The total "population" of the English possessions is about 15 million, the southern part of the Portuguese Mozambique is about 2.5 million. These data are approximate. General censuses, more or less accurately determining the population, are carried out in the Union of South Africa (the last census was May 1946) and in Southern Rhodesia (last census - August 1, 1948). Statistics for other territories to a certain extent fully take into account only the adult male population: this is necessary for taxing and identifying labor reserves. The rest of the population is colonial officials take into account very approximately, while allowing great arbitrariness.

Professor Shapera of the University of Cape Town speaks of the population censuses for Bechuanaland as follows: 4 / "None of these censuses can be recognized as accurate, ... earlier censuses cannot be trusted at all." In support of this assessment, he cites two striking examples. In one of the official reports on the population of the Ganzi region, it was indicated that 7 thousand men live there, 3 thousand. women, and only 10 thousand people. The ratio of men to women (7:3) was clearly absurd, nevertheless these data were included in the report. Two years later, another colonial official assigned to the area reported that there were "approximately 2,000 people" living in the Ghanzi area. Another example: a report for 1936 indicated that 42,158 people lived in the Tavana Reserve; in 1939-1940 the Commission for the Study of Sleeping Sickness traveled to all the villages of this reserve, counted the population of each village and came to the conclusion that the population of the reserve does not exceed 35 thousand. 1

Even worse is the accounting of the ethnic composition of the population. The accounting is based on the racial principle - by skin color: whites are Europeans, blacks are natives, “colored” are mulattoes, etc. All Bantu speakers are combined into one general group “natives”, and in some cases they are included in it and mulattos, hottentots and bushmen, in others - mulattos, hottentots and bushmen are counted separately under the group "colored". Only Europeans are accurately counted.

The following table, compiled from the latest censuses and estimates of the last five years, gives a rough picture of the ethnic composition of the English dominions (thousands):

English possessions				Indians and other Asians
Union of South Africa (1946 census)..................
South West Africa..........
Bechuanaland........................
Basutoland ...............................
Swaziland..............................
Southern Rhodesia (according to 1950)

In Mozambique, the Bantu population in 1940 was estimated at 5 million, Europeans and other non-Bantu in 1945, there were 60 thousand, including 15 thousand mulattoes and 10 thousand Indians; it is not possible to determine separately the ethnic composition of the population of the southern part of Mozambique.

Bantu

The predominant mass of the population of South Africa (about 78%) are, therefore, the Bantu.

The Bantu speak several languages. The most important of them:

	Number of speakers 8, thousand people		Number of speakers 2 , thousand people
		Kuanyama

Xhosa is a well-established and most numerous ethnic group of the South African Bantu. All Spit live in South Africa, mainly (85.3%) in the eastern part of the Cape Province, in the Transkei and Ciskei reserves (“on the other” and “on this” side of the Kei River). The Zulus are also a well-established people. Most of them live in the province of Natal (76% of the total population of the province). Outside South Africa, the Zulus live in Swaziland and Basutoland. In addition to the Zulus proper, the Zulu language is spoken by Matabele in Southern Rhodesia, Ndebele in the northwestern part of the Transvaal. Most of the Swazis (223 thousand) live in the Transvaal; only 160,000 Swazis live in the Swaziland Protectorate. Xhosa, Zulu and Swazi languages ​​are related (they are combined into one group under the common name Nguni). The total number of peoples speaking them is more than 5 million. They inhabit, excluding Matabele and Ndebele, one continuous territory and have all the prerequisites for merging into one nation. The Basotho live mainly in South Africa, in the provinces of Transvaal and the Orange Free State. About half a million Basotho live in the Basutoland Protectorate. Among the Basotho of the Transvaal, the northern Basotho, or Pedi, stand out in terms of language. More than half (68.9%) of the Bechuans also live in South Africa, mainly in the Transvaal and the Cape. The Basotho, Bechuans and Pedi together make up more than 3 million people, mostly inhabit a continuous territory and form a single ethnic mass. The Mashona live mainly in Southern Rhodesia, constituting, together with the Matabele, the main population of the colony. About 20% of the machon live in Mozambique. The Tsonga inhabit Mozambique and the adjacent regions of the Transvaal and Natal. The Ndonga, Kuanyama and Herero languages ​​are spoken by the Bantu of Southwest Africa and the surrounding areas of Angola.

A review of Bantu settlement shows a picture typical of the whole of Africa: colonial borders do not correspond to ethnic ones, tearing peoples apart. This circumstance, along with the general colonial regime, strongly prevents the merging of the tribes and peoples of the South African Bantu into national communities.

The table shows the composition of the Bantu population of the South African provinces and protectorates by main ethnic groups (as a percentage of the total) 1 .

	Provinces and protectorates
				orange free			Swaziland
Scythe ....................
Zulus ................
Basotho...........
Pedi..............
Ndebele..............
Bechuany..............
Swazi......
Tsonga (shangaan). .
Bavenda............
Others............

On the one hand, compact ethnic masses of Xhosa, Zulus, Basotho and Bechuans stand out. On the other hand, there has already been a significant interpenetration, mixing of ethnic groups; the territorial boundaries of ethnic groups are erased, crossed. Recently, due to the growth of the population of cities and mining centers, this process is proceeding quite quickly. At present it is still difficult to judge the contours of the emerging nations; they will be finally determined only with the victory of the anti-imperialist forces and the liberation of the Bantu from colonial enslavement.

Sm-ka = 29.2 million km2.

Africa is diverse in ethnic, linguistic and anthropological composition. The peoples of Africa are divided into large historical and geographical parts.

North Africa: northern Sudan, Egypt and Maghreb countries;

West Africa: countries of western Sudan, Guinean coast;

Central Africa: Niger, Chad, Congo...

East Africa: Ethiopia, Somalia and the tropics;

South Africa: South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe…

Anthropology: in the north, Caucasoid variants (Mediterranean type) predominate, and in the rest of the territory - eastern variants of the large Negroid race. Main types:

Negro: very dark skin, curly hair, broad nose, highly sensitive to temperature changes;

Pygmy: small stature (140 cm), skin has a reddish tint, thin lips, very wide nose;

Bushman: medium height (150 cm), not very dark skin, broad and flat face, torso devoid of hair, early wrinkling of the skin.

14. North Africa. The special role of the state in most African countries lies in the fact that, unlike Western Europe, the emergence of the state was not the result of the formation of a nation, but, on the contrary, should itself become an instrument for uniting peoples and creating a nation.

The study of all statistical and cartographic sources covering the modern ethnic composition of the population of African countries makes it possible to single out four main areas on the African continent. These areas are characterized by certain groupings of countries and the peculiarities of the ethnic processes developing in them.

The first includes the countries of North and partly Northeast Africa with a more or less homogeneous ethnic composition of the population (Arabs and Berbers), close in religion (Islam) and culture. This also includes peoples who speak related languages ​​of a single Semitic-Hamitic Eritrean language family. The ethnic history of North Africa was distinguished by the repeated mixing of Berber and Arab tribes. At present, there are relatively few differences between Arabs and Berbers other than language. On the basis of a broad national movement, under the conditions of political independence won in a fierce struggle against the European colonialists, large Arab nations such as the Algerian, Egyptian, Syrian and others were formed here; some of them have chosen a non-capitalist path of development and are fighting the forces of reaction and imperialism.

On the territory of Northeast Africa, in Ethiopia, there has been a formation of the Ethiopian nation, the core of which is the large Amhara people. The processes of national consolidation also begin among the neighboring Semitic-speaking peoples (Gurage, Tigray, Tigre, etc.), as well as among the Galla and Sidamo peoples, who speak the languages ​​of the Cushitic group of the Semitic-Hamitic language family. Consolidated into a single nation and Somalis belonging to the same language group.

The second region is formed by the countries of Eastern, Central and Western Sudan. The ethnic and linguistic composition of the population of these countries is even more complex and differs from the population of both North Africa and Equatorial and South Africa.

Eastern Sudan is, as it were, a transition zone from the Arab Mediterranean world to the Negroid peoples of Africa. More than half of the population of the Republic of Sudan are Arabs, gradually assimilating the Nubians, Beja and some other neighboring peoples and tribes. Nilotic peoples and tribes (Dinka, Nuer, etc.) live in the south of the country, negroid in their physical appearance, sharply different from the Arabs in language, historical and cultural traditions, religion and the level of socio-economic development.

15. Africa "South of the Sahara". Complex in structure, ethnic and geographical, climatic and political composition of the region, which has a very low prospect of becoming a separate civilization. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, most countries are below the poverty line, which not only does not contribute to unification, but also spurs various local conflicts over the redistribution of resources, including water. Secondly, the low level of technical, social and political development not only does not give an idea of ​​how it is necessary to unite and why, but also does not answer the question “who are we?” among the majority of the population. Nation-states have not developed over many centuries, and in the dynamics of the modern development of the political sphere, it is not known whether nation-states will develop in the region at all. Thirdly, parts of the continent are in a disaster zone, where diseases from malaria to AIDS are developing, sharply reducing the population. From the north, the region borders on the Arab-Islamic countries, which were founded in the era of Arab conquests. The Arabs considered the advance to the south to be inexpedient and unjustified, therefore, at present, there is practically no geopolitical expansion to the south of such countries as Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco, and the borders with their southern neighbors are very conditional. In addition, between the countries of the Arab-Islamic region and the African region lies the Sahara desert, which is a natural obstacle to interaction and diplomacy.

For a long time, the region was a colonial continent, which was colonized by Great Britain, France, Germany and, in part. Spain. In the twentieth century, with the fall of the main empires in Africa, the principle of “post-imperial legitimacy” operates, when the administrative division of the empire is extrapolated to new states that have freed themselves from the power of the empire.

Using this principle, France divided the territories of its former colonies (now these are the countries of the CFA commonwealth, united both by close political ties and by a single currency - the CFA franc) in order to continue to exert its influence on them. Such peoples as the Zulus and the Bintu turned out to be divided and are an ethnic part of many African states, which prevents them from creating their own political processes and political structures through national identity, not to mention nation-states.

Regimes on the African continent are unstable, which is confirmed by the constant armed drift and a series of upheavals that have been going on throughout the twentieth century. To stabilize, a number of states, especially France and the United States, use armed force to overthrow or protect the governments of African states. France even has its own forces, which are called "foreign legion" and are only suitable for suppressing conflicts in Africa. Success in peacekeeping missions is variable, for example, the UN often manages to control the situation, the French have been successful in suppressing resistance in Côte d'Ivoire, but the Americans in Somalia have not been successful.

