Some urban developments in Tropical Africa

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Some Urban Developments in Tropical Africa Einige Probleme der tidtischen

Entwicklung Tropisch-Afrikas

Quelques d6veloppements urbains en Afrique tropicale

by Walther MANSHARD,

Paris*

Abstract: This essay describes some of the more important urban developments ln Tropical Africa, Structures and types of West African towns and urban problems ln East Africa am chosen to outline some of the processes of African urbaniza tion Particular reference is made to the historical growth as well as to the functional aspects of urban settlements in Africa Zusmune&ssung: Vorliegender Aufsatz tihrt ln elnige Probleme der stiidtischen Entwickluq TropischAfrlkas ein. In dieswn Zusammenhang werden Westafrikas stildtische Strukturen und einige Aspekte der Urbanisierung Ostafrlkas behandelt. Neben den Unterschieden des historlschen Wachstums stehen funktionale Gesichtspunkte lm Vordergrung der Diskussion R&I&: Cet essai d&wit quelques developpements urbains en Afrlque troplcale. Pour desslner les processus d’urbanisation, on a choisi des structures et des types de villes de 1’Afrlque occldentale et des problkmes urbalns en Afrique de l’Est Des references particuli&ressont faites &propos de la croissance historlque et des aspects fonctionnels des habitats urbains en Afrlque.

Modern urban planning has a particular position in the developing countries of Tropical Africa. Of utmost importance is the study of urban types m terms of their differing structural and functional characteristics and the portrayal of the processes of urbanisation. The urban growth and decay associated with political, economic and technical developments, the centripetal attraction of new functions, necessitate more intensive studies of these processes. In contrast to the numerous socio-anthropological and sociological studies, the problems of regional analysis as, for example, town-hinterland and town-town relationships, growth trends and questions regarding city regions have so far been the subject of relatively little investigation in Africa.Tropical urban research still offers a wide field for detailed individual studies. An attempt wiIl be made here merely to provide a general summary of those topics related to the urbanisation of black Africa. Town planning has come to the fore as a consequence of the rapid urban expansion only in the last few decades and * Prof. Dr. Walther MANSHARD, Director, Department of Environmental Sciences, UNESCO, Place de Fontcnoy, Paris 7e, France. As part of a book on the Urban Geography of Tropical Africa (in course of preparation for Vieweg, Braunschweig). I have been asked by the editors of GEOFORUM to present a general account of important aspects of urban development as well as of some of the current problems of urbanisation in Tropical Africa. This essay was therefore written, not for the urban specialist, but rather for those geographers and non-geographers more generally interested in this topic.

more particularly since the end of World War II. The majority of African towns have grown so rapidly in recent decades, that the provision of services (e.g. transport, water, lighting, drainage), and the construction of suburban settlements in these “boom towns” have been unable to keep pace with developments. One of the main characteristics of population development in Tropical Africa is the rapid growth of urban settlements. The population is migrating from the rural settlements into the smaller and medium-sized centres, and more particularly into the cities. Studies have revealed growth rates during the last decade of 10-l 5 % per annum for the capitals and cities of Tropical Africa. Growth rates for the mediumsized towns were only 4-5 % (WIND, 1967). The departure points for this development are as a rule those towns, which arose in colonial times. As administrative centres, they exercised specific national and regional function (Fig. 1). One must at all times bear in mind the great extent to which the African cultural regions, in the heart of which the towns lie, have changed within a few decades. In Tropical Africa this development was closely associated with the phenomenon of the colonial town. This is indicated both by the choice of location and by the structure and function of the urban settlements. Today, with the colonial era almost completely concluded, or superseded by economic impulses of a more “neocolonial” nature, we are able to make a first retrospective review.

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Kumasi), so that it was of little significance for the European colonisation of the 19th and 20th centuries. The African population of these (older) towns is generally more homogeneous. There is often a dominant ethnic group. Europeans and African “strangers” were accommodated in particular quarters (e. g. the “zongos” of Ghana, or the ‘&bon garis” of Nigeria). Society in these towns was usually more clearly stratified and more strongly adherent to local traditions than in the purely colonial town, where cultural contact with Europe had already progressed considerably further.

Fig. 1 l

The “Schlot3” in Buea, western Cameroon, formerly seat of the German governor

l

Das ,,SchloB“ in Buea, West-Kamerun, friiher Sitz des deutschen Gouverneurs

0 Le ,,SchloB” de Buea, Cameroun occidental, autrefois rkidence du gouverneur allemand

1. Structure and Types of West African Towns An attempt to produce an initial survey and typology of towns and cities in the African tropics may procede from two extremes, between which most of the urban types are to be found. On the one hand there is the young colonial town, (“ville blanche” : DRESCH, 1948), founded as a rule in the 19th century, which owes its origin and development almost exclusively to the respective European colonial power, and whose structure is characterised primarily by its administrative functions. Examples of this type include Niamey (Niger), Kaduna (Nigeria), Bamako (Mali), Tamale, Sunyani (Ghana). A fairly high percentage of the African population was not originally born in these towns, but arrived later as a result of migration. Itinerant and seasonal workers constitute an important element of the urban population. The urban community is comparatively highly mobile. The African and white population previously lived in distinctly separated residential districts. (One recalls the “ridges” in the former British colonies, which were a variant of the climatically favoured hill stations). At the other extreme of this suggested classification of types of urban settlement in West Africa is found the old African town, which was usually already established in preEuropean times and exercised traditional functions, as for example, a local market or the seat of a chief (e. g. Abomey,

