Unit Four: Regional Perspectives

MODULE 18: Central Africa

ACTIVITY I: ENGAGE: WHAT IS CENTRAL AFRICA?

Central Africa as a geographic entity is a landscape of plateaus of different geological structures and is dominated by the Congo River Basin. Some of the plateaus are smooth as in the central region and others, particularly on the plateaus from the periphery, are etched. Marshy surfaces are also present in the interior basin of the Congo river mainly in the areas where the Congo and three other rivers ( Ubangi, likouala and Sangha) converge and in the area of lakes Mai-Ndombe and Tumba. {see map}

Image 1: Relief and Drainage

Image (2): The Congo Basin

            Around the central part of the Congo River basin, there are higher plateaus. For example, the Batekes plateau crossed by the Congo River above the Maleke Pool can reach an altitude of up to 3,000 feet above sea level north of Brazzaville the capital city of Congo. The Bateke plateau stretches toward the Kwango plateau that also reaches an altitude of more than 3000 feet near the Angolan border.

Image 3: Canoe on the Malebo Pool (Formerly Stanley Pool) near Kinshasa Photographer:   Ellington, John Place:   Malebo Pool Place/Time:   Congo-Kinshasa / Central Africa

Image 4: Picture of the Bateke Plateau Savannah.

The most rugged terrain in this region is on the eastern part of the Congo basin. Here the Precambrian bedrock is more than 8000 feet in elevation and the western sedimentary basin which is a maritime plain has a coastline broken by estuaries, lagoons and rias.

Central Africa is characterized by rich and diverse geological structures/ formations. This richness and diversity is complemented by important hydrographic/hydrologic resources.

Image 5: Africa Major rivers

Image 6: The Congo river and the map of the elevation in Central Africa

Hydrography:

Central Africa geography is dominated by water --vast rivers systems and lakes. One of the ways to understand and assess the potential wealth of an area is, to assess its natural resources. Water, as you know, can be classified as a natural resource. Hydrography, is the science of the measurement, description, and mapping of the surface waters of the earth with special reference to navigation'.

In line with this definition we are going to study a selection of rivers and lakes that make the hydrography of Central Africa. The hydrology of the region is dominated by Congo River basin which drains an area nearly as large as the United States east of the Mississippi River. The region is boardered by the great lakes of central/east Africa in the east (Tanganyika, Kivu, Victoria) , Lake Chad in the north, and Lake Nyos in Cameroon in the East. Central Africa is the greenest and most watered region in the continent.

The Congo River

The Congo (river) for which two African countries are named: Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire) and Republic of the Congo is the second longest river in Africa (after the Nile), 4,374 km (2,718 mi) long, and one of the longest in the world. The entire length of the river lies within DRC or forms part of its border. It is also one of the largest rivers in the world for in the size of its watershed and the volume of water discharged. The Congo drains the vast Congo River Basin, an area of more than 4.1 million sq km (1.6 million sq mi) nearly as large as the U.S. east of the Mississippi river, and, at high water periods, discharges approximately 40,250 cubic meters (1.2 million cubic feet) of water per second into the sea. By comparison, the Mississippi river drains 2,979,000 sq. km( 1,150,000 sq mile and discharge an average of 16,800 cu m per second (593 000 cu ft.) Located in the heaviest rainfall belt of Africa, the Congo carries more water than any river in the world except the Amazon River in South America. As a navigable route into the African interior, the Congo serves as a main artery for transportation and has figured prominently in the region's history. Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo, and Brazzaville, the capital of Republic of the Congo, lie across the river from each other in the lower reaches of the Congo River.

At points the river is 16km wide and encircles approximately 4000 islands. The Congo River is divided into sections: the headwaters, the upper Congo, the middle Congo and the lower Congo.

Image 7:   Barges and Boats on the Congo River Photographer:   Volz, Stephen Date:   1988-01 Place:   Lualaba River between Kindu and Kisangani (Courtesy University of Wisconsin.)

