Dear Readers, 

We have designed this page mostly to dispel some of the stereotypes people have about Africa. This is not an attempt to "be smart", nor an accusation directed towards anyone.  We want you to know that we believe in the power of knowledge, and that the ultimate aim of this section is educational. We believe that by presenting common facts about Africa in Video, Audio and Writing, we can change the perception of Africa by providing information that is not necessarily taught in schools around the world. 
 

1- "Is Africa a Country or a Continent"

R: Africa is a continent, such as America, Europe or Asia. Despite a push to unify Africa during the 1960's so that it could become one unique country, such as the United States for example, there are still 47 countries on the African Continent , including the disputed territory of Western Sahara. However, the islands off of the coast are also usually considered African, bringing the total to 53. The island nations are Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Madagascar, the Comoros, the Seychelles, and Mauritius. Each one is an independent nation. (Source Infoplease And BBC) 

2- Is the "Africa of Tarzan" a reality? 

R: Let us answer this question by defining the reality of contemporary Africa. Today's Africa has two sides: The Rural Africa, and the Urban Africa. 

a- Rural Africa is also commonly called "Village". A village is a clustered human settlement, a community of people smaller than a town, formed by cultural, linguistic, or tribal affinity. In almost all the countries of Africa, the village is the place most tribal settlements take place. The geographical delimitation of a village varies and depends upon factors such as how powerful a tribe is,  how arable the land is, how close it is to the river, etc. For instance, the Village of the Bana people in Cameroon (West Africa) denotes a specific place with people speaking the Bana language, with a chief, a common accepted set of rules, a common past history and social beliefs, etc. Rural ways of life are usually centered around farming, the cattle, agriculture, fishing and hunting. A comparison could be made to the Amish settlements in the United States. The difference here is that unlike in African villages, Religion in Amish Villages is one of the main unifying factors. 

An Example of an African Village (Bamileke Kingdom Cameroon- West Africa)

Village in Benin (West Africa)
b-Urban Africa is mostly identifiable by towns and cities, such Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, Johannesburg (South Africa), Cairo ( capital of Egypt) or Lagos (Nigeria). The equivalent in the United States would be Chicago, Miami, Detroit, etc. The birth of African cities has the exact same characteristics as their Occident counterparts. The geographical situation, the proximity of a river to allow trade, and the establishment of factories etc, are usually the forces behind the creation of cities in Africa. The city of Pittsburgh for instance has its existence, in part, thanks to the Allegheny, the Monongahela, and the Ohio river. 

It is important to note that Contemporary Rural Africa precedes Urban Africa. 

Also note that some African cities have played an important role in the building of human relationships through trade etc. Cities such as Timbuktu, Mombassa, Zanzibar are just some of the pre-colonial African cities. 

Example of African Cities
Downtown Johannesburg- South Africa                          

                                                                          
Downtown Yaounde Cameroon                

Downtown Abidjan- Ivory Coast

Downtown Nairobi- Kenya

C. African unoccupied areas              
In Africa, there are also unoccupied areas. In Sub-Saharan Africa, those areas range from savannas and deserts, to rain forests, depending upon whether you are close to the equator or not. The first Europeans who visited the continent centuries ago were fascinated by this area, and they are still the subject of contemporary literature. 

In 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote a novel called Tarzan of the Apes, the first in a series of books about the title character, Tarzan. For nearly a century, Tarzan has been played and replayed by Hollywood in Cinemas around the globe, and has contributed, perhaps unintentionally to the creation of the "Africa of Tarzan" cliche due to its setting in the equatorial jungle of West Africa.  When I am approached in the streets of America, and asked if I have ever had a face-off with a lion in the streets of Africa, I understand that this stereotype is very real. My good friend Yao Boateng's answer to this question is always the following: " I have seen more wild animals in the streets of America than I have seen in Africa. Personally, I will say, after 9 years in America, I have heard more stories of wild animals hurting people than I have in half a century in Africa. 

Now this is the question: 

1- Are Massachusetts hardwood forest, the Allegheny National Forest or the Schenectady County Forest  representative of the entire United States? 

2- How about if Tarzan was filmed (Perhaps the Tarzan crew never traveled outside of the USA) in one of these forests, would it be fair for an Asian or African living in their respective continent to assume that America (Canada, Mexico, the USA, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Cuba, Venezuela, Chili, Peru, Nicaragua, the Bahamas, Panama, etc ) is just one big jungle?

Think about it. 

                                              by A. Tamo Noche