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Documentaries about Africa

Best 10 Documentaries about Africa

In this article, we'll explore the top 10 Documentaries about Africa

Intro: Documentaries about Africa

Africa's history begins in East Africa with the appearance of hominids, archaic humans, and anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) at least 200,000 years ago and continues unbroken to the present day as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing nation-states. Ancient Egypt was the birthplace of recorded history, followed by Nubia, the Sahel, the Maghreb, and the Horn of Africa.

1. Terror in Africa-Documentaries about Africa

The term 'terrorism' is fraught with connotations. It is frequently the appropriate description for heinous acts of violence against civilians, such as the attack in Burkina Faso in June 2021. However, weak, corrupt and colonial regimes labelled opponents as"terrorists" to delegitimize their goals throughout the twentieth century.

To maintain power, demonize their adversaries, and justify the use of extreme retaliatory measures, colonial powers in Africa, in particular, labelled independence movements as terrorists. The French in Algeria, the British in Kenya in the 1950s, theRhodesian government in the 1970s, and the South African Apartheid regime were all guilty.

Western countries' perceptions of terrorism in Africa have only recently shifted to include Islamic jihadism. Truck bombs at US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar EsSalaam, Tanzania, killed more than 200 people in 1998, bringing Al-Qaeda to the general public's attention in the United States for the first time.

2. Who Controls Africa?-Documentaries about Africa

The European race to partition and occupy African territory is frequently dismissed as a sideshow to the political and economic rivalries between Europe's new industrial nations, which peaked around 1870 and peaked again around 1914. The reaction of theFrench to the British occupation of Egypt in 1882, or the rivalry between French and Belgian agents in the Congo basin that led to the Berlin West AfricaConference of 1884–85, are both seen as being exploited by Bismarck for the sake of his European policy. Are commonly assumed to be the book's opening.

However, in western Africa, it appears fair to say that the beginnings of the scramble and partition were visible at least a generation before the 1880s. They were shaped as much as, if not more, by local circumstances than by European domestic rivalries. The logic of the situation in western Africa had already led France and Britain to take the political initiative of establishing formal European colonies in Senegal, Lagos, and the Gold Coast between 1854 and 1874. In fact, in the face of European economic and social pressures, the traditional African political order was becoming ineffective all along the coast.

3. Africa Rising-Documentaries about Africa

The notion that combining population and economic growth would result in The continent's rapid*development and transformation into a more powerful player in global affairs.The phrase 'Africa rising' became popular in the 2000s, spurred only good news about the growing African economies, mobile phone penetration, the rise of the middle class and the youth population. The last point was especially significant because it led to suggestions that African countries could avoid the growing pension crisis that many Western countries are experiencing with so many potential young workers. The phrase has proven to be both catchy and divisive, with critics questioning the long-term viability of the continent's gains. While some argued that high unemployment would reduce young people's ability to pay taxes and thus increase government revenues, others pointed out that Chinese demand drove a significant portion of Africa's growth.

4. Slums: Cities Of Tomorrow-Documentaries about Africa

With annual economic growth rates of around 5% over the last decade, fueled primarily by the commodities boom, African cities have seen skyrocketing population growth, forcing governments to face many development challenges.

According to UN-Habitat,Africa is urbanizing at a rate of 4% per year. The United Nations agency assists national programs relating to human settlements through Capital, and technical assistance is critical in developing countries. Population shifts from rural to urban areas create several problems, including overcrowding, pollution, and crime.

Today's urbanization inAfrica is an untapped tool for development and economic growth," says UN-Habitat executive director Joan Clos.

5. Voodoo - Documentaries about Africa

Slaves brought from Africa's western "slave coast" brought voodoo to New Orleans in the early1700s. Voodoo, like so many other things in New Orleans, was then infused with the city's dominant religion, Catholicism, and became a Voodoo-Catholicism hybrid known as New Orleans Voodoo. Legba, the Voodoo deity who controls the gates to the spirit world, for example, becomes St. Peter, who holds the keys to the gates of heaven in New Orleans.

Marie Laveau, a devoutCatholic who attended Mass at St. Louis Cathedral and was close friends with the cathedral's priest, Pere Antoine, exemplified the hybrid.

Voodoo is still practiced inNew Orleans today by people who consider it a part of their culture, by erroneous rumor, and by the long shadow cast by Marie Laveau, the city's most famous voodooeinne.

Fans leave stacks of nickels, paper flowers, and other offerings in front of Laveau's brick-and-mortar tomb in St. Louis No. 1 cemetery on the outskirts of the FrenchQuarter. Visiting cemeteries like this one is one of the most popular things todo in and around the French Quarter.

