By: Danielle Burnett & Madeline Rivera Physical Setting Plateau, Savannas, Tropical Rain Forests Jungle, Deserts, Mountains Grasslands Africa’s Past.

By: Danielle Burnett & Madeline Rivera

* Humans developed societies in sub-Saharan Africa long before they developed writing.

* Linguists have shown how Bantu (a family

of closely related African languages) spread. Their study suggests to anthropologists and historians that for centuries people have migrated through out sub-Saharan Africa.

* Most early Africans lived in small independent farming, herding or fishing villages.

* Unlike Europe and Asia, in Africa, women were the primary farmers.

* The hot, wet climate of the rain forests provides breeding grounds for insects.

* Some of them carry deadly diseases.

* Among the diseases are malaria and yellow fever is carried by mosquitoes, and sleeping sickness is carried by tsetse flies.

* savannas: Dry grasslands south of the Sahara Desert in Africa.

* tropical rain forests: Vast forests that have a great amount of rainfall and vegetation.

* jungle: Thick growth of plants found in a tropical rain forest.

* linguists: Scholars who study languages.

* oral traditions: Poems, songs, and stories passed by word of mouth from one generation to another.

* matrilineal: Describes a society in which people trace their ancestors and inherited property through their mothers rather than through their fathers.

* Bantu: Family of closely related African languages.

1. What geographic features of Africa affected human cultures?

In sub-Saharan Africa

most of the important cultures developed there. It was located south of the desert. The physical geography of Sub-Saharan Africa strongly influenced the growth of human societies there. Much of Sub-Saharan Africa is a plateau. This highland is dimpled by river basins and valleys. Like a great upside-down bowl.

2. How did historians learn about the migrations of early peoples?

They learned that

over the years, the climate in the Sahel became increasingly drier and that people either migrated south or shifted more to herding. 3. What were the predominant patterns of life in many early African societies?

3. What were the predominant patterns of life in many early African societies?

Many people believe that most early Africans lived in small, independent farming, herding, or fishing villages. Women in particular played a crucial role in both the African family and economy. Unlike Europe and Asia, in Africa women were the primary farmers. Historians believe that societies in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa were matrilineal. In other words, people traced their ancestors and inherited property through their mothers rather than fathers.

* The kingdoms of Kush and Aksum dominated much of Sub-Saharan Africa.

* Kush was a important trading Kingdome.

* They traded gold, ivory, and ebony.

* They transported ostrich feathers through Nubia.

* Nubia transported goods on caravans from the Red Sea to barges on the Nile.

* In about 1600 B.C.E. a Nubian trading center on the Nile called Karmah emerged.

* Recent archaeological discoveries reveal a rich cultural exchange between Karmah and Egypt.

* Kush may have traced its roots to the city of Karmah.

* At first Kush maintained close economic and cultural ties with Egypt. * In about 1520 B.C.E., however, the rulers of Egypt's New Kingdom brought Nubia and Kush under their control.

* For the next 500 years, Kush was governed by the pharaohs. During this time, however, the Nubian kingdom appears to have grown increasingly isolated from Egyptian rule.

* In 671 B.C.E. the Assyrians, armed with iron weapons, invaded Kush, greatly weakening the kingdom. Evidence suggests that about 80 years later, Napata was captured by an Egyptian force.

* Kush was located across trade routes between the Red Sea and the Nile. Caravans brought cultural influences as well as goods from other people.

Ghanian kings were powerful and wealthy from the gold trade. They were able to build large armies to conquer new territory. One of the most powerful Ghanian rulers was Tunka Manin, who ruled in about A.D. 1067. Tunka Manin commanded an army of 200,000 warriors.

The rise of a successor kingdom - Mali - followed the fall of Ghana. Mali’s power reached it’s peak under it’s great ruler Mansa musa. He was a supporter of education, the arts, and public building.

Songhai - The kingdim of Songhai was centered on the important trading city of Gao, on the Niger River. The new kingom stretched fro the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Chad. It covered an area even larger than Mali.

Goods came from Euroe, India, and China. The growing number of merchants included Arabs, Jews, Italians, and many others.

* Aksum lay in the rugged Ethiopian Highlands south of Kush. The kingdom straddled the important trade routes that stretched from the Red Sea into Egypt and the interior of Africa. By about the C.E. 100s, the people of Aksum had developed an independent kingdom that boasted a thriving ivory trade. As Kush declined, Aksum increasingly competed with it for control of trade in eastern Africa. Aksum sent gold, rhinoceros horns, ivory, incense, and decorative obsidian stone to Mediterranean countries by way of Egypt.

* They also made their own coins. *

By about C.E. 300 Aksum was a military power. *

In about C.E. 350 King 'Ezana of Aksum conquered Kush. * During his reign 'Ezana converted to Christianity. He made it the official religion of Aksum.

* King 'Ezana's conversion to Christianity was a key event in the history of eastern Africa

* Christianity was strong and widespread.

* 'Ezana's conversion, moreover, had an impact on Christianity in eastern Africa that was similar to the effect that Constantine's conversion had on Christianity in the Roman Empire.

* Aksum became a major center of long-distance trade throughout coastal East Africa. Between the C.E. 300s and 600s, for example, it dominated the African side of the Red Sea trade. Its location and dominance brought great wealth to Aksum.

1. How did Kush develop as an independent kingdom? Kush thrived as an important corridor of trade. Gold, ivory, ebony, and ostrich feathers were transported through Nubia. Here caravans hauled goods from the Red Sea to barges on the Nile.

2. How did Aksum develop as an independent kingdom?

The kingdom straddled the important trade routes that stretched from the Red Sea into Egypt and the interior of Africa. By about the A.D. 100s, the people of Aksum had developed an independent kingdom that boasted a thriving ivory trade. As Kush declined, Aksum increasingly competed with it for control of trade in eastern Africa. Aksum sent gold, rhinoceros horns, ivory, incense, and decorative obsidian stone to Mediterranean countries by way of Egypt.

* There are no kingdoms as large as Kush And Aksum on the coast of East Africa.

* Several city-states dominated coastal trade in the Indian Ocean.

* Trade routes linked all shores of the Indian ocean and Africans exported gold, ivory, hides, tortoise shells, porcelain, weapons, and slaves.

* The “Dhow” help them trade along the coast.

* Over several generations a unique African culture called Swahili developed in East Africa.

* The people of this culture spoke Swahili, a Bantu language with Arabic and Persian influences.

* Swahili speakers were not a single ethnic group.

* They were bound together by both language and their association with trade.

* Three of the earliest trading states were Mogadishu (moh guh DEE shoo), Pate, and Mombasa.

* These three trade centers were in the north but moved to the south.

* By the late C.E. 1200s the city-state of Kilwa had become a leading port.

* Ibn Battutah, a famous Islamic traveler of the C.E. 1300s, called the city-state of Kilwa one of the most beautiful, well-built cities in the world.

* They traded gold for salt, tools, and cloth.

* Swahili: African society that emerged in the late 1100s along the East African coast and combined elements of African, Asian, and Islamic cultures.

* Shona: People who migrated onto the plateau of what is known today as Zimbabwe.

1. How did trade develop along the East African coast?

Kush and Aksum developed trade

along the East African coast. 2. How

did kingdoms of West Africa become prosperous and powerful?

The kingdoms were prosperous and powerful because Several important societies flourished in West Africa. They lay between Lake Chad and the Atlantic Ocean and included the kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. The wealth and strength of these kingdoms depended on control of the trade routes across the Sahara.