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East and South Africa. Kenya: Physical Geography. Climate is hot and tropical near the equator and cooler throughout the Great Rift Valley. Northern Kenya prone to droughts Southern Kenya very fertile; around the Great Rift Valley. The Great Rift Valley. Kenya: Colonialism.
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Kenya: Physical Geography • Climate is hot and tropical near the equator and cooler throughout the Great Rift Valley. • Northern Kenya prone to droughts • Southern Kenya very fertile; around the Great Rift Valley
Kenya: Colonialism • British took control in 1890s • Built railroads to encourage economic growth • Railroads encouraged new settlers; new city of Nairobi grew • Kenya won independence from the British in 1963
Kenya: Government and Economic Activities • After independence the new elected president (Jomo Kenyatta) called for “Harambee” (pulling together) to help the economy • Based the economy on growing coffee and tea • The focus on cash crops left little land for subsistence farming • Led to famine and malnutrition • One of the most stable countries in Africa, but rising populations in the late 1980s led to political unrest • 1997 free elections – Daniel arap Moi & Kikuyu ethnic group managed to win every election. Why?
Kalenjin vs Kikuyu 2008 Next week marks a year since Kenya's political rivals, Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, signed a power- sharing agreement designed to end the violence between their tribal allies. Golden fields roll past the window as you drive through the Rift Valley. This is where Kenyans grow the maize that feeds the whole country - except that this year they are not growing it. Nor did they last year. Instead the farmers are packed together in their thousands, under tattered, once-white emergency tents – next to their fields. 'At risk' Most of these families are too scared to go back to the farms they were thrown off a year ago simply for belonging to President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe. Some tend their farms during the day, returning to the camps to sleep at night. But that is only if they have received a government grant to buy seeds, and most have not. The government says it has run out of money to help, but urges them to go back anyway because the maize shortage is putting 10 million Kenyans at risk of starvation. Anthony N'ganga is going back. He invited me to go with him. We met last year, when his neighbours murdered his father and set fire to the village church where his wife and newborn baby were sheltering. Mary survived - but only just. To save their baby from the flames she threw him out of the window. Mary's skin is rippled with scars from the fire. The neighbours who did this to Anthony's family belonged to the Kalenjin tribe. Convinced their leader, Raila Odinga, had been cheated out of his election victory by Mwai Kibaki, they took their anger out on any Kikuyu they could find.
Anthony returned to the grave of his murdered father Houses were burned down in the violence We spent so much time together during the violence, that Anthony and Isac agreed we should get a photo taken of the three of us, as a souvenir
Low profile Anthony is excited; he is going back home for the first time. "I want to forgive my neighbours," he says, "when I see them I will tell them." I am nervous for him. The last time we went to Anthony's village, during the violence, we had to go with 20 armed police. In the end when we arrive, there are not any of his Kalenjin neighbours around for him to forgive. They are keeping a low profile. There is a shiny new police station on the Kikuyu side of the village. It gleams green and white, like a warning to the Kalenjin. Isac, the taxi driver who takes us there, is the only Kalenjin we meet. Anthony returned to the grave of his murdered father. Being driven around by a Kalenjin was what kept Anthony and me safe during last year's violence. As for Isac, the things he saw with us meant he could not insist, as other Kalenjin did - loudly and often - that his Kalenjin warriors have not harmed any Kikuyu women and children. Kalenjin grievances We spent so much time together during the violence, that Anthony and Isac agreed we should get a photo taken of the three of us, as a souvenir. With the world suddenly taking notice of Kalenjin grievances, Isac could afford to be generous to a Kikuyu, and with his tribe brought so low, Anthony could not afford to look on Isac with the disdain his tribe usually reserved for Kalenjin. If the two of them could get along last year, at the height of the violence, after a year of their leaders sharing power I am confused to find relations between them are much cooler now. Isac did not take part in the violence. "If I had stayed at home other Kalenjin would have called me to fight so I took my children to town and hid." But he had hoped that he would benefit from it. He showed me the gourds hanging from the gateposts of deserted Kikuyu houses. "It's a sign to other Kalenjin," he told me, "not to burn the house because a Kalenjin is going to take it over." But with the sparkling new police station standing guard, the Kalenjin have not been able to seize Kikuyu farms. And Raila Odinga has done little for the disenfranchised tribes that brought him to power; instead he and his cabinet members are accused of making money out of the maize shortage. 'Ticket to power' Anthony looks out of the taxi window, and in front of Isac, says to me: "Look how these lazy Kalenjin have neglected the fields." He says this without seeming to realise just how much Isac and other Kalenjin resent his Kikuyu people. We take photographs separately this year - one of Anthony and me together, one of me and Isac. It seems to sum up the state of tribal relations across Kenya. Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga have done nothing to reconcile the country. Why would they? Ethnic rivalry is their ticket to power. And without it Kenyans might band together to question why their leaders are doing so well while they go hungry. And I worry that it won't be another year before my two friends are affected once more by a round of murderous violence. From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 21 February, 2009
Dance rituals of Masai men include high leaps. In the face of cultural pressures and the loss of their lands and grazing rights, the proud Masai strive to maintain their traditional life.
Other Countries of East Africa • The Horn of Africa offers opportunities for trade and strategic value because of its location on the Indian Ocean • Djibouti • Ethiopia • Somalia • Sudan
Djibouti • Earns most its income from its strategic ports • France pays large fees to maintain a military base in the country
Ethiopia • 3,500 years old • In recent years, drought and regional conflicts have brought this nation to the edge of collapse. • 1984-1986 severe drought caused famine • Foreign nations sent aid, but civil wars in neighboring Somalia and the coastal province of Eritrea prevented food from getting into the country • Eritrea won their independence from Ethiopia in 1991 and as a result Ethiopia became landlocked.
Somalia • Won independence in 1960 • Border wars, clan disputes and droughts have prevented Somalia from becoming a strong nation • 1992 United Nations sent troops to Somalia to protect food supplies • Peace today has aided in the rebuilding process
Sudan • Similar to Sahel in geography • War between the Muslims to the north and Christians & Animists in the South
Landlocked Nations • Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi Uganda • Fertile soil • Rocked by civil war and authoritarian government • Free elections in 2001 Rwanda and Burundi • Ethnocracy – one ethnic group is in power • Horrible civil war between the Hutu and Tutsi
Tanzania • Very fertile soil • Land with great potential for wealth, but because of poor development it remains the second poorest country in the world
South Africa • Troubled past – 100 years of minority rule and unequal treatment • Whites controlled all high paying jobs and 2/3 of the best farmland
After the British seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1806, many of the Dutch settlers (the Boers) trekked north to found their own republics. • The discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) spurred wealth and immigration and intensified the subjugation of the native inhabitants. • The Boers resisted British encroachments, but were defeated in the Boer War (1899-1902). The resulting Union of South Africa operated under a policy of apartheid - the separate development of the races. • The 1990s brought an end to apartheid politically and ushered in black majority rule.
Charlize Theron Nelson Mandela 1993 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
