Unit 6: Africa Flashcards
1
Q
The Efe
A
- one of the hunting-gathering societies in Africa
- home: Ituri Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo
- modern day Efe: live in small groups of 10 to 100 ppl who are all related
- women are the gathers (get roots, yams,, mushrooms, and wild seeds from forest)
- men are the hunters (some go solo using poison tipped arrows, others hunt in groups)
- they hunt duikers, mammals (monkeys)
- trade honey, wild game, and other forest products for crops from nearby villages
- daily life is not governed by written laws
2
Q
lineage
A
- groups of families
- the members of a lineage believe they are from a common ancestor and feel strong loyalties to one another
- it includes past generations (spirits of ancestors) and future generations (children not yet born)
3
Q
stateless societies
A
- did not have centralized power
- authority was balanced among lineages of equal power so that no one family had too much control
4
Q
The Igbo
A
- stateless society
- ADD MORE
5
Q
patrilineal
A
- society that traces their ancestors through their fathers
- inheritance passes from father to son
- when a son marries, he, his wife, and their children remain part of his father’s extended family
6
Q
matrilineal
A
- society where children trace their ancestors through their mothers
- the young men inherit land and wealth from their mother’s family
7
Q
duikers
A
small antelope
8
Q
age-set system
A
- consists of young ppl within a region who are born during a certain time period
- each age-set passes through clearly identified life stages, such as warrior or elder
- men and women have diferent life stages and each stage has it’s own duties and importance
- societies (like Igbo)use the sgae-set system to teach discipline, community service, and leadership skills to their young
9
Q
Maghrib
A
- part of North Africa that is today the Mediterranean coast of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco
- northwestern and on the coast of Africa
- had contact with the rest of the world unlike the ppl in sahara and southern Africa
10
Q
Islamic Law
A
- following the law is a religious obligation
- Muslims do not separate their personal life from theri religious life
- Islamic law regulates almost all of area of human life and helped bring order to Muslim states
11
Q
the Almoravids
A
- strict religious brotherhood (originally a group of Berbers)
- founded by Abd Allah Ibn Yasin (religious scholar from Morocco)
- members came from a Berber group living in the western Sahara (modern day Mauritania)
- they were they first ppl who built a kingdom that tied together northern and southern parts of Africa
- they spread Islam (very devout Muslims)
- made up of ppl who followed Abd Allah Ibn Yasin’s teachings
- he led the Almoravids in an effort to spread Islam through conquest
- they took Morocco and found Marrakech (their capital)
- they overran Ghana (West African empire) in 1076 and captured parts of sourthern Spain, where they were called Moors (conquered southern Spain and conquered Ghana)
12
Q
ribat
A
fortified ministry
13
Q
the Almohads
A
- Berber Muslim reformers and very devout Muslims
- capital: Marrakech (ppl speak French and are Muslim)
- seized power from the Almoravids
- began as a religious movement in the Atlas Mts of Morocco
- they followed the teachings of Ibn Tumart, who criticized the later Almoravid rulers for moving away from the traditional practice of Islam
- he urged his followers to strictly obey the teachings of the Que’an and Islamic law
- led by Abd al-Mumin, the Almohads fought to overthrow the Almoravids and remain trure to their view of traditional Islamic beliefs
- 1148 = Almohads controlled most of Morocco and ended Almoravid rule; they kept Marrakech as their capital
14
Q
How might these characteristics of stateless societies have helped to endure for centuries?
A
- all families would have equal power
- no one family would have more power than the others
- this way their wouldn’t be any fighting over power/control
15
Q
How did the law help to unify Muslim society?
