The political consequences of a premature, failed military invasion would likely be fatal to the Allied cause. American soldiers standing on a wing of a wrecked German plans in North Africa, 1943. Gift of Vincent Yannetti. As the Allies debated their course of action, the heavy realities of war and defeat fell onto the scales.Millions of slaves were also transported within the continent, usually from Central Africa and Madagascar to North Africa and the European colony of South Africa. ... Political Geography Africa's history and development have been shaped by its political geography. Political geography is the internal and external relationships between various ...Throughout recorded history people have been moving back and forth between Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. But the puzzling placements of blacks, Pygmies, and Khoisan hint at past population upheavals. Today there are just 200,000 Pygmies scattered amid 120 million blacks.Maghreb. The Maghreb ( / ˈmʌɡrəb /; Arabic: الْمَغْرِب, romanized : al-Maghrib, lit. 'the west'), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( Arabic: المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, [2] is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania (also ...will inform and enthrall students coming to the history of North Africa for the first time, as well as those in other disciplines searching for the background to present-day events in the region. Susan Gilson Miller is Professor of History at the University of California, Davis. Her research interests focus on Islamic urbanism, travel and migra-See Full PDFDownload PDF. Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette History Syllabi: Undergraduate History Department 4-1-2010 HIST 4450: History of North Africa Phillip Chiviges Naylor Marquette University f History of North Africa (HIST 4450) Spring 2010 Dr. P. Naylor HIST 4450 plans to follow the historical direction pointed out by Ibn ... The French colonial empire in the Americas comprised New France (including Canada and Louisiana), French West Indies (including Saint-Domingue, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Dominica, St. Lucia, Grenada, Tobago and other islands) and French Guiana. French North America was known as 'Nouvelle France' or New France. During the 16th century, the French colonization of the Americas began.Finally, around 15,000 years ago, humans crossed from Asia to North America and from there to South America. Africa is relatively rich in the fossils of human ancestors who lived millions of years ...Ancient Carthage ( / ˈkɑːrθɪdʒ / KAR-thij, Phoenician / Punic: 𐤒𐤓𐤕𐤟𐤇𐤃𐤔𐤕 ) was an ancient Semitic civilization centered in North Africa. Initially a settlement in present-day Tunisia, it later became a city-state and then an empire.In the article below, culinary historian Diane M. Spivey describes the centuries-old diaspora of African foods and cooking traditions in North and South America. Africa has been a major contributor to the cuisine of North and South America although this contribution has long been overlooked, … Read MoreTransAtlantic Food Migration: The African Culinary Influence on the Cuisine of the AmericasWWII Reads: North Africa. The Museum's Senior Director of Public Programming revisits his favorite books on World War II in North Africa. April 29, 2020. Gaming sparked my interest in the Desert War—specifically, the old Avalon Hill board game, "Tobruk.". It was one of the best that wonderful old company produced: simple where it needed ...The sun shines over Saharan dunes. The Sahara, located in Northern Africa, is the world's largest hot desert and second largest desert after Antarctica at over 3.5 million square miles (9 million square kilometers). Almost as large as the United States, it crosses the borders of 11 nations. Moors from North Africa helped the first Islamic Empire invade Iberia in 711. Once Al-Andalus was established more and more Moors migrated to Iberia and lived there for almost 800 years.North Africa During the Classical Period. Phoenician traders arrived on the North African coast around 900 B.C. and established Carthage (in present-day Tunisia) around 800 B.C. By the sixth century B.C., a Phoenician presence existed at Tipasa (east of Cherchell in Algeria).Identification of recently introgressed NW African haplotypes. Given the historical indication of a prevalently Berber origin for the Arab groups invading southern Europe, 2, 3 we focused on NW African specific haplogroups as markers of MNA contribution to this region. Haplogroups E1b1b1b (M81 derived), E1b1b1a-β (M78 derived chromosomes showing the rare DYS439 allele 10) and a subset of J1 ...Sudan, country located in northeastern Africa.The name Sudan derives from the Arabic expression bilād al-sūdān ("land of the blacks"), by which medieval Arab geographers referred to the settled African countries that began at the southern edge of the Sahara.For more than a century, Sudan—first as a colonial holding, then as an independent country—included its neighbour South Sudan ...Barbary Pirates and English Slaves. by Ben Johnson. For over 300 years, the coastlines of the south west of England were at the mercy of Barbary pirates (corsairs) from the coast of North Africa, based mainly in the ports of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli. Their number included not only North Africans but also English and Dutch privateers.1. youth learned discipline, service, and leadership. 