Ancient Africa

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Ancient Africa

• 1500 B.C. 1500 A.D.

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African Geography

• Desert
• Sahara dominates northern Africa
• Kalahari largest desert in southern Africa
• Savanna
• Best areas for herd animals and growing of grains
• Rainforest
• Diverse life forms and natural resources, very
  difficult to travel through or live in
• Tsetse flies
• Mediterranean
• Small region in northern Africa that supports
  abundant life

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Tsetse Fly African Sleeping Sickness
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Early Sub-Saharan African Life

• East Africa was the beginning of human life
• Lucy
• Nomadic herders
• Masi and other groups still practice
• Agriculture develops (6,000 B.C.)
• Permanent settlements develop
• Animism ?
• Griots ?
• West African Iron Age
• Nok Culture (Niger River Valley)
• Trade city of Djenne-Djeno
• Use of Iron tools

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Push-Pull Factors

• Chart page 221
• 3 main migration factors
• Environmental
• Economic
• Political

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Migration of the Bantu Peoples

• Trace the Bantu Migrations on your map of Africa
  (page 222)
• Where did they go?
• How did they adapt to each region?
• Slash burn
• Raising cattle
• Adopting new crops
• Why did they migrate?
• Agriculture led to more land use and great
  population

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Effects of Bantu Migration

• Forced interaction between different groups
  (BaMbuti and San)
• Some mixed, some left, some fought
• Brought new technologies to regions
• Brought Bantu ideas about politics and social
  organization
• Centralized language branch throughout the
  continent
• Niger-congo languages
• 900 different dialects and individual languages
• Bantu is the first language of nearly 1/3 of all
  Africans today

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Kingdom of Aksum

• South of Kush
• Legend traces roots of Kush back to son of King
  solomon and Queen of Sheba
• Modern day Ethiopia and Eritrea
• International trade center (Adulis)
• Caravans to Egypt through Meroe
• Access to Mediterranean Sea Indian Ocean
  through Red Sea
• Exported salt, ivory, emeralds, gold
• Imported cloth, glass, wine, iron, copper

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Kingdom of Aksum (cont.)

• Ezana (325 360 A.D.)
• Peak of the empire
• Expanded territory into Arabian Peninsula (modern
  day Yemen)
• Conquered Kush
• Cosmopolitan Heritage
• Greek, Roman, Persian, Indian, and Egyptian
• Converted to Christianity
• Made official religion for Aksum
• Decline Isolation
• Islamic invaders began to cut into the empire and
  take-over trade routes
• Moved to the mountains of northern Ethiopia
• Remained isolated for a few hundred years (632
  750 AD)

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The Pillars of Aksum

• Used no mortar
• Carved great stones together
• Created false doors, windows, as well as tall
  peaks
• The Pillars are often dedicated to the Christian
  God

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West African Societies
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Ghana (700 1076 A.D.)

• Use of camels led to development of the
  trans-Sahara trade routes
• Gold-Salt Trade
• Arab and Berber traders
• Gold from western Africa, salt from Sahara
• Empire of Ghana developed from taxing trade
  routes
• Ghanas kings convert to Islam
• Led to literacy (learning to read the Quran)
• Commoners mostly did not convert
• 1076 Muslim Almoravids conquered

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Mali (1235 1400s)

• Gold deposits east of Ghana allowed Mali empire
  to gain wealth and power by moving the trade
  routes
• 2 important leaders
• Sundiata 1st emperor (mansa)
• Different than prior emperors
• Peaceful
• United Mali
• Conquered Ghana
• Led to period of peace and prosperity
• Mansa Musa (1312 1332)
• Muslim leader (Sundiatas grandnephew
• Expanded empire to twice the size of Ghana
  (100,000 man army)
• Hajj to Mecca in 1324-1325 exposed riches of Mali
  to Arab peninsula
• New trade centers develop (Timbuktu and Gao)

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Songhai (1400s 1500s)

• Gained control of trade routes due to gold
  deposits near Niger River (Gao)
• 2 important leaders
• Sunni Ali
• Muslim leader
• Had a private army consisting of horse soldiers
  and river canoes
• Conquered Timbuktu (1468) Djenne (1473, took 7
  years)
• Military hero
• Askia Muhammad
• Established bureaucracy and provinces
• Overthrew Sunni Alis son
• Spread more orthodox Islam
• Efficient and fair ruler
• Conquered by Moroccans in 1591 (guns)

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East Coast Trade Cities

• Islamic Influence
• New trade centers on Indian Ocean after fall of
  Aksum
• Spread Muslim religion along trade routes
• Slave/Gold trade
• Swahili language group
• Mix of Bantu Arabic
• City-states
• Kilwa, Sofala, Mogadishu
• Great Zimbabwe (1200s 1450) Bantu for stone
  enclose
• Shona peoples in south-eastern Africa
• Controlled trade routes of gold to the coast
• City taxed traders
• Disappeared suddenly
• Suspected because of arrival of Portuguese
• Portuguese Conquest (1488)

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