Africa Notes: Heritage of Africa



Africa Notes: Heritage of Africa

Gold-Salt Trade

West Africa lacked salt

North Africa lacked gold (Cities like Taghaza even built houses of salt)

I. Trading States and Kingdoms

A. Empire of Ghana

1. located between Senegal and Niger Rivers

2. Ghana means king or war chief

3. Originated from Soninke tribe in 500 A.D.

4. capital was Kumbi Saleh (15,000 population)

5. power of king resided in ownership of gold mines

6. traded goods also had a tariff

7. Almoravids a group of Berbers conquered their lands

B. Empire of Mali

1. Ghana’s farming class known as the Mandingos rose to power

2. Mansa Musa ruled from 1312-1337, he expanded the empire and even captured Taghaza

3. the people of Mali practiced Islam

4. law was based on the Koran, and Musa made his pilgrimage to Mecca

5. Mali erected many Mosques

6. internal unrest brought down the kingdom of Mali

C. Empire of Songhai

1. Ruled from the city of Gao

2. Reached its height under Askia Muhammed

3. Timbuktu became the center of learning (teachings of Islam)

4. 1591 – Songhai fell to raiders from Morroco due to weapon technology

D. Kingdom of Benin

1. ruled by trade and tribute

2. skilled craftsmen made brass, wood, and ivory objects

E. East Africa

1. rule by many city-states such as Malindi, Mombasa, Kilwa, and Sofala

2. traded slaves, ivory, gold, and animal skins

3. Islam spread there by trade, and a new language was created called Swahili

4. many cities fell to the Portuguese in the early 1500s

F. Zimbabwe

1. means “great house of stone” known for elaborate palaces of stone

2. settled in between Zambezi and Limpopo rivers

3. mainly farmers and herders

Chapter 4: Section 2 Patterns of Life

II. Patterns of Life

A. Family ties

1. Africans like most other people find strength in their family structure, community and religion

2. most hunting bands lived in a group of a few nuclear families

3. farming and herding societies usually rely on extended families

4. extended families include parents, unmarried children, married children and their spouses, and other relatives

5. extended families work together on various projects such as building homes, harvesting crops, and clearing land

6. usually the eldest male led the family as they lived on a compound together

7. Lineage (tracing descent to a common ancestor) and clans unite extended families even more

8. kinship, lineages, and clans lead to cooperation and a common purpose

B. Patterns of Government

1. Consensus – rule by common agreement

2. Some African societies were egalitarian and some were more like dictatorships

3. Government could be ruled by women or men

C. Economic Organization

1. subsistence farmers – grow enough simple to survive with little or no surplus

2. some areas resided on a few key cash crops others focused on herding as a sign of wealth

3. land could be community or private

4. the Maasai(Masai) – survive mainly on cattle

D. Lives of Women

1. in farming societies women sometimes harvested and provided the labor

2. in some societies they were the most important because they bore children

3. in other areas they prepared the children by educating them but, in some other societies they were look down upon as second class systems

4. the Wolof tribe had women as leaders and Ashanti tribe women owned the land and home

5. in patriarchal societies men dominated the family

6. some Africans practiced polygamy which meant that men could have many wives

7. bride wealth was given to a family in exchange for their daughter

8. women usually married around 14 or 15 years old, since men had to accumulate bride wealth to properly receive a wife they usually married older (sometimes 30)

E. Inheritance and Descent

1. Africans took traced their heritage matrilineal (mother) or patrilineal (father)

2. in Ashanti culture the uncle was in charge of his sister’s children and acted much like a father would in our culture

3.