Very often, both types developed side by side. Thus one often finds a modern administrative quarter on the periphery of the old “native town”. The former constitutes the initial stage in the development of a new, independent urban settlement which, given the ability to attract new functions (business districts, industries), is able to outstrip the African town and relegate it to the status of a satellite. On the other hand, there are many transitional forms and centres, in which old and new become equally fused to form a single unit. The historical and cultural contrast between these two types becomes highlighted by a further important geographical antithesis. This is the contrast between the old, continentally-orientated urban centres of the Sudan and the generally much younger centres on the margin of the African continent, the “emporia” located near the Guinea coast with their predominantly maritime outlook. Many smalI towns were originally the seats of indigenous princes and chiefs, centres that is, in which the old, traditional administration resided. Kumasi, Abomey and many other small centres belong to this group. At the same time, economic functions gradually assumed dominance in many places. The old, long distance trading links have helped many a town to its first real prosperity. A retrospective glance at the historical development of West Africa throughout the last millennium reveals that the majority of the Sudan towns - in the states of Songhai, Mali, Ghana - were orientated almost exclusively towards the North in their trading. It is to the Trans-Sahara traffic to the Mediterranean areas of North Africa that these towns, as caravan centres, owed their importance. They were in fact oriental towns, which developed in the system of “Rentenkapitalismus” (BOBEK, 1959). From the 16th century onwards a complete reorientation of trade took place, which affected particularly the southern areas of West Africa along the Guinea coast. Maritime trade replaced long-distance continental trade. The settlements and forts of the seafaring European colonial powers along the Gold, Slave, Ivory and Grain coasts developed into new economic and political foci. This complete reversal in outlook of the southern coastal areas of West Africa, from North to South, from continent to ocean, caused the great

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Fig. 2 l

View of Bouake, important administrative and commercial centre in the Ivory Coast

0 Ansicht von Bouake, einem wichtigen Verwaltungs- und Handelszentrum der Elfenbeinkiiste l

Vue de Bouake, centre administratif et commercial important en CBte d’Ivoire

upheavals in the Sudan, the Moorish conquests, and the continuing powerful advance of Islam to pass by almost without a trace along the forest belt and littoral of Upper Guinea (Fig. 2). This historical background is vital to an understanding of the cultural development of West African towns. In almost all colonial territories, which were carved - usually quite arbitrarily - out of the amorphous African block from Senegal to the Cameroons in the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, this contrast between two distinct ways of life is found. On the one hand, the attitude to life found at the coast, which was receptive to ideas from Europe, and which revealed a strong antipathy towards everything coming from the North, from the sun-baked bush of the African hinterland (ROUCH, 1956).

On the other hand, the attitude to life found in the Sudan, which, bearing the strong stamp of Islam and being much more closely attached to tradition, was permeated by a feeling of arrogance and contempt towards the inhabitants of the coast. Corresponding to these two “worlds” (which evolved, so to speak, “back to back”), is also a characteristic commercial acumen, a particular philosophy of life. Quarrels and bloodshed between them have broken out again and again down to the present day, and one of the most important problems facing the West African states is the socio-political settlement of these long-standing differences (HODGKIN, 1956). In general, the physiognomy and developmental possibilities of the West African town are determined less by the local situation than by the location within the corresponding major region - in addition to the effects of the hinter-

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Fig. 3 0 Kumasi (Ashanti, Ghana) in 1870 l

Kumasi (Ashanti, Ghana) im Jahre 1870

0 Kumasi (Ashanti, Ghana) en 1870

land. The following summary groups are suggested as a simplified broad regional classification of town in West Africa. 1. The towns of the western Sudan : a) the old African centres, e. g. the capitals of the

Emirates in northern

Nigeria (e. g. Kano or Sokoto)

b) the more recent colonial towns (e. g. Bamako, Niamey) c) the ports of Senegambia (from St. Louis to Bathurst) 2. The towns in the Upper Guinea lands: a) the large and smaller ports situated directly on the coast (between Bissau and Calabar) b) the towns in the wider hinterland, which are mostly large market or administrative centres (e. g. Ibadan or Kumasi), and whose development was closely associated with production for world markets, e.g. cacao (Fig. 3). This subdivision derives historically and culturally from the spheres of influence of the mediaeval states of the western Sudan and, correspondingly, from the advance of Islam within the West African savanna regions. In central Upper Guinea (particularly in Ghana, Togo and Dahomey) the railway and major road connection linking the peripheral ports with the inland centres plays an economically important role in this subdivision.

