African Final

(I.) In comparing and contrasting the built environment in pre-colonial/post-colonial Africa, we will first look at the negative impacts. One of the negative impacts was the distance that the zoning policies created. The zoning was created by the colonial land masters and then adopted by the ruling regimes that were left behind. By dispersing the African people and telling them where they may and may not live, they caused more difficult travel for the African people. To be more specific, most government structures were set up at higher points than the local native settlements. This causes problems due to travel time and hardship of traveling tough terrains. In Bamenda, the government structures are separated from the locals by a very high and steep hill which makes it difficult for any kind of non-motorized transportation up the hill (Njoh, 2003). This example of zoning leads to keeping people away from more important chores and daily matters such as the farming and work to travel such distances. If the choose not to travel by foot and motorized transportation is available, it costs the "natives" money that could be spent in other areas of daily need.

Another negative of the built environment was the separation of families caused by the European development and urbanization of the coastal areas. The poorer native Africans often lived in-land and the wealthy Europeans lived along the coast lines. The Europeans took the more agriculturally rich areas and developed them through the use