[[Image:LocationEasternAfrica.png|right|thumb|245px| ]] East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:

Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi – members of the East African Community (EAC). Burundi and Rwanda are sometimes considered part of Central Africa

Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia (which includes ''Somaliland'') – collectively known as the Horn of Africa

Mozambique and Madagascar – often considered part of Southern Africa. Madagascar has close cultural ties to Southeast Asia and the islands of the Indian Ocean.

Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – often included in Southern Africa, and formerly of the Central African Federation

Comoros, Mauritius, and Seychelles – small island nations in the Indian Ocean

Réunion and Mayotte – French overseas territories also in the Indian Ocean.

''East Africa'' is often used to specifically refer to the area now comprising the countries of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, and, in a wider sense, also Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Somalia (including the self-declared republic of Somaliland)

Egypt and Sudan are also in the northeastern portion of the continent, but are usually included in Northern Africa.

Geography and climate

Some parts of East Africa have been renowned for their concentrations of wild animals, such as the "big five" of elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard and black rhinoceros, though populations have been declining under increased stress in recent times, particularly the rhino and elephant. The geography of East Africa is often stunning and scenic. Shaped by global plate tectonic forces that have created the Great Rift Valley, East Africa is the site of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, the two tallest peaks in Africa. It also includes the world's second largest freshwater lake Lake Victoria, and the world's second deepest lake Lake Tanganyika.

The climate of East Africa is rather atypical of equatorial regions. Because of a combination of the region's generally high altitude and the rain shadow of the westerly monsoon winds created by the Rwenzori Mountains and Ethiopian Highlands, East Africa is surprisingly cool and dry for its latitude.

The lower-lying lands of northern Kenya and Greater Somalia are indeed extremely dry. In fact, on the coast of Somaliland and Puntland many years can go by without any rain whatsoever. Elsewhere the annual rainfall generally increases towards the south and with altitude, being around at Mogadishu and at Mombasa on the coast, whilst inland it increases from around at Garoowe to over at Moshi near Kilimanjaro. Unusually, most of the rain falls in ''two'' distinct wet seasons, one centred around April and the other in October or November. This is usually attributed to the passage of the Intertropical Convergence Zone across the region in those months, but it may also be analogous to the autumn monsoon rains of parts of Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the Brazilian Nordeste.

West of the Rwenzoris and Ethiopian highlands the rainfall pattern is more typically tropical, with rain throughout the year near the equator and a single wet season in most of the Ethiopian Highlands from June to September - contracting to July and August around Asmara. Annual rainfall here ranges from over on the western slopes to around at Addis Ababa and at Asmara. In the high mountains rainfall can be over .

Rainfall in East Africa is influenced by El Niño events, which tend to increase rainfall except in the northern and western parts of the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands, where they produce drought and poor Nile floods.

Temperatures in East Africa, except on the hot and generally humid coastal belt, are moderate, with maxima of around and minima of at an altitude of . At altitudes of above , frosts are common during the dry season and maxima typically about or less.

The unique geography and apparent suitability for farming made East Africa a target for European exploration, exploitation and colonialization in the nineteenth century. Today, tourism is an important part of the economies of Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles,and Uganda.

History

Pre history

According to the theory of recent African origin of modern humans, the mainstream position held within the scientific community, all humans originate from East Africa. Some of the earliest fossilized hominid remains have been found in East Africa, including those found in Awash Valley of Ethiopia, Koobi Fora in Kenya and Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.

The southern part of East Africa was occupied until recent times by Khoisan hunter-gatherers, whilst in the Ethiopian Highlands the donkey and such crop plants as teff allowed the beginning of agriculture around 7,000 B.C. Lowland barriers and diseases carried by the tsetse fly, however, prevented the donkey and agriculture from spreading southwards. Only in quite recent times has agriculture spread to the more humid regions south of the equator, through the spread of cattle, sheep and crops such as millet. Language distributions suggest that this most likely occurred from Sudan into modern Uganda and the African Great Lakes, since the Nilotic languages spoken by these pre-Bantu farmers have their closest relatives in the middle Nile basin.