Economically, the Congo River with its tributaries provides about 14,500 km of navigable waterways (9,000 mi). It is a vital means of transportation for millions of people but also for the shipment of goods. It enriches the diet of the population with the fishing of perch, tilapia, and eels that are mostly locally consumed. It also provides sources of electricity with the hydroelectric dam built at the Inga Falls.

Image 8: Hydroelectric Dam on the Congo River at Inga Falls,

Image 9: Inga Dam in Bas-Congo Photographer:   Frazier Date:   1973 Place:   Inga Dam Place/Time:   Congo-Kinshasa / Central Africa (courtesy of University of Wisconsin)

The Inga Water Falls, which discharges yearly basis more water than any other water fall in world, with its 90 meter drop, provides an ideal location for the production of hydro electricity. Currently there are two dams at Inga and a third dam is under construction. Together the three dams have the potential of generating 39,000 mega watts of electricity, which would make the complex of three dams, if completed, the largest hydroelectric complex in the world, considerably larger than the 22,000 megawatt capacity of the recently completed Three Gorges Dam in China. However, the political instability that has plagued the DRC for the past 15 years has caused the two existing Inga Falls dams to perform at under capacity, while delaying progress on the construction of the third dam.

Your Turn

On your computer go to Google Earth

1. Search for the Congo River. First look at the satellite image of the entire Congo River basin. Then zoom in on different sections of the river. What do the satellite images and attached photographs tell about the topography and vegetation of the Congo River Basin? Related, using the same images, what can we learn about the human demography (population density and settlements) in the Congo Rive Basin? What is the relationship between the topography, climate and human demography?

2. Search for and zoom in on the Inga Water Falls and Inga Hydroelectric Dams in the Congo. Using the satellite imagery locate the dams in relationship to the water falls. Examine the topography (physical terrain), vegetation, and distance to major urban areas and to the large mining complexes in south-western Congo. How might these factors impact the distribution off electric power from the dams?

Climate:

Central Africa is characterized by hot and wet weather on both sides of the equator. The equatorial strip is influenced by the intertropical convergence zone (the ITCZ), which causes heavy and intense precipitation. The mean annual temperature in the area varies between 77 and 80 F. The diurnal (recurring everyday) temperature range of about 20F (11C) exceeds the monthly means. The annual rainfall can exceed the 80 inches, particularly at the Coastal area in Gabon, the Center of the Congo basin and on the mountain on Western Rift Valley borders.

Central Africa has no regular dry season. However north and south of the equator strip, the dry season increases in intensity. The dry season is centered in the northern hemisphere in January (when the area receives dry Saharan air masses) and in the Southern hemisphere in July; it lasts about seven months in the far northern part of the Central African Republic and in the far southern Congo ( Kinshasa).

Wikimedia Commons, Used with permission

Vegetation, Fauna, Flora:

Central Africa is one of the greenest parts of the African continent, covered with a forest of about 400,000 square miles comprising the second largest tropical rainforest in the world, second only by the Amazon tropical rainforest.

Image 10: Dense Equatorial Forest near Mounana . Gabon / Central Africa Publisher:   General Library System of the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Image 11: Africa's Vegetation

Image 12: Map of World's Rainforests.

Image 13: African rainforest

Image 15: African dense Rainforest

There are of three types of equatorial rainforest in Central Africa:

-       the permanently wet marshy forest of the area where the Ubangi and the Congo meets

-       the gallery forests which are subjects to periodic flooding along the bans and river floodplains

-       the forest of dry land which usually harbors a variety of species. This type of forests is also found on the eastern slopes of the Congo river basin

The Central Africa equatorial rainforest is surrounded by savanna forests (much less dense tree cover) grassland. Much of the region's agricultural productivity is found in the savanna areas.

Your Turn:

Carefully examine maps 10-13.

1.     List the countries in West and Central Africa that have tropical rain forests

2.     List the other regions of the world that have significant tropical rain forests

Fauna:

Tropical forests are in general made of fungi and plants. Though the animal biomass may be small, it is as diverse as the flora. One of the major issues in the equatorial forest habitat is that of the coexistence of all the species it harbors. Two key terms characterize these species: competition and dependence. Tropical forest animals are characterized by a low population density. To survive in the predators in the forest, some species adopt a nocturnal life, employ shrill vocalization, or produce a penetrating scent.