The fragmentation of the continent into warring states does not allow us to talk about the geopolitical completeness of Africa. The absence of a process leader makes countries very vulnerable in terms of foreign policy and the growth of their own civilizational identity. The only country that can claim leadership is the Republic of South Africa. However, it is a geopolitically artificial thalassocratic formation, rich in diamonds and other natural resources, therefore, it cannot claim leadership of large continental spaces.

The western coast of Africa is more focused on trade and navigation, although they cannot be called purely maritime states. A comfortable position makes them supporters of the thalassocratic order, but strong traditional foundations make them vulnerable to the impulses of the Land, all the more making them unstable. The East Coast are more of a land-dominated states, although their dual nature might soften the tide. This is due to the fact that this coast of the Indian Ocean has never been rich in trade communications, and trade between the east coast and Asia and Australia is practically non-existent.

The northern and central regions of the region are unsuitable for living and development due to the lack of significant water reserves and the presence of protein necessary for the survival of the human body. In most cases, life and political activity continues to be maintained in cities and suburbs, and the borders between states are very conditional and often do not have a pronounced geographical component. The region is very poor in natural resources.

16. Pre-Columbian America. The ancestors of modern Indians came to the American mainland from Asia through the Bering Strait about 25-30 thousand years ago. The study of the history of the peoples of America, which began in the last century, opened up the wonderful world of the Indians, their ancient states and peculiar culture.

peoples of africa

Africa is 1/5 of the land of our planet. Africa is second only to Eurasia in size. The equator divides the continent almost in half. The relief of the mainland is generally diverse. This is a vast plateau. Africa has neither vast lowlands nor large mountain ranges. Its highest part is the eastern one, where the Abyssinian Plateau is located, indented with mountains and gorges. This area is called the "roof of the continent". The largest rivers are the Nile, Congo, Niger, Zambezi. The rivers are rapids, hardly navigable, most of them dry up in the summer.

Africa is the hottest continent. On both sides of the equator there is a strip of tropics that occupies ¾ of the entire mainland. The stripes of the tropics to the north and south are followed by the zones of the savannas - the African steppes (sahel). Deserts are symmetrically located behind the savannah belts: the world's greatest Sahara with an average annual temperature of +35 and in the south - Kalahari and Namib. Narrow coastal strips in the north and south of the continent are subtropical zones. In most of Africa, the year is divided into two distinct seasons: dry - summer and rainy - winter. The farther from the equator, the shorter the rainy season, the less precipitation. Droughts are common in savannah zones.

Now the nature of Africa is a huge sphere of acute ecological crisis. It is caused by the objective action of the very forces of nature and the vigorous activity of people.

Africa is geographically divided into North, East, South, Central and West Tropical. The population of Africa is a complex conglomerate of ethnic groups and ethnic groups of various sizes, formed as a result of constant migrations of the indigenous population and contacts between its individual groups.

Migration was especially wide in the past, when shepherding was widespread. Migrations were also caused by natural factors: droughts, epidemics, invasions of tsetse flies, locusts, etc., which forced the settled population to move to areas more favorable for life. intertribal wars also led to migrations. In the process of migration, there were unifications of tribes and ethnic groups, absorption of some by others, various levels of integration and adaptation.

In our time, almost a third of the entire African population is made up of the Bantu peoples known from antiquity. They moved across a vast territory from the borders of Sudan to the south. Probably, their ancestral home is the northern part of the Congo basin, on the border of the tropical zone and the savannah. The Bantu were driven south by the Pygmies, Bushmen and Hottentots. Already by the 111th - 10th century, Arab travelers discovered Bantu along the entire coast of East Africa. Part of the Bantu mixed with the natives, the Hottentot tribes were absorbed by the Bantu peoples.

Many peoples migrated from the north to East Africa under the general name of "Nilotes". They were distinguished from their neighbors by linguistic and anthropological affiliation. The Nilots pushed the Bantu southward and settled in the Mezhozero region, where they mingled with the local Negroid population, while retaining a number of anthropological features of their ancestors - tall, long limbs, long-headed. They lost their language, having acquired the languages ​​of the Bantu peoples they absorbed.

A significant part of the population of Northeast Africa belongs to the Semitic group, which is unique in linguistic and anthropological terms. Their origin is probably associated with the migration of groups of South Arab tribes on the Somali coast. Their descendants mixed with the local Negroid population, but at the same time retained the main features of the structure of their language. A significant factor in the formation of the population of this area were the peoples of the Galla (Oromo) and Somali.

The ethnic composition of the population of West Africa is diverse and has a complex history of formation. It is more or less clear that the Bantu peoples who migrated here, as well as the pastoral tribes of the ancestors of the Fulbe, who came from Western Sahara or North Africa and belonged to the Mediterranean race, took part in this process. In the process of migration, they mixed with the local population, acquired Negroid features and lost their language.

Today, the population of the continent is extremely ethnically diverse and consists of many tribes and peoples, the level of development of which is very different. At present, it is customary to single out about 500 peoples on the ethnic map of Africa.

The historical paths of Africa's development make it possible, with a certain degree of conditionality, to distinguish as independent parts of the North, North-West and the vast expanses of "black Africa" ​​south of the Sahara. The cultures of the population of North Africa combine the traditions of ancient North Africa and Egypt with Christian and Islamic cultures. The peoples inhabiting the regions of Africa south of the Sahara never knew the wheel, the potter's wheel, did not build bridges, did not use the plow. The most characteristic and widespread subject of the material culture of the peoples inhabiting black Africa is the drum. This item is not just a musical and entertaining, but also a ritual and combat instrument. In addition, the drum from ancient times served as the most important means of transmitting information over any distance, from one transmission point to another along the chain. The drum is rightfully the material symbol of Black Africa.

Peoples of North Africa.

The North African region includes the population of Algeria, Egypt, Western Sahara, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia. In historical and ethno-cultural terms, the western part of the region stands out - this is the Maghreb. It includes Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Mauritania, Western Sahara.

The majority of the population of the Maghreb belongs to the Mediterranean branch of the Caucasian race. The peoples of the Maghreb speak Afroasian seven languages, the majority of the population speaks Arabic. These areas from the 11th - 111th centuries were part of the Arab caliphate and from that time entered the Arab-Islamic civilization. The Tuareg have preserved an ancient letter - tifinagh -, its keepers are women, all the rest use the Arabic alphabet.

As in all of Africa, state borders, like the borders of regions, do not coincide with ethnic ones. For example, the Tuareg live not only in Algeria, but also in Mauritania, Mali and Niger.

In the north and west, coastal residents are engaged in fishing. Farmers here sow grain, cultivate grapes, tobacco, and citrus fruits. The inhabitants of the mountains are sedentary tillers or pastoral herders. Small artificially irrigated fields are located on terraces arranged in tiers on the slopes of the mountains. In the foothills and on the plains, the population is engaged in irrigated agriculture. The main tools of labor are plow, sickle, wooden pitchfork. Further south, the agricultural population is concentrated only in oases or around wells. The main crop grown here is the date palm, the wood and leaves of which are used for buildings, and the fruits serve as the basis for the food of the desert inhabitants. The majority of the population in these parts are nomads. They are engaged in camel breeding, sheep and goat breeding. Herds of camels are the main wealth and the content of all economic activity: a camel gives wool, milk, meat, transports belongings and the whole family of a nomad. The population migrates in spring and autumn, and at the beginning of winter they gather near palm groves, where they stock up on dates and cultivate small arable land. They also wait out the biggest heat in the middle of summer.

The food of African peoples has some common features. Its important part is cereals and flat cakes (millet, corn, wheat). Vegetable protein is given by beans, peas, peanuts; animal protein - fish and meat (goat meat, lamb, much less often - beef and camel meat). Vegetable oils are used as fats - palm, peanut, olive; nomadic pastoralists have mutton fat. The most common dish is couscous - balls of rice or wheat porridge, which are eaten with spicy sauces and seasonings. The main drink is water, alcoholic drinks are millet or barley beer and palm wine. Only in the very north are they engaged in viticulture and winemaking. Throughout Africa, traditionally two meals a day - in the morning and after sunset.

The dwellings of the peoples of North Africa are diverse. Cities, as a rule, retain the division into two parts - Arabic (medina) and European. In rural areas, dwellings of highlanders, agricultural and pastoral peoples are distinguished. Highlanders engaged in transhumance usually have two types of settlements - permanent - a fortified village with four towers at the corners - and temporary - a group of tents or a light dwelling on mountain pastures. The settled population of the plains lives in villages stretched along the road. In some places, the ancient dwelling "gurbi" is preserved - a hut covered with reeds or straw with walls made of wood, stone or clay mixed with straw. The dwellings of nomads are an easily portable tent or tent. Coatings are made from wool or carpets, Tuareg - from pieces of leather. One family lives in one tent. Men occupy the eastern half, women occupy the western.

Most North Africans wear common Arab clothing. This is a long white shirt, over it is a warm burnous, often dark in color, a turban. Shoes - shoes without backs. An indispensable accessory for a man's costume is "shukara" - a bag on red braided cords and "kumiya" - a double-edged dagger bent up. Their boy receives from his father at the age of 7-8. Women wear light bloomers, long dresses made of white, pink, pale green fabric. Townswomen cover their faces with a special veil. Rural women walk around with open faces.

Almost all the peoples of North Africa are patrilineal, their family relations are regulated by Sharia norms. Religiously, the population of North Africa is fairly homogeneous. Muslims make up the vast majority. Maghreb Islam has many "folk" features, in particular, the wearing of amulets, worship of the graves of saints, belief in "baraka" (grace), etc. they keep faith in spirits, ghosts, are engaged in divination, witchcraft, magic.

Original, standing out against the background of other peoples of North Africa - Tuareg. This is the people of the Berber group living in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Algeria, Libya. The Tuareg are the descendants of the ancient indigenous Berber population of North Africa. They form several associations of tribes.

The dwellings of the settled and semi-settled Tuareg are hemispherical huts made of palm leaves or straw. During the nomadic Tuareg live in tents covered with leather or coarse cloth.