2. prevented any family from getting too much control. 3. mark the movement from one stage of life to the next. what role did Islam play in the political history of North Africa? Muslims …The 2010-2011 popular uprisings—sometimes referred to as the "Arab Spring"—provided the United States with a chance to reorient its engagement with North Africa by focusing on supporting the citizens of North Africa who took to the streets demanding dignity, freedom, and social change; these popular uprisings also opened the door for the United States to work with governments to ...Population history of North Africa based on modern and ancient genomes. 2021 Apr 26;30 (R1):R17-R23. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddaa261. Compared with the rest of the African continent, North Africa has provided limited genomic data. Nonetheless, the genetic data available show a complex demographic scenario characterized by extensive admixture and drift.Regions of ancient Sicily. The indigenous peoples of Sicily, long absorbed into the population, were tribes known to ancient Greek writers as the Elymians, the Sicani and the Siculi or Sicels (from whom the island derives its name). Of these, the last was the latest to arrive and was related to other Italic peoples of southern Italy, such as the Italoi of Calabria, the Oenotrians, Chones, and ...Genetic data from present-day populations (11-13) suggests that North African ancestry has contributions from four main sources: (i) an autochthonous Maghrebi component related to a back migration to Africa ∼12,000 y ago from Eurasia; (ii) a Middle Eastern component probably associated with the Arab conquest; (iii) a sub-Saharan component derived from trans-Saharan migrations; and (iv) a ...Introduction. The history of North Africa in Antiquity is one of the most exciting, if still comparatively unexplored, fields of ancient history and archaeology. From the continuing, highly charged controversy over the origin of the Berbers, the original inhabitants of North Africa, to the prominence of Carthage—Rome's one significant rival ...environmental history of North Africa Diana K. Davis Department of Geography, University of Texas, Austin The origins of the word 'desertification', most commonly attributed to Aubréville's 1949 work on tropical African forests, may be traced back much earlier, to nineteenth-century French colonial North Africa.The change brings to an end the first settled culture of Africa. The Sahara becomes the almost impenetrable barrier which throughout recorded history has separated the Mediterranean coast and north Africa from the rest of the continent. At much the same time north Africa becomes the site of one of the world`s first great civilizations, Egypt ...A Slave Between Empires investigates Husayn's transimperial life and the posthumous battle over his fortune to recover the transnational dimensions of North African history. M'hamed Oualdi places Husayn within the international context of the struggle between Ottoman and French forces for control of the Mediterranean amid social and ...The sun shines over Saharan dunes. The Sahara, located in Northern Africa, is the world's largest hot desert and second largest desert after Antarctica at over 3.5 million square miles (9 million square kilometers). Almost as large as the United States, it crosses the borders of 11 nations. North Africa - Political, Military, Institutions: Hereditary kingship prevailed in Phoenicia until Hellenistic times, and Greek and Roman sources refer to kingship at Carthage. It appears to have been not hereditary but elective, though in practice one family, the Magonid, dominated in the 6th century bc. The power of the kingship was diminished during the 5th century, a development that has ...May 10, 2019 · The Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1942 was intended to draw Axis forces away from the Eastern Front, thus relieving pressure on the hard-pressed Soviet Union. The operation was a compromise between U.S. and British planners as the latter felt that the American-advocated landing in northern Europe was premature and would lead to disaster at this stage of the war. The ... Due to proximity, the term 'Maghrebi Jews' ( Moroccan Jews, Algerian Jews, Tunisian Jews, and Libyan Jews) sometimes refers to Egyptian Jews as well, even though there are important cultural differences between the history of Egyptian and Maghrebi Jews. [1] These Jews originating from North Africa constitute the second largest Jewish diaspora ...The areas of North Africa that have retained the