World Cultures



World Cultures

Africa Unit

Chapter 3

Geography and Early History of Africa

Section 1 – The Shape of the Land

Africa is the world’s second-largest continent

Africa contains more independent nations on Earth – 54 nations

African straddles the Equator

The continent is bordered by

Atlantic Ocean to the west

Mediterranean Sea to the north

Indian Ocean to the east

Red Sea to the northeast

Many distinct regions

North Africa

From Morocco to Egypt

This location has always had close contact with Europe and the Middle East

West Africa

Bulges into the Atlantic Ocean

From Mauritania to Nigeria

Central Africa

East Africa

Southern Africa

Stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean

Landforms

Most of Africa is a vast plateau

These plateaus lie at different elevation

From the plateaus the land drops sharply to the coast

Escarpments – steep cliffs, divide the plateau from the coastal plain

As rivers flow from the plateau to the coast they tumble over a series of cataracts

Cataracts – large waterfalls and rapids

Great Rift Valley

Slices through the eastern part of the continent

Runs from the Red Sea to the Zambezi River

Most fertile farmland in Africa

Rivers

Provide fish, water for irrigation, transportation, and electricity

Hydroelectric power – energy produced by moving water

Nile River

Longest river in the world

Location of one of the earliest civilizations

1970 – completion of the Aswan Dam located in the upper Nile

Congo River

Located in Central Africa

Only parts are navigable

Provides hydroelectric power

Niger River

Located in West Africa

Zambezi River

Located in Southern Africa

Rushes over Victoria Falls

Provides hydroelectric power

Natural Resources

Gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt, oil, rich soil, abundant water

Resources are not evenly distributed

Poor countries can not develop their mineral resources

Have allowed foreign countries to invest in mining

Much of the profit leaves Africa

Much of Africa is not fertile

Section 2 – Climate and Diversity

The Equator runs nearly through the middle of Africa

80% of the continent is in the tropics

Tropics – the area between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn

Climates are generally warm throughout the year

Coolest regions found in the highlands

Rainfall

Major feature is a pattern of alternating wet and dry seasons

Generally the farther north or south of the Equator the shorter the rainy period and the

longer the dry period

The variations in rainfall cause problems for farmers and herders

Climate Zones

The northern and southern hemispheres are mirror images

Starting at the Equator

Tropical wet

Hot and humid year round

Poor soil

Leaching – constant heavy rains dissolve and wash away nutrients

Tropical wet and dry

Largest climate zone in Africa

Savanna –grassland – occupies the region

Covers almost half the continent

Home to most Africans

Unpredictable rainfall

Drought – prolonged periods of little or no rain

Population growth has created serious problems in the drier parts of the

Savanna

Natural forces and human action puts the land at risk

Desertification – the turning of semidesert land into desert

Desert

Covers about 40% of Africa

Sahara Desert

Larger than the continental US

Extends across northern Africa from the Atlantic to the Red Sea

Kalahari

Southern Africa

Not as dry as the Sahara

Namib Desert

One of the driest places on Earth

Moderate Mediterranean climates

Along the southern tip and northern coast

Mild climate and fertile soils support crops and herding

Many disease-carrying insects breed in tropical climates

Malaria, spread by mosquitoes kills up to 1 million children each year

Sleeping sickness spread by the tsetse fly

River blindness

Bilharzia, parasitic worms

Population of Africa

2013 estimate – 1.033 billion

Growing rapidly

Resources influence where people live

Most populated areas

Southern part of West Africa

Morocco and Algeria

Nile Valley

Region around Lake Victoria

Eastern part of Southern Africa

Africa is home to an immense variety of cultures

Have different histories, religious beliefs, values, and traditions

Developed one of five basic types of societies – most continue in Africa today

Farming

Herding

Fishing

Hunting and gathering

Urban

Today the majority of Africans live in the savanna – most are farmers

Cities have long flourished along

Mediterranean coast of North Africa

Savanna of West Africa

Coast of east Africa

Africans speak more than 1,000 different languages

Divided into several language families

Section 3 – Early Civilizations of Africa

The discoveries at Olduvai have led some scientists to suggest that Africa was home to the first

people.

