AFRICA
Unit One (8000 BCE to 600 BCE)
Northern Africa
- Egypt (circa 3100 BCE to 1085 BCE)
o Menes centralized state ruled by
pharaohs (then priests, commoners,
slaves)
o Built the pyramids of Giza
o Solar calendar of 365 days
o Hieroglypics
o Polytheistic w/ mummification
- “Sea Peoples” weaken Egyptian frontiers
- Last dynasty of empire ended in 1085 BCE
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Kush (c. 3000 BCE to c. 300 CE) in modern
Sudan
- Bantu Migration (c. 2000 BCE – 1000 CE)
- Beginning of Trans-Saharan trade (c. 1000
BCE)
Unit Two (600 BCE to 600 CE)
Northern Africa
- Controlled by Persians c. 525-400 BCE;
Macedonians in 332-30 BCE; Romans in 30
BCE on
- Carthage and the Punic Wars (264-146
BCE)
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Nok culture (c. 500s BCE to c. 2 CE)
Unit Three (600 to 1450)
Northern Africa
- Umayyad clan (661-750 CE)
- Many convert to Islam after 700 but Christian
tradition in Egypt and Ethiopia
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Introduction of camel and Islamic merchants
increased trade across Sahara
- Ghana (500 to 1200)
o Center of trade from gold in south &
provided ivory, slaves, horses, cloth
and salt
o 900s kings converted to Islam, but
animism continued to be important
- Mali (1235 to 1400s)
o Honored Islam
o Mansa Musa (1312-1337)
o Timbuktu: capital of Mali and cultural
center
- East African city-states (900 to 1500)
o Indian Ocean trade w/ Mogadishu,
Kilwa, Sofala (Swahili city-states)
o Great Zimbabwe built in 1200s
Unit Four (1450 to 1750)
Northern Africa
- Ottoman Empire (1400s to 1800s)
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Songhay (1464 to 1591)
o West African, Islam dominated but
traditional beliefs remained
- Kongo (1300s to 1600s)
o Close relationship with Portuguese;
slave raids weaken king
o Converted to Christianity
- Atlantic Slave trade depopulated W. Africa
Unit Five (1750 to 1900)
Independence movements in northern Africa from
Ottoman Empire
- Mohammad Ali and Egypt (1820)
Scramble for Africa (1880-1914)
- All of continent carved up w/ exception of
Liberia and Ethiopia
- King Leopold II of Belgium and Congo Free
State
- British in Egypt and Suez Canal
- Berlin Conference est. rules for colonization
of Africa
Unit Six (1900 to present)
Northern Africa
- Algerian Independence
- Egyptian Indendence
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Monoculture of cash crops and mines
- Political borders of colonial powers comprised
of unrelated ethnic groups who vied for
power w/ independence
- Ghana (Gold Coast) achieved ind. in 1957, led
by US-educated Kwame Nkrumah
- Kenya armed revolt won ind. in 1963
- Belgium departed Congo suddenly in 1959
- Rwandan genocide in 1994
- South African apartheid (restrictive laws
controlling majority black population)
o African National Congress (ANC)
and international sanctions/boycotts
help end apartheid in 1989
o Nelson Mandela first freely elected
president of South Africa in 1994