The Remapping of Africa

     The reasons for Africa’s current crisis are far too numerous and multi-faceted to pinpoint with total accuracy, but there are a few factors which have unambiguously contributed. The  goals for redrawing Africa’s boarders were to ensure both internal and external peace for countries, maintain cultural cohesiveness, and foster economic growth. Perhaps the greatest challenge that anyone faces while redividing the most conflict-ridden continent is taking into account the individual issues facing each nation. Because this would be practically impossible, these new boarders seek to benefit the continent as a whole as opposed to fix every problem on an individual basis.

     The greatest emphasis with these new boarders was creating and maintaining peace. This was primarily achieved through splitting up territorial disputes and conflicts over resources with boarders. Boarders were also placed depending on language in an effort to facilitate communication and cultural cohesiveness. Any conflict based on ethnicity or religion was slightly more difficult to resolve. On the one hand, separation could lead to a dangerous sense of nationalism, leading to further conflict. On the other, leaving the factions to their own devices would certainly not result in peace, and many interventions have proven to be successful. In the end, the decision was made that the combatants should be separated based on areas of conflict with the reasoning that there is little chance of the conflict any other way. 

    There were a few pieces of information which we deemed negligible in the redefining of African boarders, most of which had to do with the physical layout of the continent. While basing boarders off of defining physical features may be practical in some instances, none of the main goals listed above would have been served by it. While deterring who controls what aquifers is extremely important, it is secondary to putting an end to the immediate conflicts in the area.