Society is divided into several classes - castes. The main ones are imajegan, noble, in the past formal owners of land, and by their main occupation - warriors; imgad, i.e. goat herders, the bulk of pastoralists and farmers, iqlan, i.e. blacks, formerly Negro slaves, now freedmen. At the head of the tribes is a chiefdom headed by a ruler - an amenucal. The symbol of the power of the amenukal is the sacred drum. A feature of the Tuareg is the preservation, along with the patriarchal-clan, of strong remnants of the maternal-clan organization. The position of women among them is much higher than among other Muslim nations: the property of the spouses is separate, divorce is possible at the initiative of each of the parties. Women have the right to property and inheritance One of the remnants of matrilocality is the obligatory wearing of a face covering by free men who have reached marriageable age. This analogue of the female face covering is not found anywhere else in the world. Hence the second self-name of the Tuareg - the people of the bedspread. Tuareg fine art is very original. The motif of the cross is widespread in it, therefore, in the past, the Tuareg were considered descendants of the crusaders. The main guardians of the traditional spiritual culture of the Tuareg are women. In particular, they are the keepers of the ancient Tifinagh script, preserved only among this people, while the rest have the Arabic alphabet. Women - the custodians of the musical heritage and historical epos, singers and poetess

Peoples of East Africa .

East Africa is inhabited by the population of Burundi, Djibouti, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Reunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia.

The population of the northern half of the region belongs to the Ethiopian race, which occupies an intermediate position between Negroids and Caucasians. Most of the population of southern East Africa belongs to the Negroid race, even further south there is a population belonging to the Bushman type. According to the ethno-linguistic classification accepted in science, the population of the region represents the Afro-Asiatic family, Nilo-Saharan and Niger-Kordofan (the so-called Bantu peoples).

East Africa is a special natural zone .. this is the most elevated part of the continent, all the natural zones of Africa are represented here. The main occupations of the population of East Africa are agriculture and cattle breeding. Compared to other natural areas, East Africa is the most favorable for livestock breeding, which is widespread here and is represented by several HCTs.

Cattle breeding is presented in the forms of nomadic (nomadic and semi-nomadic) and distant pasture content. In transhumance cattle breeding, the most widely represented form is “transhuman herding”, which is often called semi-nomadic or semi-sedentary pastoralism in the literature. This HKT combines pastoralism with agriculture, temporary or permanent settlement of a part of the population with the mobility of another. At the same time, the social unity of the social organization is not violated, the entire population, both mobile and settled, belongs to a single social system. This way of life is explained by the differences in natural conditions in which one and the same people live, when one part of them is occupied with agriculture, and the other part migrates with herds sometimes for long distances from settled settlements. Typical representatives of transhuman shepherding - peoples Nuer and dinka. Their habitats (the savannas of southern Sudan) dry out so much during the dry season that the population is forced to move with herds far to the banks of rivers in swampy areas. In the wet season, the tributaries of the Nile spill over vast areas. In wetlands, living becomes possible only in villages on the hills. The change of seasons therefore means a change of place of residence and occupation.

HCT of nomadism (nomadism) has two subtypes - nomadic and semi-nomadic. Nomadism is a special mode of production based on extensive grazing, in which animal breeding is the main occupation of the mobile population and is the main means of subsistence. Another important feature of nomadism is that it is not only a special economic, but also a special social system. Nomads constitute special independent social organisms. Their social relations are characteristic only for nomadism and are patriarchal nomadic-communal. The social organization is made up of a tribal structure based on patriarchal and genealogical ties that cover the entire nomadic society.

Among pastoralists - transnumans Patukhs, the sedentary part of society engaged in agriculture, together with mobile shepherds, constitutes a single social organism, the nature of which is determined primarily by the conditions of the sedentary agricultural way of life. Nomads do not have a fixed place of residence; it is not a part of society that roams, but the whole people. Primitive hoe farming is negligible or non-existent.

A comparative analysis of nomadism in Asia and Africa revealed the presence of significant differences in them. First of all, they are determined by the natural environment. Asia has vast steppe territories and deserts. In Africa, they are much smaller and scattered. Environmental conditions similar to those of Asia exist only in the area of ​​the Afar desert, where northern Somali nomads live. They roam in communities divided by type of animal: camels are herded by men, sheep and goats by women, old people and children. Nomads live in nomadic dwellings, consisting of a frame of branches covered with skins. Aggals are installed in the parking lots by women. It is transported on a cargo camel disassembled. Young men and adult men who roam with herds of camels lead a harsh life: they sleep on the ground, they don’t set up any tents, they eat only milk.

Semi-nomadic nomadism is much more widely represented in Africa. They wander more slowly, the paths are shorter, the machines are more frequent than among nomadic nomads. In addition to economic differences, there are differences in the social structure between nomadic and semi-nomadic nomadism. Among nomadic nomads, the basis of the tribal organization is the system of patriarchal-genealogical ties. The semi-nomadic nomads of Africa have two systems of connections at the heart of their social organization: patriarchal-genealogical (horizontal) and social-age (vertical). Each member of society has a dual belonging: to a certain genealogical line of descent, which is traced from an ancestor-progenitor, and to a certain age class. Intersecting, these two systems of connections stratify society into social divisions that can be quickly mobilized if necessary.

The system of age classes is an archaic social institution that bears the features of the primitive communal era. The nomadic nomads either passed this phase in their development or lost this institution a long time ago. Nomadic nomadism, similar to nomadism in Asia, is defined as an Asian form of nomadism, semi-nomadic as an African form.

These two features characterize East Africa most vividly. Firstly, in the area of ​​the HKT, mobile forms of pastoralism are most widespread here: transhuman pastoralism and nomadism in Asian and African forms. Secondly, in the sphere of social organization there is the widest existence of the archaic social institution of the system of age classes, which has an impact on all spheres of social life, including the current political situation.

Peoples of South Africa.

South Africa includes the population of the states: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, South Africa.

A significant part of the autochthonous population of the region is made up of the peoples of the Benue-Congo linguistic subgroup, known as the Bantu peoples (Congo, Ganda, Zulu, Swazi, Tswana, etc.). racially, the population of South Africa is represented by the Negrodino, Khoisan, Caucasoid races and mixed population groups. The climate and nature are diverse and include tropical forest zones, savannas, deserts, mountain strips on the coast of coastal subtropics. The dominant position in the region has long belonged to South Africa, where half of the world's gold is mined, a significant part of diamonds and uranium. In terms of industrial development, South Africa is much higher than other countries in Africa.

Historically, two main HCTs have developed in South Africa: tropical hoe farming and nomadic and transhumant pastoralism. Nomadic pastoralism is continued by most of the Bushmen and Hottentots.

Hottentots formerly inhabited the entire southern tip of Africa and constituted a large group of tribes of nomadic pastoralists. They raised cattle, lived in temporary settlements; when the cattle around the camp ate all the grass, the population migrated to new pastures. The Hottentots lived in large patriarchal families. Their social organization was tribal, led by an elected leader and a council of elders. The main occupation of the surviving Hottentot tribes is mobile cattle breeding of the transhumance-pasture type, which replaced their traditional HKT of nomads.

Bushmen were hunters and gatherers. A small bow and stone-tipped arrows are their primary weapons, dating back to the Upper Paleolithic. With the advent of Europeans, the Bushmen began to make arrowheads from bottle glass, upholstering it in the same way as a stone, sometimes bartering iron tips from their neighbors - the Hottentots and the Bantu. The only garment of the Bushmen is a loincloth. They had almost no utensils, water was kept in the shell of ostrich eggs, and beads were made from it. The main occupation of men is hunting. The only pet was a dog that accompanied the hunters. Bushmen are very hardy and skillful in hunting, they were sometimes able to pursue the victim for days. Women were engaged in gathering. Bushmen had no houses and settlements. They lived in huts or hid in the bushes for the night. They fought constant wars with the Hottentots and the Bantu. In the end, they were forced into the waterless sands of the Kalahari, where they still live in groups of 50-150 people, uniting male relatives. The hunting cult was the basis of the spiritual ideas of the Bushmen. In their picture of the world, the main places were occupied by the forces of nature - the sun, moon, stars.

In the rainforest zone, small populations are scattered in small groups pygmies, they also live in Central Africa. They are distinguished by short stature (on average 145 cm), relatively light skin of a yellowish or reddish hue, and narrow lips. This is a culturally backward population, speaking the languages ​​of their tall neighbors. Pygmies do not know how to work metal, do not engage in either agriculture or pastoralism, and are hunters and gatherers of the tropics. They exchange with their neighbors, receiving agricultural products, iron products in exchange for what they get by hunting and gathering. Pygmies lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle. The basis of economic and social life is a group of 6-7 small families roaming together. It can break up and appear in a different composition, depending on the availability of the territory with game. The main food of the pygmies is the products of hunting and gathering. The meat of a killed animal is immediately eaten by the entire hunting group. It is roasted over a fire or baked in the ashes of a hearth. Smaller products: termites, grasshoppers, caterpillars - are wrapped in large leaves, such a package is fastened with cuttings, it is placed near a smoldering fire and fried. Plant ash is used instead of salt. The only drink known to the Pygmies is water. Inheritance and kinship reckoning is in the male line, settlements are virilocal. Pygmies know only collective property. Their customary law is environmentally friendly: the most serious offenses are the unjustified killing of animals without the need for meat food, cutting down trees, and polluting running water. The most severe punishment is exile, the prohibition to hunt with the group. At the heart of the beliefs of the pygmies is the cult of hunting. The veneration of totemic progenitors - animals and plants - is also developed. The primitive nature of the culture of the pygmies sharply distinguishes them from the surrounding peoples of the Negroid race. Attempts to allocate land to the Pygmies, to involve them in work for hire, as a rule, did not succeed. Most pygmies prefer to lead a traditional way of life. Nowadays, the situation of the pygmies is complicated by the fact that in almost all countries their habitats have ended up in national parks, where hunting for large animals is prohibited. Pygmies remain the most isolated in the basin of the Ituri River (Zaire). In Cameroon and the Congo, there are attempts to involve the Pygmies in modern life. The origin, the anthropological type of this group of the African population, remains a mystery to science to this day.