Population:

How many ethnic groups are there in central Africa? How many languages are spoken there and what is the fertility rate? These and others are the main questions we will address in this section. three major aspects will be considered: the ethnic composition, the linguistic composition and the demographic trends.

Ethnic Composition

The Fang, the Tekes, Kongo, Chokwe among others, are the main ethnic groups in Central Africa. Just like the rest of the continent, the advent of modern state has affected many ethnic groups in central Africa. It is not unusual to see many ethnic groups divided by artificial borders created by the colonial states. Take the Fang for example. They are found mainly in Gabon but there are also Fang in Equatorial Guinea and southern Cameroon. Similarly the Teke (another ethnic group from the region) live in the two Congo and Gabon. Similarly the Kongo, peoples are found in the two Congos, and Angola, and the Chokwe and Lunda people live in the DRC, Angola and Zambia.

-       Linguistic composition

Image16: Map of African languages

As we have learned from other modules, Africa is among the linguistically richest continents of the world. The approximately 930 millio people of African speak more than a thousand separate languages. Central Africa is home to quite a number of ethno-linguistic groups. As a result of migration, conquest or intermarriage, many ethnic groups have emerged in Central Africa. Many hundreds of languages are spoken along with many other dialects. Each ethnic group has its own language and many groups identify themselves by the language they speak as well as by their ethnic origin.

Classifying these large numbers of languages is a real problem. Many of the African languages are called home language and they are divided into four main families [see MODULE 7 activity 2]. Within each of these families there are several subfamilies which are then subdivided into groups and/or subgroups. Thus the main families in African languages are: the Niger-Kordofanian family, the Afro-Asiatic family, the Nilo-Saharan family and the Khoisan. Languages spoken in Central Africa belong mainly to two families: the Niger-Kordofanian and the Nilo-Saharan families.

Most of the languages spoken in Central Africa belong to the larger Bantu group of the Niger-Congo language family. In the northern part of the region, the Adamawa-eastern and Sudanic languages are spoken.

As a result of colonization, some European languages are also spoken in the region. Indeed, French is one of official languages of all of the countries in Central Africa—with the exception of tiny Equatorial Guinea where Spanish is an official language. The selection of French (and Spanish) reflects the colonial legacy of arbitrary boundaries that cut across language groups, and the policy of divide and rule (discussed in Modules 7B and 10) which pitted various ethnic groups against each other. As a consequence, after independence African leaders were forced to adopt French as a unifying official language.

Your turn:

Having read this passage on African ethnic groups and languages, use the above maps and the country databases found at www.msuglobalaccess.net, to complete the attached table

Demographic Trends

Most of the states of this region are characterized by a low yet growing population rate. Central Africa, as we will learn in activity four of this module, was impacted by great epidemics, in addition to the more chronic endemic diseases like malaria, yellow fever and sleeping sickness. The high morality rate caused by these diseases reduced considerably the size of the population and the growth rate. But after 1930's, very vigorous medical measures were taken by the colonial administration, including improvement in hygiene. Eventually, these measures stopped the decline in the size of the population and brought the growth rate to a normal level. In the 1980's, the annual growth rate in Central Africa equaled or exceeds 2.5 %. At this rate, the population of these countries will double in 28 years.

Note: To calculate doubling time of the population, divide rate by 0.70.

Your turn:

You have read about how long it will take to for a population to double. In this exercise you will be doing research on your own. Log on to www.msuglobalaccess.net and find the annual population growth rate of Central Africa's countries. Calculate for each of them how long it will take for each country to see its population doubled. Enter your finding on the attached table.

In the first part of this activity you have learned about the physical characteristic of central Africa, different aspects of its populations and the rivers and lakes that drain this part of the African continent. These major points are parts of what is considered the physical geography of the region. In the following section we will study another important subject about the region, its economy.

