NORTH AND WEST AFRICA
THE REGIONS IN THE PRESENT
EGYPT
EGYPT CULTURE:
Egypt is across the Red sea from Saudi Arabia , where the messenger of islam, muhammad, was born. Like most countries in North Africa Islam is now the major religion in Egypt. In fact, it is the countries official religion.Egypt is located in Northeast Africa, it's bordering is from the Mediterranean Sea.
Egypts economy is based on Agriculture, they grow crops like: cotton rice
and they work in the major industries like: textiles, tourism, chemicals, petroleum.
MUSLIMS IN EGYPT :
Muslims believe in many of the teachings presented in the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible. They pray five times a day. Praying and fasting are two ways that Egyptian Muslims have brought their religion into their diary lives.
DIVERSITY OF LIFE IN EGYPT:
While the people of Egypt share the common bond of their religious practice, their lives differ greatly depending on whether they live in a city or a rural village.
Many people move from the rural areas to the cities. As a result the cities of Egypt are very crowded meanwhile the rural areas are more vacant, and the villagers make their living by farming, mostly.
whether living in a city or in a rural area, most Egyptians hope that renewing their Muslim faith every day will help them mantain traditonal values and customs in a modern age.
ALGERIA
- Algerians adapt to their climate by resting during the hottest hours of the day.To survive in some of the places wit extreme heat, people must drink enough water to produce 2 to 4 gallons of perspiration a day.
- Algeria is located in Northwest Africa, from the Mediterranean to the Sahara.
- The major religion (the official) is islam.
ALGERIA'S ETHNIC GROUPS:
The Berbers and the Arabs are the 2 major ethnic groups in Algeria.
BERBERS IN ALGERIA:
Most Berbers live in villages in rural areas and continue to follow their traditional waystyle of life. Family is so important to Berbers that their village government is based on it. Most rural Berbers me their living by farming and herding.
ARABS IN ALGERIA:
Tha Arabs conquered north Africa gradually, over hundreds of years. Peace in the region came about when the Berbers a cep teddy the religion of islam. Arab traditions are like Berbers traditions in many ways.
Arabs created a central government in Algeria that is based on islam. The Berbers tradition is for each village to govern itself. But Berbers adapted to Arab rules by keeping their own governmentsite along with the new one.
BERBERS AND ARABS TODAY:
Berbers and arabe have mixed over the centuries. Both groups are muslimmany and most Berbers speak Berbers and Arabic. He Berbers and Arabs have had many conflict so in the past. However, there have also been long periods during which they learned from each other peacefully.
NIGERIA
The language of Nigeria is not put nigeriatric because that simply just doesn't exist. Nigerians speak more than 250 languages. The languages of Nigeria match it's ethnic groups. Nigeria's three most widely spoken langages are Hausa, Yoruba, and Ibo and here areally places called Hausaland, Yorubaland, and Iboland.
Before Europeans arrived, what is now Nigeria was ruled by many ethnic grpups, including the Hausa, the Yoruba, and the Ibo. But when Europeans drew Nigeria's borders, they did not think about the ethnic groups.
WheNigeria's Nigeria became independent in 1960,ethnic groups that had always lived separately became part of one nation. To help unify the country, in 1991the government mived the nation's capital frim lagos, in the south, to Abuja in the central portion of the country.
Nigeria is located in the southern coast of West Africa, its bodering being with the Atlantic Ocean.
Their economy based on Agriculture: Cocoa, rubber; their major industries being: petroleum, food processing, textiles.
CULTURES IN NIGERIA:
- The Hausa and Fulani make uo about 33% of Nigeria's people and most are Muslims. For hundreds of years, the Haus-Fulani have made an important part of their living by trading their goods as far away as they possibly could.
- The Yoruba make up about 20% of the people in Nigeria and many of them still live in Lagos, the city state they built more than 500 years ago. Most Yoruba are farmers. They live with their families in large compounds which have several houses grouped around a big yard. A Yoruba community is made up of many such compounds.
- The Ibo have traditionally lived as rural farmers in the Southeast and have not built any large cities like kano ir Lagos. They lived in farming villages. The Ibo ruke themeselves with a democratic council of elders who work together to solve problems.
GHANA
There was a time where Ghana was called the Gold coast, because of its gold, which is one of the world's most important resources. While the Gold Coast had many resources, most of its people were poor. Nkrumah (Ghana's first leader of independence), believed that the people should benefit from the wealth of their own country, so he began travelling all over the country to convince the people to demand independence from Great Britain.
THE GOVERNMENT IN GHANA:
The Akan are the largest ethnic group in Ghana. When the Akan give power to a new leader, they also leave a warning: If the leader does not rule fairly, the people can give power to a new ruler. In this way, the Akan are democratic since the people have control over who rules them.
After succeeding in finally being independent, Nkrumah became the leader of the new country and later, the president. The government changed the country's name to Ghana, after an african kingdom that had ruled hundreds of years ago. Ghana was the first african colony south of the Sahara to become independent.
Nine years after being leader, Nkrumah was thrown out of office by a military coup, or takeover. Many people celebrated.
Why?
Nkrumah had big plans for Ghana. He borrowed huge amounts of money to make those plans happen fast but when world prices fell for cocoa, the country's chief export, Ghana could not pay back its loans. Many people blamed it on Nkrumah for the economic downfall.
In the 1980's, Ghana's president, Jerry Rawlings, tried to reform Ghana's politics and economy. Rawlings stressed the traditional african values of hard work and sacrifice. Ghana supported Rawlings, and as a result, Ghana's econmy began to grow.
NOWADAYS:
Ghana is still dependent on the sale of cocoa. Even so, the economy has grown so much that Ghana has been able to build better roads and irrigation systems. The government plans to improve health care and education. People have formed groups so they can voice concerns about issues that affect their lives. Ghana has special centers that have been set up to keep the country's traditional culture alive.