This is not really true btw: >The problem with SS Africa vs. the Middle East is that the African countries, having no history of large-scale states before the

This is not really true btw: >The problem with SS Africa vs. the Middle East is that the African countries, having no history of large-scale states before the Europeans came, have so many national divisions that it becomes impractical Large scale political entities have existed in SS Africa. And in large scale states are quite recent in the Middle East.