The Presentations
Rule over Libya
1884-1950
Soccer in South Africa
Soccer was brought to South Africa by the European missionaries, soldiers and merchants. In the late 19th century, the football associations were divided by race. The separation by race continued until late 20th century due to the apartheit. In 1991, South Africa Football Association was formed to unite the separated soccer players. Currently, many of the African players - up to 80 percent of them - are taken to Europe to play. I find it interesting that soccer was originally brought from Europe, and now all the good African players are being taken back to Europe. I believe this is happening due to the amount of money the European teams can afford on the players, but wouldn't the players want to play on the land they were born?
Hotel Rwanda
Rule over Libya
1800-1884
During the 19th Century, Libya was ruled by a Turkish empire called the Ottoman Empire.
The Ottomans divided the Maghreb into three provinces: Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.
Ahmed Karamanli, an Ottoman cavalry officer and son of a Turkish officer and Libyan woman, seized power and founded the Karamanli dynasty.
During the 19th Century, Libya was involved in two wars against United States. (1801, 1815) The wars began from pirates of Northern Africa attacking upon American merchant ships.
The rule was handed back to the government of Mahmud II, the Sultan of the Ottoman empire in 1814. Even though there were these rulers, the distance from the center of the empire to Libya caused it to have a sense of anarchy.
The map – drawn by Guillaume Delisle, a French cartographer in 1707.
1884-1950
Italy and France makes a secret agreement in 1900, in which Libya was left for Italy to take.
In 1911, Italy invaded the area in a war called Italo-Turkish war and made Libya a colony, giving it its name. The colony consisted of the Provinces of Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and Fezzan.
Since then, Libya takes the shape it has today.
The two world wars had affected Libya in positive ways.
Shortly after the occupation by the Italy, World War I begins. During the war, the control over Libya was handed back to Senussi zawiya, so that the Italian army could fight the war in other places.
One Senussi leader called Mohammed Idris tries to keep the control by compromising with the Italians. He is given the title of emir in 1920, by admitting the Italian control over the coast of Cyrenaica.
Few years later, the Italian governors start to take strong actions against the people, such as concentration camps. This causes Idris to flee to Egypt. As the World War II caused the fascist countries to weaken, their control over the African colonies got less effective. After the war, the army of Italy is driven out of the Northern Africa.
1943-51
For the few years after the war, Libya is administered by the Allied nations while the United Nation discussed on what to do with it.
Tripolitania and Cyrenaica – administered by Britain
Fezzan – administered by France
In 1949, the United Nation stated that Libya should become independent.
1950-present
Libya achieved its independence in 1951, and was proclaimed a constitutional and a hereditary monarchy under King Idris. Idris was elected by the representatives of three provinces as the king.
His rule was had no democracy, and the poor economy relied on foreign aids and revenues from airbases.
The situation changed when oil was discovered. The king starts to slowly remove foreign forces from the land of Libya.
A military-led coup overthrew the rule by the king in 1969 – led by Mu’ammar Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi.
The country was transformed into Libyan Arab Republic by the Revolutionary Command Council. Gadhafi has no official position since 1977. Gadhafi has been the “de facto” ruler since then, since he has full control over the army.
Under Gadhafi’s rule, Libya fought in many occasions such as the Libyan-Egyptian War and Chadian-Libyan conflict, both in 70s and 80s.
Due to Gadhafi’s foreign policies, US designated Libya as a state sponsor of terrorism and bombed Libya in 1986. Since then, Gadhafi stopped encouraging terrorist attacks.
In February of this year, anti-government demonstrators took control of the second largest city, Benghazi. The government sent elite troops to the city, resulting in casualties. Similar conflicts are occurring in many cities, and over 1000 people have been killed.
The UN has authorized no-fly zone to prevent Gadhafi from using aircrafts for carrying mercenaries and bombing civilians.
Many nations such as France, US and UK has been supporting the military actions of the rebels, and the conflict is still going on today.
