Geography and Early Africa
The Big Idea
Geography, resources, culture, and trade influenced the
growth of societies in West Africa.
Main Ideas
• Landforms, climate, and resources affected the history of
West Africa.
• The way of life of early peoples in West Africa was shaped
by family ties, religion, iron technology, and trade.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
Landforms, climate, and resources affected
the history of West Africa.
• Africa is the second largest continent.
• The Niger River, a source of water, food, and
transportation, allowed many people to live in West Africa.
Holt McDougal,
Africa’s Four Regions
• The northern band across West Africa is the southern part of
the Sahara. It has the world’s largest desert.
• The semiarid Sahel divides the desert from wetter areas. It
has enough vegetation to support hardy grazing animals.
• Farther south is a band of savannah, or open grass with
scattered trees.
• Rain forests, or moist, densely wooded areas, are near the
equator. They contain a variety of plants and animals.
Holt McDougal,
West Africa’s Resources
West Africa’s land
produced many
crops, such as
dates and kola
nuts. Kola nuts
could be used for
medicine.
Gold could be used
for jewelry or
coins.
Holt McDougal,
Salt was a
resource that was
found deep in the
earth, from lakes
that had dried up.
Main Idea 2:
The way of life of early peoples in West
Africa was shaped by family ties, religion,
iron technology, and trade
• A typical West African family was an extended family that
included the father, mother, children, and close relatives in one
household.
• Some people took part in another type of group, called age sets.
– In these groups, people who had been born within the same
two or three years formed special bonds.
• These loyalties helped the people of a village work together.
• As people became more productive, villages started to trade the
area’s resources with buyers who lived thousands of miles away.
– Gold and salt mines were a source of wealth.
Holt McDougal,
Loyalties and Religion
Loyalty to families
and age sets
helped the people
of a village work
together.
• Everyone had
specific duties.
• Men hunted and
farmed.
• Women farmed
and cared for the
children.
• Elders taught
traditions to the
children.
• Children started
working as soon
as they were
able.
Holt McDougal,
• Many West
Africans believed
that spirits of their
ancestors stayed
nearby.
• Families shared
problems and news
with the spirits.
• Another common
belief was
animism, the
belief that bodies
of water, animals,
trees, and other
natural objects
have spirits.
Empire of Ghana
The Big Idea
The rulers of Ghana built an empire by controlling
the salt and gold trade.
Main Ideas
• Ghana controlled trade and became wealthy.
• Through its control of trade, Ghana built an empire.
• Ghana’s decline was caused by attacking invaders,
overgrazing, and the loss of trade.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
Ghana controlled trade and became wealthy.
• Ghana was created when groups of farmers banded
together.
• Ghana became a powerful state only when it gained
control of valuable trade routes.
• The exchange of gold and salt followed a process called
silent barter. This is a process in which people exchange
goods without ever contacting each other directly.
• Ghana’s rulers gained power and wealth, and the military
grew in strength, too.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 2:
Through its control of trade, Ghana built an
empire.
• Ghana protected traders
with its army. Traders
were not afraid to travel to
Ghana.
• With so many traders
passing through their
lands, they made money
by forcing traders to pay
taxes.
Holt McDougal,
• In addition, the people of
Ghana and the small
neighboring tribes they
controlled had to pay
taxes.
• Ghana also had rich gold
mines.
Expansion of the Empire
• Ghana’s kings used their great wealth to build a powerful
army and conquered many of their neighbors, especially
ones that had centers of trade.
• To keep order in the empire, conquered kings were
allowed to keep much of their power. They acted as
governors of their territories.
• The empire of Ghana reached its peak under Tunka
Manin.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 3:
Ghana’s decline was caused by attacking
invaders, overgrazing, and the loss of trade.
• Invasion
– A Muslim group called the Almoravids cut off many trade
routes, without which Ghana could not support its empire.
• Overgrazing
– When the Almoravids moved, they brought herds of animals
with them.
– These animals ate all the grass, leaving the land worthless for
farming.
• Internal rebellion
– The people Ghana conquered rose up in rebellion and took
over the entire empire.
Holt McDougal,
Later Empires
The Big Idea
Between 1000 and 1500 three great kingdoms-Mali, Songhai,
and Great Zimbabwe-developed in Africa.
Main Ideas
• The empire of Mali reached its height under the ruler
Mansa Musa, but the empire fell to invaders in the 1400s.
• The Songhai built a new Islamic empire in West Africa,
conquering many of the lands that were once part of Mali.
• Great Zimbabwe was a powerful state that developed in
southern Africa.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
The empire of Mali reached its height under
the ruler Mansa Musa, but the empire fell to
invaders in the 1400s.
• Mali was located along the upper Niger River. The fertile soil
helped Mali grow and control river trade.
• Sundiata, Mali’s first strong leader, built up a strong army and
won back his country’s independence.
• He conquered Ghana and took over the salt and gold trades.
• He had new farmlands cleared for crops of beans, onions, and
rice. He also introduced cotton as a new crop.
• To protect his authority, he took power away from others and
adopted the title mansa.
