検索キーワード： アフリカ

The modern history of Africa was, until very recently, written on behalf of the indigenous races by the White man, who had forcefully entered the continent during a particularly hubristic and dynamic phase of European history. In 1884, Prince Otto von Bismark, the German chancellor, brought the plenipotentiaries of all major powers of Europe together to deal with Africa's colonization in such a manner as to avoid provocation of war.

The Napoleonic Wars radically altered the old, established European power dynamics, and in 1795, the British, now emerging as the globe’s naval superpower, assumed control of the Cape as part of the spoils of war. In doing so, they recognized the enormous strategic value of the Cape as global shipping routes were developing and expanding.  Possession passed back and forth once or twice, but more or less from that point onward, the British established their presence at the Cape, which they held until the unification of South Africa in 1910.

The extensive history of Africa provides us with a topic of curiosity and novelty. For this reason, this guide has been composed to help you understand some of the cultural anecdotes as well as the religious and traditional tales that have been told to previous generations. When we dive into some background information, you will have a better grasp of the context of the four intense stories that follow. Enjoy this short, simple yet profound compilation of African myths.

The Kingdom of Kush and the ancient Nubian civilization, in general, are important not only for their achievements, but also for what these achievements represent in the abstract. The existence of such civilizations challenges many traditional, Eurocentric views of the world and its history. Of course, ancient Egypt is impressive enough on its own, but Nubia is even further south and further away from European influence and, in that sense, more African.

The African people hide secret treasures of wisdom and spiritual insights. In this guide, you will become more familiar with some of the most common gods and goddesses in African tribal worship. Moreover, you will listen to some interesting stories that were told from one generation to the next. Some of these myths may inspire you, others might confuse you, but in a general sense, it is useful and fascinating to learn more about them.

Africa is the continent where the first humans were born. They explored the vast land and produced the first tools. And although we migrated from that continent, we never completely abandoned it. From the beginning of time, humans lived and worked in Africa, leaving evidence of their existence in the sands of the Sahara Desert and the valleys of the great rivers such as the Nile and the Niger.

These are the combat experiences of the first Marine to command a special operations task force, recounted against a backdrop of his journey from raw Second Lieutenant to seasoned Colonel and Task Force Commander; from leading Marines through the streets of Mogadishu, Baghdad, Fallujah and Mosul to directing multi-national special operations forces in a dauntingly complex fight against a formidable foe.   

Africa is the continent where the first humans were born. They explored the vast land and produced the first tools. And although we migrated from that continent, we never completely abandoned it. From the beginning of time, humans lived and worked in Africa, leaving evidence of their existence in the sands of the Sahara Desert and the valleys of the great rivers, such as the Nile and the Niger. Some of the earliest great civilizations were born there, and they give us an insight into the smaller kingdoms of ancient Africa.

Near the end of the 19th century, Otto von Bismarck, the German chancellor, brought the plenipotentiaries of all major powers of Europe together to deal with Africa's colonization in such a manner as to avoid provocation of war. This event, known as the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, galvanized a phenomenon that came to be known as the Scramble for Africa.

Entre abril y julio de 1994, cerca de 800 mil personas de la etnia Tutsi fueron asesinadas en el país africano. La violencia dejó un país con miles de mujeres violadas, niños asesinados y hombres mutilados. Esta cruel matanza fue la cúspide de una guerra civil entre Hutus y Tutsis que duró cuatro años.

On the West coast of Africa there once, the Mali empire in its Golden Age was once bigger than the entirety of Western Europe put together, made possible by the efforts of one man Mansa Musa the Sultan of Mali. He was the richest man to have ever lived, worth 400 billion dollars in today's terms, his gold mines supplied the British Empire and the rest of the European Empires for 800 years, despite the dry desolate environment of Mali he founded the greatest center of learning in all of world Timbuktu, his great holy pilgrimage to Mecca was the greatest the world had seen.

Africa in the 13th century lay in ruins due to countless civil wars and the ensuing famine. Amid the hopelessness arose a man who began to rebuild the ravaged diaspora. He instituted a government that was so efficient at managing the country of Mali that soon it was the most progressive nation on the continent. Not long after, one by one, the neighboring countries began to join the fold, until all of West Africa constituted a single empire. 

As a five-year-old, George Alagiah emigrated with his family to Ghana, the first African country to gain independence from the British Empire. A Passage to Africa is Alagiah's shattering catalogue of atrocities crafted into a portrait of Africa that is infused with hope, insight and outrage. In vivid and evocative prose and with a fine eye for detail, Alagiah's viewpoint is spiked with the freshness of the young George on his arrival in Ghana, the wonder with which he recounts his first impressions of Africa and the affection with which he dresses his stories of his early life.

In the aftermath of the Battles of Khambula and Gingindlovu, a lull fell over the war-torn Zulu Kingdom. Though British forces under Lord Chelmsford emerged victorious during both encounters, earlier defeats, casualties, and supply shortages required them to withdraw back into Natal. Now with waves of long-awaited reinforcements arriving, Chelmsford prepares to launch a second invasion of Zululand. Death and destruction have taken their toll on the Zulu people. Thousands of families mourn for their loved ones, while refugees flee from the devastation of the border regions. 

The Christian influences of the Portuguese in Africa helped lead to conversion movements in the Kingdom of Kongo, most famously that of Kimpa Vita, a young woman whose story included striking parallels with Joan of Arc. As the leader of a Christian movement, Kimpa Vita became involved in internal political disputes within the Kingdom of Kongo, even as she set about spreading Christianity, and her ultimate fate has kept her memory alive as an ideal for later democratic and religious movements across the African continent.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o es estudiante en una prestigiosa escuela de Nairobi cuando la guerrilla Mau Mau reclama la independencia de Kenia. La etapa de más represión del gobierno británico coincide con su entrada al instituto, donde se siente protegido. Así, cuando Ngũgĩ visita su pueblo lo encuentra devastado y trasladado cerca de la vigilancia de las autoridades en un conjunto de pueblos a modo de campo de concentración.

If a mere seven more MPs had voted with Prime Minister JBM Hertzog in favour of neutrality, South Africa's history would have been quite different. Parliament's narrow decision to go to war in 1939 led to a seismic upheaval throughout the 1940s: black people streamed in their thousands from rural areas to the cities in search of jobs; volunteers of all races answered the call to go 'up north' to fight; and opponents of the Smuts government actively hindered the war effort by attacking soldiers and committing acts of sabotage.  

En Sueños en tiempos de guerra, Ngũgĩ dibuja hábilmente una era pasada, capturando el paisaje, la gente y la cultura. Narrado desde los ojos de un niño y al mismo tiempo la inteligencia de una vida dedicada, entre otras cosas, al estudio y la defensa de las culturas minorizadas, el audiolibro evidencia la vicisitudes sociales y políticas de la vida colonial y la guerra.

In his 1920 book The Jews of Africa, Mendelssohn attempts to chart the separate and progressive histories of the Jews in the different parts of Africa where they lived since their expulsion from the land by the Romans. He succeeds in compiling a narrative of a large part of the histories of the Jews of Africa during the centuries following the Romans’ destruction of Jerusalem.

Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912) was a diplomat, educator, writer and politician. Born in the West Indies, he migrated to Liberia in 1851. Blyden’s writings on pan-Africanism were influential in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the two countries founded in the time of slavery for the resettlement of free blacks from the United Kingdom and the United States. Blyden believed that Zionism was a model for what he termed Ethiopianism, and that African-Americans could return to Africa and redeem it.