decree gave govern- and Economic Growth in Nigeria, Homewood: Irwin.
ments the capacity to control the disposition of
ABDUL RAUFU MUSTAPHA
land, but they faced political limits to their capacity
GAVIN WILLIAMS
to appropriate land for irrigation schemes, ranches
and large-scale farming schemes. Governments’
efforts to promote agricultural production were
marked by an ignorance of the conditions under alcohol and drugs
which peasants cultivated and of the demand for Alcohol has played a lengthy role in the history of
their crops, and by high costs and poor, generally Africa as a ritual artifact, an economic good, and a
negative, net returns. Irrigation project managers social marker. Indigenous beers were brewed from
failed to make farmers conform with their choice of sorghum and millet in West Africa (dolo or pito) and
crops. The major contribution of governments in in South Africa (utshwala), and banana beer was
Nigeria to increasing agricultural production was made in East Africa. Palm wine from the oil and
in building and maintaining roads. The Nigerian raffia palms was an important ritual and social
state subsidized the entry of urban-based capitalist drink in West Africa, similar to the use of coconut
farmers into potentially lucrative but import- wine in East Africa. The entry of European liquor
dependent niches. After the adoption of structural dates from the opening of Atlantic trade from the
adjustment in 1986, the state gradually withdrew fifteenth century, and reinforced the pre-existing
from involvement in agricultural production, lead- ritual and social uses of alcohol. Significantly,
ing to the collapse of many parastatals and state European distilled liquor had a long shelf life, and
farms. this quality enhanced its value as an economic
See also: capitalisms and capitalists; economy: commodity, even facilitating the use of cases of
c o l on i a l; e c o n o my: po s t - i n d e p e n d e n c e ; European gin as currency in southern Nigeria in
pastoralism; peasants; plantation agriculture; the nineteenth century. The introduction of Islam
structural adjustment programs to North Africa from the seventh century AD, and
its spread to the Western Sudan and the East
African coast, lessened the importance of alcohol in
References and further reading
these areas because of the Islamic prohibition of
Beinart, W., Delius, P. and Trapido, S. (eds.) (1984) alcohol, although consumption of drugs such as
Putting a Plough to the Ground, London: Longmans. khat persisted. In fact Muslims in northern Nigeria
Bryceson, D. and Jamal, V. (eds.) (1997) Farewell to apparently use drugs much more than southern
Farms: Agrarianization in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ash- Nigerians.
gate: Aldershot. Indigenous drugs also existed and cannabis
Bundy, C. (1979) The Rise and Fall of the South African appears to have grown wild in Ethiopia and
Peasantry, London: Heinemann. Southern Africa for centuries. It was also incorpo-
Craig, G.M. (ed.) (1993) The Agriculture of Egypt, rated into ritual, aiding monastic contemplation in
New York: Oxford University Press. Ethiopia, and healing therapy in Zimbabwe. The
24
use of foreign hard drugs such as cocaine and temperate and regulated use of alcohol. Chiefs and
heroin has been on the increase since the mid- European missionaries would form an important
1980s as a spillover effect of the utilization of West, alliance in their struggle against liquor use by
East, and Southern Africa as transit points in the commoners.
smuggling of heroin and cocaine to the European Indigenous drugs such as cannabis, khat, and
and North American markets. Today, while iboga were in use in pre-colonial Africa in
distilleries and breweries form an important Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Mozambi-
component of formal industrialization projects in que, South Africa, and Cameroon. But the absence
Africa, the clandestine market for and trafficking in of studies prevents a thorough examination of the
hard drugs have become a crucial aspect of use of these substances in the pre-colonial and
informal economies. Henry Bernstein (1998) de- colonial periods. Indeed, even in independent
scribes the trafficking in marijuana, cocaine, and Africa, material on drug use remains scarce, with
heroin as among the most dynamic and valuable of seizure statistics representing one of the key sources
Africa’s ‘‘non-traditional’’ exports and re-exports. of evidence. The social use of khat in the Horn of
Africa and East Africa is not of recent origin, and
the use of the iboga plant by Mbwiti healing cults
Pre-colonial Africa
in Cameroon and Gabon certainly dates from
In many pre-colonial societies, liquor played an before the colonial period. In the Binga area of
important role in many aspects of life, from spirit Zimbabwe, consumption of cannabis has been
possession, festivals, court protocol and judicial described as traditional.
processes to rites of passage. Among the Akan of
Ghana, the powerful sought to monopolize the
Colonial Africa
ritual and social use of alcohol, and chiefs and
elders systematically denied young men and women Financial self-sufficiency was a prime concern of all
access to it. Alcohol marked social hierarchy and colonial governments. The demand for liquor,
lubricated social relations, with young men and especially in West Africa with its long immersion
women involved in the production of alcoholic in Atlantic trade, provided European governments
drinks, but not in the consumption of them. Drink, with a tax base. Liquor policy and liquor revenues
wealth, and power were intimately connected, and came to constitute major pillars in colonial rule.
the advent of European liquor fed into this earlier The absence of large groups of white settlers in
demand and use. The ritual and social uses of West Africa minimized concerns about drink,
alcohol provide an important entry into the social disorder, and the threat to colonial rule.
religion, philosophy, and culture of several African Between 1892 and 1903 import duties on liquor
societies. For the Kofyar of Nigeria, the beer- provided over 55 percent of the total revenue of the
brewing cycle even determined the structure of the colony of Lagos and 38 percent of the Gold Coast’s
week, and the meaning and importance of beer revenue. Colonial concerns were different in East
were central to the Iteso of Uganda and Kenya. and Southern Africa, with their settler commu-
An important irony in the social history of nities, and liquor legislation was only relaxed as
alcohol in Africa was that this most valuable fluid colonial control became firmly established.
was one of the cheapest products manufactured in Threats to colonial dependence on liquor
Europe. While African chiefs and elders sought to revenues were often external. European mission-
restrict access to alcohol, it was in the financial aries were disappointed that the rhetoric about
interest of European merchants to maximize their ending the slave, gun, and liquor trade to Africa
sales of liquor. And for commoners who sought to had proved empty when it came to liquor traffic.
subvert the control of the traditional establishment, They agitated for temperance and prohibition in
European liquor was an important symbol of colonies such as the Gold Coast and southern
protest and self-assertion. Indigenous temperance Nigeria. International conventions on liquor were
movements emerged in a bid to codify the elder’s another important check on colonial liquor policy.
25
The Brussels Convention of 1890 banned Eur- ment revenue has persisted into the post-colonial
opean liquor across a wide belt of the African era, with breweries and distilleries playing a central
interior between latitudes 208 North and 228 role in industrialization and economic develop-
South. The predominantly Muslim communities ment. Indeed, with limited markets for manufac-
of northern Nigeria and the northern territories of tured goods, the alcohol industry was often the only
the Gold Coast fell under this proscription. The St. profitable industry in the early years of indepen-
Germain-en-Laye (France) conference of Septem- dence. This continued the political, social, and
ber 1919 banned ‘‘trade spirits’’ from the African economic importance of alcohol.
market, defined as spirits manufactured specifically From the 1940s the use of cannabis extended to
for trade to Africans and not normally consumed West Africa, and returning servicemen from Asia
by Europeans. But the concession that each are credited with its introduction. The common
colonial government could define what was meant use of the terms ‘‘Indian hemp’’ and bhanga (of
by ‘‘trade spirits’’ enabled many to circumvent the Hindi derivation) are cited as evidence of this Asian
purpose of the convention. provenance. Initially used by servicemen, and
However, it was internal pressure that led to the certain occupational groups associated with ardu-
revision of colonial liquor policy in British West ous and dangerous work, cannabis use fed into a
Africa from the late 1920s. The emergence of a class- and counter-culture that rationalized what
popular culture revolving around European-style were criminal activities.
drinking bars, dance bands, popular music (like Further continuities are suggested in the ties
highlife), and comic opera (‘‘concert’’) – and between cocoa farmers and akpeteshie distillation in
massively patronized by young men and women in the colonial period, and cocoa farmers and
towns and peri-urban villages – gave chiefs and the cannabis cultivation in the independent era. The
educated African elite cause for concern. The intercropping of cocoa and oil palm made the
imposition of huge tariffs on imported liquor, and distillation of akpeteshie from oil palm an important
the plan to gradually ban the importation of Dutch provider of cash in the period before the cocoa
geneva or gin into the Gold Coast, coincided with trees began to bear fruit. Since cocoa grows in deep
the economic depression of the 1930s. Colonial forest areas, it was easy to conceal illicit distillation
liquor revenues plummeted with the drop in liquor from the authorities. Likewise, high-quality canna-
imports, and frustrated commoners switched to the bis grows in deep forests, again providing cash for
patronage of illicitly distilled gin (akpeteshie). Colonial cocoa farmers in the period between harvests. With
governments were forced to reduce duties on the decline in the world market price for cocoa
imported liquor to make them more competitive, after 1958, cocoa farmers may have been encour-
though this was without much success. As nation- aged to diversify into cannabis cultivation, espe-
alist forces gathered strength after the Second World cially as the market expanded to incorporate
War, akpeteshie entered the nationalist agenda, and students, musicians, and others engaged in the
politicians promised the legalization of this distinctly elaboration of youth culture. A 2001 police report
African drink on the assumption of independence. indicates that many farmers in the region now find
The situation was not very different in Southern the cultivation of Indian hemp or marijuana more
Africa, where the denial of European liquor to lucrative than maize. Another report makes a
Africans in Zambia and Zimbabwe made its similar observation for the cocoa- and coffee-
acquisition a major demand for educated Africans growing areas of Cameroon.
as a sign of political parity. Thus the traditional Economic decline in Africa in the 1970s,
symbolism of alcohol and its ties to power came to together with increasing demand, may have
inform the nationalist struggle and discourse. reinforced the cultivation of cannabis as a cash
crop. In Ethiopia and Kenya, khat cultivation is a
legal enterprise with considerable economic bene-
Independent Africa
fits. Southern and western Africa now account for
The importance of the alcohol industry to govern- the bulk of Africa’s supply of cannabis with South
26
Alexandria, Egypt Alexandria, Egypt
Africa, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Ghana being Change: A Social History of Alcohol in Ghana, c.1800
the major sites of production. Reports by the to Recent Times, Portsmouth: Heinemann.
United Nations Drug Control Program, though Bernstein, H. (1998) Ghana’s Drug Economy: Some
admittedly not comprehensive, provide increasing Preliminary Data, London: SOAS CDPR.
evidence about drug production, trafficking, and Karp, I. and Bird, C.S. (eds.) (1980) Explorations in
consumption in Africa. According to its 1996 African Systems of Thought, Bloomington: Indiana
report, African countries are responsible for a University Press.
quarter of herbal cannabis and a tenth of cannabis Pan, L. (1975) Alcohol in Colonial Africa, Uppsala:
resin seized worldwide. Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.
Cannabis production, distribution, and con- United Nations International Drug Control Pro-
sumption provided pathways for the incorporation gram (1997) World Drug Report, Oxford: Oxford
of cocaine and heroin from the 1980s. The University Press.
tightening of controls at European and North United Nations Office for Drug Control and
American airports encouraged heroin traffickers Crime Prevention (1999) The Drug Nexus in Africa,
from Thailand and cocaine traffickers from Brazil Vienna: United Nations Publication.
and other Latin American countries to use Africa EMMANUEL AKYEAMPONG
as a staging point in their activities, and Africans as
couriers or ‘‘mules.’’ For Africans involved, the
financial rewards were highly enticing, irrespective
of the risks. Today Africans are serving lengthy
Alexandria, Egypt
prison terms in Thailand, Europe, and North Alexandria is the major port and second largest
America. There is also growing evidence that city in Egypt. It is home to 40 percent of the
consumption of heroin and cocaine in Africa is on country’s industry, with a population of four million
the rise. Initially pioneered by ‘‘jet-setters’’ and that increases to six million in the summer because
those who had lived abroad, dealers who sell small of tourism. The city stretches over seventy kilo-
quantities of cannabis in Ghanaian cities are also meters along the coast, with urban areas extending
dealing in heroin and cocaine, indicating that over 100 square kilometers. During the first half of
cocaine (especially crack cocaine) and heroin are the twentieth century, Alexandria’s socioeconomic
ceasing to be high-end drugs. Similar to cannabis situation enabled it to develop into an international
use, cocaine and heroin are smoked instead of metropolis that attracted people from various parts
injected, and the injection of hard drugs is viewed of the world. While Europe was suffering from
by many as a habit not indulged in by Africans. economic depression, Alexandria bustled with
The use of these hard drugs among street children business activity and was thus able to reduce taxes.
in urban Ghana has been reported. A Ghanaian At the same time, foreigners were made welcome,
newspaper has warned that young people in and tolerance of different cultures and beliefs was
general are switching from cannabis to cocaine prevalent. Foreigners were allowed to own busi-
and heroin. Further specific research will flesh out nesses, trade in the bourse, and were exempt from
these sketched outlines, but it suffices to conclude – Egyptian law.
in line with the 1999 UN report on the drug nexus The result was continuous waves of European
in Africa – that a drug crisis may lie in Africa’s and Middle Eastern immigrants, some attracted by
future if strong measures to deter current trends are economic prosperity and some fleeing persecution
not implemented. or political unrest in their home countries. In 1917
the number of foreigners was 70,000 out of a
See also: leisure; youth population of 435,000, and by 1927 it reached
99,605. These numbers sky-rocketed in the wake of
References and further reading the Second World War, when thousands of Jews
emigrated to Alexandria where the Jewish com-
Akyeampong, E. (1996) Drink, Power, and Cultural munity was considered the world’s most organized
27
Algeria Algeria
and the most prosperous. By 1952 a quarter of the of parts of the ancient lighthouse, and the building
population was Greek and, according to some of the Alexandria Library, second only to the US
estimates, only 30 percent of the residents were Library of Congress.
Egyptian.
The presence of such diversity encouraged the
Further reading
development of the cultural and intellectual life of
the city, which Lawrence Durrell (author of The Forster, E.M. (1961) Alexandria: A History and Guide,
Alexandria Quartet) called ‘‘a melting pot.’’ Among New York: Doubleday.
these foreigners were E.M. Forster, who moved to Jobbins, J. and Megalli, M. (1993) The Egyptian
Alexandria where East and West meet, to write A Mediterranean, Cairo: The American University in
Passage to India, and the Greek poet C.P. Cavafy. Cairo Press.
Other foreigners helped establish the cinema
MUSTAFA A. MUGHAZY
