Did you ever think why there are so many
straight lines on the borders of North Africa? Or which is the identity and common history
of some of the African countries? Up next we will tell you the biggest
curiosities of the limits drawn on the continent and why African borders
hide great injustices. But first we invite you to become a member
of Un Mundo Inmenso. Through a monthly contribution you can support us
so that the channel continues to grow independently and you can also
access some extra content and participate in surveys. Because of distance and ignorance many times
Africa is spoken of as a unit. However, there are huge differences between countries like Tunisia, Ethiopia and Namibia, for example. We find very different climates, languages, religions
and stories. And even the distances are huge. For example, Rabat and Cape Town are
separated by almost 8000 kilometers. About 600 more than those which separate Mexico's city from Buenos Aires and more than double the distance
between Lisbon and Moscow. When we see a political map of the continent we may
think that borders have centuries of history or that were traced
as the towns grew. But this was not like that. At the end of the 19th century the so-called
"The Scramble for Africa" came In the city of Berlin seven European countries met: France, Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and
Belgium. In just three months between 1884 and 1885, these
seven powers distributed almost all the African territory. That is, a group of Europeans divided
the continent regardless not even the opinion of the inhabitants
nor of the towns that existed there. Before the deal, there were two stable independent states. One was Liberia, which had been an U.S. colony and had almost half a century of independence. And the other was Abyssinia, which we know it today
like Ethiopia. The Berlin conference respected the
independence of Liberia but not the one of Abyssinia. I was planned to be in Italian hands,
but the Ethiopians resisted the invasion and maintained their
independence. In this way, the rest of the continent
was left to those seven countries. France kept with Algeria, Tunisia, part
of Morocco, the great regions of West French Africa and French Equatorial Africa,
Djibouti, Madagascar and Comoros Islands. The British occupied Egypt, Sudan, East British Africa, Somaliland, Southern and Northern Rhodesia, Nigeria, Mauritius,
and the current Sierra Leone, Gambia, Ghana, Botswana, South Africa and Malawi. Spain, which already had fewer colonies, kept with parts of current Morocco and from Western Sahara, in addition to Equatorial Guinea. Portugal, meanwhile, controlled the current
Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe. Germany arrived on the continent divided into three major regions: Western, Eastern and Southeast. It included large current countries like Cameroon,
Namibia, Tanzania and part of Nigeria. Italy stayed with the current Libya, Somalia
and Eritrea. Finally, Belgium was left with a large
region in the center of the continent: the Belgian Congo. Although the territory was actually owned
by its king, that made a resource exploitation
through indigenous slaves and a genocide in which between 5
and 10 million people died. This division, made far from Africa did not respect the history of the people. In addition, it resulted in fixed borders that little had to do with the local reality. With the passage of time, these limits were not only modified, but strengthened. In the 1960s there was a boom of
independence and many of the countries we know today emerged. To avoid new wars, it was chosen to respect the old colonial boundaries. In this way, there were few modifications in the political map. One of the most relevant is the separation
of Eritrea: in 1993 it achieved independence from Ethiopia after years of wars. The other big change is the division of Sudan:
in 2011, after a referendum, South Sudan was born, which is still the
youngest country in the world. But those limits drawn in Berlin and in force even today keep some oddities. Take for example the case of Gambia. This country is totally surrounded
by Senegal and extends a few kilometers to each margin of the
Gambia river. It is that this area had been occupied by the British, who wanted to keep it. Or Namibia, which in the north of its territory
stretches very strangely eastward The explanation is that the Germans wanted to
join their possessions that were on both coasts. That's why they yielded other territories
so Namibia reached the Zambeze River. They thought that from there they could reach
the current Tanzania, although they failed, since it is a river of very difficult navigation. This rarity on the map leaves us about two
kilometers from a fourfold border between countries, something that does not exist a lot in the world. We can also rescue the case of Cabinda,
which is a small exclave of Angola. This region has oil reserves. For some, it has culturally little to do
with the rest of Angola, so they have claimed their sovereignty. Also, the borders have separated what
was united. It is the case of the Tuareg. This town is currently divided
in five countries: Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Niger and Libya. Although the truth is that in the middle of the Sahara,
there are very few milestones that mark the transnational boundaries. That is, what we see very fixed on a map
It doesn't quite agree with reality, where the lines are more permeable. Unfortunately, during the later decades
after the independences numerous civil wars have been seen and
new forms of colonization have emerged. France, far from moving away, continues with a great financial presence. Fourteen countries use the CFA Franc as currency, which is printed in France and has a parity with the euro. Meanwhile, natural resources exploitation continues by foreign hands. But the continent is still synonymous
of underdevelopment and many of its countries have huge poverty rates. The question arises about the decision to respect
those old borders drawn in Berlin. Was it the best to avoid worse wars?
Should a solution be sought? Maybe the answer is the agreement Burkina Faso and Niger reached in 2013. After decades of litigation, they exchanged
18 cities and resolved border disputes. 14 went from Niger to Burkina Faso and four made the reverse way. Both countries were submitted to the International Court
of Justice of The Hague and they followed the ruling that was issued. In your opinion, how important is it the
border delimitation for the history of the people? And in Africa, what solutions should be
searched to solve border problems? Leave your comment below.
