Africa

2 nd Largest Continent -Africa has roughly 11,668,545 square miles -It is roughly four times larger than the U.S., Europe and China. If Africa is the 2 nd largest continent, what is the 1 st ?

Most of Africa lies between two lines of latitude called the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. All the land between these two lines is called the tropics. Tropic of Cancer Tropic of Capricorn

The climate in the tropics is divided into four different zones.

The first zone is called equatorial, meaning near the equator. It is also more commonly known as the rainforest zone. Equatorial zone

Can you find the equatorial or rainforest zone?

The rainforest zone makes up roughly 10% of Africa. Heavy rains and vegetation make farming and travel almost impossible.

Farming in the rainforest area can be done, but all the rain usually will wash away the fertile topsoil. However, the rainforests have valuable hardwoods, like ebony and sandalwood. Ebony tree

The second zone is called the savanna zone. Savanna zone

A savanna is land covered with grass with a few trees and bushes. Despite the fact that the soil is not very good, a lot of the savannas are farmed.

The third climate zone is called the desert zone. Desert zone

Deserts cover about 40 % of Africa. There are 3 major deserts in Africa, Sahara, Kalahari and the Namib.

The fourth climate zone is called the Mediterranean or “mild climate” zone. This type of climate has hot dry sunny summers and moist warm winters. In northern Africa, farmers grow many of the same corps that are grown in Europe. Mediterranean zone

Africa has some high mountains. Mount Kilimanjaro is the fourth tallest mountain in the world.

In eastern Africa, there is a crack in the earth’s tectonic plates, creating a deep valley that runs north and south for about 4000 miles called the Great Rift Valley. Great Rift Valley

It officially starts in the Middle East. It extends from the Red Sea to the Zambezi River. Its width can reach up to miles wide.

Due to the harsh climate, African rivers play an essential role in Africa. Not only do they serve as the main transportation route but they provide much needed fresh water for people and livestock alike. Major African rivers include the Congo, Niger, Nile, Senegal, and Limpopo.

Resources of Africa Africa is a land of great beauty and resources. Some of the resources that come from Africa are; salt, ivory, rubber, gold, wheat, copper and cotton.

How many countries does present day Africa have?

There are 57 countries Includes the island nations off the coast The newest country is South Sudan, founded on July 9, Prior to that, the last new country was Eritrea which broke away from Ethiopia in 1993.

Early Kingdoms of Africa The East

Ethiopia is considered an area of one of the oldest human settlements.

Lucy is considered the world’s oldest, most complete, and best preserved adult fossil. Found in Ethiopia, she is estimated to be 3.2 million years old.

The first kingdom in present day Ethiopia was a great kingdom named Nubia. They traded ivory, gold, copper, frankincense and ebony with Egypt. The Nubians were under control of the Egyptians for hundreds of years. When they obtained their independence, they named themselves the Kush. A frankincense tree. The resin was used to make good smelling incense.

The Kush took over Egypt in 750 BCE Ruled Egypt for almost 100 years. Defeated by the Assyrians in 663 BCE who had superior technology (iron weapons) Retreated from Egypt back to their homeland.

Axum Started as an Arab trading colony Its location along the Red Sea made it prosperous. 100 – 1400 CE Blended African and Arab Cultures Conquered the Kush Converted to Christianity in roughly 300 CE Made it different from the rest of polytheistic Eastern Africa and Islamic Africa in the North and West

Western Kingdoms Early western empires based on trade

Locate the rivers (blue) and the kingdoms. What’s the correlation?

Early empires developed along trade routes and along rivers

The Kingdom of Ghana - Gold for salt trade – In Africa, south of the Sahara desert, salt was very important but hard to find. In hot climates people need salt in their bodies to keep from dehydrating. Salt also preserves food, especially meat, and seasons it. So, this gold for salt trade developed in the middle ages.

It worked like a triangle. Arab traders loaded their camels with beautiful silks, cottons and leather goods. They traveled to North Africa to trade these items for salt. There was plenty of salt in North Africa. Then, the Arabs took the salt to West Africa where they traded it for gold. Since the Kingdom of Ghana was in the middle of all this trading, they controlled it. Both sides of Africa - north and south - paid Ghana a tribute to handle the trades. Although Ghana never owned gold and salt mines, they controlled the trade between the kingdoms and got rich

Then, with the arrival of camel trains, the caravans, the Kingdom of Ghana expanded their control to include trade with the foreigners. They traded gold for spices and other luxury goods as well as salt. Eventually, Ghana and other countries along the coast became known as the Gold coast. Salt mine At the end of the eleventh century, Muslims attacked Ghana and this invasion caused the gold for salt trade to end. Ghana lost its power.

Ghana became a rich and powerful nation, especially when the camel began to be used as a source of transport. Ghana relied on trade and trade was made faster and bigger with the use of the camel.

After 700 AD, Islam began to spread over northern Africa via traders. Muslim warriors came into Ghana and fought with the non- Islamic people there. This weakened the great civilization of Ghana. Local warriors then decided to break away from Ghana and form their own kingdoms. This ended many of the trade networks and weakened the civilization of Ancient Ghana. Islamic Mosque in Ghana blankbluesky.com/ travel/ghana/

Mali then gained control of the “gold for salt” trade after Mali. It was a large kingdom south of Ghana. Perhaps the greatest king of Mali was Mansa Musa ( ). He developed the gold and salt trade of Mali and his kingdom became very powerful and rich.

In 1324 Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage, Hajj, with 60,000 servants and followers and 80 camels carrying more than 4,000 pounds of gold to be distributed among the poor. Of the 12,000 servants 500 carried a staff of pure gold. This showed his power and wealth to the other people he visited. Unfortunately, he gave so much gold away as he traveled that he devalued gold!

When Mansa Musa died the great kingdom of Mali weakened. Eventually, different groups started to claim the former Mali territory, including the Berbers from the North. Although Mali fell, another advanced African kingdom took its place, the kingdom of Songhai. The Berbers still live in North Africa. This picture, taken in 1893, shows a Berber group.

Songhai was a strong Muslim kingdom. The first great ruler of Songhai was named Sonni Ali. Sonni Ali sent warriors to march on landlocked cities like Timbuktu and another city called Jenne. Soon, the kingdom grew larger than Mali and Ghana. It became the largest kingdom in Africa.

Eventually, Songhai controlled the gold mines in the south and the salt mines in the north. At its height, Songhai stretched over 2,000 miles.

Sunni Ali died in 1492 CE. His son took over the rule of Songhai but he did not accept Islam as a religion. Islam was accepted as a religion by many people in northern Africa. One of Sunni Ali’s generals, named Muhammad Ture, overthrew the new king and made himself king of Songhai. Ture was a Muslim and so he made Islam the religion of his kingdom. This is a photo of a mosque in western Africa. Many mosques were built of local materials.

The Fall of Songhai – By 1590, civil war broke out in the Songhai kingdom. Just like Ghana and Mali, the wealth and power of Songhai began to fade and in 1591 the Moroccan army invaded. The Songhai were defeated because the Moroccans had a new weapon, the gun, and the army of Songhai did not. After that, the kingdom of Songhai split up into small, independent states.