Reevaluating Africa's borders through a European perspective (I'm sorry!)

After doing this for Europe and venturing into the dangerous territories of Asia, what better thing to do next than to do this for Africa? The last time that a European drew the borders of Africa, things didn't work out too well. Although I did the DNA test and I am 6% North African, so I guess I'm 6% allowed to do this? No? I know. I'm joking. I mean the European scramble for Africa started in like 1833, it's almost 200 years later, And a lot of parts of Africa are still struggling a little bit because of that. The good thing about this video is that you can just click away when you're done. You can disagree with all of them and it will have no impact in the real life borders of Africa. So let's get started and try to fix Africa's borders. Guys, once again, my patrons had early access to this video and they get it for most videos unless there was like a delay in my video making process. So if you want to access that early content and extra content every now and then too, make sure to support me there as well. I'm going to take kind of mostly two things into account when redrawing these lines. De facto areas of control, so territories that aren't officially divided but de facto are divided, like Somalia, you know, that lost Somaliland. It's not an official country but it exists by itself. And also potential divisions based on cleaner looking borders and also ethnic group divisions on the ground. So, let's get started. First, Morocco. The first thing I think immediately needs to change for Morocco is the annexation of the Spanish Plaza de Soberanía. I mean, colonialism is over Spain, it doesn't make sense for you to have these isolated territories on another continent next to another country. Next I would come up with a solution regarding West Sahara. claimed by Morocco but with its own independence movement. I think all people have a right to self-determination and so I would create a Sahrawi Republic. I would however limit it to the de facto control zones of the Polisario Front, which is its government, sort of, along with a small area of access to the Atlantic Ocean, granting the rest of the territory to Morocco as they control it already, in a way of compromise. Then we move west and I think the first order of business here is to address the Sahara desert regions of all of these countries with the potential creation of a free Tuareg nation. The Tuareg are a large Berber ethnic group. They are traditionally nomadic and they primarily inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and as far as northern Nigeria. desert areas are already places where said countries have little to no control and sovereignty, and since the Tuareg are their own people, why not grant them a fully sovereign land of their own. They roughly take up this area, so let's attribute it to them for now, I'll fix it a little more as we go along. When it comes to the rest of Algeria, the only other thing I could find is an independence movement for the Kabyle people in the adequately named region of Kabylie. The Kabyle people People of Algeria, primarily located in the mountainous region up here, are distinct from the country's Arab majority due to their Berber Amazigh heritage, language and culture. They speak a different dialect and they've sort of resisted assimilation into the Arabic-Islamic identity promoted by Algeria's post-independence policies. At the start of the century, in 2001, a movement was founded demanding more autonomy and even by some more radical voices, full-out independence. It's not a huge movement and to be honest it seems to have died down a little bit, but still it would be interesting to see a small country emerge for these people, with the rest of Algeria staying as it is. 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Now, I know what you may be thinking if you've kept up with current events in this part of the world. What about the Sahel Confederation? I'm going to get to it, it's actually towards the end of the video, so you can skip ahead to that if you want to get some clarification and then come back here. But don't worry, we're going to get to it. And to just close things off here, Mauritania. While Mauritania faces ethnic and socio-economic tensions, namely with a more Arab elite dominating politics and somewhat pushing away the other ethnic groups such as the sub-Saharan ones, these haven't translated into active or organized regional separatist movements, so I would keep it as it is. And something similar could be said for Tunisia, so it stays whole in this scenario too. Libya, however, is a very different story. The Libyan civil war ended in 2011, but it just transformed into a permanent state of crisis and division of the country into areas of control by different factions. For all intents and purposes, it is already a divided country. Since March 2022, two different governments control the country. The Tripoli-based and internationally recognized government of national unity, which controls the western part of the country, and the House of Representatives recognized government of national stability, which controls the central and eastern part of Libya. Some of the southwest is also controlled by Tuadik groups and some of the southeast by other local forces. We've already attributed that southwest area to the Tuadik nation, so I think what is left for us to confirm here is the division of the country in two. Maybe the east remaining known as Livia and the west changing its name to Tripoli after the capital city. When it comes to Egypt, I would kind of implement no changes at all. Sure, the Sinai Peninsula