africa study guide Flashcards
djenne-djeno
the oldest known city south of the sahara
animism
a religion where spirits play an important role in regulating daily life
nuclear families
immediate family, parent, and children
extended families
extended families, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins
joint families
an extension of a nuclear family, grows when children bring their spouse to live with them
lineage
clans that claim a common ancestor
patrilineal
trace their ancestors through their fathers
matrilineal
trace their ancestor through their mother
griots
: storytellers
- oral traditions helped pass on stories and history
- groits brought together poetry, music, dance, and drama to amuse and teach
- were historians who kept the people’s history alive
- villages and noble families as griots to record their achievements
- griots remembered all important events in history of villages, kings, people, deaths, births, marriages etc.
kalahari
- one of the largest deserts in south africa
sahara
- one of the largest deserts in north africa
- small part consists of sand dunes
- mostly gray, flat, wastelands with rocks and gravel
- the sahara would dry up and farmers would move to the nile river and south into west africa
sahel
- a vast ocean of sand that separates the sahara (north) from the savannas in the south
- the land is slowly getting taken away by the sahara
deserts are unsuitable for human life and hinder people’s movement to more welcoming climates
rainforest
- partly inhabitable
- dense trees and lack edible vegetation
- africans in the rainforest couldn’t raise cattle (tsetse flys), so they learned how to farm
- the rainforest got little sun, so they planted crops that required little sunlight (yams)
tsetse fly
- found in the rainforest
- is deadly to livestock and can cause sickness in humans
- prevents africans from using cattle, donkeys, or horses
- prevented invaders from colonizing fly-infested areas
savannas (grassy plains)
- the northern coast and the southern tip
- mediterranean type climates and fertile soil
- where most people live
- home to herds of animals like giraffes
- mountainous highlands and swampy tropicals
- densely populated with farmers and herders
- supports abundant agricultural production
- grains grew well
religion
- christianty
- islam
- many were polytheistic
- animism
- spirits of ancestors are present on earth
african people organized themselves into family groups and developed belief systems, almost all local religions had a belief in one creator (god) and animism.
arts and literature
- most art serves social and religious purposes
- rituals and ceremonies
- strengthened community bonds
- both orals and later written literature
few societies had written languages, so storytellers orally shared history and literature
role of women
- valued for adding to the lineage group (children)
- work in fields
- young girls work mines
- some are merchants
herders (pastoralists)
- were nomads who drove their animals to find water and land for grazing
- kept cattle, goats, or sheep
bantu-speaking people
- originally lived in the savanna south of the sahara
- migration of people that went south to search for land
- north was overpopulated
- desertification, sahara was expanding
- majority were hunter-gathers
- wanted fertile soil
- would exhaust the land, slash and burn
- brought ironworking
- language and cultural blending
- ban-tu: root language of africans
- the first language of nearly one-third of all africans
how did agriculture help africans?
agriculture helped africans to build permanent shelters in one location. settlements expanded because of reliable food sources. agriculture also helped them explore other activities like jewelry making, metalwork, and pottery
what did archaeologists believe that desertification did?
archaeologists believe that desertification forced early people from the north to move into west africa to find better farmland
why is early africa’s history still unknown?
if a griots dies, it’s as if a whole library was burned
knowledge and history will be lost
this explains why early africa’s history is still unknown
how can experts trace the movement of people overtime?
experts can trace patterns of movement of people over time by studying the spread of language
- people bring their language with them as they move to new places
- languages can evolve and change
what are push and pull factors?
push and pull factors are factors that can either push people out of an area or pull them into one
cause of migration includes environmental, economic, or political factors
- in early history, environmental factors were a common reason
difficult migration and navigation can be caused by waterfalls and rapids
how did the ban-tu speaking people adapt to the different lands they settled on?
