The Process of State Formation in Pre-Colonial East Africa.

Abstract

East Africa is widely claimed to be the smallest of the political regions of Africa. In absolute geographic terms it covers an area of 1,763,769 sq.km (680,992sq miles). Today, East Africa comprises the countries of Kenya, Tanzania (Tanganyika and Zambia), Uganda and to a large extent Burundi, Rwanda, and Northern Mozambique. This size was due to the rapid expansion through agriculture, annexation of smaller kingdoms and strong formation of a strong and standing army as well as the fortification of the military. From both the physical and the human standpoint, East Africa shares many similarities with Southern Africa, and indeed along the common frontier between the two regions, it is difficult to determine with precision exactly where one begins and the other ends. Both regions belong to highland Africa and the high plateau which is such a conspicuous feature of the physical geography of Southern Africa which extends without a break into East Africa..

SOPHIA: An African Journal of Philosophy Vol. 9 (1) 2006: pp. 116-119