sort of hangs there, but who are we going to give it to? It wouldn't make sense to annex it to anyone in the Middle East and it also has no independence movement. The only thing I would change is the resolution of the border dispute it has with Sudan. Assigning the Alaib Triangle and Bir Tawil to Egypt, Sudan has disputed it since the end of colonial times. But Egypt has a de facto control over it, so it makes sense it is just resolved like this. Speaking of Sudan, I would of course maintain the north-south divide, but I would also add a third country, Darfur. Which was, as you may remember, the setting of a terrible regional conflict that led to the massacre of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Darfuri people. If they are their own people and are persecuted by the country they belong to, I think it makes sense that they should get to go at it on their own. Which brings us to the troublesome region of Northeast Africa with Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Let's start with Eritrea. Eritrea is ethnically diverse, with nine recognized ethnic groups. One of them, the Afar, also lives in neighboring Djibouti and Ethiopia as minorities. This could potentially lead to a desire of autonomy or union with Afar populations across borders. It's unlikely, but for the sake of the hypothetical, let's include it here, with the Afar regions of Eritrea and Ethiopia being annexed by Djibouti, which otherwise would stay the same but here expands its territory vastly. In addition to the breakaway Afar, I think the Tigray people would need to get their own country too. They have tried to break away from Ethiopia in the past and while the conflict ended the tension remains. So, a brand new country would be created here, mostly from Ethiopia but part of Eritrea too, which other than these two breakaways would now stay the same. Ethiopia however could be more complicated. Having already lost those two territories too, it could also lose an eastern one, as most of the people there are Somali and could seek union with Somalia, which would itself lose Somaliland, a breakaway de facto independent state already, which just needs its sovereignty confirmed at an international level. The rest of Ethiopia I guess would remain whole but the fact that the majority of Oromi people prevalent in the center regions are also discontent with the central government paired with these other states potentially breaking away could lead to a total collapse of the country with Oromia becoming its own independent nation, Amhara in the north following suit and the other southern nations going off on their own as well. Directly south from it and contrasting with a balkanization, I think a union of the forever promised East African Federation should finally take place. I think from a strategic perspective it was a mistake to expand the plan onto the very unstable Somalia, South Sudan and the troublesome Democratic Republic of the Congo. And so I think an East African Federation made up of its original core proponents of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda would have the highest chance of success, truly creating a potential superpower in East Africa. For the East African islands, I don't think any change would take place. This goes for the Comoros, Mauritius, Réunion, Mayotte as well as Madagascar too, plus the Seychelles. I couldn't find any reason for a breakup or union. Of course the Comoros keep claiming Mayotte from France, but countless referendums show the locals don't want that. And then we go through a group of countries that I think would stay roughly the same as they are. Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Malawi. Oh and Namibia too. Perhaps the only change I would implement there is the loss of their panhandle only attributed to Namibia for old colonial reasons that might not make as much sense anymore. In this case I annexed it to Botswana. Oh and of course the creation of a free Barotseland, mostly inside of Zambia but also taking off border areas of the DRC and East Angola, actually in retrospect let's give the Caprivi strip to them since those people live there too. This rough region is the homeland of the Bartosz people who are a unified group of over 46 individual formerly diverse tribes related through kinship over time. They have claimed independence in the past and even already have their own flag as well as historical existence as an empire and kingdom before European colonialism. Moving to South Africa, I would regrettably annex Iswatini and Lesotho to South Africa proper, perhaps under some sort of autonomous region deal, but the landlocked condition of the two nations isn't easy and perhaps full incorporation would benefit them. But again, as with all the changes on this list, tell me in the comments why I'm wrong. That is the point here, bringing these subjects into discussion and debate. Teach me why Iswatini and Lesotho should remain independent. For Mozambique, it's a tough question. They have various insurgencies in the north and pretty much every single region has complained, either about not getting enough from the central government or giving it too much, some even going all out to demand more autonomy or even independence. However, I don't see how the breakaway regions would survive on their own. And I know maybe this is a little hypocritical, because the same thing could be applicable to every other region I have broken away from an existing country, but here it seems even more unlikely. I guess a semi-autonomous confederation could be the way to go. While for Angola, I think it would keep the rest of the territory with the exception of losing their