Africa, with an area of ​​30.3 million km2 and a population of over 700 million people, is now ahead of any other part of the world in terms of the number of independent states. However, the overwhelming majority of African countries gained their independence only after the Second World War,1 to be more precise, starting from the 1950s. Especially many African countries (32) became independent in the 60s. The year 1960, in which 17 African states achieved independence, is sometimes even called "the year of Africa".
Currently, the list of independent African states is as follows: Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Cape Verde, Senegal, Mali, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast , Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Central African Republic (CAR), Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, Congo, Zaire, Angola, Namibia, South Africa (South Africa) ), Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles.
Only four African territories have not yet gained independence: Western Sahara - a former Spanish possession, occupied by Morocco and fighting for liberation2, Saint Helena and the so-called British Indian Ocean Territory (the Chagos Archipelago and other small islands), remaining British colonies, Reunion Island, which is an overseas department of France. France actually also controls the island of Mayotte - one of the Comoros (it has the status of an overseas territory), but the Republic of the Comoros believes that this island should belong to it.
Two cities that are enclaves in Morocco - Ceuta and Melilla, as well as located off the Moroccan coast of Chafarinas, Alusemas and Vélez de la Gomera represent an integral part of Spain.
If the division of Asia into regions is more or less generally accepted, then there is still no well-established regionalization of Africa. One can only point to one of these regionalizations, according to which two main regions are distinguished in Africa: North Africa, covering all the Arab countries (Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania) and Tropical Africa (sometimes called Africa south of the Sahara), which includes all other countries.
These two regions are fundamentally different from each other in the ethnic structure of their population. If the countries of the first region (with the exception of Sudan) have a relatively simple ethnic structure, and the composition of the population of all countries is more or less similar, then the vast majority of the countries of the second region are ethnically very complex. It is due to them that the number of ethnic groups in Africa is so large: 1.5 thousand, if we proceed from the assumption that each linguistic community can in most cases be simultaneously considered an ethnic community, or even 7 thousand, if each tribe is considered as a separate ethnic group (which hardly true).
The peoples of Africa are united by language into the following families: Afroasian (34% of the total population), Niger-Kordofanian (56%), Nilo-Saharan (6%), Austronesian (about 2%), Indo-European (2%), Khoisan (0 .05%).
The Afroasian (Semitic-Hamitic) family, represented mainly in North and Northeast Africa3, is subdivided into Semitic4, Berber, Cushitic and Chadic groups. The largest of them is Semitic, which includes 2/3 of the total population belonging to the Afroasian family. The Semitic group includes primarily the Arab peoples of Africa: Egyptian Arabs (55 million), Algerians (22 million), Moroccan (20 million), Sudanese (13 million), Tunisian (8 million), Libyan Arabs (4 million), Moors , or Mauritanian Arabs (1.8 million), Arabs of Chad (1.5 million), Shuva Arabs in Nigeria and Cameroon5 (0.4 million; Saharawi, or Arabs of Western Sahara (0.3 million). To the Semitic group also a number of Ethiopian peoples belong: Amhara (20 million), Gurage (1.4 million), etc., as well as tigers living in Ethiopia and Eritrea (4 million) and tigers living in Eritrea (0.8 million).
The Berber group is formed by closely related Berber peoples. The most significant of them are shilk (3 million), tamazight (over 2 million) and reef (1.3 million) in Morocco, kabils (3 million) and chaouya (1.1 million) in Algeria, as well as Tuareg ( 1.3 million) in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and some other countries.
The Cushitic group includes a large number of ethnic groups, the largest of which are the Oromo (20 million), settled mainly in Ethiopia, the Somali (11 million), living mainly in Somalia, as well as in neighboring countries, the Beja (1.9 million), living mainly in Sudan, Ometo6 (1.2 million) living in Ethiopia, Afar (about 1 million) occupying the territory at the junction of three countries: Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti
The Chadian group also unites a lot of peoples, among which one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa, the Hausa (24 million), settled primarily in Nigeria, as well as in Niger and other countries, stands out sharply in its numbers. Of the other peoples of the Chadian group, we note the Bura (1.8 million), living mainly in Nigeria.
The largest number of ethnic groups in Africa belongs to the Niger-Kordofan family, which, unlike the Afroasian family, is almost entirely limited to the African continent. It covers three main groups: Mande, Niger-Congo and Kordofan.
The Mande group, located on the northwestern periphery of the territory of the Niger-Kordofan family, includes the Malinke (over 4 million) living in Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, the Gambia and a number of other countries, the Bambara (about 4 million ), concentrated mainly in Mali, the Mende (1.6 million), who are one of the two main ethnic groups of Sierra Leone, the Soninke (1.4 million), settled in Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal and some other countries, and many other nations.
The Niger-Congo group is divided into two sub-groups: the West Atlantic and the Central Niger-Congo. The extremely dispersed ethnic community of the Fulbe (20 million) belongs to the West Atlantic subgroup; over half of the Fulani live in Nigeria, and the rest live in Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Cameroon and many other countries of Western Sudan8. In addition to the Fulbe, the West Atlantic subgroup includes the Wolof (3 million) and Serer (1.4 million), living mainly in Senegal, and the Temne (1.4 million) - one of the two (along with the Mende) main peoples of Sierra Leone.
The huge subgroup of the central Niger-Congo breaks up into several even more fractional divisions: Kru, Dogon, Gur, Adamawa-Ubanguy, Ijo-Defaka, Western and Eastern.
As part of the Kru division, the largest Bete people (about 3 million), completely concentrated in Côte d'Ivoire and being the most significant of the country's ethnic groups, and the Dogon division consists of only the Dogon people (only 0.4 million people), settled mainly in Mali.In the Gur division there are a number of rather large ethnic groups: Mosi (about 8 million) living in Burkina Faso and Ghana, Senufo (about 4 million) settled at the junction of the borders of Côte d'Ivoire, Mali and Burkina- Faso, Gourma (1.4 million), living in the border regions of Ghana, Burkina Faso and Togo, Lobi (1.3 million), living mainly in Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire.
In the Adamawa-Ubangi division, the Zande (about 4 million), the gang (1.6 million) living in the CAR and Zaire, and the Gbaya (1.1 million), settled mainly in the CAR, as well as in a small number in some other countries.
The Ijo-defaka division includes the Ijo people living in Nigeria (about 2 million).
The Western division consists of a large group of ethnic groups, including such large ones as the Ashanti (over 3 million) and Fangs (1.6 million)13, concentrated in Ghana, the Ewe (4 million), living in Ghana and Togo, background (over 3 million) concentrated in Benin, any (2 million) settled in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, and Baul (1.6 million) living within Côte d'Ivoire.
Almost half of all African peoples belong to a very large eastern division. Among these ethnic groups are such large ones as the Yoruba (20 million), Igbo (16 million), Ibibio (5 million), Bini (3 million) and Nupe (1.1 million) in Nigeria, Tiv (2 million) in Nigeria and Cameroon . In addition, this division includes a very large number of closely related peoples settled in Central and South Africa and called the Bantu: Rwanda, Shona, Kongo, Makua, Rundi, Zulu, Xhosa, Luba, Nyamwezi, Kikuyu, Mongo, Tsonga, Tswana and many others (Table 9).
In isolation from the other two groups of the Niger-Kordofan family, on the Kordofan Plateau in the Republic of the Sudan live peoples belonging to the Kordofan group of this family. All these ethnic groups (Tumtum, Katla, Ebang, Tegem, Tegali, etc.) are small in number and together they number only 0.7 million people.
Between the Afro-Asian and the Niger-Kordofanian families, directly south of the Sahara, the territory of the settlement of the peoples of the Nilo-Saharan family stretches in a narrow strip. Much smaller than the first two families, this family includes 9 groups: Songhai, Saharan, Maban, Fur, East Sudanese, Central Sudanese, Berta, Kunama, Komuz (according to another classification, East Sudanese, Central Sudanese, Berta and Kunama are not considered separate groups, but subgroups within the Shari-Nil group).
The Songhai group unites three peoples who speak the Songhai language, the largest of which is also called Songhai (1.6 million). It is settled in Mali, Niger and a number of other countries.
The Saharan group also includes three ethnic groups, and only one of them can be classified as large. These are Kanuri (about 5 million) living in Nigeria and some other countries.
The Maban group covers several small peoples (Maba, Mimi, etc.), living mainly in Chad, with a total number of only 0.4 million people.
Only two ethnic groups belong to the Fur group (0.6 million), concentrated mainly in Sudan, named after the larger of them.
The largest group of the Nilo-Saharan family is the Eastern Sudanese, uniting many peoples in eastern Africa. The largest of them are the Luo (about 4 million), living mainly in Kenya, the Dinka (3 million), concentrated in Sudan, the Nubians (about 3 million), settled along the Nile in Sudan and Egypt, the Teso (2 million), living predominantly in Uganda, the Nuer (1.4 million), who live mainly in Sudan, and the Langi, or Lango (1.2 million), concentrated in Uganda.
Of the ethnic groups of the Central Sudanese group, the most significant is the Sara (together with related tribes, it totals 1.5 million), living mainly in Chad and partly in the Central African Republic.
The Berta and Kunam groups each consist of one people of the same name. Both peoples are small. Berta (160 thousand) settled in

border areas of Ethiopia and Sudan, kunama (about 80 thousand) - in Eritrea.
The last group of the Nilo-Saharan family - Komuz - includes several very small ethnic groups in the adjacent regions of Sudan and Ethiopia. Their total number is only 25 thousand people.
In the extreme south of Africa, as well as in two isolated regions of East Africa, there are small peoples whose language belongs to the Khoisan family. The Khoisan peoples living in South Africa are commonly referred to as Hottentots and Bushmen. The total number of all Khoisan peoples is slightly more than 0.3 million.
On the island of Madagascar, the indigenous people - Malagasy - belong to the Austronesian family. Their number reaches 13 million people.
Among the alien population of Africa belonging to the Indo-European family1, the largest national groups are Afrikaners (3 million) and Anglo-South Africans (1.5 million) in South Africa, various groups of descendants of immigrants from India (2 million), as well as the British, French, Portuguese, Italians and others. Along with the Afrikaners, the Afrikaans language, which branched off from the Dutch language, is also spoken by a mixed European-African population - the so-called Cape Coloreds (about 3 million).
The ethnic composition of the African population is very complex. In general, it is even more difficult than in Asia: if about 1200 peoples live in the latter, then in Africa, according to the most conservative estimates, 1.5 thousand ethnic groups live, although its population is 5 times smaller. If in Asia only in five countries the largest people do not form more than half of the population, then in Africa, out of 56 countries with a permanent population,15 almost half (27) do not have a numerical predominance of the largest ethnic group.
According to the proportion in the population of the largest people, African countries can be divided into 10 groups (Table 10).
Almost mono-ethnic country in Africa is only Western Sahara, in which the Arabs form almost 100% of the population. Even countries such as Madagascar, Sao Tome and Principe, Egypt, where the main ethnic group exceeds 99% of the population, cannot be called single-national in the strict sense of the word, since all of them have groups of permanently living foreigners, and in Egypt, in addition, and national minorities of local origin (Nubians, etc.).
The number of peoples in most African countries south of the Sahara is very large and is usually difficult to determine, because due to the incompleteness of the ethno-unification process among most of the large ethnic groups in Africa, and also because of their hierarchical

