9781422280690

NORTH AND CENTRAL AFRICA DISCOVERING AFRICA

Countries of North and Central Africa Algeria, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Morocco, Republic of Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, Western Sahara.

NORTH AND CENTRAL AFRICA Annelise Hobbs DISCOVERING AFRICA

MASON CREST

Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D Broomall, PA 19008 www.masoncrest.com

© 2017 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright holder. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Hobbs, Annelise, author. Title: North and central Africa / Annelise Hobbs. Description: First printing. | Series: Discovering Africa | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016048436 (print) | LCCN 2016051324 (ebook) | ISBN 9781422237182 (hardback) | ISBN 9781422237151 (series) | ISBN 9781422280690 (ebook) | ISBN 9781422280690 (eBook) Subjects: LCSH: Africa, North--History. | Africa, North--Politics and government. | Africa, Central--History. | Africa, Central--Politics and government. Classification: LCC DT162 .H63 2017 (print) | LCC DT162 (ebook) | DDC 961--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016048436 Printed and bound in the United States of America. First printing 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ISBN: 978-1-4222-3718-2 Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-3715-1 ebook ISBN: 978-1-4222-8069-0 ebook series ISBN: 978-1-4222-8066-9 Produced by Regency House Publishing Limited The Manor House

High Street Buntingford Hertfordshire SG9 9AB United Kingdom www.regencyhousepublishing.com Text copyright © 2017 Regency House Publishing Limited/Annelise Hobbs

TITLES IN THE DISCOVERING AFRICA SERIES: A Concise History of Africa East Africa North and Central Africa Southern Africa West Africa

CONTENTS

Republic of Congo 52 São Tomé and Príncipe 54 South Sudan 58 Sudan 62 Tunisia 66 Western Sahara 74 Index 78 Further Information 80

Algeria 10 Central African Republic 14 Chad 18 Democratic Republic of Congo 22 Egypt 26 Equatorial Guinea 34 Gabon 38 Libya 40 Morocco 46

KEY ICONS TO LOOK FOR:

Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text, while building vocabulary skills. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there.

View of the old medina in Fez, Morocco.

ALGERIA

A lgeria is a country of the Maghreb, a region of North and North-West Africa that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to Egypt. This comprises the Mediterranean coastal plain and the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, together with Algeria and Tunisia, and sometimes includes Tripolitania. Most of Algeria’s coastline is hilly or

Words to Understand Fundamentalist: A person who stresses strict and literal adherence to a set of basic principles. Indigenous: Living, or existing naturally in a particular region or environment. Militant: A person engaged in combat.

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North and Central Africa

mountainous, the area to the south being fertile land that rises to the Atlas Mountains. Much of the rest of Algeria is covered by the Sahara Desert.

Berbers, including Tuaregs, were the indigenous population of Algeria since at least 10000 BC. In 1000 BC Carthaginians began to settle the coastal area, and the Berber

OPPOSITE: Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. BELOW : A map of Algeria.

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Algeria

The Berbers Berbers are groups of peoples indigenous to northern Africa. They are distributed in an area stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Siwa Oasis in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Niger River. Today, most Berber people live in north African countries, mainly in Algeria and Morocco; small Berber populations are also found in Niger, Mali, Libya, Mauritania, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, and Egypt. Immigrant communities also live in France, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and other countries. kingdom of Numidia was absorbed into Carthage. Numidia tried to extricate itself, only to be seized by Rome in 200 BC. On the collapse of the Roman Empire, Vandals assumed control but were expelled by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, who retained control until Islam arrived in the 7th century. The Fatimids rapidly established an empire in the north-east, but following the Reconquista, Spain began to attack Algerian coastal cities in the 15th and 16th centuries, prompting help from the Ottoman Empire. Algeria became a département of France in 1848. In 1954 the National Liberation Front (FLN), that was to

ABOVE: Constantine is a large city in eastern Algeria. LEFT: A Berber in traditional dress. OPPOSITE: The beautiful and captivating Sahara Desert in Algeria. Colonel Houari Boumédienne in 1965, who established a military council and began reforms, among them a national health service. In 1991 the Fundamentalist Islamic dominate Algerian politics for the next 40 years, launched a war claiming 350,000 lives. In 1962 Algeria gained independence, and Ahmed Ben Bella came to power. He was overthrown in a coup by

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North and Central Africa

Much of Algeria is now developing into an emerging economy, and the revenue from its oil and gas are being used to improve the country’s infrastructure, industry and agricultural land. Overseas investment in Algeria has recently increased.

calls for democratic change, but protests were not experienced on the same scale as in other Arab- speaking countries. Nonetheless, President Bouteflika announced a program of constitutional change in an effort to avert pressure for more radical reform.

Salvation Front (FIS) won a surprise victory from the FLN, and violent civil strife ensued. This escalated into an insurgency resulting in 100,000 deaths between 1992 and 1998. Abdelaziz Bouteflika became president in 1999 in a doubtful election, but was backed by a landslide victory in 2004. The FIS’s Islamic Salvation Army was disbanded in 2000, though small numbers of militants persisted in attacking villages. In 2009 Bouteflika secured a second landslide election victory. Like many other countries in the region, during the following years, the government faced

Text-Dependent Questions 1. What sea lies to the north of Algeria?

2. What is the name given to Algeria’s mountain range?

3. What countries do Berbers inhabit?

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CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

L ocated north of DR Congo, CAR consists of a rolling plateau with hills in the north-east and south- west. French is the official language, but Sangho is accepted as the lingua franca. France established the colony of Ubangi-Shari in 1894, and with Chad, Congo, and Gabon it was French Equatorial Africa from 1910.

Words to Understand Equatorial: Relating to, or suggesting the region around the equator. Misrule: To rule incompetently or misgovern. Volatile: Liable to change suddenly and unpredictably, usually for the worse.

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