MC_A Concise History of Africa

A Concise History of Africa

educated and most literate group in the land. In an interesting twist on the slave trade (for indentured labor was virtually the same thing), 32,000 Indians were imported to build the “lunatic line,” as detractors called it, this being the railway from Mombasa to Kisumu on the eastern side of Lake Victoria, not the least of their problems being the man-eating lions of Tsavo, which had to be shot before work could proceed. The work was carried out between 1896 and 1901 and replaced ox carts, the previous means of transport. The railway was costly, however, and made no economic sense. The Asians were subsequently involved in the development of towns, and with the surge in trade that followed in the

wake of these developments, were able to set up businesses, homes, temples, and other institutions, some of them becoming rich in the process. In the early 1920s, serious discussions began between the British and Indian authorities with

regard to making East Africa a colony of India. There are still large numbers of Indian residents here, as well as in southern Africa, despite Idi Amin’s expulsion of them from Uganda in 1972.

Text-Dependent Questions 1. What country did the Bantu people originally come from? 2. What name is given to the the tall scarlet-dressed tribesmen and where do they mainly live today? 3. What is the nickname of the historic railroad that was built through Uganda and who built it?

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