African Cultures Essay

Like many other continents in the world Africa has a lot of differences in itself for example there are differences in geography ,language, politics, religion and other things in life due to Africa’s lack of political government over an extended period of time.

From the 1500s to the 1700s, African blacks, mainly from the area of West Africa (today's Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Dahomey, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon) were shipped as slaves to North America, Brazil, and the West Indies. For them, local and tribal differences, and even varying cultural backgrounds, soon melded into one common concern for the suffering they all endured. Music, songs, and dances as well as remembered traditional food, helped not only to uplift them but also quite unintentionally added immeasurably to the culture around them. In the approximately 300 years that blacks have made their homes in North America, the West Indies, and Brazil, their highly honed art

Africa DBQ     Africa is an extremely large continent filled with 54 countries. European occupation of Africa has shaped the very structure and function of many of these diverse countries. Socially and economically, European influence is very obvious through imperialism, the act of one country extending power and rule over another, as well as colonization, the act of establishing a colony in another country. The effects of European imperialism and colonization have greatly damaged Africa in many different aspects of life.     European imperialism as well as colonization worked to control much of Africa.

The Scramble for Africa from 1876-1914 has influenced many Africans by violent resistance, diplomacy, and adopting traditions. During this time period, Africa was being colonized and taken over by European powers. This was caused by the The Berlin Conference and it consisted of European powers deciding what they should do about Africa. Africa didn't actually have a say in this. Therefore, Europe ended up dividing up Africa into colonies that they took over.

The video Mother Tongues: Languages Around the World discusses the various languages found in Africa, Oceana, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The film starts with a brief description of Africa’s nearly 2000 languages. It explains that because of Africa’s relative isolation and long history of occupants it has the most languages of any land mass. The African languages include anything from Arabic, Swahili, or the ‘click’ language. Click languages are located only in Africa; in these languages the clicks function as normal consonants.The many languages of Africa all evolved differently due to separation between groups. For example the Nigeria area has over 400 languages and almost every language group is represented. Africa has unique sounds

South Africa’s largest sport is rugby. They will have grand festivals before and after each big game. Instead of baseball, they play cricket. Hunting is also a big sport in South Africa; some of the game they hunt include deer, which are described to be enormous compared to the deer in the United States, rhino, and buffalo. On some highways you will see wild animals strolling down the side and across the roads, including lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and buffalo. I could not imagine seeing wildlife like that in our everyday surroundings! Lions, leopards and elephant are of course, illegal to hunt. They also celebrate Woodstock, just as we do in the US.

The African societies (like those of the American Indians and the Europeans) were highly dependent on the environmental conditions and varied widely across the continent. Africa very much resembled America in its diversity of cultures across deserts, grasslands, and forests, its established networks of trade, and resource competition. The early use of iron implements raised productivity and subsequently increased the continent's population, which reached about 50 million by the fifteenth century. Much of that population was organized politically under large empires, like the Kingdom of Ghana. Ghana achieved architectural and artistic wealth principally through important trading contacts with the Middle and Far East. Other kingdoms also developed

Africa and Africa are similar and different in many ways. They both are not terrible places to live. On the other side Africa does not have slavery. They are more of

Africa’s rich history and unique geographic features make this continent vastly different from the six others on this planet. Being the only continent with a majority of its landmass lying in the tropics, it’s inhabitants adapted to their situation accordingly. Unlike Europe, who adopted industry, Africans developed in small, isolated tribes due to the rugged geography, which led to problems with government and poverty when Europeans tried to implement their ways on native people. The extremely diverse geographic features of Africa, including its deserts, mountains, valleys and rainforests obstructed movement from place to place, making it much easier for people to live in smaller groups. These tribes all had their own unique languages and

Although some may think of Africa as being of a single climate and terrain description, in reality a wide variety of land types can be found throughout Africa. How does this wide variety of climates and physical terrains affect human life and settlement patterns on the African continent? Different terrains and climates allowed for different lifestyles for Africans in different regions. Those close to the sea were susceptible to invasion, but had the advantage of maritime trade. Those living more in land were isolated but protected by the diseases visitors would contract that did not affect the locals. Due to the fact that Africa is so massive, it has many

Sculptures came in a variety of shapes and sizes. They were often made of wood, metal, cloth, or clay. These sculptures served as personal protection figures, symbols for supernatural powers, and representation of ancestors. Most sculptures were made to represent the human body, but some cultures never carve human faces so it resembled any individual in fear of accusations of witch craft. A great example of one such sculpture is Cango and Zaire.

63% of the country subscribes to a variety of localized African religions. Islam is the most widespread singular religion, hosting 25% of the population. Approximately 12% of the population reports being Christian.

Currently in South Africa there are 5.26 million people living with HIV. This means that 10% of the South African population is directly affected by the virus and requires us to ensure clear guidelines are in place for the management of HIV (Statistics South Africa, 2013).

     Africa has more than 800 languages native to its continent. African cultures are so diverse that they are different from any other culture of the world. African cultures contain many different languages. African languages range from common French to languages unheard of to most people such as Swahili. African arts are much different than American arts. Their art involves much more creative pottery, masks, and paintings. Africa has a very interesting culture. Reasons being the people are very creative and like to express their individuality. The most diverse cultures in the world belong to Africa.

The country has 9 Provinces, each with its own government with a provincial legislature, premier and executive council. Each province is different in its own way with unique landscapes, populations, economies, and climates. Before 1994, South Africa had only four Provinces and those four provinces were divided into racial and language groups.