Soccer in South Africa
Soccer was brought to South Africa by the European missionaries, soldiers and merchants. In the late 19th century, the football associations were divided by race. The separation by race continued until late 20th century due to the apartheit. In 1991, South Africa Football Association was formed to unite the separated soccer players. Currently, many of the African players - up to 80 percent of them - are taken to Europe to play. I find it interesting that soccer was originally brought from Europe, and now all the good African players are being taken back to Europe. I believe this is happening due to the amount of money the European teams can afford on the players, but wouldn't the players want to play on the land they were born?Hotel Rwanda
The movie takes place in Rwanda. The story is about a conflict between two races - Tutsi and Hutu.
In the movie, which is based on a true story of a hotel manager who saved many lives, there are many characters with different backgrounds and perspectives.
This Gapminder graph shows the life expectancy and income per capita of Rwanda over past 100 years. Prior to 1990s, Rwanda was rather doing well in both categories, although there were some sudden drops, such as the one in 1963. But in 1990s, the life expectancy drops rapidly due to the genocide. For three years during the genocide, it was below 30 years, even shorter than what it was over 100 years ago.
During the colonial age, the Tutsi were given privileges by the Germans and the Belgians. The western empires used Tutsi to enforce their rule over their African colony. Even though the Tutsis were minorities and occupied only 14 percent of the population, a Tutsi king ruled over the country. In 1926, an identity card to differenciate Hutus from Tutsis. This draws a clear line between Hutus and Tutsis. After the independence of the nation, the Hutus revolt against the ruling Tutsis and take the control over the nation. The Hutus massacre thousands of Tutsis in the 1960s, and the genocide occurs in the 1990s again.
In the movie, which is based on a true story of a hotel manager who saved many lives, there are many characters with different backgrounds and perspectives.Paul, the main character, is a manager of a high-ranked hotel with many guests from western countries. He is a Hutu, but his wife is a Tutsi. When the conflict occurs and the Hutus start to kill Tutsis in massive numbers, he decides to protect his wife and her family in the hotel. So there are different perspectives within the Hutus; the ones who are sympathetic to the Tutsis, and ones who are hostile against them. One of the major reasons that Paul is not against the Tutsis is that the his wife is a Tutsi. But since more than one in every eight people are Tutsi, so those Hutus who are killing many Tutsis are very likely to have Hutu families and/or friends. Do those people turn against their friends and family just because they are Tutsis? I do not understand why they have to turn against one another when they have been living together in the same place for centuries. What differenciates Paul, who saves over a thousand lives of Tutsi and Hutu refugees, and the Hutu fighters who take away in total millions of innocent lives? One element that had taken a significant part in turning the Hutu people into merciless killers was the influence from the media. The nation's radio station repeatedly called out to the Hutus to act against the "Tutsi cockroaches." The radio also informed people of the assassination of the Hutu president, making people think that it was done by the Tutsi rebels. The media had definitely poured oil into the fire devouring millions of Tutsis.
During the conflict, it seemed that the Europeans were not trying to solve the conflict, but just protecting their own people. They saved the Europeans who were in Rwanda at the time, but not the Africans. They explained that they could not cost European lives to save Africans. Even though they have so much power, they cannot save those who are really in need of them. The conflicts still continue in many parts of Africa today. But what are we doing? What am I doing? What should we, what will we do for the people who need our help now?
This Gapminder graph shows the life expectancy and income per capita of Rwanda over past 100 years. Prior to 1990s, Rwanda was rather doing well in both categories, although there were some sudden drops, such as the one in 1963. But in 1990s, the life expectancy drops rapidly due to the genocide. For three years during the genocide, it was below 30 years, even shorter than what it was over 100 years ago.
David Livingstone
Pictures drawn using Inkscape, the movie edited with Windows Movie Maker.
Adventures of David Livingstone
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| David Livingstone |
In 1840, the London Missionary Society sent Livingstone, who was 27, to the southern Africa. There, Livingstone began his actions as missionary, traveling hundreds of miles from town to town, and gaining confidence of the native Africans by his medical treatments. During these trips, he gained understanding and sympathy for the Africans, which later led to his anti-slavery actions.
In 1843, while setting up the new mission, Livingstone was mauled by a lion which injured his left arm badly. However, his life was saved due to a distraction by an African teacher Mebalwe, who was bitten in the thigh by the lion. Livingstone’s arm became stiff, and it caused him pain for the rest of his life. Despite his injury, Livingstone continued his expeditions.