Table 10. The share of the largest people in the population of various African countries

structures (peoples are subdivided into tribes and other sub-ethnic groups), it is often difficult to resolve the question of what constitutes a specific ethnic community: an already established people or a merging group of related tribal formations.
In most countries of Tropical Africa, there are several dozen, and in some - several hundred ethnic groups. So, in Nigeria, more than 250 peoples are usually distinguished, although a number of researchers believe that there are many more ethnic groups in this country - many hundreds. There are over 200 peoples in Zaire, about the same number in Tanzania, more than 140 in Chad, over 100 in Cameroon, about 100 or less in Burkina Faso, from 90 to 100 in Angola, more than 70 in Ethiopia, over 70 - in Zambia, more than 50 - in Congo, about 50 - in Mozambique, 40-50 - in Kenya, about 45 - in Togo, over 40 - in Uganda, etc.
In some of the African countries with the largest ethnic group, other peoples are comparable in number. These countries are: Guinea - Fulbe (41% of the total population) and Malinke (26%), Guinea-Bissau - Balante (37%) and Fulbe (20%), Sierra Leone - Mende (34%) and Temne (31% ), Liberia - Kpelle (21%) and Bakwe (13%), Ivory Coast - Bete (20%) and Senufo (14%), Ghana - Ashanti (25%) and mine (15%), Togo - Ewe (47%) and Cabré (24%), Nigeria - Hausa (22%), Yoruba (21%) and Igbo (18%), Chad - Arabs (26%) and Sarah (22%) CAR - gang ( 30%) and Gbaya (24%), Zaire - Luba (18%) and the Congo, together with the ethnic groups flowing into them (16%), Angola - Ovimbundu (38%) and Ambundu (22%), South Africa - Zulu (20 %) and Xhosa (19%), Mozambique - Makua (47%) and Tsonga (24%), Kenya - Kikuyu (22%), Luya (14%) and Luo (13%), Ethiopia - Amhara (39%) and Oromo (38%), Djibouti - Afar (42%) and Isa (26%).
In most of the Arab countries of North Africa there is a Berber national minority, however, its share in the population of different countries varies greatly. In Morocco and Algeria, it is quite large (2516 and 17% of the total population, respectively), while in Libya, Tunisia, Mauritania, and especially in Egypt, it is very small (5; 1; 1; 0.01%, respectively).
In Sudan, although there is no Berber minority, there is a large group of Negroid peoples living in the south, whose culture is very different from the Muslim culture of the main population of the country.
Finally, the most difficult ethnopolitical situation is in South Africa, where there are several racial and ethnic groups that differ greatly in their social, economic and cultural potential (Africans - 75% of the country's population, whites - 14, colored people - 8, people of Asian origin - 3%) and where the white minority is in power.
Naturally, the ethnic mosaic of African countries, the presence in some of them of two or more peoples, each of which claims to be a leader in the country, often leads to ethnic confrontation, which is often accompanied by bloody armed conflicts.
Problems in interethnic relations arise in the vast majority of African countries.
True, in the states of North Africa, whose ethnic structure is not so complex, ethnic contradictions are less acute than in the rest of the continent. After the vast majority of the Europeans living in them left for their homeland with the gain of independence by the North African countries (this is especially true of Algeria, where more than 1 million Frenchmen previously lived, and now there are no more than 30 thousand left), the main line of ethnic confrontation in most of they lie between the Arabs, on the one hand, and the Berber peoples, on the other. At the same time, it should be noted that the actions of the Berbers usually did not have a separatist character, and their goal was only to protect the civil rights of the national minority (in particular, demands were put forward for adequate representation in government, creating conditions for the development of the native language, etc.). Nevertheless, soon after independence was achieved in Morocco and Algeria, there were armed uprisings by part of the Berber population.
The interethnic struggle in Sudan has taken on a much wider scale, where the population of the southern regions, negroid in their racial appearance and Christian or pagan in religion, has been waging an armed struggle since the mid-1950s, which is interrupted only by short-term truces with the central government. There are also internal contradictions between the peoples of South Sudan themselves, sometimes also leading to armed clashes.
As for the ethnic confrontation in sub-Saharan Africa, in many countries it is almost permanent, leading to civil wars and claiming the lives of tens and hundreds of thousands of people. Particularly acute and prolonged military conflicts took place in such countries of Africa, extremely complex in terms of the ethnic structure of the population, as Nigeria, Zaire, Chad, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Uganda, in which we will dwell on the ethnic confrontation in more detail.
In the first half of the 60s in Zaire (then called the Congo) there was a struggle between the central government, on the one hand, and the separatists, who announced the creation of independent states in Katanga (the peoples of Lunda and Luba) and South Kasai (the peoples of Cuba and Luba). Although the separatists were defeated, the ethnic confrontation in the country continued to be very significant.
In Nigeria in 1967-1970. There was a civil war between the state of Eastern Nigeria, where the Igbo people played the main role and where the independent Republic of Biafra was proclaimed, and the central government, in which the Hausa enjoyed the greatest influence. This war also ended in the defeat of the separatists.
In Chad, whose ethnic structure is somewhat reminiscent of Sudan (in the north - Arabs and other Muslim peoples, in the south - Negroid tribes who retain traditional beliefs or converted to Christianity), the struggle between the two main groups of the population, which began shortly after independence, continued for for many years, and not only Muslims and Christians, but also fellow believers of different ethnic origins entered into confrontation (for example, Daza Muslims clashed with Zaghawa Muslims).
In Angola, for many years, the rivalry between the Ambundu and Ovimbundu has not stopped, surpassing the first ethnic group in numbers, but inferior to it in their current political influence. This struggle, which at one time also acquired political overtones, led to a long civil war (a war between government troops and armed detachments of the UNITA group, mainly representing the interests of the ovimbundu).
Mozambique has been fighting for many years. Outwardly, it has an ideological and political character, but it also has its own pronounced ethnic aspect.
In Ethiopia, there was also a long armed struggle between the oppressed minority peoples of Eritrea, as well as the Oromo, Tigray, Afar and other Ethiopian ethnic groups, on the one hand, and the central government, where the Amhara occupied the leading positions, on the other. The war led to very serious consequences, causing the death of hundreds of thousands of people. In 1978 alone, 80,000 Oromo peasants were killed in the province of Harerge.
The most uncompromising inter-ethnic struggle took place in Uganda. It was reminiscent of the "war of all against all" proposed by the famous English philosopher T. Hobbes for the primitive era. Almost all more or less significant peoples of the country were involved in internecine conflicts in Uganda: Ganda, Nyankole, Rwanda, Konjo, Acholi, Langi, Teso, Karamojong, Lugbara, Madi, Kakwa, etc. and the Teso fought against the Kakwa, Lugbara and Madi, which did not at all rule out rivalry and bloody skirmishes between the Acholi, on the one hand, and the Langi, on the other. Karamojong periodically carried out predatory raids on the Teso living in the neighborhood, as well as on various ethnic groups settled in the north of the country, etc.
Ethnic confrontation is also inherent in many other African countries. So, in Mauritania, difficult relations have developed between the ruling caste of the "white" Moors (Bidan), the "black" Moors (Kharatin) dependent on them, and various black ethnic groups: Fulbe, Tukuler, etc. In Sierra Leone, there has been a sharp rivalry for many years between the two largest ethnic groups of the country - Mende and Temne. In Liberia, the previously dominant ethnic group of the so-called Americo-Liberians (descendants of freed American slaves brought here in the middle of the 19th century) is in a difficult situation. In Equatorial Guinea, the rights of the indigenous people of the island of Bioko (formerly Fernando Po) Bubi are being violated. In South Africa, the white minority is still in power, and the African majority fighting against it cannot overcome its internal strife (a particularly sharp struggle, accompanied by bloody feuds, takes place between the two largest African peoples of the country - the Zulu and the Xhosa). In Botswana, the backward Bushmen are semi-serfs dependent on the ruling Tswana people. In Zimbabwe, until recently, there was a confrontation between the two largest peoples of the country - the Mason and the Ndebele. In East African countries, the descendants of Indians living there are subjected to open discrimination by the authorities. In Burundi, the dominant position is maintained by the ethnic-class group of Tutsis, who are several times smaller in number than the Hutu group, which occupies a lower social position. In Djibouti, rivalry continues between the two main ethnic groups of the country, the Afar and the Isa.
The ethnopolitical situation in the countries of Africa, the relations between ethnic groups that have developed in them, have a very great impact on the demographic processes taking place on the continent, and especially migration and ethnic processes.
Currently, population growth in Africa is much higher than in other parts of the world. However, this was not always the case. Rapid population growth became characteristic of the African continent only in the 20th century. Previously, growth rates were significantly restrained by epidemics that constantly visited Africa, chronic famine for some countries, colonial wars, and even earlier, by the slave trade. The population of the African continent grew much more slowly than the population of other regions of the world. So, if in 1650, according to rough estimates, 18% of the world's population lived in Africa, then in 1900 - only 7.5%.
However, in the last century the situation has changed dramatically, and the population of Africa began to grow very rapidly. This was due to the fact that on the continent, while maintaining a traditionally high birth rate for it, there was a significant decrease in mortality.
Africa as a whole is far ahead of all other parts of the world in terms of fertility. Even Asia, which ranks second among parts of the world in terms of fertility, is much inferior to Africa in this indicator: in 1985-1990. the average annual birth rate in the first was 28%, and in the second - 45%. Africa surpassed Europe in fertility during this period by 3.5 times.
The problem of high birth rates in most African states is very acute, and their leadership, not without reason, fears that as a result of extremely rapid population growth, the already extremely low standard of living of the population will fall even more. However, all attempts to reduce the birth rate through family planning and promotion of the use of contraceptives have not yet yielded any significant results in most African countries, whose population is characterized by a very low cultural level.
Although the birth rate is very high in most African countries, it varies markedly by region. Basically, these differences, as will be shown, are due to socio-economic reasons, but in some cases, the biomedical aspect should also be taken into account. Thus, in Africa south of the Sahara there are vast sparsely populated areas, and their weak population is not associated either with unfavorable climatic conditions or with low soil fertility. These areas are located mainly in Central Africa - between Nigeria and the African Great Lakes. Significant differences in fertility are also observed between different ethnic groups of the same region. It was suggested that the large differences in fertility in different areas and between ethnic groups of the same area can be explained by the unequal intensity of the spread in the regions and among different territorial and ethnic groups of the population of Africa, which is very typical for this continent of sexually transmitted diseases. In some African ethnic groups, the proportion of people who had venereal diseases is extremely high. For example, among the Zande and Nzakara in the Central African Republic, half of the total adult population surveyed was affected by syphilis, and 3/4 of all surveyed had gonorrhea at one time or another.
According to the UN, the average annual birth rate in 1985-1990. in different African countries was next17.
The lowest birth rate - 9% - was recorded in 1990 on St. Helena Island, the small population of which does not allow us to speak of the existence of any regularity here.
A relatively low birth rate - 19% - had an island state in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius18 (conditionally attributable to Africa), which is primarily due to a significantly higher standard of living here compared to the countries of the African continent. Of course, on a European scale, this is a fairly high birth rate (only in one European country - Albania - a higher birth rate).
In three more countries, the birth rate was between 20 and 30%. These are the islands of Reunion and the Seychelles located, like Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean, as well as the North African country of Tunisia with a relatively high, by African standards, standard of living.
Fertility rates ranging from 30 to 40% had in 1985-1990. South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Sao Tome and Principe, Morocco, Lesotho, Cape Verde, Swaziland, Gabon, i.e. countries, by African standards, are also quite prosperous.
This is followed by countries with a very high birth rate, whose counterparts in non-African countries are relatively rare. Botswana, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Ghana, Libya, Congo, Sudan, Togo, Central African Republic, Senegal, Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritania, Kenya, Djibouti, Burkina Faso have a birth rate of 40-50%. , Liberia, Gambia, Burundi, Zaire, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Comoros, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Benin, Zambia, Ivory Coast. the largest impact on the average fertility rate for Africa as a whole, overwhelmingly very poor20 countries with a low level of culture.
Finally, there is also a relatively small group of countries in Africa with a "super-high" birth rate (over 50%), approaching the world maximum. These countries are Somalia, Angola, Mali, Guinea, Uganda, Rwanda, Niger, Malawi. By the way, the latter country gave in the five years of 1985-1990. the highest birth rate for the whole world is 56%.
Mortality in Africa as a whole is also the highest in the world: 15% compared to 10% in Europe and 9% in Asia. However, the differences in mortality between these parts of the world are not as significant as they were several decades ago, when in many European countries the mortality rate fluctuated somewhere around 10%, and in some African countries (for example, Mali) reached 40%. This was due to the fact that in recent decades, with the help of inexpensive medical measures (vaccination of the population, the introduction of effective methods of combating pathogens of certain diseases, etc.), it was possible to drastically reduce the mortality rate in almost all previously "unfavorable" countries of the world.
