Wealth, Worth, Wakanda and the Motherland

Today's lesson is more geography than history.  It's a lesson that you will need because it essentially contributes to the invasion, colonization, mutilation, and continuing destruction of African nations for the greed of the world.

A few years ago, a popular greeting spread across the land. A greeting far more popular than a "Roll Tide!" or the infamous "Wasssup!" Black people and Marvel fans across the world were saluting each other with a crisp folding of arms across the chest and a "Wakanda Forever." Even if they hadn't seen the movie, almost every black person you'll ever encounter knows about or knows someone who knows about Wakanda.  In all essence, Wakanda is what many nations of Africa could have and would have been.  Had there not been...

Wakanda.  My first encounter with the fictional land of African prosperity happened by accident while browsing through books.  Forever looking for allusion and connections, I saw a Black Panther comic and fell in love with the idea of a magical land.  The fact that it was a black panther and that I was (at the moment) intrigued by the history of the Black Panther party in Alabama.  The Black Panther of Wakanda wasn't just magical to me, it was a possibility.  I imagined walking down the streets and visiting shops in Birnin Zana, speaking with T'Challa and other elders.  Yes, Wakanda mesmerized me and it teased me.  I knew just a little about Africa and those awful late night commercials of starving kids, impoverished villages, wild animals, colonization, and apartheid.  I imagined Africa, without the taint of colonization, as a continent of many Wakandas.  The most I was ever taught of Africa grouped the nations together in one lump continent grounded by a vast desert.  I had to expose myself to the beauty of the continent through a desire to learn more.  

The Motherland and Wakanda were synonymous with wealth and worth.  Both were places of prosperity, untouched without the blemish of colonization and outside greed.  I wanted a world where I could see a nation of people like me living the prosperous life.  A happy nation of people with pride in their culture.  A pride born out of longevity and acknowledgement.  And a pride that exists despite the horrors of colonization.

That was my dream city.  I imagined living there and possibly teaching or working in a library full of texts about every African nation and civilization.  Vibranium wouldn't be the only powerful resource. Wakanda was fictional and inspirational. The wealth of the nation reminded me of Africa's wealth.  A wealth that was stolen and that the world continues to steal.

Africa.  Africa is Earth's oldest (and second largest) land mass.  It's also the most stable.  In fact, while continents have drifted and torn themselves apart, almost 98% of the African continent has been sitting still for the last 300 million years.  More interesting than that, some areas of the African country have been in place for more than 3,600 million years.  This means that the African continent dates back to before the beginning of life itself.  

African Geology. The physical regions are horizontal strips or bands.  

• To the north, there's the Sahara, the largest hot desert in the world and the third largest desert. It makes up about 25 percent of the African continent.  It was in the Saharan desert that salt was mined from the ergs (sand dunes) and used for trade.  The salt made many medieval African nations wealthy and the envy/target of invaders.  Salt is still be mined in the Sahara.  
• Next is the Sahel.  The Sahel, a thin strip of semi-arid land, is much smaller than the Sahara.  Other than the Niger delta region, there is very little fertile land to be found. 
• To the east and south of the Sahel are the Ethiopian Highlands, home to majority of the tallest mountains in Africa.  The Great Rift Valley is located here.
• Below the Sahel is the Savanna.  Savannas are grasslands and they cover almost half of the African continent.  Most of the middle portion of Africa lies in the savanna.  The Serengeti is located here and many of the animals you see on photos and videos from safaris are found here. 
• On the west coast below the Ethiopian Highlands and the savannas lies the Swahili Coast.  This coastal region has been greatly influenced by Arabic settlers and traders.  
• While it used to be more prominent and covered a larger region, Africa's rainforest is now primarily located in Central Africa along the Congo River.  The Rainforest is home to a diverse population of animals, insects, and plants.  Most interestingly, only about 10 percent of the plants have even been identified. 
• The African Great Lakes essentially surround the Great Rift Valley.  Some of the largest and deepest lakes in the world are found here.  While the Anglicized names are what we recognize, many native Africans are pushing to have them recognized by their local native names and remove the legacy of colonization.  Lake Victoria, locally known as Nalubaale, Ukerewe, Nyanza, and Lolwe, is the source of the Nile River, the longest river in the world.  Many local cultures hold this waterway in high spiritual regards.
• Lastly, the southern African region contains some of the oldest landmasses and geological finds in the world.  The Kaapvaal craton is more than 2.6 billion years old. The craton is one of the only remaining area of  Located on the eastern edge of the craton are the Barberton Makhonjswa Mountains.  The earliest known living organisms are preserved in these ancient rocks.  The motherland, truly.  It all began in Africa, remember? The Bushveld Igneous Complex is also located in the southern African region.  Those ancient rocks don't just boast an existence older than all others, it boasts an unparalleled wealth.  Imagine an island of rock so packed with minerals and resources that mining those resources could continue into the year 3000.  Platinum, palladium, rhodium, chromium, and vanadium are found here.  In fact, almost 70% of the world's platinum comes from here.  While 99% of the labor for mining these resources is black, the wealth gained from these resources is white. Invaders and colonizers were drawn to the area because of the precious minerals, stones, and resources.  The exploitation of child labor and black labor should not be ignored.  It was the greed of these colonizers, enslavers, and manipulators that stalled the development of nations of people.  The effects of this are still being experienced today.  How do you think many of the politicians, leaders, kings, and queens of the world, have "earned" their wealth?  

It was the wealth that brought the world to Africa and Africa to the world.  Imagine if the wealth and resources had not been exploited by invaders and colonizers from other land.  Imagine if African nations has been able to mine the lands and extract the resources for themselves?  How and why do so many organizations with ties to the enslaving, erasing, and exploiting of Africa's most valuable resource, her people, continue to thrive today?