Africa

Many thoughts come to mind when I first think about Africa. I think about geography, culture, conflicts, imperialism, and many other things. When I think of geography I think about the hot climate and little water. I picture Africa being very hot and dry and since I picture them being poor or having no money I imagine people without water in a hot area. I think of a very spiritual culture. I picture people in Africa being very religious and having many ceremonies and gatherings. I picture face painting and old instruments. I also think about poverty. I know Africa is an extremely poor continent and so I imagine everyone living poor lives. When I think of conflict I think about all of the wars and genocides going of in Africa today. There is Darfur, blood diamonds, Northern Uganda war, and many other conflicts. Such conflicts cause many deaths and cause people to live in fear. I watched the movie Blood Diamond and I saw how scary it can be to live in Africa. Of course this is just a movie and not all of it is real but I know that blood diamonds are real and I have learned about it in school. When I think of Imperialism I think of Africa because in 9th grade social studies we learned how many different European nations went into Africa. This causes large cultural diversity and many battles between Europeans and Africans. Also Europeans went to Africa to buy, sell, and trade slaves.

I think that these thoughts come to mind because it is what I see in our media. Also last year we learned a little about Africa when the Europeans went into Africa so that also effects what comes to mind when I think of Africa.