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92 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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how much of earths land surface does africa occupy?
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1/5
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describe africas georgraphy
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narrow coastlines
waterfallls and rapids |
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what is africas climat like?
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most of it is tropics but has a large range--from steamy coastal plains to snow-capped mountain peaks
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how much of africa do deserts make up?
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40%
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Sahara
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largest desert in north africa
stretches from the atlantic ocean to the red sea covers an area the size of the US only part consists of sanddunes- the rest is mostly flat, gray wasteland of scattered rocks and gravel |
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kalahari
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largest desert in south africa
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how much area of africa do rainforests cover
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5%
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where are they located
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streches across about half of the middle of africa
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are the deserts habitable?
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no
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are the rainforests habitable?
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they aer partly inhabitable
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climate of rainforest
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hot and humid and receives enormous amounts of rain
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why are there few small plants in teh rain forest?
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tall mahogany and teak trees block sunlight
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what is the climate like on the northern coast and southern tip of africa?
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welcoming climates
fertile soil sunny hot and dry summers wild winters moderate rainfall |
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savannas
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grassy plains that cover over 40% of continent
largest number of ppl live here supports agriculture |
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what kind of weather does the savannas have?
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dry seasons alternate w/ rainy reasons--2 each year
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what are major crfops of the savannas
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grains such as sorghum and millet, rice, wheat, and maize (corn)
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Sahel
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land at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert
each year the desert takes over more and more of teh Sahel |
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what does sahel mean in arabic and why
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"coastline" maybe bc the Sahara seemed to them a vast ocean of sand
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what were africas earliest ppl like?
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they wre nomadic hunter-gatherers who romaed from place to place seeking sources of food
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where did the first humans appear?
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in the great rift valley
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great rift valley
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a deep fash in the earths crust that runs through the flooor of the red sea and across eartern africa
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pastoralists
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herders who learned to domesticate animals and raise them for foood
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masai
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group of tanzania and southern kenya who still measure their wealth by the size of their herds
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when do experts believe agriculture proabbly began in africa?
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10,000 BC
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what happened to the sahara between 8000 and 4000 BC
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the sahara received increased rainfall and turned into a savnna
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what happened to it at 4000 bc
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it gegan to dry up again
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what did this ause?
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to survive, many farmers moved east into nile valley and south into west africa.
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what had the best africultural land?
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the savannas
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why did they form governments?
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bc large and comple settlements of people required more organization and regulation than smaller communities
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what kind of governments did they form
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some villlages consisted of a village chieft and/or a council of the leaders of individual family groups
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what common elements did the societies south of the sahara share?
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importance of family-extended families
animism griots and stories |
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extended family
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primary group of parents, children,grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles
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clan
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a group that shared common ancestors
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where africans monotheistic or polytheistiic
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mono
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animism
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a relgiion in which psirits played an important role in regulating daily life. animists believe that these spirits are present in animals, plants, and other natural forces, and also take the form of the souls of their dead ancestors
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griots
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storytellers who kept history alive by passing it from parent to child
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where do archaeologists believe people moved from when they came to west africa and why?
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from the north as desertification forced them to find better farmland
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Djenne-Djeno
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city on the niger river
remains discovered by archaeologists THE OLDEST KNOWN CITY IN africa south of the sahara |
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what was djenne-djeno like at its height
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it had some 5000 residents.
made houses of mud brick raised rice fished on niger river |
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Nok
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west africas earliest known culture
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where did the nok live and when?
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in what is now nigeria from 500 BC to AD 200
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where did their name come from
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the cillage where the first artifacts from their culture were discovered
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what were they also the first african people to do?
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to smelt iron
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when did their iron-making technology start
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about 500 BC
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what are one of the artisitic things the nok are known for
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sculptures
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where was the kingdom of aksum located?
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south of kush on a rugged plateau on the red sea, in what is now ethiopia and eritrea
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where does a legend trace the founding of the kingdom of aksum and the ethiopian dynasty?
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to the son of king solomon of ancient israel and the queen of sheba
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what is the aksum written language
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Ge'ez
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where did they get it from?
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kushites
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what else did kushite herders share with aksum?
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skills of working stone and building dams and aqueducts
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where was the first mention to aksum?
