AFRICA
Africa Today
How Big is Africa?
I. Early Africa
• A. Earliest Civilization
1. 7 million years ago, 1st people
2. Originated in southeast Africa (Hadar,
Ethiopia, Lake Turkana, Kenya & Laetoli,
Tanzania)
3. Moved north, northeast, northwest
“Out of Africa”
I. Early Africa
I. Early Africa
I. Early Africa
I. Early Africa
4. Discovered/created fire
5. Hunters & Gatherers
6. By 16,000 BCE, farming began with okra,
black eye peas, gourds, watermelons,
yams, peanuts, kola nuts, cotton, beans,
wheat, barley, domestication of cattle,
sheep, etc
7. Metalwork which included, iron, copper,
lead & bronze production
II. African Empires
II. African Empires
• A. Prior to the colonialism, thousands of
empires/kingdoms existed throughout
Africa
• B. Ancient Empires include:
– 1. Ancient Egypt (3100 BCE-870 CE)
– 2. Ancient Kush/Nubia (Sudan) (760 BCE-656 BCE)
– 3. Ancient Carthage (Tunisia) (575 BCE-146 BCE)
– 4. Ancient Axum (Ethiopia) (100-940 CE)
II. African Empires
Ancient Kush/Nubia (Sudan)
Ancient Carthage (Tunisia)
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Axum (Ethiopia)
III. West African Empires
• A. “Sudanic Empires”, “Bilad al Sudan (“land of
the Blacks”) included:
1. Ghana (800-1200 CE)
2. Mali (1100-1700 CE)
3. Songhai (1335-1591 CE)
4. Kanem-Bornu (1100-1846 CE)
III. West African Empires
Present day Mauritania & Mali
III. West African Empires
Mansa Musa
III. West African Empires
Timbuktu, Mali
Songhai Empire included present day
Mali, Niger & Burkina Faso
III. West African Empires
Idris Alooma, Kanem-Bornu Emperor
Sunni Ali, Songhai Emperor
III. West African Empires
Present day Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon & Nigeria
III. West African Empires
• B. Islam
– 1. Sudanic Empires were all Muslim (followers of
Islam)
– 2. Islam spread through trade routes that
connected West, North & East Africa with the
Arabian peninsula, India & China
– 3. It brought literacy, political stability, economic
prosperity
– 4. Africans combined existing traditions with
Islamic doctrine, culture & even fashion
III. West African Empires
III. West African Empires
• C. West African Empires included:
1. Benin (1447-1897 CE) Benin & Nigeria
2. Yoruba/Oyo (1600-1800 CE) Nigeria
D. Practiced Indigenous African Religion
E. Organized in city-states, which were ruled
by a chief & the chiefs were ruled by a
KING
F. Traded gold, pepper, ivory, slaves, blue
fabric, leopard skins, glass beads, etc
III. West African Empires
Oba of Benin
III. West African Empires
IV. Southwestern African
Empires
• A. Southwestern Empires included:
1. Luba (1000-1600) Democratic Republic
of Congo
2. Kongo (1200-1600) Kongo, Angola & Gabon
B. Formed along the Congo River
C. Luba was:
1. feudal system
2. agrarian based
3. metal work
4. traded palm oil, metal work , salt, beads, etc
IV. Southwestern African
Empires
IV. Southwestern African
Empires
• D Kongo:
– 1. Absolute monarch
– 2. Traded gold, pepper, ivory, slaves, blue, fabric,
leopard skins, glass beads, etc
– 3. King Alfonso converted to Christianity, so did
many of his subjects
– 4. King Alfonso tried to curtail slavery, famously
wrote a letter
IV. Southwestern African
Empires
V. South African Empires
• A. Zimbabwe
1. located between Limpopo & Zambezi Rivers
2. founded 1150 CE
3. Indigenous African w/o Islamic influences
4. Organized into city-states & ruled by a king
5. traded gold, copper, cloth & glass
6. zimbabwe means house of stone
V. South African Empires
V. South African Empires
V. South African Empires
• B. Zulu Kingdom 1816-1897
1. located along the southeast African coast
2. Indigenous African language & religion
3. founded by Shaka
4. extended slave trade in southeastern Africa
V. South African Empires
VI. East African Empires
• A. East African Coastal areas
1. were organized into city-states, major
city-states included:
a. Kilwa Island off the coast of Tanzania)
b. Mombasa (Kenya)
c. Zanzibar (Tanzania)
d. Mogadishu (Somalia)
VI. East African Empires
VI. East African Empires
Kilwa 900-1700s
VI. East African Empires
2. Traded ivory, incense, gold, iron, slaves,
spices, perfumes with Africans, Arabs,
East Indians, Malaysians & Persians
3. Islam dominant religion
4. The Swahili language, a combination of
Arabic & Bantu (indigenous sub-Saharan
African languages) developed
VI. East African Empires
VI. East African Empires
• B. Ethiopia
1. Ethiopian people are combination of Indigenous
African & Arab people
2. Christianity is the dominant religion
a. 330CE King Ezana converted to Christianity
b. 900s CE Ethiopian Orthodox Church formed
3. Isolated from African neighbors
4. Solomonic Dynasty ruled from 950 -1974
VI. East African Empires
VII. North African Empires
African Independence