The relatively high mortality in many African countries is due primarily to their extreme poverty and low level of culture. The health situation in most countries continues to be unsatisfactory.
Since the early 1980s, an AIDS epidemic21 has begun to spread in many countries in Africa, and in several of them on a catastrophic scale (according to reports, about half of the urban population of a number of African countries is infected with AIDS). According to the forecasts of some specialists in medical statistics, at the beginning of the XXI century. Africa can turn into a giant morgue.
Nevertheless, there are still some countries in Africa with low mortality.
Mortality is very low (below 10%) in St. Helena, Reunion, Mauritius, Tunisia, the Seychelles, Algeria, Cape Verde, Libya, Morocco and South Africa. All these are countries with a fairly high, by African standards, standard of living.
Mortality rates are also low (10-15%) in Egypt, Sao Tome and Principe, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Comoros, and Ghana. Tanzania, Madagascar, Togo, Cameroon, Zaire, Congo.
The mortality rate is higher (15-20%) in Côte d'Ivoire, Zambia, Nigeria, Liberia, Sudan, Gabon, Burundi, Rwanda, Senegal, CAR, Djibouti, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Mauritania, Benin, Chad , Equatorial Guinea.
High mortality by modern standards (more than 20%) was noted in Somalia, Niger, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mali, Angola, Gambia, Guinea and Sierra Leone (in the latter - 23%, i.e. this country, like Afghanistan, has the highest death rate in the world). For many countries of the last group, a state of permanent civil war is characteristic (or was characteristic until recently) (Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Angola, etc.).
Africa is still notorious for its exceptionally high infant mortality rates.
Thus, in half of the African countries, infant mortality averaged over 100 per 1,000 children under one year of age between 1985 and 1990 (with infant mortality in Sweden, Finland and Japan being 5-6). "Records" for infant mortality are held by such countries as Mali (169 children under the age of one year per thousand born), Mozambique (155), Sierra Leone (154), Guinea-Bissau (151).
However, in Africa, and more specifically in the Indian Ocean, there is one country in which the infant mortality rate is close to the best in the world. This is the island of Reunion, where infant mortality is only 8 children under the age of one year per thousand born. Relatively low (for developing countries) infant mortality in Mauritius: 24 people. And only one other African country has an infant mortality rate below 50 - Tunisia.
In general, in Africa in 1985-1990. the average annual natural increase was 30%. In the vast majority of countries on this continent (43), the ratio of births and deaths gave a natural increase in the range of 25-35%. This is, of course, a very high increase, and there are few countries with similar figures in other parts of the world. The highest natural increase - 35% (the highest rate in the world) in four countries: Kenya, Malawi, Côte d'Ivoire and Libya. In Malawi and Côte d'Ivoire, it is formed primarily due to exceptionally high birth rates, in Kenya and Libya, due to both high birth rates and low death rates.
The lowest rates of natural increase on the two islands - Mauritius (12%) and Reunion (18%).
In most African countries, the demographics of the different peoples of each particular country do not differ very much from each other. Some exceptions are only those countries where, along with agricultural peoples, live peoples whose main occupation is nomadic pastoralism or hunting and gathering. As a rule, the natural increase among pastoral nomads is significantly lower than that of farmers, and among hunters and gatherers it is even lower than that of pastoralists. Such differences in natural growth are typical, for example, for Chad, Niger, Mali, Guinea, where, along with a settled agricultural and agricultural-pastoral population, there are nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists (most of the tuba, some of the Arabs, Tuareg and Fulbe, etc.) .
Equally strong differences in natural increase among the main racial and ethnic groups of South Africa, where the rate of natural increase of the African population is several times higher than the corresponding indicator for the white population, as a result of which the share of the latter in South Africa, despite the migration of people of European origin, is decreasing. .
Many countries in Africa are characterized by large-scale migration, mainly for economic, but also political and military reasons.
Let us first dwell on migration due to economic reasons.
From the North African countries (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) for many decades there has been constant migration to the former metropolis - France, where Arab immigrants usually get jobs that do not require much knowledge and therefore low pay (chauffeurs, unskilled industrial workers, etc.). d.). Moroccans also migrate to Belgium in large numbers. To date, there are 1 million Algerians in Europe (primarily in France), almost the same number of Moroccans, 200 thousand Tunisians. There is also migration from Tunisia and Egypt to neighboring rich Libya, where immigrants work in oil and other enterprises. People come to this country to work from some Asian countries, primarily from Turkey and Pakistan.
From Mauritania, a significant group of residents moved to Senegal, but the pogroms of the Moors forced some of the migrants to return.
People also come to Senegal from other neighboring states - Mali, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, as well as from Cape Verde. Many of these immigrants are seasonal workers working on peanut plantations.
From Cape Verde, there is also migration to the former (like this state itself) Portuguese colonies - to Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, Angola, as well as to Portuguese-speaking Brazil, Argentina, and the USA.
Significant migration flows are directed to the Gambia, which wedged into the territory of Senegal. They migrate there for seasonal work on peanut plantations from neighboring Senegal, as well as from Mali, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.
From Mali, a very poor and economically underdeveloped country, in addition to Senegal and the Gambia, they also leave for temporary work in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. These are mainly Bambara, as well as representatives of other related peoples.
Migration to Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana from another poor country, Burkina Faso, has become even larger, and the main contingent of migrants is supplied by the largest people of this state, the Mosi. In addition to Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, emigrants from Burkina Faso go as seasonal workers in Senegal, Mali, Togo, Cameroon, Gabon. 1.7 million people born in Burkina Faso live outside of it.
In addition to immigrants from Burkina Faso, migrants from Niger, Nigeria and some other countries go to Ghana. Immigrants mostly work on cocoa plantations.
Emigrants from Nigeria are also sent to Sudan and neighboring Cameroon.
From Equatorial Guinea, the population leaves for Cameroon, Gabon, Nigeria, and from these countries (especially from Nigeria), in turn, to Equatorial Guinea to work on cocoa and peanut plantations. Migrants from Equatorial Guinea can also be found in Spain.
A significant number of immigrants are attracted to Gabon, where there is a shortage of labor. They come from Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal and other countries.
Sao Tome and Principe has a bilateral exchange with Angola.
Outward migration is also typical for Zaire, where immigrants from Rwanda and Burundi moved (for economic and other reasons).
Of all the African states, external migration to South Africa received the widest scope. They are mostly organized. Two special South African organizations are busy recruiting in neighboring states - Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, as well as in Angola, Zambia and Malavia - labor for work in mines and mines. Work in South Africa and people from Tanzania. Usually there are from 1 to 2 million immigrants from African countries in the country.
The Republic of South Africa also receives replenishment of the European population, and, unlike African immigrants who are recruited for six months or a year, Europeans usually stay here forever. Among immigrants of European origin in South Africa, a significant proportion of people who arrived from African countries after their independence.
A very large number of immigrants are attracted by Zimbabwe, where workers from Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana, and Lesotho are recruited for mining enterprises and agricultural farms. Since the second half of the 1970s, there has been a gradual outflow of the white population from this country.
Zambia, giving a significant number of emigrants to South Africa and Zimbabwe, at the same time accepts immigrants from the same Zimbabwe, as well as from Malawi, Mozambique, Angola, Zaire, Tanzania, who come to work in the mining enterprises of the so-called Copper Belt.
Malawi gives a large number of emigrants. They, as already noted, are sent to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and also to Tanzania. On the other hand, Malawi has a rather large number of people born in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and some other countries. The Macua dominate among the Mozambicans.
In Tanzania, in addition to immigrants from Malawi, there are also immigrants from Mozambique, Zaire, Rwanda and Burundi. Tanzanians, as noted, can be found in South Africa and Zambia, they are also in Kenya.
Quite a lot of immigrants live in Uganda. These are people from Rwanda, Burundi, Zaire, Kenya, Sudan and other countries.
Migration processes are also typical for the islands of the Indian Ocean, which are conventionally attributed to Africa. So, from the Comoros, migration was observed to Madagascar, from Mauritius and the Seychelles - to the UK (from Mauritius - also to South Africa), from Reunion - to France.
External migrations caused by economic reasons can also include movements from Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria to Western Sahara of nomads together with their herds for the winter season with a subsequent return. The number of these nomadic groups, periodically crossing the state border, reaches 100 thousand people.
Along with external migrations, caused mainly by economic reasons, there are many migrations on the African continent associated with political confrontation, interethnic struggle, military operations and other similar circumstances. Thus, the struggle of Western Sahara for independence forced 100,000 of its indigenous inhabitants, the Saharawis (that is, 2/3 of their total number), to temporarily move to Algeria, to the area of ​​the military base in Tindouf.
The Mauritanian-Senegalese conflict of 1989 led to the forced migration of 100-200 thousand Moors from Senegal to Mauritania, on the one hand, and the forced migration of 50 thousand Senegalese and 30 thousand black Mauritanian citizens from Mauritania to Senegal, on the other.
Since the late 1970s, the civil war in Chad has led to a mass exodus of the population from this country to neighboring states. In 1987, there were 200,000 refugees from Chad in Cameroon, 100,000 each in Libya and Sudan, and 30,000 in the Central African Republic.
The totalitarian regime that existed in Equatorial Guinea in the late 1960s and 1970s led to the migration from the country of many tens of thousands of its citizens, as well as Nigerian agricultural workers who worked there on plantations.
In 1972, the bloody conflict between the two class-ethnic groups of Burundi - the Tutsi and the Hutus - resulted in the flight to neighboring Zaire, Tanzania and Rwanda of about 150 thousand people, mostly Hutus. Some of the refugees later returned home, but many remained abroad. In 1988, there were bloody clashes between Tutsis and Hutu again in the country, and 50,000 Hutus fled to Rwanda.
The repressive regimes that have succeeded each other in Uganda have caused several migratory waves from this country. In mid-1983, there were over 200,000 Ugandan refugees in Sudan and 60,000 in Zaire. one of the class ethnic groups of the Nyankole people is Hima. In total, 75 thousand people were evicted, of which 35 thousand were settled in camps and 40 thousand fled to Rwanda. At the end of 1983 another 20,000 Rwanda were evicted.
The Museveni government, which came to power in Uganda in 1986, attempted to mitigate interethnic confrontation, which led to a return in 1987 and 1988. Ugandan refugees from Sudan.
In Sudan itself, the war between the Arabs and the peoples of the south of the country also caused several emigration waves. More than 300 thousand people fled to Ethiopia from Sudan, a significant part of them are Dinka. In May 1988, 20 thousand refugees from South Sudan moved to Uganda, in mid-1989 another 30 thousand South Sudanese arrived in the same country.
However, the largest number of refugees was given by Ethiopia, whose totalitarian regime "pushed" out of the country, according to one estimate, 2.5 million people. Refugees settled in Somalia, Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya, in the countries of the Middle East. Among the refugees, more than half were Oromo, whom the Ethiopian authorities resettled from their ancestral lands to territories that were difficult to develop. In Sudan, among the 500 thousand Ethiopian refugees, most of all came from Eritrea, which fought for independence. The Tigrays also fled to Sudan, who, like the Oromo, suffered the fate of "organized resettlement" in Ethiopia.
A somewhat special character was the migration from Ethiopia in the late 70s and 80s of the Falasha - black Jews who have long lived in the country and speak the Kemant language (one of the so-called Agau languages ​​\u200b\u200bbelonging to the Cushitic group). Emigration was at first agreed with the Israeli government (which promised to continue supplying weapons to Ethiopia if emigration was allowed), and when the exit was suspended, another Falasha group, which had previously fled to Sudan, was delivered to Israel by plane in agreement with the Sudanese president Nimeiri.
Concluding our review of external migrations on the African continent, let us also mention the mass exodus of Indians (or, as they are now called, Indo-Pakistans) after the countries of East and Central Africa achieved independence. This departure was associated with a policy of discrimination, which began to be carried out (to one degree or another) by all African countries that gained independence, where there was an Indian population. Indians traveled to the UK, India and, in smaller numbers, to Pakistan, Canada and the United States. From 1969 to 1984, the number of Indians in Kenya declined (in thousands) from 139 to 50, in Tanzania from 85 to 30, in Zambia from 12 to 5, in Malawi from 11 to 3, and in Uganda from 74 to 1.
External migrations between different African countries (not counting seasonal movements) have no doubt further complicated the ethnic structure of the population of African states, and some of them have very large non-indigenous African populations.