industry in Egypt, such as the Greek-born Omar
Sharif and the Hungarian Stephan Rosti. Middle
Eastern royalty and other members of the elite
were attracted by the high standards of education Algeria
provided at Alexandrian schools such as St. Mark’s Algeria is located in northern Africa, bordering the
College and Victory College, which Jordan’s late Mediterranean Sea, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya,
King Hussein attended. Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Western Sahara,
Readers of Forster’s guide to Alexandria or and has a total area of 2,381,741 square kilometers.
Lawrence’s novels would be surprised to see it Its population was estimated at 31.2 million in
today. The end of the Second World War was the 2000, constituted primarily of Arabs and Ama-
beginning of a series of dramatic socioeconomic zighs. Algeria’s name originates in the Arabic word
changes. In 1947 the Egyptian government al-Djazair, a plural noun for ‘‘island.’’ The country
mandated that 90 percent of all workers and more was a colony of France from 1830 until 1962.
than 50 percent of joint stock holders be Egyptians. In order to understand the nature of the French
The result was the lay-off of 60,000 foreign colonial regime in Algeria, it is necessary to look at
workers. The 1956 Suez War, in which Israel colonial laws, especially the senatus-consultes of 1863
attacked Egypt with the backing of Britain and and 1865, and their underlying ideological func-
France, resulted in the expulsion of all British and tion. The 1863 senatus-consulte expropriated the land
French residents. The 1967 war precipitated the of the colonized on a massive scale and paved the
migration of Jews to Israel, resulting in the way for colonial settlements. The Warnier Laws of
shrinking of the Jewish population of Alexandria 1873 ‘‘Frenchified’’ what remained of the land of
from 14,860 in 1947 to less than 200 by the early the fellahs by handing it over to unscrupulous
1980s. speculators. Settlers then established an economy
These changes encouraged the migration to that satisfied the needs of mainland France,
Alexandria of thousands from the rural lower transplanting vineyards and citrus groves onto
classes, who within a couple of decades developed lands that used to produce grain. The 1865
into an educated middle class. The 1970s brought senatus-consulte stipulated that Arabs and Amazighs
an economic boom, with the shift from socialism to were French subjects; it allowed them to apply for
a capitalist free-market policy of unrestricted French citizenship, with the proviso that they
imports and exports. Soon Alexandria regained follow the French code and renounce their
its popularity as a business center and beautiful ‘‘personal status,’’ namely their Muslim identity.
summer resort, and its size doubled from the In reality, the offer of citizenship amounted to
1950s. International intellectual interest in the city nothing: the Muslims would not relinquish their
has also been growing since the early 1980s with cultural identity; moreover, the applications for
the establishment of Sangour University and an citizenship met with an unfriendly reception from
international francophone university, the discovery the colonial administrators. Thus the 1865 senatus-
28
Algeria Algeria
consulte created a fracture at the core of the concept tionist proposals of the Jonnart Laws as the Blum–
of French citizenship: it subjected the colonized to Viollette Bill of 1935. All the European mayors and
French laws, but denied them most of the civil deputies in Algeria boycotted it. The failure of the
rights pertaining to political citizenship. The bill precipitated a political impasse in colonial
senatus-consultes of 1863 and 1865 therefore worked Algeria. On 8 May 1945 the indigenous people in
in tandem to expropriate the colonized and deny Sétif were allowed to parade and lay a wreath to
them subject status. Subsequently the Jonnart commemorate those Algerians who fell serving
Laws, passed in 1919, aimed to enfranchise the under the French flag in the Second World War.
elite, but did nothing for the predominantly Thousands appeared on that day carrying natio-
uneducated mass of colonized people. Further- nalistic and anti-colonialist banners. The demon-
more, these reforms were couched in terms of strations culminated in a clash between the French
segregation: the Jonnart Laws grouped the enfran- police and the nationalists. Over 45,000 civilians
chised elite in a separate electoral college that were massacred by French police in Guelma,
offered no rights to parliamentary representation. Karata, and Sétif. The importance of the 1945
This very restricted program of reform baffled crisis as a landmark in the political history of
supporters of integration but, from the outset, Algeria cannot be overemphasized: not only did
settlers reacted against them. In May 1920 the the crisis express the failure of the rhetoric of
Congress of Algerian Mayors urged the French assimilation, but it announced the beginning of the
government to return to its former policy of end of French Algeria.
securing the interests and colonial future of the Almost a decade after this crisis, the Algerian
settlers. The government was not only compelled War ignited. On 1 November 1954 the FLN
to respond with a law, passed August 1920, that (National Liberation Front) took arms to liberate
repelled the Jonnart Laws, but also had to reinstate Algeria from the shackles of colonialism. Its
the previous code algérien de l’indigénat. This estab- struggle would continue until 1962. In the summer
lished an apartheid regime that was in complete of 1956 Algiers witnessed a brutal cycle of
contradiction with the practices of French civil terrorism and counter-terrorism. In January 1957
institutions and common law which had been Governor-General Lacoste put Algiers under the
introduced into Kabylia after the Mokrani Re- military control of General Massu. The latter
bellion in 1874 and extended to the rest of the instigated a campaign of torture and state terror-
country by further legislation in 1881. ism, commonly known as the Battle of Algiers. In
From 1920 to 1945 political relations in Algeria 1958 General Challe extended the state terrorism
took the shape of a pyramid, with the colonial developed by Massu to the whole of Algeria. To
administration at the top and three opposing restrict the movement of the FLN and cut the
political tendencies at the bottom: Jeunes Algér- military supplies coming to it from Tunisia, the
iens, the Ulemas and the Parti Populaire Algérien French army constructed the Morice Line along
(PPA). Jeunes Algériens (or the ‘‘lay’’ reformists) the Algerian–Tunisian border. On 8 February 1958
were in favor of assimilation. The Ulemas’ French planes bombed Sakhiet Sidi Youssef, a
‘‘religious’’ reformism advocated a return to those Tunisian village near the Algerian border. The
very traditions that the colonizers had tried to hostilities claimed the lives of hundreds of thou-
obliterate. The PPA was radical in its political sands of civilians – eventually hostilities were to
demands, having emerged from the Etoile Nord- claim a million lives.
Africaine – a shadow organization to the French Fearful of a political settlement to the Algerian
Communist Party. In 1934 the French socialists and War, the generals in Algiers encouraged demon-
communists formed a coalition government under strations led by the ultras (extremists among the
the premiership of Léon Blum. In his government, French settlers). On 13 May 1958, under the threat
Minister of State Maurice Viollette, the former of a putsch, General de Gaulle returned to power.
Governor-General of Algeria, drafted a bill for The Algerian War had an impact on the political
political reform which reintroduced the assimila- institutions of mainland France. It undermined the
29
Algiers, Algeria Algiers, Algeria
premises upon which French democracy was built, In the 1980s the drastic fall in the price of crude oil
leading to the collapse of the Fourth Republic. threatened the Algerian economy. The looming
General de Gaulle wrote the French constitution, economic crisis precipitated uprisings in 1988, but
set up the Fifth Republic, and presided over the Chadli had already introduced a program of
decolonization of Algeria, a significant event for economic and political reforms. In 1987 the
the liberationist movement that was sweeping Ministry of Planning was abolished and the
Africa at the time. After the 1961 referendum, de Chamber of Commerce revived, with a view to
Gaulle started to negotiate with the FLN. Two encouraging private-sector development and open-
issues complicated negotiations: the discovery of ing the Algerian economy to foreign investment. In
vast reserves of natural gas and oil in the Sahara, 1989 Chadli ratified a new constitution that put an
and, more importantly, the prospect of having to end to one-party government. It is ironic that the
repatriate almost a million French settlers (pieds democratization of Algeria’s political system
noirs). Initially France proposed to keep the Sahara opened the floodgates of political turmoil. Disen-
under its political control and only grant indepen- chanted with the FLN, a disgruntled population
dence to part of Algeria, but the Algerians rejected rallied behind their opponents – namely, the
this proposal. An agreement on independence was Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) – in order to effect
finally reached on 18 March 1962. Most of the change. It was no surprise when the FIS secured a
settlers were repatriated. landslide victory in the first round of the 1990
Ben Bella set up the first government in 1963, election, but the decision by the military to suspend
staying in power until 1965 when he was removed the election was to spark a civil war that raged
in a coup staged by Colonel Haouri Boumediene. throughout the 1990s.
Boumediene’s presidency lasted until 1978. The
economy, health care, housing, education, and
Further reading
rapid population growth were immediate problems
for Algeria in the aftermath of decolonization. Behr, E. (1976) The Algerian Problem, London:
Until 1962 the economy was primarily agricultural, Greenwood Press.
complementing that of mainland France. In Haddour, A. (2000) Colonial Myths, History and
addition to wine, citrus fruits, and other agricul- Narrative, Manchester: Manchester University
tural products, Algeria provided the raw materials Press.
for French industry. The exploitation of natural gas AZZEDINE HADDOUR
and oil by French companies generated income for
the newly independent state. In 1971 Boumediene
nationalized this vital resource, enabling Algeria to
take giant strides toward industrialization. Under
Algiers, Algeria
his leadership, Algeria’s foreign policy was char- In Arabic the word al-Djazair refers both to the
acterized by non-alignment and anti-imperialism. country Algeria and to its capital city, Algiers.
Boumediene sought to Arabize the administration Situated in the north, Algiers is both the largest
and attempted, albeit unsuccessfully, to bring about seaport city and wilaya (province) in Algeria. The
an agrarian revolution. However, clientelism wea- Spanish held the city for a short period in the
kened the socialist ideals of the Algerian revolution: sixteenth century, before the Turks annexed it to
a military dictatorship replaced the colonial state, their empire. Prior to the colonization of Algeria by
and power was concentrated in the hands of the the French in 1830, Algiers was one of the major
single-party FLN government. After Boumediene’s cities of the Ottoman Empire. It was, in fact, the
death in December 1978, Colonel Chadli Ben capital of the Barbary Coast, whose fleet domi-
Jadid was elected president. He carried out the nated the Mediterranean. Then, during the
same policies as his predecessor. During his colonial period, Algiers was the administrative
presidency, the gap between the military ruling center for Algeria as a French département. During
class and the rest of the populace became obvious. the Second World War, after the Allies landed in
30
anglophone Africa anglophone Africa
North Africa in 1942, Algiers became the seat of approximately eighteen kilometers from the city
the provisional government of Free France. In the center, and on the rail network that connects
1950s, during the Algerian War, Algiers was a Algiers to the rest of the country.
battlefield. In 1956 it witnessed a brutal cycle of Culturally, the city has given its name to two
terrorism and counter-terrorism, with Governor- major literary movements: Algérianisme, founded
General Lacoste putting Algiers under military by Louis Bertrand, Robert Randau, Jean Pomier,
control in January 1957 and instigating the and Louis Lecoq in 1921, and the Ecole d’Alger
campaign of torture and state terrorism that is (Algerian School), founded by Audisio and Albert
commonly known as the Battle of Algiers. On 13 Camus in 1935. Camus himself achieved interna-
May 1958 the generals in Algiers encouraged tional acclaim for fiction and philosophical writings
demonstrations led by the ultras that precipitated on the absurd, winning the 1957 Nobel Prize for
the collapse of the beleaguered Fourth Republic: Literature. Algeria’s main cultural institutions
under the threat of a coup, General de Gaulle include the University of Algiers (one of the major
returned to power to preside over the decoloniza- universities in Algeria), the National Library, and
tion of Algeria. the mosques of Sidi Abel-Rahman and Ketchaoua.
Algiers is made up of two parts: the old city, the
Casbah, with its narrow and winding streets over-
Further reading
looking the bay of Algiers, was chiefly built by the
Turks as a fortress in the sixteenth century; the Çelik, Z. (1997) Urban Forms and Colonial Confronta-
modern section of the city, on the other hand, was tions: Algiers under French Rule, Berkeley: University
built by the French to accommodate European of California Press.
settlers. After Algeria won its independence in 1962, AZZEDINE HADDOUR
most of those settlers left the city and returned to
Europe. Independence had a major impact on the
population of the city. The departure of the pieds noirs
(French settlers) encouraged a rural exodus that
anglophone Africa
brought masses of hitherto dispossessed fellahs into Anglophone Africa refers to those countries that
the city, hoping to improve their standard of living, were part of the British colonial empire and have
as well as internal migration from other parts of the continued to use the English language locally and
country. This galloping population growth meant internationally for official and popular commu-
that the city had expanded to accommodate over a nication. In the main, the African elites who took
million people by 1970; by 1987 its population had over from the colonists after independence main-
risen to 1.7 million, and by 2000 to 4.4 million. tained their commitment to English as an official
Overcrowding became one of the major problems language.
for the city, whose main districts include Birman- By the end of the First World War, Britain was
dreis, Bologhine, Bouzaréa, el-Biar, el-Harrach, in control of two territories in northern Africa
Hussein Dey and Kouba. (Egypt and Sudan), four in Eastern Africa (Kenya,
The port of Algiers was of great strategic Somalia, Uganda, and Tanzania), four in West
importance to France’s colonization of Algeria Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, and Sierra
and its neighbors Tunisia and Morocco, particu- Leone), and six in Southern Africa (Malawi,
larly for France’s trade with its colony. Wine, citrus Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, and
fruits, and raw materials for French industry such Swaziland). Some were administered as colonies,
as iron ore and phosphates were exported from others as protectorates, and yet others by chartered
Algiers to mainland France. By the end of the companies. Despite the differences, the colonial
century, the port was still a very important refueling mission was to control the colonies for the benefit
station in the Mediterranean, and vital to the of the imperial metropole using local administra-
economic life of post-colonial Algeria. In addition, tive functionaries, whether traditional rulers or the
trade relies on the Dar-el-Beida airport, situated new Western-educated elite. The role of the latter
31
anglophone Africa anglophone Africa
became important as they grew in numbers and the educational systems in most of the newly
political influence through the activities of the independent countries retained their British char-
nationalist movements. acter. Above all, English was retained as the official
The interwar period witnessed more determined language, which gave these countries a sense of
efforts by the colonial governments to expand collective identity and distinguished them from
education in the British colonies. Previously francophone and lusophone Africa.
education had largely been left to the Christian English, although the official language of fewer
