Africa
How has Africa’s geography
affected the continent’s
history and development?
Different Geographic Regions

Sahara desert is
the largest desert
in the world. For
thousands of
years it has
played a major
role in the
development of
Africa.
The Sahara Desert
Geography
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Africa is the worlds’ second largest
continent. It has a wide variety of
climates, topography, vegetation,
and terrains which have impacted
the diversity of it’s cultures.
The largest and most populated
regions are the savannas, or grassy
plains.
The Green zone
is the savanna
Here is what you can find in
Africa’s savannas…
Geo=earth, graphy=study of
Geo+graphy=the study of Earth’s
physical features

Geography affects
how people live and
how they make a
living.
Geographic features can act
either as barriers or highways
to the movement of people,
goods, and ideas.

A barrier is something that makes travel
difficult or near impossible.
Can you name one
“geographic barrier” in
Africa?”
A plateau is a barrier

Africa’s high
plateau interior
and rivers with
cataracts, or
waterfalls
hindered easy
movement.
While plateaus can be a barrier,
they also form amazing landmarks
Victoria
Falls
The Great Rift Valley; a highway

The Great Rift Valley served as an interior
passageway and the Mediterranean and Red
seas provided overseas trade routes to
regions in the Middle East and Europe.
Early Africa’s Economy

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Mineral wealth
spurred trade
since ancient
times.
Salt, gold, iron,
and copper were
valuable items.
Trade linked Africa
to other
continents.

Ships of the Desert
By the year A.D.
200, a new form
of transportation
emerges, the
“ships of the
desert.”
These were camels that could
carry heavy loads and walk 20-30
miles a day in the desert without
water.

Checkpoint: What geographic
features limited movement of
people in Africa??????
•Plateaus
•Deserts
•Smooth Coast line
•Impassable rivers
•Cataracts or waterfalls.
Climate Change? Back then too?

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Farming even
spread into the
Sahara desert.
However, in
2500 B.C., a
climate change
slowly dried
out the Sahara.
Desertification

The land became
dry and the
desert spread.
This is known as
desertification
and forced people
to migrate away
from this area.
At risk of desertification
The Bantu Migrations

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Migrations shaped the diversity in African
cultures.
West African languages derived from one
common language called Bantu.
Bantus were good at farming, working
with iron, and domesticating animals.
Bantu Migrations
The Bantu Legacy

As they spread into Southern Africa,
Bantu culture merges with new
cultures. Bantu language is still
spoken today. This is cultural
diffusion.
Checkpoint: How did migration
affect the development of
African cultures??????
Migration helped spread ideas and skills such as:
•Farming
•Ironworking
•Domesticating animals
Where is the Nile River?
Cultural diffusion with Egyptians

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Nubia is controlled by Egyptians for 500
years. As a result, Nubians adapt Egyptian
culture.
In 500 B.C., Nubia is threatened by the
Assyrians from SW Asia (Middle East).
Nubians are forced to move their capital to
Meroe.
Why are rivers so important to
people in history?

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Controlled North, South
trade along Nile and
East, West trade.
Established own
language. Nubian is not
decipherable today.
Overwhelmed by the
kingdom of Axum to its
south.
Checkpoint: How did conquest
affect the development of Nubia?

Nubians adapted many Egyptian
traditions when they were under
Egypt’s control. Assyrian conquest
forced the Nubians back to the south
where they settled in Meroe and
prospered.
Outside Influences Affect North
Africa
Phoenicians Build Carthage

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Carthage becomes a great power
in Northern Africa founded by
Phoenician traders.
Dominated trade in the
Mediterranean from 800 B.C. to
146 B.C
Islam spreads into Africa

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In the 690s, Muslim Arabs conquer
their way into North Africa. Islam
Replaces Christianity as the
dominant religion of the area.
Arabic replaces Latin as its language
11:2 Kingdoms of West Africa
Trade in the Sahara
•Salt was a rare commodity and a highly
sought after item.
•People in West Africa settle along the Senegal
and Niger rivers around Lake Chad.
•Signifies the expansion from farming villages
to towns is based on trade.
If you have more than enough of
something what do you do with it?

