TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Independence in Africa
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Objectives

• Describe how Africa’s colonies gained independence.

• Explain how Africans built new nations.
• Analyze the recent history of five African nations.
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Terms and People

• savannas – grasslands with scattered trees

• Kwame Nkrumah – leader of the independence
movement in the Gold Coast (which became
Ghana) and later president of the nation
• Jomo Kenyatta – leader of the independence
movement in Kenya and its president for 15 years
• coup d’état – the forcible overthrow of a
government
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Terms and People (continued)

• Mobutu Sese Seko – dictator in the Congo who

ruled brutally for 32 years before being ousted
• Islamists – people who want a government based
on Islamic law and beliefs
• Katanga – mineral-rich province in the Congo
• Biafra – oil-rich region of Nigeria that declared
itself independent and suffered hundreds of
thousands of deaths as it was retaken by Nigeria
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

What challenges did new African

nations face?

In the decades after World War II, Europe’s

colonies in Africa became independent nations.
Some achieved independence peacefully. In other
countries, the fight was more violent.

In country after country, bands played new

national anthems, and crowds cheered the good
news. However, as Africans celebrated their
freedom, they also faced many challenges.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Africa has great

geographic diversity
including deserts,
savannas (grasslands),
and tropical rain forests.
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Africa has many resources, which under

imperialism had benefited the colonial powers.

Nigerian savanna and forests

•
Fertile
• Moist East African highlands
farmland
• Coastal lands in the north and south

Mineral • Gold, copper, and diamonds

wealth • Petroleum (oil) and natural gas

Cash • Coffee
crops • Cacao (chocolate)
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

By the 1950s, African nationalist

movements had grown stronger.

• Nationalists such as Kwame Nkrumah in the

Gold Coast and Jomo Kenyatta in Kenya led the
call for independence.
• In most places, such as Nigeria and Ghana,
nonviolent political pressure was enough to gain
independence.
• Violence erupted in some areas where many
Europeans had settled, such as in Algeria and
Kenya.
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Some nations Some fell

enjoyed peace, into civil war,
democracy, chaos, and
and prosperity. dictatorships.

Ethnic divisions have been a major challenge,

because the European colonial powers had paid little
attention to these loyalties when drawing boundaries.
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

One-party • Dictators outlawed opposing

dictatorships parties as threats to unity.
and military
coups d’état • They used their positions to
have been enrich themselves and a
problems. privileged few.

Bad government policies often led to violence,

resulting in military takeovers or coups d’état.
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Military governments often promised

to restore democracy, but they frequently
remained in power—until another coup.

• Africans in most nations have demanded an end

to strongman rule.
• Western nations have made aid contingent on
democratic reform.
• Nations such as Tanzania and Nigeria have held
elections, ousting long-ruling leaders.
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

African nations have faced difficulty

eliminating foreign control.

• Some remained economically dependent on aid

from former colonial powers.
• During the Cold War, the United States and the
Soviet Union competed for alliances among African
states, leading to support for corrupt dictators.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

New African
nations have
many
experiences
in common,
but the
history of
each is
unique.
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

The first new nation

in Africa south of the
Sahara was the Gold
Coast, which became
Ghana in 1957.

• Led by a socialist, Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana

nationalized businesses and constructed a huge
power dam. These steps led to massive debt.
• Government corruption and dictatorial rule led to
several military coups, starting in 1966.
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

• Military officer Jerry

After a coup
Rawlings took control.
in 1981, the
economy grew • The economy, based on
stronger and exports of gold and cacao,
power improved.
was restored
to the people • Rawlings peacefully handed
of Ghana. over power after losing
an election in 2002.
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

In East Africa, Kenya gained independence after

an armed rebellion.

• A group of Kikuyu militants,

called Mau Mau by the
British, began attacking
white settlers in the 1950s.
• The British jailed Kikuyu
spokesman Jomo Kenyatta,
who had long called for
nonviolent resistance.
• Violence continued on both
sides.
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

In 1963, the British withdrew and Kenya

achieved independence.

• Kenyatta became the first president of Kenya.

• However, he ruled as a dictator until the 1990s.
Recent elections have been plagued by corruption.

Jomo Kenyatta, with British

Prince Philip in 1963, holds up
the official document granting
Kenya independence.
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Algeria won independence after a violent revolt.

• Over a million French citizens

lived in Algeria. France did
not wish to leave or to give
up oil and natural gas wells.
• From 1945 to 1962, Algerian
guerrillas waged war against
the French. Algeria became
independent in 1962.

The military took over Algeria and fought Islamist

rebels. The conflict slowed in 1999, but the tensions still
remain.
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Economic rivalries plagued the Democratic

Republic of the Congo, formerly the Belgian Congo.

• The Congo won independence

in 1960.
• Civil war soon broke out when
the copper-rich Katanga
province tried to break away.
• Belgian mining companies
supported Katanga, and Cold
War superpowers backed rival
leaders.
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

In 1965, Mobuto • His corrupt 30-year

Sese Seko took rule bankrupted the
over in a Congo.
military coup.
• Mobutu was finally
driven from power
in 1997, but civil
war continued.

In 2006, Joseph Kabila became president in the

nation’s first free elections in 41 years.
 TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa, gained

independence in 1960.
• Discovery of oil in 1963 gave
hope for a better future, but
prosperity has been elusive.
• The nation has faced military
coups and ethnic rivalries.
• In 1966, Ibos in the South set
up the republic of Biafra.
• The rebellion failed and half a million Biafrans died of
violence or starvation.
• Conflict continued despite free elections in 1999.