POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY: AFRICA IS THE HEART OF THE WORLD

Geopolitics is a discipline born in Europe in the early 1900s and its fathers have developed theories. The African's goal in the 21st century must be to study, revise these theories and propose his own vision in a world dominated by ideologies.

MACKINDER'S THEORY

Halford John Mackinder, British by nationality, was the father of geopolitics (for the western world, let's be precise), geopolitician, geographer and explorer. He develops in his book "The Geographic Pivot of History" (published in 1904) a theory that will be strongly dominant in geopolitical circles and will even determine fate and some political decisions. Mackinder believed (according to the European ideological configuration) that there was an eternal struggle between sea and land civilizations (I talked about it in an article on our Nofi Media site entitled "Géopolitique : la théorie des grands espaces civilisationnels") and identified a heart of the Earth he called Heartland, which was (according to him) the Russian Empire (then present-day Russia and the former territories of the Soviet Union). For Mackinder, what he called Heartland (Eurasia), was a terrestrial civilization, a heart of the Earth because it was landlocked, unassailable by any sea power (Western Europe and the United States) and rich in resources. His concern revolved around the possibility that the Russian Empire could be a power and irrevocably replace the power based on maritime expansionism (imposed at the time by British imperialism). In this sense Mackinder will define Eurasia as the Heartland of the world (in his vision) and will arrive at affirming "Whoever controls Eastern Europe commands the Heartland and whoever controls the Heartland commands the world". A sentence and a vision that will be contested by another of the fathers of geopolitics, the profoundly westernist, Atlanticist and Eurocentrist American called Nicolas Spykman. A phrase and a vision that must also be contested by Africans according to an ancestral vision.

SPYKMAN'S THEORY

Nicolas Spykman, an American and another of the fathers of geopolitics, relied on Mackinder's studies to challenge his point of view. Spykman thought Mackinder was overemphasizing the Heartland concept and proposed an alternative geopolitical interpretation. For the American Spykman, the real center of power was not in the Heartland, but in what he called Rimland. Rimland translates as "coastal region" and for Spykman included all of Western Europe and South Asia. Spykman will state "He who controls the Rimland commands the Heartland, and he who controls the Heartland commands the world". This statement may seem like a partial opposition to Mackinder's, but it is clear that Spykman considered the Rimland superior to the Heartland and that everything should revolve around Europe. But if there's one thing Spykman and Mackinder shared, it's that they both believed that the areas surrounding present-day Russia should be controlled to prevent Russia from emerging. Mackinder and Spykman even advocated creating artificial nations, with artificial histories and cultures, alien to Russia, so that what was called Heartland could never be a true center of power. Strategically, this benefits maritime civilizations (USA and its satellite, Europe). Thus we can understand that the Russian-Ukrainian interethnic conflict finds its causes and reasoning in the 20th century theories of Western figures who tried to designate the world in full conflict during what is called the First and Second World Wars. People like Mackinder and Spykman had to some extent foreshadowed post-World War II geographic organization, institutions like NATO and the UN, the Cold War, and the need to control the Mackinderian Heartland.

MY VISION: AFRICA IS THE HEART OF THE WORLD

In the Mackinder/Spykman dualism, what was the role and position of Africa? Important question mark. In today's geopolitical discipline, the Heartland is seen as Eurasia, the Rimland as Western Europe and South Asia, while the rest of the world as the Strategic and Outlying Islands. As Africans, we must challenge this Eurocentric vision.

Every civilization has a particular view of seeing itself geographically and also seeing others. We have all been used to seeing Africa as the southern hemisphere. It's really like this?

1- Normally, being the hottest African countries, it is much more logical that being close to the sun, they are northern;
2- It is interesting to note that the term "Zulu" means "sky" in the indigenous language and that the Zulu People actually consider themselves as the Sky People, the Nordic People, the one who is closest to the Creator Unkulunkulu. Also of interest is the depiction of Upper Egypt (now Southern Egypt) and Lower Egypt (now Northern Egypt) on the Ancient Egypt map. Generally speaking, many peoples of Africa consider themselves to be their north and at the same time the heart of the Earth, therefore their own Heartland;
3- There are 3 cartographic visions that clash (for purely political reasons): the Mercator map (the one in common use), created by the Eurocentric geographer Mercator, which places Europe at the center to help European navigators move around the earth . This map represents Africa and South America in reduced size. Then there is the Peters map which depicts Africa and South America in a larger size and the West in a smaller size. And finally there is the Afro-centred vision which inverts South and North and considers North and South relative. The time has come for Africans to start seeing themselves as their epicenter again.

Mackinder, in 1919, had seen Black Africa as the "Southern Heartland" (heart of the Southern Earth) even if he never elaborated the concept on a theoretical level (probably due to the prejudices of the time towards the African continent ). What the Mackinders and Spykmans, among others, failed to develop theoretically, Africans will have to do according to their paradigm. According to Mackinder, one of the important features of the Heartland is land control, while according to Spykman the most important feature of the Rimland must be control of the sea. Africa controls all these features: land and water. The Atlantic Ocean was once a connection point to the Americas for the great Manden Empire, while the Mediterranean was a connection point for the Egyptians to Europe and the Muslim world. In the African vision, Africa is certainly not part of a simple strategic/peripheral island or a second Heartland after Eurasia, but it is what I call "Mowo ya dunia" (which means in Swahili, the most spoken language in Africa, "heart of the world''). The first and true heart of the world. Africa is the matrix of humanity and of all civilizations, the richest continent on the planet (for which today all the powers are fighting to access this heart of the world) and can strategically control both the land and the waters. If it frees itself from exogenous powers, emancipates itself from endogenous evils, it will have obtained its integral sovereignty, it will have united and consolidated into a powerful Black Empire, Africa will lead humanity in its entirety. Africa has a mission and must understand that the epicenter is neither Eurasia nor the West, but Africa itself. The world understands the potential of Africa, which this same world needs in order to exist. Starting from this analysis of mine, I then affirm ''Whoever controls Africa commands Mowo ya dunia; the one who controls Mowo ya dunia guides the world and its destiny''. In the emerging multipolar world, Africa will be the central pole.

Article written by Farafin Sandouno on nofi.media