Early African Societies and the Bantu Migrations

Question 1

gift of the Nile

Answer 1

• gradual, predictable flooding

- silt deposits support productive agricultural society

Question 2

early agriculture in nile valley

Answer 2

• 10,000 BCE migrants from the Red Sea hills
• 5000 BCE Sudanic cultivators, herders migrate to Nile River valley
• Seasonal flooding of Nile
• • dikes, waterways
• • villages doy Nile by 4000 BCE

Question 3

impact on Political organization

Answer 3

• need to maintain order = government
• • local irrigation projects
• • rural development
• • trade networks develop

Question 4

unification of Egypt

Answer 4

• legendary conqueror Menes (3100) unifies Egyptian kingdom
• • Narmer
• • founder of Memphis
• • rule of the pharaoh

Question 5

historical breakdown

Answer 5

• old kingdom (2862-2181 BCE)
• • first intermediate session (2181-2134 BCE)
• middle kingdom (2134-1674 BCE)
• • second intermediate session-Hyksos (1674-1549 BCE)
• new kingdom (1549-1069)

Question 6

egyptian history

Answer 6

• old kingdom (2686-2181 BCE)
• pyramids of Giza
• conscription of labor
• taxes
• irrigation projects

Question 7

the pyramids

Answer 7

• symbols of the pharaoh’s authority and divine status
• a testimony of the pharaohs ability to marshal Egypt’s resources
• largest Khufu, 2.3M limestone blocks, average weight 2.5 tons
• role: burial chambers for pharaohs

Question 8

middle kingdom

Answer 8

• pharaohs begin land reclamation
• arts, literature, science, mathematics
• democratization of afterlife - Egyptian Book of the Dead

Question 9

hyksos (1674-1549 BCE)

Answer 9

• “foreign lands”
• sw asian conquerors
• composite bow
• wheeled chariots

Question 10

new kingdom

Answer 10

• few pyramids
• reunified egypt
• engaged in empire-building to protect against foreign invasion
• trade revived
• Hatshepsut (1479-1458 BCE)
• invasions of Kushites, Assyrians destroy Egypt mid-sixth century BCE

Question 11

egypt urban culture

Answer 11

• major cities along Nile River, especially at delta
• Nubian cities include Kerma, Napata, Meroe
• • located at cataracts of the Nile
• well-defined social classes
• • pharaohs to slaves
• • partiarchal (exceptions)

Question 12

economic specialization

Answer 12

• bronze metallurgy introduced late, with Hyksos invasion
• development of iron early, 900 BCE
• trade along Nile River
• • more difficult in Nubia due to cataracts
• • sea trade in Mediterranean

Question 13

hieroglyphs

Answer 13

• “Holy inscriptions”
• • writing appeared at least by 3200 BCE
• pictographic, supplemented with symbols representing sounds and ideas
• • survives on monuments, buildings, and sheets of papyrus
• • hieroglyphs for formal writing

Question 14

development of organized religious traditions

Answer 14

• principal gods Amon and Re
• religious tumult under Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) (1353-1335 BCE)
• • Monotheism - sun god Aten
• death of Akhenaten, priests restore Amon-Re

Question 15

mummification and the afterlife

Answer 15

• inspiration of the cycles of the Nile
• belief in the revival of the dead
• • first: ruling classes only, later expanded to include lower classes
• Cult of Osiris
• • lord of the underworld
• • power to determine who deserved immortality

Question 16

bantu migrations, 3000-1000 BCE

Answer 16

• Bantu: people
• migration throughout sub-Saharan regions
• • population pressures
• over 500 variations of original Bantu language
• • 90 million speakers today
• by 1000 BCE, occupied msot of Africa south of the equator