Between 2500–3000 years ago, Bantu-speaking peoples began a millennia-long series of migrations eastward from their homeland in modern Cameroon and Nigeria across the Rwenzori Mountains. This Bantu expansion introduced agriculture into those parts of East Africa either not reached previously by Nilo-Saharan farmers or too wet for millet. During the following fifteen centuries, the Bantu slowly intensified farming and grazing over all suitable regions of East Africa, in the process making contact with Austronesian- and Arabic-speaking sailors on the southern coastal areas. The latter also spread Islam to the coastal belt, but most Bantu never had contact with Islam and remained animists.

Languages

English and French are widely spoken to some extent. Swahili is the most useful language in East Africa. In Ethiopia, most people speak Amharic, which is indigenous to the nation. Even if you know a blanket language like English, it is always a good idea to bring phrasebooks for the native languages. Portuguese is widely spoken in South-Eastern Africa. The more one would wish to interact with locals or go out of the cities, the more important it will be for one to have resources to communicate in the local African language.

Arab and Portuguese eras

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore the region of current-day Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique by sea, Vasco da Gama having visited Mombasa in 1498. Gama's voyage was successful in reaching India and this permitted the Portuguese to trade with the Far East directly by sea, thus challenging older trading networks of mixed land and sea routes, such as the spice trade routes that utilized the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and camel caravans to reach the eastern Mediterranean.

The Republic of Venice had gained control over much of the trade routes between Europe and Asia. After traditional land routes to India had been closed by the Ottoman Turks, Portugal hoped to use the sea route pioneered by Gama to break the once Venetian trading monopoly. Portuguese rule in East Africa focused mainly on a coastal strip centred in Mombasa. The Portuguese presence in East Africa officially began after 1505, when flagships under the command of Don Francisco de Almeida conquered Kilwa, an island located in what is now southern Tanzania.

In March 1505, having received from Manuel I of Portugal the appointment of viceroy of the newly conquered territory in India, he set sail from Lisbon in command of a large and powerful fleet, and arrived in July at Quiloa (Kilwa), which yielded to him almost without a struggle. A much more vigorous resistance was offered by the Moors of Mombasa, but the town was taken and destroyed, and its large treasures went to strengthen the resources of Almeida. Attacks followed on Hoja (now known as Ungwana, located at the mouth of the Tana River), Barawa, Angoche, Pate and other coastal towns until the western Indian Ocean was a safe haven for Portuguese commercial interests. At other places on his way, such as the island of Angediva, near Goa, and Cannanore, the Portuguese built forts, and adopted measures to secure the Portuguese supremacy.

Portugal's main goal in the east coast of Africa was take control of the spice trade from the Arabs. At this stage, the Portuguese presence in East Africa served the purposes of controlling trade within the Indian Ocean and securing the sea routes linking Europe to Asia. Portuguese naval vessels were very disruptive to the commerce of Portugal's enemies within the western Indian Ocean and were able to demand high tariffs on items transported through the sea due to their strategic control of ports and shipping lanes. The construction of Fort Jesus in Mombasa in 1593 was meant to solidify Portuguese hegemony in the region, but their influence was clipped by the British, Dutch and Omani Arab incursions into the region during the 17th century.

The Omani Arabs posed the most direct challenge to Portuguese influence in East Africa and besieged Portuguese fortresses, openly attacked naval vessels and expelled the Portuguese from the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts by 1730. By this time the Portuguese Empire had already lost its interest on the spice trade sea route due to the decreasing profitability of that business. The Arabs reclaimed much of the Indian Ocean trade, forcing the Portuguese to retreat south where they remained in Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) as sole rulers until the 1975 independence of Mozambique.

Omani Arab colonization of the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts brought the once independent city-states under closer foreign scrutiny and domination than was experienced during the Portuguese period. Like their predecessors, the Omani Arabs were primarily able only to control the coastal areas, not the interior. However, the creation of clove plantations, intensification of the slave trade and relocation of the Omani capital to Zanzibar in 1839 by Seyyid Said had the effect of consolidating the Omani power in the region.

Arab governance of all the major ports along the East African coast continued until British interests aimed particularly at ending the slave trade and creation of a wage-labour system began to put pressure on Omani rule. By the late nineteenth century, the slave trade on the open seas had been completely outlawed by the British and the Omani Arabs had little ability to resist the British navy's ability to enforce the directive. The Omani presence continued in Zanzibar and Pemba until the Zanzibar Revolution in 1964, but the official Omani Arab presence in Kenya was checked by German and British seizure of key ports and creation of crucial trade alliances with influential local leaders in the 1880s.

