Africa: Early History To 1000 C.e.

Front 1

Discuss the main points regarding - Africa: Early History to 1000 C.E.

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Despite natural barriers, Africa’s peoples have not been as internally isolated or compartmentalized as was once thought. African history, unlike that of other continents, has not been organized around major empires and a few primary centers of cultural diffusion. The increasing desiccation of the northern third of the continent played a critical role in the development of African history. In the first millennium B.C., the peoples of the Sudan developed and refined techniques for agriculture; as early as 500 B.C., the Nok culture had entered the Iron Age. The chapter turns to the kingdoms of Kush and Aksum in northeast Africa, the prosperous trading centers of northwestern Africa, the migration of the Bantu people, and an overview of the history of southern and eastern Africa

Front 2

More than 100,000 years ago, __________ evolved, probably in East Africa’s Great Rift Valley.

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homo sapiens

Front 3

There is a long history of extensive trade, both within Africa and throughout the Mediterranean world and across the Indian Ocean.

Back 3

T

Front 4

The four major African language groupings are:

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Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Kongo, and Khoisan

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In the African subcontinent, the vast majority of the people speak languages that belong to a single language group known as:

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Bantu

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Greeks referred to all Africans as:

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Ethiopians

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In ancient times, the Sahara Desert was rich in water, plants, and animals.

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T

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After the desiccation of the Sahara, trade and other contact continued between sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean by means of horses and carts or chariots, and migrating __________.

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peoples

Front 9

Which of the following resulted from the rapid desiccation of the Saharan region in the second millennium B.C.?

The transition to bronze tools and weapons.
Population dispersal to the eastern Sahara.
Population dispersal to the Sudanic regions.
Invasion of the region by conquerors from the East.

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Population dispersal to the Sudanic regions.

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In the first millennium B.C.E., Sudanic peoples developed techniques of __________, which they brought with them to regions of Africa where small groups of hunter-gatherers had predominated.

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settled agriculture

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Town culture:

disappeared from Africa with the desiccation of the Sahara.

requires sculpture.

existed in Mali and Mauritania almost 7,000 years ago.

is absent from ancient Africa.

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existed in Mali and Mauritania almost 7,000 years ago.

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Iron smelting was probably invented within Africa.

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T

Front 13

The Nok culture was mainly a Bronze Age culture.

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False. The Nok culture appeared in Nigeria around 1000 B.C. and mysteriously vanished around 500 AD in the region of West Africa. This region lies in Central Nigeria. The culture’s social system is thought to have been highly advanced. The Nok culture was considered to be the earliest sub-Saharan producer of life-sized Terracotta.

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Who were the Kushites?

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The Kingdom of Kush or Cush was an ancient African state centered on the confluences of the Blue Nile, White Nile and River Atbara in what is now the Republic of Sudan. It was one of the earliest civilizations to develop in the Nile River Valley. Having also been referred to as Nubia, and as "Ethiopia" in ancient Greek and Greco-Roman records, the Kushites left their mark on various aspects of the ancient world and their legacy is still readily discernible from the various archaeological field sites scattered throughout modern Sudan.

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By around 2000 B.C.E., the capital of the Kush Empire was Kerma.

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T

Front 16

In the 8th century B.C.E., the Napatan Empire conquered Egypt.

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True. In 750 BC, Napata was a developed city, while Egypt was still suffering political instability. King Kashta profited from it, and attacked Upper Egypt. His policy was pursued by his successors Piye, and Shabaka (721-707 BC), who eventually brought the whole Nile Valley under Kushitic control in the second year of his reign.

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Kushite king Piankhi erected a victory stele commemorating the siege of Memphis, part of his conquest of ________.

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Egypt

Front 18

By the 6th century B.C., which of the following had become the center of a flourishing iron industry?

Mogadishu.
Meroe.
Aksum.
Gao.

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Meroe, a part of the Kushite kingdom.

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An important item of trade, and one for which Egypt became famous, _______ was cultivated in Kush even before it was cultivated in Egypt.

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cotton

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Town culture:

disappeared from Africa with the desiccation of the Sahara.

requires sculpture.

existed in Mali and Mauritania almost 7,000 years ago.

is absent from ancient Africa.

Back 20

existed in Mali and Mauritania almost 7,000 years ago.

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Iron smelting was probably invented within Africa.

Back 21

T

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The Nok culture was mainly a Bronze Age culture.

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False. The Nok culture appeared in Nigeria around 1000 B.C. and mysteriously vanished around 500 AD in the region of West Africa. This region lies in Central Nigeria. The culture’s social system is thought to have been highly advanced. The Nok culture was considered to be the earliest sub-Saharan producer of life-sized Terracotta.

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Where in Africa is the region of Nubia?

In the Kalahari Desert.

Just south of Egypt.

On the island of Madagascar.

On the Congo River.

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Just south of Egypt.

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Who were the Kushites?

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The Kingdom of Kush or Cush was an ancient African state centered on the confluences of the Blue Nile, White Nile and River Atbara in what is now the Republic of Sudan. It was one of the earliest civilizations to develop in the Nile River Valley. Having also been referred to as Nubia, and as "Ethiopia" in ancient Greek and Greco-Roman records, the Kushites left their mark on various aspects of the ancient world and their legacy is still readily discernible from the various archaeological field sites scattered throughout modern Sudan.

