Early Africa
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The first civilizations of Africa left behind few
written records
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They taught their culture through stories and
legends
For archeologists to study these people, they
had to study their legends and the artifacts
left behind by the people
Geography and Environment
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Africa’s geography and climate have played
pivotal roles in the development of
civilizations in Africa
There are deserts, grasslands, mountains,
and fertile river valleys in Africa
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Africa can be divided into 2 regions
1.) North Africa:
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Mild temperatures
Frequent rainfall
****between North Africa and Sub-Saharan
Africa is the Sahara Desert****
2.) Sub-Saharan Africa:
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All of Africa south of the Sahara Desert
There is a great plateau in the area—Sahel
Plateau
Moderate rainfall
Savannas dominate the area—treeless
grasslands
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On the eastern side of the Sahel Plateau is
the Great Rift Valley
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The valley is a large crack in the earth’s surface
40 miles wide
2000 feet deep
3000 miles long
Stretches from the Red Sea to South Africa
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There are 2 major rivers in Sub-Saharan
Africa
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1.) Niger
2.) Zaire (Congo)
Kush
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The Kush civilization existed in Africa around
2000 BC
The Kush were located on the upper Nile
River
They developed a strong economy based on
trade
They had been under Egyptian control
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The Egyptians used Kush cities as trading posts
They traded goods such as ivory, gold, and
lumber
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1100s BC: the Kush were able to break free
from Egyptian control
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The Kush became culturally and politically
independent
By the 700s BC, the Kush had kings that
ruled over nearly all of Egypt
The Kush made their capital at Napata
671 BC: Egypt was invaded by the Assyrians
who easily defeated the Kush
The Kush’s bronze weapons were no match
for the iron weapons of the Assyrians
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The Kush were forced out of Egypt
The Kush learned to make iron from the
Assyrians
The Kush built a new capital at Meroe
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Meroe became an important iron producing city
Eventually, a new civilization will invade the
Kush and totally end the Kush civilization
The new enemy was Axum
Axum—A Christian Kingdom
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Axum was located along the Red Sea
Axum was a major trading power
Axum adopted a lot of Roman culture
The people of Axum adopted Christianity
when Rome adopted Christianity
AD 330: The King of Axum made Christianity
the official religion of the kingdom
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Axum began to fall apart when Muslim
merchants and soldiers began raiding Axum’s
trading ships
The Axum were forced to move into the
interior of Africa where they established a
new kingdom—Ethiopia
The Nok—Sub-Saharan African
Kingdoms
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Between 700 and 200 BC, the Nok had established
a civilization in the Niger and Benue River valleys
The Nok had some knowledge of iron work
The Nok farmers used iron tools to help them
produce a surplus of food
The Nok over farmed their land—the land stopped
producing enough food for the people
The Nok were force to move in order to survive
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They needed to find more suitable farmland
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The Nok’s migration to find new lands to farm
has been called the Bantu Migration
The Nok migrated into central, eastern, and
southern Africa
As these people migrated, they developed
different cultures
They all spoke languages based on the
Bantu language family
Some followed the Niger River, others went
into the rain forest, still others moved onto the
savannas to raise cattle
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Village Life:
The different groups that migrated into the
different regions of Africa formed close knit
communities in their villages
Families were very close
Some villages were matrilineal—tracing your
ancestry through your mother, not your father
When a girl married, she became a member
of her husband’s family
In return for their daughter, the bride’s family
received tools, animals, and cloth—a
payment for losing their daughter
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Before marriage, members of the family had
specific duties
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Boys 10 and under herded cattle
Girls 10 and under helped plant and harvest crops
Boys and girls 12 and over could take part in
religious ceremonies—they were considered
adults
Religious Beliefs
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Most Africans were polytheists—believing in
more than 1 god
The main gods controlled the lesser gods
The lesser gods controlled everyday
occurrences—storms, rain, crops growing,
etc.
Many African groups also believed the spirits
of the dead were roaming around with the
living—ghosts
African Empires and Kingdoms
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Sub-Saharan Africa contained many resources that
people could use in order to thrive and survive
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Gold
 Copper
 Iron
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The African people began trading with Muslim merchants
This trade led to lots of wealth and power for the African
civilizations
Three of these civilizations will become powerful based
on this trade—Ghana, Mali, Songhai
Ghana:
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Ghana became one of the richest trading
empires in Africa
Ghana was located between gold and salt
mines—making the kingdom very wealthy
 Salt
proved to be more valuable than gold—used to
preserve foods, especially meats
 Gold was traded to get salt
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Between AD 300 and 1200, the kingdom was
nearly 100,000 square miles in size
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Muslim merchants would come to Ghana to
trade goods to get salt
AD 800: Ghana was at its trading height
Muslim ideas poured into Ghana from the
Muslim merchants
At the end of the AD 1000s, Ghana was attacked
by a group of Muslims from Northern Africa
The Kingdom was split up and no longer existed
Mali:
Mali started life as a small state within
Ghana
 Once Ghana was invaded and split up,
Mali broke away and created its own
kingdom
 Mali had some very powerful and
influential kings
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1.) Sundiata Keita:
 Began
developing an empire by taking over his
neighbors
 By the AD 1200s, Mali had taken the lands of old
Ghana
 Keita wanted his empired to be prosperous
 He re-established the old trade routes
 He cleared land to help farmers produce more crops:
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Peanuts
Rice
Sorghum
Yams
Beans
Onions
Grains—Wheat and barley
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2.) Mansa Musa (1312-1332):
 Considered
the greatest King of Mali
 Used his powerful army to protect trade and
monitor trade routes
 Introduced Islam to his people
 Had many mosques bulit in the capital of
Timbuktu
 Timbuktu became an important center of
Muslim art, architecture, and learning
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By AD 1500, Mali had split up
Songhai:
The kingdom of Songhai was located
along the Niger River
 The people were farmers, traders, and
fishermen
 During the AD 140s, Sunni Ali was able to
take over a lot of land, including Timbuktu
 Sunni Ali was a Muslim
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Sunni Ali’s son was not a Muslim, but
worshiped the ancient African gods
 When Sunni Ali died, his son took the
throne
 Ali’s son was not very popular and was
soon overthrown in favor of a Muslim ruler
 The new ruler of Songhai was Askia
Muhammad
 Songhai reached its highest point under
Askia Muhammad
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Askia Muhammad ruled from 1493 until
1528
 He divided Songhai into 5 provinces
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 Each
province had its own tax collectors,
governor, a court, and trade inspector
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Muhammad was a very devout Muslim
 He
made laws based on the Islamic religion
 Major crimes carried very harsh punishments
1528: Muhammad is overthrown by his
own son
 The kingdom falls into civil war over who
should be in control of Songhai
 1589: The Moroccans take over Songhai
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