African Diaspora

The African Diaspora refers to a time period where Africans were transported in the world to work as slaves against their will. The main time period is from 1500-1800 where the Atlantic Slave occurred. The Atlantic Slave trade was African slaves who were traded across the Atlantic Ocean into Europe and The Americas. The African slaves usually came from west or central Africa. The African Diaspora was the largest forced slave trade in volume where an estimated 4-12 million slaves were traded and taken.

These slaves were often kidnapped or caught in wars in Africa and sold to Europeans and other nations in the ports. The Europeans never entered Africa to capture these slaves for themselves in fear of diseases. Kings and businessmen became very rich as they employed and funded these kidnappings and raids and earned a very large income selling these slaves to rich countries. Criminals were sold to make sure they no longer committed crime or caused any more trouble in the area. People were taken from their homes and sold. These slaves were purchased from tribal leaders who often sell the caught Africans from another ethnic group.

About 10% of these slaves die during transport. These slaves were overworked, tortured and not even paid. They were abused and mistreated. These slaves often died from overwork or diseases that spread to them or appeared due to the low sanitation and hygiene available to them. African slaves who were shipped away never returned. These slaves worked on coffee, tobacco, sugar plantations, mines, construction, and were servants. The plantation economies of several countries were built on slave labor as seventy percent of slaves were used to produce sugar. This slave trade made sure that the human resources of Africa were gone.

Since land was cheap in Western countries and slavery helped many business bloom, people often looked to invest in land and build a business using these slaves who lead to a constant shortage of workers or in other words, slaves. The countries buying these African slaves benefited and their economies agree with this statement. These African slaves were often the backbone of many countries. Due to this event, Africa suffered with a huge rich poor divides.

People who were rich or looked to further their education or for a better job opportunity would emigrate abroad which leads to a brain drain in the country, stopping it from moving forward and developing. Therefore, Africa had a huge shortage in human resources and the Africans continued to suffer.

These African slaves were seen as inferior due to their skin color which was dark. Since they could not speak English or a Western language, they were looked down upon. They did not have a united front which leads to them being taken advantaged off.

Although the African Diaspora is a very tragic event that everyone would like to change, it leads to the spread of culture, religion, and ideas. It created permanent ties between Africa and North America. Africans in the Americas speak pigeon English which is still spoken in some parts of the United States today which shows us part of the African culture that survived injustice slavery. The integration of native culture with traditional European culture was shown with the African American mixing old and new styles when they cook, sing, carve, and tell stories. These traditions are still there today.
 

 

Other used websites: http://www.niica.on.ca/diaspora/
http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14470-4/the-african-diaspora/excerpt
http://www.diaspora-centre.org/98FD02EE-27D3-4F7B-9401-4FD03E5EE9CB/FinalDownload/DownloadId-85BC5175A7735817A1616134B6B4AF47/98FD02EE-27D3-4F7B-9401-4FD03E5EE9CB/DOCS/EU_and_diaspora_De.pdf
http://www.theposthole.org/read/article/105
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_diaspora
http://www.modernghana.com/news/276805/1/are-we-blacks-really-inferior-the-case-of-the-afri.html

Mexico Population Analysis

Mexico’s current population is 113 million people. 50 years ago in 1960 the population was only 38 million people and from then on the population of Mexico just kept increasing by 5-10 million each year. The population stayed the same for thousands of years but during recent centuries such as the 20^th and 21^st century, population has increased dramatically and the resources aren’t enough.

                The highest age-group population is the young. 4.8 Of the men’s population are aged 0-4, and 4.6 percent of the female population is aged 0-4. 3.7 And 4.0 of men and women are aged 30-34. And around 0.8-0.9 of the population of men and women are aged 70-74. These statistics show us that there is are higher birth rates then death rates and that more people are young rather than old.

                Mexico has close to 800,000 people leaving its country each year usually migrating legally or illegally to the United States, and it has fewer migrations into the country. The people leaving causes a brain drain with the country’s smart people looking to migrate elsewhere for a better life and a higher pay. With 113 people, Mexico is one of the most populated countries, ranking eleventh most populated country in the world. It is also the most populated Spanish-speaking country. As the country was a colony of Spain and gained independence during 1810, most of the people in the country speak Spanish.

