So Africa, as a continent has obviously not been the most fortunate of all the 54 countries that exist here today, none were dealt a favorable hand from either a historical or a geographic perspective after being conquered by Europeans, having their borders all arbitrarily drawn up and then occupied for generations.

ヨーロッパ人に征服され、恣意的に国境線を引かれ、何世代にもわたって占領された後、歴史的にも地理的にも恵まれた国は一つもなかったのである。

Most of Africa's modern countries became independent throughout the 19 fifties, sixties and seventies.

アフリカの近代国家のほとんどは、1950年代、60年代、70年代を通じて独立した。

And ever since then some have fared better than others, specifically when it comes to access to one of the most critical resources of modern civilization.

それ以来、特に現代文明の最も重要な資源の一つへのアクセスに関して、ある者は他の者より有利な立場に立っている。

Electricity.

電気

There is a stark contrast between the arab states of North Africa where access to electricity is nearly universal and the dozens of countries beneath them in sub Saharan Africa, where electricity is significantly more spotty.

北アフリカのアラブ諸国はほぼ全世界で電気にアクセスできるのに対し、その下にあるサブサハラ・アフリカの数十カ国は、電気へのアクセスがかなり限定的であるという対照的な状況です。

Some countries deep in the continental interior like chad the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have less than 10% of their populations with electricity access.

チャド、中央アフリカ共和国、南スーダン、コンゴ民主共和国など、大陸の奥地にある国では、電力へのアクセスが人口の10％以下という国もある。

But of all the countries within sub Saharan Africa, there are five who currently stand out as having significantly more access to electricity than any of the others.

しかし、サブサハラ・アフリカの中で、現在、他のどの国よりも電力へのアクセスが著しく良い国が5つあります。

With at least 85% of their populations being hooked up.

その個体数の少なくとも85％がフックアップされている状態で。

South Africa, s Bottini kenya gabon and the highlight of this video Ghana, There are many interesting reasons as to how each of them managed to pull this off that almost always have involved some kind of sacrifice or compromise, but none are as wild as Ghana who in order to do so sacrificed more than 3.5% of her total land area where more than 80,000 people once lived by flooding it and in so doing, also created humanity's largest artificially made lake.

南アフリカ、ボッティーニ、ケニア、ガボン、そしてこのビデオのハイライトであるガーナ、それぞれがどのようにこれを成し遂げたかについては、多くの興味深い理由があり、ほとんど常に何らかの犠牲や妥協が伴う。

Allow me to explain the british showed up in the 19th century and basically carved out a colony with Ghana's rough modern boundaries that they called at the time the Gold Coast because they were primarily interested in using it as a trading post for gold.

19世紀にイギリスが現れ、ガーナをゴールドコーストと呼び、金の交易拠点としました。

Coming in from the west african interior naturally as with all african colonies, the british created these artificial borders across a multitude of people with a multitude of languages, religious faiths and ethnic identities.

西アフリカの内陸部から入ってきたイギリス人は、他のアフリカの植民地と同様に、多数の言語、宗教、民族的アイデンティティを持つ多数の人々に、人工的な国境を作ったのである。

Then, after more than a century of british colonial rule in what became known as Ghana eventually achieved independence in 1957 and was led by this man, Kwame Nkrumah who set out as chief goals as president as abolishing Ghanian poverty, ignorance and disease and despite the various disadvantages and nerves that Ghana had immediately upon independence after centuries of colonialism, they did have a few advantages that many other sub Saharan african countries did not.

そして、1世紀以上にわたる英国の植民地支配を経て、1957年に独立を果たしたガーナは、クワメ・ンクルマに率いられ、貧困、無知、病気の撲滅を主な目標として掲げ、何世紀もの植民地支配から独立直後のガーナにはさまざまな不利や緊張があったが、他の多くのサハラ以南アフリカの国にはないいくつかの利点も持っていた。

First of all, they had a nice long coastline that could provide direct access to the gulf of guinea and the world ocean, enabling them free access to conduct international maritime trade.