The increasing urbanisation of Tropical Africa was therefore closely associated with the economic development of production for the world market and of mining. A comparison of the distribution and dispersal of urban settlements in the major regional zones of West Aj?ka reveals a remarkable density in the more highly advanced forest areas (e. g. of western Nigeria, Ghana and the Ivory coast with cacao or coffee production). Many rural settlements here also show signs of an incipient development of urban functions (“agrovilles”, and large villages with central place functions). These trends are not found to the same degree in the forest areas of Sierra Leone and Guinea, nor in Liberia, which has a less well developed transport network, and which only underwent rapid expansion following World War IL With the exception of Monrovia, most of the larger settlements in Liberia are provincial in character. In spite of possessing a certain commercial centrality and hence a fairly wide sphere of influence, they cannot, however, be compared with the ports at other points along the Guinea coast. A few mining settlements (e. g. Bomi Hills and Nimba), which possess a variety of subsidiary central functions, have recently been developing more vigorously. Not one of the numerous mining towns in West Africa has yet attained city characteristics. This is true also of the few hill stations, serving as recreation centres for the Europeans (like Bamenda in the Cameroons, Dalaba on the Fouta Djalon Plateau), and of the tin town, Jos, on the Jos Plateau. Compared with the eastern forest areas - from the Ivory

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Fig. 4 l

Port installations and quai side at Pointe Noire, Congo (Brazzaville)

l

Hafenanlagen am Kai von Pointe Noire, Kongo (Brazzaville)

l

Installations portuaires sur les quais de Pointe Noire, Congo (Brazzaville)

Coast to Nigeria - the semi-humid and drier savanna areas of the West African “Middle Belt” display a notable absence of towns. The rapid post-war growth of urban population was associated with a second factor, in addition to the recent progress achieved in the economic and transport sectors. Many trading centres increasingly acquired political administrative functions and became either independent state capitals (as Accra, Conakry or Abidjan) or regional capitals (Kaduna or Kumasi). A further factor is typical for the whole of Africa. This is the extraordinary mobility of the population, which is better measured by North American standards than by those of western Europe. This mobility, expressed in migratory movements of widely varying volume in both ancient and modem times, is difficult to assess statistically. Very important, for example, is the migration of the Mossi and other tribes from the middle Niger bend in Mali to the coast, to Ghana and the Ivory Coast. A second such route, which has transcended ah European colonial frontiers, runs from northern Nigeria into the Sudan (Khartoum), and then on to Mecca. Whereas the Ghana route developed for economic reasons, the Khartoum-Mecca route reflects predominantly religious motives. A pilgrimage of this type can last several years. Corresponding to their origin, the majority of itinerant workers are engaged in agriculture. They work as labourers and contract workers on plantations or on farms. A large number, however, reach the towns, where, due to their minimal wages, they constitute the lowest class of unskilled labourers.

Although the African towns have exercised, as it were, a magnetic attraction over the local and more distant hinterland, and although one can discern in the phenomenon of rural depopulation or the growth of slums a high degree of similarity to our European cities in the 18th and 19th centuries, in West Africa it was not industry but trude, which stood at the centre of urban development. The majority of the cities are ports (coastal, lagoon, and river ports) or they are transport nodes within important production areas for commodities destined for world trade. Locations at points where lines of communication are interrupted (e. g. by rapids) are especially typical. Their major functions consisted in the export of tropical products, such as coffee, bananas, cotton, palm kernels, cacao, timber and, of course, the various ores (iron, bauxite, manganese, tin), for which they received in return European consumer goods. Their foci and urban “symbols” are, therefore, likewise of a predominantly commercial nature. The cathedrals and guildhalls in the townscape of mediaeval Europe, the mosques and bazaars of the Arab world, these are represented in West Africa by the European stores and commercial establishments, which developed from the old factories (Fig. 4). Corresponding to the low density of urban settlement found over vast areas of West Africa, the individual areas served by central functions are much more extensive than in Europe. Cities like Accra, Lagos, Abidjan or Kumasi have very extensive spheres of influence. It is precisely this sphere of influence, which is of such interest in relation to the otherwise highly uniform regional zones of West Africa,

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Fig. 5 l View of the Marina

on Lages Island at the end of the 19th century. The more important harbour installations are now at the opposite side of the Lagoon (in Apapa)

l Blick iiber die Hafenfront

von Lagos am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts. Die wichtigen Hafenanlagen liegen heute auf dem gegeniiberliegenden Ufer der Lagune (in Apapa)

0 Vue du quartier portuaire de Lagos vers la fin du lge siecle. Aujourd’hui les installations maritimes importantes se trouvent de l’autre cbte de la lagune (a Apapa)

Fig. 6 l At present

the Marina in Lagos is flanked by big and modem buildmgs of banks, insurance companies, shipping agencies and Nigerian public corporations

0 Die ,,Marina“ von Lagos wird heute geslumt von modemen Hochhlusem der Banken, Versicherungsgesellschaften, Schiffsagenturen und Nigerianischen Behorden l A present

le bord de mer a Lagos est flanqui de modemes gratte-ciels appartenat aux banques, aux compagnies d’assurance, aux compagnies martimes et aux administrations nigeriennes

since it is in the “melting pot” of the towns that traditional ways of life can quickly be eroded and replaced by a new regional or national sense of solidarity.