missionaries. This was also a period that saw the countries than French, became the most widely
growth of African nationalism, buoyed up by the spoken language in Africa. It was the language
ravages of the Great Depression and the spoken in some of Africa’s largest countries, both
Second World War. Britain emerged from the those that had been British colonies – Nigeria,
war much weaker than before and, soon after, the Sudan, Egypt, and South Africa – and those that had
demise of its empire in Asia began with the not – Ethiopia. English also spread to other countries
independence of India and Pakistan in 1947. In the that had not been part of the British empire: for
British African colonies, frustrated ex-servicemen example, lusophone Mozambique, which is sur-
played an important role in the gathering storms of rounded by anglophone countries, or francophone
anti-colonial struggle. They had shed much of their Rwanda, which is tied to anglophone Uganda. The
high regard for whiteness and European super- spread of English was linked to its international
iority during the war, and had expected to be supremacy, enhanced by the processes of globaliza-
generously compensated, as a group and for their tion, including structural adjustment programs,
colonies, economically and politically. The lan- whose liberalization and privatization of education
guage of ‘‘self-determination’’ or the right to self- reinforced the exclusion of the poor and the
governance, fostered by the United Nations, gave empowerment of cosmopolitan middle-class elites.
the nationalists an international platform to air Despite its rapid spread, English encountered several
their demands. Decolonization began eleven obstacles. There were the indigenization efforts in
years after the war, with the independence of countries like Tanzania, where emphasis was put on
Sudan in 1956, followed by Ghana a year later. Swahili, and in Egypt and Sudan, which opted for
The majority of British African colonies gained Arabic. There was also the increased legitimization
their independence in the early 1960s, except for of pidgin and creole, especially in West Africa, which
the remaining settler colonies in Southern Africa reduced the domains of standard English.
which gained their independence later. Ali Mazrui and Alamin Mazrui (1998) distin-
After independence, the shared colonial experi- guish four categories of countries in relation to
ences of British Africa created a unique anglo- the use of English. In the first group, English is the
phone identity, despite the fact that many nations language of both society and the state, as in the
dissolved the Westminister parliamentary model in anglophone Caribbean countries. There were no
favor of one-party governments. Initially the new such countries in Africa. The majority of anglo-
African governments maintained strong economic phone African countries belonged to the second
links with Britain, which remained a major market group, in which English was the language of the
for their exports and source of imports, and whose state but not of society. The third category is where
companies dominated agricultural and industrial English was neither the language of the state nor of
investment and production. Indeed, for many years society, but was used only for specialized purposes,
the currencies of many British ex-colonies were as in Mozambique, or had been jettisoned in favor
linked to the British pound, although these of local languages, such as in Sudan and Somalia.
monetary ties were severed much quicker than The final category consists of those countries that
was the case in francophone Africa. An rely mainly on other world languages, such as
important institution in the maintenance of French. The spread of English both enriched and
linkages between Britain and many of its former undermined many indigenous languages, enriching
African colonies was the Commonwealth. Also, them through loan words and undermining them
32
Angola Angola
by restricting the domains of their use, especially in natural resources, Angola’s economy was in
marginalizing them in public life and educational disarray due the continuous warfare that has
systems. In so far as English was restricted to the plagued the country from 1961.
elite, the majority of the population were shut out Angola’s history in the first half of the twentieth
from national discourse, which had grave con- century was marked by the imposition of ever-
sequences for democracy and development. increasing Portuguese military and economic con-
Besides English and the Commonwealth, anglo- trol of the colony. In order to maintain its claims
phone countries also shared concerns about the over the entire area, Portugal spent the first two
nature of relations with the European Union, decades conducting campaigns of military conquest
and, more importantly, the international finan- and promoting white settlement in the interior. The
cial institutions and the developmental chal- Benguela Railway and some new towns followed in
lenges of debt crises, promoting regional the wake of military colonization, but the Portu-
integration and effective systems of governance. guese were never able sustain Angola with an
These problems were of course not confined to the adequate settler population or capital to develop its
anglophone countries, but there were institutions economy. In 1932 Portugal became a fascist
and discourses concerning them that had an dictatorship under António Salazar, who sought
anglophone accent. to integrate Angola into the Portuguese economy.
Despite new financial policies, substantial economic
growth in Angola did not occur until after the
Second World War when higher coffee prices
Gifford, P. and Louis, W.R. (1988) Decolonization and brought wealth to the colony’s plantations. Sala-
African Independence: The Transfers of Power, 1960– zar’s racial politics legally divided the vast majority
1980, New Haven: Yale University Press. of indigenous Angolans (called indı́ginas) from
Mazrui, A.A. and Mazrui, A.M. (1998) The Power of assimilados (Africans or mixed-race Afro-Portuguese
Babel: Language and Governance in the African who spoke Portuguese and adopted Portuguese
Experience, Oxford: James Currey. customs). Harsh laws forced indı́ginas to carry
PETER P. JONES
identification cards and subjected them to forced
labor, while similar laws limited the economic
advancement of assimilados in the colonial system.
Resentment of these policies became endemic
Angola and the period from 1961 to 1975 was marked by
Angola, named after the ancient Mbundu state of the liberation struggles of three competing nation-
Ngola, is the seventh largest country in Africa, with alist movements. The first two movements were
a total area of 1,246,700 square kilometers. It is formed when a number of incipient liberation
bordered by Namibia, Zambia, Congo, and groups led by urban assimilados merged together to
Democratic Republic of Congo. By 2000 it form the MPLA (Popular Movement for the
had an estimated population of 13.1 million, Liberation of Angola) in 1956 and the FNLA
divided into several ethnic groups, the most (National Front for the Liberation of Angola) in
populous being the Ovimbundu (37 percent), 1962. The MPLA had its support base in the
Kimbundu (25 percent), and Bakongo (13 percent). Kimbundu region near the capital of Luanda, but
Afro-Portuguese and Europeans respectively con- moved its headquarters to Conakry in Guinea after
stituted roughly 2 and 1 percent of the population. the arrest of many of its leaders in 1959. The FNLA
The main livelihood for 85 percent of the drew its support from the Bakongo populations of
population was still agriculture, which accounted both Angola and neighboring Zaire, where the
for only 12 percent of the gross domestic product. organization based its operations. The first large-
The principal exports were petroleum and dia- scale uprisings of the liberation struggle began in
monds, while other exports included fish, timber, 1961 with localized attacks on Portuguese establish-
sugarcane, coffee, cotton, and sisal. Although rich ments. Despite the heavy-handed military response
33
Angola Angola
by Salazar and attempts to stave off future uprisings Angola was admitted into the United Nations in
through an infrastructure development program, December 1976, but its development plans were
violence continued to escalate in the colony and to hampered by internal factional disputes and
draw worldwide attention. The MPLA mounted continued warfare against UNITA and South
guerrilla incursions from the Congo into the enclave Africa. The MPLA, under its president Agostinho
of Cabinda and from Zambia into eastern Angola. Neto, formally adopted Marxism–Leninism in
In 1966 the former foreign minister of the FNLA, 1976, which strengthened its ties to Cuba and the
Jonas Savimbi, formed a third nationalist movement Soviet Union, but also undermined its attempts to
called UNITA (National Union for the Total revive the agricultural sector of the economy.
Independence of Angola) based on the support of Angola’s communist stance, along with its support
Angola’s largest ethnic group, the Ovimbundu of of the Namibian independence movement, caused
the central highlands. South Africa to launch an undeclared war on
The Portuguese increased their army in Angola Angola that would make conflict a constant part of
to 60,000 and resettled more than a million rural life in Angola through to the end of the 1980s.
Africans into military-controlled villages in an South African military aggression began with
attempt to prevent the spread of insurgency. Yet attacks on a Namibian refugee camp in Angola
these resettlement villages caused a significant in 1978 and the bombing of a provincial capital in
breakdown in the previously important agricultural 1979. Equally as threatening for Angola’s hopes of
sector, which never fully recovered. Military peace, UNITA – with South African training and
expenditure forced Portugal to open Angola to support – was transformed into a serious military
foreign investment by corporations such as the US- threat and infiltrated the countryside, further
based Gulf Oil. The colonial wars also took a toll disrupting the agricultural sector. President José
on Portugal itself where a military coup in 1974 Eduardo dos Santos, who succeeded Neto in 1979,
instituted a new government that met with the sought to end the conflict with South Africa
nationalist movements and agreed to Angolan through international diplomacy. The United
independence from 11 November 1975 under a States, troubled by the Soviet and Cuban presence
transitional government with representatives from in Angola, entered into negotiations with Angola,
all three liberation movements. Cuba, and South Africa. After a long series of talks,
Rather than bringing an end to the conflict, agreements were reached in 1988 that called for
however, this transitional period ushered in a new Namibian independence from South Africa in
stage of conflict pressured by Cold War politics. 1990, the withdrawal of Cuban troops from
Fighting began even before independence and Angola, and a UNITA and MPLA peace accord.
power was never handed over to the transitional Yet the process of national unification, essential
government nor to any of the three movements. for any real development in Angola, would not be
The United States first funded the pro-West FNLA achieved in the twentieth century. The government
and then UNITA after the Soviet Union supported instituted a number of reforms and joined the
MPLA. Realizing their tenuous position relative to International Monetary Fund in 1989, but this did
the powerful MPLA, the FNLA and UNITA not improve the situation of the average citizen. The
formed an alliance. Later, although the alliance MPLA voted in its Third Party Congress in
had discredited UNITA in the eyes of many of its December 1990 to institute economic liberalization
supporters, a joint UNITA and South African and a multi-party system, opening the way for
military force drove north from the South African negotiations with UNITA. By the end of 1991, dos
colony of Namibia and advanced to within 100 Santos and Savimbi had signed a peace agreement
kilometers of Luanda. The United States sus- in Bicesse, Portugal, that was backed by the United
pended support for UNITA, and 10,000–12,000 States and the Soviet Union. In August 1992, a
Cuban troops helped push them and the South multi-party democracy was instituted, ushering in
African troops back, establishing the MPLA as the the Republic of Angola. Hopes for peace ran high,
victor of the succession struggle. but after the multi-party elections resulted in a
34
Antananarivo, Madagascar Antananarivo, Madagascar
narrow victory for dos Santos in September of that Hodges, T. (1987) Angola to the 1990s: The Potential for
year, Savimbi dismissed the election as a fraud and Recovery, New York: Economist Publications.
returned to war. By the following year, UNITA had
T.J. DESCH-OBI
expanded their territory significantly, although a
major military loss at Kuito and sanctions against
arms and fuel trade with UNITA by the United
Nations would later put UNITA back on the Antananarivo, Madagascar
defensive. The ongoing conflict, with its widespread At the beginning of the twentieth century, Antana-
use of land mines, continued to contribute to the narivo, the capital of Madagascar and its largest
deterioration of agricultural production. Moreover, city, was occupied by the French. Its population was
the United Nations estimated that 1,000 people were 75,000, which had increased to 95,000 by 1911.
dying each day, often from starvation and disease. The city was built on a dozen steep slopes. The
A second attempt at peace was initiated in 1994 former residence of the Merina royal family (the
with the signing of the Lusaka Protocol, which Merina were the largest ethnic group in the capital)
agreed to a ceasefire, the inclusion of UNITA in the was located at the top of the slopes, below which
national government, the demobilization of UNITA were the administrative, financial, and commercial
troops, and the establishment of UN peacekeeping districts. During colonial rule, the dominance of the
forces. The implementation was far behind schedule capital was evident in the concentration there of
in 1996, when Angola’s oil reserves were expanded economic, educational, and administrative bureau-
with the discovery of new offshore oilfields. In 1997 cracies, as well as the country’s transportation
UNITA had joined a Government of Unity and system. Railroads connected Antananarivo with
National Reconciliation, but Savimbi avoided the the country’s chief port, Toamasina. Antananar-
capital and small-scale skirmishes continued. By ivo’s economy, controlled by French firms and
1998 the war had resumed, with both sides playing closely integrated with France’s economy, concen-
an active role in conflicts in the Democratic trated on the export of agricultural products –
Republic of Congo. The MPLA suspended the vanilla, coffee, sugarcane, cloves, and cocoa.
coalition government, while a splinter group, The city’s social and cultural institutions during
UNITA Renovada, split off from Savimbi. Yet the colonial period illustrated the influence of the
Savimbi’s UNITA retained control over substantial French and the Catholic Church, and the emer-
production of diamonds and was able to reassert gence of new social classes. Those who had
control of over much of the countryside. In 1999 the converted to Christianity, learned to speak French,
government made significant military advances, attended Western missionary schools, and adopted
taking back Andulo and Bailundu, the main cities French cultural habits were members of the elite,
under UNITA control. The United Nations pulled while those who had not were considered members
out its mission in the same year and the twentieth of the urban lower class. However, the Malayo-
century closed with warfare continuing to disrupt Indonesian culture of the majority population was
the hopes of prosperity for this potentially wealthy evident throughout the city in the forms of language
country. But following the death of Jonas Savimbi, and cultural tradition. Most Malagasy maintain
the UNITA leader who was killed by government close ties between the living and the dead, and
soldiers in February 2002, Angola appears to be ancestral tombs were integral to their daily lives.
heading for a new era of peace. During the struggle for independence following
the Second World War, Antananarivo served as a
base for the nationalist movement led by the
Further reading
Independence Congress Party of Madagascar
Bender, G.J. (1980) Angola Under the Portuguese: The whose members were largely recruited from the
Myth and the Reality, Berkeley: California Uni- burgeoning middle class.
versity Press. Following Madagascar’s independence in 1960,
the French presence remained glaringly obvious. In
35
Arab Maghreb Union Arab Maghreb Union
the 1960s and 1970s Antananarivo experienced

