Africa 1500Bc - 500Ad

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Sahara

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one of the largest deserts in the world, which covers an area roughly the size of the US. It stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. Only a small part of this desert consists of sand dunes; the rest is mostly a flat, gray wasteland of scattered rocks and gravel. During the day, temperatures can reach 136 degrees F, and any rain that falls evaporates quickly.

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Savannah

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a flat, grassy plain.

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Sahel

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the African region along the southern border of the Sahara

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Desertification

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A transformation of fertile land into desert.

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Extended family

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a group that included a person’s parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles and cousins.

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Clan

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a group of people descended from a common ancestor.

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Griot

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A West African storyteller.

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Djenne-Djeno

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located on a tributary of the Niger River, this city is the oldest known city in Africa south of the Sahara. While excavating, archeologists discovered hundreds of thousands of artifacts dated from 250 BC. At this height, Djenne`-Dejeno had some 50,000 residents who raised rice on its fertile floodplains, fished in the Niger River, and herded cattle. In the 3rd century BC, they discovered how to smelt iron. This locale was not only linked to other towns by the Niger River, bt also by overland camel routes, thus becoming a bustling trade center.

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Nok

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an African people who lived in what is now Nigeria between 500 BC and 200 AD.

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Animism

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the belief that spirits are present in animals, plants, and other natural species.

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Aksum

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an African kingdom, in what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea, that reached the height of its power in the fourth century.

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Adulis

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Aksum’s chief seaport, to which traders from Egypt, Arabia, Perisia, India and the Roman Empire came to, making Adulis an international trading power.

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Ezana

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an exceptionally strong ruler of Aksum from 325 to 360 AD, who first conquered the part of the Arabian Peninsula that is now Yemen. In 350, he overcame the Kushites and burned Meroe to the ground.

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Bantu-Speaking people

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a group of African languages, near the Niger-Congo, includes over 900 individual languages. A family of languages in this group developed from a single parent tongue, Proto-Bantu. Speakers of these related languages belong to many different ethnic groups, but are often reffered to collectively as Bantu-speaking peoples. (the word Bantu itself means “the people.”)

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Tropics

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Area of the globe which lies between the Tropic which lies between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer

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“Geography is the mother of history”. Give two examples and explanations of why this statement is true from previous units studied this year; then explain its significance in regards to Africa.

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• Two examples and explanations from previous units
• Significance/explanation re Africa
• Combo of geophysical features-contrasts/location/climate

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What major development enabled the Nok to improve their hunting and farming? Why?

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• 1st west Africa people to smelt iron
• Their iron implements lasted longer than ones made from wood or stone

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Give the genealogy of the Aksum kingdom. Include the connection this dynasty has to a 20th century ruler and do two sentences of research about this individual.

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• Legend traces founding of Aksum and Ethiopian royal dynasty to son of King Solomon of ancient Israel and queen of Sheba
• Dynasty includes 20th century ruler, Haile Selassie
• Two sentences of research

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Which areas did Aksum conquer? What four reasons made it a center for trade?

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• Areas along the Red Sea, which gave it influence over sea trade in the Mediterranean
• Blue Nile in Africa
• Lands on southwest Arabian peninsula
• Hub for caravan routes to Egypt and Meroe, the capital of Kush
• Adulis, it’s seaport, brought traders from Egypt, Arabia, Persia, India and the roman empire

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Who was Ezana? Why was it logical that he converted to Christianity? What was ironical about the fact that Christianity was Ezana’s religion?

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• Ruled aksum during it’s height from 325 – 360 AD
• While his mother ruled kingdom, he was educated by a young Christian and eventually was converted to Christianity
• Irony: Ezana’s teacher was captured and forced to educate Ezana; thereby not having been treated as an equal.
• “Treat other as you wish to be treated” is a tenet of Christianity that was not followed by Ezana’s mother
• Ezana established Christianity as kingdom’s official religion/ruthless when conquering Kush

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Did the Aksumites believed in the “divine right of kings”? Explain.

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• Divine right: the idea that monarchs are god’s representatives on earth and are therefore only answerable to him
• Aksumites called their god Mahrem
• Believed their king was directly descended from him.

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Who was Pliny? What was his biased view of Africans? How might he have developed that view? What does his point of view suggest about how people should read history?

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• Pliny: Roman scholar and naturalist who lived during first century AD
• Pliny thought fricans primitive or freakish
• Probably received inaccurate info based on hearsay and took it at face value
• Readers must remember history is interpretive–written from a biased perspective
Societies and Empires of Africa

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Define “monotheistic”. Define “Islam”. Define “Muhammad”. (Note: the preceding terms may have to be researched in a dictionary.) How did Islam play an important role in the political history of North Africa? How did Islamic law help to bring order to Muslim states?

