Chapter 20
Kwame Nkrumah
(1909-1972) fought to make Ghana (then Gold Coast) independent from Britain. He then became the first president of independent Ghana, which he led from 1957 until he was forced from office during a military coup. He spent the rest of his life in Guinea.
partition
a division into pieces
autocratic
having unlimited power
dalit
member of India's lowest caste
coup d'état
the forcible overthrow of a government
savanna
grassy plain with irregular patterns of rainfall
Mobutu Sese Seko
(1930-1997) was born Joseph-Desire Mobutu. He changed his name after he took control of Congo in 1965 in a military coup. He also renamed the country Zaire. Mobutu ruled Zaire as a dictator until he was overthrown by Laurent Kabila in 1997. He died of cancer a short time later.
Bangladesh
nation east of India that was formerly part of Pakistan
Biafra
region of southeastern Nigeria that launched a failed bid for independence from Nigeria in 1966, resulting in a bloody war
Punjab
state in northwestern India with a largely Sikh population
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) was the first prime minister of independent India. Educated in England, Nehru returned to India to practice law. He joined the Indian National Congress, an independence movement led by Mohandas Gandhi. Named Gandhi's successor, Nehru led the Congress until India achieved independence from Great Britain. As prime minister, Nehru focused on industrialization, socialist economic policies, and neutrality in the Cold War.
Jomo Kenyatta
(1894-1978) was a nationalist and leader in the fight for Kenyan independence from Britain. In 1963, he became the country's first prime minister, and in 1964, the country's first president. He was president until his death.
Hutus
an ethnic group that forms the majority in Rwanda and Burundi
Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi (1917-1984) was a four-term prime minister of India. The daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi entered politics as part of the Congress Party, soon becoming its leader. After her father's death, she was elected India's prime minister. Gandhi stayed in power until 1977, when some of her authoritarian policies led to her popular defeat. In 1980, however, she was reelected to a fourth term as prime minister. After she ordered a military attack on a Sikh holy site, the Golden Temple, Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.
Kashmir
a former princely state in the Himalayas claimed by both India and Pakistan, which have fought wars over its control
Islamist
a person who wants government policies to be based on the teachings of Islam
Katanga
a province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with rich copper and diamond deposits that tried to gain independence from Congo in 1960
Darfur
a region in western Sudan where ethnic conflict threatened to lead to genocide
Sikh
member of an Indian religious minority
nonalignment
political and diplomatic independence from both Cold War powers
Tutsis
the main ethnic minority group in Rwanda and Burundi
Golden Temple
the most prominent Sikh house of worship