Overfishing, coastal development, pollution, the unknown consequences of climate change, and more immediate effects of shark finning and manta ray poaching are some of the most threatening concerns. Discounts at Africas best lodges and on our hand-made packages subscribers only, STORIES & DISCUSSIONS This also leaves more habitat for wildlife and keeps farms close to home. This, coupled with similar climatic and ecological conditions in most of the surrounding coastal lands, has . [76][77][78], South Sudan peacefully seceded from the Sudan in 2011, six and a half years after a peace agreement ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. And four species of commercially important tunabigeye, albacore, yellowfin and skipjackare found here. This photo depicts a portion of the base of the smack, illustrating the dense concentration of jellyfish. ~ Geo Cloete, ? Sunday 6 October 2002. The east coast of South Africa has a generally well-defined and narrow continental shelf area. Pop. We also work towards MSC certification for the deep water shrimp fishery in Mozambique. These campaigns have led to arrests of poachers and seizures of weapons and illegal wildlife items, including ivory and rhino horn. Farmers are often killed while trying to defend their fields and elephants become the source of resentment and anger by the local communities. Today's crossword puzzle clue is a general knowledge one: Republic in East Africa, on the Indian Ocean. The Kiunga Marine National Reserve in Kenya supports the world's largest breeding colony of roseate terns. Sodwana Bay is the oldest marine reserve in South Africa and its healthy reefs and rich; diverse marine life is a prime example of this. ~ Geo Cloete, ? This particular shark was cruising with the outgoing current towards the lagoon entrance as a storm front darkened the sky on the horizon. Shadows in the water at the Aliwal Shoal, South Africa Christophe Lapeze (Photographer of the Year 2017 Entrant), ? For discussion of the physical and human geography of individual countries in the region and of their late colonial and postcolonial history, see Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Wildlife crime networks are using more sophisticated weapons and techniques to obtain ivory, such as automatic rifles and helicopters. 1: The Swahili Coast of East Africa | From 1000 to 1500 CE, numerous Swahili states emerged along this 1,000 mile stretch from Mogadishu in the north (present-day Somalia) to Sofala in the south (present-day Mozambique). Between the 19th and 20th century, East Africa became a theatre of competition between the major imperialistic European nations of the time. The east coast of Africa holds a bounty of life that rivals the land. . [74] In Ethiopia, there is an estimated population of 102million as of 2016.[75]. Although no houses were being built of coral, stone mosques were being constructed. Aksum was at the time ruled by Zoskales, who also governed the port of Adulis. From the 1840s, cameras traced the international migrations of traders, sailors, sons, and daughters through Indian Ocean ports, continuing trade that dates back over five millennia. Indo-European languages, such as English, French and Portuguese, remain important in higher institutions in some parts of the larger region. Once implemented, the law will save the lives of up to 5,000 marine turtles per year and allow Mozambican fishers to sell their shrimp to the U.S. market. The Periplus describes in some detail the shore of what was to become northern Somalia. WWF works with government and communities to develop land use plans that allow wildlife movement and human use to coexist. Click the image for a larger view. Consequently there has been much contact over the past two thousand years among the peoples who inhabit its shores. Carefully selected conservation projects one-stop, seamless, transparent donations APP subscribers only. 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 settlers on southern coastal areas. Sharm el-Sheikh has become . East Africa is a region that begins in Tanzania in the south and extends north through the great grasslands and scrub forest of the savannas of Kenya and Uganda and then across the highlands of Ethiopia, including the Great Rift Valley. Out here in the deep blue waters, the fin indeed belongs to a blue shark, swimming just below the surface. With maximum velocities of around 8.5 km/h, it is one of the fastest and strongest flowing currents in the world. Credit: DOI: 10.1038/s41561-021-00809-x. But there is: underwater. Local merchants gathered ivory from the south, gold from the western interior and frankincense and myrrh from northern Africa. The Swahili term "dhow" encompasses a diversity of sailing ships, from coastal fishing boats to ocean-going vessels. KEN MORIYASU, Nikkei Asia chief desk editor June 30, 2021 03:53 JST. This benefits local people who rely on the