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Did you know?
1. No African country names begin with the letters F, H, I, J, O, P, Q, V, W, X, or Y.
2. Africa is surrounded by water but by definition Africa is not an island because Africa is a continent.
3. African tech startups raise billions of dollars annually, seven African start-ups were included in the World Economic Forum 2021 cohort of 100 Technology Pioneers.
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African Culture is World Heritage
Appreciate Africa through African art, food, proverb sayings, folklore, biographies, spirituality and African living history.
Step In The Name of Love | Gumboot Dancing History in South Africa
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Gumboot Dancing in Africa.
Strolls, Step Shows, Stomping the Yard in Africa
Gumboot Dancing history performed in South Africa by dancers wearing wellington boots.
Top Shayela gumboot dancers of South Africa
The History of Gumboot Dancing
Explore and Understand Africa Through Her Food and Culture
Step in the name of love; today gumboot dancing is more popular than ever across the world especially in African American college Fraternities and Sororities
Thebe Ya Tlhajwa Secondary High School Koffiekraal South Africa Gumboot Dance
During the apartheid era gold mining was big
business in South Africa. Black miners worked underground in terrible
conditions, digging for gold for low wages. They carried out the most dangerous
dirtiest jobs in the mines and the safety of the workers during the time was
not a high priority.
Small mining villages which later grew into
larger settlements, towns and cities grew up around the gold mining industry. One of the first settlements was Johannesburg, also known as Egoli or the Place of
Gold.
The two most common methods in South Africa for
mining gold are panning and shaft mining. Shaft mining is a dangerous operation
due to the intense heat, most black miners were hired for shaft mining work.
Gold
mining consumes large amounts of water and flooding became a problem to the employer
due to low production from the workers due to air and water borne illnesses. Acid and other chemicals in the water from
gold processing were poisoning the shaft mine workers as well as harmful gases were
contributing to air pollution causing breathing problems.
Gumboot Dancing
Arthur Wellesley won his battle over Napoleon at
the Battle of Waterloo in 1815; Arthur Wellesley shoes became a fashion
statement known as Wellingtons. In 1856 the North British Rubber Company started
to manufacture Britain’s first rubber or ‘gum’ boots also known as Wellington
boots. The rubber boots had a long history of relieving the issue of trench
foot in World War I. Trench foot is a skin disease caused by prolonged exposure of feet to wet and damp conditions.
At the end of the war in 1918, soldiers brought the gumboots
home and wore them for work for farming, fishing and other wet dirty jobs.Therefore,
a solution to the low production of the gold shaft mine workers was to mandate
gumboots as a part of the daily uniform.
Gold mine tunnels were dark places where electricity
was spotty if it existed or was allowed but communication critical. It did not take long for the shaft miners
to create a language of their own by slapping, stomping and scuffling their boots
creating newly found dancing language.
Shells, bells and other decorative items were
attached to the boots when possible giving workers their own unique tribal identity.
Soon hand claps and rhythms using the whole body were incorporated with the
gumboot stepping.
Phi Beta Sigma Step Show
Gumboot workers were easily recognized
on the streets of South Africa due to their unique footwear and the gumboot became a fashion statement. Soon the gumboot dances and songs made their way out of the South African gold mines and into the culture of South Africa’s youth. Today gumboot dancing is more popular
than ever across the world especially to African American college Fraternities
and Sororities who drew on portions of gumboot as part of the ongoing legacy of
the historic African American stepping tradition.
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Africa is surrounded by water but is not an island, here are a few African Island facts.
Madagascar is the 4th large island in the world and is located in the Indian Ocean supporting a unique biology, about 90% of its plants and animals are found nowhere else on earth.
Composed of 155 islands, Seychelles is Africa's smallest country. By far the largest island is Mahe, home to about 90% of the population and the site of its capital city of Victoria.
Cabo Verde has a strategic location 310 miles or 500 km from the west coast of Africa near major north-south sea routes; important communications station; important sea and air refueling site.
Africa is surrounded by water but by definition Africa is not an island because Africa is a continent. Continents can not be considered islands because of their size and also by historic definition since many people who study geography define islands and continents as two different things.
Gold Olympic Medals Africa Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Cameroon, and Nigeria are the top ten African countries with the most Gold Olympic medals. 10 African countries with the most Gold Olympic medals How much do you know about Africa's history at the Summer Olympics Games? The 2016 summer Olympic Games in Rio officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad has been a part of Africa’s history since 1904. Also in Rio 2016, the first-ever Team Refugees will stand before the world and prove that you can succeed no matter where you're from. Top ten African countries with the most Gold Olympic medals African Country Gold Silver Bronze Total Kenya 24 33 29 86 South Africa 23 26 27
Beauty Does Not Pay Bills African Folklore Story In the popular African folklore story, Beauty Does Not Pay Bills a beautiful Zulu woman learns the hard way you cannot rely on how you look to pay the bills. Beauty Doesn't Pay Bills African Folklore Story As the ancestors say, a young Zulu woman was well known and prized throughout the land for her unique beauty. One day, she thought to herself since she is so beautiful she would only have to show up at the local market, and the people would bring her all she needed to survive. Therefore, when she saw the women go to market, carrying loads of vegetables, beans, bananas, and cocoyam, she put on her prettiest clothes adorned herself with costly beads and bracelets and followed the women to market. When she arrived at the market, people were busy bartering their vegetables for dried fish, salt, pottery, and other supplies. The beautiful woman stood there in the busy market empty-handed, and had nothi
Perfect South African Apricot Beef Curry Recipe South African beef curry recipe is a South African food recipe to share around the world while learning about South Africa rainbow nation food history and favorite recipes of Black African, Colored mixed race ancestry, White, and Indian. South African Beef Curry Recipe When it comes to quick and satisfying slow cooker crockpot meals South African Apricot Beef Curry recipe is at the top of the African food dinner recipe list. Use your slow cooker for this simple South African Apricot Beef Curry recipe, it is full of apricot jam, spices and tender beef to serve with rice and grilled bread. How to Make Perfect South African Apricot Beef Curry Recipe Explore and Understand Africa Through Her Food and Culture By Chic African Culture African food recipe South Africa food is one of the most diverse on the African continent. South African apricot beef curry is an easy delicious slow cooker dinner recipe to make on a weeknight. South Afr
Major Pierre Claver Karangwa, one of the executioners of the 100 day long Rwandan Genocide lived in the Netherlands for 26 years before his arrest. Rwanda is the most densely populated country in mainland Africa with a population of 13 million living on 10,169 square miles of land; Rwanda is about the size of the US state of Maryland. The population is divided among ethnic lines with Hutu 85 percent, Tutsi 14 percent, and Twa 1 percent. Major Pierre Claver Karangwa In 1959, three years before independence, the majority ethnic group, the Hutus, overthrew the ruling Tutsi king. Over the next several years thousands of Tutsis were killed, and some 150,000 driven into exile in neighboring countries. The children of these exiles later formed a rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front and began a civil war in 1990. The mass killing of Rwanda’s Tutsi population was ignited on April 6, 1994, when a plane carrying the-then president, Juvénal Habyarimana, was shot down and crashed in Kigali, t
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Being African in America I have grown up learning about different ethnic cultures. My father and mother are historians of African culture and history and their influence expanded my activities to several best-selling cookbooks, magazine columns, self-branded products, and a popular African culture and food blog.
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