まず、ギニア湾や世界の海に直接アクセスできる長い海岸線があり、国際的な海上貿易を自由に行うことができることだ。

Second Ghana is rich in a wide variety of natural resources but was specifically blessed by an abundance of box site, a sedimentary rock that contains a relatively high amount of aluminum and as a result is the world's primary source of aluminum, one of the world's most important metals used in nearly everything from aircraft to automobiles, to cars, computers and dozens of other things.

第二に、ガーナはさまざまな天然資源に恵まれているが、特にボックスサイトというアルミニウムを比較的多く含む堆積岩に恵まれており、その結果、航空機、自動車、自動車、コンピューターなど、ほとんどすべてのものに使用されている世界で最も重要な金属の一つであるアルミニウムの世界的な主要供給源になっている。

If Ghana could develop its aluminum production capability, then it could kickstart the young country's economic growth towards the future President Nkrumah and the Ghanian government knew all of this of course.

ガーナがアルミニウムの生産能力を高めれば、将来に向けて若い国の経済成長の起爆剤になる。ンクルマ大統領やガーナ政府は、もちろんそのことをすべてわかっていた。

But the problem was the refining box site into a workable aluminum is a very energy intensive process and Ghana lacked the electricity infrastructure that was required to power a smelter that could turn bauxite into aluminum at a truly industrial scale.

しかし、ボーキサイトからアルミニウムを精製するには、エネルギーを大量に消費するため、ガーナには産業規模でボーキサイトをアルミニウムに変える製錬所に必要な電力インフラが整っていないという問題があった。

But luckily Ghana had another geographic advantage that their new and ambitious government could turn towards the Volta River beginning within landlocked Burkina faso, the many tributaries of the Volta all converge in Central Ghana before emptying out into the gulf of guinea and recognizing the potential of the river for hydroelectric power.

しかし、幸運なことにガーナにはもう一つ地理的な利点があり、新政府は内陸のブルキナファソから始まるボルタ川に目を向けることができた。ボルタ川の多くの支流はすべてガーナ中央部に収束してギニア湾に注ぎ、水力発電の可能性を認めている。

A scheme began being worked out for the construction of a hydroelectric dam.

水力発電用ダムの建設計画が始まりました。

But the Volta River is huge and so in order to actually dammit the dam itself was going to have to be enormous and that meant that it was going to cost a lot of money.

しかし、ボルタ川は巨大なので、実際に堰き止めるにはダム自体が巨大になり、その分、お金もかかるということでした。

And as a freshly independent former colonial country, Ghana was pretty short on cash and so with an estimated price tag of $258 million in 19 sixties money, Ghana managed to secure investments from the World Bank, the United States in the United Kingdom to get the project rolling off the ground and then from there, the plan was relatively straightforward by the town of Akosombo on the river's banks, A massive concrete dam 660 m long and 114 m high would be built to hold back the waters of the Volta for context.

独立したばかりの旧植民地国であるガーナは資金不足で、1960年代のお金で2億5800万ドルという見積もりで、世界銀行、アメリカ、イギリスからの投資を何とか確保して、プロジェクトを軌道に乗せようとしたのです。

That is more than three times as wide as the hoover dam in the U.

これは、アメリカのフーバーダムの3倍以上の幅です。

S.

S.

State of Nevada.

ネバダ州

At the same time, an aluminum smelter and processing facility would be constructed in the nearby town of TEM.

同時に、近くの町TEMにアルミニウム製錬所と加工施設が建設されることになった。

A.

A.

That would be powered by the electricity generated from the dam.

それは、ダムで発電した電気で動くことになります。

Now, in order for all of this to work, they needed to flood a portion of the Volta river basin behind the dam in order to create a big reservoir of water that they could use to flood through the dam to generate the electricity.

そのためには、ダムの背後にあるボルタ川流域の一部を氾濫させて大きな貯水池をつくり、それを使ってダムから水を流して発電する必要があったのです。

The reservoir they ended up creating here became Lake Volta, the largest man made lake in history, with a surface area of just over 8500 square kilometers, which equated to about 3.6% of the entire territory of Ghana going underwater.