Economy:

As we learned in Module Nine: African Economies when studying the economy of a region or a country, three sectors are considered: the primary sector, the secondary sector and the tertiary sector. In this part we are not going to follow this threefold division even though their domain of categorization will be included in the section. Central Africa has natural resources like the rivers and lake and also on average fertile soils that allow for farming and other agricultural activities. This section will focus on four major aspect of the economy of the region:

Agriculture

Agriculture has not always been the major activity in the region. The first inhabitants of the region are believed to have been hunter-gatherers. But over the time with a settlement along the Congo basin,agriculture has become part of the subsistence activity of the populations and with the colonialism in the 20th century, peasants moved from a subsistence agriculture to the type of agriculture that would generate more financial resources for colonial state.

Two types of farming technique will be addressed in this section: subsistence agriculture and the commercial agriculture. Subsistence agriculture, quite common in farming societies intends mostly to ensure the peasant's family nutrition and survival. In terms of cycle and technique subsistence agriculture is quite simple, it follows the rain cycle. Fields are cleared during the dry season and they are left 'fallow' after a crop or more. [see Module 9: Activity 2]. Peasant-farmers use mostly rudimentary tools and little to no manure is used.

Various subsistance crops are grown in Central Africa. Plantains are the staple food in the equatorial forest but the consumption of yam and taro is not negligible. Cassava has been included in the diet since the 19^th century and vegetable fat is obtained from palm oil. Cassava and corn have partially replaced sorghum and millet the indigenous crops of the savanna region.

Image 17: Cutting Sorghum Stalks

Photographer:   Hutchinson, Sharon Date:   1982/1983 Place:   Leek Nuer Region,   Sudan / East Africa Western Upper Nile ( Courtesy of University of Wisconsin)

Picture 18: Heads of Local Varieties of Sorghum Gritton, Earl Date:  1989 -12 Place:  Tubi Wuli. Gambia / West Africa General Library System of the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Image 19: Cassava for Sale. By Vansina, Jan1954-03 ( MbonaByesh Congo-Kinshasa / Central Africa) (Courtesy University of Wisconsin.)

There are almost no cattle kept in Central Africa. Unlike other parts of Africa, most of the region does not have a history of cattle-rearing. This a direct result of the widespread presence of disease vectors like the tsetse flies that carry and transmit trypanosomiasis. This disease (sleeping sickness) attacks animals (but also humans) making it very difficult for cattle to survive in the region.

Commercial agriculture came with the colonialism. Large oil-palm, sugarcane, coffee, cocoa, and hevea plantations were established by European companies. See [see MODULE 9 DISCUSSION ON COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE]. With the establishment of these plantations, the agricultural system was anchored into a modern monetary system. The new system enabled peasant-farmers not only to satisfy the needs of their family but also to fulfill the expectations of a growing consumer market. In addition it allowed them to also earn money, this new approach to farming is called cash crop agriculture. Unfortunately, the revenue of the colonial power influenced the type of cash-crop agricultural system that prevailed in the region: forced labor, forced production of commercial crops.

Since most of central Africa is located in the equatorial zone, the rich green rainforest helps develop a wood industry. Wood was an important export product for countries like Gabon and Congo (Brazzaville ) until the beginning of oil petroleum exploitation.

Minerals of Central Africa

UNEP/GRID-Arendal, Mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo, UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics Library, http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/mining-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congo (Accessed 28 August 2008)

Minerals and Industry

Central Africa is also rich in mineral resources. Consequently, mining became a major economic activity in the region—particularly in the Katanga region of the Belgian Congo. As demonstrated in the map below, Central Africa is rich in a wide variety of minerals.

The ore fields of Congo (DRC) produce manganese, cobalt, zinc, copper, and tin. Tin is also mined in Rwanda. Gabon and Congo (Brazzaville) are two major oil producers who rank respectively first and second in the region. Diamonds are mined in Congo (DRC), a country that has also begun to tap the hydroelectric potential of the Congo River through an installation at the Inga Falls hydroelectric Dam. The hydro-complex on these falls is an important source of power for Congo's mineral processing industries.

