East Africa Today

The countries of East Africa are some of poorest, and most highly populated in all of Africa. These countries are limited in technology, but they use what few resources they have to progress. They mainly rely on agriculture and tourism. Countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia produce coffee, tea, cotton, and livestock. Other countries like Tanzania, draw in tourists with their national parks. And Eritrea brings in travelers with its coral reefs. Both agriculture and tourism_________.

In many of these countries, they are ethnic groups clashing. For example, Rwanda has two main ethnic groups called the Hutu and the Tutsi. The groups could not get along, which led to the genocide in the 1990's . These kinds of problems are arising in many places such as Uganda, Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea. The reason for these conflicts is imperialism. The Europeans conquered African land, and without thinking of the tribes and their differences, they shoved them all together into the same countries. Now that most of the European countries have left, the groups are clumped together, leading to constant feuding.

Their is quite a diversity of religion and languages in East Africa. Many Muslims live in countries like Sudan, Uganda, and Somalia. Christianity is also a major religion in East Africa, and is practiced in many countries. Their are also religions unique to their own countries like Somali. Somali, the religion, is practiced in Somalia, as well as the language Somali. East African countries speak mainly English, and languages that the European settlers brought over. There are also several native African languages that are still commonly spoken too.