Early
African
Civilizations
Section 1 –Geography and
Early Africa
Section 2 – The Empire of
Ghana
Section 3 – Later Empires
Section 4 – Historical and
Artistic Traditions
Landforms, Climate and Resources
• Africa is the worlds second
largest continent
• The Sahara Desert stretches
across most of North Africa
• Four different regions run east
to west like broad bands.
• The northern band is the
southern part of the Sahara
• The Sahel is a strip of land
with little rainfall
• The savannah is the
grasslands and the fourth
band, near the equator is the
rain forests
Early People’s Way of Life
• Loyalty to ones family and age sets ( family close in age) helped the
people of a village work together
• Many West Africans believed their ancestors stayed close to them.
They also believed in animism, the belief that natural objects have
spirits
• As time passed civilizations became more advanced. The use of
iron around 500bc was helpful in farming and making weapons
• This gave them an advantage in trade, eventually they would earn
their riches in the trade of gold and salt.
Crossing the Sahara
• Temperatures soared well to over 100
degrees during the day and plunged to
below freezing at night. Dying of heat or
cold was a real danger
• Most areas of the Sahara get less than
one inch of rain per year. Travelers had to
bring lots of water or they could die of
thirst
• The Sahara is huge, and the trade routes
were not well marked. Travelers could
easily get lost.
• Valuable trade goods were a tempting
target for bandits. For protection traders
The Empire of Ghana
•
The Soninke people were the first to
ban together for protection against
nomadic herders
•
This movement was the beginning of
the empire of Ghana
•
As the people grew in strength and
abilities, their population grew
•
Their location was perfect for the trade
of the regions two main resources –
gold and salt
•
As this trade increased so did the
wealth and power of Ghana
•
They began to build strong armies in
order to maintain their power
Ghana Builds an Empire
• By the 800s Ghana was in control of West Africa’s trade routes.
• Nearly all trade north through south passed through Ghana and their
armies kept the routes safe.
• Ghana rulers decided in order to make more money they would
place a tax on any goods coming in or leaving Ghana
• In addition, the people of Ghana had to pay taxes and neighboring
tribe were also required to pay tribute
• An interesting fact is, the rulers of Ghana banned anyone in the
empire from owning gold nuggets. They could only own gold dust,
this ensured that the leader would always have more.
The Empire’s Expansion
• Part of Ghana’s wealth went to support its armies.
• The Ghana kings used their armies to conquer more land
• To keep order the kings allowed the conquered ruler to retain much
of their power.
• The local rulers acted as governors of their territories answering only
to the king of Ghana
Tunka Manin
• Ghana reached its peak of power under
this man.
• A Spanish writer noted the splendor of
Manin’s court in the following passage
• “The king adorns himself…round his neck
and his forearms, and he puts on a high
cap decorated with gold and wrapped in a
turban of fine cotton. Behind the king
stand ten pages [servants] holding shields
and swords decorated with gold.”
–al-Bakri, from The Book of Routes and
Kingdoms
Ghana’s Decline
Three major factors contributed to fall of Ghana
• Invasion – the Almoravids attacked Ghana in the 1060s and
after 14 years of fighting they finally won (Almoravids)
• Overgrazing – The Almoravids brought herding animals
into the territory and allowed them to eat all the grass, leaving
the soil exposed to the hot desert winds
• Internal Rebellion – one of the conquered countries rose
up to attack Ghana and with in a few years they too were
successful
Later Empires
• Mali had a great location,
helping the people control
trade along the Niger River
• Sundiata helped Mali become
powerful by controlling the gold
and salt trade and introducing
a new crop, cotton.
• Sundiata also kept power by
taking power away from local
leaders known as mansas.
This gave him not only political
power, but also religious
power.
Mansa Musa
• Mali’s most famous ruler
• Under his reign. Islam spread
through a large part of West
Africa
• A very religious man, Mansa
made a pilgrimage to Mecca
throughout his journey he
spread the fame and fortune of
Mali far and wide.
• A big supporter of education,
he encouraged scholars to set
up schools in Mali
• He also encourage people to
read in Arabic so that Muslims
in his empire could read the
Qur’an.
• A famous city Mansa Musa
was responsible for helping to
grow was Timbuktu.
The Fall of Mali
• After Mansa Musa’s death, the empire began to decline.
• In 1431 the Tuareg nomads from the Sahara took over
Timbuktu
• By 1500 nearly all of the lands the empire had once
ruled were lost.
SONGHAI
Rivals of Mali and Strong
Traders
• They rebelled and gained
their freedom from Mali
• Berbers traded with
Songhai and they shared
the same religion
• Sunni Ali strengthened
and expanded the empire
• He encouraged the
people to work together
which created a more
stable empire
ASKIA THE GREAT
• Former emperor, Sunni Baru
was not liked which was the
cause of the rebellion
• Askia the Great overthrew Baru
• He supported education and the
growth of Islamic influence
• He set up five providences to
keep the empire in order
Songhai Falls to Morocco
• Moroccans wanted control of the Songhai salt
mines
• Using guns acquired from south west Asia, they
were able to gain control of the salt mines
• Trade patterns changed and the empire fell
apart
Great Zimbabwe
• Large and powerful trade kingdom in South
Africa
• The decline of gold lead to a weakened empire