Which word below is the correct definition of

Which word below is the correct definition of the word continent? A group of islands. One of the earth’s seven large land masses. Land belonging to a nation or state.

Correct! There are seven continents that make up the land masses of the earth. They are: • North America • South America • Asia • Europe • Antarctica • Africa • Australia

Resources of Africa • Africa is a land of great beauty and resources. Some of the resources that come from Africa are; rubber, gold, wheat, copper and cotton.

Early Africa • The earliest fossils found of creatures considered human beings came from Africa. So it seems likely that Africa was the birthplace of human beings! “Lucy” was a fossil found in Ethiopia and called a “missing link. ”

The Birthplace of Humanity • Paleoanthropologists – Scientists who study the evolution and prehistory of humans • Hominids – Earliest known humans were australopithecines who emerged 4 million years ago • Homo habilis – First known creature of homo (human) lineage • Homo erectus – Advanced human that evolved 1. 6 million years ago; “upright man”

The Kingdom of Ghana - Gold for salt trade – In Africa, south of the Sahara desert, salt was very important but hard to find. In hot climates people need salt in their bodies to keep from dehydrating. Salt also preserves food, especially meat, and seasoned it. So, this gold for salt trade developed in the middle ages.

It worked like a triangle. Arab traders loaded their camels with beautiful silks, cottons and leather goods. They traveled to North Africa to trade these items for salt. There was plenty of salt in North Africa. Then, the Arabs took the salt to West Africa where they traded it for gold. Since the Kingdom of Ghana was in the middle of all this trading, they controlled it. Both sides of Africa north and south - paid Ghana a tribute to handle the trades. Although Ghana never owned gold and salt mines, they controlled the trade between the kingdoms and got rich

Then, with the arrival of camel trains, the caravans, the Kingdom of Ghana expanded their control to include trade with the foreigners. They traded gold for spices and other luxury goods as well as salt. Eventually, Ghana and other countries along the coast became known as the Gold coast. Salt mine At the end of the eleventh century, Muslims attacked Ghana and this invasion caused the gold for salt trade to end. Ghana lost its power.

Ghana became a rich and powerful nation, especially when the camel began to be used as a source of transport. Ghana relied on trade and trade was made faster and bigger with the use of the camel.

Islamic Mosque in Ghana blankbluesky. com/ travel/Ghana/ After 700 AD, the religion of Islam began to spread over northern Africa. Followers of this religion are called Muslims. Muslim warriors came into Ghana and fought with the non-Islamic people there. This weakened the great civilization of Ghana. Local warriors then decided to break away from Ghana and form their own kingdoms. This ended many of the trade networks. It also eventually weakened the civilization of Ancient Ghana.

Ethiopia is considered an area of one of the oldest human settlements. WHO IS LUCY? ?

Lucy is considered the world’s oldest, most complete, and best preserved adult fossil.

Nubian Pyramids These are the pyramids of Ancient Ethiopia, which is also called Nubia. They were used as tombs. Although they are similar to those of Ancient Egypt, they have some differences. Compare these pyramids with those of ancient Egypt. (Notice person next to middle one. )

Nubian Pyramids

Nubian Pyramids

These are the pyramids of Egypt. Compare them to those of Ethiopia.

This is one of the biggest pyramids in Egypt. The pyramid of Khufu. The Egyptian pyramids were much larger than those of Ethiopia, but there were many more pyramids in Ethiopia than in Egypt.

Notice the people at the base of this Egyptian pyramid. This helps to show the size of the pyramid.

For many centuries, the people and culture of Ancient Ethiopia were a mystery to the world. Even the Ancient Greeks wrote about an advanced culture that was mostly unknown to other civilizations of the time.

Ancient Ethiopia was a great kingdom that produced many resources like gold, ivory, copper, and ebony. Ethiopia was also known as Kush. The name Ethiopia is Greek –aithiopia- “burnt face” = Ethiopian A frankincense tree. The resin was used to make good smelling incense.

Nubian Hieroglyphs Cursive Version Nubian Hieroglyphs I T K N W D Cursive Version Little was known about the culture. They did not write down their history until late in ancient times. They were also isolated geographically. Outside people would need to cross harsh desert or many waterfalls, called cataracts, to reach Ethiopian, or Nubian writing was similar to Egyptian writing but developed into a completely separate language later in time.

Mali gained control of the gold for salt trade. It was a large kingdom south of Ghana. A powerful king named Sundiata ruled this area from around 1230 -1255 AD. He led the people in conquering and expanding his kingdom to be as great as Ghana had been. Perhaps the greatest king of Mali was Mansa Musa (1312 -1337). He developed the gold and salt trade of Mali and his kingdom became very powerful and rich.