この湖の面積は8500平方キロメートル強で、ガーナの全領土の約3.6％が水没したことになる。

For the sake of comparison, the lake is about twice the size of the U.

ちなみに、湖の大きさはU.S.A.の約2倍。

S.

S.

State of Rhode island.

ロードアイランド州

And we're the lower 48 US States.

そして、私たちはアメリカ合衆国の下位48州です。

To make a similar sacrifice of 3.6% of their total land, it would be like plunging the entirety of Nevada beneath a sea of water.

国土の3.6％を犠牲にするということは、ネバダ州全体を水の海に沈めるようなものだ。

after the dam was finished in the land sacrificed.

犠牲になった土地にダムが完成した後。

And now provides 1000 and 38 megawatts of electric power, which is not only enough to power Ghana's entire aluminum industry, but almost all of Ghana's entire domestic electricity demand as well.

これはガーナのアルミニウム産業全体だけでなく、ガーナ国内の電力需要のほぼすべてを賄うことができる電力量です。

The dam produces so much power for Ghana that they now export a lot of the energy into neighboring countries to like Togo and Benin, who themselves now received the majority of their own electricity needs from the Volta Dam in Ghana as well.

このダムはガーナに多くの電力を供給しているため、今ではトーゴやベニンなど近隣諸国に多くのエネルギーを輸出しています。

And now, with around 85% of the population having access to electricity, Ghana has the highest rate of electricity access in West africa and one of the highest rates on the entire continent.

そして現在、人口の約85％が電気にアクセスできるようになり、ガーナは西アフリカで最も高い電気アクセス率、そして大陸全体でも最も高い電気アクセス率のひとつとなっているのです。

But none of this came very easy because there were other sacrifices and penalties that Ghana had to pay for this incredible level of success.

しかし、この成功のために、ガーナは他の犠牲やペナルティーを払わなければならなかったのだ。

Besides for flooding, 3.6% of her land.

洪水以外にも、彼女の土地の3.6％。

For one thing, there were around 80,000 people who used to live in that 3.6% of land that eventually got flooded, which was around 1% of Ghana's entire population at the time, they all had to be evacuated and displaced prior to the flooding often through force.

ひとつには、浸水した3.6％の土地に住んでいた約8万人（当時のガーナの全人口の約1％）が、浸水前に強制的に避難させられたことが挙げられます。

And it didn't really go all that well.

しかも、それがあまりうまくいかなかったんです。

These 80,000 people lost their primary sources of income from fishing and agriculture.

この8万人の人々は、漁業と農業という主要な収入源を失ってしまったのです。

They lost their homes, lost their communities and they've always struggled ever since.

彼らは家を失い、コミュニティを失い、それ以来、いつも苦労している。

And then there's the fact that most Ghanians didn't even reap any benefits from the dam either.

そして、ほとんどのガーナ人は、ダムから何の利益も得ていないという事実もある。

Despite the fact that Ghana was obligated to pay for 50% of the dam's construction themselves.

ガーナはダム建設の50％を自費で負担する義務があったにもかかわらず。

The terms for the foreign investment they received, covering the remaining 50% of the construction costs, only gave the Ghanian government the rights to just 20% of the dam's total electricity output, while the remaining 80% was strictly allocated for the aluminum plant in Te MMA, which was at the time privately owned by an american company, which led to widespread accusations of neocolonialism being practiced in Ghana.

残りの50％を外資に任せるという条件だったが、ガーナ政府にはダム総発電量のわずか20％の権利しか与えられず、残りの80％は当時アメリカ企業が私有していたテマ州のアルミニウム工場に厳しく割り当てられたため、ガーナでは新植民地主義が行われていると非難が集中することになった。

In the years since though, the american owned company was nationalized by the Ghanian government and the aluminum production there has declined and now the vast majority of the dam's additional electric capacity is used to power Ghana's own growing domestic demand as well as neighboring Togo and Benin.

