History

There Exists Quite A Variety Of Africa Maps

Published February 7, 2012 | By admin

africa Africa is often discussed as being one of the most mysterious continents in the world. There is so much history and culture found across its borders that it can truly offer much to say about the human civilization as a whole. An Africa map will show how it is the world’s second-largest continent, only comparable to Asia. Its size is easy to see on an Africa map, dwarfing other neighboring nations in their size such as Italy, Spain, France, and pretty much the rest of Europe.

There exists quite a variety of Africa maps. Some of them are simply enough, displaying country names and borders, and their respective capitals. Other Africa maps display is topographical features, such as prevalent land masses and rivers. In viewing an Africa map, one can draw a fairly good assessment as to how the continent can provide for such a rich and complex history. Africa is not only the second-largest continent in world, but it is also the second-most populated, falling behind only to Asia. It is the home to over a billion people, stretched out over 53 countries and a total of 61 territories. An Africa map will show that it is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Indian Ocean to the southeast. africa

Africa’s history encompasses so much that it truly runs through every human on the face of the Earth. Widely regarded as the birthplace of man, it is considered to be the oldest inhabited territory on the planet. Furthermore, not only does it seem to have birthed the human species, but some of its oldest and most complex civilizations also arose out of Africa, with the people of Ancient Egypt. Though there is much knowledge and information about Ancient Egypt, it still proves to be one of the most mysterious and elusive civilizations, for its study and discoveries may tend to provide for just as many questions than it has answers about its own history. An Africa map of key touristic spots would point to many locations that show the Ancient Egyptians’s legacy still present in the continent. Other Africa maps are designed to show its varying and vast climate changes stretched across its landmass. The African climate can range from being tropical to subarctic on some of its highest peaks. The northern half of the continent is mostly comprised of desert regions, while its southern contains most of its jungle and rainforest climates.

The central region provides for the transition between the two by consisting of savanna plains. Though an Africa map may not provide an in depth study of the continent’s history or cultural context, it can provide for an understanding as to how the continent is, not just on geopolitical terms, but rather on its inherent complexities that render it a truly marvelous place.

Boko Haram And US Plans In Africa

Published January 10, 2012 | By admin

African

ABUJA, Nigeria, Jan. 9 (UPI) — Oil-rich Nigeria is gripped by an escalating uprising by Islamist militants that has triggered massacres of Christians, including a Christmas Day suicide bombing blitz, which the federal government seems unable to contain.

Amid deepening suspicions the Islamists are aided by al-Qaida’s North African wing, which has been extending its operations southward of late, there are fears the bloodletting could plunge Africa’s most populous state into a sectarian civil war.Nigeria is a major oil producer that provides 8 percent of U.S. crude imports and there are signs that Washington is growing concerned about the swelling crisis there.

In October, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed to take action against the main Nigerian Islamist group, Boko Haram, which until a few months ago was widely seen as a northeastern Nigerian sect primarily concerned with domestic issues.But as the group, whose name translates as “Western education is a sin,” has escalated its religious war from drive-by shootings and killing Christians to more sophisticated operations and suicide bombings, it has evolved into a serious threat to Nigeria’s stability.

Formed in the 1990s, the group demanded Islamic Sharia law to be introduced into northern Nigeria, which is predominantly Muslim. But in recent years it has repeatedly clashed with Nigeria’s Christians in the central region where the two religions collide.Nigeria’s population of 150 million is roughly split evenly between the two faiths.

But the country’s oil wealth is in the Christian-dominated south and little has reached the long-neglected north, which has fanned regional resentment.Boko Haram’s growing expertise in terrorist attacks, in which hundreds of people have been killed, has deepened suspicions it has developed links with al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, the jihadists’ North African arm.

In November, it was disclosed that the U.S. Army has sent 100 Special Forces soldiers to Nigeria to provide counter-insurgency training for national troops engaged against Boko Haram, the country’s largest military deployment since the 1967-70 Biafra war.This opened up a new front in the U.S. administration’s shadow war in Africa, where U.S. Special Forces and the Central Intelligence Agency are engaged in countering jihadist groups in the north and east, particularly Somalia.

On Nov. 30, the U.S. House of Representatives’ subcommittee on counter-terrorism and intelligence identified Boko Haram as an “emerging threat” to the United States and its interests and called for greater interaction with Nigerian security forces.