According to baglib.com, Cape Verde is an archipelago of ten islands situated in the central Atlantic Ocean, approximately 570 kilometers off the coast of Western Africa. The islands are divided into two groups, the Barlavento Islands and the Sotavento Islands. The Barlavento Islands are known for their volcanic origin and rugged terrain, while the Sotavento Islands feature flat, sandy plains and savannas. The largest island in Cape Verde is Santiago,…
Read MoreZambia Climate and Weather
Zambia is a country located in Africa. It is bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Angola. The capital of Zambia is Lusaka. The population of Zambia is estimated to be 17.3 million people and the official language is English. The currency used in Zambia is the Zambian Kwacha (ZMK). The main industries in Zambia are copper mining, agriculture and tourism. Major…
Read MoreAlgeria Modern History
Algeria is a country located in Northern Africa. With the capital city of Algiers, Algeria has a population of 43,851,055 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Algeria has since the independence of France in 1962 been dominated by the military and the former guerrilla movement, now the Party, the National Liberation Front (FLN). After widespread protests, the country officially became a democracy in 1989, but the old apparatus of…
Read MoreAngola Modern History
Angola is a country located in Central Africa. With the capital city of Luanda, Angola has a population of 32,866,283 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. In the mid-1900s, organized resistance to the oppression of the Portuguese colony of Angola began. Three rival liberation movements were formed and supported in various political camps abroad. A regime change in Portugal in 1974 opened the way for independence. It was proclaimed…
Read MoreBenin Modern History
Benin is a country located in Western Africa. With the capital city of Porto-Novo, Benin has a population of 12,123,211 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Benin’s time as an independent state was greatly marked by Mathieu Kérékou, who with a brief interruption ruled the country from 1972, when he took power in a military coup, until 2006, when, according to the constitution, he was not allowed to stand…
Read MoreBotswana Modern History
Botswana is a country located in Southern Africa. With the capital city of Gaborone, Botswana has a population of 2,351,638 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. The former British protectorate of Bechuanaland became the independent Botswana in September 1966. It took place in orderly form, without violence or major political conflicts. Seretse Khama, who was prime minister of self-government, became the country’s first president. His party Botswana’s Democratic Party…
Read MoreBurkina Faso Modern History
Burkina Faso is a country located in Western Africa. With the capital city of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso has a population of 20,903,284 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. After independence in 1960, Burkina Faso was characterized by economic problems, political crises and coups. After Blaise Compaoré took power in a military coup in 1987, he led the country toward multi-party systems and market economy. The once powerful military lost…
Read MoreBurundi Modern History
Burundi is a country located in Eastern Africa. With the capital city of Gitega, Burundi has a population of 11,890,795 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Burundi’s modern history has been characterized by insurgency, coups and civil war, from the independence of the colonial power of Belgium in 1962 to the violent riots that erupted in connection with a contentious election in 2015. Violence between the Hutu and Tutsi…
Read MoreCameroon Modern History
Cameroon is a country located in Central Africa. With the capital city of Yaounde, Cameroon has a population of 26,545,874 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. After some turbulent years, the Federal Republic of Cameroon was formed in 1961 through a merger between the southern part of British Cameroon and the Republic of Cameroon. The country’s first president was Ahmadou Ahidjo. In 1982, Paul Biya took over as president.…
Read MoreCape Verde Modern History
Cape Verde is a country located in Western Africa. With the capital city of Praia, Cape Verde has a population of 555,998 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Cape Verde’s modern history is characterized by stability, both politically and economically. From independence 1975 to 1990, Cape Verde was a one-party state. The Socialist PAICV (before 1981 called PAIGC) was the only allowed party. When free elections were held in…
Read MoreCentral African Republic Modern History
Central African Republic is a country located in Central Africa. With the capital city of Bangui, Central African Republic has a population of 4,829,778 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. The French colony of the Central African Republic became an independent nation in 1960 with David Dacko as self-proclaimed president. Since then, the country has been characterized by political turmoil, coups, economic mismanagement and poverty. In the 2000s, a…
Read MoreChad Modern History
Chad is a country located in Central Africa. With the capital city of N’Djamena, Chad has a population of 16,425,875 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Chad became independent from France in 1960. François Tombalbaye, leader of the Chad Progressive Party (PPT), became the country’s first president. Tombalbaye, who belonged to the sara people in the south, introduced one-party rule but the nomad people in the north refused to…
Read MoreComoros Modern History
Comoros is a country located in Eastern Africa. With the capital city of Moroni, Comoros has a population of 869,612 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Deep division has characterized the Comoros ever since the independence of colonial power France in 1975. An important reason for the divide has been conflicts between the three islands that make up the country and contradictions between the central power and the islands’…
Read MoreDjibouti Modern History
Djibouti is a country located in Eastern Africa. With the capital city of Djibouti, Djibouti has a population of 988,011 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Djibouti became independent from the colonial power of France in 1977. Four years later, the country became a one-party state with the Issa People-dominated Popular Collection for Progress (RPP) as the only permissible party. Multiparty systems were reintroduced in 1992 after pressure from…
Read MoreDemocratic Republic of the Congo Modern History
Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country located in Central Africa. With the capital city of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo has a population of 89,561,414 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Congo-Kinshasa got its worst possible start as a nation and was immediately threatened by fragmentation. Within the course of six months came army insurgency, Belgian invasion, provinces that broke out of the country, UN troops,…
