Africa

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Africa

• Early History to 1000 C.E.

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Africa is..(and always has been)..

• Extremely large continent
• Culturally heterogeneous
• Traded with Europe and the Middle East around
  1000 C.E.

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Physical Characteristics.

• Few natural harbors
• Narrow coast
• Most rivers difficult to navigate
• Extremely hot
• Tropical rain forests only 5 of the continent

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Physical Characteristics.

• Mostly savanna
• Sahel (semi-desert)
• Sahara (true desert)

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Physical Characteristics

• Kalahari Desert
• Southwestern Africa

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Environmental challenges..

• Water is scarce
• Tsetse fly
• Minerals deplete quickly

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Major regions of Africa.

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Human life begins in Africa..

• 100,000 B.C.E. modern humans appeared

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African language and people.

• 2,000 languages

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North Africa
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North Africa..

• African goods circulated in the Mediterranean
• Speak Berber

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North Africa..

• The Nubian people
• Flourished in trade
• Ivory
• Slaves
• Gold

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Nubian traders carrying plates of gold to be
traded
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Trade in the Sahara.

• Salt
• Gold
• People

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Trade in the Sahara

• 2 to 3 months to cross the desert
• Muslim traders traveled west to West Africa
• Arab monopoly of trade

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African Art.

• Youthfulness

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African art

• Bronze bowl from Nigeria

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African art..

• Textiles
• Practical art
• Worn as garments

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Kente cloth, Asante kingdom
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African art..

• The Minneapolis Institute of ArtsSeated
  Dignitary, c. 250 B.C.Nok People, Africa,
  Eastern Nigeria, Nok Plateau

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African art.

• Lydenburg HeadEastern Transvaal, South Africa,
  ca. A.D. 500-700. Traces of white pigment and
  specularite on clay, 38 x 26 x 25.5 cm.
  University of Cape Town Collection at the South
  African Museum, Cape Town.

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Myths about Africa..

• Once considered a dark continent
• Uncivilized
• Not navigable
• Difficult to explore
• More diverse than most people realize
• More than a few languages are spoken