Notes From Mr. Snell's Office



NAME |HISTORY |RELIGION |CULTURE |HOMES/WORK |LOCATION |OTHER | |

ASHANTI |18th Century founded by Anokye and the allegiance to the Golden Stool as a symbol of the unity of the Ashanti

British colony until 1957

|Mixture of spiritual & supernatural powers

Believe plants, animals, & trees have souls. Believe in fairies, witches, & forest monsters. Golden Stool represents the worship of ancestors, well-being, & the nation of Ashanti. It has never been sat on or touched the ground. |Child receives soul/spirit from the father and flesh & blood from the mother. Mother’s clan is most important. Father teaches son skill of his choice & uncle teaches him to use talking drums. Mother teaches daughters cooking, housekeeping. |Various homes or huts set-up around a courtyard. Head of household is usually the oldest brother= “Father” or “housefather”

Only men are allowed to weave. Women make pottery. Ashanti also do woodcarving & metal casting. |Ghana, which is in West Africa |Polygamous. Women will not marry without consent of their parents. Many do not meet husbands until they are married. | |

BANTU/

SWAHILI |Bantu believe people first emerged from a hole in the ground. Death originated in the failure of human beings

Swahili history tied to trading on the Indian Ocean with the Arabian Peninsula |Most believe in a supreme being/high god who bestows blessings & can bring misfortune. No priest: political leadership

=religious responsibility.

Swahili=very strict Islam but also believe in spirits. Men wear protective amulets. Only prophets & teachers of Islam=medicine men |People who follow social rules are rewarded with abundant harvest & healthy children. Those who violate tradition are punished with accidents, bad crops or illness. |Agriculture, hunters/gatherers. Early civilizations had banana plantation, mined gold. Sold crops and traded gold & ivory. Live in small groups. Swahili live in “stone towns” (large stone houses often divided into apartments) most homes have electricity, indoor plumbing, furnished living rooms, & several bedrooms. |West Africa, Nigeria, Congo. Bantu migrated across Africa from West Africa to the east coast down to Mozambique. Swahili was created when the Bantu migration - in Kenya, Tanzania, & Mozambique mixed with Arab populations |Swahili women work outside the home & have fewer (3-4 kids). Wear brightly colored clothing & black full-length, veiled cloaks in public. | |

MAASAI |Lived off cattle – considered the good life. Grew crops & moved herds for grass. Many have settled & taken jobs in town. Land has been taken over for private farms & ranches

Famous warriors.

Maasai believe they were honored by God to care for the cattle. |Worship one god who dwells in all things. He can be helpful or destructive. Many are also Christian churches

Liabon is spiritual leader. |Patrilineal clans. Practice polygyny.

Between the ages of 14-30 men go through a period of isolation to learn tribal customs, strength, courage, & endurance. |Pastoral Masaai are fully nomadic-live off of their herd (meat, blood, & milk). Live in mud/dung house surrounded by a corral for the herd.

Government in Kenya & Tanzania trying to encourage them to make permanent agricultural settlements |Plains of East Africa – Mainly in Kenya and Tanzania. |Were famous herders & warriors

Men are separated by age-class as a permanent group that moves up through the hierarchy of society from junior warrior to senior elder. Egalitarian society

Slaves have never been kept

| |NAME |HISTORY |RELIGION |CULTURE |HOMES/WORK |LOCATION |OTHER | |

NUBIAN |Kingdom of Kush

Believed to be the 1st humans on earth heavily influenced by relationship w/Egypt – Some of the first humans. Used Dynastic Rule (rule by family of heirs) |Used to believe in many gods (mainly Egyptian)

Now they are Sunni Muslims, but also believe in animism & local tradition.

Nubian language was replaced by Arabic with the introduction of Islam. |Art forms: utilitarian, decorative, & symbolic (use bright colors) |Produced and traded pottery and crops. Agriculture is base of economy. Homes made of clay, straw, & stone.

Had bustling trade economy along the Nile. Painted and carved animals on their homes. They believed they would ward off evil spirits. |Southern Egypt & Northern Sudan

Settled along the banks of the Nile from Aswan |Ancient Nubia had a wealth of natural resources: gold, ivory, copper, frankincense & ebony | |

PYGMY

|Probably earliest inhabitants in the region

Small people with adult males less than 5 feet tall |Forest spirit, Jengi.,is a kindly personal god who provides for their needs. They believe this god of the forest is the giver of all life. Have ceremonies where they sing and praise the forest. |Have close ties to neighboring villages

Known for their vocal music |Forest dwellers

Live by hunting animals (antelopes, pigs, & monkeys), fishing, & gathering honey, wild yams, berries & other plants. Work on farms in neighboring villages & trade goods. Hunters and gatherers |Central & West Africa (DRC, Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Burundi & Uganda) |Rainforest home threatened by logging-now surviving as laborers & beggars | |

TUAREG |Society use to be divided between those that tended the land & the upper class that reaped the benefits of trading |Islam mixed with presence of spirits. For some religious practice is nominal other than daily prayer to Allah. Fasting not practiced b/c of desert travel. Men wear protective amulets and women are not veiled |Art include jewelry, leather and metal saddle decorations

Colorful blue head dresses are worn by the men. |Use to operate in the slave trade as part of the trans-Saharan trade. Still use camels to carry trade across the desert.

Lived in sedentary communities |Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Senegal, & Mali |Men wear veils at age 25 years to exclude their entire face excluding their eyes. Called the “Blue People” because of the blue dye they use | |

ZULU |Use to be the mightiest military force and they fought against British colonization on & off throughout the 17th & 18th centuries |Creator god=Nkulunkulu This god does not interact w/ humans & has no interest in everyday life.

Most interaction is with spirits

Cleanliness is an important part of religion (bathing 3xs a day). Some practice a form of Christianity mixed w/ traditional customs |Known for beautiful brightly colored beads & baskets or other small carvings

Language includes linguistic clicking sounds |50% work on farms

50% live in cities & engage in domestic work

Rural Zulu raise cattle & farm corn & veggies for subsistence

Women do most of the farming/harvesting & are owners of the family home |South Africa & Congo area |All misfortune is a result of evil sorcery or offended spirits – nothing just happens b/c of natural causes

De facto racism is an issue for Zulu in urban areas

| |SAN |Believed to be the first humans on Earth. |Their rock formations are believed to hold deep spiritual and religious meaning. Probably believed in one all powerful god with a few lesser gods |Have no formal authority figure. They govern themselves by group consensus |Hunter/gatherers. Denied rights to the land, so they live in poverty. |Desert regions of the Kalahari. Deserts of Southern Africa |They were forced off their land to make way for diamond mines in 2002. | |

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