Other economic institutions related to the African Civilization.
The objectives of the module “African Economic Area” are the following:
To define the characteristics of the Economic Areas of the African Civilization;
To know the economic profile of the African Countries;
To understand the influence of the African Traditional Religions, Islam and Christianity on the African Economic Area;
To understand the economic integration process of the African Civilization;
To analyze the main African businesspeople;
To know the economic relationships of the African Civilization with the other civilizations (Western, Sinic, Buddhist, Hindu, Orthodox, and Islamic);
To analyze the main Economic Organizations related to the African Economic Area.
Preliminary Note: Some scholars, especially in the West, prefer not to consider the existence of the African Civilization. Our view is the opposite: we believe that indeed there is one or more African Civilizations and sub-Civilizations, a view shared by almost all the African Historians. We must also never forget that Africa is the cradle of humanity and from Africa, Homo sapiens colonized the rest of the World.
EENI wish to be part of this African Renaissance and help to explain to the world the fundamental role that Africa has had, has and will have in the history of humanity. Therefore, within this module on the African Civilization; we have developed a series of subjects (learning units)
about the history of Africa (African Historians, slave trade, African Diaspora) that allow better understand the African reality.
To understand better the economic situation in Africa, five African Economic Areas will be analysed.
The module “African Economic Areas” belongs to the following Online Programs taught by EENI:
3- Key Economic Institutions of the African Civilization.
Economic Integration of the African Civilization (Economic Organizations, Trade Agreements).
Agreements and institutions covering all the African Economic Areas;
Integration in West Africa;
Integration in Central Africa;
Integration in Southern Africa;
Integration in East Africa.
African Economic Area and integration in Sub-Saharan Africa. Economic
profile of the member countries of the African Civilization
From the economic integration of the African Civilization we can identify the following economic areas that bring together fifty-four African Countries:
Twenty-six African Countries of the East African Community (EAC), the COMESA, and the SADC have created this innovative agreement
of the African Integration that allows creating a market of 527 million Africans.
Of all the African Countries only Morocco has signed the Framework Agreement + PRETAS (Protocol on the Preferential Tariff Scheme) + Rules of origin;
Seventeen African nations (Egypt, Guinea, Mauritania, Niger, Sudan, Somalia, Tunisia, Sierra Leone, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau,
Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Comoros, Djibouti, Benin, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast) have signed the Framework Agreement + PRETAS;
Chad, Gabon, Libya, Senegal, and Uganda only have signed the Framework Agreement;
Algeria, Mali, Mozambique, and Togo have not ratified the Agreement yet.
Interactions of the African Civilization with the other civilizations.
Islamic Civilization;
Hindu Civilization;
Western Civilization;
Sinic Civilization;
Buddhist Civilization;
Orthodox Civilization.
African Economic Areas.
Africa was the cradle of humanity, and according to the UNICEF “The future of humanity is increasingly African.”
The current African population is 1,100 million people;
In 2100, will be 4,000 million people;
In thirty-five years, 25% of the world's population will be African.
South Africa has been the African economic engine and political leader, but Nigeria could become the Central State. Nigeria is already the first African Economy, ahead of South Africa, and with 1,000 million people in 2100.
There is also no doubt that great civilizations and empires have emerged
in Africa throughout the history of humanity:
Nimrod, Carthage, Egypt, the African Empires (Ghana, Ethiopia, Mali, Wolof, Songhai).
Maybe if we exclude the Maghreb, Egypt, Sudan, and Djibouti (countries with Muslim majorities, and Arabic race, except the last two), there is no doubt that the rest
of the African nations
forms a socio-cultural unity.
This African Civilization is identified in the space and includes Sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, above all to belong to a
black race the primal of humanity, from which the humanity descend.
A civilization in which most of the borders are the result of the post-colonialism, and certainly; they should disappear in the long-term.
A region with common key challenges:
Diseases (AIDS, Malaria...);
Poverty;
Lack of infrastructures;
Full integration into the global economy;
“Sinicization” of Africa (i.e., the Chinese economic colonization of Africa);
Inter-Religious clash (Sudan, Nigeria, Sahel).
Moreover, with great common opportunities:
Negotiation as an African economic bloc to the rest of the World (preferential market access, subsidies
reduction in the EU
or the U.S.);
African Integration;
South-South trade, especially with Asia and Latin America (Iberian America);
Control of the value chain for exporting raw materials. Stop
exporting raw materials to export value-added products;
Joint exploitation of the vast African energy resources.
A civilization in which the African Union is playing an essential role.
Two countries can surely become the Central States of the African Civilization: Nigeria (80 million Muslims and 80 million Christians) and/or South Africa (Christianity).
From a cultural perspective we can identify two areas:
North Africa area. The Maghrebian Economic Area consists of Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and the Western Sahara, which also belongs to the Islamic Civilization.
Because of its economic integration (COMESA and the tripartite agreement), Egypt and Libya are assigned to East African Economic Area;
Sub-Saharan Africa Economic Area (Nigeria/South Africa)
Christian Economic Area, mainly covering the countries south of the Sahel;
Muslim Economic Area, mainly covering the Sahel countries (from Senegal to Sudan).