Chapter 5: West Africa
Outline
Section 1: West African Culture and Daily Life (pgs 151-154)
Objectives
1. Analyze the importance of
family, labor specialization, and
regional commerce in the
development of states and cities
of West Africa
2. Describe the oral tradition in
West Africa
Questions to Consider
1. What formed the basis for
government in many African
societies south of the Sahara?
Vocabulary
1. Kinship
2. Clan
3. Labor Specialization
4. Griot
2. How was the formation of
West African cities by A.D. 300 a
result of continuous movement?
3. What role did oral tradition
play in West African societies?
4. Why would anthropologists be
so interested in studying griots
and the affect they had on West
African society and culture?
Section 2: The Empire of Ghana (pgs. 157-161)
Objectives
1. Define the vegetation zones in
West Africa and analyze how
natural resources contributed to
success in trade
2. Describe how trade brought
religious and cultural changes to
West Africa
3. Analyze the influence of Islam
on Ghana
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Questions to Consider
1. What was the Trans-Sahara
trade?
2. (a) What did the Berbers of
Northern Africa bring to Ghana?
(b) Explain how this was an
example of movement?
3. Why did Ghana’s Islamic kings
continue to practice some
aspects of their traditional
religion?
Vocabulary
1. Vegetation Zone
2. Sahara
3. Savannah
4. Ghana
5. Almoravids
6. Trans-Sahara Trade
Chapter 5: West Africa
Outline
Section 3: The Empire of Mali (pgs. 165-169)
Objectives
Questions to Consider
1. Describe the rise and fall of
the Mali Empire
1. How did Mali build on Ghana’s
Empire?
2. Analyze the importance of
strong leadership and
government organization to the
rise of the Songhai Empire
2. (a) What were the effects of
Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to
Mecca? (b) How was this an
example of movement?
3. Outline the reasons for the fall
of Songhai
3. (a) What internal problems led
to the decline of Mali? (b) What
external problems led to the
decline of Mali?
4. Compare and contrast the
Songhai form of bureaucracy to
the Umayyads form of
bureaucracy while they ruled the
entirety of the Muslim Empire
(use pg. 114 to review the
Umayyads form of bureaucracy).
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Vocabulary
1. Mali
2. Sundiata
3. Timbuktu
4. Mansa Musa
5. Songhai
6. Berbers
7. Sunni Ali
8. Askia Muhammad