Compare and contrast two different approaches to political centralization in African history.

As a portion of the final exam, students will choose to answer one of the following two essay questions. As clearly and concisely as possible, please answer the chosen questions. Your answer should be approximately three pages in length, double-spaced typed, Times font, size 12, with one-inch margins. As this final paper is more than just a reading response, please be sure to utilize sources from the library and/or class to support your thesis. Throughout precolonial African history, societies from every region of the continent sought to achieve political centralization through the establishment of enduring states whose power and legitimacy were based on some combination of military conquest, trade, or religious authority. Using specific historical examples taken from course lectures and/or readings, compare and contrast two different approaches to political centralization in African history. Which approach to political centralization do you think was most effective? Why? By the end of the nineteenth century, virtually all of the African continent, with the notable exception of Ethiopia, had been subjugated by European colonial rule. Why do you think African societies proved so vulnerable to foreign conquest? Given the collapse of the social and economic structures of precolonial African communities, why is precolonial African history relevant in the twenty-first century?