Painting on rock cliffs and cave walls show tools, weapons, hunting, and food-gathering

Nile Valley Civilization

Earliest civilization in Africa

Nile Valley of Egypt about 7,000 years ago

3,000 BC powerful rulers emerged and united villages along the Nile

pharaohs – rulers of ancient Egypt

Pharaoh was a god, descended from Amon-Re

Pharaoh had total power over the lives of the people

Through trade and conquest, Egyptians exchanged knowledge and ideas with distant cultures

Egyptians were polytheistic – believed that different gods controlled the forces of nature

Belief in life after death was central to Egyptian religion

Egyptians developed a form of writing

Hieroglyphics – used pictures and symbols

Used knowledge of stars and planets to produce a calendar with a 365-day year

Egyptian doctors studied the human body

Kingdom of Kush

Trade flowed along the Nile between Egypt and neighboring peoples in Nubia and Kush

King Kastha of Kush conquered the Nile Valley

Short lived – ended when Assyrians invaded from the Middle East

Kush profited by trade

Kingdom of Axum

Emerged in present day Ethiopia

Important center of trade

King converted to Christianity

Chapter 4

Heritage of Africa

Section 1 – Trading States and Kingdoms

From early times, people in Africa traded across routes from the Middle East and North Africa to the

savanna lands of West Africa

West Africa lands traded gold for salt

Empire of Ghana

First powerful West African kingdom

Extended their control over a large area

As Ghana grew, its rulers created a lavish court

Traded with the Berbers, traders from the northern edge of the desert

Berbers traded salt, cloth, and horses for gold, woods, kola nuts

Each caravan that entered or left Ghana had to pay taxes

Empire of Mali

After break-up of Ghana

Seized some gold-producing areas – set up the empire of Mali

Mansa Musa - ruler of Mali

Adopted Islam

Based his system of justice on the Koran

Built mosque – Muslim houses of worship

By the early 1400s power struggles had weakened the empire

Empire of Songhai

As Mali declined new empire arose in West Africa

From the trading city of Gao, powerful rulers extended their control over other lands

Followed the teaching of Islam

Timbuktu became a center of learning

Defeated by Moroccan soldiers

Forest Kingdom of Benin

Thickly forested areas near the Equator

Near the delta of the Niger River

Controlled trade over a large area

Cities of East African

Since ancient times, trade had linked the coastal peoples of East Africa to other parts of

the world

Many grew into city-states

City-states – large town that has its own government and usually controls the

surrounding countryside

Arab traders brought their culture to the region

Islam took root in parts of East Africa

Zimbabwe

By 1300, the rulers of Zimbabwe had organized a large kingdom

Control of gold mines gave the rulers their power

Most of the people were farmers and herders

Section 2 – Patterns of Life

Cultures varied it is necessary to careful when making generalizations

Did share similar basic values

Found strength in family structure, communities, religious beliefs

Family ties

Hunting/gathering societies were usually small – scarce resources

Farming and herding societies

More likely to live in extended families

Parents, children, spouses of children, other relatives

In villages several families pooled their labor

Ties of kinship united people beyond the extended family

Sharing a common lineage created bonds of loyalty and responsibility

Lineage – group of distant kin who trace their descent back to a common ancestor

Important general feature of these groupings was the sense of linkage they created

Patterns of Government

Variety of government patterns

In many areas, decisions at the village level required full public discussion

Goal was to reach a consensus

Consensus – common agreement

Leader stressed the good of the community over that of individuals

Economic Organization

Most villagers were subsistence farmers

Subsistence farmers – produce enough for their own needs with little or no surplus

Most farming societies saw the land as community property

Lives of Women

Contributed to the economic well-being of the family

Women were central to family life

Attitudes toward women varied widely

In some areas women held positions of power

In other areas women had little power or prestige

In some societies men married more than one woman

Polygamy – having more than one spouse

Men were expected to offer a valuable gift to the bride’s family – bride wealth

Recognized the importance of the woman

Compensated the brides family for the loss of bride’s labor

Inheritance and Descent

Variety of traditions

Members of a matrilineal society traces lineage through the female line

Patrilineal societies trace lineage through the male line

Age-Grade System

Some societies develop ties of loyalty through a system of age grades

Age grade – include all boys or girls born in the same year

Learned the values of their societies

In Islamic societies boys attended Koranic schools

Learned to read and write Arabic

Memorized parts of the Koran

Religions

Variety of religions

Most religions were monotheistic

Supreme Being seen as distant

Turned to lesser gods for daily life

Believed that their ancestors could help or harm them

Diviners and healers held places of honor

Diviners served as interpreters between people and the divine world

Healers would seek the cause of illnesses

Both were expert in herbal medicines

Christianity and Judaism reached Africa in ancient times

African Christians formed their own churches

Blended African beliefs, music, dance with western Christian beliefs

Muslim traders spread Islam

Fit certain features of Islamic culture into their own cultures

Section 3 – The Slave Trade

From the 1500s to the 1800s, slave traders sent an estimated 10 to 15 million Africans to the Americas

