Review Questions

1) What were some early civilizations in East Africa?  Why were these civilizations important?
Some early civilizations were Aksum and Kilwa. These civilizations were important because they were major trading posts and made East Africa a cultural crossroads.

2) What happened at the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885?
It divided Africa, with no concern of where the ethnic groups were, and put many enemies together and divided many allies.

3) What African countries managed to remain free of European control?
Ethiopia and Libera

4) How did colonialism cause conflicts in East Africa after independence?
Left over tensions and ethnic animosity

5) How did Ethiopia manage to defeat Italy in 1896?
They were able to win with guns from France and Russia and since they knew the geographic layout better

6) What are some cash crops of East Africa?
Coffee, tea, and sugar

7) What is East Africa's most critical health-care problem.
AIDS

8) Research the Rwanda massacre (genocide?) and briefly discuss what happened and why.
in 1994, 85% of Rwanda's population was Hutu and 14% was Tutsi. The political elite Hutu extremists blamed all of Rwanda's political, economical, and social problems on the Tutsi. On April 6th, a plane carrying the Rwandan president was shot down and the Hutus immediately started to plan on how to destroy the Tutsi population. It started with the killings of important Tutsi politicians and then anyone who was suspected of being Tutsi. By the end, 800,000 were killed.