Arab Maghreb Union
rapid population growth as landless people fled the
depressed rural areas and flocked to the capital in Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and
search of employment and other amenities. Since the Tunisia established the Arab Maghreb Union
city did not have the economic, social, and educa- (AMU) in 1989, bringing into existence the long-
tional capacity to accommodate new arrivals, many held dream of Maghreb integration. These North
of them were forced, along with the working poor, African countries extend over 4,800 kilometers
into slum areas where conditions were rough and from the Atlantic Ocean to Egypt, with a
difficult. population over sixty million people. In 1989 their
Antananarivo continued to be the center of collective gross domestic product exceeded
political developments in the 1970s. Intellectuals US$100 billion, not to mention US$40 billion in
and students intensified their criticism of the foreign trade. Although these states vary in terms
country’s structure of government, economic dis- of size, population, natural resources, and political
parities, and neo-colonial relationship with France, regimes, they share a common heritage in terms of
which was evident at the University of Madagascar culture, language, religion, and history. They are all
itself where the bulk of the faculty was French, former colonies, predominantly Arabic-speaking
instruction was in French, and the students were and Muslim, and their populations are a mixture of
awarded French, not Malagasy, degrees. Antana- Arab majority and Amazigh minority.
narivo and its educational institutions played a very Several economic and political factors gave birth
influential role in the uprisings that resulted in to the AMU. Economically, the five Maghreb states
President Tsiranana being ousted in 1972. The faced tremendous economic crises in the 1980s due
uprisings started as student strikes, but were to drought and sharp drops in prices for their
supported by protests from workers, the unem- prime export minerals. The results were sky-
ployed, the churches, and even by some members rocketing levels of unemployment and external
of the ruling party. debt in all of these states. Furthermore, they had to
During the 1970s and 1980s Antananarivo was face the repercussions of the enlargement of the
the center of political activity under President European Economic Community southwards to
Didier Ratsiraka who practiced his own version of include Spain and Portugal, the two most im-
Marxist socialism. Political and social unrest portant European trade partners of the Maghreb
continued in the capital into the 1990s as multi- states. Politically, the AMU was meant to provide a
party democratic reforms were introduced and a framework to settle several inter-Maghreb conflicts,
structural adjustment program, demanded by the the foremost of which was over the Western
International Monetary Fund and World Bank, Sahara. This particular dispute exploded in an
was instituted. Although Antananarivo was still open war in 1975–6 that engulfed three Maghreb
suffering from many economic ills by the end of the states and had since become a determining factor
twentieth century, it was the country’s main in their bilateral relations. Indeed, the establish-
industrial center: meat, beverages, textiles, and ment of the AMU was a result of both Algeria’s
sugar were the main commodities produced there, and Morocco’s acceptance of the United Nations
along with petroleum refining. It also remained the peace plan in the Western Sahara. Moreover, the
country’s main urban center, with a population of AMU provided a counterbalance to Egypt
1.5 million at the end of the century. returning to the Arab fold in the late 1980s and
becoming involved in another Arab supraregional
organization, the Arab Cooperation Council.
Further reading:
Equally important was the rise of several Islamic
Covell, M. (1987) Madagascar: Politics, Economics, and movements in the Maghreb countries which posed
Society, London: Frances Pinter. a real political challenge to their regimes. The
AMU was implicitly meant to facilitate security
CASSANDRA RACHEL VENEY cooperation between these regimes.
36
Arab Maghreb Union Arab Maghreb Union
Therefore, the heads of the Maghreb states to lesser extent, Moroccan Islamic movements, and
formed the AMU by signing the Marrakesh Treaty. total collaboration with the military-backed Alger-
Its aims were to foster economic development and ian regime that brought the 1991 democratic
increase trade among their countries by allowing elections to a violent halt after the Islamic
the free movement of goods, services, labor, and Salvation Front had won a decisive victory.
capital. The declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic However, when Algeria’s internal political violence
Republic was excluded, thanks to King Hassan’s crossed the Moroccan border in 1994, relations
efforts. The AMU permanent apparatuses were between the two countries became very strained
established at the fourth summit meeting in and the border was closed.
September 1991. They included the presidential From an economic perspective, the AMU did
council, which was to meet annually; the parlia- very little to achieve the goal of economic
ment or consultative council, which comprised integration. Although the 1990 Maghreb summit
twenty representatives of each state; the judicial decided to implement a customs union by 1995,
organ, which was to interpret the treaty; the the union did not materialize due to the many
investment and foreign trade bank; the Maghreb political disagreements between the Maghreb
University and Academy of Science; and the states. Moreover, the AMU failed to provide a
general secretariat, based in Rabat. By 2000 there framework for foreign-policy coordination that
had been only one secretary-general, the Tunisian ideally might have resulted in fair trans-Mediterra-
Muhammad Amamou, who was charged with nean relations. Instead, after a few European–
supervising the follow-up and specialized commit- Maghreb meetings, individual Maghreb states
tees. negotiated separately with their giant European
However, through the 1990s the AMU achieved counterpart, the European Union, thereafter
few of its political and none of its economic goals. concluding separate, arguably unfair, Mediterra-
From a political perspective, each Maghreb state nean partnership agreements with Tunisia and
maintained its own foreign policy on the basis of Morocco in 1995. Libya had been excluded from
national interest. Consequently, the five Maghreb the very start, but negotiations between the
states had five different positions during the 1990 European Union and Algeria were still ongoing
Arab Summit that addressed the Iraqi invasion of by 2000.
Kuwait and American deployment of troops in Thus the AMU was dormant from the mid-
Saudi Arabia. The 1992 UN sanctions imposed on 1990s and its members turned away from it,
Libya were another severe test of the AMU during preferring other regional organizations or bilateral
its formative years. The four other AMU members relations. Mauritania, Algeria, and Tunisia
supported Libya vocally, but preferred to abide by strengthened their relations for a while, but failed
the Security Council resolution. Furthermore, the to implement the Treaty of Fraternity and Concord
Western Sahara issue persisted as a stumbling block they had signed in 1983, with the establishment of
for inter-Maghreb cooperation, especially since full diplomatic relations between Mauritania and
Morocco delayed the UN-proposed referendum Israel in 1999 finally sinking these efforts. By
and Algeria renewed its support of the independent contrast, Libya turned southwards, establishing the
Sahrawi movement, POLISARIO. Perhaps the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (COMESSA)
only political achievement of the AMU were the in 1998, which Tunisia and Morocco joined a year
security arrangements to crack down on politically later. Ironically, it was Egypt that arranged a
active Islamic movements. For instance, Algeria Maghreb summit in April 2000, during the first
deported the leader of the major Tunisian Islamic European–African summit, but the attempt to
movement and Morocco handed Algeria many of revive the AMU failed.
its militants. While the presidential council did not
meet after 1994, the interior ministers met See also: Islamic reform movements; League of
frequently and concluded several agreements. Arab States; regional integration
The result was a suppression of the Tunisian and,
37
Arabic Arabic
Further reading Swahili, was quite pronounced. In fact, a literary

