Geography and Early Civilizations

Large size – more than 3 times the size of the U.S.

Four climate zones
 Deserts – 40%
 The Sahara is the largest in the world
 Mild zone – 10%
 South of the Sahara is a region of Africa called the
Sahel - A strip of land that divides the desert from
wetter areas
 Several large rivers: the Congo and the Niger rivers


Savannas – 40%
 Savanna = broad, open grassland
 Most people in Africa live in the savannas
Rain Forests – 10%
First civilizations were Egypt and Nubia (Eastern Africa)
.
Society

The southern half of Africa developed states more slowly
and most of the people lived in stateless societies until the
11th century AD
 Stateless society is a group of independent villages
organized by clans and led by a local ruler or clan head

Many African societies were matrilineal, meaning that
descent was traced through the mother

Music and story-telling were used to pass along
community’s history in the absence of a written language
 The task of remembering and passing on oral traditions
was entrusted to storytellers called griots
 Griots were highly respected

African societies used captives for forced labor and sold
slaves
 Slaves were people captured in war, debtors, and
criminals

East Africa
Known as the Ivory Coast

Major kingdoms include, Kush (Nubia), Aksum, Ethiopia,
and Great Zimbabwe

Main trading products include ivory, slaves, ebony, some
gold

Swahili
 Due to trade and invading Muslims, a new AfricanArabian culture emerged along East Africas coast
 The African language of Bantu blended with Arab
into Swahili “peoples of the coast”
 Is the national language of Kenya and Tanzania
East African kingdoms and empires

Kush – Nubia frees itself from Egyptian control
around 1000 BC and forms the independent state of
Kush
 Modern day country of Sudan
 750 BC conquers Egypt, but is soon forced to
retreat back to the Upper Nile Valley by the
Assyrians
 Kush becomes one of the major trading states in
the region
 Trade from Africa, India, Arabia, and Rome
 Major exports: ivory, gold, ebony, and slaves

Aksum – 1st century AD – 700s AD
 located in the highlands of Ethiopia
 Prosperity due to its location along the Red Sea
 Trade route between India and the Mediterranean
 Major exports: ivory, frankincense, myrrh, and
slaves
 Invades and conquers Kush
 Had one of the first written languages developed in
Africa
 Converts to Christianity
 Declined due to the arrival of Muslim invaders

Ethiopia – established in the 1100s AD by
descendants of Aksum Christianity proved to be a
unifying identity for the Ethiopian people

Great Zimbabwe – 1100s to 1400s AD
 Part of Africa’s thriving trade network due to its
location
 Was in the middle of a trade route linking Africa’s
interior gold mines to the city-states on the coast
 Great Zimbabwe served as a middleman

Swahili
 Due to trade and invading Muslims, a new AfricanArabian culture emerged along East Africa’s coast
 The African language of Bantu blended with Arab
into Swahili “peoples of the coast”
 Is the national language of Kenya and Tanzania
West Africa

Known as the Gold Coast

Major kingdoms and empires include the Empire of
Ghana, the Mali Empire, the Empire Songhai, and the
Kingdom of Benin

Main trading products
include gold, salt, iron,
and slaves
West African kingdoms and empires

The Gold Coast

Empire of Ghana – located in the upper Niger river
valley
 By 800 AD Ghana controlled nearly all trade of salt
and gold in sub-Saharan Africa
 Ghana’s kings kept the supply of gold scarce to keep
gold prices high
 Only the kings could own gold nuggets and the
location of gold mines were strictly guarded
 Exports: Gold, iron, animal products, salt, and slaves

Mali Empire – 1230s – 1430s






Much of the wealth of the empire came from the taxation of
the gold-salt trade
Mali kept order along the trade routes by using a large army
Converted to Islam and their famous ruler Mansa Musa
made a pilgrimage to Mecca
 Brought Mali to the attention of the Europeans
Exports: gold and salt
Famous trading city of Timbuktu
Empire of Songhai – 1460s – 1591
 Grew wealthy trading goods along the Niger river
 Converted to Islam
 Took over Timbuktu
 Exports: gold and salt

Kingdom of Benin
 Located in the forests of the Niger delta
 Came into contact with the Europeans
 Portuguese sailors arrived in the late 1400s
 The people of Benin had many war captives,
which they sold to the Portuguese as slaves
 Exports: ivory, pepper, cotton, and slaves