                In 1990, the population was around 80 million.  In 2000, Mexico’s population was around 100 million.       These ten years alone shows how fast the population of Mexico is increasing, and the population increases faster and faster. In 2000, the birth rate was estimated to be 23.15 per 1,000. This is about 4 times more than the death rate of 5.05 per 1,000. The annual growth rate is over 1.8 percent in 2000. From 1940 to 1970 the population increased by over 250 percent !

The currency in Mexico is the Peso. Its total GDP is $1.69 trillion, and per capita GDP is $15,113. Its population density is 142/sq mi which is the 142^nd densest country. Its total area is 761,606 sq mile, and about 2.5% of the country is water.

                Since Mexico has a high population, the government cannot take care of everybody. Mexico has an increasing crime-related violence. If you include the deaths of this violence along with the emigration figures, Mexico has lost 11% of its population since 2007. But on the bright side, people who migrate elsewhere send back money to the country which provides capital inflow.

                Mexico’s overpopulation has lead to a competition for jobs. There aren’t enough sources of jobs in Mexico and people without jobs cannot support their families.  Mexico’s unemployment rate is estimated to be 5.4% and the underemployment rate could be as high as 25%. The second negative effect of this overpopulation is the high level of pollution. Traffic jams are caused because people use cars to drive to their jobs at the same time. There is noise pollution and water and ground pollution as well as a lot to trash. There isn’t enough food and water and therefore there is a lot of hunger and thirst in the country. There aren’t enough schools and teachers therefore the education and literacy rate is quite low. Also, since there is a lack of hospitals and a lot of people to cure, people who need attention aren’t given it so there are a lot of diseases. It becomes a cycle because pollution causes diseases and diseases can’t be cured because of insufficient hospitals. We need to create a better environment and have a better quality of life. We must take good care and share natural resources even though we know they are scarce. If we continue to use up a lot of resources in so less time and continue to pollute, our sons and grandsons will have a problem.

                Other issues concerning Mexico because of overpopulation are medicine and sanitation. It was very hard to control diseases such as the yellow fever.

                Mexico must generate more jobs so the overpopulated people can work and support their families otherwise they will find other ways to get money by committing crime. The crime violence rate has increased over the years in Mexico and this issue must be tended to immediately.

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Americas/Mexico.html

http://eslbee.com/effects_of_overpopulation_in_mexico.htm

http://www.financialtaskforce.org/2010/08/11/mexicos-population-problem/

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mx.html
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/mexico_statistics.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Mexico

    

      

What a flood!

The current flood in Thailand is the worst in a decade and shows the need of an improvement in Thailand’s flood prevention system. Following the situation with the red and yellow shirts Thailand has faced a huge drop in tourism, and this event is leading and will continue to lead to a drop in tourism for a while until Thailand gets back on its feet.

58% of the natural disasters that occur in Thailand for the past twenty years have been floods, but the government and country has not focused much on improving the flood prevention program because the flood doesn’t usually reach Bangkok. This tragic flooding we are experiencing is good in terms that after the event, Thailand will hopefully focus and have a better flood prevention system for the future.

Many people in Thailand who does not live in Bangkok is complaining because when they are flooded for two months, the government does not pay much attention to them but when there are rumors of flood water reaching Bangkok, they are freaked out and fully focused to prevent this. I would like to say the government has to care more for Bangkok because it is hope to a majority of Thai citizens, it is the capital and business city of Thailand and it is in the top five most visited cities every year in the world! However, I think the government should also pay attention to other cities who have been flooding for a while now, and have floods often every year.

Water covers more land than 3G and Wifi today in Thailand.  Many factories in places such as Ayutthaya have closed down and need lots of repair and money. They have closed down, and need about 5 months after the flood before they can get back to work. The Honda car factory has over 300 cars flooded and a lot of their factories have flooded. This will lead to a shortage of Honda Cars, and let lead the company to have minimal profit from Thailand at the end of the year. Also, a majority of the world’s computer hard disks and rice are produced in Thailand and the flood has led to a shortage of these products. Computer prices are expected to rise around 2000 baht per computer especially in Thailand. Starbucks in lots of places in Thailand has to close down, partly because of flooding, but also because they don’t have paper cups to serve their drinks with because the factory that produces it for them is flooded. Half of swensens menu are unavailable, and Burger King in places such as Chiang Mai does no longer sell burgers but only the French fries!