Berber language and traditions best have been, in general, Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. ... and is rooted in the entire history and geography of North Africa. Berbers are not an entirely homogeneous ethnicity, and they include a range of societies, ancestries, and lifestyles. The unifying ...The Arab Spring was a series of pro-democracy uprisings that enveloped several largely Muslim countries, including Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Bahrain. The events in these nations ...AFRICA, NORTH: HISTORY OF DRESSNorth Africa comprises Egypt and the lands to its west, known in Arabic as al-Maghrib, literally "the place of sunset": Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. These political divisions were essentially established by the Ottomans in the sixteenth century, but throughout history this part of Africa has been affected by, and has had a profound effect upon, the ...Africa, in ancient Roman history, the first North African territory of Rome, at times roughly corresponding to modern Tunisia. It was acquired in 146 bce after the destruction of Carthage at the end of the Third Punic War. Initially, the province comprised the territory that had been subject to.Maghreb, region of North Africa bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The Africa Minor of the ancients, it at one time included Moorish Spain and now comprises essentially the Atlas Mountains and the coastal plain of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. Learn more about the Maghreb in this article. Historians have counted three invasions - between 642 and 700 - which saw Muslim forces head westward from their Arabian heartland to conquer first Egypt and then all of the Byzantine-held territories in North Africa. It took Muslim forces a little more than six decades to conquer an area of over 6 million kilometers / 2.3 million miles ...Ancient Libya. Map of the world according to Herodotus. During the Iron Age and classical antiquity, Libya (from Greek Λιβύη: Libyē, which came from Berber: Libu) referred to modern-day Africa west of the Nile river. Greek and Roman geographers placed the dividing line between Libya/Africa and Asia at the Nile. [1] [2] [3] [4]North Africa and Southwest Asia are both considered to be part of the Middle East.This region of the world has large, immense deserts. The Sahara Desert in particular is a major geographic feature ...The Middle East and North Africa is a geographic region whose countries are often referred to by the acronym MENA.It is also known as WANA, SWANA, or NAWA, which alternatively refers to the Middle East as West Asia or as Southwest Asia; this is another way to reference the geographical region, instead of using the more common political terminology.. As a regional identifier, MENA is often used ...Islam has a large presence in North Africa, West Africa, the horn of Africa, the Southeast and among the minority but significant immigrant population in South Africa. The first West Africans to be converted were the inhabitants of the Sahara, the Berbers, and it is generally agreed that by the second half of the tenth century, the Sahara had become Dar al-Islam …Johannesburg, city, Gauteng province, South Africa, that is the country's chief industrial and financial metropolis. One of the youngest of the world's major cities, Johannesburg was founded in 1886, following the discovery of gold. Read and learn more about Johannesburg here.The US Invasion of North Africa. As the "Hinge of Fate" was turning across the globe, Operation Torch became the US military's first step toward defeat of Nazi Germany in Europe. January 9, 2018. Days after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, both Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy declared war, and the United States was ...Despite the continuous gene flow from the Middle East, Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa, an autochthonous genetic component is still present in North African groups that dates back to pre-Holocene ...The Sahara, located in Northern Africa, is the world's largest hot desert and second largest desert after Antarctica at over 3.5 million square miles (9 million square kilometers). Almost as large as the United States, it crosses the borders of 11 nations.While much of the desert is uninhabited, two million people are scattered across its vast expanses, not including those who live along the ...Login. Subscribe. Home Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture Money Videos. North Africa, region of Africa comprising the modern countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. The geographic entity North Africa has no single accepted definition. It has been regarded by ...Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies and Literature and Professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies, Department of History ...The study of African archaeology and history, the editor argues, has been marred by the extremist attitudes of both condescending European historians and African-American Afrocentrists. ... These eleven papers, from a conference held in Ohio in 1991 and since revised, re-examine evidence from north-eastern Africa in order to affirm the cultural ...See Full PDFDownload PDF. A Peep into the Early History of North African Music. By Olusola Kayode Olanrewaju Department of music, Obafemi Awolowo University. April, 2015. Introduction Africa is one of the seven continents of the world predominantly inhabited by black people. It is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent ...Consequently, the history of the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb and the history of the Muslim conquest of a greater North African region (reaching far into the Middle East) cannot be sharply distinguished. The Muslim conquest of North Africa continued the century of rapid Arab Muslim military expansion following the death of Muhammad in 632 CE.World War II. World War II was the biggest and deadliest war in history, involving more than 30 countries. Sparked by the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, the war dragged on for six bloody years ...Africa north of the Sahara is differentiated from the rest of the continent by its Mediterranean climate and by its long history of political and cultural contacts with peoples outside of Africa. It is physically separated from the rest of the continent by the Atlas Mountains and is inhabited primarily by peoples who speak languages that belong to the Afro-Asiatic group.North Africa Univ of. California Press. A introduction to the history, geography, economy, culture, and people of the four north. African countries formerly.The Sao civilization flourished from about the sixth century BC to as late as the 16th century AD in Central Africa. The Sao lived by the Chari River south of Lake Chad in territory that later became part of present-day Cameroon and Chad.They are the earliest people to have left clear traces of their presence in the territory of modern Cameroon.Today, several ethnic groups of northern Cameroon ...The designation North Africa is also associated with this region of the continent. It refers to a smaller geographical area than that embraced by the term northern Africa—namely the countries of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, a region known by the French during colonial times as Afrique du Nord and by the Arabs as the Maghrib ("West").World War II was the biggest and deadliest war in history, involving more than 30 countries. Sparked by the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, the war dragged on for six bloody years until the Allies ...600,000 to 200,000 BCE. Period of migration across the African continent and out of Africa to Asia and Europe. Fire is first used during this period. African Migration. n.a. 1492-1600. 6000-4000 BCE. Spread of agriculture across Africa. River societies emerge along the Nile, Niger, and Congo Rivers.1 Nov 2006 ... Tunisia and Morocco house smaller but growing sub-Saharan immigrant communities of several tens of thousands. While having deeper historical ...The geostrategic location of North Africa as a crossroad between three continents and as a stepping-stone outside Africa has evoked anthropological and genetic interest in this region. Numerous studies have described the genetic landscape of the human population in North Africa employing paternal, maternal, and biparental molecular markers. However, information from these markers which have ...Multiple Trajectories of Islam in Africa Islam had already spread into northern Africa by the mid-seventh century A.D., only a few decades after the prophet Muhammad moved with his followers from Mecca to Medina on the neighboring Arabian Peninsula (622 A.D./1 A.H.). The Arab conquest of Spain and the push of Arab armies as far as the Indus River …Approaching North African History: Ibn Khaldun, Malik Bennabi, and Jacques Berque Having located North Africa geographically, surveyed its prehistory, and recognized its historical significance, how has its complex recorded history been recounted, explained, and appreciated? There are important historical surveys of North Africa that cover the ...History Of North Africa. North Africa is a relatively thin strip of land between the Sahara desert and the Mediterranean, stretching from Moroccan Atlantic coast to Egypt and Sudan. The region comprises the modern countries, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, Libya, Egypt and Sudan. The history of the region is a mix of influences from many ...Carthage, great city of antiquity on the north coast of Africa, now a residential suburb of the city of Tunis, Tunisia. According to tradition, Carthage was founded by the Phoenicians of Tyre in 814 BCE; its …Ancient DNA from skeletal remains found across the islands now suggests that the islands' earliest pioneers were North Africans who may have arrived around 100 C.E. or earlier, and settled on ...By Tim Lambert Ancient Africa Scientists believe