Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Southern Africa

The Visibility Study in Southern Africa by Bicycle.
The visibility study in southern Africa by bicycle has turned successful with great lesson. The main purpose was to study the tourist’s attraction (which include the respective culture, history, economy and development of the countries) as well as promoting eco-tourism.


Southern Africa region is a diverse region make up of savannah and forest, snow topped mountains and desert, temperature Mediterranean and tropical climate. Southern Africa identity is, however, as much defined by the region’s people but their past and present interactions as by it geographical features. Appreciations of local history divide and unite the region today.

The straggle of the region.

Southern Africa has been the evolving struggle of the region’s indigenous black African majority to free itself of the racial hegemony of white settlers from Europe and their descendants.


The history goes back to 8thC A.D, probably, earlier the region was populated by the black African ethnic groups who spoke the language belonging to Bantu and Khoisan. Archeological study shows that the member of this groups were involved in agriculture and pastoralism as well as hunting and gathering.
During 1400 there was already emerge of strong states/empire such Shona of great Zimbabwe who trade with various locals as well as beyond in Indian Ocean with China.

In sixteenth century saw European immigrants from small numbers of Portuguese followed by the Dutch who established their settlement at the very tip of Africa and expended steadily into the interior. Seized the land of local Khoisan communities. The new society in the Cape was rapidly divided between people of mixed African and Afro-Asian who were imported as slaves.

During the Napolion was British took Cape. In early 19thC British colony abolished slavery and extended limited civil rights to nonwhites at the Cape. This caused white Dutch-descendant Boers or Afrikaner moved into interior. This migration known as Great Trek did not lead the white settlers into empty land. The territory was home to may African groups, who lost their farms and pastures to the superior firepower of early Afrikaner who often corvee labor for their farms and public workers. But few African polities, like Lesotho and Botswana kingdoms were able to perceive their independent.

In the half 19thC white migration and dominance spread through the rest of southern Africa. The discovery of diamonds and gold encourage white exploration and subsequent of occupation father north.

By the 1900 the region was fallen under Cecil Rhode’s South Africa Company which occupied North and South Rhodesia (modern Zambia and Zimbabwe) while traders, missionaries and settlers invalided Nyasa Land (Malawi). Meanwhile, the Germans seized Namibia while Portuguese began to expand inland from their coast enclave (Mozambique).

European colony in southern Africa had significant populations of white settlers, who each case played a predominant political and economical role in their respective territory. Through out the region this white supremacy was festered and maintained through racially discriminatory policies of land alienation, labor regulation and the denial of full civil right to non-white. In South Africa, where the largest and longest settlers white population resided the Afrikaner and English speaking settlers were granted full self-government in 1910 with constitution that left the country’s black majority virtually powerless.

No comments:

Post a Comment

...we have wings..

When books are open we find that we have wings….

When books are open we find that we have wings….  Inspiration it's one of driving power which drive us to achieve so many things in ...