In a survey of the central functions of African cities the temptation frequently arises to draw comparisons with European conditions. This is understandable, when one considers that most of the colonial towns received considerable impetus from the mother country in the course of their growth. It is precisely in terms of function that many

of the West African towns resemble so strongly their European models. However, some of the main services provided by British cities according to SMAILES (1944, 1946) for example, are either not yet present or only just beginning to emerge in Africa. Instead of these specialised city services, in West Africa it is the various normal urban services in an economic, social and cultural context, whose differing degrees of concentration enable the formulation of an urban hierarchy (Fig. 5 and 6).

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On account of the great regional differences and contrasts, it is not possible here to examine these questions and the problems of definition in greater detail. The difficulties encountered in attempts to apply to settlements the two conceptual terms urban and rural, which refer to European conditions, become clearly evident in Western Nigeria, where Ibadan - to quote the most extreme case -has been called both the largest urban settlement and the largest rural settlement in Africa. The application of urban terminology evolved in Europe to these urban settlements, in ‘whicha considerable proportion of the population is still engaged in agriculture, is problematical (GRENZEBACH, 1969). Even the typology suggested by MABOGUNJE (1968) on the basis of factor analysis, is not wholly satisfactory.

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grew up, Arab-Persian foundations, with trade connections radiating far into the eastern and central African hinterland. During the heyday of Arab long distance trading (12001500 A. D.), even Chinese vessels reached these shores. There developed a heterogeneous population, whose language, Swahili, is still the “lingua franca” of East Africa. In view of the substantial influx of Asiatic i. e. particularly Indian population elements, the situation in East Africa differs from that in the western part of the continent. In contrast to South Africa, where Indians initially worked on the sugar plantations in Natal, before settling in the towns, in East Africa it was the trading centres, which constituted from the outset the main centres of Indian settlement. The influx of Indian immigrants into East Africa is of relatively recent date. It was initiated by a demand for skilled labour In Nigeria the preconditions for urban development in the for railway construction work during the period of British area West of the Niger were favourable, first of all because colonial enterprise in the 19th century. Some of these people, a potential urban tradition was present as a result of the who came from the East coast of India, returned to their displacement of the Yoruba out of the savanna zone, where native land upon completion of the work. Other Indians, urban agglomerations had existed for centuries, promoted however, migrated as craftsmen and traders to East Africa by ease of communication, tram-Saharan trade and the where they formed a colonial intermediate class. establishment of expanding spheres of influence, and secondThe Arab population has been established on the East ly because the civil wars of the 19th century created a need for protection, which resulted in the growth of large agglom- African coast for considerably longer than the Indians. Arab influence may be traced back over two thousand years, erations of people, usually in the form of big nucleated that is, to a time long before the arrival of Islam. With the settlements with fortifications. The “seed bed” for the spread of the teachings of Mohammed, trading between development of urban characteristics and functions was, southern Arabia (Hadramaut) and places to the South and is, better in western Nigeria and in its settlements with became more intensive. It was concentrated along the their established central functions (e. g. the political and coastal strip from Cape Guardafui (on the Eastern Horn) sacred sovereign personified in the Oba anrong the Yoruba, as far as Mozambique. This encroachment of the Arabsacred kingship etc.), than among the tribes East of the Persian cultural world found its expression in the foundNiger, who possessed generally less sophisticated social ation of numerous urban settlements (e. g. Bagamoyo). structures and correspondingly fewer central&d social groupings. The adoption of foreign forms of urban expression, From 1500 onwards the first Indian traders began to arrive transplanted to Nigeria from Europe, evidently took place (partly as a result of Portuguese influence). Whereas the very rapidly and radically among the Ibo, and is very clearlv Arabs on the East coast became more closely integrated expressed in their large towns, Port Harcourt, Enugu, with the native population, the Indians kept more to themOnitsha, Aba and Umuahia (GRENZEBACH, 1969). selves. Although towns were already familiar to the Indian In southern Nigeria the towns bear the stamp of foreign immigrants, they did not establish any urban settlements. and newly emerged elements to a far greater degree than They worked with Arab merchants for 10-l 5 years and do the rural settlements : external impulses, e.g. export later returned to India. They engaged in business not only crops, longdistance trade, the development of a transport at the coast but also along the great trade routes into the network, have, it is true, exerted considerable influence, interior, to Tabora and as far as Lake Tanganyika. It has, but have not wrought sufficient change for the old methods therefore, been the Arabs particularly, who introduced to of cultivation and the social systems, which find their East Africa the urban way of life, which they had known expression primarily in the settlement forms, to undergo in the Orient. An old centre of such Arab influence was Zanzibar. automatic replacement by better or even by completely new forms. Following aggressive encounters with the Portuguese, who also reached East Africa, on the sea route to India, the 2. Urban Developments and Problems in East Africa Arab hegemony was reduced. In 1729 however, the PortuOf great significance to the East African coast and its hinterguese Fort Jesus in Mombasa fell once more into Arab hands land was the founding of towns under Arab influence. Arabs, and the Portuguese retreated to Mozambique. The slave Persians, Indians, and possibly even Indonesians utilised the trade and the large spice plantations on Pemba and Zanzibar Monsoon winds in order to reach this coast. Settlements consolidated the Arab position. Only when England and

