Chapter 22
Egypt
Egypt Religious Culture
Egypt is across the Red Sea from Saudí Arabia, where the messenger, Muhammad was born. Islam is the major religion of Egypt.
Muslim Belief
Muslims believe that the Quran, their holy book , in this book there is the word of God. Muslims believe in many of teachings presented in the Jewish Torad and the Christian Bible.
Muslims pray five times a day often in a mosque a building make for praying.
An Islamic Renewal
Praying an fasting are two ways that Egyptian Muslims have brought their religion into their daily lives. Muhammad taught that the women and the men are equal in the eye of God.
Oh her Egyptians feel that women should have the right o choose in this case.
Diversity of Life in Egypt
About half of all Egyptians lives in cities. Cairo, the nations capital and largest city has more than 9.5 million people. Some parts of e city are more than 1,000 years old, while other parts look like modern western city. Many people move to the cities from rural areas.
Algeria
Algeria's Ethnic Groups
the Sahara covers all of Algeria south of the Altlas Mountains and water is in short supply in this area. Berber and Arab nomads have survived in the Sahara for hundreds of years.
The Berbers have lives in North Africa since at least 3000 b.c.
Berbers and Arabs today
Berbers and Arabs have mixed over the centuries . Berbers speak Berber and Arabic also French.
Algeria's future will continue to mix Berber and Arab, old and new.
Nigeria
Nigeria's History
By 1914, Great Britain had taken over the government of Nigeria. The borders of the British colony of Nigeria included part of hausaland, part of yorubaland ,and iboland. In the 1991 the government moved the nation's capital from Lagos , in the south , to Abuja in the central portion of the country.
Three different cultures
The Hausa and the Fulani make up 33 % of Nigerians people and most are Muslims . The Hausa-Fulani built cities at the crossroads of trade routes, they have live in Spain, Italy and Egypt.
Kano the oldest city in west Africa , is a Hausa city and has been a center of trade for over 1000 years
Ghana
Moving Toward Independence
in 1947, Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast . While the Gold Coast had many resources, most of its people were poor . Nkrumah believed that the people should benefit from the wealth of their own country.
Traditional Goverment in Ghana
the Akan are the largest ethnic group in Ghana. While the Europeans were were trading gold and slaves on the coast some Akan groups fromed the Asante kingdom . This kingdom became very rich from trade and controlled parts of the northern savannah and the coastal south
Indpendence
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 the ration hundreds of years ago . Ghana was the first African colony south of the Sahara to become independent.