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Villages began
producing a surplusmore goods than they
needed.
Begin trading their
surplus food for
products from other
villages.
Trading Gold for Salt
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Lots of gold was in and
around the soil of rivers.
Africans traded gold for
salt. Wait what??????
Why?
Salt was a commodity, or
valuable product because
people living in hot areas
need salt in their diet to
replenish the salt they
lost from sweating.
Salt’s uses
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Salt was also important
because it was used in
food preservation.
Salt was abundant in the
Sahara and scarce in the
savannas to the south.
Therefore, they treated
with each other---1 pound
of gold for 1 pound of
salt.
Ghana: The Land of Gold

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Kingdom of Ghana built
great walled cities with
luxurious stone
buildings.
Got their wealth from
the gold trade.
Eventually are
overthrown by pious
Muslim people called
Almoravids who
establish the kingdom
of Mali.
Kingdom of Mali

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Ghana people are
overrun by rival
leader and all ruling
family was executed
except Sundiata.
Thought he was too
sick and weak.
He survives, rises to
power and founds
the empire of Mali
in 1235.
A Major Trading Center Emerges

Timbuktu emerges as a major
trading city in Mali.
Mansa Musa

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Greatest ruler of Mali
was Mansa Musa, who
came to the thrown in
1312.
He expanded the
boundaries to the
Atlantic Ocean and
worked to ensure
peace in his empire.
Converted to Islam.
Influence of Islam on Mali
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Promoted religious
freedom and tolerance
amongst his people.
Mansa Musa makes the
hajj to Mecca in 1324.
Forges new economic
ties with other Muslim
states.
Brings back Muslim
scholars and promotes
education in Mali.
A New Empire in Songhai

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The 1400’s sees Mali
weakened over
problems with
succession.
People will break away
and form the emerging
kingdom of Songhai.
Soldier king, Sonni Ali
creates largest state
ever in West Africa.
Songhai
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Ali does not practice
Islam, rather followed
traditional religious
beliefs.
Sets up a bureaucracy
with separate
departments like one for
farming, the military,
and the treasury.
Eventually ends in civil
war with problems over
succession.
Smaller Societies of West Africa
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Developed in the
rain forest .
Benin, rose in the
rain forests of the
Guinea coast.
Had a three-mile
wall that surrounded
the capital city,
Benin City.
Benin Achievements
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Rulers of Benin built
on the achievements
of earlier forest
cultures, and
artisans taught them
how to cast bronze
and brass.
Arabic script
influenced writing
and Islamic law
greatly influenced
government.
11:3 Kingdoms and Trading
States of East Africa
Axum: Center of Goods and Ideas
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Located in Eastern Africa where
modern-day Ethiopia is.
When rulers adopted Christianity,
their new religion linked the people of
Axum closely to trading partners in
North Africa and the Mediterranean
world.
Axum
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When Islam
spread, people
were cut off from
the Christians and
now separated by
religion.
This decreased
trade, and led to
the kingdom’s
decline.
Ethiopia
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Isolated from the
rest of Africa and
this independence
would allow to
develop a unique
sense of identity
based largely on
religion.
Both Judaism and
Christianity in
Ethiopia.
Trading Centers Flourish
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Used the seasonal
monsoon winds to
help sail the ships.
Involved China,
India, Arabia, Persia,
and Africa.
East African
international trade
led to the emergence
of a vibrant culture
and a new language
known as Swahili.
Ethiopia
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Trade brought
people from different
cultures to the cities
in East Africa.
Trade spread Islam
throughout the
region, changing
architecture, and the
development of the
language Swahili.
The Stone Houses of Great
Zimbabwe
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Massive stone ruins
in Zimbabwe.
Offer evidence that
there were goods
from India and
China.
Offers evidence that
they had skilled
artisans.
11:4 Societies in Medieval Africa
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Africa is immense in
size.
Lots of different
cultures.
In medieval Africa,
the basic family unit
was the nuclear
family, or parents
and children working
together as a unit.
Ibn Battuta
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Ibn Battuta travels
across Africa and
sees that some
cultures were
matrilineal and some
were patrilineal.
This meant the
inheritance went to
the mother’s or
father’s side.
Medieval Africa
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Each family
belonged to a
lineage or group of
households who
claimed a common
ancestor.
In small tribes
decisions were made
by a consensus, or
general agreement.
Government

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Power was usually shared by several
people.
Elders made decisions by a consensus.
Religion/History

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Some believed in many gods. Many
believed that a single, supreme being
stood above all other gods.
Some adopted Christianity or Islam, often
linking them with traditional practices.
African societies preserved their history
with written records and oral histories like
griots.