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Germany assumed power in the second half of the 19th century, was the Arab dominance curtailed. Following the partial exter~ation of the Arab minority on Zanzibar (1963), the Arabs are now fighting for their existence on the mainland. The political significance of Zanzibar to East Africa has remained tremendous - even if for different reasons - up to the present day. Dar es S&am, on the other hand, is a very recent foundation. It was brought into being only in 1862 by the Sultan of Zanzibar, with the assistance of Indian merchants. As Zanzibar possessed only exposed shipping roads, the Sultan considered the location of Dar es Salaam, with its deeper channel sheltered by coral reefs, more suitable. Furthermore, the development of a new, larger port south of Mombasa seemed a promising venture after the opening of the Suez Canal (1869). In the closing decades of the 19th century Dar es Salaam became capital of German East Africa. Until the end of the 19th century, urban development in East Africa was essentially confined to the coast of the Indian Ocean. This state of affairs changed in the 20th century, for one of the most remarkable phenomenon of this century has been the rapid development of towns. In contrast to the earlier Arab foundations along the coast, three major impulses led to this more recent growth : trade, administrative functions and Christian missions. Origins were varied. Existing rural or provincial settlements grew in response to the effects of external factors. Often, churches and mission stations were set up in quite small villages, where teacher training institutes or mission hospitals were later founded. The government established a network of administrative bases, many of which were attached to the seats of the traditional rulers. (GUGLER, 1967, 1968). Often, these administrative settlements subsequently became regional and national centres. The location of trading activities - from coastal factories and small Indian ‘“dukas” to the warehouses and department stores - was strongly orientated towards transport. Nhwbi provides a typical example of the development of a young African town. It was founded in 1899, when the railway from the coast reached the present location, and railway workshops were set up. In the same year the centre of provincial administration was transferred from Machakos to Nairobi, and in 1908 the town became the official capital of Kenya. (It assumed the status of township in 1903 and the title of municipality in 1919). After crossing the tlneshold of over 100 000 inhabitants at the beginning of the forties, the present city complex of Nairobi, which extends beyond the administrative boundaries, now has a total popu~tion of over 500 000. GUGLER (1967, 1968) attributes the development of Nairobi into the largest city in East Africa to a series of factors. Apart from its outstanding location in terms of communications, and its significance as political, economic

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and cultural centre of the wealthiest of the three East African countries, Nairobi lies on the periphery of the former White Highlands, which as one of the most fertile upland areas in the African tropics, owe their wealth to the energy of white settlers. Like Dakar, the former federal capital of French West Africa, or Brazzaville in French Equatorial Africa, Nairobi has - as the headquarters of the East African Common Services O~ani~tion attracted im~rtant ad~~trative and economic functions, the impact of which extends as far as Uganda and Tanzania. Only after the three countries became independent was an attempt made, in the East African Economic Co-operation Treaty (1967), to reduce this one-sided dominance and to achieve a more equal delegation of res~nsib~ities ~ou~out the whole of East Africa. It is intended to make Arusha (northern Tanzania) the capital of a new East African Community. As the country in which the two largest towns (Nairobi and Mombasa) are also situated, Kenya underwent the greatest degree of urban development in East Africa, even before World War II. In 1962,7 % of the population in Kenya lived in urban centres of over 10 000 inhabitants, compared with 4 % in Tanzania (1958) and 3 % in Uganda (1959). These values - indicating the general level of urbanisation - are very low, even by African standards. These figures reflect the predom~ance of agriculture in the economic structure of East Africa. Measured in terms of the annual rate of increase in the percentage of the total population living in towns, the degree of urbanisation between the two census dates (1948 and 1959) for the three largest towns in Uganda (Kampala-Mengo, Jinja and Entebbe) was about 3.6 % (GUGLER, 1967). A further means of assessing future development derives from anOstimate of urban employment potential. This method is, however, complicated and also unreliable, as precise data is lacking, and the number of persons dependent upon one immigrant wage earner varies considerably according to his social position. A striking c~acte~stic of large East African towns is the dominance of the non-AjFicunpopulation element. It is true that in purely numerical terms there are more black Africans living in these towns at present, but in terms of their economic significance, the towns have been very strongly influenced in physiognomy, structure and function by their Indo-P~tani and European i~abit~ts. The percentage of the total population belonging to each racial group is highly variable. In 1962 only 24 % of Kenya‘s African population, compared with 49 % of the Indians and Pakistanis and 50 % of the Europeans, lived in Nairobi (Extra Provincial District). (GUGLER, 1968). The originally hen-dom~ated cores of many cities have become surrounded by a ring of African settlements, which are themselves subdivided structurally and sociologically according to differences - often based on education - in income level. Until a few years ago, the socio-geographical