In those cases when non-indigenous people (for example, Indians) left African countries, the ethnic composition of their population was somewhat simplified.
The ethno-demographic situation was somewhat influenced by internal migrations. Their main direction in African countries (as, indeed, in countries around the world) is moving from villages to rapidly growing cities. Such migrations undoubtedly contributed to the development of ethno-unification processes (consolidation, assimilation, etc.).
A certain development in African countries has received internal migrations of a non-urban character: the movement of the population to plantation areas (for example, in Ghana and Nigeria - from north to south), mining areas (for example, in Zambia - to the Copper Belt region), etc. Migrations of this kind also usually intensified ethno-unification processes.
Finally, one more thing needs to be said about organized internal migrations. So, in Zimbabwe in the 50s, 70 thousand representatives of the Tonga people who lived in the valley of the river. Kariba were resettled because a hydroelectric dam was to be built at their place of residence. Large-scale migrations of various ethnic groups to specially designated camps were carried out by various Ugandan rulers.
Even more massive were the resettlements carried out by the repressive regime of Ethiopia. By September 1987, 8 million Ethiopian peasants (about 20% of the total rural population) were resettled in the so-called centralized villages, on the basis of which collective farms were supposed to be created. By the end of 1989 it was planned to collectivize up to 40% of the entire rural population. Peasants were ordered to work for the collective farm and the police up to five days a week. But these plans were not fully implemented due to the fall of totalitarianism in Ethiopia. Particularly affected by the plans to build socialism in Ethiopia were two of its largest peoples (not counting the politically dominant ethnic group of the country - the Amhara) - Oromo and Tigray, whom the Mengistu Haile Mariam regime did not particularly trust and therefore resettled them on marginal lands in the south of the country, where special camps.
Naturally, such transfers of the population (primarily those carried out in Ethiopia and Uganda) had a significant impact on the demographic situation, sharply increasing, first of all, the mortality rate.
The ethno-demographic situation in Africa is also undergoing serious changes as a result of ethnic processes. The processes of ethnic fusion and ethnic consolidation are especially characteristic of most African countries, which are characterized by ethnic mosaicity. As indicated in Chap. 8, these processes, although they belong to different typological groups, are often difficult to separate from each other, since ethnic fusion eventually turns into ethnic consolidation.
Let us first give some of the most typical examples of the process of ethnic fusion in Africa. So, in the western part of Côte d'Ivoire, from the so-called Kru Bete, Bakwe, Grebo, Crane, Gere peoples, a new ethnic community is being formed. , bomofwi, ndame, vure, ngano.
In Liberia, in the near future, it is possible to merge into one ethnic group peoples belonging, like the ethnic communities of the western regions of Côte d'Ivoire, to the ethnolinguistic subdivision of the Kru: Kru proper, Grebo, Klepo, etc.
In Burkina Faso, the cores of ethnic fusion have become, in particular, such significant peoples as the Lobi and Bobé. Mbuin, ga, turuka, dian, guin, puguli, komono, etc., related to them, will probably merge with lobbies in the future, with bobo - nienege, sankura, etc. In the process of ethnic fusion in the same country there is also a group of related peoples, collectively known as the Grusi: Buguli, Kurumba, Nunuma, Sisala, Kasena (the latter are quite different from other ethnic groups in their language), etc.
In Cameroon, there is a gradual merging of closely related peoples, which are often united under the common name Fang (or Pangwe); this, yaounde, bula, bene, mwele (bebele), mwal, tsing, basa, gbigbil, ntum, etc.
In Zaire, on the basis of the Lingala language, a large ethnic community is being formed, uniting the peoples of the Ngala, Bobangi, Ngombe, and others. Processes of ethnic fusion are also taking place in a number of other regions of the country.
In Botswana, the closely related tribes of Mangwato, Kwena, Ngwaketse, Tawana, Kgatla, Malete, Rolong, Tlokwa, and also Kalagadi (an assimilated group of Bushmen) who speak different dialects of the same Setswana language, have almost merged into one Tswana people.
In Malawi, an ethnic fusion is taking place based on the Chinyanja language of the Nyanja, Tumbuka, Chewa, and other peoples.
In Tanzania, ethnic groups speaking close languages ​​or dialects of Nyamwezi, Sukuma, Nyatura and Mbugwe will soon merge into a single people of 6 million people, which will be called the largest of the constituent components - Nyamwezi.
The processes of ethnic fusion are very typical for Kenya. Thus, related ethnic groups living along the northern and eastern shores of Lake Victoria and formerly known as the Bantu Kavirondo, from the middle of the 20th century. began to merge into a single people Luhya. On the coast of the Indian Ocean, from the Islamized Bantu tribes that switched to the Swahili language - Giryama, Digo, Segeju, Duruma, Gonya, Rabai, Riba, Jibana and Kaumakabe - the Mijikenda people are formed (translated from Swahili means "nine water tribes"). Finally, a number of related Nilotic peoples living in the north-west of Kenya - find, kipsigis, elgeyo, marakwet, pokot, sabaot and tugen, despite significant economic and cultural differences, after Kenya achieved independence, a desire for unity and after some time, likely to merge into a single ethnic group. Already now these peoples have a common name: Kalenjin.
With regard to some of the ethno-unifying processes taking place in Africa, it is rather difficult to say whether they are in their type an ethnic fusion or an ethnic consolidation. It is very difficult, for example, to classify the process taking place in the southeast of Nigeria in the area of ​​distribution of one of the most significant speakers of African languages ​​- Igbo, where the tribes of Abaja, Onicha, Oka, Aro, Ngwa, Isu, Ika, Ikverri, Owerri, Auhauzara , Oru, Oratta, Yusanu, etc., who speak different dialects of this language and have a common material and spiritual culture, have almost rallied into a single people. The presence of a common ethnic identity among the Igbos was manifested, in particular, during the 1952-1953 census, when the vast majority of them self-identified themselves as Igbos, and not as representatives of various tribes, and especially during the existence of the state of Biafra they created. At the same time, the demands of individual Igbo divisions in 1975 for the creation of special states for them within the Nigerian state shows that centrifugal tendencies are still strong among the Igbo. And yet, the ethno-unification process going on among them at this stage should rather be considered an ethnic consolidation than an ethnic fusion.
Ethnic consolidation can also be called the process taking place in Benin, where the Aja, Aizo, Mahi, Ge, related to them, are becoming more and more close to the Fon tribe.
The vast majority of large and medium-sized ethnic groups in Africa are not yet well-consolidated formations and usually consist of a larger or smaller number of sub-ethnic groups, the differences between which are smoothed out in the process of consolidation.
The above can be illustrated by the example of the Hausa and the Yoruba, the two largest peoples of Nigeria, which is the most populated country in Africa.
The House can be considered a fully formed people, but significant local differences remain within it, which are gradually overcome in the process of ethnic consolidation. This process is complicated by the simultaneous conversion of several closely related ethnic groups within the Khausan people.
The Yoruba are less consolidated than the Hausa, and within them there are clearly defined sub-ethnic divisions: oyo, Ife, Ijesha, Egba, Egbado, Ijebu, Ekiti, Ondo, etc. The Yoruba, like many other peoples of Africa, is characterized by hierarchy (multi-stage) ethnic self-consciousness, and in some cases a lower sub-ethnic level of self-consciousness manifests itself quite strongly (for example, the Yoruba sub-ethnic divisions, like the Igbo sub-ethnic groups, demanded the creation of separate states for them). Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the consolidation process among the Yoruba is quite intensive.
Sometimes consolidation processes still cannot prevent acute intra-ethnic rivalry. So, in Somalia, a country that has existed for several decades as an independent state and, unlike most African countries, has a simple ethnic structure (the vast majority of its population is one ethnic group - Somalia), a sharp intertribal and inter-clan struggle has been going on for a long time. It testifies, in particular, that the Somali people are still far from completing the process of ethnic consolidation.
Probably, the degree of ethnic consolidation of the population of Madagascar - the Malagasy - was somewhat exaggerated in our scientific literature. This people, although it represents a single ethnic whole, breaks up into a number of sub-ethnic groups that differ significantly from each other in dialect, culture, and sometimes racial appearance: Imerina, Betsileu, Antanala, Sihanaka, Tsimiheti, Betsimisaraka, Antaisaka, antandrui, bara, mahafali, sakalava, etc. The process of ethnic consolidation of the Malagasy people has already gone quite far and the common Malagasy self-consciousness is expressed quite clearly in the vast majority of cases. Nevertheless, the separatist tendencies that have intensified in recent years among some sub-ethnic groups, and above all among those sharply different from the main part of the Malagasy people in terms of the Sakalava racial type, the demands of a number of sub-ethnoses to create separate literary languages ​​in their dialects - all this suggests that the ethnic cohesion of the Malagasy has not yet reached a particularly high degree.
In North Africa, ethnic consolidation is expressed primarily in the growing rapprochement with the main settled part of the local Arab peoples, their nomadic and semi-nomadic sub-ethnic groups. The Bedouin groups of Maaza, Kharga, Dakhla, Bahariya, Saadi, Khaveitat approach the main body of the Egyptians, with the settled Sudanese - Kerarish, Kababish, Gaaliin, Batakhin, Shukria, Rufaa, Gimma, Hasaniya, Selim, Bederiya, Fezara, Messiria, Habbaniya, Tungur and others, with the Tripolitans, Sirticans and Cyrenaikians (settled groups of Arabs of Libya) - riyah, Khasawn, Kadarfa, etc., with the majority of the agricultural part of the Tunisians - hamama, jerid, arad, riyah, etc., with the main core of the Algerian Arabs - Suafa, Ruarha, Ziban, Nail, Laguat, Sidi, Dui-Meniya, Tadzhakant, etc., with settled Moroccan Arabs - Jebala, Yahi, Gil, Dui-Meniya, etc. There is also a consolidation of the Moors (Arabs of Mauritania): they are increasingly rallying the Arab tribes of Trarza, Regeibat, Dilim, Imragen, Tadjakant, etc. living in the country. An important center of consolidation is the capital city of Nouakchott, where in a difficult time for the country (during the years) gathered over 100 thousand people (mainly to full-timers).
In the formation of the Saharawi people, which was probably formed in the process of the struggle for the independence of Western Sahara, to a large extent the same tribes participated as in the formation of the Moors: Imragen, Dilim, Regeibat, Tarzhakant. The further rallying of the Saharawis is quite intensive, in particular, at their military base in Tindouf (Algeria).
In addition to ethnic fusion and ethnic consolidation, in some countries of Africa there was also such an ethno-unifying process as ethnogenetic mixing. He walked on a number of islands in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, where immigrants of African, European, and partly Asian origin mixed (before these islands were not inhabited). There were such racially mixed ethnic groups as Reunion, Mauritian-Creole, Seychellois and some others.
Assimilation processes are also going on in Africa, although they are still less typical for the continent than ethnic fusion or ethnic consolidation.
So, in Morocco, Algeria and some other countries of North Africa, the Berber population is gradually assimilated by the Arabs prevailing there in terms of numbers.
In Sudan, local Arabs assimilate the Nubians and a number of other Islamized peoples.
In Ethiopia, the Agau tribes are assimilated by the larger peoples of the country - the Amhara, Tigray and Tigre. Three tribes - Kuara, Kayla and Hamir - have already completely switched to the Amharic language.
In Nigeria, the Hausa are dissolved in their environment by smaller ethnic groups: Angas, Ankwe, Sura, Boleva, Karekare, Tangale, Bade, Afusare (mountain Jerawa), etc. If the gradual absorption of Afusare, belonging to a language family other than Hausa, is common assimilation process, then the dissolution of the other peoples noted above in the Hausa environment, which are very close to them in language and culture, can be defined as ethnic conversion.
Assimilation processes have affected many peoples of Nigeria. In particular, ekoi and bok are being assimilated by the Tiv; ron, attack and gvandara - birom; Benu, Konu, Gbari-Baute and a number of other ethnic groups - Nupe.
In Togo, the largest Ewe people assimilate the small tribes living in the neighborhood: Adele, Akposo, Akebe, etc.
In Côte d'Ivoire, the Baule gradually dissolve in their environment various so-called lagoon tribes: Krobu, Gwa, etc.
Peoples lagging behind in their development are assimilated by more advanced peoples in some other African countries. So, in Botswana, the pastoralists and farmers of the Tswana partially assimilate the bushmen engaged in hunting and gathering, in Rwanda the hunters and gatherers of the Pygmies Twa are assimilated by the farmers of Rwanda, in Kenya, the largest and most developed ethnic group of the country, the Kikuyu, assimilates the Ndorobo hunters, which are much inferior to it in terms of their level of development.
The Kikuyu gradually dissolve in their environment and the Embu, Mbere, Meru and some other ethnic groups close to them in language and culture. Probably, this process can be considered ethnic conversion.
In many multi-ethnic countries of the African continent, processes of inter-ethnic integration are underway. They take place in Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Ghana and some other countries and lead to the emergence within each of these states of large ethno-political formations, in which ethnic groups are significantly closer to each other, although they do not merge into one whole.
The processes of ethnic division are currently not typical for Africa. As an example of ethnic separation, one can name isolation as a result of migration in the 19th century. from South Africa to Lake Nyasa part of the Zulu. The new ethnic group is now called Ngoni.
Assessing the influence of ethnic processes on the dynamics of the ethno-demographic situation as a whole, we can say that, despite a certain enlargement of African peoples and some simplification of the ethnic picture, it is difficult to expect a significant reduction in the ethnic mosaic of African states in the foreseeable future.