While exploring the Zambezi River with more than 100 tribesmen, he came across an area that the natives called “smoke that thunders.” The columns of vapor could be seen from miles away. As they approached, they realized that it was a great waterfall; Livingstone was the first European to discover the Victoria Falls. A year later, he travels back to England, and publishes a book about his adventures, which brings great fame to him. Then he returns to Africa in the end of 1858.
With the objective of discovering the source of the Nile, Livingstone begins a journey to the central Africa in 1866. For the next few years, he made little contact, which made the public believe that something had happened to him. The news had spread across ocean to the United States, where George Bennett, the publisher of the New York Herald, had called for English newspaper reporter, Henry Stanley, to find Livingstone.
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| Henry Stanley |
When Stanley finally sees Livingstone, he pushed through the crowd, stood in front of the famous explorer, and asked this legendary quote: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” By the time Stanley got there, Livingstone was suffering from dysentery and was half starved. Stanley urged Livingstone to return to Britain for treatment, but the explorer was determined not to leave the continent until the completion of his mission.
In August 1872 a new party started toward Lakes Tanganyika and Bangweolo. Soon, Livingstone’s condition worsened and he was no longer able to walk. He was carried by stalwarts on shoulder and on a litter. He reached a village of Chitambo, where he passed away from dysentery and malaria. His heart was buried in the land of Africa, and the body was sent back to England to be buried in Westminster Abbey.
In total, Livingstone traveled 29,000 miles in Africa, exploring more than one million square miles of the unknown regions. He discovered many lakes, rivers and falls—such as the Zambesi River and Victoria Falls. He became famous in the Britain for his explorations, and as a missionary martyr.
Read Livingstone's "Missionary Travels" online:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1039/1039-h/1039-h.htm
Maps of Africa -before and after the European influence-
3. Muammar Gaddafi - He has been the dictator of Libya since 1969, when he took the control over the country from the king who had been ruling since the independence from the Italian colonization. He had gained wealth through the oil production in Libya, and he is using it to hire mercenaries to fight against the rebels.
4. Slave trades - European colonial powers such as Portuguese started the slave trade in as early as 16th century. They used the slaves in agriculture in the New World, including the continents of America and the Caribbean islands. In total, 12 million slaves were purchased from the western Africa. In 19th century, European nations and the US abolished the slave trade, which eliminated the slavery.
5. Deforestation - In many of the African countries, the deforestation is occurring very rapidly. In many cases, the government instead of the local citizens has the control over the land, and they allow the industrial loggers to cut down the trees for money. The rate of deforestation is four times as fast as the speed in other parts of the world. Some forests are clear cut so that the land can be used for agricultural uses, which produces more profit than forests for the owners of the land. Also, the fact that most of the continent's population uses wood as their main fuel for daily lives is another cause of the rapid deforestation. The increase in the population causes more trees to be cut down and used as fuel.
6. Colonization - During the scramble for Africa by the imperial Europe, most of the African continent was colonized by them. The local people were put under the European rule, and some went through harsh battles and concentration camps. Those areas did not become independent until the end of the last world war, most independence occurring in 1950s and 1960s. Even though those nations are free of the imperial rule, they are still suffering the aftermath of the colonization, including poverty and diseases from it. Many countries have dictators who do not give the people much right.
7. Apartheid - After the World War II, the South African government led by Afrikaner National Party enforced a system to control over the economy and society by segregation by races. The Population Registration Act of 1950 required citizens to be classified according to their race: white, black, or colored (mix). The laws enacted by the government limited the non-whites in many facets of their social life, including marriage and occupation. The segregation continued until 1994, when national election removed the National Party from the rule.
Maps of Africa -before and after the European influence-
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| BEFORE THE EUROPEAN INFLUENCE |
1. A Masai warrior jumping - Masai warriors have jumping contests to decide who can leap the highest into the air without bending the knees. Whoever can jump the highest gets to pick the one to marry.
2. A lion in savanna - The African tribesmen have been living with wild animals for generations. In some tribes, in order for young men to prove that they are worthy of being recognized as an adult, they must kill a male lion on their own.
2. A lion in savanna - The African tribesmen have been living with wild animals for generations. In some tribes, in order for young men to prove that they are worthy of being recognized as an adult, they must kill a male lion on their own.