rainforest, savannas, kenya
rainforest → farmed on riverbanks
savannas → rasied cattle
move further to kenya → learned how to grow new crops
effects of migration
- population change
- cultural blendings
- shared ideas and technologies
- change of quality of life
- clashes between people → war, conflicts
- environmental conditions, lack of resources
- employment opportunities
hunting-gathering societies
- oldest form of social organization
- still exist today, but is a very small percentage
- speaks their own language and use their own hunting techniques
- seminomadic
- gathering wild foods
- hunting animals
efe
- a hunting-gathering society
- made their home in the ituri forest (congo river)
- lives in groups between 10 - 100
- homes are rarely permanent
- search for food causes them to be nomadic
- group leader is usually an older male
- group leader is respected but does not act or give orders like a chief
- each family in the band makes their own decisions and is free to come and go
- if conflicts cannot be settled they get kicked out
the san (bushmen)
- hunter-gathers
- travels in small bands of a few related families
- lived in southern africa and part of east africa
stateless societies
- south of sahara
- did not have a centralized system of power
- families are organized into groups (lineages)
- authority was balanced amount lineage groups
- each lineage had equal power so no family had too much
igbo
- lived in a stateless society in west africa
- niger river
- if a conflict arose, respected elders from different lineages would settle the power
- european colonizers expected one single leader to rule over society
- uses the age-set system
tiv
- had no formal government
- niger river
nuer
- organized over 250,000 people without an official ruler
- nile
muslim states
- islam in north africa
- african rulers converted to islam
- based their government on islam law
- relied on religious scholars as government advisors
- muslim states had ethnic and cultural differences
- had different interpretations of islamic law
what are the two muslim reformer founded empire?
north africa, two groups of muslim reformers founded empires, north, near the mediterranean coast
- almoravid empire
- almohad empire
age-set system
- consists of group of people within a region who are born during a certain period of time
- each age set passes together through life stages
- ceremonies marked the passage to each new stage
- men and women have different life stages
- each stage has its own duties and responsibilities
- age-set systems teach discipline, community service, and leadership skills
what have been archaeologist’s main source of information about culture?
archaeologist’s main source of information about their culture has been artifacts
nok: the earliest known culture
- the name came from a village where their first artifacts were discovered
- first west african people to smelt iron
nok artifacts
- made of terra cotta
- includes animals and people
- sculptures have features like bulging eyes, lips, and flaring nostrils
- elongated heads
- common hairstyles in nigeria
djenne-djenno: the oldest known city south of the sahara
- located on a tributary of the niger river in west africa
- scientists discovered hundreds of artifacts
- fished, herded cattle, grew rice
- became a trading center
kush: present-day sudan, south of eygpt
- nubian kingdom
- nile river
- early capital: napata
- became the center for the spread of eygptian culture
- king pianski - conquered eygpt
- eygpt influences: palaces, pyramids, religious beliefs
- learned iron smelting
- retreated south to meroe after assyrians invade
downfall of kush
- desertification on farmlands, losing farmland and grazing lands
- king ezana and aksum conquered
aksum: ethiopia
- king ezana - conqured kush
- christian kingdom
- greeks bring religion to aksum
- adilus (chief seaport) made them an international trading power
- the location made them popular caravan routes
- had own currency
king ezana’s accomplishments
- reached their peak under his rule
- conquered kush
- christian kingdom
- developed a writing system
- learned to farm on terraces
- minted gold coins
- built stone monuments
why was trade across the sahara infrequent? what animals did berder nomads start using? why?
trade had existed across the sahara, but it was infrequent because of the harsh desert conditions. most pack animals could not travel far in the dry, hot sahara without rest or water.
