Unit VI:
The
Mongols,
Japan,
Africa,
and
America
Standard
 SSWH6
The student will describe the
diverse characteristics of early African
societies before 1800 CE.
 SSWH8 The student will demonstrate an
understanding of the development of
societies in Central and South America.
Learning Objectives
 a.
Identify the Bantu migration patterns
and contribution to settled agriculture.
 b. Describe the development and decline
of the Sudanic kingdoms
 c. Describe the trading networks in Africa
 d. Analyze the religious process of
blending of traditional African beliefs with
new ideas from Islam and Christianity.
Learning Objectives
 e.
Explain the rise and fall of the Olmec,
Mayan, Aztec, and Inca empires.
 f. Compare the culture of the Americas;
include government, economy, religion,
and the arts of the Mayans, Aztecs, and
Incas.
Geography
Geography
Geography
Geography
Genghis Khan
 Genghis
Khan was given the title
“Universal Ruler” in 1206 and went on to
create an immense empire.
 The Mongols inhabited the area to the
north of China, a region now called
Mongolia.
 With superior military technology and
battle tactics, they were able to conquer
vast territories.
Genghis Khan



The Mongols used siege warfare and warriors
on horseback.
The use of such machines as catapults, giant
crossbows mounted on stands, and bambootube rockets packed with gunpowder and
fired from a longbow helped the Mongols
improve siege tactics.
Battle provided a test of the soldiers’ abilities
and was for them to acquire riches, honor,
and personal power.
Feudal Japan
 There
were two sources of power.
 One was the central government, in
which an important family held power in
the name of the emperor.
 The other source of power consisted of
powerful local landholders who
established and led a class of warriors.
Feudal Society of Japan
 Emperor
(Spearhead)
 Shogun (chosen by the most
powerful Daimyos)
 Daimyos (local lords)
 Samurai (protectors of the Daimyo
lords)
 Merchants, peasants, farmers, craft
workers
 Eta (social outcasts)
Feudal Japan and Korea
 Zen
Buddhist was introduced from China
and became very popular in Japan.
 The Tea ceremonies and Noh plays were
new forms of art that developed during
Feudal Japan.
 Korea was conquered by China and ruled
by China for most of its history until it was
annexed by Japan in 1910.
The African
Continent
Africa
 It
is the world’s second largest and
second most-populous continent.
 There are four natural regions of Africa:
Desert, Grasslands, Rain Forest, and
Mountains.
 About half of the world’s diamonds come
from southern and central Africa.
 There are 54 countries in Africa.
The Bantu Language
 An
original “cradle land” of the Bantu
language lay in the region that is today
the Nigeria-Cameroon border.
 From there people began to migrate.
 With the development of agriculture, over
time Bantu languages began to spread.
The Sudanic Kingdoms
 Ghana
was the first great Sudanic trading
empire.
 Ghana reached its peak as a wealthy
kingdom in the mid-1000s.
 The empire began to decline as a Muslim
group from North Africa, gained control of
the Saharan trade routes and parts of the
Sudan.
 Ghana survived until the 1200s, but it
never regained its former power.
The Sudanic Kingdoms




Sundjata took over the remnants of Ghana
and founded the empire of Mali.
The most famous of Mali's rulers, MANSA
MUSA, shaped the Islamic character of Mali
and expanded the empire to its greatest size.
In 1325, during a pilgrimage to the holy city of
Mecca in Arabia, the people of CAIRO
marveled at his wealth and generosity.
By the late 1300s, Mali had lost its political
influence over the Sahara.
The trading city of TIMBUKTU was captured.
Mansa Musa
The Sudanic Kingdoms




In the 1400s Songhai, the last of the great
Sudanic empires, rose in power.
SUNNI ALI, a Songhai ruler, gained control of a
large area around the middle NIGER RIVER.
Songhai enjoyed its greatest power in the
1500s. He established a government and built
a fleet of warships to enforce peace along the
Niger River.
In 1591, the Moroccans conquered Songhai,
bringing the 800-year history of the Sudanic
empires to an end.
Sunni Ali
The Olmec
 They
were the first major civilization in
Mexico.
 They left eight giant stone heads and
many objects made of jade.
 Olmec was made up of a large class of
farmers and a class of small elites.
 Their art suggest that they worshipped a
god that was part jaguar and part human.
Olmec Art
The Mayans
 The
Mayans were the most advanced
culture of the Americas.
 They were skilled architects and
engineers; the Mayans built pyramidshaped temples and developed a writing
system that used hieroglyphs.
 Their decline is unknown and mysterious.
Mayan Temple
The Aztecs
 The
Aztec had been wandering warriors.
 According to legend, the Aztec priest had
instructed them to settle where they saw a
sign – an eagle sitting on a cactus and
devouring a serpent.
 They saw this sign on an island in Lake
Texcoco in Mexico.
 It was there that they built their city of
Tenochtitlan.
Mexico’s Coat of Arms
The Aztecs
 In
the mid-1300’s, the Aztecs increased
their power by conquering nearby tribes.
 Conquered tribes had to pay taxes to the
Aztec rulers.
 The Aztec incorporated into their culture
the inventions of peoples they conquered
or with whom they traded.
 The decline of the Aztecs resulted from
revolts and the Spanish Explorers.
The Incas
 The
Inca Empire located in the Andes
Mountain of South American expanded
into present-day countries of Peru,
Ecuador, Bolivia, and Chile.
 The Inca built fortresses and irrigation
systems and laid roads many of them
paved.
The Incas
 They
used Llamas to carry trade goods.
 The rulers of the empire prevented local
famines by maintaining storehouses and
distributing food supplies when crops
failed.
 Just as with the Aztecs, the Spaniards
conquered the Incas in the 1500s.