A
- it regulates all area fo human life
- LOOK AT HW
16
Q
Ghana
A
- West African empire
- 1st kingdom in sub saharan Africa
- upper class was attracted to Islam because they were educated (learned Arabic)
- common ppl didn’t convert but stayed animists
- kingdom by the 700s; rulers were growing rich by taxing the goods that traders carried through their territory
- major cities: Walata, koumbi, Saleh
- economy: gold-salt trade
17
Q
Gold-Salt Trade
A
- 2 most important trade items were gold and salt
- gold came from a forest region south of the savanna between the Niger ans Senegal Rivers (miners dug it up from shafts as deep as 100 feet ro sifted it from fast moving streams)
- West Africa’s savanna as rich in gold but lack salt, which was essential to human life
- Sahara contained deposits of salt
- Arab and Berber traders (salt) traded with African traders (gold)
- exchanged goods under the watchful eye of the king’s tax collector
18
Q
The Soninke
A
- called their ruler ghana (war chief)
- Mulsim traders began to used the word to refer to the Sonike region
- became known as Ghana
19
Q
Mali
A
- emerged by 1235 to 1400’s
- founders = Mande-speaking ppl, who lived south of Ghana
- it’s wealth was built on gold (like Ghana)
- major cities: Timbuktu
- major rulers: sundiata, mansa musa
20
Q
Sundiata
A
- Mali’s first great leader
- crushed a cruel, unpopular leader
- became Mali’s mansa
- took over the kingdom of Ghana and trading cities of Kumbi and Walata (military victories)—> peace and prosperity followed
- put able administrators in charge of Mali’s finances, defense, and foreign affairs
- new capital = Niani—> Sundiata promoted agriculture and reestablished the gold-salt trade
- Niani became an inportant center for commerce and trade
- ppl began to call Sundiata’s empire Mali, meaning “where the king lives”
- died in 1255
21
Q
mansa
A
emperor
22
Q
Mansa Musa
A
- one of the African Muslim rulers after Sundiata
- ruled from 1312-1332
- skilled military leader
- put down every rebelllion and exercised control over the gold-salt trade
- had a 100,000 man army, which kept orderand protected Mali from attack
- expanded Mali to wice the size of Ghana
- divided Mali into provinces and apppinted governors, who ruled fairly and efficiently
- 1324-1325 = he went on the hajj, took gold with him (80 camels each with 300 lbs of gold dust) and gave it away
- he passed through Egypt and have away gold but this dropped the value of gold for 12 years
- when he returned, he ordered the building of new mosques at Timbuktu and Gao
23
Q
Timbuktu
A
- became one of the most important cities of the empire (Mali)
- attracted Muslim doctors, religious leaders, and scholars, who attended it’s outstanding mosques and universities
24
Q
Ibn Battuta
A
- Muslim
- native of Tangier North Africa
- traveled for 27 yrs, visiting most of the countries in the Islamic world including Timbuktu and other cities in Mali
- criticized the ppl in Mali for not strictly practicing Islam’s moral code
- left Mali in 1353
- 1331 = visited Kilwa; he admired the way tha its Muslim rulers and merchants lived
25
Songhai
- 1400's - 1591
- religion: Muslim
- ppl in the east of Mali
- capital = Gao
- lacked modern weapons
- only armed with swords and spears
- major cites: Gao, Djenne
- major rulers: Sunni Ali, Askia Muhammad
- the collapse of the Songhai empire ended a 1,000 yr period in which powerful kingdoms and empires ruled the central region of West Africa
26
Sunni Ali
- Muslim
- one of the rulers in the Songhai empire
- rule = 1464; lasted almost 30 yrs
- military commander w/ aggresive leadership
- built a pro army with riverboat fleet of war canoes and a horseback mobile fighting force
- 1468 = captured Timbuktu
- 5 yrs later (1473) = took Djenne (trade city woth university)
- married Djenne's queen
- died 1492
- his son succeeded him as a ruler but was replaced by Askia Muhammad after he failed to put down a revolt
27
Askia Muhammad
- 37 yr rule
- set up a excellent tax system and chose able officials
- appointed officials to serve as ministers of the treasury, army, navy, and, agriculture
- under him, the empire thrived
28
Hausa
- group of ppl named after the language they spoke
- group of city-states
- emerged in between 1000 and 1200 in the area east of Mali and Songhai (modern day Nigeria)
- briefly ruled by Songhai but gained their independence
- religion: depends on the rulers religion
- Kano = noted for its woven and dyed cloth and leather goods
- Zazzau (aka: Zaria)= southernmost state; conducted slave trade
- all had similar for of government and each had its own army of mounted horsemen
- rulers held great power over their subjects abut ministers and other officials acted to check this power
- constant fighting
- economy: agriculture and trade (art, pepper, ivory, slaves, cotton, cloth); no gold
29
Yoruba
- started 1100's
- religion: animist
- ppl all spoke common language
- belonged to a number of small city-states in the forests on the southern edge of the savanna (modern day Benin and southwestern NIgeria)
- most ppl farmed
- Yoruba kings served as the most important religious and political leaders in their kingdoms
30
the Ife and the Oyo
- 2 of the largest Yoruba kingdoms
- Ife = ancestors of the Yoruba ppl; developed by 1100; gifted artists who carved wood and ivory and produced terra cotta sculptures and cast in metal
- many clay and metal casts portray Ife rulers in an idealistic way