6. Mother Africa: History - Documentaries about Africa

Europeans first arrived in my Mother, Africa's home, in the 1400s. My Mother Africa's house was and continues to be rich and full of treasures such as gold, diamonds, copper, aluminium, petroleum, and a variety of other resources.

People who were not as fortunate to be born into motherlands endowed with such resources became obsessed with ultimately conquering my Mother Africa. When Europeans discovered my Mother Africa's wealth, they began a long-term rape of my mother, exploiting and stealing all of her valuable resources.

The most blatant and long-lasting theft from Mother Africa, however, was the theft of her children.You can separate a child from her mother, but you can't separate the child from her mother's DNA. Your ancestors are indelibly imprinted in your DNA.

7. Stealing Africa - Documentaries about Africa

Thousands of pieces ofAfrican art were stolen by Western nations during wars and colonization. This is the story of the anti-slavery mission of the United Kingdom's role in the looting of African artefacts, as well as the campaign to have them returned.

Around 170 British soldiers launched a "punitive expedition" against the town in November 1906, according to the British parliament, for carrying out annual raids alongBritish trade routes in Borno state.

During an 11-day siege, Chibok residents defended themselves by shooting poisoned arrows at the soldiers from hilltop hideouts.

9. Africa's looted art - Documentaries about Africa

In 1897, the Benin Bronzes, some of Africa's most valuable artifacts, were looted. Two men made it their mission to return them after a chance encounter.

Steve Dunstone and Timothy Awoyemi were standing on the bank of the Niger River in a boat in 2004.

The two middle-aged men, both British police officers, were on their way to Agenebode, a small town in the country's south, as part of a journey through Nigeria organized by thePolice Expedition Society. Their group brought books and supplies with them as gifts from British schoolchildren. The local schools had been notified in advance, and a crowd gathered along the riverbanks to greet them, with a dance performance to boot.

9. Ancient Africa - Documentaries about Africa

There were up to 10,000different states and polities in Africa, each political organization and rule.Small hunter-gatherer family groups, such as the San of southern Africa; more prominent, more structured groups, such as the Bantu-speaking peoples of central and southAfrica's family clan groupings; and heavily structured clan groups in the Horn of Africa. Large Sahelian kingdoms; autonomous city-states and kingdoms in WestAfrica, such as the Akan, Edo, Yoruba, and Igbo; and Swahili coastal trading towns in East Africa.

By the ninth century, a chain of dynastic states, including the first Hausa states, stretched across the Sub-Saharan savanna from the west to the centre of Sudan. Ghana, Gao, and the Kanem-Bornu Empire were the most powerful of these states. Ghana declined in the 11th century, and the Mali Empire took over much of western Sudan in the13th century. In the 11th century, Kanem accepted Islam.

Independent kingdoms such as the Nri Kingdom of the Igbo grew up in the forested regions of West Africa's coast, with little influence from the Muslim north. The Ife, the first Yoruba city-state or kingdom, established government through a priestly oba("king").

10. Black Diamonds - Documentaries about Africa

Cape Town is a city that is full of contrasts. Heavy fogs descend on the coastal metropolis early in the morning, only to dissipate after a dose of South African sunshine. Rain drops meet the sunlight to form arcing rainbows as hot days fade into chilly nights.There are parallels in society as well. One street is lined with mansions, while a few blocks away, people live in shacks made of Luxury sports cars pass vans packed with impoverished township commuters on the streets. According toThe World Bank, South Africa is one of the world's most unequal societies, with a Gini coefficient of 0.63. Corrado Gini created the Gini coefficient is 1912, and it is the most widely used metric of income distribution in society.Perfect equality is a score of zero, while absolute inequality is a score of one. South Africa is less equal today than it was during apartheid. However, racial economics is no longer as black and white as it once was. In 2006, TNSResearch Surveys and the UCT Unilever Institute coined the term "BlackDiamonds" to describe a new generation of blacks who have broken free from centuries of oppression and found success as entrepreneurs, politicians, and educators. What do these "Black Diamonds" owe their communities and country now that they've made it big?

Wealth is still linked to race twenty years after apartheid ended, but it is no longer a defining requirement. Shortly after seizing control of the South African government in1994, the African National Congress (ANC) accelerated its efforts to advocate for Black Economic Empowerment. (BEE). Wealth is still linked to race twenty years after apartheid ended, but it is no longer a defining requirement.

Documentaries about  Africa: Conclusion

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