Front 25

By around 2000 B.C.E., the capital of the Kush Empire was Kerma.

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T

Front 26

In the 8th century B.C.E., the Napatan Empire conquered Egypt.

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True. In 750 BC, Napata was a developed city, while Egypt was still suffering political instability. King Kashta profited from it, and attacked Upper Egypt. His policy was pursued by his successors Piye, and Shabaka (721-707 BC), who eventually brought the whole Nile Valley under Kushitic control in the second year of his reign.

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Kushite king Piankhi erected a victory stele commemorating the siege of Memphis, part of his conquest of ________.

Back 27

Egypt

Front 28

By the 6th century B.C., which of the following had become the center of a flourishing iron industry?

Mogadishu.
Meroe.
Aksum.
Gao.

Back 28

Meroe, a part of the Kushite kingdom.

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An important item of trade, and one for which Egypt became famous, _______ was cultivated in Kush even before it was cultivated in Egypt.

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cotton

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In the Meroitic Empire, political succession:

Was hereditary from father to son.
Forbade the possibility of a woman monarch.
Was often through the maternal rather than paternal line.
None of the above.

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Was often through the maternal rather than paternal line.

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The Askumite Empire conquered Kush and was, according to reports of the time, a very powerful nation.

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True.

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After 1300 C.E., Ethiopia was left as the only Christian state in Africa.

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True.

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Agriculturalists moving south from the Sahara settled in the western and central Sudan partly because: [Hint]

major waterways provided fish and transportation
their livestock did not do well in the rain forests further south.
towns supported trade and iron works
All of these.

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All of these

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Population levels were stagnant throughout the first few centuries C.E.

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False.

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East-west trade connected the western Sahel to _______ and the Nilotic Sudan.

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Egypt.

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What is the Sahel?

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The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition between the Sahara desert in the North and the Sudanian savannas in the south (the Arabic word, however, means any such transitional zone, e.g. in Algeria). It stretches across the north of the African continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea. The Sahel covers parts of the countries of Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

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By around 1000 C.E., Jenne, in the upper Niger, had a population of over 10,000.

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T

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The introduction of the Arabian _______ increased trans-Saharan trade.

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camel

Front 39

Circular (coccus) bacteria, gram negative
(1)

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Neisseria

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Important trade centers included:

Timbuktu, Nairobi, and Pretoria.

Awdaghast, Nairobi, and Pretoria.

Gao, Nairobi, and Pretoria.

Timbuktu, Awdaghast, Walata, and Gao.

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Timbuktu, Awdaghast, Walata, and Gao.

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In the late first millennium, __________controlled the gold trade.

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Ghana.

Front 42

What is the Sudan region?

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The Sudan, from the Arabic "land of the Blacks" (an expression denoting West and Central Africa), is a geographic region stretching from West to Eastern Africa. The phrase "The Sudan" is also used by some to refer specifically to the modern-day country of Sudan, the savanna of which forms much of the larger region.

The Sudan extends in a band across Africa from Mali (formerly known as French Sudan when it was a French colony) in the west to the western edge of the Ethiopian Highlands in the east.

To the north lies the Sahel, a more arid Acacia savanna region which in turn borders the Sahara desert, and to the east Ethiopia (called al-Ḥabašah in Arabic). The grass in the Sudan is longer than in the Sahel, and because the region receives more rainfall than the Sahel it is more suitable for farming.

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What are the Bantu peoples?

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Bantu is used as a general label for 300-600 ethnic groups in Africa of speakers of Bantu languages, distributed from Cameroon east across Central Africa and Eastern Africa to Southern Africa. They form about 1/3 of Africa's total population of 1 billion (approximately 335,000,000).

Front 44

What was the first kingdom to gain control of the southern end of Saharan trade?

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Ghana, and it remains the dominant kingdom of West Africa for a very long period, from well before the 8th century to the 13th.

The prosperity resulting from its activities is evident in the town of Jenne - by AD 800 already a thriving town on the Niger.

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The San and the Khoikhoi are the two main groups of __________ speakers.

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Khoisan

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Most anthropologists today believe that Khoisan are relics of a “primitive” stage of cultural evolution.

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False.

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Who were the Khoisan peoples?

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Khoisan is a unifying name for two ethnic groups of Southern Africa, who share physical and putative linguistic characteristics distinct from the Bantu majority of the region.

Culturally, the Khoisan are divided into the foraging San and the pastoral Khoi. The San include the original inhabitants of Southern Africa before the southward Bantu migrations from Central and East Africa reached their region, leading to Bantu farmers replacing the Khoi and San as the predominant population.

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Bantu cultures remain clearly distinct from the cultures of the indigenous peoples among whom the Bantus settled.

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False.

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Long-distance travel was easier along the East African coast than in inland areas.

Back 49

T

Front 50

Before the rise of Islam, trade between East Africa and southern Asia:

Was completely controlled by Chinese merchants.

Flourished.

Was limited to trade in gold.

Hardly existed.

Back 50

Flourished.

Front 51

From a world perspective, Africa was: [Hint]

A central part of the Islamic world.

Probably the birthplace of the human species.

Engaged with overseas neighbors in extensive trading.

All of these

Back 51

All of these