Period of European Imperialism

Between the 19th and 20th century, East Africa became a theatre of competition between the major imperialistic European nations of the time. During the period of the Scramble for Africa, almost every country comprising present day East Africa to varying degrees became part of a European colonial empire.

Portugal had first established a strong presence in southern Mozambique and the Indian Ocean since the 15th century, while during this period their possessions increasingly grew including parts from the present northern Mozambique country, up to Mombasa in present day Kenya. At Lake Malawi, they finally met the recently created British Protectorate of Nyasaland (nowadays Malawi), which surrounded the homonymous lake on three sides, leaving the Portuguese the control of lake's eastern coast. The British Empire set foot in the region's most exploitable and promising lands acquiring what is today Uganda, and Kenya. The Protectorate of Uganda and the Colony of Kenya were located in a rich farmland area mostly appropriate for the cultivation of cash crops like coffee and tea, as well as for animal husbandry with products produced from cattle and goats, such as goat meat, beef and milk. Moreover this area had the potential for a significant residential expansion, being suitable for the relocation of a large number of British nationals to the region. Prevailing climatic conditions and the regions' geomorphology allowed the establishment of flourishing European style settlements like Nairobi, Vila Pery, Vila Junqueiro, Porto Amélia, Lourenço Marques and Entebbe.

The French settled the largest island of the Indian Ocean (and the fourth-largest globally), Madagascar along with a group of smaller islands nearby, namely Réunion and the Comoros. Madagascar – until then under British control – became part of the French colonial empire being ceded in exchange for the island of Zanzibar an important hub of spices trade, off the coast of Tanganyika. The British as well held a number of island colonies in the region. The Seychelles an extended archipelago and the rich farmland island of Mauritius, previously under the French sovereignty, were as such.

The German Empire gained control of a large area named German East Africa, comprising present-day Rwanda, Burundi and the mainland part of Tanzania named Tanganyika. In 1922, the British gained a League of Nations mandate over Tanganyika which it administered until Independence was granted to Tanganyika in 1961. Following the Zanzibar Revolution of 1965, the independent state of Tanganyika formed the United Republic of Tanzania by creating a union between the mainland, and the island chain of Zanzibar. Zanzibar is now a semi-autonomous state in a union with the mainland which is collectively and commonly referred to as Tanzania. German East Africa, though very extensive, was not of such strategic importance as the British Crown's colonies to the north: the inhabitation of these lands was difficult and thus limited, mainly due to climatic conditions and the local geomorphology.

Italy gained control of various parts of Somalia in the 1880s. The southern three-fourths of Somalia became an Italian protectorate (Italian Somaliland).

Meanwhile, in 1884, a narrow coastal strip of northern Somalia came under British control (British Somaliland). This northern protectorate was just opposite the British colony of Aden on the Arabian Peninsula. With these territories secured, Britain was able to serve as gatekeeper of the sea lane leading to British India.

In 1890, beginning with the purchase of the small port town of (Asseb) from a local sultan in Eritrea, the Italians colonized all of Eritrea.

In 1895, from bases in Somalia and Eritrea, the Italians launched the First Italo–Ethiopian War against the Orthodox Empire of Ethiopia. By 1896, the war had become a total disaster for the Italians and Ethiopia was able to retain its independence. Ethiopia remained independent until 1936 when, after the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, it became part of Italian East Africa. The Italian occupation of Ethiopia ended in 1941 during World War II as part of the East African Campaign.

The French also staked out an East African outpost on the route to French Indochina. Starting in the 1850s, the small protectorate of Djibouti became French Somaliland in 1897.

Conflicts

Until recently, several East African countries were riven with political coups, ethnic violence and oppressive dictators. Since the end of colonialism, the region has endured the following conflicts:

;Northern East Africa

Darfur Conflict in Sudan

Ethiopian Civil War

Eritrean War of Independence

Eritrean-Ethiopian War

Ogaden War

Somali Civil War

Second Sudanese Civil War

South Kordofan conflict

;East African Community

Burundi Civil War

Uganda-Tanzania War

Ugandan Bush War

Lord's Resistance Army insurgency in Uganda

Rwandan Genocide

Zanzibar Revolution

;Outside East Africa with East African participation

Second Congo War

Kivu Conflict (Laurent Nkunda Rebellion)

Kenya has enjoyed relatively stable governance. However, politics have been turbulent at times, including the attempted coup d’état in 1982 and the 2007 election riots.