しかし、その後、アメリカ資本の会社がガーナ政府によって国有化され、アルミニウム生産は減少し、現在、ダムの電力容量の大部分は、ガーナ国内および近隣のトーゴやベナンの増大する電力需要に使用されています。

The construction of the reservoir behind the dam has also forever disrupted the once rich agricultural productivity along the former river's banks.

また、ダムの背後に貯水池を建設したことで、かつての河川敷の豊かな農業生産力は永遠に失われた。

What was once fertile land for growing crops surrounding the river is now flooded and submerged beneath the modern lake.

かつては川を囲んで農作物が育つ肥沃な土地だったのが、今では水没して現代の湖の下敷きになっている。

And then further downstream, the Volta from the dam, the soil has now completely lost its former fertility as well without the periodic floods that were once the norm before the dam was built.

そして、さらに下流にあるダムよりのボルタ川は、ダムができる前は当たり前だった定期的な洪水もなく、今や土壌もかつての肥沃さを完全に失っています。

As with every major decision in life, there are always tradeoffs and opportunity costs to consider in the case of Ghana and the Akosombo dam.

人生におけるあらゆる重要な決断と同様に、ガーナとアコソンボ・ダムの場合も、常にトレードオフと機会費用が考慮されます。

There unfortunately isn't ever a free lunch especially for former colonial e occupied countries and time will tell if the decision they made to flood 3.5% of their land in exchange for the highest rate of electricity in West Africa was worth it now after watching all of that.

特に旧植民地・被占領国には、残念ながらタダ飯はない。西アフリカで最も高い電気料金と引き換えに、国土の3.5％を水没させるという決断が、そのすべてを見た後で、その価値があるかどうかは、時間が解決することだろう。

Are you curious how electricity and dams actually work?

電気やダムの仕組みに興味はありませんか？

I certainly was after writing all of this and that's why I immediately checked out brilliant since they have an entire course on electricity and magnetism as well as sections covering water pressure and flow in their scientific thinking course that easily helped me as someone with zero background in science or stem subjects easily understand what I was talking about.

というのも、brilliantの科学的思考コースには、電気と磁気のコースや、水圧と水の流れのコースがあり、理科や科学分野のバックグラウンドが全くない私でも簡単に理解することができたからです。

If you're like me, stem subjects were always challenging to understand during school but brilliant became the breakthrough that I needed because it will actually give you fun and engaging puzzles to solve like this one where you actually get to apply and test the knowledge that you've been learning instead of just listening to lectures or reading huge blocks of text without any active engagement, brilliant is the hands on learning platform that helps you master new concepts and skills and stem and of learning about how everyday physics works and things like damsel electricity isn't exactly your thing.

私のように、幹の教科は学校で理解するのが常に困難でした。しかし、brilliantは、私が必要としていた突破口になりました。なぜなら、このように楽しくて魅力的なパズルを実際に解いて、講義を聞いたり、積極的に関与せずにテキストの巨大ブロックを読む代わりに、学んできた知識を実際に適用してテストすることができるからです。briantは、新しい概念やスキル、幹、日常の物理学の仕組みや乙女の電気などの学習が必ずしもあなたのものではないことについて習得できる学習プラットフォーム上の手です。

They've got tons of other fantastic courses on stuff like computer science, probability, Cryptocurrency or everyday math, all of which are presented in approachable, engaging bite sized chunks and best of all you can try out brilliant for free by being one of the 1st 200 people to click the button that's here on screen right now, or by signing up using the link down below in the description.

コンピューターサイエンス、確率、暗号通貨、日常的な数学など、他にも素晴らしいコースがたくさんあり、そのすべてが親しみやすく、魅力的な一口サイズのチャンクで紹介されています。

It's a great way to learn some cool subjects in stem and help support this channel at the same time.

ステムのクールなテーマを学ぶと同時に、このチャンネルをサポートする素晴らしい方法です。

And as always, thank you so much for watching.

そして、いつもながら、ご視聴ありがとうございました。