Super Continent Africa

From the opening page of one of my three textbooks, I have already discovered facts that I did not know about the African continent.  From the time of the supercontinent Pangea, the African continent has basically stayed in one place and all the other continents were the ones to move, over a time period of 225 million years.  Take a look at the changes here for a larger view.

Can you see mama continent Africa in the super continent Pangea?   

The reason for the stationary history of Africa is three stable rock cores that thrust up when the earth first started cooling, called cratons, which anchored early Africa where she started.  These cratons are located in the present day in Western Africa, the Congo and Southern Africa.  (see photo)  

 

The cratons are made of ancient rock that have had enormous heat and pressure applied to them before being thrust up.  When reading that fact I wondered if the cratons and the diamonds of Africa were in the same place.  Imagine my delight in being right!  

The blue dots represent current diamond mining locations.

Diamonds are big business in Africa and have been mined since the first "pretty pebble" was found in South Africa circa 1867.  For many poor African countries, the mining and sale of diamonds is their only source of national income.  Sadly, many countries have produced "blood diamonds", so named because their sale finances armed conflict.  In an effort to stop blood diamonds, in May 2000, a certification process was adopted by a group of African countries meeting in Kimberly, South Africa and called "the Kimberly Process".  According to the UN and World Diamond Congress, this process has failed to make a dent in the sale of blood diamonds.  

The fact that Africa's rich natural resources have a background in the formation of the continent is indisputable.  What one wonders when studying Africa is if it can be made better for the lives of her population.  

Until next time................