ABSTRACT
Africa has experienced severe human and economic problems closely related to increasing pressure on natural resources. Population increase, overcultivation, overgrazing and deforestation are commonly cited as causes, as are many examples of ill-conceived development projects. This chapter presents some empirical examples from the southern Nuba Mountains of the Sudan. The years of the British rule in the Nuba Mountains brought profound changes. The British presence also brought changes to the economic environment of the area. The chapter describes the major groups in the periods before 1900, i.e. before the British take-over in 1898; the period of the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, 1898–1956; and finally the period of Independence from 1956 onwards. It focuses on some of the major adaptational groups in the region, notably the farmers, the traders and the pastoralists, who have made up, and who still make up the most important elements of the regional economic and political picture.