tradition of Swahili was developed using the Arabic
Mezran, K. (1998) ‘‘Maghribi Foreign Policies and
script.
the Internal Security Dimension,’’ The Journal of
The spread of Arabic was not restricted to
North African Studies 3, 1: 2–24.
eastern Africa. It also moved westward across the
Zoubir, Y.H. (2000) ‘‘Algerian–Moroccan Relations
continent along the savanna belt into Chad,
and their Impact on Maghribi Integration,’’ The
Cameroon, Senegal, Niger, and Nigeria. For
Journal of North African Studies 5, 3: 43–74.
example, Turku was an Arabic-based pidgin that
RIHAM A. KHAFAGY evolved in Chad and was later replaced by another
variety of Arabic that is now spoken by 300,000
people. In fact, Arabic has become the lingua
Arabic franca of today’s Chad. Today, Africa is home to
the largest Arabic-speaking population – far
The spread of Arabic in East and West Africa surpassing the Arabian Peninsula, the place where
After the Arab conquest of Egypt in AD 642, the language originated.
subsequent waves of Arab migrants, such as the
Banu Hilal tribes in the eleventh century, moved Diglossia
from Egypt to North Africa under the pressure of
the Fatimid rulers. From there, Arabic spread In the Arab countries of North Africa, where
southward along the Atlantic coast from Morocco Arabs migrated and settled in significant numbers,
into Mauritania and Mali. As a result, the variety there are two varieties of Arabic: standard or
of Arabic spoken in Mali is the same as the classical Arabic and colloquial or vernacular
Hassaniyya Arabic spoken in Mauritania. In areas Arabic. The two varieties differ in their phonolo-
where Arabs conducted trade, yet never settled in gical, morphological, lexical, and syntactic systems.
significant numbers, their language did not replace The former is written and is used in formal
indigenous languages; instead Arabic-based pidgins contexts such as education, religious services, and
and creoles evolved. For example, under the reign administration, as well as for official, legal, and
of Mohammed Ali in Egypt (at the turn of the business documents. It is learnt through formal
nineteenth century) trade and military endeavors education in schools. The latter, which varies from
that involved recruiting indigenous people resulted one country to another and from one locality to
in the emergence of Ki-Nubi, an Arabic-based another within a single country, is the spoken
pidgin that was later creolized. Ki-Nubi is now variety. It is learnt at home and is considered the
spoken in the Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda, and it native language. While there is a codified script for
was also spoken in Tanzania and Somalia. Under writing standard Arabic, there is no standardized
similar circumstances Juba Arabic emerged as a writing system for the spoken dialects. Music and
pidgin in the south of Sudan to become the lingua literature can be in either variety, though the
franca of the region. However, Juba Arabic was not colloquial predominates in popular music and the
only creolized, but also ‘‘normalized’’ as a dialect standard in written literary works.
of Arabic because of its continuous contact with When Arabic was introduced into North Africa,
local dialects of Arabic in northern Sudan. there were two major languages in the area:
The strong commercial ties between eastern Amazigh in the Maghreb (as well as parts of Egypt)
Arabia and East Africa, the establishment of the and Coptic in Egypt, in addition to numerous
Omani Dynasty in Zanzibar, and the wide spread languages in the Sudan. All these languages came
of the Islamic tradition enhanced the development under pressure as Arabic spread. Coptic eventually
of cultural and trade centers along the African gave way to Arabic, and by the fourteenth century it
coast between Somalia and Mozambique. As a had become a liturgical language for the Coptic
result, Arabic spread widely in this region and its community in Egypt. Amazigh, however, still
influence on indigenous languages, especially survives, particularly in Morocco and Algeria.
38
architecture architecture
However, it is rare now to find a monolingual Further reading

