M2 S2 - Diverse Societies in Africa

Question 1

Why were the first African societies so different?

Answer 1

they developed diverse societies as they adapted to varied environments

Question 2

What did interaction with the african evironment create?

Answer 2

unique cultures and societies

Question 3

Lineage

Answer 3

a line of rulers that inherit the throne from their fathers

Question 4

stateless society

Answer 4

• Did not have a centralized (organized) system of power
• Where lineage groups took the place of rulers
• There was a balance among lineages of equal power, so that no one family had too much control.

Question 5

patrilineal

Answer 5

trace their ancestors through their fathers
- Inheritance passes from father to son
- When a son marries, his family remain part of his father’s extended family

Question 6

matrilineal

Answer 6

children trace their ancestors through their mothers
- Young men from a matrilineal culture inherit land and wealth from their mother’s family
- Men still hold position of authority

Question 7

animism

Answer 7

a belief system in which spirits play an important role in regulating daily life

Question 8

griot

Answer 8

a storyteller who would pass down their history orally

Question 9

desertification

Answer 9

a coincidence of drought with the increasing pressures on fragile arid and semi-arid lands by greater number of people and livestock

caused by climate variations and human activities

Question 10

Hadzabe

Answer 10

a modern hunter-gatherer people living in modern Tanzania

Question 11

“Age-Set system”

Answer 11

societies that yound people form to interact with people outside of their lineage

Question 12

Ibo

Answer 12

a tribe
- matrilineal and patrineal societies
- elders passed down history
- located in west Africa
- collected water in buckets
- have lineages, but also age-set systems
- no one family has too much control in lineages

Question 13

Efe

Answer 13

a tribe
- women are the gatherers
- men and older boys hunt
- man of house is group leader
- older members of each group got together to settle an argument
- gather berries and other things that grow from the earth

Question 14

Masai

Answer 14

a tribe
- no specification on what a man or woman should do
- elders were respected and listened to
- located in the rain forest
- grew their food and raised cattle
- live in groups, which is similar to the efe
- the groups are family based

Question 15

pastoralists

Answer 15

Pastoral societies learned to domesticate and raise a variety of animals for food

Question 16

age set

Answer 16

• Each age set passes together through defined life stages, such as warrior or elder
  - The passage to the next stage is marked by a ceremony