Transcript Medieval Africa

List 3 facts from your
reading of Chapter 13
yesterday.
Chapter 13
Section 1
 2nd largest continent
 Most of Africa lies in the
Tropics
 Sahara desert North
 Kalahari South
 Almost all of Africa rests
on a plateau an area of
high flat land
 Nile River
 Congo River
 Great Rift Valley
Berbers first known
people to settle North
Africa
Traded salt and cloth
for gold and ivory
During Medieval
period, African
empires were bigger
than most European
kingdoms in wealth
and size.
Ghana rose to power
in the AD 400s.
“crossroads of trade”
Taxes paid at these
crossroads made
Ghana rich.
Made iron weapons
Controlled groups who
had gold
Salt was very valuable
 Gold discovered outside of
Ghana’s control, led to lower
prices.
 Ghana fell in the 1200s and the
kingdom of Mali replaced it.
 West African griots
(storytellers) give credit to a
great warrior-king named
Sundiata Keita or the “Lion
Prince”.
 He ruled from 1230 to 1255
 Took control of Ghana’s capital
and Timbuktu.
 Rebuilt gold and salt trade.
 Mansa Musa was Mali’s last
strong king.
 1468, Sunni Ali, the leader of
Songhai stormed into Timbuktu
and drove out the Berbers
 He used Songhai’s location
along the Niger River to his
advantage.
 Ordered a fleet of war canoes
to seize control of the river
trade
 Took Berber salt mines
 By his death in 1492, he had
built the largest empire in West
Africa.
 Empire lasted almost 100 more
years
 Griots who live in the
Niger delta still tell stories
about King Ewuare who
founded the empire of
Benin around 1440.
 Farmers in the rain forest
had several advantages
 Soil
 Warm, wet climate
 Often had a surplus of
bananas, yams, or rice.
 Traded these surpluses for
copper, salt, and leather
goods from the savannas.
 Queen Makeda rose to
the throne of the Saba
empire, or Sheba
 Glory of the King’s, Africa’s
oldest written history, said
Makeda traveled to meet
with King Solomon of the
Israelites.
 Once he returned, he
introduced Israel’s religion
to her empire.
 Ethiopia, known in ancient
times as Abyssinia did not
decline like other African
empires of the time.
 Abyssinia’s power came
from the city of Axum
which was located on the
Red Sea.
 AD 300, King Ezana of
Axum sent his armies
against Kush and defeated
it.
Section 2
 Kings settled arguments, managed
trade, and protected the empire.
 Merchants would receive favors
from the kings and the kings would
receive taxes from the merchants.
 Kings of Ghana relied upon a
council of ministers.
 No one could trade without the
king’s permission.
 No one could own gold nuggets
except the king.
 In Ghana, the king’s nephew,
sister’s son, was the next to rule.
 Had many officials
 King’s divided the empire into
provinces
 “National Honor of the Trousers”
 Sunni Ali divided empire into
provinces, but he never finished
setting up his empire, as he moved
from one fight to another.
 Muhammad Ture took over after
Sunni Ali’s death.
 Many Europeans believed Africans
did not have a religion
 Olaudah Equiano disagreed
 Member of the Igbo
 “believed that there is one Creator of all
things, and that he…governs events,
especially our deaths and captivity.”
 Most African tribes shared the Igbo
belief in one supreme god.
 Nanti in East Africa thought people
could speak directly with their god.
 Igbo thought their god could only
be spoken to through lesser gods.
 Many believed that when their
relatives died, their spirits stayed
with the community.
 Ibn Battuta young Arab lawyer
from Morocco traveled the Islamic
world.
 Many believed Sundiata Keita and
Sunni Ali did not do enough to
advance the faith of Islam.
 He found that in West Africa,
women did not cover their faces,
but many did study the Quran
 Mansa Musa had allowed different
religions, but had worked to make
Islam stronger
 He used the wealth of Mali to build
mosques and set up libraries at
Timbuktu that collected books
from the Muslim world.
 1324, Mansa Musa made Mali
known to the world as he set out
on a journey to Mecca.
 He brought a huge caravan and
convinced some of the best
architects to return to Mali with
him.
 Sunni Ali practiced the traditional
religion of the Songhai, but
declared himself a Muslim to keep
the support of his townspeople.
 Muhammad Ture drove Ali’s family
from Songhai in a bloody war, then
took the name Askia, a rank in the
Songhai army.
 Under Askia Muhammad, Songhai
build the largest empire in
medieval Africa.
 1331, Ibn Battuta visited
Mogadishu the sultan.
 This sultan spoke in Arabic, then
again in Swahili.
 Swahili Arabic for “people of the
coast”
 Today, this is a blend of African and
Muslim culture
 Muslim schools drew people in
from all across Africa.
Section 3
 3000 BC, fishing groups along the
Benue River packed their
belongings and moved south and
west.
 These “wanderers” called
themselves Bantu, meaning “the
people”
 By AD 400, Bantu had settled much
of Africa.
 Today, more than 120 million
Africans speak a form of Bantu,
including Swahili.
 The Bantu believed in one
supreme creator and as spirit
world where ancestors lived.
 Education was carried out by the
family and neighbors.
 Students learned the history of
their culture and skills they needed
as adults.
 Oral history stories passed down
from generation to generation.
 Some women were soldiers in
African kingdoms.
 AD 600s, Queen Dahiaal-Kahina led
the fight against a Muslim invasion.
 Queen Nzinga spend almost 40
years battling Portuguese slave
traders.
 1441, a Portuguese sea captain
captured 12 Africans and they
became the first African slaves
brought back to Europe.
 Bantu chiefs would raid nearby
villages and take captives who
became their slaves.
 Enslaved Africans might earn their
freedom through hard work or
marrying a free person.
 The Quran forbade the
enslavement of Muslims, but
allowed non-Muslims to be slaves.
 Many of the first African slaves
worked in Portugal.
 Eventually, slaves began working
on sugar cane plantations.
 Cave paintings are the earliest
form of art from Africa.
 Would late use wood, ivory, and
bronze for carvings.
 Music expressed religious feelings
or got people through everyday
tasks.
 Believed dance allowed the spirits
to express themselves.
 Music of hardship, sung by slaves,
was the basis for the modern day
genre of the blues.
 Griots remained important.
 People often lived in extended
families families made up of
several generations.
 Many villages, especially the Bantu
were matrilineal, meaning they
traced their descent through
mothers rather than fathers.
 Yoruba believed an ancestor could
be reborn into a child.