forest for their livelihoods and frees up resources for the governments to improve local education and health infrastructure. The inhabitants, whose main local currency was cowrie shells, traded with the peoples of the Persian Gulf and, by the early 11th century, had first come under Muslim influence. In 2011 with WWFs support, the government of Mozambique officially created the Lake Niassa Reserve. [24] Temperatures in East Africa, except on the hot and generally humid coastal belt, are moderate, with maxima of around 25C (77F) and minima of 15C (59F) at an altitude of 1,500 metres (4,921ft). The Gulf Stream, paired with the eastern . ceo@africageographic.com, Travel & conservation company, since 1991, , Photographer of the Year 2023 Weekly Selection: Week 3, Photographer of the Year 2023 Weekly Selection: Week 2. [2][3][4][5] However, this has never been the convention in many other languages, where the term generally had a wider, strictly geographic context and therefore typically included Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. The region has endured the following post-colonial conflicts: Kenya has enjoyed relatively stable governance. This in turn challenged the older trading networks of mixed land and sea routes, such as the spice trade routes which utilized the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, and camel caravans to reach the eastern Mediterranean.[66]. WWF continues to support law enforcement and promote awareness of illegal wildlife trade. Local communities need the ability to protect their resources against illegal activities. Fast as they are, I doubt this shark was quick enough to outrun the storm. ~ Adam Mitchell, ? A blue shark just below the surface about 40km off Cape Point, South Africa Geo Cloete (Photographer of the Year 2018 Top 101), Sail southwest from Cape Point and eventually you will be surrounded by the blue horizon in all directions. Revenants of the German Empire: Colonial Germans, Imperialism, and the League of Nations", "Climate risk report for the East Africa region - Ethiopia | ReliefWeb", "7 Days in Entebbe and 13 Other Movies Set In East Africa", "World Population Prospects Population Division United Nations", "IFs Forecast Version 7.00 Google Public Data Explorer", Canada's Africa Oil starts Somalia seismic survey, "Economic Recovery and the Role of the State", "Somalia: Somaliland appeals for 'cooperation with Puntland' a second time", "Population of capital cities and cities of 100,000 or more inhabitants", List of countries where Arabic is an official language, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=East_Africa&oldid=1142278246, Articles containing Chinese-language text, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using collapsible list with both background and text-align in titlestyle, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2022, Articles needing additional references from December 2015, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2022, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2011, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 14:36. In and around Quirimbas National Park in northern Mozambique, we have worked with farmers to minimize physical confrontation with elephants, protect crop fields and save lives. Further information in the sections of Architecture of Africa: Further information in the sections of History of science and technology in Africa: Since the end of colonialism, several East African countries were riven with military coups, ethnic violence and oppressive dictators. 2002. It imported large quantities of Islamic pottery and, in the 9th and 10th centuries, Chinese porcelain. The Agulhas Current flows from northeast to southwest, almost hugging the east coast of South Africa, and transports warm water from the Indian down into the Southern Ocean. East Africa is a subregion of the continent of Africa, according to the United Nations Geoscheme. It is believed that almost 90% of the entire wildlife of Madagascar is found nowhere else on planet Earth. Map Directions Satellite Photo Map Wikivoyage Wikipedia Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Photo Galleries, Photographer of the Year, TRAVEL & CONSERVATION COMPANY To the west, Africa has its longest coastline with the Atlantic Ocean. Swahili, with at least 80million speakers[citation needed] as a first or second language, is an important trade language in the Great Lakes area. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. All rights reserved. In Tanzania, WWF works with partners to help improve lives and protect wildlife through the creation of Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs)communal lands where local communities participate in the management of wildlife and resources. Illegal small-mesh seine net fishing in Tanzania. 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.[67]. In southwest Africa, the plains and plateaus of Namibia are found . 