Chap 10.1 Slides Flashcards
What was the geography of Africa like by:
- landforms?
Landforms - Continent has varied landscape
What was geography of Africa in terms of its Valleys/ mountains?
- East, region of valleys & narrow lakes.
- Mountain ranges in Ethiopian Highlands in northeast
What were Africa’s coastal plains like?
- Near coastline, land drops off to coastal plains
- Some provide fertile farmland, others desert, swamp, beaches
What was climate like in Africa?
What did its landscape include?
How high were temperatures?
- Africa’s climate also quite varied
- Northern Africa dominated by Sahara
- Landscape includes mountains, plateaus, plains, sand dunes
- Temperatures in desert climb above 120°F, rain rare
- Number of oases scattered throughout desert, some support villages
Africa had two major regions called _______ and __________
Sahel
Savanna
South of Sahara was a region called ______.
What did this region have?
Sahel
- South of Sahara, mighty rivers flow across plains, including Congo, Zambezi, Niger
- Region called the Sahel, strip of land dividing desert, wetter areas
- Sahel fairly dry, but has vegetation to support animals
Further south was a region called ___________
What was the landscape of this region?
- Farther south, band of tropical savanna, open grassland
- Extends east from Central Africa, wraps back toward south
- Tall grasses, shrubs, trees grow there; variety of animals, majority of Africans live there
Further south was the __________
what was the weather like here?
- Tropical rain forests found near equator: Madagascar & Southeast coast
- Hot, humid climate, year-round rainfall, supports plant, animal life
What was the landscape like in Southern Africa?
- Southern Africa consists mainly of grasslands, deserts, strip of land
- Mild Mediterranean climate, warm temperatures and both summer, winter rains
How did Africans adapt to the RAIN?
- Heavy rains erode soil, wash away nutrients
- Droughts, poor land
- Farmers must decide which crops to grow based on expected rainfall
What was common in the Africa environment?
how did this impact health of society?
- Parasites thrive in tropical areas; transmitted by mosquitoes to humans, animals; can lead to deadly diseases like malaria
- Tsetse fly, sub-Saharan Africa, carries parasite than can kill livestock, infect humans, potentially fatal illness
What were common features of Africa’s social structures?
- Village-based cultures
- At heart, extended family living in one household
- Families with common ancestors formed clans to which all members loyal
Africa’s people formed ________.
What was purpose of these?
- People took part in type of group called age-sets
- Men born within same years formed special bonds
- Men in same age-set had duty to help each other
Where were the specific duties of the men, women, and children of the age sets?
- Loyalty to family, age-sets helped village members work together
- Men hunted, farmed; women cared for children, farmed, domestic chores
- Even very old, very young had own tasks; elders often taught traditions to younger generations
Were the religion and culture in Africa very similar or very different?
Many early Africans shared similar religious beliefs and shared common features
Give examples of the beliefs about ancestors.
- Many believed that unseen spirits of ancestors stayed near
- To honor spirits, families marked sacred places, put specially carved statues there
- Families gathered, hoping spirits would protect them
Many Africans practiced a form of religion called ___________
Animism
What were the beliefs of ANIMISM?
- Many Africans also practiced form of religion called animism—belief that bodies of water, animals, trees, other natural objects have spirits
- Animism reflected Africans’ close ties to natural world
Africa had storytellers called _________
Griots
What were the responsibilities of the GRIOTS?
- Early societies: No systems of writing
- Maintained sense of identity through oral traditions
- Stories, songs, poems
- Task of remembering, passing on entrusted to storytellers, griots
What were the music and dance in Africa like?
What did these typically include?
- Central to many celebrations, rituals
- Masks part of these rituals as well
- Early Africans excelled in sculpture, bronze as well as terra cotta
- Traditional music performed with variety of wind, stringed instruments
After the 500 BCs, what spread and what changed?
The spread of IRON technology after the 500s BC changed FARMING
What did IRON technology enable?
•Now possible to produce superior tools, weapons
Ironwork was done by people called _________
Where did they live?
- Nok one of earliest known peoples to practice ironworking
- Lived in what is now Nigeria, West Africa; learned to make iron tools, weapons
Iron technology lead to ________ in Africa
Population Growth
What did iron enable Africans to do?
What did Noks make out of iron?
- As better-equipped farmers, hunters, warriors, Nok grew in power
- Became known for making fine sculptures out of terra-cotta
- Iron tools enabled Africans to cut down trees, clear land, and live in new areas
- Survival easier, Africa’s population increased
What caused spread of agriculture and ironworking?
Agriculture, ironworking technology spread throughout Africa because of migration
What developed as a result of migration?
Languages were called ___________
•Number of groups in Africa spoke related languages
–Originated from language called Proto-Bantu, in what is now Cameroon, Nigeria
–Over time more than 2,000 Bantu languages developed
Who became the dominant group?
What did they contribute?
- Bantu-speaking people migrated east, south during first centuries AD
- As they traveled, Bantu speakers carried knowledge of agriculture, ironworking
- Established themselves as dominant group
Describe the Bantu social system that arose.
What were men and women roles?
How was status determined?
- By AD 900s, Bantu-speaking peoples had established a social systems
- Women farmed, men mostly tended cattle, food & sacrifice
- Status in Bantu societies determined by size of cattle herds
