The Lion King | 19
Country Focus
population) remains particularly
exposed to climate hazards and
volatility in global commodity
prices. The secondary sector (24
% of GDP) is mainly based on gold
mining, phosphate, cement, food
and construction.
The tertiary sector (58% of
GDP, public service included
20%), which is dominated by
telecommunications, remain
heavily dominated by the informal
sector. Tourism is experiencing
a slowdown due to various
factors: degradation of hotel
Cheikh Anta DIOP
,
was a
historian, anthropologist,
physicist, and politician who
studied the origins of the human
race and pre-colonial African
culture. Cheikh Anta DIOP
University, in Dakar, Senegal, is
named after him.
In 1946, at the age of 23, He went
to Paris to study. He obtained
his first degree (licence) in
philosophy in 1948, then enrolled
in the Faculty of Sciences,
receiving two diplomas in
chemistry in 1950.
He had since his early days in
Paris been politically active in the
Rassemblement Democratique
Africaine (RDA), an African
nationalist organisation led by
Félix Houphouët-Boigny. He was
general secretary of the RDA
students in Paris from 1950 to
1953. Under his leadership the
first post-war pan-African student
congress was organized and held
in 1951. Importantly, it included
not only francophone Africans,
but English speaking ones as well.
After 1960, He went back to
Senegal and continued his
research and political career. He
established and was the director
of the radiocarbon laboratory
at the IFAN (Institut Fondamental
de L’Afrique Noir). He said,
“In practice it is possible to
determine directly the skin colour
and hence, the ethnic affiliations
of the ancient Egyptians by
microscopic analysis in the
laboratory”. He published his
technique and methodology
for a melanin dosage test in
scholarly journals. He used this
technique to determine the
melanin content of the Egyptian
mummies. Forensic investigators
later adopted this technique to
determine the “racial identity” of
badly burnt accident victims.
In 1974, He was one of about
20 participants in a UNESCO
symposium in Cairo, where
he presented his theories to
specialists in Egyptology. He also
wrote a chapter entitled “Origin
of the ancient Egyptians”, in
the UNESCO General History of
Africa.
His first work translated into
English, The African Origin of
Civilization: Myth or Reality,
was published in 1974. It gained
a much wider audience
for his work. He asserted
that archaeological and
anthropological evidence
supported his view that Pharaohs
were of Negroid origin. He’s
work has posed important
questions about the cultural bias
inherent in scientific research. He
showed above all that European
archaeologists before and after
the colonization had understated
and continued to understate the
extent and possibility of Black
civilization.
He argued that there was a
shared cultural continuity across
African people’s that was more
important than the varied
development of different ethnic
groups shown by differences
among languages and cultures
over time.
Cheikh Anta DIOP
infrastructure and poorly
trained labour among others.
The rate of real GDP growth
is projected at 4.6% in 2014,
reflecting good prospects in the
primary and tertiary sectors,
but also the expected recovery
in industry.
In the primary sector, activity
is expected to strengthen to
6.1% in 2014 spurred mainly by
agriculture and livestock.
The fisheries sub-sector, for its
part, is expected to rise 3.5%,
a slight increase reflecting
the structural difficulties of
scarcity and inflation inputs.
However, in the medium and
long term, major projects and
ongoing programs should help
restore marine habitats and
ecosystems for sustainable fish
resources.
Goree Island
was one of
the first places in Africa to
be settled by Europeans.
The Portuguese settled
on the island in 1444
