Homework Bell Ringer

• What is the largest falling body of water which was discovered in Africa by explorer/missionary David Livingstone and named after the English Monarch of the times.

Dark Continent:

• 2nd largest continent in world (3x United States)•20% of world’s land surface, but only 12% of total world population.•Surrounded by water – Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea/Red Sea (role in trade and cultural diffusion)

Atlantic

India

n

Red SeaMediterranean

Sea

Climate Zones:

•Rain Forests – around equator (diseases)

•Savanna (grassland) – 50% of continent – wildlife

•Deserts – 40% of cont. – Sahara, Kalahari, Namib

•Mediterranean – around northern/southern edge (cities and trade)

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Locate the following topographic features:

Mountains – Mt. Kilimanjaro is highest

Lakes – Chad & Victoria

Rivers – Nile, Congo, Niger, Zambezi, Senegal

Great Rift Valley (canyon)

-Various Geographic Factors in Africa gave rise to over 2,000 culturally distinct societies and 1,000 languages.

What protected the interior of Africa from outsiders?

- smooth coastlines (no harbors), rivers w/rapids, deserts

Practice Question

• In Africa, an effect of topography and climate has been to

1. encourage rapid industrialization of the interior

2. prevent the development of kingdoms

3. promote large-scale trade between African and Asia

4. promote the growth of diverse societies

Natural Resources

Animals and wildlife –

Safari, hunters and expanding deserts (due to man’s agricultural habits) are destroying much of natural wildlife.

Other Natural Resources:

•Peanuts, bananas, rubber, tea, coffee, cotton•Uranium, tungsten, cobalt, tin, zinc, iron, copper, silver•80% of world’s diamonds•50% of world’s gold•Nigeria is 8th largest producer of oil and 2nd largest producer of petroleum

Don’t forget its people, culture, art and music

Earliest Inhabitation:

Paleolithic man – earliest occupations in East African Rift Valley, slowly moved through Sahara and up into Asia and Europe.

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Bantu Migration• Population pressures

forced farmers from west in search of new lands between 500 BC and 1500 AD.

• Spread their knowledge of farming, ironworking and their language - Swahili (1/3 of Africa today speaks a language of Bantu family)

• Theme: Movement of People and Goods

Practice AP Question• It is thought that early Bantu migrations

through Africa were precipitated by

a. growth in the African slave trade, which caused people to migrate farther inland and south

b. establishment of trade routes along coastal west Africa, which created more routes by which to migrate

c. Islamic missionary expeditions through west and central Africa, which opened up more areas to settlement

d. environmental changes, which disturbed the ecosystem people relied on for hunting and farming

e. advances in gold and salt mining technologies; improved transportation routes to Ghana

• Agricultural Revolution – by 3000 populations of people forming settled communities in Egypt, Nubia and Kush (modern Sudan - all along Nile)

• Kush & Axum – gained in power due to trade (especially iron). Kush even controlled Egypt for some time. Axum developed international like atmosphere due to mix of Arabs and African elements.

• Many states appeared in 1000-1500 CE in northern and western Africa, their power based on control over long-distance trade

Africa During the Middle Ages:

Trade in West Africa based on Gold – Salt Exchange.

Gold produced in Western Africa around Senegal River. These people, however, needed salt for the diets in order to live. They had little salt.

North coast of Africa (around Taghaza) has lots of salt and wanted gold for trade with Europe.

Practice Regents Question

One similarity between the Ancient African kingdoms of Egypt, Ghana, Mali and Songhai is that all of these kingdoms were located

1. in mountainous terrain

2. in coastal areas

3. on major trading routes

4. in rain forest areas

Ghana Empire

Reached the height of its power in 900s based on the trade (gold, copper, and humans) with the Arabs and the tax that he collected from his own people. He restricted ownership of gold (only he could own nuggets, others just dust). He had invited many Arabs to help administer governmental issues.

What are these?

• Ivory, gold, hardwoods, and slaves were the magnets which drew trading caravans south across the arid Saharan wastes, often following routes established before the desert had formed.

• Camel “fleet of the desert” introduced from Arabia in 1st c. BC

Between 1100 and 1500 a relay system of trade by land and sea connected almost all populous regions of Eurasia, as well as north and east Africa. Long-distance traders carried goods along their own segments of these routes, and then turned them over to traders in the next sector.

The Islamic People in Northern Africa declared a jihad against the Ghana Kingdom to convert it to the Muslim Religion. This effectively destroyed the Ghana Kingdom.

Islam becomes a major religion across northern Africa and many mosques are built.

