1.) What were some early civilizations in East Africa?  Why were these civilizations important?
Aksum, now Ethiopia, was a major city in E. Africa primarily for trade with Egypt and eastern Roman Empire.


2.) What happened at the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885?
European countries made rules of how Africa would be divided. 


3.) What African countries managed to remain free of European control?
Liberia and Ethiopia


4.) How did colonialism cause conflicts in East Africa after independence?
The countries were not prepared to govern themselves, and the new cultural boundaries created more internal conflicts. 


5.) How did Ethiopia manage to defeat Italy in 1896?
With Russian and French weapons, also a better knowledge of the geography of the land. 


6.) What are some cash crops of East Africa?
Coffee, sugar, and tea


7.) What is East Africa's most critical health-care problem.
AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) and HIVS (human immunodeficiency virus)


8.) Research the Rwanda massacre (genocide?) and briefly discuss what happened and why.
It was a genocidal act of killing 500,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu in a hundred days. This genocide killed off 20% of the country's population and 70% of the Tutsi population.