Chapter 13 Ancient Africa Geography of Africa Africa

Chapter 13 Ancient Africa

Geography of Africa • Africa is the second largest continent. • The Niger River, a source of water, food, and transportation, allowed many people to live in West Africa. • Africa’s Four Regions • The northern band across West Africa is the southern part of the Sahara. It has the world’s largest desert. • The semiarid Sahel divides the desert from wetter areas. It has enough vegetation to support hardy grazing animals. • Farther south is a band of savannah, or open grass with scattered trees. • Rain forests, or moist, densely wooded areas, are near the equator. They contain a variety of plants and animals.

West Africa’s Resources • West Africa’s land produced many crops, such as dates and kola nuts. Kola nuts could be used for medicine • Gold could be used for jewelry or coins. • Salt was a resource that was found deep in the earth, from lakes that had dried up. • Gold and salt mines were a source of wealth. • People needed salt in their diets.

Way of Life of Early Peoples in West Africa • A typical West African family was an extended family that included the father, mother, children, and close relatives in one household. • Some people took part in another type of group, called age sets. • - In these groups, people who had been born within the same two or three years formed special bonds. • These loyalties helped the people of a village work together. • As people became more productive, villages started to trade the area’s resources with buyers who lived thousands of miles away.

Loyalties and Religion • Loyalty to families and age sets helped the people of a village work together. • Everyone had specific duties. • Men hunted and farmed. • Women farmed and cared for the children. • Elders taught traditions to the children. • Children started working as soon as they were able. • Many West Africans believed that spirits of their ancestors stayed nearby. • Families shared problems and news with the spirits. • Another common belief was animism, the belief that bodies of water, animals, trees, and other natural objects have spirits.

Empire of Ghana controlled trade and became wealthy • Ghana was created when groups of farmers banded together. • Ghana became a powerful state only when it gained control of valuable trade routes. • The exchange of gold and salt followed a process called silent barter. This is a process in which people exchange goods without ever contacting each other directly. • Ghana’s rulers gained power and wealth, and the military grew in strength, too.

Expansion of the Ghana Empire • Ghana’s kings used their great wealth to build a powerful army and conquered many of their neighbors, especially ones that had centers of trade. • To keep order in the empire, conquered kings were allowed to keep much of their power. They acted as governors of their territories. • The empire of Ghana reached its peak under Tunka Manin.

Decline of Ghana Invasion • - A Muslim group called the Almoravids cut off many trade routes, without which Ghana could not support its empire. Overgrazing - When the Almoravids moved, they brought herds of animals with them. - These animals ate all the grass, leaving the land worthless for farming. Internal Rebellion • The people Ghana conquered rose up in rebellion and took over the entire empire.

Mali • Mali was located along the upper Niger River. The fertile soil helped Mali grow and control river trade. • Sundiata, Mali’s first strong leader, built up a strong army and won back his country’s independence. • He conquered Ghana and took over the salt and gold trades. • He had new farmlands cleared for crops of beans, onions, and rice. He also introduced cotton as a new crop. • To protect his authority, he took power away from others and adopted the title mansa.

Mansa Musa • He was Mali’s most famous leader, and he ruled from 1312 to 1337. • Mali reached the height of its wealth, power, and fame in the 1300 s. • He added important trade cities to its empire, including Timbuktu. • Islam was important to Musa, so he made a pilgrimage to Mecca. • He influenced the spread of Islam through a large part of West Africa and had mosques built throughout his empire. • He stressed the importance of education and learning to read the Arabic language. • He sent scholars to study in Morocco. They came back and set up schools in Mali.

Fall of Mali • Weak rulers such as Maghan could not stop raiders, leading to the empire’s gradual decline. • Raiders from the southeast poured into Mali and set fire to Timbuktu’s great schools and mosques. • Invaders took almost all the lands of the Mali Empire by 1500.

Rise of Songhai • Once a part of Mali, Songhai rose up against it and regained its freedom. • Songhai grew in many ways, mostly due to the work of Sunni Ali. • - He worked constantly to unify, strengthen, and enlarge the empire. • He participated in both Islam and local religions and brought peace and stability as a result.

Askia the Great • Muhammad Ture overthrew Sunni Baru because he did not support Islam. - People thought they would lose trade with Muslim lands. • Ture took the title of askia, a title of the highest military rank, and eventually became known as Askia the Great.

Education and Government • Askia the Great worked to support education and especially supported learning about medicine. - Thousands of people came to Timbuktu to use the universities, libraries, and mosques. - Songhai’s traders were Muslims and spread Islam. • To help maintain order, Askia set up five provinces within Songhai. - He removed local leaders and appointed new governors who were loyal to him. - He created special departments to oversee certain tasks. - He created a standing professional army.

Songhai Falls • Because Morocco wanted to control the Saharan salt mines, it invaded Songhai. • The Moroccans brought with them a terrible new weapon, the arquebus, an early form of gun. • The Moroccans’ guns and cannons brought disaster to Songhai. • Changes in trade patterns completed Songhai’s fall. • - Overland trade declined as Atlantic ports became more important.

Great Zimbabwe • Great Zimbabwe was a powerful kingdom in southern Africa. • It was founded as a small trading and herding center in the 1100 s. • Gold mining and farming expanded, and the kingdom’s population grew to become the center of a large trading network. • - Trade made rulers wealthy and powerful. • In the 1400 s gold trade declined, and Great Zimbabwe weakened. By 1500 it was no longer a political and trading center.

Historical and Artistic Traditions • Writing was not common in West Africa. People passed along information through oral histories, a spoken record of past events. • West African storytellers were called griots. They helped keep the history of their ancestors alive for each new generation. • In addition to stories, they recited proverbs. These were short sayings of wisdom or truth. They were used to teach lessons to the people. • Some of the griot poems are epics that are collected in the Dausi and the Sundiata. Dausi was an epic about the history of Ghana.

Visitors’ Written Accounts • The people of West Africa left no written histories of their own. • Much of what we know about early West Africa comes from the writings of travelers and scholars from Muslim lands such as Spain and Arabia. • Ibn Battutah was the most famous Muslim visitor to write about West Africa. • His accounts describe the political and cultural lives of West Africans in great detail.

Art, Music and Dance • Of all the visual forms, the sculpture of West Africa is probably the best known. • - The sculpture is mostly of people. • - It was made for religious rituals. • - Artists were deeply respected. • Artists carved elaborate masks, which were used mostly for rituals as they danced around fires. • They wove cloth such as kente, a handwoven, brightly colored fabric. Worn for special occasions by West African kings and queens. • Music and dancing were important. • These activities helped people honor their history and were central to many celebrations.

• What is one way the kingdom of Ghana used the natural resources available to it? • What role did music and dance play in early West African Society?