3.5 MILLION YEARS AGO OLDEST HOMINID FOSSILS

11.73 MILLION SQUARE MILES

1.246 BILLION PEOPLE (2017)

2000-3000 LANGUAGES SPOKEN

54 NATIONS (2017)

Africa is a fascinating continent, the second most populous in the world and the least studied. Yet all sorts of images of the continent, it’s people, it’s environments (plants and animals), it’s history, populate our imagination, especially through film, television, and music. Just think (or not) of the latest (awful) Tarzan movie. Each of us brings to the study of Africa certain preconceptions and during this quarter I want all of us individually and collectively to think about the way in which Africa is imagined in the West and what impact those imaginings have on American dealings in the past and in the present with Africa.

Always remember that Africa is a huge continent, easily large enough to incorporate physically all of Western Europe, the United States and China with plenty of space left to spare. Currently there are 54 countries in Africa, the newest being South Sudan which became a separate nation from the rest of the Sudan in July 2011. We can’t possibly study the history of all the countries so our approach to the history of Africa will be thematic, although I will ask each of you to identify a single African country of your own about which I will ask you to carry out some individual research. You will be asked to choose your country in your Module/Week 2 PIAZZA post: Choose a place (Post to Piazza!)