exclave of Cabinda, a territorially disconnected small region that is immensely wealthy in natural resources and has previously demanded independence, it could sort of become a Monaco of Africa as a city-state. This video is long, huh? I think as a European you kind of lose track a little bit of just how many countries Africa has. Moving on to the rest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many local conflicts exist, namely in the east, in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. In most cases due to ethnic disputes, I think we could at least hypothesize a North and South Kivu set of breakaway states. Potentially even together, the rest of the DRC could stay as it is, as is the case with the other Republic of the Congo. In Gabon, the province of Ugwe-Ivindu has at times demanded more autonomy, but I don't think strongly enough to label it as its own country here. Equatorial Guinea would stay the same, as would São Tomé-Príncipe. In the Central African Republic there are some movements like the Seleka, but I believe they are a country-wide movement, not reduced to a single region, so I guess the borders would stay the same too. While in Chad, the Tibesti region in the north has historically seen separatist sentiment due to ethnic and political divisions by the Tobu people, a nomadic group in the mountains. So hey, if the Tuaregs got their own nation, why shouldn't they too? Moving back to the West Africa region, we can finally address the Sahel Confederation topic. It exists today, and it's making steps towards a potential full political union made up of Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali. And this would of course take away a lot of the Tuareg state's territory, so an adjustment is needed for our hypothetical scenario. Considering Azawad within Mali also wants Tuareg sovereignty, I think a compromise could be that the territory remains Tuareg as well as part of Northern Niger, with the rest becoming the united Sahel Confederation. Regarding Cameroon, the English speaking portion would get independence. South Cameroon has fought for autonomy for a long time and the creation of a sovereign Amazonia would finally take place here. In Nigeria, Biafra would also achieve independence. They have long fought unsuccessfully for that independence so i think it's only fair that they should achieve it now and nigeria is a very distinct country between north and south in fact if you go a little back in history you understand how initially there were two separate colonies in the north and the south the north being consistent of more muslim populations and the south more animalistic or christian people the fact that they then became a single country was kind of just the fault of the british that wanted a single colony and then gave it independence altogether. So a potential division between North and South wouldn't be too crazy either. Benin and Togoland would stay the same, while Western Togo could perhaps break away from Ghana, either uniting with Togo and expanding it or existing on its own. The majority of the people in this region are ethnic Ewe's who also inhabit Togo proper and many of them have expressed a desire to break away from Ghana. And that is kind of it for the border changes. The remaining countries of Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia and Senegal would remain the same as well as Cape Verde. I considered uniting The Gambia and Senegal into the previously attempted Senegambia, but the two nations are considerably different with opposite English and French colonial backgrounds, so separate sovereignty continues to make sense in my opinion. The southern area of Senegal, Casamance, also tried to become independent at one point, it failed and didn't seem to want to keep going with their independence process so that is my humble attempt at redrawing and fixing africa's borders i understand that many of these are completely wrong right i don't have enough knowledge to make a serious attempt at doing this and i think there's a lot of hypocrisy throughout the video because sometimes i know things about a country and so i justify a breakup or a union and then i don't use that same argument later on for other countries but point this out in the comments teach me why i'm wrong my point here is to get us talking about the existent borders of a continent to understand why they are there to think about whether or not they make sense and whether or not they could change so tell me what you think do you agree with any of these and for the ones that you disagree with why again thank you so much to my patrons for supporting me directly and thank you to you for watching this video remember to subscribe if you want to catch the future ones and i will see you time for more general knowledge. I was gonna record this in a t-shirt and then I realized it's it's freezing right now you know I mean I'm in Portugal and it is I'm not gonna check but it's like 10 degrees or something which I know isn't that cold for a lot of you watching but I am freezing and we don't have good insulation in in houses here so even with a heater and it's just it's too cold. Speaking of, to try and stay warm I'm drinking some tea from my Lord of the Rings mug that I've shown you before. It's kind of falling apart I think I need to get a new and better one. I like I like the Lord of the Rings a lot. I've been thinking about rereading it. I read it quite a while ago and it is I think a difficult set of books to read so it's one of those books that I think makes sense to go back to as you get a little older because I think I'm gonna understand a lot more things now than I did back then yeah