Since independence in the 1960s substantial deposits for petroleum (oil) have been discovered and developed in Congo Brazzaville, Gabon and Cabinda (an enclave of Angola north of the month of the Congo River). Profits from this industry provide the major source of revenues for these countries.

However, in spite of Central Africa's rich natural resource base, largely due to impact of colonialism, the Cold War, and the impact of globalization, Central Africa is not highly industrialized [see module 9 Activity 9]. Industrial activities, often only a small portion of each country GDP, are still on a small scale. The industry consists mainly of mineral processing. The main processing center in Congo for example is Lubumbashi, Kolwezi, and Likasi cement are in western Congo ( Brazzaville) and southeastern Congo (DRC).

Your Turn

Using information from the Minerals in Central Africa Map and from web searches complete the attached table

Transportation

The Congo basin, as mentioned, is rich in natural resources. However, without adequate infrastructure, it will not be possible to exploit these resources. This correlation between a good transport system and an effective exploitation of the region resources was already recognized by European colonialists in the late 19^th century. For example, Henry Morton Stanley and Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza acknowledged that without a railway network, it was impossible to take advantage of the resources of the interior of the basin that is insulated from the Atlantic Ocean.

Picture 20: Kinshasa- Matadi railway

(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Kinshasa_Matadi.jpg)

One of the tasks of the colonial administration was therefore to embark on the development of transport infrastructure. The railway line between Matadi and Kinshasa (as shown in the picture above and the map below ) became operational in 1898 and the one between Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville began in 1934. Ground road, railroad and waterway networks have not improved since the 1960.

The development of this important infrastructure would not have been possible without the cheap labor 'offered' by the indigenous population who were forced by the colonial administration into the completion of the project. That is how the famous forced labor entered the picture. We will learn more about the practice and impact of forced labor in Central Africa in activity three of this module.

Look carefully at the map below. You will note that the major rail lines in Central Africa, as in the rest of Africa, were developed with the aim of extracting the region's rich nature mineral resources. Little attention was paid to linking population centers to facilitate the transfer of goods and services between these centers. The development of transportation infrastructure aimed at stimulating growth of the domestic economies of Central Africa was not important to the colonial powers. For a more detailed description of colonial economic policy visit Module Nine, African Economies, Learning Activity Five 'Transportation'

REGIONAL COOPERATION

Many central Africans countries believe that having closer links with each other will be beneficial for their countries and populations. However, records show that only limited initiatives toward political unity or economic integration have been taken. Barthelemy Boganda, from the Central African republic, was one of the pioneers of the idea of the 'United States of Latin Africa' the goal was to unite all the former French colonies in equatorial Africa and Angola and Congo ( Democratic Republic)

            There have been efforts of economic integration among the ex-French colonies, this came in form of Customs and Economic Union of the Central African States (UDEAC) which was established in 1964.

The limited success of the UDEAC experience prompted, in the eighties, new efforts toward a greater economic cooperation. These efforts were urged by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the Lagos Plan of Action. The negotiations started in 1982 and by 1983, all the Central African States including Rwanda and Burundi (East Africa) signed the treaty creating the Economic community of Central African States (the ECCA ). The goals of the new organization are much broader than that of the UDEAC. The ECCA aimed at stimulating industrial activity, increased markets, and reducing the dependence on foreign countries notably France and other developed countries for commerce and trade. Unfortunately these noble goals have been to date unfulfilled because of the frequent postponement of meetings and delay or lack of payment of members' dues.

Your Turn:

Use information gathered from the interactive map of Africa in Module Nine, Unit Two and visit http://www.msuglobalaccess.net/to complete the attached table

GO TO: Activity 2 or select from the other activities in this module:

Or Go To:

• Activity One: Engage: What is Central Africa
• Activity Two: Explore: History of Central Africa
• Activity Three: Explain: Cultural Expressions in Central Africa
• Activity Four: Expand: Current Issues in Central Africa--Health