In some parts of Thailand, animals along with people have died. Animals such as crocodiles have traveled along with the flood and can cause people a lot of harm. Fifteen green deadly African snakes which have been imported for research are now out in the wild and with a bite; it can kill the person within minutes. Even if the person somehow manages to escape from it and get to a hospital, it is no use because there is no antidote for it that exist in Thailand yet and the government are currently talking about buying and importing these antidotes from areas in the world that have it, such as Africa.

                Many people are hurt and injured or even killed. Hospitals are flooded and have some problems getting people in and curing them. Businesses are going down and universities and schools are flooded. Schools and universities close down and this greatly affects children’s schooling and education. They will have to make up these weeks of absence during the holidays. Houses are destroyed and people have to evacuate and leave their possessions behind. These possessions will be destroyed, robbed of, or lost with the flood when they come back.

                However, the flood can be good for some people who seize the opportunity. Some people go out and buy dozens of packs of water in the supermarket for around less than ten baht a bottle and then in a few days when water bottles and beers cannot be bought in the markets anymore, they go out and sell each bottle for close to a hundred baht. Businesses that sell boats, lifejackets and umbrellas are having their best ever year!

                Although people may blame the heavy rainfall for this flood, the flood could have been prevented and the amount of water could be decreased. The dams in Thailand has been 99% full for a few months now and with each year it is almost being overflowed. The government received warnings but they ignored it. They were all full at the same time, and the government issued an order for all dams to let the water out. These waters, fueled by the rainfall caused this massive flooding along with other factors. If the government had let each dam let their water out one by a time before it was full, the water level of flooding would definitely decrease significantly.  Another reason that people say lead to this flooding is the huge deforestation which prevented the absorption of water.

                Every town which has been alert that the flood might reach their city, has tried to prevent it using sandbags but none were successful as the water level was stronger and higher than the sandbags. If none were successful, why should we believe that Bangkok will be successfully relieved of flooding? The flood water has already caused trouble and is leaked in into some parts of Bangkok. The newly elected prime minister knows she is in trouble with a lot of pressure with her inability to deal with the deeply concerned issue of flooding.

                Since I live in the heart and center of Bangkok, Sukhumvit 24 next to Emporium, the flood might not reach my condo. However, life is precious and one should take precautions and be cautious. If the flood reaches our condo, it would mean that we would have to “hibernate” and if the government turns off the light and electricity we would be in trouble therefore my mom evacuated our family to my grandparents’ house in Chiang Mai where we have been safely living for a few weeks now. Since Chiang Mai is on high ground and have a good flood prevention system, the flood came and went within 3 days and the water was usually no higher than 20 cm! Bangkok is on lower ground and for the water to get out of Thailand, and so that other cities can stop suffering from the floods, the water must go through Thailand into the sea/ocean. The government is finding ways for the flood to not enter the center of town where the majority of businesses and hotels are stationed. The government is also trying to find ways for people to travel as cars cannot run in the roads and transportation has been greatly affected and most are unavailable.

                The flood showed why Thai people are known for their generous and kind heart. Several people donated food and money and went to help. When sandbags were lacking in some areas, people went into the water and held hands, using themselves as a blockade by forming a chain. They risked their lives for the better of the community which I believe needs applauding. I can only hope that Thai people remain united and together we can stand up and fight the floods. I would also like to thank other countries such as the United States who have remained concerned and tried helping Thailand with this flood issue.

  

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-11-03/asia/world_asia_thailand-floods-before-after_1_floodplains-chao-phraya-moderate-resolution-imaging-spectroradiometer?_s=PM:ASIA
http://newsautoreview.com/news/honda-cars-destroy-a-flooded-in-thailand/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-06/thai-floodwaters-threaten-second-honda-factory-inner-bangkok.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Thailand_floods
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/comics/thailand-devastation-1317830757-slideshow/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15615876
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-08/toyota-honda-may-not-recoup-output-until-2012-due-to-thai-flood.html
http://www.thamai.net/2011/11/thailand-flooding-november-2011/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15610536
http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/01/technology/thailand_flood_supply_chain/index.htm