Transcript Early African Civilizationsx

EARLY AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS
Describe the rise and achievements of African civilizations.
GEOGRAPHY – LARGEST CONTINENT AFTER
ASIA
• Regions – North Africa & Sub-Saharan Africa
• Sub-Saharan – savanna, Rift Valley, rain forest,
desert
Mild zone
Desert
Savanah
Rain Forest
KUSH – NUBIA DEVELOPED INTO KUSH BY 2000
B.C.
• Assyria – iron weapons;
defeated Egyptians &
Kushites, 671 B.C.
• Meroe – new capital & center
for iron production
AXUM – FOUNDED BY ARABS
• Location on Red Sea –
facilitated prosperity as
trading power
• Ezana – made Christianity
official religion, A.D. 330
AXUM INFLUNCES
COMMUNAL EATING
GHANA – NAME FOR “KING” & A REGION;
1ST GREAT TRADING STATE
• Located between Saharan salt
mines & tropical gold mines
• Berbers – nomads; camel
caravans – “fleets of the desert”
BERBERS
FLEETS OF THE DESERT
MALI – “WHERE THE KING RESIDES”
• Sundiata Keita – “lion prince;” brought prosperity
in mid-13th century
• Mansa Musa – greatest king of Mali; introduced
Islamic culture
• Timbuktu – capital, center of Islamic art &
learning
TIMBUKTU
SONGHAI – REGION ALONG THE NIGER RIVER
• Sunni Ali – early ruler who
conquered Timbuktu
• Askia Muhammad – “usurper” ruled
Songhai Empire at height of glory
• Morocco – defeated the Songhai in
A.D. 1589
BANTU KINGDOMS – CENTRAL & SOUTH AFRICA
• Bantu migrations – West Africa to other
parts of continent
• Bantu – became language spoken by
many groups
• Great Zimbabwe – “stone house;”
largest fortress; no mortar
GREAT ZIMBABWE
EAST AFRICA – TRADE WITH SOUTH ASIA BEGAN
AS EARLY AS 500 B.C.
• Coastal city-states: Kilwa, Mombasa,
Mogadishu
• Blending of cultures – adopted Islam & Islamic
culture
• Swahili – Bantu-based, Arabic-influenced
language
ASPECTS OF SOCIETY – RELIANCE ON ORAL
TRADITION
Lineage groups – claimed descent from common ancestor
Women – subordinate to men; valued for work & child raising
Matrilineal – traced descent thru mother
Patrilineal – traced descent thru father
Education – boys & girls raised together until age six
• Girls – “house of the women,” home & field work
• Boys – “house of the men,” hunt, fish, grow crops
• Initiation ceremonies at puberty
• Slavery – an ancient practice in Africa
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RELIGIOUS BELIEFS – POLYTHEISTIC
• Animism - souls inhabit all or most objects
• Communicated with gods thru ritual
• Diviner – power to foretell events
• Ancestors – important because they were closer
to the gods
• Islam – challenged but did not replace religious
beliefs
ANIMISM
CULTURE – ART WAS MEANT TO EXPRESS
RELIGIOUS CONVICTION
• Rock paintings – earliest art form,
4000 B.C.
• Dance – means to communicate
with the spirits
• Music – words served to transmit
legends & traditions
• Griots – storytellers who kept
alive a people’s history
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3VAkeWvKBE
GRIOT