Africa's Unusual Borders

February is Black History Month. Today's African Americans are descended from the peoples of Africa. For Black History Month, teach students about the way in which borders in Africa were drawn up by European colonial powers in the mid- to late 19th century. Distribute to the students the gray-scale PDF map of Africa and talk about how these borders caused many peoples to find themselves divided into two or three different geographical sections, each belonging to a different colony.

To illustrate this point, ask the students to look at Senegal on the map. Senegal is a nation that completely surrounds the country of The Gambia. This oddity is due to Senegal's history as a colony of France and Gambia's history as a colony of Britain. In an agreement between France and Britain, the two colonial powers established these borders in 1889.

Ask the students to read the Population sections from the CultureGrams reports of these West African nations:

• Senegal
• The Gambia
• Mauritania
• Mali
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Ivory Coast

Students should identify which of these countries are home to the Wolof ethnic group. Which are home to the Malinke ethnic group (also spelled Malinke, Mandingo, Mandinga, or Mandinka)?

Assign students to write a report of at least 100 words that address the following essential questions for critical thinking (you can add or substitute others):

• What are some of the possible effects when ethnic groups are divided by national borders?
• What are some of the countries and ethnic groups that are experiencing these effects?
• What are some of the solutions that you recommend for solving these problems?

Use our custom ProQuest models for written and PowerPoint-style reports.

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