Mali Empire (1235) – Islamic Empire

•Continued the gold-salt trade•Ruler took title “mansa” or emperor•Most famous emperor was Mansa Musa (meaning “Moses”)

Mansa Musa – • expanding boundaries of kingdom• encouraged learning• set an example of devout Muslim

Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324. He took 12,000 slaves each holding a golden staff weighing 5-6 pounds. He had 60,000 followers with 80-100 camel-loads of dust, each load weighing 300 lbs.

He gave out so much gold that the price of gold dropped so much that it didn’t regain its price for 12 years later.

Result of Pilgrimage:• Legends arose about his wealth – Spanish record him on a map (Catalan Atlas) calling him “the richest and most noble king in all the lands”•Builds his palace and mosque in capital city of Timbuktu in style of Arabic buildings.

Practice Regents

• Mansa Musa’s journey to Mecca in the 1300’s is evidence that

1. the Crusades had a great influence on western Africa

2. most African leaders were educated in the Middle East

3. European culture was superior to the cultures of western Africa

4. Islam had a major influence on the Mali Empire

Timbuktu – center of learning and culture during Mali and Songhai Empires. Students came from all around west Africa to learn here.

The Songhai Empire came to a close when attacked by Morocco who had cannons and muskets – fell in 1590.

Practice AP Question

• With regard to the influence of Islam in Africa,

a. African women tended to have fewer privileges than Islamic women.

b. the lower classes were more eager to convert to Islam than the elite.

c. contacts with Islam were generated by the trans-Atlantic trade.

d. African rulers feared that conversion to Islam would undermine their authority.

e. converts to Islam tended to blend Islam and their tribal beliefs.

An Ancient Testimonial• In the third century CE, the Persian religious leader Mani is said to have identified the four most important kingdoms of the world: Persia, Rome, Sileos (possibly China), and Aksum (also called Axum)

Wow – Pretty important company! Must be HUGE (as Fuccillo’s would say)

Kingdom of Axum

• Trade based on Red Sea and port of Adulis. Among the items exported were ivory, frankincense, myrrh, and slaves while imports included textile, metal goods, wine, and olive oil.

• Began as a trade colony about 500 B.C.E. by the kingdom of Saba (Sheba) across the Red Sea on the southern tip of the Arab Peninsula (Yemen). When Saba declined, Axum became independent.

Stele to mark location of royal tombs, not like Ashoka’s

for laws

Trade in ivory, resin, and slaves

Sheba

• In about 330 C.E. Kush was eliminated as a rival when it was conquered by Axum.

• In the eighth century the Muslims cut off Axum's commercial contacts with the Byzantine Empire. Soon, Ethiopia lost its control of the Red Sea trade routes. Now landlocked and primarily agricultural society.

Axum & Christianity• In the sixth and seventh

centuries the kingdom was Christianized via Coptic Egypt (under Emperor Justinian)

• By the tenth century the Christian Ethiopia existed in relative seclusion due to mountainous and almost inaccessible highlands, a stable monarchy and distinctive Christian culture were created.

Ethiopia

• Christian community of Axum moved inland into highlands of Ethiopia – Abyssinian period.

• Increasingly feudal and militarized in resistant to encroachment of Islamic Africans.

• Military strength of Ethiopians combined with assistance from Portuguese allowed for Ethiopia to remain an isolated Christian state until 1974 when military coup.

Native African Religion– Animism

• Single creator god– Nature Spirits– Reason why easily accepted

monotheistic Christianity and Islam

• Shamans – medium and prophet who through animal sacrifice could obtain power over or from the spirits

• Challenged by Islam but not always replaced

Other African Religions

• Disciples and early missionaries established Christian communities in Egypt (Coptic) and Ethiopia/Axum

Christianity

African Kingdoms - Social• African Society

– Village Life• Most people lived in

small villages• Nuclear families and

larger kinship communities

– Role of women• Usually subordinate

to men• Polygamy not

uncommon• Many societies had

matrilinear lineage• Could be warriors

or leaders in certain tribes

• Could own property and trade

Slavery

• Practiced in Africa since ancient times, probably originating in prisoners of war

• Common in ancient Egypt• Could gain freedom• Living conditions often decent • Pre-modern slavery not as impacting because

smaller quantities• Muslims could not enslave other muslims –

frequently trained slaves as soldiers creating warrior slave caste known as mamluks

African Kingdoms – Art/Literature

– Painting and Sculpture• Rock paintings, wood carving, • Nok pottery, Benin bronzes

– Music and Dance– Architecture (pyramids, stone bldgs.)– Mostly Preliterate - Professional storytellers (griots)