Chapter 8 Africa

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Chapter 8 - Africa

• 1800 BC 1500 AD

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Africa

• Many scientists are convinced that the continent
  of Africa may very well have been where our
  species began.
• Continent gave birth to one of the earliest and
  greatest civilizations.
• This chapter will introduce you to early
  civilizations that emerged, flourished, and then
  gave way to succeeding cultures in other parts of
  the African Continent.

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Nubians

• The Nubians, who were controlled by Egypt, acted
  as middlemen in trade along the Upper Nile. In
  time, they started asking for a tax on the goods
  that went through their land. In 1472 BC Queen
  Hatshepsut of Egypt had five ships carried across
  the desert to avoid the Nubian-controlled Upper
  Nile. Eventually the Nubians gained control of
  the trade routes from the Red Sea to the Nile and
  established the kingdom of Kush.

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Section 1 Africas Early History

• The Main Idea Although the geography of Africa
  varies, many early societies there shared common
  cultural traits.
• Geography of Africa Map overview
• North Africa Egypt contact with Europeans
  trade cultural diffusion religion .

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Sub-Saharan Africa

• Vast portion of continent is called Sub-Saharan
  Africa location on map
• Many African-Americans look to Sub-Saharan Africa
  as the homeland of their ancestors
• Much of Sub-Saharan Africa is a plateau
• Few natural harbors
• Most major rivers were blocked by rapids
  protected the interior from invasion made trade
  and communication among Africans harder

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Geography

• Sahara Desert covers about ¼ of African continent
  (Always a desert?)
• Sahel southern edge of desert
• South of the Sahel are vast stretches of
  grasslands called savannas
• Hot/wet climates (rain forests) breeding ground
  for insects disease malaria, yellow fever,
  sleeping sickness lack of medicine
• Tallest mountain in Africa Mt. Kilimanjaro
• Map on page 183

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Linguists

• Linguists scientists who study language
• Bantu a family of closely related African
  languages
• Study of languages shows how people have moved
  throughout Africa (Cultural Diffusion)
• Some Bantu languages spoken today
• Zulu South Africa - Makua Mozambique
• Shona Zimbabwe - Bemba Zambia
• Swahili Tanzania - Ganda Uganda
• Kongo Congo - Fang - Cameroon

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Passing on Learning

• Oral Traditions poems, songs, and stories
  passed by word of mouth from one generation to
  another
• Moral lessons, history, tradition
• Source of information (historical research today)
• Griots oral historians (Alex Hayley Roots)

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Cultural Exchange

• Xylophones in East Africa were used in Indonesia
  Southeast Asia
• Banana is native to Asia prevalent in Africa
• Archeological evidence shows that many early
  Sub-Saharan cultures were complex, well
  organized, and wealthy

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Women

• Women in Africa played a vital role matrilineal
  societies traced ancestors and inherited
  property through women
• Religion was important spirits
• Life was paced by seasons planting and
  harvesting
• Village elders were important
• Most early Africans lived in small, independent
  farming, herding, and fishing villages

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Section 2 The Kingdoms of Kush and Aksum

• Main Idea The kingdoms of Kush and Aksum
  dominated much of Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Some people lived in small, independent villages
• Others lived in small city-states, kingdoms, and
  even empires for example, the kingdom of Kush
• Kush began along the Upper Nile in an Egyptian
  area known as Nubia
• Connected to Egypt in culture

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Kush

• Kush thrived as an important corridor of trade
• Caravans hauled goods from Red Sea to barges on
  the Nile
• Over centuries Kush became of distinct kingdom
• At first Kush maintained close economic and
  cultural ties with Egypt, but for a time Egyptian
  pharaohs ruled the area
• In about 710 BC, Kush conquered Upper Egypt and a
  Kush dynasty ruled a unified Egypt for about 50
  years

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Kush

• 671 BC Assyrians with iron weapons invaded Kush
  greatly weakens the area
• Kush does reorganize and forms a new, and
  powerful, capital
• Greeks wrote about their interactions with this
  African kingdom
• Area reaches high point around 250 BC 150 AD
• Period of decline sets in possibly due to lack of
  fertility in land, or, possibly due to losing
  trade routes

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Aksum

• In Ethiopian Highlands south of Kush
• This area was also on trade routes
• As Kush declined, Aksum would compete for control
  of trade in East Africa
• Collect taxes on trade goods
• King Ezana converts to Christianity during his
  reign making Aksum the first Christian kingdom
  in Africa his conversion is compared to that of
  Constantines conversion
• Big impact on the region and culture lasts to
  this day

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Aksum

• Was a power in long distance trade throughout
  coastal East Africa
• Power and prosperity begin to decline around 600s
  AD
• Environmental problems (erosion)
• Persians as a trade rival
• Rise of Islamic Arab power

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Section 3 Trading States of Africa

• The Main Idea Trade strongly influenced
  cultures on the east and west coasts of Africa
• Trade kept Africa well connected to the rest of
  the world
• Several city-states dominated the coastal trade
  in the Indian Ocean
• Slave trade will begin, primarily on the West
  Coast
• Opportunity to make money attracted merchant
  families and adventurers to Africa
• Elements of Africa, Asia, and Islam will blend in
  the East

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Swahili States

• Swahili unique African culture that develops
  over several generations in East Africa
• Spoke Swahili, a Bantu language with Arabic and
  Persian influences
• Not a single ethnic group
• Bound together by language and association with
  trade
• Among the earliest of the trading city-states
  along the Indian Ocean was Mogadishu

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Great Zimbabwe

• Very advanced great cultural achievements
• Gold brings power
• Excavations show well protected city and
  fortification
• In some areas the building stones were cut so
  finely that they stayed together without mortar
• Even though we learn a great deal through
  excavations, the reasons for the citys decline
  are unknown possibly due to quick growth of
  population outpaced supplies of food and water

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West Africa

• Several important societies flourished in West
  Africa kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai
• Knowledge of these areas comes from oral
  accounts, writings of African scholars, and
  Islamic traders
• Wealth and power depended on control of the trade
  routes across the Sahara
• Gold for salt trade
• Where trade took place cities would grow
• Monarchs ruled these West African kingdoms
• Primary Source p. 193 different than Europe?

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Ghana

• Earliest of West African kingdoms
• Profited from the gold for salt exchange between
  North and West Africa
• Reached peak around 1050
• In about 1235 AD the neighboring people overthrew
  Ghana and established empire of Mali

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Mali

• Power reached peak under Mansa Musa early 1300s
  AD
• Supporter of education, the arts, and public
  building
• Timbuktu became a leading center of learning
  its large university attracted scholars from
  Egypt and Arabia
• Very wealthy History Maker (p. 194)
• Islamic travelers and historians were impressed
  by Mali
• Disputes over Mansa Musas successor weakened
  Mali
• 1468 AD rebel leader (Sonni Ali) captured
  Timbuktu and built up the kingdom of Songhai

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Songhai

• Covered an area even larger than Mali
• Timbuktu became great commercial center goods
  came from Europe, India, and China
• Thriving cultural center
• Supported a revival of Islamic scholarship based
  around the university
• Decline begins in part due to fighting among the
  subject people
• The empire had many powerful neighbors in 1591
  AD a Moroccan army equipped with firearms
  defeated Songhai troops creating the end of the
  empire