Read MoreEgypt Modern History
Egypt is a country located in Northern Africa. With the capital city of Cairo, Egypt has a population of 102,334,415 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. The king was overthrown by a group of officers in a bloody coup in 1952 and Egypt became a military dictatorship with socialist signs. Anwar al-Sadat, who became president in 1970, abolished the one-party state, but the regime remained authoritarian. After losing several…
Read MoreEquatorial Guinea Modern History
Equatorial Guinea is a country located in Central Africa. With the capital city of Malabo, Equatorial Guinea has a population of 1,402,996 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Equatorial Guinea became independent from Spain in 1968 and Francisco Macías Nguema was elected president. Under him, the residents came to live in a veritable fear of terror and when he was overthrown in 1979, many hoped that everything would be…
Read MoreEritrea Modern History
Eritrea is a country located in Eastern Africa. With the capital city of Asmara, Eritrea has a population of 3,546,432 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. When, in 1962, Ethiopia finally abolished the former Italian colony of Eritrea its autonomy, an armed struggle for independence began. In 1991, the EPLF rebel group captured the capital Asmara, while other resistance groups overthrew the military regime in Ethiopia. The Eritreans were…
Read MoreEthiopia Modern History
Ethiopia is a country located in Eastern Africa. With the capital city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia has a population of 114,963,599 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Dissatisfaction with corruption and lack of development contributed to the overthrow of the military by Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. He had ruled the country a lot since 1930. A military council took power and proclaimed a socialist state. Gradually, the…
Read MoreGabon Modern History
Gabon is a country located in Central Africa. With the capital city of Libreville, Gabon has a population of 2,225,745 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Most of the time since independence in 1960, Gabon has been dominated by the Bongo family and its party PDG: first President Omar Bongo from 1967 and after his death in 2009 his son Ali Ben Bongo. At independence in 1960, the political…
Read MoreGambia Modern History
Gambia is a country located in Western Africa. With the capital city of Banjul, Gambia has a population of 2,416,679 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. The Gambia became independent from the UK in 1965. The country’s first leader was Dawda Jawara. After a coup attempt in 1981, the country formed a confederation with Senegal, Senegambia, but it fell apart after seven years. Jawara was overthrown in a military…
Read MoreGhana Modern History
Ghana is a country located in Western Africa. With the capital city of Accra, Ghana has a population of 31,072,951 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Of all the British colonies in sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana was the first to become independent. In 1957 the country became a nation of the Commonwealth (Britain and former British colonies), with Kwame Nkrumah as the first prime minister. In 1960, Ghana became the…
Read MoreGuinea Modern History
Guinea is a country located in Western Africa. With the capital city of Conakry, Guinea has a population of 13,132,806 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. When Guinea’s strong man Sekou Touré died in 1984, the military took power in a coup. The country’s new leader Lansana Conté led a strict regime, although after protests he was forced to introduce multi-party democracy. When Conté died in 2008, the military…
Read MoreGuinea-Bissau Modern History
Guinea-Bissau is a country located in Western Africa. With the capital city of Bissau, Guinea-Bissau has a population of 1,968,012 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. After an eleven-year-long liberation war, Guinea-Bissau had become an independent state in 1974, but from the beginning the problems accumulated. The economy was in crisis and there was great concern in politics. The situation was not improved by the introduction of multi-party democracy…
Read MoreIvory Coast Modern History
Ivory Coast is a country located in Western Africa. With the capital city of Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast has a population of 26,378,285 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Since the death of the country’s strong man Félix Houphouët-Boignys in 1993, a long period of political unrest followed, in which politicians played on ethnic contradictions for their own purposes. In 2002, civil war broke out, which in practice divided the…
Read MoreKenya Modern History
Kenya is a country located in Eastern Africa. With the capital city of Nairobi, Kenya has a population of 53,771,307 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Kenya became independent in 1963. The liberation hero Jomo Kenyatta ruled the country until his death in 1978, when Daniel arap Moi took over as president. In the 2002 election, the Kanu government party lost power for the first time and a coalition…
Read MoreLesotho Modern History
Lesotho is a country located in Southern Africa. With the capital city of Maseru, Lesotho has a population of 2,142,260 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. The first years after Lestoho’s independence in 1966 were marked by political contradictions, coups and periods of military rule. From 1965, the policy was dominated by Leabua Jonathan, leader of the party that was the biggest in independence – the Basutoland National Party…
Read MoreLibya Modern History
Libya is a country located in Northern Africa. With the capital city of Tripoli, Libya has a population of 6,871,303 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Muammar Gaddafi took power in Libya in 1969. The eccentric leader made huge changes in the country. He pursued a radical foreign policy and fought, among others, Israel and the United States by supporting militant groups around the world. As a result, Libya…
Read MoreMadagascar Modern History
Madagascar is a country located in Eastern Africa. With the capital city of Antananarivo, Madagascar has a population of 27,691,029 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Coups and popular revolts – sometimes in collaboration – have characterized Madagascar’s politics during independence after 1960. There have also been frictions between the residents of the interior and the coastal areas, as well as contradictions between those who wished to have a…
Read MoreMalawi Modern History
Malawi is a country located in Eastern Africa. With the capital city of Lilongwe, Malawi has a population of 19,129,963 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. In 1964, Malawi became an independent republic. After independence, Prime Minister Hastings Kamuzu Banda gathered all political and economic power to his own person, and banned all opposition. He appointed himself president and the one-party system was written into the constitution. Banda then…
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