Amazigh speaker: most Amazigh speakers also
Owens, J. (2000) Arabic as a Minority Language, New
speak the local colloquial variety and have some
York: Mouton de Gruyter.
proficiency in standard Arabic. The status of
Versteegh, K. (2001) The Arabic Language, Edin-
Amazigh, in particular, has been a source of tension
burgh: Edinburgh University Press.
in Algeria and Morocco. By 2000 Amazigh was not
considered an official language and was not taught ELABBAS BENMAMOUN
in schools, though there were plans to do so in both MUSTAFA A. MUGHAZY
countries due to protests from the Amazigh-speak-
ing communities. Amazigh speakers have long
aspired to a more prominent role for Amazigh, architecture
but this aspiration has been frustrated by opposition
from the Arabic nationalist camp, which views it as The subject of African architecture has received
very little scholarly attention in comparison with
a threat to the Arab identity of the Maghreb, and
other forms of African art, such as sculpture,
also from the religious camp, which views it as a way
music, and dance. However, the design and
to question the supremacy of the Arabic language –
construction of public buildings, homes, places of
the language of Islam. Of course the proponents of
worship, towns, and cities play an important role
Amazigh respond by saying that several other
in determining how people live and interact
Muslim countries have other official languages
within their environment. More than simply
(Iran, Senegal, Indonesia, Pakistan, and so on).
providing shelter, architecture is a means of
Arabic has also been in confrontation with the
political, social, economic, and spiritual commu-
European languages brought by colonial powers
nication. African architecture eludes generaliza-
such as French (in the Maghreb), Spanish (northern
tion, owing to the variety of climates, landscapes,
Morocco), and English (Egypt and Sudan). English
settlement patterns, religions, and cultures that
did not diminish the status of Arabic in Egypt,
dictate how, where, and why structures are built in
mainly because education was limited to a
different parts of the continent. However complex
bourgeois elite and because of the active role in the nature of twentieth-century African architec-
maintaining Arabic that was played by al-Azhar ture, the resulting character of modern buildings
religious university in Cairo and by religious and urban areas in Africa may be attributed to
schools (kuttaab) in most villages. On the other what Ali Mazrui (1986) calls the ‘‘triple heritage’’
hand, the situation is acute in the Maghreb. France of mixed techniques, motifs, and values influenced
introduced new education and administrative by Islamic, Western, and indigenous cultures.
systems entirely in French. Arabic was relegated At the start of the twentieth century, colonial
to the religious and Islamic legal spheres. As the urban planning policy set the course for architec-
countries gained independence in the late 1950s tural projects in Africa. Building styles and their
and early 1960s, Arabization became one of the arrangements, as well as the commitment to
national goals. This has been a difficult process. putting infrastructure into place, derived from the
While it has proved relatively easy to Arabize the attitudes and objectives of the European colonial
administration, it has proven difficult to do so in power in question. Though the colonial architec-
the education system, particularly in the sciences ture first created by Europeans in Africa may have
where French still dominates. This situation has superficially taken into account the local climate,
also been the source of tension between those who cultural practices, and indigenous building techni-
see the continuing presence of French as a ques in developing a practical style, most primarily
challenge to Arab identity and a sign of depen- sought to recreate the colonial cities in their own
dence on the old colonial powers and those who image.
see it as a necessary means for development and From the fifteenth century, the Portuguese were
communication with the rest of the world, active in the construction of forts and military
particularly the West. outposts along the western coast from Ghana to
39
Angola, thereby facilitating their trade in gold and in all of Africa with an estimated population of 13.5
slaves, but they executed little in the way of urban million in 2000, urbanized without formal British
planning and construction in the nineteenth and planning. The landscape of Lagos, which is
twentieth centuries. Though a few urban areas, surrounded by lagoons and marshes, made it
such as Lobito in Angola (founded in 1913), were difficult to develop; in addition the colonial
the focus of Portuguese industrialization and administrators focused infrastructural projects on
commercial activity, the resulting prosperous areas occupied by Europeans, making difficult the
downtown areas were occupied primarily by coordination of roads and drainage systems
Portuguese until independence in 1975. The between various areas of the city at different stages
outlying hill regions that surround Lobito and of development. British building projects in Lagos
other cities were home to squatter camps and during the early part of the twentieth century
shantytowns that reflect the lack of provision made included gothic churches and Renaissance- and
for residential housing and urban planning. The Elizabethan-style government structures. But dur-
Portuguese were, however, active in the construc- ing the oil boom of the 1970s, Lagos experienced
tion of churches in association with Christian, rapid urbanization. Among the numerous building
especially Jesuit, missions. These churches are projects initiated by the independent Nigerian
marked by plain, unelaborated surfaces influenced government were a national theater and high-rise
by seventeenth-century Italian designs, which may office buildings for the newly created federal
be found in nearly every city along the Angolan bureaucracy, mostly in the global modernist style.
coast. In the old port city of Luanda, the presence With little formal urban plan, the districts of Lagos
of towering historic churches constructed of are extremely disjointed and the swelling popula-
masonry, such as the Jesuit Cathedral of Luanda tion has created severe traffic congestion, housing
(1628), stand in marked contrast to the traditional shortages, and the development of some of the
rectangular family dwellings of Angolan fishermen. worst slums on the continent.
These structures line the banks of the rivers and are In their more permanent settlements in South
constructed of palm-frond mats netted together, Africa, the English invested more resources and
frequently with the roof reinforced by a sheet of materials in the construction of commercial build-
aluminum, demonstrating the coexistence of both ings, religious buildings, and parks. These Classical
European and indigenous building traditions. and Gothic designs remain architectural landmarks
In contrast to the Portuguese, the English to this day. Dutch settlers also had a significant
initially set up temporary residences, schools, and impact on South African architecture. The archi-
public buildings to serve their commercial ventures tecture of South Africa is thus particularly Western
in colonies in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Ghana. in style, albeit with that syncretism found in other
These temporary structures recreated the Victorian areas of the continent. For example, the so-called
houses and country villages with formal gardens ‘‘Cape Dutch’’ style of house that has become part
that were familiar to the British. Concentrated of the South African architectural vernacular,
efforts at infrastructural planning and urbaniza- originated in Europe. There it had been designed
tion by the British were focused on strategic to fit European social and meteorological condi-
regions, such as Accra. The British colonial tions, but it was slowly adapted to the different
government built public structures, such as the social and climatic conditions of South Africa. The
Post Office and the Parliament building, that used thick walls and whitewashed plaster exterior were
Classical influences and Renaissance styles based adapted over time to serve as protection against the
on English models. These buildings were con- heat, but the steeply pitched roof, originally
structed to assert the authority of the British designed to shed snow, was somewhat unnecessa-
colonial power, both to the indigenous population rily retained. The decorative gables, sometimes
and to other colonial powers. excessively exaggerated, became a method of
Unlike the planning that took place at Accra, expressing wealth and prosperity among Dutch
the sprawling city of Lagos, one of the largest cities settlers.
40
Despite the Cape Dutch and other vernacular industrialization, has vast implications for the
styles, the unique architecture of South Africa in division of space and for the style of buildings, as
the twentieth century is defined by apartheid. well as associated political, sociocultural, and
During the course of the twentieth century, land economic effects. While the problematic relation-
was divided and distributed unevenly on the basis ship between architecture and industrialization
of race, and Africans were relegated and relocated may be considered universal, dominating trends
to barren rural homelands based on traditional in architectural thinking in both the West and the
ethnic affiliations, as well as being subjected to developing world, it has caused particular difficul-
urban housing relocation programs based on racial ties in Africa. Up until the Second World War,
segregation. The racial zoning of urban spaces and urban and infrastructure planning in the colonies
residential communities had an enormous impact had been managed by foreign architects and
on urban growth, people’s access to space, health builders using primarily imported resources and
and sanitation, social interaction, and the pre- materials from the industrialized colonial powers.
valence of crime and violence, demonstrating the In the postwar period of independence, leaders of
depth to which the architectural use of space can many new African countries were confronted with
shape political, economic, and social relationships. the task of building new capitals, schools, and
The French policy of assimilation toward their hospitals, sometimes with no skilled builders or
colonies was manifest in their architecture and the architects to do the work. Some students from
urban development of cities such as Dakar and colonized countries who studied architecture in
Casablanca. In an effort to make the colonies an England or France returned to their countries after
extension of France, urban centers constructed by independence to help with the effort of nation
French architects and planners were fashioned in building. However, they were schooled in a
the image of Paris. Plans for the new African cities Western vocabulary and had difficulty stylistically
were even considered to be experimental testing connecting with their own traditions in such a way
grounds for strategies to address urban and social as to give architectural identity to the emerging
problems, such as overcrowding and pollution, that nations. Moreover, they faced the additional
were being experienced in France. Many buildings obstacle of being unable to realize intended designs
constructed by the French in colonial cities retain for modern building projects because of the lack of
essentially European plans and concepts, but an industrial base that could produce the required
employ motifs and stylistic elements derived from manufactured building components.
Islamic architecture. The application of such Despite the financial and developmental chal-
decorative elements and Islamic symbols, seen lenges confronting African nations with regard to
particularly on public buildings and most fre- building projects, some of the most impressive and
quently in North Africa, is referred to as ‘‘Arabi- largest-scale feats of architecture in the world were
sance.’’ French and Swiss architects were accomplished in Africa in the latter part of the
particularly active in North Africa. Among them twentieth century. The King Hassan Mosque in
was le Corbusier, who concentrated a number of Casablanca, Morocco, and Our Lady of Peace
his architectural activities in Algeria in an attempt Basilica in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire, are good
to solve urban housing problems. A leader in examples. The King Hassan Mosque was com-
architectural thinking, le Corbusier’s ideas of the pleted in 1993 at a cost of US$1 billion. It occupies
house as a machine and of a city for three million 22.5 acres of land, and accommodates 25,000
people were very influential in the growth and worshipers inside and a further 80,000 on the
planning of twentieth-century cities in Africa, platform outside. Using 300,000 square meters of
though he gave little thought to the regional concrete, 40,000 tons of steel, 250,000 tons of
traditions or cultural background of the people Moroccan marble, and 30,000 square meters of
that he designed for. plaster, the gigantic structure boasts the tallest
The twentieth-century trend toward urbanism minaret in the world, reaching 200 meters. Our
in Africa, initiated by colonialism and driven by Lady of Peace Basilica was built over three years
41
Asmara, Eritrea Asmara, Eritrea
and completed in 1990. It is the second largest Whereas many African architects have been
church building in the world, after the Vatican. trained in predominantly Western traditions,
Though the official government cost for the international recognition of architects and com-
basilica is US$200 million, unofficial estimates munities collaborating on buildings in regional
range from US$500–900 million. Planned by vernacular style, sensitive to cultural and commu-
President Houphouët-Boigny as a gift to the nity needs, will ensure the preservation and
Vatican, Our Lady of Peace measures 149 meters application of valuable knowledge in both urban
in height and can hold 7,000 seated people with and rural environments.
enough room for 14,000 to stand. It contains 7,432
square meters of glass, the most ever used in a
church, and the entire cathedral is air-conditioned,
costing nearly US$10 million annually to maintain. Elleh, N. (1997) African Architecture: Evolution and
The church has been seen as a symbol of excess Transformation, New York: McGraw Hill.
and political mismanagement, as only 11 percent Mazrui, A. (1986) The Africans: A Triple Heritage,
of Ivoiriens are Catholic; in fact, the majority are Boston: Little Brown.
Muslim. NICOLE HAWKES
Though the skylines of international cities such
as Nairobi, Lagos, Abidjan, Johannesburg, Accra,
and Cairo are dominated by Western-style archi-
tecture, in the last three decades of the twentieth Asmara, Eritrea
century attention has shifted to consider more Since 1993 Asmara has been the capital of
traditional forms of African construction when independent Eritrea, with a population estimated
undertaking building projects. Architects practicing at about 400,000 in 2000. It is located at the center
in Africa have given more serious thought to so- of the Eritrean plateau, at an elevation of 2,325
called ‘‘tropical architecture,’’ using materials and meters. The name ‘‘Asmara’’ indicates the joining
building techniques that allow for greater tempera- of four villages, an event that is supposed to have
ture control and better ventilation; many of these happened around 1500; the united village was then