Exploring the Coast of Africa

First direct contact between Europeans and the people of West Africa was in the early 1400s

Portuguese explores had been looking for a sea route to India

Portuguese and others Europeans built small trading stations on the coast

Trade in Human Beings

During the 1400s Europeans bought a few Africans as slaves and carried them to Europe

Slavery had existed since ancient times

Most slaves were people captured in war

Others sold themselves into slavery during times of famine

In many societies slaves were a part of the community

In time, slaves or their children might become full members of society

Atlantic slave trade

Europeans introduced slavery on a massive scale

In the 1700s, at the height of the slave trade, 60,000 slaves a year captured

By the 1600s, a trade network, linked Africa, Europe and the Americas

Racism was used to justify treating Africans as property

European slave traders relied on local African rulers to supply slaves

Paid for slaves with guns and manufactured goods

Atlantic slave trade lasted about 400 years

Ending the Slave Trade

Abolition slowly gained force

Abolition – the movement to end slavery

Britain passed a law banning slavery in its empire in 1833

Slavery in the U. S. ended with the Civil War in 1865

Effects of the Slave Trade

As European nations began to industrialize, slavery became less profitable

In parts of Africa, the slave trade disrupted whole societies

Slave trade encouraged wars and increased tensions among neighboring people

The slave trade sent millions of Africans overseas

Diaspora – migration or scattering of a homogeneous people

The African diaspora spread the ideas, customs, and beliefs of African people to other regions

of the world

In 1787, Britain set up the West Africa colony of Sierra Leone for freed slaves

Free blacks from the U.S. organized the country of Liberia

Liberia gained independence in 1847

Section 4 – Age of European Imperialism

Europeans Explore Africa

Before the 1800s, Europeans knew very little about Africa

Europeans began exploring the rivers of Africa

Europeans made little effort to understand African cultures

European Motives

By 1914, European nations claimed all of Africa except Liberia and Ethiopia

Britain controlled most of Africa

Other European countries included Spain, Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, Germany

Economic competition was a major motive

Africa was a source of raw materials and a market for manufactured goods

Political motive

Built vast empires to boost their place in the world

Rivalries fueled the scramble for colonies

Religious motives

Christians believed that it was their duty to spread the benefits of western civilization

The Scramble for Colonies

Two innovations helped Europeans advance into Africa

Improved treatment for malaria and yellow fever

Maxim machine gun, gave an advantage over African arms

At the Berlin Conference, Europeans made decisions about dividing Africa

African Resistance

Africans resisted with military force

Unable to withstand the advanced weapons and technology of the Europeans

Struggle for Southern Africa

A bitter power struggle develop among local African groups, Dutch settlers known as

Boers, and the British

Early 1800s, the British won control of the Cape Colony from the Boers

As the Boers were moving north from the tip of South Africa the Zulu were moving

southward

Battles between the Boers and Zulu continued for decades

British joined the struggle and defeated the Zulu

The discovery of diamonds and gold sent Europeans into the Boer republics

By 1902, the British defeated the Dutch settlers in the Boer War

Eight years later, the British created the Union of South Africa out of various colonies

in the region

Only white men had the right to vote

The Boers made up a majority of the white population

Gained control of the South African government

Section 5 – Effects of European Rule

New Political and Economic Systems

In their African colonies, European nations set up governments that reflected their own traditions

Two methods of rule

Direct rule – the colonial power controlled the government at every level

Indirect rule – used by the British, left traditional rulers in place

British made decisions but expected local rulers to enforce them

Europeans expected their colonies to be profitable

European companies exploited the mineral resources

Introduced a money economy – payment of taxes in cash not goods

To make money Africans sold their labor

Men left home to find work

Caused the close-knit life of villages to change

Created difference in wealth as some people accumulated capital and property

Europeans encouraged private ownership of land

Money economy encouraged farmers to grow cash crops instead of food

Caused some areas of African to import food

Material Improvements

Colonial rule brought new systems of transportation and communication

Missionaries set up hospitals and doctors introduced better medical care

Improved sanitation and water systems

Battled diseases that had killed many people in the past

Currents of Change

Europeans set up elementary schools

African students learned European history and culture along with basic skills

A few Africans had the opportunity to attend secondary schools

Formed an educated elite in the colonies

Elite – small group of people with high social status

By the early 1900s, new African leaders were emerging

Called for Africans to reexamine their heritage and to take pride in their past

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