Why Was Africa Called the Dark Continent

The most common answer to the question, â€Å"Why was Africa called the Dark Continent?† is that Europe did not know much about Africa until the 19th century. But that answer is misleading and disingenuous. Europeans had known quite a lot about Africa for at least 2,000 years, but because of powerful imperial impulses, European leaders began purposefully ignoring earlier sources of information. At the same time, the campaign against slavery and for missionary work in Africa actually intensified Europeans’ racial ideas about African people in the 1800s. They called Africa the Dark Continent, because of the mysteries and the savagery they expected to find in the interior. Exploration: Creating Blank Spaces It is true that up until the 19th century, Europeans had little direct knowledge of Africa beyond the coast, but their maps were already filled with details about the continent. African kingdoms had been trading with Middle Eastern and Asian states for over two millennia. Initially, Europeans drew on the maps and reports created by earlier traders and explorers like the famed Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta, who traveled across the Sahara and along the North and East coasts of Africa in the 1300s. During the Enlightenment, however, Europeans developed new standards and tools for mapping, and since they weren’t sure precisely where the lakes, mountains, and cities of Africa were, they began erasing them from popular maps. Many scholarly maps still had more details, but due to the new standards, the European explorers—Burton, Livingstone, Speke, and Stanley—who went to Africa were credited with (newly) discovering the mountains, rivers, and kingdoms to which African people guided them. The maps these explorers created did add to what was known, but they also helped create the myth of the Dark Continent. The phrase itself was actually popularized by the British explorer Henry M. Stanley, who with an eye to boosting sales titled one of his accounts Through the Dark Continent, and another, In Darkest Africa. However, Stanley himself recalled that before he left on his mission, he had read over 130 books on Africa.   Imperialism and Duality Imperialism was global in the hearts of western businessmen in the 19th century, but there  were subtle differences between the imperialist hunger for Africa compared to other parts of the world. Most empire building begins with the recognition of trading and commercial benefits that could be accrued. In Africas case, the continent as a whole was being annexed to fulfill three purposes: the spirit of adventure, the desire to support good work of civilizing the natives, and the hope of stamping out the slave trade. Writers such as H. Ryder Haggard, Joseph Conrad, and Rudyard Kipling fed into the romantic depiction of a place that required saving by strong men of adventure.   An explicit duality was set up for these adventurers: dark versus light and Africa versus West. The African climate was said to invite mental prostration and physical disability; the forests were seen as implacable and filled with beasts; and crocodiles lay in wait, floating in sinister silence in the great rivers. Danger, disease, and death were part of the uncharted reality and the exotic fantasy created in the minds of armchair explorers. The idea of a hostile Nature and a disease-ridden environment as tinged with evil was perpetrated by fictional accounts by Joseph Conrad and W. Somerset Maugham. Abolitionists and Missionaries By the late 1700s, British abolitionists were campaigning hard against slavery in England. They published pamphlets described the horrid brutality and inhumanity of plantation slavery. One of the most famous images showed a black man in chains asking â€Å"Am I not a man and a brother?† Once the British Empire abolished slavery in 1833, however, abolitionists turned their efforts against slavery within Africa. In the colonies, the British were also frustrated that former slaves didn’t want to keep working on plantations for very low wages. Soon the British were portraying African men not as brothers, but as lazy idlers or evil slave traders. At the same time, missionaries began traveling to Africa to bring the word of God. They expected to have their work cut out for them, but when decades later they still had few converts in many areas, they began saying that African people’s hearts were unreachable, locked in darkness. These people were different from westerners, said the missionaries, closed off from the saving light of Christianity. The Heart of Darkness Africa was seen by the explorers as an erotically and psychologically powerful place of darkness, one that could only be cured by a direct application of Christianity and, of course, capitalism. Geographer Lucy Jarosz describes this stated and unstated belief clearly: Africa was seen as a primeval, bestial, reptilian, or female entity to be tamed, enlightened, guided, opened, and pierced by white European males through western science, Christianity, civilization, commerce, and colonialism.   By the 1870s and 1880s, European traders, officials, and adventurers were going to Africa to seek their fame and fortune, and recent developments in weaponry gave these men significant power in Africa. When they abused that power—especially in the Congo—Europeans blamed the Dark Continent, rather than themselves. Africa, they said, was what supposedly brought out the savagery in man. The Myth Today Over the years, people have given lots of reasons why Africa was called the Dark Continent. Many people think it is a racist phrase but cant say why, and the common belief that the phrase just referred to Europes lack of knowledge about Africa makes it seem out-dated, but otherwise benign. Race does lie at the heart of this myth, but it is not about skin color. The myth of the Dark Continent referred to the savagery that Europeans said was endemic to Africa, and even the idea that its lands were unknown came from erasing centuries of pre-colonial history, contact, and travel across Africa. Sources Brantlinger, Patrick. Victorians and Africans: The Genealogy of the Myth of the Dark Continent. Critical Inquiry 12.1 (1985): 166–203. Print.Jarosz, Lucy. Constructing the Dark Continent: Metaphor as Geographic Representation of Africa. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 74.2 (1992): 105–15. Print.Shaw, Marion. Tennysons Dark Continent. Victorian Poetry 32.2 (1994): 157–69. Print.Shepard, Alicia.  Should NPR have apologized for Dark Continent?  NPR Ombudsman.  February 27, 2008.Stanley, Henry M. Through the Dark Continent, or The Sources of the Nile Around the Great Lakes of Equatorial Africa and Down the Livingstone River to the Atlantic Ocean London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle Rivington., 1889.Stott, Rebecca. The Dark Continent: Africa as Female Body in Haggards Adventure Fiction. Feminist Review 32.1 (1989): 69–89. Print.

