Chapter 11

Atlas Mountains Sahara Desert Great Rift Valley Mt. Kilamanjaro Nile River Niger River Lake Victoria Kalahari Desert Strait of Gibraltar Atlantic Ocean Indian Ocean Red Sea

Shade in: Rain Forest Savannah Desert Mediterranean Dry woodland

Mark: Bantu Migrations

Gulf of Aden Mediterranean Sea Arabian Peninsula Congo River

Savanna: Grassy Plains Sahara: GIANT desert Rain Forest Mediterranean Dry Woodland

What do you think happened in early Africa due to so much biological diversity?

Look at the Bantu migrations on your map Where did they go?

West African farmers and herders who migrated south and east between about 1000 B.C.E. and 1000 C.E.

Spoke Bantu language Spread their knowledge about farming, ironworking, domesticating animals

Bantu influence is still around

About 2700 B.C.E., civilization along the Nile was growing

Traded with Egypt, incorporated a lot of Egyptian culture, modeled their society on Egyptians

Eventually had to leave their region in Egypt and return south when Assyrians took over Egypt

Rich in iron! Powerful tools, lots of wood

Once controlled the Nile’s trade routes as well the route from the Red Sea to North Africa This made them rich!

Gold, ivory, animal skins, perfumes, slaves were traded with Mediterranean and Southwest Asia

Eventually the Kingdom of Axum took over

So close to the Mediterranean—who is nearby?

Carthage was a major trading city, until the Punic Wars

After Punic Wars, Rome took over North Africa. Built roads, aqueducts, dams, cities Also spread Christianity, used Africans for Roman soldiers

Islam spreads into North Africa

In the 690s, C.E. Muslims conquered and occupied North Africa. By the 700s, they had completely conquered the Berbers, a nomadic people.

Gradually replaced Christianity with Islam, and Arabic replaced Latin as the language

Cairo, Fez, Marrakesh became famous for their beautiful mosques and huge universities.

Muslim traders brought Islam from the North to West Africa

Shade and date: Egypt Nubia Axum Ghana Mali Ethiopia Songhai

Draw: 5 major trade routes (pick 5 from map)

Mediterranean Sea

Niger River Gao Timbuktu Benin City Great Zimbabwe Mogadishu Cairo Mecca Venice Fez Marrakesh

Salt was very rare in most of Africa, but was highly valued Need salt to retain water, preserve food

Sahara had lots of salt Western Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal) had almost no salt, but lots of gold

Had lots of gold, would trade a pound of gold for a pound of salt (until 1350, 60% of the gold in the world came from Ghana)

Theocracy Traded with Muslim merchants from North Africa

Muslims introduced written language, coins, business methods

Some (not all) adopted Islam In 1050, Almoravids (North African Muslims) invaded and weakened Ghana

Eventually were taken over by Mali Kingdom

Mansa Musa was the strongest ruler of Mali, came to power in 1312 C.E.

He spread control of gold and salt regions, and became very wealthy

Where trade routes intersected, big cities like Timbuktu arose

He conquered a lot of regions, and converted eventually to Islam, based much of his law on the Quran

Did not force Islam on his people, but promoted religious freedom and tolerance

In 1324, made the hajj to Mecca, and started good relationships with other Muslim states

Devout Muslim Built mosques in Timbuktu

Education from all over: Judges Doctors Religious leaders Scholars

Proverb: Salt comes from the north, gold from the south, and silver from the country of the white men, but the word of God and the treasures of wisdom are only to be found in Timbuktu.

By 1400, Mali had grown weak In 1460, the Songhai started to gain power, with a new capital in Gao

Developed along the Niger River Did not initially adopt Islam, but later became an Islamic state in 1492

Had very organized government Like Mansa Musa, leaders went to Mecca, formed good relationships and built mosques and schools to study the Quran

Songhai was invaded by Moroccans who wanted to control the salt and gold trade

Songhai had no guns or new technology, and were quickly wiped out by the Moroccans

How did Moroccan Muslims get guns?

When Songhai fell, it was the end of 1,000 years of powerful kingdoms in West Africa

Moving to

East Afric

a!

Conquered Nubia around 350 C.E. Extended from modern-day Ethiopia to the Red Sea

Axum were descendents of African farmers and Jewish traders very unique culture

Extremely good location for trade: Red Sea and city of Axum

By 400 C.E., the kingdom controlled trade connecting Africa, India, the Mediterranean world

Enslaved people Ivory, animal hides, gold, for iron, spices, precious stones, cotton

Ideas also spread: The king of Axum made Christianity the official religion in the 300s.

Eventually Axum became isolated from the rest of the kingdoms around it. Why?

Axum eventually declined due to this isolation

People in the region of Axum kept Christianity, and were united

Geographic isolation (mountains) helped them stay protected and helped develop a very unique culture Underground churches still in Ethiopia today built into solid rock

Did keep ties with Holy Land: pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Christians in Egypt, still a Christian region today

Many smaller kingdoms grew on the East Coast of Africa, trading with the rest of the Eastern Hemisphere (Arabia, Persia, China, India…)

Swahili developed as a need for communication arose between Africans and people from Arabia

“Swahili” “of the coast”

Muslim traders brought Islam to the East African coast, and many wealthier and more powerful people were Muslim.

The majority of the people kept traditional religious beliefs

Slavery: Muslim traders exported enslaved people who had been kidnapped to Arabia, Persia and Iraq. Wealthy people bought slaves for domestic work

This was NOT like the slave trade into the Americas in the 1700s: only about 1,000 people were sold each year during this time

Gold and Ivory trade helped people in southeast Africa grow wealthy and establish a big city around 1000 C.E. : Great Zimbabwe.

It depended on the gold trade

Powerful city: economic, political and religious center of its time

1450 C.E., it was abandoned

Mutapa: A man named Mutota left Great Zimbabwe to find more salt, and founded a new city: Mutapa

Controlled most of Zimbabwe Rich in gold, forced conquered people to mine for it

In the 1500s, Portugal tried to take the empire over, but failed.

Then Portugal tried to interfere with the politics to gain control

signals increasing European interference in Africa