Africa's Century
Europe carved it up at a conference in Berlin. Independence came with borders designed to fail. But the story doesn't end there. Africa contains 1.4 billion people, the world's youngest population, and the mineral wealth the energy transition depends on. This track follows the arc: the imperial scramble that drew the borders, the decolonisation that couldn't undo them, the structural fragility that followed, and the individual power profiles of the continent's heavyweights — South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt. The 21st century's most consequential demographic and economic transformation is African. Most people aren't paying attention.
The continent the twentieth century ignored is the one the twenty-first century will be about. The question is not whether Africa reshapes the global order. The question is whether anyone outside Africa is prepared for it.
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Historical Events 11 minThe Scramble for AfricaIn thirty years, European powers carved up 80% of Africa along lines that ignored every ethnic and political reality. The consequences endure.
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Historical Events 11 minDecolonizationBetween 1945 and 1975, European empires ruling most of the planet disintegrated, producing dozens of new nations with borders designed to fail.
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Regions 11 minSub-Saharan AfricaA population doubling by 2050, minerals vital to the energy transition, and a China-vs-West scramble for influence are driving Africa's geopolitical rise.
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Concepts 8 minFailed StatesSomalia, Afghanistan, Yemen: when governments collapse, what fills the vacuum reshapes global security. Why every intervention remedy has fallen short.
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Regions 13 minThe Horn of AfricaThe Horn of Africa — Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, and Eritrea — controls the western approaches to the Red Sea and Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, making it one of the world's most strategically contested regions despite being among its most impoverished.
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Regions 13 minThe SahelThe Sahel — the semi-arid belt stretching from Senegal to Sudan — has become the world's fastest-growing jihadist theatre, with a cascade of military coups expelling French forces and welcoming Russian mercenaries in a dramatic realignment of African security politics.
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Powers 8 minSouth AfricaIt holds 75% of global platinum reserves and avoided civil war against all odds. Three decades after Mandela, why Africa's powerhouse is stalling.
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Powers 20 minNigeriaWith 230 million people and Africa's largest economy, Nigeria is too big to ignore and too troubled to lead. Its trajectory will shape the continent's future.
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Powers 18 minEthiopiaThe only African state never colonized now hosts the AU headquarters and controls the Blue Nile's headwaters — making it both continental symbol and regional flashpoint.
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Powers 17 minEgypt110 million people crammed along a single river, guarding the world's most important canal. Egypt is too big to fail—and too burdened to thrive.