Holt McDougal,
Mansa
• Mansas had both political and religious roles in society.
• The religious role of the mansa grew out of traditional
Malian beliefs.
– According to the beliefs, people’s ancestors had made
an agreement with the spirits of the land that would
ensure the lands provided plenty of food.
Holt McDougal,
Mansa Musa
• He was Mali’s
most famous
leader, and he
ruled from 1312
to 1337.
• Mali reached the
height of its
wealth, power,
and fame in the
1300s.
• He added
important trade
cities to its
empire, including
Timbuktu.
• Islam was
important to
Musa, so he
made a
pilgrimage to
Mecca.
• He stressed the
importance of
education and
learning to read
the Arabic
language.
• He influenced
the spread of
Islam through a
large part of
West Africa and
had mosques
built throughout
his empire.
• He sent scholars
to study in
Morocco. They
came back and
set up schools in
Mali.
Holt McDougal,
The Fall of Mali
Weak rulers such as Maghan could not stop raiders, leading to
the empire’s gradual decline.
Raiders from the southeast poured into Mali and set fire to
Timbuktu’s great schools and mosques.
Invaders took almost all the lands of the Mali Empire by 1500.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 2:
The Songhai built a new Islamic empire in
West Africa, conquering many of the lands
that were once part of Mali.
• Once a part of Mali, Songhai rose up against it and
regained its freedom.
• Songhai grew in many ways, mostly due to the work of
Sunni Ali.
– He worked constantly to unify, strengthen, and enlarge the
empire.
• He participated in both Islam and local religions and
brought peace and stability as a result.
Holt McDougal,
Askia the Great
• Muhammad Ture overthrew
Sunni Baru because he did
not support Islam.
– People thought they
would lose trade with
Muslim lands.
Holt McDougal,
Ture took the title of askia, a
title of the highest military
rank, and eventually became
known as Askia the Great.
Education and Government
• Askia the Great worked to
support education and
especially supported
learning about medicine.
– Thousands of people
came to Timbuktu to
use the universities,
libraries, and mosques.
– Djenné also became a
city of great learning.
– Songhai’s traders were
Muslims and spread Islam.
Holt McDougal,
• To help maintain order,
Askia set up five provinces
within Songhai.
– He removed local
leaders and appointed
new governors who
were loyal to him.
– He created special
departments to oversee
certain tasks.
– He created a standing
professional army.
Songhai fell to Morocco.
• Because Morocco wanted to control the Saharan salt
mines, it invaded Songhai.
• The Moroccans brought with them a terrible new weapon,
the arquebus, an early form of gun.
• The Moroccans’ guns and cannons brought disaster to
Songhai.
• Changes in trade patterns completed Songhai’s fall.
– Overland trade declined as Atlantic ports became more
important.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 3:
Great Zimbabwe was a powerful state that
developed in southern Africa.
• Great Zimbabwe was a powerful kingdom in southern
Africa.
• It was founded as a small trading and herding center in
the 1100s.
• Gold mining and farming expanded, and the kingdom’s
population grew to become the center of a large trading
network.
– Trade made rulers wealthy and powerful.
• In the 1400s gold trade declined, and Great Zimbabwe
weakened. By 1500 it was no longer a political and
trading center.
Holt McDougal,
Historical and Artistic Traditions
The Big Idea
Although the people of West Africa did not have a written
language, their culture has been passed down through oral
history, writings by other people, and the arts.
Main Ideas
• West Africans have preserved their history through
storytelling and the written accounts of visitors.
• Through art, music, and dance, West Africans have
expressed their creativity and kept alive their cultural
traditions.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
West Africans have preserved their history
through storytelling and the written accounts
of visitors.
Writing was not common in West Africa. People passed along
information through oral histories, a spoken record of past
events.
West African storytellers were called griots. They helped keep
the history of their ancestors alive for each new generation.
In addition to stories, they recited proverbs. These were short
sayings of wisdom or truth. They were used to teach lessons to
the people.
Some of the griot poems are epics that are collected in the
Dausi and the Sundiata.
Holt McDougal,
Visitors’ Written Accounts
• The people of West Africa
left no written histories of
their own.
• Much of what we know
about early West Africa
comes from the writings of
travelers and scholars from
Muslim lands such as Spain
and Arabia.
Holt McDougal,
• Ibn Battutah was the most
famous Muslim visitor to
write about West Africa.
• His accounts describe the
political and cultural lives of
West Africans in great detail.
Main Idea 2:
Through art, music, and dance, West
Africans have expressed their creativity and
kept alive their cultural traditions.
• Of all the visual
forms, the
sculpture of West
Africa is probably
the best known.
– The sculpture is
mostly of
people.
– It was made for
religious rituals.
– Artists were
deeply
respected.
• Artists carved
elaborate masks,
which were used
mostly for rituals
as they danced
around fires.
• They wove cloth
such as kente, a
handwoven,
brightly colored
fabric.
Holt McDougal,
• Music and dancing
were important.
• These activities
helped people
honor their history
and were central to
many celebrations.