100 km wide), swift (up to 3 m/s) and deep (2 km). Omissions? We hope to create an unprecedented data set that will be shared among NGOs, governments, universities and scientists in order to assess coral and fish population health, human usage, and fishing practices. Blue sharks have the largest distribution range around the globe, and are unfortunately the shark species targeted the most by fishermen for their fins. ~ Geo Cloete, ? Women gathering sand oysters in Mozambique. [51] The Swahili culture that emerged from these exchanges evinces many Arab and Islamic influences not seen in traditional Bantu culture, as do the many Afro-Arab members of the Bantu Swahili people. Stretching from the Arctic Circle to Antarctica, the Atlantic Ocean is bordered by the Americas to the west and Europe and Africa to the east. Just as there are major conservation issues for the animals on the continent of Africa such as poaching, habitat destruction, and other threats, there are many issues and concerns for the East African marine ecosystems and animals. The health of stocks is wavering, particularly for tunas such as yellowfin and bigeye. Over several centuries countless East Africans were sold as slaves by Muslim Arabs to the Middle East and other places via the Sahara desert and Indian Ocean. Vasco da Gama visited Mombasa in 1498. . Rainfall in East Africa is characterised by two main rainfall seasons, the long rains from MarchMay and the short rains from October- December. traverses the expanses of the Southern Ocean south of Africa, south of Australia, and the south Pacific. Mafia Island, which lies out to sea here, could perhaps be Menouthias, the only island named in both the Periplus and the Guide, although this could also be either Pemba or Zanzibar (perhaps there has been a conflation of all three in the one name). They sailed there with the northeast monsoon, returning home in the summer with the southwest. 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. WWF supports the rangers who patrol protected areas in Tanzania and Mozambique. WWF and partners have helped fishermen create a sustainable oyster harvesting system, resulting in increased profits and yield. Research has shown that most of the monster storms that hit the US and Canada start out as a distinct weather pattern in the atmosphere over western Africa, specifically a spot off the coast of the African Cape Verde islands.. Within minutes, the blindingly bright white flats had been obscured by the downpour, and I lost the shark in the rain. Coastal East Africa encompasses a beautiful tapestry of land and seafrom mountains and grasslands to mangroves and fringing coral reefs. . editors@africageographic.com I saw this compass jellyfish at the safety stop at five metres after completion of the dive. They are filter feeders by their specialised gills. Africa is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Red Sea to the northeast, Indian Ocean to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore the region of current-day Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique by sea. 08/22/2019. Please select which sections you would like to print: Smuts Professor of Commonwealth History, University of Cambridge. These city-states built connections to the rest of the world while maintaining cultural, political, and economic connections with each other. The child here is unidentified except that he is beind held for sale as a slave. Drink. Elephants, rhinos, lions, wild dogs, and more iconic species roam the landscape. The Gulf Stream is a powerful western boundary current in the North Atlantic Ocean that strongly influences the climate of the East Coast of the United States and many Western European countries. The Glorioso Islands are a small atoll in the Indian Ocean off East Africa, near Madagascar, part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. The amount of water being transported by the Agulhas . Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. [47] The Aksumite rulers facilitated trade by minting their own Aksumite currency. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Author of, Distinguished Professor of History and African Studies, Michigan State University, East Lansing. The equator runs through Africa, from Gabon in the west to Somalia in the east, and nearly splits the continent into two equal parts. Just off the coast of Kenya, it's a peaceful island, free of cars and surrounded by the Indian Ocean. [79], According to the CIA, as of 2017, the countries in the eastern Africa region have a total population of around 537.9 million inhabitants.[80]. They dubbed the part of the coast to which they sailed Azania, or the Land of Zanjby which they meant the land of the blacks and by which they knew it until the 10th century. The Afar are found in both Eritrea and Djibouti. 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