My Family Has Changed My Life - 1215 Words

My entire family has had to come to the decision of whether or not to cut off a relationship, and I’ve watched my siblings do so in the past with people you would presume were their best friends. Over time I bound to face the same problem myself. Watching my siblings go through these hard to do decisions, and I know it sounds horrible but they gave me confidence. It gave me confidence that I too can make the decision if I have to and make the decision in the best way possible. Let’s start with my sister, Allie. She might be one of the most down to earth people and doesn’t see the point in ever being mean. When she was in seventh grade, my family had moved down to East Moriches. Having to get adjusted to the new setting, she was sort of seen as an outcast. The only person she really talked to was our neighbor, who was the same age. Nearing the end of her freshman year, Allie had become friends with many, many people. But, like most teens, there were people who she knew were talking badly about her behind her back. My sister was still friends with this person, who let’s call them Sarah. The catch is it was our neighbor who befriended Allie when she first arrived at East Moriches. Allie was distressed about the situation and she wholeheartedly made her decision to end the friendship. While being kind, she called our neighbor and asked her to â€Å"Please stop talking about me, it is wrong. You are doing nothing but hurting me and we need to end whatever we had. Thank you forShow MoreRelatedIf Life Has Changed My Family1342 Words   |  6 PagesIf Life Were Different I grew up in a small family consisting of: my mother, father, brother and myself. I also have two dogs, a poochon named Bella and a cockapoo named Cody. I have had a fairly simple life and I love it. I could not ask for better parents and a more supportive brother. 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Scholarly vs Popular Writing free essay sample

The sources or references listed for which the information is based on can be invalid, lack relevance or reliability. A second reason would be what was written may not necessarily had been for academic or professional audiences. Because it is unclear how many other theories were exhausted from consideration, and ideas expressed could be based entirely on biased or opinion. Lastly would say uncertainty of the accuracy of information provided. In example, dates can be out dated, erroneous, or not based on the facts.All the before mentioned are contributing factors to why I believe Wisped. Com is not a credible resource. It is permissible to use a non-scholarly resources depending on the quality of the resource used and topic youre researching. Should I ever be presented tit the inability to find a peer reviewed article, would retreat to the next best thing a highly respected trade publication. Like if I was writing about insurance I would use and accepted trade publication in the insurance industry. We will write a custom essay sample on Scholarly vs Popular Writing or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Although it might not be scholarly, or as quality as a scholarly article may be, they can sometimes be credible. A credible resource through the internet for the use in the field of management: http://midi. Com/ journal/cram. On this site you will find this journal on risk and financial management, which are both under the general umbrella of management. The site not only includes varying topics in management with peer reviewed articles based on in depth research but it also is based on theoretical concepts for academics with practical applications in mind.When determining if the resource I am using biased in its information or viewpoints would have to ask the following questions. Can the writer benefit from expressing a particular viewpoint? Can the writer benefit by suppressing specific information? Is the information supported by other credible resources? Does the resource support a prejudice or a particular stereo type? Any of these could suggest a resource is biased. References: Elder, L, Paul, R. (2009) Becoming a critic of your thinking.