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differentiation within East African towns depended upon the varying ways of life, which were essentially a product of ideological-religious motives and differences in income level. In the course of restructuring, there emerges a differentiation of society - originally subdivided into European upper class, Indian middle class, and autochthonous lower class - into categories based principally on economic and social criteria resembling those of Western industrial society: achievement and assimilation of Western thought by Indians and Africans are essential criteria for new groupings. This process of transformation has become evident in the geographical structures of the towns since the beginning of the sixties. The new class of political leadership, composed primarily of Africans, is assuming European economic and social habits and is beginning to invade the former European residential areas. The Africanisation of the European housing districts is one of the most outstanding features of contemporary social change. Membership of a particular racial-ethnic group is no longer the main criterium of socialspatial differentiation. The enlargement of Nairobi’s boundaries in the early sixties was undertaken in respect of all population groups and based predominantly on multi-racial economic criteria. A new social structure based upon level of income and degree of education is emerging, and is increasingly dominating spatial arrangement. Thus, in the future structure of East African towns, income levels, in particular, will be a decisive factor in delimitation : for social behaviour as such is not only difficult to assess, but is also decisively overlapped by economic motivations. In the course of the socioeconomic processes of urbanisation and integration in East Africa, there arises the central problem of lack of residential accommodation. This can be encountered in two forms : new residential districts are being constructed on a communal basis e. g. by building societies, for low income families and single workers (compare the Neighbourhood Units in Nairobi). The tribal relationships, which hinder the cultivation of urban attitudes are often still very pronounced. Family celebrations are organ&d at tribal level. Gatherings at the annual public festivals involve predominantly ethnic or linguistic groups. The fitting-out of new houses in the recent suburbs is, however, becoming increasingly adapted to the different income groups. Differential rent levels create an areal differentiation, which is socially determined i. e. based upon income. (e. g. the housing estates Nakawa and Naguru in Kampala). In this way tribal affiliations recede into the background. In the second form, individual provision of accommodation leads rather to the growth of slums or shanty towns. In the Kisenyi quarter (of Kampala) members of over 30 tribes from the whole of East Africa live at densities exceeding 15 000 ink/km2. These slums, like the overcrowded suburban settlements, are the breeding ground for many negative

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aspects of urban life. The diversity of ethnic groups, languages, traditions and behaviour patterns, the social and spatial mobility of the population, the disproportion in the numbers of men and women, distorted age structure, and the low average income are responsible for many of the tensions found in the towns of East Africa. It is this very mobility within society itself, complicated further by racial and ethnic contrasts, which renders investigations difficult. In the face of the initially bewildering liberty of urban life, the old collective security of the rural groups is replaced by increasing behavioural uncertainty. It is only during the further course of urbanisation (and in part, of industrialisation) that new ways of life, in which the positive developmental opportunities of these towns also stand out, eventually emerge to replace the old traditions. The present day frontiers, laid arbitrarily in the 19th century, generally embrace quite different population groups, between which, everywhere, political and social tensions arise. The outcome of disturbances between these factions will be reflected in the further growth and in the physiognomy of the African town. During the next decades it will be interesting to observe the extent to which the attempts of these young states to create a new “African personaltiy” are expressed in the arrangement and planning of their towns.

Table 1 l

Towns in tropical Africa

l

Stadte in Tropisch-Afrika

l

Villes en Afrique tropicale

(Number of inhabitants in thousands based on the lams informa tion available to the author; C = Capital; sub. = suburbs) Botswana (1965)

Gaberones Kanye Molepole Machudi Burundi Bujumbura Kitega (Gitega)

(C)

Cameroon (1962) Y aounde (C) Douala (with Bonaberi 1965) Nkongsamba Kumba Bamenda Chad (196g) Fort Lamy Fort Archambault Moundou

A&he

23 (with 34 (with 30 (with 18 (with

(C)

(C, with sub.)

ca.

ca.

15 15 120 200 60 50 40 133 36 32

20

sub.) sub.) sub.) sub.)

