Category Story of Nations

           Egypt is a land of antiquity. The civilisations and rulers of Egypt were highly regarded around the world.

          The Nile river valley and delta were the home of the world’s earliest urban and literate societies. The Pharaohs ruled Egypt for almost three thousand years through a series of native dynasties. They also had brief periods of foreign rule in between.

         Europeans entered the scene in the later half of the 18th century. The British invaded and occupied Egypt in 1882, as they wanted control over the Suez Canal. The canal linked the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea and was an important part of sea routes. The country gained independence and took back the Canal in the 1950s.

         Hosni Mobarek was Egypt’s long-time president who was overthrown by a popular uprising in 2011. Though the country has had many democratic elections since then, the role of the military in the government remains strong.

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          Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980 and since then, veteran President Robert Mugabe dominated its political landscape for almost four decades.

          Mugabe is a controversial figure. He was praised for his role in the freedom of his country, but his government was accused of dictatorship and economic mismanagement. He was ousted by a coup in 2017 and Emerson Mnangagwa became the new president.

          The British ruled Zimbabwe for almost a hundred years before its independence. It started in the 1880s when Cecil Rhode established the British South Africa Company in Zimbabwe. According to archeological records, human settlements were present in Zimbabwe at least 100,000 years before British rule. The country was ruled by several kingdoms like the Kingdom of Mapungubwe and Kingdom of Mutapa.

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          Mozambique’s wealth lies in its natural resources. Unfortunately, it is still one of the poorest nations because of underdevelopment.

         Long ago, Mozambique was a Portuguese colony. For five hundred years, Portugal got minerals and agricultural products from the country. After years of exploitation, a guerrilla army called Frelimo fought for independence following which Mozambique was declared as a free country in 1975.

         After independence, Mozambique was torn apart by internal conflicts. Violence, disunity and natural calamities like drought weakened its economy.

         The conflict formally ended in 1992 and it has remained a fairly stable presidential republic after its first multiparty election.

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         Ethiopia was never colonized by anyone. In fact, it is the only African country which was never colonized. Italy occupied it twice, but they couldn’t establish themselves as rulers.

         Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country and the second most populated nation in Africa. It is one of the world’s oldest countries.

         Legends say that Manelik, the son of King Solomon ruled this place. Different emperors rued the country since then, even when the rest of Africa was controlled by other countries, the last emperor being Haile Selassie. He was overthrown in 1974 by a Soviet-backed military government.

         The 70s was a turbulent time for Ethiopia. The government was corrupt, living conditions miserable and strikes and mutinies regular.

         This was worsened by a severe drought and the inflow of refugees from Sudan. All these slowed down its economy.

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          Remember Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa? He was jailed for 27 years because he fought for freedom. Before Mandela came to power, the country was ruled by a British minority government. Their rules strictly kept apart the two ethnic groups- the whites and the blacks.

         This system known as apartheid started in the 1950s; black people were forced to live in places called homelands with minimal opportunities for work and education. This created tensions. At first people started protesting peacefully; it later turned to violent riots and even massacres. After a lot of struggle and mass protests led by the African National Congress and Nelson Mandela, this practice came to an end in 1991.

         South Africa has rich mineral deposits. Diamonds and gold were discovered there which attracted European fortune hunters.

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          Cameroon is noted for its geographical and cultural diversity. It is known as ‘Africa in miniature’ for the same reason. The Sao civilization flourished near Lake Chad in Cameroon and the southeastern rainforests were inhabited by the Baka hunter-gatherers.

          In the 1400s, the Portuguese sailed to the coast of Cameroon. These sailors traded ivory, rubber and slaves. Cameroon came under German rule in 1884; it became a colony known as Kamerun.

          Modern Cameroon took shape in 1961. By then, the British and French had taken control; they unified a British and a French colony to give birth to the new country. It was later renamed as the United Republic of Cameroon in 1972. After a second round of renaming in 1984, it was known as the Republic of Cameroon.

          The country was not free of internal tensions after its independence. There were constant conflicts between the English-speaking provinces and the French-speaking ones; it turned to a secessionist movement in 1990 and an insurgency in 2016.

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