that Africa was the birthplace of mankind. By 100,000 BC modern humans lived by hunting and gathering with stone tools. From Africa, they spread to Europe. By 5,000 farming had spread to North Africa. People herded cattle and they grew crops. At that time the Sahara Desert was… Continue reading A Brief History of AfricaThe history of Islam in Africa can be traced back to the early 7th century. It is the first continent that Islam spread to from Southwestern Asia. Advertise on TMV. The religion of Islam began in the Middle East during the early 600s CE. Not long after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 CE, it began spreading in the subcontinent.Nigeria (/ n aɪ ˈ dʒ ɪər i ə / ⓘ ny-JEER-ee-ə), officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea to the south in the Atlantic Ocean.It covers an area of 923,769 square kilometres (356,669 sq mi), and with a population of over 230 million, it is the most populous country in …The North African campaign of the Second World War took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert campaign, also known as the Desert War) and in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch), as well as Tunisia (Tunisia campaign).. The campaign was fought between the Allies and the Axis Powers.Moors from North Africa helped the first Islamic Empire invade Iberia in 711. Once Al-Andalus was established more and more Moors migrated to Iberia and lived there for almost 800 years.The Phoenicians (800bc) built the powerful city of Carthage (now Tunisia). This fell under Roman rule and by 400 AD most North Africans had converted to Christianity. What transformed North Africa religion, culture and language. The arrival of Arab Muslims from Southwest Asia. What are followers of Islam called.World War II was the biggest and deadliest war in history, involving more than 30 countries. Sparked by the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, the war dragged on for six bloody years until the Allies ... Millions of slaves were also transported within the continent, usually from Central Africa and Madagascar to North Africa and the European colony of South Africa. ... Political Geography Africa's history and development have been shaped by its political geography. Political geography is the internal and external relationships between various ...The north African coast remains from now on in Muslim hands, but it proves impossible to exercise effective control over it from the centre of the caliphate - whether in Damascus or Baghdad. Instead various local Berber dynasties win power. These include the Idrisids (established from 790 in Fez) and the Aghlabids (ruling from 800 in Kairouan).The designation North Africa is also associated with this region of the continent. It refers to a smaller geographical area than that embraced by the term northern Africa—namely the countries of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, a region known by the French during colonial times as Afrique du Nord and by the Arabs as the Maghrib ("West").1 The legacy of prehistory: an essay on the background to the individuality of African cultures; 2 North Africa in the period of Phoenician and Greek colonization, c. 800 to 323 BC; 3 North Africa in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, 323 BC to AD 305; 4 The Nilotic Sudan and Ethiopia, c. 660 bc to c.ad 600Consequently, the history of the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb and the history of the Muslim conquest of a greater North African region (reaching far into the Middle East) cannot be sharply distinguished. The Muslim conquest of North Africa continued the century of rapid Arab Muslim military expansion following the death of Muhammad in 632 CE.24 Jun 2021 ... Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations. III. Charts and Illustrations. Charts: North African theater of operations. Facing ...Tunisia - Ancient, Roman, Arab: The following discussion offers a brief summary of Tunisia’s early history but mainly focuses on Tunisia since about 1800. For a more detailed treatment of earlier periods and of the country in its regional context, see North Africa. Tunisia was called Ifrīqiyyah in the early centuries of the Islamic period. That name, in turn, comes from the Roman word for ...Culture of North Africa. The people of the Maghreb and the Sahara speak various dialects of Berber and Arabic and almost exclusively follow Islam. The Arabic and Berber groups of languages are distantly related, both being members of the Afro-Asiatic family. The Sahara dialects are notably more conservative than those of coastal cities (see ...Northern Africa is generally accepted to refer to the northernmost region of the African continent, stretching from the Atlantic shores of Morocco in the west to the Suez Canal and the Red Sea in the east. By this definition, the nations included are: Algeria. Egypt. Libya. Morocco. Sudan. The change brings to an end the first settled culture of Africa. The Sahara becomes the almost impenetrable