Tanzania has known stable government since independence although there are significant political and religious tensions resulting from the political union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1964. Zanzibar is now a semi-autonomous state in the United Republic of Tanzania. Tanzania and Uganda fought the Uganda-Tanzania War in 1978–1979, which led to the removal of Uganda's despotic leader Idi Amin.

Djibouti, as well as the Puntland and Somaliland regions, have also seen relative stability.

South Sudan peacefully seceded from Sudan in 2011, six and a half years after a peace agreement ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. South Sudanese independence was nearly derailed by the South Kordofan conflict, particularly a dispute over the status of the Abyei Area, and both Abyei and South Kordofan's Nuba Hills remain a source of tension between Juba and Khartoum.

See also

Ajuuraan State

Aksumite Empire

Arab slave trade

British East Africa

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa

East African Campaign (World War I)

East African Campaign (World War II)

East African Community

German East Africa

Horn of Africa

Italian East Africa

Land of Punt

References

Category:Regions of Africa

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Coordinates	0°54′″N119°50′″N
name	George Erik Rupp
birth date	September 22, 1942
birth place	Summit, New Jersey
alma mater	Princeton University; also Yale University, and Harvard Divinity School
occupation	educator and theologian, CEO of a non-profit org
spouse	Nancy
children	}}

George Erik Rupp (born September 22, 1942) is an American educator and theologian, the former President of Rice University and later of Columbia University, and president of the International Rescue Committee since July 2002.

Biography

Rupp was born in Summit, New Jersey, the son of German immigrant parents, and was raised in Springfield Township, Union County, New Jersey. He studied in Germany before graduating from Princeton University. He then received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Yale University and, after studying for a year in Sri Lanka, a Ph.D. in religion from Harvard University. He is an ordained Presbyterian minister.

He was faculty fellow in religion and then Vice Chancellor of Johnston College in the University of Redlands in Redlands, California. Rupp left Redlands to return to Harvard as Assistant and then Associate Professor of Theology in the Divinity School. He left Harvard to become Professor of Humanistic Studies and Dean of Academic Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay in 1977, where he remained until 1979.

Rupp was the John Lord O’Brian Professor of Divinity and dean of the Harvard Divinity School from 1979 to 1985. Under his leadership, the curriculum of the school was revised to address more directly the pluralistic character of contemporary religious life. Further developments included new programs in women’s studies and religion, Jewish-Christian relations, and religion and medicine.

He was President of Rice University from 1985 to 1993, where in the course of his eight years applications for admission almost tripled, federal research support more than doubled, and the value of the Rice endowment increased by more than $500 million to $1.25 billion.

He became president of Columbia in 1993. During his nine-year tenure, he focused on enhancing undergraduate education, on strengthening the relationship of the campus to surrounding communities and New York City as a whole, and on increasing the university’s international orientation. At the same time, he completed both a financial restructuring of the university and a $2.84 billion fundraising campaign that achieved eight successive records in dollars raised.

As the IRC’s chief executive officer, Dr. Rupp oversees the agency’s relief and rehabilitation operations in 25 countries and its refugee resettlement and assistance programs throughout the United States. In addition, he leads the IRC’s advocacy efforts in Washington, D.C., Geneva, Brussels, and other capitals on behalf of the world’s most vulnerable people. His responsibilities regularly take him to IRC program sites in Africa, Asia, and Europe.

He is the author of five books:

''Christologies and Cultures: Toward a Typology of Worldviews

''Beyond Existentialism and Zen: Religion in a Pluralistic World''

'''Culture Protestantism': German Liberal Theology at the Turn of the 20th Century''

''Commitment and Community''

''Globalization Challenged: Conviction, Conflict, Community''

George and his wife Nancy are the parents of two adult daughters who are teaching and writing, one with scholarly expertise in East Asia and the other a specialist in African studies, and the grandparents of six children, four boys and two girls.

Rupp was chosen as Rice University's commencement (graduation) speaker for 2008.

Notes

References

External links

Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:American educators Category:American people of German descent Category:Harvard Divinity School alumni Category:Harvard Centennial Medal recipients Category:Yale University alumni Category:Columbia University faculty Category:People from Summit, New Jersey Category:Princeton University alumni Category:Presidents of Rice University