72

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Central African Republic (1966) Bangui (C) Bambari Bouar Berberati

150 26 25 21

Dahomey (1964) Port0 Novo Cotonou Abomey OUidah

70 110 20 19

Ethiopia Addis Ababa Asmara Dire Dawa Dessie Jimma HalX Massawa Gondar Gabon (1961) Librevihe Port Gentil Gambia (1965) Bathurst Ghana (1960) Accra

(Cl

560 132 about 40-50 30 26

(C 1967)

(C) (C) (with sub.)

(C)

Ivory Coast (1962163) Abidjan Bouake Man Daloa Grand Bassam Korhogo Kenya (1962) Nairobi

(1966) (C) (Fernando Poo) (C)

53 25 30 485 533 189 41 41 40 35

200 50 25

Guinea, Equatorial (exspanish)

Santa Isabel Bata

150 141 102 80 52

Lesotho (1964)

(C)

Kumasi Takoradi Cape Coast Tamale Sekondi Guinea (1964) Conakry Kankan Kindia

Kisangani (Stanleyville) Kananga (Luluabourg) Likasi (JadotviJle) Matadi Mbandaka (Coquilatville)

(C)

37 27 420 80 35 32 23 14

Mombasa-Kilindi NaklUll Kisumu Eldoret

267 350 180 38 24 20

Kongo (.BrazzaviBe) (1965) Brazzaville (C) Pointe Noire

156 77

Kongo Qinshasa) (1966/67) Kmshasa &.kopoldville) (C) Lubumbashi (Elisabethville)

1226 233

(C) (with sub. 1967)

each

Maseru

(C)

10

Liberia (1962) Monrovia

0

81

(0

322 49 43 39 39 34 33

Madagascar (1965) Tananarive Tamatave Majunga Fianarantsoa Diego-Suarez Tulear Antsirabe Malawi (1966) Zomba (C) Blantyre Lilongwe Mali (1967) Bamako Mopti Kayes segou Sikasso Gao Timbouctou Mauretania Nouakshott Nuadibu (Port Etienne) Atar Mauritius (1967) Port Louis Beau Bassin-Rose Hill Curepipe Niger Niamey

20 110 20

(0

170 35 29 27 17 15 8

(0

12 15 10

03

134 70 51

63

42 123 23 18 17

(with sub.) Zinder Tahoua Maradi Nigeria (1963) Lagos Ibadan Ogbomosho Kano Oshogbo Ilorin Mushin Abeokuta

(0

665 627 320 295 210 209 190 188

Portuguese Overseas Territories: Angola (1964/67) Luanda Nova Lisboa Benguela Lobito Malanje Mopamedes

(C)

250 70 43 40 20 10

4/l 970

Geoforum

4/1970

73

Cabo Verde IsIands Praia (Sao Tiago) Guinea (Port) Bissau Mocambique Lourenco Marques Beira Mocambique

33 (C)

25

(C)

184 43 12

Sao Torn6 ahd Principe Sao Tome Rhodesia (1967) Salisbury Bulawayo Umtali Gwelo Que Que Gatooma Rwanda (1965) Kigali

5

325 260 50 40 21 17

(C)

(C)

15

63

500 70 69 50 49 29 19

(C)

148 20 15 10

Senegal (1962)

Dakar Kaolack Thi& Rufisque St. Louis Ziguinchor Diourbel Sierra Leone (1963) Freetown Bo Lunsar-Marampa Makeni Somalia (1966) Mogadisciu Merca (Marka) Hargeisa (period.) Berbera

170 56 (with sub.) 40 (with sub.) 30 (with sub.)

(C)

Sudan (1965) Khartoum (C) together with Khartoum-N. and Omdurman ca. Port Sudan El Obeid Wad Medani Kassala El Fasher Kosti En Nahud

ca.

174 80 185 438 79 60 57 49 30 each

Togo (1966) Lomb Anecho, Atakpame, Bassari, Mango, Palime, Sokode, Ts&ie Uganda (1968) Kampala

86

(C)

about lo-15

(0 (with sub.)

80 180

Jinja Entebbe

41 15

Upper Volta (1965) Ouagadougou (1965) Bobo-Dioulasso Koudougou

73 64 25

Zambia (1966) Lusaka Kitwe Ndola Mufulira Luanshya Chingola Kabwe (Broken Hill) Maramba (Livingstone) Chililabombwe (Bancroft)

each

152 146 108 81 78 68 54 39 36

(0

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Civilisutions, XVI,

ELKAN, W. (1960): Migrants and Proletarians. Urban Labour in the Economic Development of Uganda. London. ELKAN, W. and L. A. FALLERS (1960): The mobility of labor; in: W. E. MOORE, and A. S. FELDMAN, Labor Commitment and So&l Change in Developing Areas. New York. FORDE, D. (ed.) (1965): Social Aspects of Urbanization and Industrialization in Africa. UNESCO, Paris. GRENZEBACH, K. (1969): Liindliche Siedlungen und Westkamerun. Diss. Giessen.

in Siidnigeria

GUGLER, J. (1965): Life in a dual system; in: East Afr. Inst. sot. Swaziland (Ngwane) Mbabane Manzini

Res. Papers.

