Describe the rise and achievements of African civilizations.

EARLY AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS

GEOGRAPHY – LARGEST CONTINENT AFTER ASIA

• Regions – North Africa & Sub-Saharan Africa

• Sub-Saharan – savanna, Rift Valley, rain forest, desert

Rain Forest

Desert

Mild zone

Savanah

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

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