- Oyo = developed in 1600; became more prrosperous than the Ife
- both had high walls surrounding them
31
Benin
- south and west of Ife, near the Delta of the Niger River
- ppl made their homes in the forest like the Ife and Oyo
- religion: animist
- first kings = 1200s
- major rulers: Ewuare
- huge palace had many courtyards and works of art
- artists = learned from an Ife artist; worked for the oba, created brass heads of the royal family and copper figurines
- brass plaques on walls and columns of the palace showed legends, historical scences, and the deeds of the oba and hos nobles
- economy: agriculture and trade
- 1480s = the Portuguese trade with them for pepper, leopard skins, ivory, and enslaved ppl
32
oba
ruler
33
Ewuare
- Benin oba in 1400s
- mde Benin a major West African state
- built a powerful army and used it to control an area that by 1500 stretched from the Niger River delt in the east (modern day Lagos, Nigeria)
- built walls around Benin, which strengthened it
- lined the streets (inside the city) with neat rows of houses
34
Swahili
-a blend of Arabic and the Bantu language
35
the Horn of Africa
-a triangular peninsula near Arabia
36
Kilwa
- coastal city-state
- rich families lived in fine houses of coral and stone and slep in beds inlaid with ivory and thier meals were served on porcelain
- wealthy Mulsim women wore silk robes and gold and silver bracelets
- it grew rich beacause trade goods from southerly regions had to funnnel into Kilwa, so Asian merchants could buy them
- Kilwa seized the port of Sofala, which is the trading center for gold mined inland
- by controling Sofala, Kilwa was able to control the overseas trade of gold from southern Africa
- As a result, it became the wealthiest, most powerful coastal city-state
37
Portuguese Conquest
- 1488 = first Portuguese ships rounded the southern tip of Aftica and sailed north, looking for a sea route to India
- wanted to gain wealth/profits from Asia trade in spices, perfumes, and silks
- wanted to conquer the East African city-states because they gained wealth through trade (wanted to take control of the trade)
- they took Kilwa, Sofala, and Mombasa
- they kept their portrs ans citeson the East African coast for the next 2 centuries
38
How was Islam introduced in Eat Africa?
-Muslim traders introduced ISlam to the Easten coast, and the growth of commerce caused trhe religion to spread
39
sultan
ruler
40
Enslavement of Africans
- Arab Muslim traders exported enslaved ppl from East African coast
- Wealthy = bought slaves to do domestic tasks
- Muslim traders shipped them off to India (across the Indian Ocean) where Indian rulers hired them as soldiers
- Eslaved Africans also worked on docks and ships ar Muslim-controlled ports
- they also worked as household servants in China
- 1,000 slaves sold/traded a year
41
Great Zimbabwe
- city established by the Shona ppl in southeastern Africa
- zimbabwe = Shona phrase meaning "stone houses"
- covered many acres
- population = 10,000
- walls = 900,000 stome blocks
- the Great Enclosure = curing wall up to 36 ft high and 15 ft thick
- grew into an empire built in the gold trade
- fertile, well watered plateau
- good for farming and cattle raising
- had an economic advantage
- stood near an important trade route linking the goldfields with the coastal trasing city of Sofala
- after 1000, it contolled these trade routes
- 1200s-1400s = it became the capital of a thriving state
- leaders taxed the traders who traveled these routes and demended payments from less powerful chiefs
- growing wealth = economic, political, ans rligious center of its empire
- 1450 = abandoned; no one knows why
42
Mutota
- man who left Great Zimbabwe in 1420 to find a new source of salt
- founded a new state to replace Great Zimbabwe and became its leader
- he used his army to dominate the northern Shona ppl living in the area and forced them to make payment to support him and his army
43
mwene mutapa
- what the conqured ppl called Mutota
- means conquerer or master pillager
- Portuguese (1500s) believed it was a title of respect for the ruler
- origin of the name of the Mutapa Empire
44
the Mutapa Empire
- able to mine gold deposited in nearby rivers and streams
- Mutapa rulers forced conquered ppl to mine fold for them and sent gold to the coastal city-states in exchange for luxuries
- 1500s = Portuguese tried to conquer the empire but failed; They helped overthrow one ruler and replaced him with someone they could control (this signaled the increasing European interference in African centuries to come
- by the time of Mutota's death, the Mutapa Empire had conquered all of modern day Zimbabwe except for the eastern portion
- 1480 = Matope (Mutota's son) claimed control fo the area along the Zombezi River to the Indian Ocean coast
45
Animist
- believe that spirits in nature (living plants, animals, and natural forces) play an important role in daily life
- poly theistic
46
Askum
- in northeast? Africa
- modern day Ethiopia
- Askumites believes in one god (Mahrem) and that their king was descended from him
- most were animists
- similar to culture in Maghrib because of the culture
- port city is Adulis
- Adulis was cosmopolitan (diverse culture )
47
Ezana
- ruler in Askum (AD 325-360)
- converted to Christianity
- conquered Kush
- Yemen
- his activities had a long impact on African history and influenced Ethiopians to become Christian