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in a greek guidebook written around AD 100 called PERIPLUS OF THE ERYTHRAEAN SEA
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who does it say to be the first king of aksum
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Zoskales
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what areas did aksum seize?
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areas along the red sea and the blue nile in africa. they also crossed the red sea and took control of lands on the southwestern arabian peninsula
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what made aksum an important trading center
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aksum's location and expansion into surrounding areas
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what gave it an influence over sea trade on the mediterranean sea and indian ocean
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its miles of coastline and ports on the red sea
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Adulis
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aksums chieft sea port neear present-day Massawa
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what items did adulis merchants trade?
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salt, rhino horns, tortoise shells, ivory, emeralds and gold
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ezana
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ruler of aksum from 325-360. conquered part of the arabian peninsula that is now yemen, then conquered the kushites and burned meroe to the ground
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what was the international language in aksum of the time?
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greek
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wwhat kind of god did the aksumites believe in?
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one god called Mahrem and believed that their king was directly descended from him
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what else did they believe in?
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they were animists and worshoped teh spirits of nature and honored their dead ancesotrs.
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what relgiion did aksum get shared?
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christianity
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what strengthened christian hold in aksum?
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king ezanas conversion and devout practice of it
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what dispute arose over the nature of christ
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wheather he was soley divine or both divine and human
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what did this lead to the split o of?
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egypt and ethiopia on one hand and the church of Constantinople and Rome on the other
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which did each believe?
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egyptian and ethiopian churches believed in teh wholly divine nature f christ
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what did they become?
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the coptic church of egypt and the ethiopian orthodox church
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what did aksumites use instead of mud bricks to construct stuff?
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stone
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stelae
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huge stone pillars the aksumites built
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what was aksum the only ancient african kingdom to have?
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a written language
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what was aksum the first state south of the sahara to do?
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mint its own coins
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how did the aksumites adapt to their rugged, hilly environment?
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thety created a new method of agriculture, terrace farming
they dug canals to channel water from moutain streams into the fields they built dams and cisterns to store water |
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terrace farming
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terraces were constructed on moutain slopes to gelp the soil retain water and prevented its being washed downhiill in heavy rains
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who did the kingdom decline under?
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invaders who practiced the relgion called islam
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why did muhammds family not initially invade aksums territories on the african coast of the red sea?
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bc aksum had protected muhammads family and followers during his rise to power
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causes of migration
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1. environmental change
2. economic pressure 3. political and relgious persecution 4. technological development |
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environmental change example
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shift in climate, depletion of natural resources, drought, earthquake
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effect of environmetal change
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redistribution of worlds population, blending of cultures
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exmaple of economic pressure
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increasing population, famine, unemploymeny
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effect of economic pressure
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shifts in population
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exmaple of political and relgious persecution
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slave trade, war, ethnic cleansing, repression
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effect of political and religious persecution
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dislocation and oppression of peoples, spread of ideas and religions
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example of technological development
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tools, agriculture, iron, smelting, communications, and transportation networks
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effect of technological development
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development of civilizations and empires
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what is one way experts can trace the patterns of miggrations through history?
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studying the spread of languages
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Bantu-speaking peoples
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the speakeers of many different languages that come from the parent tounge Proto-Bantu
made one of the greatest migrations in history |
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where did they live
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in the savanna southof teh sahara in the area that is now southerastern nigeria
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what did the bantu people do for a living?
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they were farmers and nomadic herders who developed and passed along the skill of ironworking
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what logical explanation did experts come up with to explain why the bantu-speaking people migrated?
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they think that once these people developed agriculture, t they were able to produce more food than they could hunting and gathering. as a result, the population in west africa increased. bbc this enlarged population required more food, they planted more land and soon there wasnt enough to go around. they couldnt go north bc of the sahara coming toward them and dense population, so they moved south
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BaMbuti and San
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people who lived near the bantu speakers but still lived by hunting and gathering--got in fights w/ bantu but were drove off bc the bantu had iron weapons
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what are two ways in which the early bantu-speaking peoples dealt with tthe difficulties of living in a new and strange place?
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1. they cultivated new crops
2. they changged their domesticated animals |
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how did geography affect the direction in which the Bantu migrated
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they wouldnt go east past the great rift valley so they had to go south
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