Africa and the Americas Powerpoint Project
For this project you will need to create three items: a brief five minute powerpoint presentation, a
poster, and five questions and answers that a student can complete based on your presentation.
Students assigned to a Chapter 7 topic about Africa will present on Oct. 28th (A day) and Oct. 29th (B
day). Students assigned to a Chapter 8 topic will present on Oct. 30th (A Day) and Oct. 31st (B day).
***For extra credit students may bring in a dish from their assigned culture to share with the class on
either Oct. 30th or Oct. 31st***
Ch.7 Africa
Lesson 1
African Geography and Society:
Topics: Impact of geography, African society, family, education and slavery
Terms: plateaus, savannas, lineage groups, matrilineal, patrilineal, subordinate
African Religion and Culture:
Topics: Yoruban religion, arrival of Islam, arrival of Christianity, culture, wood carvings, bronze
sculptures, African music and dance, oral history
Terms: diviners, griots
Lesson 2
The Kingdom of Ghana:
Topics: What does the name “Ghana” mean? What did they trade gold for? environment, politics,
economics, technology
Terms: Berber, camel caravans, trans-Saharan trade,
The Kingdom of Mali
Topics: politics, economics, Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Makkah, Mansa Musa’s legacy, Timbuktu,
Songhai, Sunni Ali, Muhammad Ture and the Askia dynasty, collapse of the Songhai empire
Terms: Administrative, usurper
The Societies of East and South Africa
Topics: bantu migrations, Great Zimbabwe, Mogadishu and Kilwa, Ibn Battuta, Mogadishu, arab trade,
Zimbabwe, m
Terms: subsistence farming, Swahili, stateless society
Ch.8 Pre-Columbian America
Lesson 1
North America
Topics: land bridge, Eastern Woodlands, Mound Builders, Iroquois, buffalo, Anasazi, Mesa Verde
Terms: longhouses, clans, tepees,
Lesson 1
The Maya
Topics: temples, calendar, decline of the Maya, politics, human sacrifice, religion, Itzama, writing
system, end of Mayan calendar
Terms: Mesoamerica, city-state, hieroglyphics,
The Toltec and Aztec
Topics: location of Toltecs, warlike, location of Aztec, Tenocthitlan, Huitzilopochtli, politics, social
structure, religion, Quetzalcoatl, human sacrifice
Terms: tribute, chinampas, nobility,
Lesson 2
The Nazca: location, Nazca lines
The Inca
Topics: location, Cuzco, politics and society, why they didn’t use the wheel?, forced labor, economics,
roads, Machu Picchu
Terms: Quechua, terraced farming, irrigation, textiles, quipu