3. Victoria Falls - Famous for being the largest waterfalls in the world, the Victoria Falls were referred to as Mosi o Tunya, or "the smoke that thunders," due to the roaring sound it makes and the spray of water that rises from it. David Stanley, the Scottish adventurer, was the first European to witness this wondrous fall with the people from the local tribe.
4. Ethiopian food - Their food consists of injera, a sour bread made from grain such as teff, wheat, barley, corn, and rice, and a thick stew that is eaten with, made from meat and spicy vegetable.
5. Masai beadwork - The beadworks were traditionally made of seeds, skins, copper, bone, gourd, and wood. After the trade with the Europeans began in the 20th century, they started incorporating the colorful plastic and bead into their traditional necklaces, making the ornamentation more popular among the young people. Different colors in the ornaments have different meanings, such as unity represented by the color red.
6. Ahmet II - A sultan (emperor) of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish empire that ruled over the land surrounding the Mediterranean Sea including the northern Africa. The empire lost its power when the modernized European countries started advancing into Africa and other parts of the world. Many of those African areas were colonized, and were under the European rule until their independence in the late 20th century.
7. Bushmen tribe - Their traditional way of hunting and gathering to make living was a way for many African tribes to coexist with the nature. The traditional method, unlike the agricultural way of living, kept it unable to store the sustenance and thus kept the population growth in check, thus allowing them to continue their method for a long period of time, until the Europeans came.
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| AFTER THE EUROPEAN INFLUENCE |
1. Pumpjack on an oil well - In the late 20th century, many oil wells were found in several African nations, allowing them to gain a considerable amount of wealth in a rather short time. However, the money gained were often not distributed equally among the people. Instead, the limited people with social power, such as the dictators, got all the profit from it, leaving the ordinary citizens to be in the poverty. This was one of the reasons of the people revolting against the dictator in some African nations.
2. Skulls of people killed in Rwanda genocide - When the Germany and Belgium colonized Rwanda in the 19th and 20th century, they use the Hutu and Tutsi's relationship to make their rule efficient and effective. They placed the Tutsi as the privileged class and Hutu under them, which caused the gap between the two races to widen. In 1990s, decades after the independence of Rwanda from Belgium, assassination of the Hutu president and other incidents caused the two to go against each other, which resulted in genocide of the Tutsi and the Hutu sympathizers. More than 10% of Rwanda's population were murdered in this tragedy.
3. Muammar Gaddafi - He has been the dictator of Libya since 1969, when he took the control over the country from the king who had been ruling since the independence from the Italian colonization. He had gained wealth through the oil production in Libya, and he is using it to hire mercenaries to fight against the rebels.
4. Slave trades - European colonial powers such as Portuguese started the slave trade in as early as 16th century. They used the slaves in agriculture in the New World, including the continents of America and the Caribbean islands. In total, 12 million slaves were purchased from the western Africa. In 19th century, European nations and the US abolished the slave trade, which eliminated the slavery.
5. Deforestation - In many of the African countries, the deforestation is occurring very rapidly. In many cases, the government instead of the local citizens has the control over the land, and they allow the industrial loggers to cut down the trees for money. The rate of deforestation is four times as fast as the speed in other parts of the world. Some forests are clear cut so that the land can be used for agricultural uses, which produces more profit than forests for the owners of the land. Also, the fact that most of the continent's population uses wood as their main fuel for daily lives is another cause of the rapid deforestation. The increase in the population causes more trees to be cut down and used as fuel.
6. Colonization - During the scramble for Africa by the imperial Europe, most of the African continent was colonized by them. The local people were put under the European rule, and some went through harsh battles and concentration camps. Those areas did not become independent until the end of the last world war, most independence occurring in 1950s and 1960s. Even though those nations are free of the imperial rule, they are still suffering the aftermath of the colonization, including poverty and diseases from it. Many countries have dictators who do not give the people much right.
7. Apartheid - After the World War II, the South African government led by Afrikaner National Party enforced a system to control over the economy and society by segregation by races. The Population Registration Act of 1950 required citizens to be classified according to their race: white, black, or colored (mix). The laws enacted by the government limited the non-whites in many facets of their social life, including marriage and occupation. The segregation continued until 1994, when national election removed the National Party from the rule.
