Background

Location, Location, Location

1.     Looking at the map, rank the continents according to size

2.     Africa is bordered by two oceans and a sea.

a.     Which ocean borders Africa to the west? __________________________

b.     Which ocean borders Africa to the east? ___________________________

c.     Which sea borders Africa to the north? ____________________________

3.     Which continent is connected to Africa by a land-bridge? ___________________

a.     What is the virtual line that divides the world into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres called? ___________________________________

b.     What is the virtual line that connects the North and South Pole and divides the World into Eastern and Western Hemispheres called? ___________________________________________________________

c.     Which continent(s) occupy space in all four Hemispheres? ___________________________________________________________

4.     Based on Africa's global location (as projected on the map), (a) do you think that Africa has a long history of active contact (trade, migration, exchange of ideas) with other regions of the world? OR (b) do you think that until recently (the past 300 years) Africa has been isolated from other regions of the world? Give as many reasons as you can for your answer.

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Based on the information provided on the map, with which two continents do you think people and societies in Africa had the longest contact? Why? Which regions of Africa do you think had the earliest contact with other regions of the world? Why?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________­­­­­­­____________

GROUP ONE : THE HUTUS AND TUTSIS

I. THE AFRICAN DIVIDE

The colonization of Africa had a severely negative impact on both the continent and its people. By the

mid 1800s, the western powers had established colonies all along the African coast. Africa provided a

source of cheap labor, raw materials and new markets for these countries, which were going through the

Industrial Revolution. These colonizing powers, however, began to compete with each other over

control. They decided to hold a conference to set up ground rules for colonizing Africa. In 1884,

leaders from 14 colonial powers, including the United States, Belgium, Portugal, Germany and Spain,

held the Berlin Conference where they divided the continent of Africa into 50 countries and claimed

them for themselves. These divisions were made arbitrarily and without any consideration of the

common culture, history and language shared by different groups of African people. As a result, two

things occurred: people of common ethnic groups were separated by arbitrary national borders and

warring ethnic groups were brought under the same government. The map of Africa remains largely the

same as when it was divided in 1884 - a major source for many of the continent’s conflicts today.

The region that became the country of Rwanda was given to Germany. German colonists arrived in

Rwanda in the 1890s and found a centrally governed and efficiently run country made up of people who

shared a common culture, language and religious beliefs.

After World War I, Belgium gained control of Rwanda.