F. The Age-grade system/ Old Ways of Learning Together

1. age grade – all boys or girls born in the same year

2. each age grade had different responsibilities and duties depending upon their specific group

3. the age grade served as a way of educating children into the world

4. children also learned in Koranic schools the values of Islam, they also learned Arabic

G. African Religions

1. Traditional beliefs- most believed in a supreme being which made most religions monotheistic

2. some believed in reincarnation of ancestors in their children

3. traditional beliefs also focused on nature gods or animism

4. Diviners and healers –are known as mediums between spirits, are held a special honor in politics

5. Christianity and Judaism –Ethiopia had a significant Christian and Jewish population

6. most Ethiopian Jews moved to Israel in 1991

7. many Christian missionaries came to Africa in the 1800s

8. Islam – spread mainly in Northern and Eastern Africa after 800 A.D.

9. it also spread to West Africa which sometimes cause a jihad , or holy war and led to the creation of the Hausa-Fulani empire

Chapter 4: The Heritage of Africa: Section 3: The Slave Trade

III. The Slave Trade

A. Exploring the Coast of Africa

1. First direct contact with Europeans occurred in early 1400s with the Portuguese (except for Northern kingdoms ex. Carthage, Egypt)

2. Dias rounded the southern tip and Da Gama found a route to India

3. they traded resources and converted Africans to Christianity

B. Trade in Human Beings

1. Europeans used Africans as slaves to make their colonies in the Americas profitable

2. Europeans first used Native Americans but due to disease and harsh circumstances many died

3. 1800 A.D.– 5.2% of Africans went to North America, most slaves went to the Caribbean and Brazil

4. Europeans looked to Africa because of the similar tropical climate

5. slavery in the 1500s usually resulted from African POWs being sold into slavery

6. Rarely some Africans even sold themselves into slavery to avoid famine

7. in the 1700s Europeans developed slavery onto a mass scale; they forced many Africans onto slave ships in which they has to endure the “Middle passage” across the Atlantic

8. some feuding African tribes traded their enemies for precious weapons to protect themselves

C. Ending the Slave Trade

1. 1807 - G.B. banned the slave trade

2. 1807 – U.S. banned the importation of slaves into the United Stated

3. 1823 – Mexico banned slavery

4. 1833 – G.B. banned slavery in their empire

5. 1865- U.S. banned slavery altogether

6. abolitionism - the movement to end slavery

7. the movement was led by Quakers and other religious rulers

8. Also, African- American leaders such as Olaudah Equiano and Frederick Douglas led the fight against slavery

D. Effects of the Slave Trade

1. left Africa with less capable leaders

2. cause a diaspora of people around the world

3. led to the creation of Liberia in the “back to Africa movement”

4. caused tribal competition and instability

5. led to creation of new states based on slave trade

Chapter 4: The Heritage of Africa: Section 4: Age of European Imperialism

I. Age of European Imperialism

A. European Exploration and Motives/ Scramble for Colonies

1. 1795 Mungo Parks explores the Niger, Burton and Speke explore the Nile, and Livingstone discovers Zambezi River

2. by WWI Africa is carved up by Europe

3. Economically it provided raw materials and new markets

4. Political rivalries fueled by nationalism caused European nations to vie for colonies and prevent expansion

5. some Europeans had Religious motives

6. Europeans succeeded in conquering due to technology

7. The Berlin Conference -1884

B. African Resistance/ Struggle for Southern Africa

1. armed resistance throughout the continent despite millions of losses

2. Ethiopians won the Battle of Adowa in 1896 by modernizing their army under the leadership of Menelik II

3. Europeans mainly won due to disease and starvation

4. a three-way power struggle resulted in Southern African between the Boers, the British, and Africans

5. the Zulus conquered local northern tribes whereas the Boers expanded from the South

6. the Boers fought with the Zulus for decades until the arrival of the British that won everything (Boer War)

7. the British won due to the maxim gun and artillery

Chapter 4: Heritage of Africa: Section 5

Effects of European Rule

A. New Political and Economic Systems

8. new western governments conflict with African ways

9. western powers ruled directly or indirectly, Britain ruled indirectly due to its vast Empire

10. subsistence farming is eradicated and a money economy was put into place

11. cash farming and mining were the two major labor practices

12. men were forced into labor camps and family/village life was disrupted by private land ownership

13. all of these practices led to dependences on foreign markets

14. westernization led to improved infrastructure

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