berder nomads began using camels
- could go longer distances
- could travel ten days without water
nomads made new routes, trade increased
ghana: soninke used it to refer to their ruler, muslim traders referred it to the soninke region
- 700 - ghana became a kingdom
- 800 - ghana became an empire
- capital: koumbi
- rulers grew rich by taxing goods traders carried
- king left chiefs in peace to rule their own people (if they made their payments)
- king limited the supply of gold and kept the price from falling
- ghana african rulers soon converted to islam
- many people in the empire stayed to their animistic beliefs and practices
- most population never converted
- those who did, kept their former beliefs
- islam encouraged literacy
- converts had to learn arabic
gold-salt trade
- important trade items
- gold came from the forests
- west africa lacked salt
- sahara had a lot of salt
- arab and berber traders would trade salt with other goods
- royal guards provided protection from bandits
downfall of ghana
muslim almoravids withdrew from ghana, but their disruptionof the gold-salt trade was permanent
- ghana never regained power
mali: “where the king lives”
- founded by the mande-speaking people who lived south of ghana
- buildon gold (like ghana)
- people of mali seized power and became wealthy
- ghana was still weak, so the important trade routes shifted eastward
- sundiata was mali’s first great leader
- capital: timbuktu
- became an important center of commerce and trade
sundiata
- became a muslim, but kept his traditionalafrican religion
- helpedmaintain the support of the common people
- “first great ruler”
- took over ghana and the trading cities of kumbi and walata
- put administrators in charge of mali’s finances, defense, and foreignaffairs
- promoted agriculture
- reestablished the gold-salt trade
mansa musa
- succeeded sundiata
- empire expanded to roughly twice the size of the empire of ghana (ruled at its peak)
- skilled military leader
- exercised royal control over gold-salt trade
- government used arabic
- dividedthe empire into provinces and appointed governors
- ordered new mosques in the trading cities of timbuktu
- timbuktu became one of the most important cities of the empire
- attracted muslim judges, doctors, religious leaders, and scholars
mansa musa’s hajj
- caused a sensation
- used camels
- brought a huge caravan of 60,000 people
- spent/gave away a lot of gold
impact of mansa musa’s hajj
- spread of his fame
- made his empire known
- started to be included in maps
- made empire a islamic empire
- built mosques
- built university in timbuktu
- alliances with other kingdoms
downfall of mali
mali began to weaken as many of mansa musa’s successorscould not govern well, was also conquered by songhai
ibn battuta
- world traverler and historian from morocco
- traveled for 27 years
- never traveled the same route
- served as a judge in india
- recorded his journey the travels of ibn batuta
- met powerful and wealthy people
- curious, charming, smart
songhai
- capital: gao
- broke away from mali’s control as mali declined
- gained control of all the important trade routes
sunni ali
- helped songhai gain independence from mali
- military leader, known for his army
- expanded songhai
- captrured the city of timbuktu
- took over djenne (by marrying it’s queen)
- was ruthless, would persecute his people
- can be looked at in a negative way
askia muhammad
- muslim, went on hajj
- decleared islam official religion
- leader of the revolt that drove sunni ali’s son from power
- were angry that sunni ali’s son did not practice the religion faithfully
- set up an efficient tax system and chose able officials
- expanded empire
- encourages trade
the empire under askia’s rule
- social system, social class
- ministers, wood cutters, tax collectors
- free people, soldiers
- war captives, slaves; worked in farms
- strong central government
- metric system
- university in timbuktu
- fair tax, trade prospered
- legal system
downfall of songhai
songhai empire collapsed when the moroccan troops invaded with gunpowder and cannons
hausa
- emerged from the savanna area east of mali and songhai, present day nigeria
- was breifly ruled by songhai, but regained independence
- rulers governedthe farming villagesoutside of the city walls
- rulers depended on crops and thriving trade
- supplied caravans
- fighting among city-states prevented an empire
benin
- south and west of ife, near the delta of the niger river
- the people made their homes in the forest
- ruler based his rights to rule on claims of descent from the first king of ife (like the yoruba kings)
- yoruba kingdom influences
- ewuare made benin into a major west african state
- built a powerful army
- built walls
- artists created brass heads of royal family and copper figurines
- brass plaques portrayed legends, historical scenes etc.
- bronze making
kilwa
- most important city-state because of location
- merchants sailed across red sea and indian ocean
- dominated indian ocean trade
- traders would end up in kilwa at the end of the monsoon season
- portuguese tries to take over trade
zimbabwe
- spoke bantu
- zambezi river
- ancestors of shona
- built towns
- primarily stone
people of zimbabwe (shona)
- viewed cheif as god-king
- cheif kept throne as long as in good health
- access to zambezi river
- remained strong because of the indian ocean trade network
great enclosure - wall for protection and to impress visitors
downfall of zimbabwe
- over farming
- lack of resources
- dwindling trade
- civil war
mutapa empire
- mutota, mwene mutapa (conqueror)
- mutota traveled north seeking for salt
- controlled the shona people
matope
- mutota’s son
- continued the empire, made it stronger and wealthier
- after his death, the portugueses tried to convert and conquer the people
