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Geography and Early Africa

The Big Idea

Geography, resources, culture, and trade influenced the growth of societies in West Africa.

Main Ideas

• Landforms, climate, and resources affected the history of West Africa.

• The way of life of early peoples in West Africa was shaped by family ties, religion, iron technology, and trade.

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Main Idea 1: Landforms, climate, and resources affected

the history of West Africa.

• Africa is the second largest continent.

• The Niger River, a source of water, food, and transportation, allowed many people to live in West Africa.

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Africa’s Four Regions

• The northern band across West Africa is the southern part of the Sahara. It has the world’s largest desert.

• The semiarid Sahel divides the desert from wetter areas. It has enough vegetation to support hardy grazing animals.

• Farther south is a band of savannah, or open grass with scattered trees.

• Rain forests, or moist, densely wooded areas, are near the equator. They contain a variety of plants and animals.

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West Africa’s land produced many crops, such as dates and kola nuts. Kola nuts could be used for medicine.

Gold could be used for jewelry or coins.

West Africa’s Resources

Salt was a resource that was found deep in the earth, from lakes that had dried up.

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Main Idea 2: The way of life of early peoples in West

Africa was shaped by family ties, religion, iron technology, and trade

• A typical West African family was an extended family that included the father, mother, children, and close relatives in one household.

• Some people took part in another type of group, called age sets.

– In these groups, people who had been born within the same two or three years formed special bonds.

• These loyalties helped the people of a village work together.

• As people became more productive, villages started to trade the area’s resources with buyers who lived thousands of miles away.

– Gold and salt mines were a source of wealth.

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Loyalty to families and age sets helped the people of a village work together.

• Everyone had specific duties.

• Men hunted and farmed.

• Women farmed and cared for the children.

• Elders taught traditions to the children.

• Children started working as soon as they were able.

Loyalties and Religion

• Many West Africans believed that spirits of their ancestors stayed nearby.

• Families shared problems and news with the spirits.

• Another common belief was animism, the belief that bodies of water, animals, trees, and other natural objects have spirits.

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Empire of Ghana

The Big Idea

The rulers of Ghana built an empire by controlling the salt and gold trade.

Main Ideas

• Ghana controlled trade and became wealthy.

• Through its control of trade, Ghana built an empire.

• Ghana’s decline was caused by attacking invaders, overgrazing, and the loss of trade.

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Main Idea 1: Ghana controlled trade and became wealthy.

• Ghana was created when groups of farmers banded together.

• Ghana became a powerful state only when it gained control of valuable trade routes.

• The exchange of gold and salt followed a process called silent barter. This is a process in which people exchange goods without ever contacting each other directly.

• Ghana’s rulers gained power and wealth, and the military grew in strength, too.

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• Ghana protected traders with its army. Traders were not afraid to travel to Ghana.

• With so many traders passing through their lands, they made money by forcing traders to pay taxes.

• In addition, the people of Ghana and the small neighboring tribes they controlled had to pay taxes.

• Ghana also had rich gold mines.

Main Idea 2: Through its control of trade, Ghana built an

empire.

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Expansion of the Empire

• Ghana’s kings used their great wealth to build a powerful army and conquered many of their neighbors, especially ones that had centers of trade.

• To keep order in the empire, conquered kings were allowed to keep much of their power. They acted as governors of their territories.

• The empire of Ghana reached its peak under Tunka Manin.

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Main Idea 3: Ghana’s decline was caused by attacking

invaders, overgrazing, and the loss of trade.

• Invasion

– A Muslim group called the Almoravids cut off many trade routes, without which Ghana could not support its empire.

• Overgrazing

– When the Almoravids moved, they brought herds of animals with them.

– These animals ate all the grass, leaving the land worthless for farming.

• Internal rebellion

– The people Ghana conquered rose up in rebellion and took over the entire empire.

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Later Empires

The Big Idea

Between 1000 and 1500 three great kingdoms-Mali, Songhai, and Great Zimbabwe-developed in Africa.

Main Ideas

• The empire of Mali reached its height under the ruler Mansa Musa, but the empire fell to invaders in the 1400s.

• The Songhai built a new Islamic empire in West Africa, conquering many of the lands that were once part of Mali.

• Great Zimbabwe was a powerful state that developed in southern Africa.

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Main Idea 1: The empire of Mali reached its height under the ruler Mansa Musa, but the empire fell to

invaders in the 1400s.

• Mali was located along the upper Niger River. The fertile soil helped Mali grow and control river trade.

• Sundiata, Mali’s first strong leader, built up a strong army and won back his country’s independence.

• He conquered Ghana and took over the salt and gold trades.

• He had new farmlands cleared for crops of beans, onions, and rice. He also introduced cotton as a new crop.