Reducing Global Warming through Interior Design Research Paper Example

Reducing Global Warming through Interior Design Paper The purpose of this study was to examine how interior design can decrease global warming by using alternative methods, and why designers should be concerned about conserve or maintain the environment. Once people in the world confront the same problem about climate, many of them are concerned and attempt to solve it. Global warming seems to affect the vast majority of people in the world. Interior design could help people in the world to reduce this problem by designing with sustainability way. One of the many possible solutions is reducing energy and material use in architectural industry. In this essay at first will explain the definition of global warming, global warming effects on human being and how to decrease or eliminate pollutions in the role of interior designer. Followed by the meaning of sustainable design and green design in term of architecture and interior architecture and the use of efficient materials in design process to less damaging environment, then how designer can use alternative or replacement energy to diminish pollutions. What is global warming? For many years people in the world have noticed problems that are caused by human activities which affect the world. Global warming is raising the earth’s average temperature and climate change. It is fundamentally caused by emission greenhouse gases (GHGs) or burning fossil fuel and deforestation in many countries which produced surplus carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane. In consequence, the vast majority of these gases in the air have reached to the higher rates (Moxon, 2012). Almost 45% of human activities emits greenhouse gas by burning of fossil in maintain buildings use, and the rest is used for transportation and goods for people and buildings (Edwards, 2010). We will write a custom essay sample on Reducing Global Warming through Interior Design specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Reducing Global Warming through Interior Design specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Reducing Global Warming through Interior Design specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Moreover, natural disasters are caused by increasing of temperature and unstable climate, for instance approximately 80 hurricanes and typhoons happen around the ocean every year (Houghton, 2004). Houghton (2004) shows that destruction of Hurricane Gilbert damaged the island of Jamaica and the coast of Mexico in 1988, Hurricane Andrew made the great damaged in Florida and other cities of the United States in 1992. In addition, in 1998 Honduras and other countries of central America were hit and faced a great devastate by Hurricane Mitch are the unforgettable case (ibid. . Hurricanes or typhoons are not the only disasters which caused by climate change. Floods are also one of the worst disaster that occur after deforestation activity, and it can be more damage to people’s life and land (Houghton, 2004). Houghton (2004) states that there was few example of these disasters happen usually in many countries in the world, in 1988 80% of Bangladesh was covered by flood; floods in Venezuela in 1999 was reached to the highest level and killed 30,000 people. Why is global warming important to human beings? Global warming can affect directly to human beings and people should be concerned about what would happen if this issue disregarded. Rising temperature does not only make the climate uncertainly, also effect of social and ecology system. For instance water resources, the available of fresh water will be substantially changed in a world affected by global warming (Houghton, 2004). Increasing of population in the present is needed water to maintain human beings, people need to use it for producing food, for daily life and for infrastructure (ibid. . Climate change influences agriculture and food supply, crops and animals are suitable to seasonal climate. However, higher temperature is the main affect to growth of crops during the year. It impacts on human beings such as human health, environment is one of the most important factors for human beings, people’s health depends on how good environment do they live with (Houghton, 2004). Although people are able to accommodate and cope with the change of climates, the major effect on them is still the heat in high temperature (ibid. . In metropolis heat waves frequently happen mortality can be raised 2 times or even 3 times in a day (ibid. ). On the other hand, there is some positive side, death rates during the winter time will be decreased (ibid. ). Houghton (2004) states that another impact of climate change on people’s heath is rising of diseases in the world. Some diseases grow in tropical part of the world, but with higher temperature it could be expand to other part of the world. For example, Malaria is a disease that carried by mosquitoes which growing faster in temperature around 15-32 C with 50-60% moisture (ibid. ). Houghton (2004) indicates that Malaria presently a huge health problem in the world, people were inflected around 300 million and killed more that 1 million in a year. Two centuries ago in the atmosphere there were 590 billion tons of CO2 but at present CO2 has risen to 760 billion tons (Edwards, 2010). According to Edwards (2010) it is apparent to design buildings for difference climate at present time. How can design reduce global warming in the role of interior designer? Moxon (2012) claims that building manufactures have massive influence on the nature, designers are able to obviously produce smart contradiction to natural problems during their design options, in fact they have the great duty to do it. Thus, interior designers are particularly familiar with the renovation, refurbishment or even re-built, they should be concerned about sustainability or using efficient materials in design methods. However designers who cannot catch up with this problems, it may obstacle their opportunities to work in the future because at the present, a large number of people in many countries are confronted and trying to solve this problems. According to this point of view designer should study how to decrease energy use but support comfort (Thomas, 2006). For instance, Moxon (2012) shows that the refurbishment of Empire State building in New York diminished energy use by 38%, in addition renovation homes might decrease their energy usage by 80%. Therefore, Edwards (2010) and Turrent (2007) claims that designers should reduce using fossil fuel, damage limitation or harm less environment and design for non-carbon buildings. Green design and Sustainable design Jones (2008) claims that sustainable design implies a massive point of view