The African-Nation-A-Week project was delayed by a long book: The World and a Very Small Place in Africa: A History of Globalization in Niumi, The Gambia. But what a fascinating book! Donald Wright takes a district in The Gambia, Niumi, and uses it as a starting point to explore the effects of globalization on the… [Read More]
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Category: Africa
Senegal: West Africa Today
My African-Country-a-Week project has arrived in Senegal. This is a former French colony with 13 million people and per-capita GDP of $2100, making it one of the wealthier countries in Africa. It is also one of the continent’s most stable democracies. I needed a break from reading weighty books, so I watched a documentary instead…. [Read More]
Eritrea: I Didn’t Do It For You
Eritrea is a tiny, poor country, ranked 222 out of 229 on GDP per capita. History has not served it well. It was an Italian colony, a British colony, and the site of a U.S. military communications station; it was a UN administered region, annexed by Ethiopia, and winner of a civil war to establish… [Read More]
Zimbabwe’s One Hundred Trillion Dollar Note
I cheated – it’s from eBay. All my travels are in the midwest these days.
Sudan: The Other Nile
Sudan is the country of the week in my African exploration project. I found a book called “The Other Nile” by Charlie Pye-Smith on our bookshelf; it was published in 1986 and is firmly in the World Traveller genre. Those tales of Western youth who go backpacking around the world and write about their experiences… [Read More]