(C)

Tanzania (1967) Dar es Salaam (C) Tanga Tabora Moshi, Lindi, Arusha, Kigoma

14 16

GUGLER, J. (1966): Measuring urbanisation. Paper for 6th World Congress of Sociology. Evian. GUGLER, J. (1967): Urbanization in East Africa; in: East Afr.

213 45 18 ca 12-15 each

Inst. sot. Res. Papers.

GUGLER, J. (1968): Verstadterung

in Ostafrika; in: FVeigt-Fest-

schrift, pp. 20 ff.

GUGLER, J.: Urbunization in Subsuharun Africa

(in the press.)

Geoforum

HAILEY, W. M. H. Lord (2957): An African Survey Revised. London. HODGKIN, Th. (1956): Nationalism in Colonial Africa. London. KADE, G. (1969): Die Stellungder landschaftlichen

Entwicklung

zentralen Orte in der kultur Bugandas (Uganda). Frankfurt.

LLOYD, P. C., A. L. MABOGUNJE and B. AWE, Eds. (1967): The City of Ibadan. London. MABOGUNJE, A. L. (1962): The growth of residential districts in Ibadan; Geogrl. Rev., pp. 56-77. MABOGUNJE, A. L. (1965): Urbanization in Nigeria - a constraint on economic development; Economic Development and Cultural Change, 13, No. 4, pp. 436-438. MABOGUNJE, A. K. (1968): Urbanization in Nigeria. London. MANSHARD, W. (1961): Die geographischen Grundlagen der Wirtschaft Ghanas. Wiesbaden. MANSHARD, W. (1961): Die Stadt Kumasi (Ghana). Stadt und Umland in ihren funktionalen Beziehungen; Erdkunde, pp. 16 I- 180. MANSHARD, W. (1961): Verstldterungserscheinungen afrika; Raumforsch. Raumordn., pp. 27-41. MINER, H. (Ed.) (1967):

in West-

The City in Modern Africa. London.

MORTIMORE, M. J. and J. WILSON (1965): Land and people in the Kano close-settled zone; OccasionalPapers, I, Zaria. MOUNTJOY, A. B. (1968): Million cities: urbanization and the developing countries; Geography, pp. 365-374. O’CONNOR, A. M. (1967): The distribution of towns in Subsaharan Africa, Mimeograph MS O’CONNOR, A. M. (1968): The cities and towns of East Africa distribution and functions; in: Weigt-Festschrift, pp. 41 ff. ROUCH, J. (1956): Migrations en Gold Coast; J. Sot. Afric., pp. 33 ff. SCAFF, A. H. (1964): The re-development of Kisenyi: Progress report of the U. N. Urban Planning Mission to Uganda; in: East Afr. Inst. Sot. Res. Papers.

4/l 970

SMAILES, A. E. (1944): The urban hierarchy in England and Wales; Geography, pp. 41-51. SMAILES, A. E. (1946): The urban mesh in England and Wales; nuns. Inst. Bn’t. Geogr. SCHNEIDER, K. G. (1965): Dar es Salaam. Kolner Geogr. Arbeiten (Sonderfolge Afrika, 2). Wiesbaden. STEEL, R. W. (1956): Some problems of population in British West Africa; in: Geographical Essays on British Tropical Lands, pp. 19-55, Steel/Fisher, (eds.). London. STEEL, R. W. (1963): African urbanization: a geographer’s viewpoint; in: Urbanisation in African Social Change, K. Little (ed.). TEMPLE, P. H. (1968): The growth of Kampala. A historicalgeographical review; in: Weigt-Festschrift, pp. 75 ff. TROLL, C. (1966): Die raumliche Differenzienmg der Entwicklungslander in ihrer Bedeutung fur die Entwicklungshilfe; Beihefte zur Geogr. Z. 13. Wiesbaden. VENNETIER, P. (1969): Le developpement urbain en Afrique Tropicale; Cah. d’outre-mer, pp. 5-62. VERHAEGEN, P. (1962): L ‘urbanisation de 1’Afrique noire. Enquetes Bibliographiques (CEDESA), Briissel. VORLALJFER,K.(1967):Physiognomie, Strukturund Funktion Grofi-Kampalas (2 vol), Frankfurt. WEIGT, E. (1955): Europaer in Ostafrika: und Wirtschaftsgrundlagen. Koln.

Klimabedingungen

WEIGT, E. (1968): Ostafrikanische Stadte im Zuge der Entkolonisierung. Ein Beitrag zur Siedlungsveranderung in EntwicklungsHndern; Ostafr. Studien. Niirnberg. WEIGT-Festschrift (1968): Ostafrikanische Studien. Niirnberger Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeographische Arbeiten, 8, Niirnberg. WINID, B. (1967): Problems of towns: Patterns in developing countries; The Prof. Geogr., pp. 15-16. WORTHINGTON, G. B. (1958): Science in the development Africa. London.

of