Early Cultural Diffusion: African Bantu and China

Desertification- land dries out until plants cant grow Bantu Migration The Bantu are an African tribe from West Africa A Neolithic group- focused on growing crops Overpopulation, drought and desertification forced them to migrate away Desertification- land dries out until plants cant grow

Bantu desertification As the farming lands began to turn to deserts the Bantu could not grow enough food. Slowly, groups of Bantu migrated away As they migrated they took their way of life, or culture with them

Bantu Effects -1/3 of Africa speaks a Bantu language -Iron tools improved farming and created new tools -Bantu created settled villages throughout Africa -subsistence Agriculture (growing enough food to get by)

China’s Silk Road What is China’s geography? What effect does this have on China? Mountains, deserts, and oceans Keeps them isolated

China’s Silk Road Eventually outsiders filter into China bringing goods, technology and new ideas They find China a unique culture with many new goods and beliefs As demand grows for goods from the East a series of trade roads develop

Silk Road The Silk Road is MANY roads connecting China to the Middle East (Mesopotamia) over 4,000 miles Chinese goods like Silk would travel to the East Glass, new foods and cotton would flow to China

Middle Eastern Merchant Silk Road Merchants The merchants would only travel a few hundred miles at a time, then exchange their goods. EVERY time the goods change hands the price goes up $ $ Consumer Chinese Merchant Indian Merchant Middle Eastern Merchant $ $

Silk Worms?! Silk is made from the cocoon of the silk worm The process was extremely secret…so secret that the penalty for telling outsiders was DEATH

Crash Course Silk Road

Monsoon Marketplace The Indian Ocean also became a center of trade. Ships bearing large loads of spice, silk and other goods would travel during the Monsoon seasons The winds from the Monsoons would push the ships

Review The Bantu migrations in Africa (500 BCE-1500CE) had the greatest impact on modern African 1) Languages 2) Market Systems 3)Transportation Systems 4) Architecture

Review What categories could the Silk Road fall under?

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