Physical Map Quiz!
Niger River
Congo River
Nile River
Zambezi River
Ubangi River
Sahara Desert
Sahel
Indian Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Mozambique Channel
Congo Basin
Lake Victoria
Lake Malawi (Nyasa)
Cape of Good Hope
Mt. Kilimanjaro
Ethiopian Highlands
Gulf of Guinea
Atlas Mountains
Mediterranean Sea
Kalahari Desert
Great Rift Valley
Red Sea
Quiz on Wednesday, December 9th!
Africa!
–54 Countries
–Over 1 billion people
–Over 2100 languages
–18 of the 20 poorest
countries on Earth
–50% of Africa’s
population born after
1991
–Largest City:
Lagos, Nigeria
21 million people
Ancient African Kingdoms
– Ancient Kingdoms
– Traditions of early cultures (oral stories,
trading, etc.)
– Physical and Political Geography
• What technologies did African civilizations have
access to?
• How did migration and trade affect African
history?
• What forms of agriculture developed in Africa?
Colonialism
– European Contact and Exploration
– Culture Clash and Ethnocentrism
– Berlin Conference
– Scramble for Africa
– The White Mans Burden
• How has colonialism affected Africa?
• Why were Europeans able to colonize
Africa?
• How did Africans resist and then defeat
European Colonization?
“The Shape of Africa” intro: geography
• Why does
geography
matter?
• What can
you say
about Africa
just by
looking at it?
Mr. Diamond’s Thesis “The Shape of
Africa”
• What was Jared’s thesis?
• Share three pieces of
supporting information:
1.
2.
3.
Thesis Share
• Share verbally with your table.
• Each person must share their thesis and
one piece of supporting evidence.
–Person with next birthday starts
–Give feedback for each person
• Decide: Person who had the best thesis
• Write: Your revised thesis and your
reflection about why you changed what
you changed
Several Quality? Theses
• Africa is not doomed to a state of poverty
despite geographic realities that almost
ensured struggles because geography is not
the sole cause but combined with income
that it brings.
• Geographic luck results in successful or not
successful technology and helpful or not
helpful resources. Africa as a continent had
little luck.
Why are some
cultures rich,
while others
are poor?
What can the
U. S. do to help
Africa, and
itself?
East/West Axis
Features of Africa
• Sahara Desert
– The Sahel
• Kalahari Desert
• The African Rainforest
– Tsetse Flies
– Lack of edible
vegetation
• The Savanna
– Mediterranean
Climates
– Grassy plains
– Great agriculture
• What problems does
this cause?
Early Africa
• Humans emerge in Rift Valley
• Hunter-Gatherer societies
• Pastoral Nomads: Nomadic
societies based around herds
of livestock such as goats,
sheep, and cattle
• Wealth measure by size of
herd
• Millions of modern Africans
are still pastoral herders in
Kenya, Tanzania, & Ethiopia
Early African Societies
Societies first develop South of the Sahara
Religion develops: Generally monotheistic
Animism: A religion in which spirits play an important role in
regulating daily life and are presents in
plants/animals/nature
Written languages are rare, stories passed orally
Griots: African storytellers
What are the advantages of this? Disadvantages?
The Iron Age
Iron artifacts
emerge from
around 500 BCE
Nok Culture:
Modern day
Nigeria, earliest
known African
Civilization
Smelted iron into
tools and weapons
West African Civilizations
West African Civilizations
3 Empires emerge by dominating trade across the Sahara
- Empire of Ghana
- Empire of Mali
- Empire of Songhai
West African Civilizations
Objectives
• Understand why gold and salt
were important in early Africa.
• Describe how the rulers of
Ghana, Mali, and Songhai built
strong kingdoms.
• Summarize how other West
African societies developed.
West African Civilizations
How did the kingdoms of West Africa
develop and prosper?
• As trade in Africa expanded,
cities such as Gao and
Timbuktu developed and
became wealthy centers of
commerce.
• Between A.D. 800 and A.D.
1600, several kingdoms gained
control of prosperous cities
such as these.
Salt and Gold
Too much or too little salt in the diet
can lead to muscle cramps, dizziness
which can cause neurological
problems, or death.
US Department of agriculture
West African Civilizations
• The Sahara had an
abundance of salt,
which people needed in
their diet to replace
salt lost in
perspiration.
• In the savanna, salt
was scarce. A merchant
might trade one pound
of gold for one pound
of salt.
• As trade grew, cities
developed on the
northern edges of the
savanna.
West African Civilizations
• How did the kingdom of Ghana
develop?
• By A.D. 800, the rulers of the
Soninke people united many
farming villages to create Ghana.
• Rulers of Ghana controlled goldsalt routes across West Africa.
• Muslim merchants from North of
the Sahara brought Islam to Ghana.
West African Civilizations
• Ghana fell in around 1050. In time,
the new kingdom of Mali replaced
Ghana.
• Mali was founded in 1235 Sundiata.
• The kings of Mali, or mansas, took
control of gold-mining regions and
the gold-salt trade.
Founder of
Mali
Mansa Musa
King of West Africa
After a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, Mansa Musa
brought Muslim scholars and architects to Mali.
He built a university
at Timbuktu that
became a great
center of learning.
This map shows
Mansa Musa’s
pilgrimage to Mecca.
• Inflation:
Mansa Musa’s hajj devalued gold for a
decade in Cairo, Medina, and Mecca.
In the 1400s, Mali weakened and the new
West African kingdom of Songhai arose.
The soldier-king Sonni Ali brought
trade routes & cities under his
control.
When he died, the emperor Askia
Muhammad expanded Songhai territory,
holding court at Gao.
He formed strong ties to the Muslim
world.
The Songhai kingdom experienced disputes
over succession in the late 1500s.
• In 1591, invaders from Morocco
conquered the empire.
• Though the invaders couldn’t
maintain control, the glory of the
Songhai kingdom was over.
Great Kingdoms of West Africa
Kingdom
Notable Cities
Years
Ghana
Kumbi Saleh
800–1050
Mali
Timbuktu
1235–1400s
Songhai
Gao
1464–1591
1. What products did the kingdoms of
Ghana, Songhai, and Mali have that the
rest of the world wanted?
2. What came across the Sahara to West
Africa?
In addition to the great kingdoms of Ghana,
Mali, and Songhai, there were several smaller
societies in the region.
• Benin rose on the Guinea Coast
during the 1300s. Its people knew
how to cast bronze and brass.
• The Hausa of West Africa became
prominent in the 1300s. They lived
in walled city-states.
• The Hausa came to dominate many
Saharan trade routes.
Benin
How did the Kingdom of Benin stay rich
and powerful?
What did they supply?
John Green-Mansa Musa Share
1. Share with your table
groups the 5 questions you
came up with and discuss
answers
2. Pick the top three questions
at your table and write
them on the quarter sheet
of paper
1. Just questions, no need to
include the answers
3. Turn in your quarter sheet
in to me when your table is
finished