Question 1 of 10Correct: 0
Why does Africa's map have so many straight borders?
What did African countries decide after gaining independence?
What is the essence of divide and rule?
What made the divide especially durable?
Why were colonial borders often drawn as straight lines?
What mattered most for a colonial claim to be recognized?
Which part of the colonial legacy lasted the longest?
Why is it hard to travel to a neighboring region in many countries?
Which independence scenario had the most severe consequences?
Why did the new states preserve colonial borders?
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Answers and explanations10 questions
- Why does Africa's map have so many straight borders? They were drawn in Europe using maps where the interior was almost blankThe powers were dividing zones of influence, not land together with its people.From “Why Colonial Borders Were Drawn with a Ruler”
- What did African countries decide after gaining independence? Recognize the inherited linesThe alternative looked worse: revising them threatened an all-out war.From “Why Colonial Borders Were Drawn with a Ruler”
- What is the essence of divide and rule? Rely on one group so discontent is directed at its neighborsThe intermediary clings to its position, while people's complaints are directed at it rather than the authorities.From “How Divide and Rule Works”
- What made the divide especially durable? Recording group membership in documents and listsAs long as membership remains fluid, the boundary is blurred; in a document, it becomes hereditary.From “How Divide and Rule Works”
- Why were colonial borders often drawn as straight lines? They were drawn in Europe using incomplete mapsPowers negotiated with each other using maps with blank spaces, without considering residents and their ties.From “How Empires Divided Other People's Lands”
- What mattered most for a colonial claim to be recognized? Recognition of the claim by a neighboring powerA claim rested on recognition by other powers, while the views of the people living on the land were not asked.From “How Empires Divided Other People's Lands”
- Which part of the colonial legacy lasted the longest? The structure of extractive institutionsA new government inherits the apparatus along with its buildings and procedures.From “What Empires Left Behind”
- Why is it hard to travel to a neighboring region in many countries? Railways ran from mines to ports instead of connecting regionsInternal connections were not built at all during the colonial period.From “What Empires Left Behind”
- Which independence scenario had the most severe consequences? Sudden departure of a weakened colonial powerThere was no time either to draw borders or transfer control, so the new authorities inherited everything at once.From “How Colonies Became Independent”
- Why did the new states preserve colonial borders? Revision would have set off a chain of warsThe price of that decision is borders that cut across peoples and still shape events today.From “How Colonies Became Independent”