• To protect his authority, he took power away from others and adopted the title mansa.

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Mansa

• Mansas had both political and religious roles in society.

• The religious role of the mansa grew out of traditional Malian beliefs.

– According to the beliefs, people’s ancestors had made an agreement with the spirits of the land that would ensure the lands provided plenty of food.

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• He was Mali’s most famous leader, and he ruled from 1312 to 1337.

• Mali reached the height of its wealth, power, and fame in the 1300s.

• He added important trade cities to its empire, including Timbuktu.

• Islam was important to Musa, so he made a pilgrimage to Mecca.

• He influenced the spread of Islam through a large part of West Africa and had mosques built throughout his empire.

Mansa Musa

• He stressed the importance of education and learning to read the Arabic language.

• He sent scholars to study in Morocco. They came back and set up schools in Mali.

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The Fall of Mali

Weak rulers such as Maghan could not stop raiders, leading to the empire’s gradual decline.

Raiders from the southeast poured into Mali and set fire to Timbuktu’s great schools and mosques.

Invaders took almost all the lands of the Mali Empire by 1500.

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Main Idea 2: The Songhai built a new Islamic empire in West Africa, conquering many of the lands

that were once part of Mali.

• Once a part of Mali, Songhai rose up against it and regained its freedom.

• Songhai grew in many ways, mostly due to the work of Sunni Ali.

– He worked constantly to unify, strengthen, and enlarge the empire.

• He participated in both Islam and local religions and brought peace and stability as a result.

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Askia the Great

• Muhammad Ture overthrew Sunni Baru because he did not support Islam.

– People thought they would lose trade with Muslim lands.

Ture took the title of askia, a title of the highest military rank, and eventually became known as Askia the Great.

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• Askia the Great worked to support education and especially supported learning about medicine.

– Thousands of people came to Timbuktu to use the universities, libraries, and mosques.

– Djenné also became a city of great learning.

– Songhai’s traders were Muslims and spread Islam.

• To help maintain order, Askia set up five provinces within Songhai.

– He removed local leaders and appointed new governors who were loyal to him.

– He created special departments to oversee certain tasks.

– He created a standing professional army.

Education and Government

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Songhai fell to Morocco.

• Because Morocco wanted to control the Saharan salt mines, it invaded Songhai.

• The Moroccans brought with them a terrible new weapon, the arquebus, an early form of gun.

• The Moroccans’ guns and cannons brought disaster to Songhai.

• Changes in trade patterns completed Songhai’s fall.

– Overland trade declined as Atlantic ports became more important.

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Main Idea 3: Great Zimbabwe was a powerful state that

developed in southern Africa.

• Great Zimbabwe was a powerful kingdom in southern Africa.

• It was founded as a small trading and herding center in the 1100s.

• Gold mining and farming expanded, and the kingdom’s population grew to become the center of a large trading network.

– Trade made rulers wealthy and powerful.

• In the 1400s gold trade declined, and Great Zimbabwe weakened. By 1500 it was no longer a political and trading center.

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Historical and Artistic Traditions

The Big Idea

Although the people of West Africa did not have a written language, their culture has been passed down through

oral history, writings by other people, and the arts.

Main Ideas

• West Africans have preserved their history through storytelling and the written accounts of visitors.

• Through art, music, and dance, West Africans have expressed their creativity and kept alive their cultural traditions.

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Main Idea 1: West Africans have preserved their history

through storytelling and the written accounts of visitors.

Some of the griot poems are epics that are collected in the Dausi and the Sundiata.

Writing was not common in West Africa. People passed along information through oral histories, a spoken record of past events.

West African storytellers were called griots. They helped keep the history of their ancestors alive for each new generation.

In addition to stories, they recited proverbs. These were short sayings of wisdom or truth. They were used to teach lessons to the people.

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Visitors’ Written Accounts

• The people of West Africa left no written histories of their own.

• Much of what we know about early West Africa comes from the writings of travelers and scholars from Muslim lands such as Spain and Arabia.

• Ibn Battutah was the most famous Muslim visitor to write about West Africa.

• His accounts describe the political and cultural lives of West Africans in great detail.

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• Of all the visual forms, the sculpture of West Africa is probably the best known.

– The sculpture is mostly of people.

– It was made for religious rituals.

– Artists were deeply respected.

• Artists carved elaborate masks, which were used mostly for rituals as they danced around fires.

• They wove cloth such as kente, a handwoven, brightly colored fabric.

Main Idea 2: Through art, music, and dance, West

Africans have expressed their creativity and kept alive their cultural traditions.

• Music and dancing were important.

• These activities helped people honor their history and were central to many celebrations.