Africa's Borders and Cultures

Africa's Borders and Cultures

​European powers created new colonial borders that ignored the exisiting borders of traditional African cultures.

-About 2/3 of African's live in rural villages

​

-​Varied customs and languages

​

-​About 1000 languages spoken

​

​

​Africa's Culture Today

​

Fill in the Blanks

About how many different languages are spoken in Sub-Saharan Africa today?

Before European influence, borders between cultural groups were often formed by natural physical features or conflicts between groups.

​

The Impact of Colonialism

​

When Europeans arrived they ignored the cultural boundaries and created boundary lines that met their own resource needs. Many groups were divided or forced to share territory with rivals.

​

Merging Different Cultures

Multiple Choice

How did Europeans decide where to put the borders of their colonies?

• They used Africa's natural features, such as rivers.

• They divided Africa to meet their own resource needs.

• They asked Africans to identify their cultural borders.

• They researched the borders of ancient African empires.

Once countries gained independence, they kept the colonial borders. ​The conflicts between the different cultures sharing territory have led to many civil wars.

​

Civil Wars