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• Monotheistic: a belief that there is only one deity
• Islam: a monotheistic religion that developed in Arabia in 7th century
• Muhammad: founder of Islam, considered a prophet by followers of Islam, who taught that Allah was the one and only God and that all other gods must be abandoned. Followers of this faith are called Muslims.
• Muslims swept across the northwest part of the continent as Islam spread, some African rulers converted to Islam and based their government upon Islamic law
• Order: in Islam, following law is a religious obligation.
• Muslims do not separate their personal life from their religious life

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How did the kingdom of Ghana grow wealthy? What was a positive attribute about West Africa? What was a negative? How did Arab and Berber traders solve the dilemma caused by the negative mentioned in the previous question?

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• Taxing goods that traders gring through their territory
• Positive: Gold supply came from this area
• Negative:WA's savanna lacked salt, salt gives them economic advantage.

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What morally correct decision ended badly for Sumanguru? Why

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• Killed all of Sundiata's brothers but spared Sundiata
• Sundiata got stronger and gained respect of warriors
• Defeated Sumanguru's trooops

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Why did Sunny Ali’s son face a major revolt? Might the reason for the revolt still exist as something that might divide people today? Why or why not? What things did Askia Muhammed do that helped his country? Explain. How was his army defeated by Moroccans?

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• He did not practice his religion faithfully
• Set up efficent tax system and chose able officials
• Morracans had modern weapons

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What seems contradictory about the actions of Arab Muslim traders in regards to what they exported from the East African coast? Explain. What was ironic about what the Arab Muslim traders did in regards to what later occurred in America by Europeans?

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• They engaged in slave trade
• Student pov
• Student rationale
• Irony: africans engaged in the slave trade that Europeans would eventually expand and populate colonial plantations

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Lineage

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the people-living, dead, and unborn- who are descended from common ancestors

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Stateless societies

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cultural groups in which authority is shared by lineage of equal power instead of being exercised by a central government.

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patrilineal

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relating to a social system in which family descent and inheritance rights are traced through the father.

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Matrilineal

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relating to a social system in which family descent and inheritances rights are traced through the mother

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Maghrib

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a region of western North Africa, consisting of the Mediterranean coastlands of what is now Morocco Tunisia and Algeria.

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Almoravids

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an Islamic religious brotherhood that established an empire in North Africa and southern Spain in the 11th century AD.

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Almohads

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a group of Islamic reformers who overthrew the almoraid dynasty and established an empire in North Africa and southern Spain in the 12th century AD

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Ghana

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a West African kingdom that grew rich from taxing and controlling trade and that established an empire in the 9th-11th centuries AD

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Mali

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a West African empire that flourished from 1235 to the 1400s and grew rich from trade

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Sundiata

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Mali’s first great leader came to power by crushing a cruel, unpopular leader. Through a series of military victories, he took over the kingdom of Ghana. A period of peace and prosperity followed, as he placed able administrators in charge of Mali’s finances and defense.

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Mansa Musa

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an African Muslim ruler who built mosques, attended public prayers, and supported preaching of muslim holy men. He was a skilled leader who exercised royal control over the gold-salt trade and put down every rebellion. He expanded his empire to roughly twice the size of Ghana.

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Ibn Battuta

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a native of tangier in North Africa, he was a traveler and historian who visited most countries in the Islam world over a 27-year period. As a devout Muslim, he praised people for their study of the Qur’an, but criticized them for not practicing Islam’s strict moral code.

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Songhai

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a west African empire that conquered Mali and controlled trade from the 1400s to 1591

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Hausa

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a group of people who were named after the language they spoke. From their capitals, Hausa rulers governed the farming villages outside the city walls, which they had built for their capitals

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Yoruba

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a West African people who formed several kingdoms in what is now Benin and southern Nigeria

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Benin

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a kingdom that arose near the Niger River delta during the 1300s and became a major West African state in the 1400s.

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Swahili

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an Arabic-influenced Bantu language that is used widely in eastern and central africa

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Great Zimbabwe

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the Shona people had claimed the fertile, well-watered plateau between Zambezi and the Limpopo in modern Zimbabwe. This location also stood near an important trade route linking the inland gold fields with the coastal trading of Sofala

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Mutapa

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relating to a southern African empire established by Mutota in the 15th century AD.