have been in use by Africans for centuries. These known as arba’ete asmera, meaning ‘‘four that
techniques include using an east–west layout for united.’’
buildings, with the long side of the building facing Asmara was a village with only a few thousand
south; creating transverse ventilation of rooms that residents until the Italians, who had arrived in
are accessible from an outside space; using a 1890, made it the capital of their new colony in
double layer for roofs; and using light exterior 1900. Over the 1930s the population of the town
colors to reduce heat absorption. Another success- grew by 30 percent per year, reaching 98,000 by
ful trend in recent African building projects the end of the decade; more than half of these
concerns the application of community planning inhabitants – 53,000 people – were Italian. When
initiatives. An example of such a project is the the Italians established their East Africa Empire,
Yaama Mosque in Tahoua, Niger. Built over a Asmara rapidly became the leading city in Italian
twenty-year period from 1962, the mosque was a East Africa. Several parts of Asmara were estab-
project undertaken by the whole village to which lished as residential areas for different Italian
everyone made a contribution, from the landowner military units, bearing the names of either the
to the people who carried water, gathered wood, battalions who lived there or their commanders.
and made sun-dried mud bricks. Using traditional Gradually, however, they became residences for the
and adapted methods, the mosque was renovated growing civilian and professional Italian popula-
and expanded so that it remained the architectural tion. Separate localities were also built for black
and spiritual center of the village. soldiers, again with names that described their
The Yaama Mosque received the 1986 Aga populations. When apartheid was introduced in the
Khan award for community building projects. city in 1936, a strict separation was established
42
Asmara, Eritrea Asmara, Eritrea
between white and black residential areas, known By 2000 the city still contained some industries,
respectively as nazionali and indigeni. The local most of which were from the Italian colonial period
population was prohibited from entering Campo and in poor condition. These included food
Cintato, the part of the city where most Italians processing, dairy products, alcoholic beverages,
lived, and sexual relations between blacks and textiles and clothing, matches, cement, and leather
whites were declared illegal. goods. Despite forty years of neglect, the city has
With the defeat of Italy in East Africa, the Italian kept an Italian flavor. The city’s main buildings
population decreased considerably, but under include the Roman Catholic cathedral (1922), the
British rule (1941–51) Asmara witnessed another Grand Mosque (1937), St. Mary’s (the main
phase of expansion. For the first couple of years the Orthodox Church), the former palace (now the
city’s role as a point of departure for the Allied forces seat of government), the legislative assembly, the
in their campaign against Nazi Germany and Fascist municipal building, and Asmara University
Italy led to hectic economic activity and thereby to (founded in 1958, but only gaining university status
further growth for the city. When Ethiopia annexed in 1968). Now a clean and peaceful city, Asmara’s
Eritrea in 1952, however, the growth of the city was beautiful buildings, coffee shops and palm trees still
reversed. Many firms, businesses, and industries draw visitors.
were ordered to move to central Ethiopia. Invest-
ment slowly died down, no new infrastructure was Further reading
built, and the existing infrastructure was no longer
Bondestam, L. (1989) Eritrea: Med Rätt till Självbes-
maintained. As the liberation struggle gained pace,
tämmande (Eritrea: With the Right for Self-
Asmara suffered no actual physical damage, but it
determination), Uddevalla: Clavis Förlag.
was further isolated and neglected. This not only
Yosief, I. (1993) Zanta Ketema Asmera (History of the
held back development, but also meant that basic
City of Asmara), Addis Ababa: Commercial
facilities were left to degenerate. From 1974 to 1991,
Publishing.
when the city was ruled by the Dergue, the
population of the city was halved. REDIE BEREKETEAB
43
B
(‘‘the hoodlum’s place’’), yet Bamako remained
Bamako, Mali
safe, peaceful, and renowned for its hospitality.
Bamako was a major city during the time of the Muslim merchants lived in Dar Salam and
Mali empire. It underwent a transformation in the Medina-Coura. After the First World War, the
twentieth century from a walled town on a bank of French added commercial establishments and
the Niger River to a major administrative, administrative buildings, a central market, and
commercial, and cultural center with a population tree-lined avenues. Innovations dating from the
of more than one million. Trans-Saharan trade 1920s include Bamako’s first radio station, high-
gave impetus to the town’s early development on ways linking Bamako to Guinea and Segou, a
the banks of the Niger River, where Moorish leprosy hospital, and a training center for crafts.
traders transferred goods brought by camel from Conditions for Africans deteriorated during the
the north to Soninke and Jula merchants who Second World War, but Bamako’s citizens bene-
moved them south. In 1883 the French encoun- fited from development projects in the postwar era.
tered a walled town with 6,000–8,000 inhabitants The central mosque dates from the 1950s and the
governed, along with thirty other villages, by the first bridge across the Niger, completed in 1957, led
Niare clan. The names of Bamako’s central to the growth of Badalabougou on the Niger’s right
neighborhoods reflect this history: Niarela (the bank. The return of migrant workers from Senegal
founding Bambara-speaking clan), Touatila (later after the break-up of the Mali Federation swelled
Tourela or Bagadadji), Dravela (Moorish clans) and Bamako’s population from 78,000 (1958) to
Bozola (fisherpeople). By 2000 Bamako was 130,000 (1961). Annual population growth peaked
contributing to the global economy, exporting at 10 percent in 1974 during the drought,
agricultural (cotton and cattle) and cultural (music stabilizing at 4.5 percent in the 1980s and 1990s.
and film) products to the world at large. Population growth coincided with degradation
After completion in 1905 of the railroad linking of economic conditions and increasing numbers of
it to Saint-Louis (Senegal) and steamships on the people living in poverty. Consumers experienced a
Niger River at Koulikoro to the east, Bamako grew 50 percent decline in buying power between 1962
rapidly. The French chose Bamako as capital of the and 1982. Imposition of structural adjustment
French Sudan in 1908, building an administrative programs contributed to the dominance of the
complex. The city’s earliest industry was a brick- informal sector, which absorbed 78 percent of all
works. Wolof laborers settled in Ouolofobougou workers in 1989. Despite a new textile factory,
and soldiers in Le Campement. Residents had Bamako’s modern sector remained small with the
access to a movie theater, running water and government as the principal employer. Since
electricity before the First World War. An area unemployed young people had little alternative
settled by unskilled workers was called Kolikotogou but to live at home and put off marriage, economic
44
Bangui, Central African Republic Bangui, Central African Republic
problems were bringing about changes in family economic growth fueled by the rise in the prices of
and political life. Youth played a central role in the the country’s main exports – rubber, cotton, coffee,
popular uprising which took place in Bamako in and diamonds – and postwar reforms that
1991, leading to the establishment of a democra- extended more rights to Africans and encouraged
tically elected government. Urban amenities built the colonial government to undertake infrastruc-
in the 1990s included public monuments, the tural ‘‘development’’ projects to facilitate trade and
University of Mali, and a second bridge that eased quell growing African nationalism, dominated by
access to the newer suburbs of Sogoninko, the Union Oubanguienne and the Movement for
Daoudabougou, Faladie, Niamekor, and Senou the Social Evolution of Black Africa.
(the airport). The influx of newcomers fleeing to After independence in 1960, the growth of
Mali from war-torn West African countries con- Bangui accelerated as rural–urban migration
tributed to the challenge of providing Bamako’s increased, the public sector expanded, and light
burgeoning population with adequate housing and manufacturing industries were established. By
basic services, such as running water and electricity. 1975 the city’s population had increased to
279,800, and it more than doubled to 652,900 in
Further reading 2001. The manufacturing industry included tex-
tiles, food products, beer, shoes, and soap. Perhaps
Meillassoux, C. (1968) Urbanization in an African even more vibrant was Bangui’s role as a trading
Community. Voluntary Associations in Bamako, Seattle: and transportation center. Its port handled most of
University of Washington. the country’s international trade, and the road
JANE TURRITTIN network that connects the Central African Repub-
lic with Cameroon, Chad, and Sudan emanates
from the city. Bangui’s importance as a social and
cultural center also increased, as new national
Bangui, Central African institutions were established and located there,
Republic including the University of Bangui.
Bangui, the capital of the Central African Despite its growth, Bangui suffered from the
Republic, is located on the northern bank of the political turbulence that afflicted the country and
Oubangui River, one of Africa’s longest rivers and from recurrent recessions hitting the economy from
the largest tributary of the great Congo River. The the 1970s due to declining commodity prices and
city was founded in 1889 as a French military post corruption, exacerbated from the 1980s by struc-
and named Bangui after the local name for tural adjustment programs. Symbolic of the
‘‘rapids.’’ Early resistance from the local popula- deepening misfortunes of the country and city was
tion was eventually overcome and in 1894 the the extravagant coronation in 1977 of Colonel Jean
French declared Oubangui-Chari, the future Bedel-Bokassa, who had come to power in a coup
Central African Republic, a French colony and in December 1965, as emperor of the renamed
part of French Equatorial Africa. A dozen Central African Empire. Yet, by the following year,
years later, the picturesque but impoverished post the bankrupt government was unable to pay its
became the administrative center of the new civil servants. This and the reduction of school
colony. As in much of French Equatorial Africa, loans, combined with growing discontent against
the French relied on concession companies, which the venal Bokassa dictatorship in general, led to
subjected the population to forced labor and violent protests in the streets of Bangui, culminat-
provoked periodic rebellions. This economy of ing in Bokassa being ousted. However, there was
plunder was reflected in Bangui, which remained little relief either for the country as a whole or for
an urban backwater for much of the colonial Bangui itself. The city continued to be the site of
period. political conflict and strife, whether in the form of
It was not until the Second World War that recurrent coups d’etat, or violent protests by the
Bangui began to grow rapidly, buoyed up by increasingly impoverished residents of the city. For
45
Banjul, Gambia Banjul, Gambia
example, in 1996 and 1997 alone there were three strategic location at the mouth of the River
army mutinies that ravaged the city. By 2000 much Gambia, European traders and colonial adminis-
of Bangui’s physical infrastructure was in a state of trators found the city important for both trade and
decay and its economy ravaged by unemployment, security purposes, especially for the control of
unpaid wages to civil servants, strikes, and an influx traffic in and out of the River Gambia. Banjul
of refugees fleeing conflicts in neighboring coun- Island was linked to the Greater Banjul Area and
tries. the western parts of the country by a bridge, and to
the north bank of the river and the northern part of
Senegal by a regular ferry service. The River
Further reading
Gambia runs through the entire length of the
O’Toole, T. (1988) ‘‘Shantytowns in Bangui, country, itself driving a wedge between the north-
Central African Republic: A Cause for Despair ern and southern parts of Senegal.
or Creative Possibility?,’’ in R.A. Obudho and From colonial times the economy of Gambia
C.C. Mhlanga (eds.), Slum and Squatter Settlements was based on the cultivation of groundnuts for
in Sub-Saharan Africa: Toward a Planning Strategy, export, and rice and local cereals, as well as fishing
New York: Praeger, pp.123–32. and livestock production, for local consumption.
After independence, trade and tourism also
CASSANDRA RACHEL VENEY
became important sources of foreign exchange
for Gambia, with Banjul dominating both sectors.
Most hotels, for example, were located in Banjul.
Banjul, Gambia By the 1990s up to 100,000 visitors arrived in good
Banjul, the capital of the Gambia, had an seasons, more than half of whom were from the
estimated population of 150,000 in 2000. The United Kingdom. The tourist sector employed
population of Banjul Island is composed of a some 10,000 people, and provided an outlet for
majority of Wolof- and Aku-speaking peoples, locally caught fish, locally grown fruit and
although the island got its name from the Mande, vegetables, and local handicrafts. The liberal trade
who used to fetch a certain type of fiber used to and foreign-exchange regimes of Gambia in the
manufacture ropes on the island (banjul is the 1960s and 1970s, at a time when neighboring
Mande word for ‘‘fiber’’). The Mande also form countries were quite protectionist, led to the
the majority of the inhabitants of the Greater existence of vibrant cross-border trade between
Banjul Area. Gambia and her neighbors, much of it departing
Together with Serrekunda, Bakau, Fajara, and from Banjul. As border controls were tightened
other parts of what is now known as the Greater and trade tariffs liberalized in the other countries in
Banjul Area, the city gradually absorbed the the late 1980s and 1990s, this trade lost some of its
surrounding villages. By 2000, however, the vigor.
authority of the Mayor of Banjul was restricted to Despite its relatively small size, Banjul remained
the part of the city located on Banjul Island, whose a very lively city and the center of Gambian
population declined from 44,000 in 1983 to 42,000 cultural life. It boasted one of the first private radio
in 1993 as people moved away from the original stations in West Africa, Radio Syd, started by a
city to settle in the Greater Banjul Area. The Swedish woman in the late 1960s, and by 2000 it
island, once the seat of the colonial administration, had four other private radio stations broadcasting
remained the seat of the post-independence on the frequency modulation band, as well as
government, and boasted the only seaport and government radio and TV stations. The city also
main commercial and banking centers in the had an international airport that handles several
country. charter-flight routes during the tourist season
During the colonial period the city was called (October to May), and maintained good connec-
Bathurst, after an English lord of the same name. It tions with the cities of Dakar, Freetown, Accra,
was changed to Banjul in 1973. Because of its Lagos and London.
46