The ethnic composition of the modern is very complex. The continent is inhabited by several hundred large and small ethnic groups, 107 of which number more than 1 million people each, and 24 exceed 5 million people. The largest of them are: Egyptian, Algerian, Moroccan, Sudanese Arabs, Hausa, Yoruba, Fulbe, Igbo, Amhara.

Anthropological composition of the population of Africa

In the modern population of Africa, various anthropological types are represented, belonging to different races.

The northern part of the continent up to the southern border is inhabited by peoples (Arabs, Berbers) belonging to the Indo-race (part of the large Caucasoid race). This race is characterized by a swarthy skin color, dark eyes and hair, wavy hair, a narrow face, and a hooked nose. However, among the Berbers there are also fair-eyed and fair-haired.

To the south of the Sahara live peoples belonging to a large Negro race, represented by three small races - Negro, Negrillian and Bushman.

Among them, the peoples of the Negro race predominate. These include the population of the Guinean coast, Central Sudan, the peoples of the Nilotic group (), the peoples of the Bantu. These peoples are characterized by dark skin color, dark hair and eyes, a special structure of hair that curls in spirals, thick lips, a wide nose with a low nose bridge. A typical feature of the peoples of the Upper Nile is their high growth, exceeding 180 cm in some groups (the world maximum).

Representatives of the Negril race - Negrils or African pygmies - short (on average 141-142 cm) inhabitants of the tropical forests of the river basins, Uele, etc. flattened nose bridge, relatively thin lips and lighter skin color.

To the Bushman race belong the Bushmen and Hottentots living in the Bushmen. Their distinctive feature is lighter (yellowish-brown) skin, thinner lips, a flatter face, and such specific signs as skin wrinkling and steatopygia (strong development of the subcutaneous fat layer on the thighs and buttocks).

Reunion - 21.8 ppm,
South Africa - 21.6 ppm,
- 18.0 ppm,
- 16.7 ppm.

In general, increased birth rates are typical for Western and, and lower rates for zones of equatorial forests and regions.

Mortality is gradually reduced to 15-17 ppm. The highest mortality rates are observed:

Distribution of the population of Africa

The average population density of the continent is low - about 30 people/km2. the distribution of the population is influenced not only by natural conditions, but also by historical factors, primarily the consequences of the slave trade and colonial domination.