Mansa Musa was a Muslim, meaning he followed the religion of Islam. He built many beautiful mosques in western Africa.

In 1324 Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage ( a journey to a holy place) to Mecca, which is a holy city in Arabia, with 60, 000 servants and followers and 80 camels carrying more than 4, 000 pounds of gold to be distributed among the poor. Of the 12, 000 servants 500 carried a staff of pure gold. This showed his power and wealth to the other people he visited.

When Mansa Musa died there were no kings as powerful as he was to follow. The great kingdom of Mali weakened. Eventually a group of people known as Berbers came into the area and other people came up from the south to claim territory that was once part of the kingdom. Although Mali fell, another advanced African kingdom took its place, the kingdom of Songhai. The Berbers still live in North Africa. This picture, taken in 1893, shows a Berber group.

Songhai was a strong Muslim kingdom. The first great ruler of Songhai was named Sonni Ali sent warriors to march on landlocked cities like Timbuktu. Soon, the kingdom grew larger than Mali and Ghana. It kept growing until it was the largest kingdom in all of West Africa.

Eventually, Songhai controlled the gold mines in the south and the salt mines in the north. At its height, Songhai stretched over 2, 000 miles.

Sunni Ali died in 1492 CE. His son took over the rule of Songhai but he did not accept Islam as a religion. Islam was accepted as a religion by many people in northern Africa. One of Sunni Ali’s generals, named Muhammad Ture, overthrew the new king and made himself king of Songhai. Ture was a Muslim and so he made Islam the religion of his kingdom. This is a photo of a mosque in western Africa. Many mosques were built of local materials.

Songhai remained a rich and strong kingdom under Muhammad Ture’s rule. It had a complex government centered in the city of Gao, and great centers of learning. But later rulers were not as powerful.

The Fall of Songhai – By 1590, Songhai began a civil war. Just like Ghana and Mali, the wealth and power of Songhai began to fade and in 1591 the Moroccan army invaded. The Songhai were defeated because the Moroccans had a new weapon, the gun, and the army of Songhai did not. After that, the kingdom of Songhai split up into small, independent states. This led to the fall of Songhai.

All three kingdoms of West Africa relied on trade for their strength and wealth. Silk, Ceramics, Beads, Islam from Europe and Asia Salt Timbuktu Gao Jenne Gold, Ivory, Wood, Slaves Coming into West Africa Coming from Africa and going to Europe and Asia

Zimbabwe means house of stone, which comes from the language of the Shona people, who were expert stone builders or masons.

They knew how to build stone walls without using mortar, which is cement that glues bricks together. Zimbabwe was a powerful kingdom for hundreds of years because this area had precious minerals like gold and iron and many people came to trade the gold, iron and ivory. All the trading along the east coast of Africa united the people and as a result, East Africans developed a language known as Swahili, which is an African language mixed with Arabic words.

Within this region, there are many large forests, which have so much rain a year that they are called rain forests.

Ebony tree Farming in the rainforest area can be done, but all the rain usually will wash away the fertile topsoil. However, the rainforests have valuable hardwoods, like ebony and sandalwood.

A savanna is land covered with grass with a few trees and bushes. Despite the fact that the soil is not very good, a lot of the savannas are farmed.

Deserts cover about 40 % of Africa. There are 3 major deserts in Africa, Sahara, Kalahari and the Namib.

Africa has some high mountains. Mount Kilimanjaro is the fourth tallest mountain in the world.

Great Rift Valley Also in eastern Africa is a deep valley that runs north and south for about 4000 miles which is a crack in the surface of the earth called the Great Rift Valley. Lake Victoria is located here.

Great Rift Valley The Great Rift Valley is a 4, 000 mile giant fault, or break in the earth’s crust. It extends from the Red Sea to the Zambezi River.

Africa also has some large rivers, the Nile, the Zaire, the Zambezi and the Niger River. The Niger river is the longest river in western Africa and it flows across the savanna, through the rain forest and finally it ends in the Atlantic ocean.

Africa is home to the biggest and fastest animals on earth. The elephant is the biggest.

The giraffe is the tallest.

The cheetah is the fastest.

Ostriches, the world largest birds, also live in Africa.

People come from all over the world to see the animals, and to keep them safe from hunters.

African countries have build large parks and game reserves, like Serengeti National park in Tanzania.

TAKING ROOT – The Vision of Wangari Maathai • Think about a feature in the natural world that has special significance to you. How would you feel if it disappeared? What changes might result from its disappearance? What would you do if that natural feature were threatened? http: //www. pbs. org/independentlens/takingroot/classroom. html