in environmental obligation, ensuring the prosperity of ecosystem in the world for present and forthcoming era. So sustainable design can also mean design which enlarges the capacity of building in case of using of efficiency energy and materials in blueprint process or construction of the building. Green design defines a minor attitude on human’s condition and wellbeing in the produced environment (Jones, 2008). In addition, this can be defined a buildings and planning to build for reduce using of materials, maintain material supply and improve the capacity of life (Means, 2011). Thus, according to Edwards (2010) sustainable and green buildings are the combination of green and sustainable design into the buildings, this means buildings use efficient materials, alternative energy and reduce level of pollutions. Decreasing the use of energy in buildings can reserve supply and maintenance cost during diminishing the air pollutions (Means, 2011). The use of efficient materials One of the most important task in design development process and enlarging sustainability and efficiency is the selection of materials before construction process (Lawton, 2011). Building construction uses a large number of materials which directly impacts on environment (Edwards, 2010). Many of the processes in design project currently unconsidered the efficiency of materials that means designers waste a large amount of materials they use such as wood, stone and metal. Jones (2008) claims that if they concern more about materials and use materials wisely in their design project then they can help to decrease the level of pollutions. In addition, using inefficiency materials can be worsen resource consumption, changing climate and even people’s health. The greatest simple consequence in using inefficiency materials is natural supply decreasing (Moxon, 2012; Sassi, 2006). Efficiency of materials can also mean reuse, recycle and reduce. Reducing, reusing and recycling materials are included the waste of recovery raze, using salvage materials and certifying which limited materials is efficiency of materials at last part of the design work (Moxon, 2012). The selection of materials are also essential to interior design work, while designers do design process they should be able to choose which materials are suitable for their work. Selecting inefficient materials can effect on environment or waste more energy supply more than it should be. Moreover, the importance of origin materials or where they come from can impact on environment (Thomas, 2006). According to Thomas (2006) shows that England’s forests is being demolished about 10,000 million square meters in nowadays; therefore, the use of materials that should be citified or ensured by appropriate organization. In the UK, embody in construction materials consumed estimate 5-6% of total energy used collated with around 50% of using in buildings (ibid. ). In construction process designers should be concerned about planning to decrease or degrade rubbish (Means, 2011). Rubbish in construction is wasted for 15%-20% and transport to landfills, even though approximate 90% of rubbish is likely to be reusable or recyclable (ibid. ). Alternative energy According to Moxon (2012) the use of energy in buildings is the greatest factor impact on global warming. Nowadays the vast majority of energy producer keep using coal, oil and gas to produce 70% of electricity in the world (ibid. ). It emits greenhouse gas to the atmosphere and causes air pollution contribute to uncertain climate. The reduction of using energy seems to be completed by decreasing energy required, use efficient energy, recycle heat and cold or use energy from external area and the ground (Omer, 2008). Therefore, there are several techniques to reduce the energy needs of the building such as more ventilation to flow indoor air or recycle water in building. Many green buildings installed the solar system and use of solar energy to provide heating or hot water. Even more using solar system can reduce the cost of electricity or gas in the winter. Thus, different type of buildings use difference energy, they needs distinct solar system scheme (Means, 2011). For instance, in the commercial buildings may needs more lighting during the day and daylighting is an essential technique (ibid. ). For hotel, lighting may not be the most important energy but water heating is enormously using because areas are took fundamentally night (ibid. ). Daylight could be another alternative energy. If more glass windows are installed it would be more light and use less of electricity in the daytime. Furthermore glass window can make keep the heat inside for long time. Moxon (2012) claims that the use of the sun’s heat to make interior area warm, decrease or diminish using heating equipment in winter time. The significance of daylight seems to be obviously useful for interior and green building should be equipped sufficient light at all time (Moxon, 2012; Sassi 2006. ). Although surplus light makes overheating in the building and designer attempts to avoid it, thus ventilation and blind design are important to translucent the light (ibid. . Provided ventilation makes air flow into the building for users to generate the energy and eliminate heat or carbon dioxide that users produced (ibid. ). Ventilation is important strategy for massive building for designer to producing cleaner air inside the buildings (Thomas, 2006). Conclusion As has been shown, global warming is likely an important problem at the present. Therefore, there are many possibilities to reduce this problems, one of the many methods is reducing through interior design. Interior design seems to be able to help or decrease by using efficiency materials such as using eco-friendly materials, recycle materials from other part of construction process. Even though the use of alternative energy, for instance the reduction of using energy in the buildings by install more ventilations into the buildings or using of electricity in the day time could be replaced by using of solar system and daylight seems to be important factor for people in the buildings to do some activities productively and also decrease maintenance cost of the buildings. Although this issue has been discussed for many times in the past but it is hard to say that most of interior designers frequently work with an idea to maintain or preserve the environment. In addition, sustainable design and green design are becoming more significant to the buildings, because of in the future most people are concerned about environment and they are trying to consume eco-friendly products or to restore what they have damaged. For another line further research is to study of the importance of the selection of material for interior construction process.