Early Civilizations of Africa

Geography of Africa

Bands of tropical rain forest, savanna, and desert

Interior plateau creates waterfalls and rapids on rivers

Great Rift Valley: interior passageway

Mediterranean and Red Sea provide trade routes

Natural resources encourage trade

Bantu Migrations

Between 1000 BC and 1000 AD, a group of West African farmers began migrating to the south and east

Their language, called Bantu, spread with them

Brought skills in farming, ironworking, and domesticating animals

Many South and East African languages today are varieties of Bantu

Nubia

2700 BC-350 AD, flourished on the upper Nile River (south of Egypt)

Trade brought them in close contact with Egypt and sparked cultural exchange

The capital city, Meroe, was a center of trade and natural resources (iron)

Nubian culture is mysterious, because their language is not understood today

Outside Influences on North Africa

Phoenician sailors established trading colonies on the North African coast

The Roman Empire ruled North Africa, bringing Christianity

Arabs later invaded, bringing Arabic language and Islamic religion

Kingdoms of West Africa

Patterns of Trade Develop

Agricultural villages traded across the Sahara

From West Africa, caravans carried leather, nuts, cotton, and slaves

From North Africa, Arabs brought silk, metals, beads, and horses

Largest trade was gold for salt-one pound of gold for one pound of salt

Kingdom of Ghana

Groups of trading agricultural villages united to form the Kingdom of Ghana, between the Niger and Senegal Rivers

Kings of Ghana controlled and taxed the gold-salt trade routes

Taxes were used to build rich cities and mighty armies

Many of the elite in Ghana converted to Islam

When Ghana lost control of its trade routes, the Kingdom collapsed

Kingdom of Mali

Mali was united by a leader named Sundiata who took control of the trade routes

Villages on caravan routes became great trading cities like Timbuktu

Mali’s greatest king, Mansa Musa, made hajj to Mecca, drawing attention to Mali’s wealth

Songhai Empire

As Mali weakened, the Songhai Empire grew in power

Ruler Askia the Great created a bureaucracy, government with different departments with different responsibilities

He brought Islamic scholars to Songhai

Weakened by fights over succession

Patterns in West African Kingdoms

Grew wealthy by controlling the salt-gold trade

Villages became great trading cities

Islamic influence

Conquered by invaders from the Sahara, but the invaders could not maintain an empire over both the Sahara and West Africa

Smaller Societies of West Africa

The Kingdom of Benin formed in the rainforests of the West African coasts

Benin traded with the savanna kingdoms to the north and created great bronze and brass sculptures

The Hausa people created many walled city states

These city states were home to great artisans and often had female rulers

Kingdoms and Trading States of East Africa

Axum

Located from highlands of Ethiopia to shores of Eritrea

Descended from African farmers and Jewish traders

Traded throughout Africa, with India, and the Middle East

Axum converted to Christianity in the 300s, was isolated when Islam spread to surrounding areas

Ethiopia

Axum culture survived in the highlands of Ethiopia

Ethiopians blended Christianity with East African traditions

The Churches of Lallibela were carved into the ground downward into the mountains

Some Ethiopians also practiced Judaism

East African City States

Trade cities flourished on the East African coast-easy access to India and the Middle East-the culture and language was called Swahili

Traded ivory, leopard skin, copper, gold, and slaves from Africa for cotton, cloth, silk, spices, porcelain, glass, and swords from Middle East, China, and India

Swahili culture and language was a mix of Arabic and African

Great Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe was the capital of an inland trading empire

Built by Bantu speakers who brought ironworking, mining, and farming skills

Part of a trading network connecting all the way to India