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How did Banjul develop over time?

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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF

Editor: Paul Tiyambe Zeleza

Deputy Editor: Dickson Eyoh

Editorial team vi How to use this encyclopedia xv

General editor Valerie Hoffman

Hamdi Abdulrahman Elabbas Benmamoun

Agbenyega Adedze Redie Bereketeab

Oforiwaa Aduonum Bruce J. Berman

Josephine Ahikire Nemata Blyden

LaRay Denzer Eltigani Abdelgadir Hamid

Bertin K. Kouadio Godwin Murunga

Benjamin Nicholas Lawrence Abdul Raufu Mustapha

Kafureeka Lawyer Shadrack Wanjala Nasong’o

Janet MacGaffey Brent Never

Zine Magubane Abderrahmane N’Gaı̈de

Tiffany Ruby Patterson Charles Stewart

Neville W. Pule Wisdom J. Tettey

John Rapley Dominic Thomas

Carina E. Ray Tom Turino

Jeremy Rich Jane Turrittin

Mieka Ritsema Meredeth Turshen

Africa and global history Congo

Maseru, Lesotho law

education: post-independence radio and television

kets, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Further reading

Africans in the Americas work in the tobacco industry. Few Afro-Cubans

yielded to other explanatory schemes. In addition, References and further reading

the 1960s and 1970s Antananarivo experienced

Further reading Swahili, was quite pronounced. In fact, a literary

However, it is rare now to find a monolingual Further reading

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