Zimbabwe's Problems Africa is the second largest continent in the world and has a thriving population of over 900 million people. In his book Guns Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond explains why he believes the West has more commodities than Africa. After reading the first two chapters of his book I discovered that I share many of the same opinions as him. I believe Africa has so little material wealth compared to the West due to government, economics, disease, geography or climate. All of these things are big problems in Africa today and even in the late 1800s. If we take an African country like Zimbabwe and analyze all these specific problems occurring there, we might get a better insight into why Africa it has very little material wealth compared to the Western world. Zimbabwe was organized and made a nation by the British in the late 1900s. Zimbabwe was called Rhodesia until it gained independence from Great Britain. (“Zimbabwe: History and Government.”) After a long period of time Zimbabwe had taken over from British rule. 96% of the entire Zimbabwe was African or black. The other 4% were Asian, white or colored. In the black population of Zimbabwe there were ethnic groups. The names of some of these groups were Shona and Ndebele. 80% of Africans in Zimbabwe were Shona and about 10% were Ndebele. Zimbabwe has faced many problems throughout its existence as a nation ("Zimbabwe: History and Governance"). Like most African countries, Zimbabwe has a corrupt government that has many problems. The government does not benefit the people at all. The government actually disadvantages the people of Zimbabwe in many ways. Although many changes are taking place in Zimba's government... half of the document... produced in the Historical Resource Centre. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. Network. November 3, 2009. “The future of Zimbabwe's economy remains uncertain.” COMTEX News Network. Xinhua News Agency, May 18. 2001. p1008138h5434. Storm. Network. 3 November 2009.< http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/History/ >“Poorer and angrier”. The Economist (USA). 15 August 1998 v348 n8081 p34(2). Storm. Network. November 3, 2009. < http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/History/ >“African agricultural experts gather in Zimbabwe to tackle climate change.” COMTEX News Network. Xinhua News Agency, July 10, 2007. pNA. Storm. Network. 3 November 2009.< http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/History/ >“The AIDS disaster in Zimbabwe.” The Economist (USA). 30 September 1989 v312 n7622 p44(1). Storm. Network. November 3, 2009./ >