barrier which throughout recorded history has separated the Mediterranean coast and north Africa from the rest of the continent. At much the same time north Africa becomes the site of one of the world's first great civilizations, Egypt ...Less than one-tenth of Africa’s land area is arable, while nearly one-fourth is forested or wooded. The continent’s hydrology is dominated by the Nile River in the north, the Niger River in the west, and the Congo River in central Africa. The peoples of Africa probably speak more languages than those of any other continent. The history of Islam in Africa can be traced back to the early 7th century. It is the first continent that Islam spread to from Southwestern Asia. Advertise on TMV. The religion of Islam began in the Middle East during the early 600s CE. Not long after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 CE, it began spreading in the subcontinent.North African Folklore. North Africa consists of the Mediterranean coast from Morocco to Egypt and includes the valley of the Nile River as far south as Ethiopia. With strong ties to the Mediterranean and Arab worlds, North Africans had to deal with the influence of Christianity by the A.D. 300s and 700s, much of the area came under the ...Christianity first arrived in North Africa, in the 1st or early 2nd century AD. The Christian communities in North Africa were among the earliest in the world. Legend has it that Christianity was ...Middle East, the lands around the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, encompassing at least the Arabian Peninsula and, by some definitions, Iran, North Africa, and sometimes beyond. Learn more about the history of the classification of the region in this article.Login. Subscribe. Home Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture Money Videos. North Africa, region of Africa comprising the modern countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. The geographic entity North Africa has no single accepted definition. It has been regarded by ...Carthage was a Phoenician city-state on the coast of North Africa (the site of modern-day Tunis) which, prior the conflict with Rome known as the Punic Wars (264-146 BCE), was the largest, most affluent, and powerful political entity in the Mediterranean.The city was originally known as Kart-hadasht (new city) to distinguish it from the older …Get your SPECIAL OFFER for MagellanTV here: https://try.magellantv.com/kingsandgenerals/. It's an exclusive offer for our viewers! Start your free trial toda...The north African coast remains from now on in Muslim hands, but it proves impossible to exercise effective control over it from the centre of the caliphate - whether in Damascus or Baghdad. Instead various local Berber dynasties win power. These include the Idrisids (established from 790 in Fez) and the Aghlabids (ruling from 800 in Kairouan).Colonialism in North Africa, because of its violence and the huge transformations it caused within its societies, shaped a historical vision of the North African past that obscured other, far more deeply rooted processes. This paper not only aims to emphasize the impact of these other, deeper historical processes, it also suggests that by taking in to account this longue durée, our analytical ...History. The roots of native African cuisine goes back to thousands of years to the Bronze Age in Northeast Africa, when early civilizations began cultivating grains such as barley and wheat. Part of North Africa is in the Fertile Crescent where settled agriculture was practiced by the Ancient Egyptians in this area. Animals such as donkeys and sheep were also domesticated starting the spread ...A scenario where North African Maghrebi ancestry is the result of in situ population absorbing Near Eastern migrants wo, Utica (/ ˌ j uː t ɪ k ə /) was an ancient Phoenician and Carthaginian city lo, Maghreb, region of North Africa bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The Africa Minor of the ancients, it at , The North African nation of Libya covers 1,759,541 k, The Muqaddimah: Ibn Khaldūn’s philosophy of history. In 1375, craving solitude from the exhausting business of polit, Julia Clancy-Smith is Professor of History at the University of Arizona. She is the author of Medit, It is extreme tourism that has become the reason for the attractivenes, North Africa is defined as the part of Africa stretching from , The genetic history of North Africa has been heavily , Maghreb. The Maghreb ( / ˈmʌɡrəb /; Arabic: الْمَغْ, Byzantine Africa: 6th - 7th century. The expansionist energy of Justin, Abstract. This article argues that there is a need to develop , Clothing of African Cultures The evolution of African clothing is di, On April 29, the two commanders signed the instrument, WWII Reads: North Africa. The Museum's Senior Direct, Mechoui. Mechoui is the traditional North African roas, North Africa is often loosely defined, but for the purposes of th, African economic history often focuses on explanations of poverty and .