 List 3 facts from your reading of Chapter 13 yesterday.

Chapter 13

Section 1

 2 nd largest continent  Most of Africa lies in the Tropics  Sahara desert  North  Kalahari  South  Almost all of Africa rests on a plateau  an area of high flat land  Nile River  Congo River  Great Rift Valley

 Berbers  first known people to settle North Africa  Traded salt and cloth for gold and ivory  During Medieval period, African empires were bigger than most European kingdoms in wealth and size.

 Ghana rose to power in the AD 400s.  “crossroads of trade”  Taxes paid at these crossroads made Ghana rich.  Made iron weapons  Controlled groups who had gold  Salt was very valuable

 Gold discovered outside of Ghana’s control, led to lower prices.  Ghana fell in the 1200s and the kingdom of Mali replaced it.  West African griots (storytellers) give credit to a great warrior-king named Sundiata Keita or the “Lion Prince”.  He ruled from 1230 to 1255  Took control of Ghana’s capital and Timbuktu.  Rebuilt gold and salt trade.

 Mansa Musa was Mali’s last strong king.  1468, Sunni Ali, the leader of Songhai stormed into Timbuktu and drove out the Berbers  He used Songhai’s location along the Niger River to his advantage.  Ordered a fleet of war canoes to seize control of the river trade  Took Berber salt mines  By his death in 1492, he had built the largest empire in West Africa.  Empire lasted almost 100 more years

 Griots who live in the Niger delta still tell stories about King Ewuare who founded the empire of Benin around  Farmers in the rain forest had several advantages  Soil  Warm, wet climate  Often had a surplus of bananas, yams, or rice.  Traded these surpluses for copper, salt, and leather goods from the savannas.

 Queen Makeda rose to the throne of the Saba empire, or Sheba  Glory of the King’s, Africa’s oldest written history, said Makeda traveled to meet with King Solomon of the Israelites.  Once he returned, he introduced Israel’s religion to her empire.

 Ethiopia, known in ancient times as Abyssinia did not decline like other African empires of the time.  Abyssinia’s power came from the city of Axum which was located on the Red Sea.  AD 300, King Ezana of Axum sent his armies against Kush and defeated it.

Section 2

 Kings settled arguments, managed trade, and protected the empire.  Merchants would receive favors from the kings and the kings would receive taxes from the merchants.  Kings of Ghana relied upon a council of ministers.  No one could trade without the king’s permission.  No one could own gold nuggets except the king.  In Ghana, the king’s nephew, sister’s son, was the next to rule.

 Had many officials  King’s divided the empire into provinces  “National Honor of the Trousers”

 Sunni Ali divided empire into provinces, but he never finished setting up his empire, as he moved from one fight to another.  Muhammad Ture took over after Sunni Ali’s death.

 Many Europeans believed Africans did not have a religion  Olaudah Equiano disagreed  Member of the Igbo  “believed that there is one Creator of all things, and that he…governs events, especially our deaths and captivity.”  Most African tribes shared the Igbo belief in one supreme god.  Nanti in East Africa thought people could speak directly with their god.  Igbo thought their god could only be spoken to through lesser gods.  Many believed that when their relatives died, their spirits stayed with the community.

 Ibn Battuta  young Arab lawyer from Morocco traveled the Islamic world.  Many believed Sundiata Keita and Sunni Ali did not do enough to advance the faith of Islam.  He found that in West Africa, women did not cover their faces, but many did study the Quran

 Mansa Musa had allowed different religions, but had worked to make Islam stronger  He used the wealth of Mali to build mosques and set up libraries at Timbuktu that collected books from the Muslim world.  1324, Mansa Musa made Mali known to the world as he set out on a journey to Mecca.  He brought a huge caravan and convinced some of the best architects to return to Mali with him.

 Sunni Ali practiced the traditional religion of the Songhai, but declared himself a Muslim to keep the support of his townspeople.  Muhammad Ture drove Ali’s family from Songhai in a bloody war, then took the name Askia, a rank in the Songhai army.  Under Askia Muhammad, Songhai build the largest empire in medieval Africa.

 1331, Ibn Battuta visited Mogadishu the sultan.  This sultan spoke in Arabic, then again in Swahili.  Swahili  Arabic for “people of the coast”  Today, this is a blend of African and Muslim culture  Muslim schools drew people in from all across Africa.

Section 3

 3000 BC, fishing groups along the Benue River packed their belongings and moved south and west.  These “wanderers” called themselves Bantu, meaning “the people”  By AD 400, Bantu had settled much of Africa.  Today, more than 120 million Africans speak a form of Bantu, including Swahili.  The Bantu believed in one supreme creator and as spirit world where ancestors lived.

 Education was carried out by the family and neighbors.  Students learned the history of their culture and skills they needed as adults.  Oral history  stories passed down from generation to generation.

 Some women were soldiers in African kingdoms.  AD 600s, Queen Dahiaal-Kahina led the fight against a Muslim invasion.  Queen Nzinga spend almost 40 years battling Portuguese slave traders.

 1441, a Portuguese sea captain captured 12 Africans and they became the first African slaves brought back to Europe.  Bantu chiefs would raid nearby villages and take captives who became their slaves.  Enslaved Africans might earn their freedom through hard work or marrying a free person.  The Quran forbade the enslavement of Muslims, but allowed non-Muslims to be slaves.

 Many of the first African slaves worked in Portugal.  Eventually, slaves began working on sugar cane plantations.

 Cave paintings are the earliest form of art from Africa.  Would late use wood, ivory, and bronze for carvings.  Music expressed religious feelings or got people through everyday tasks.  Believed dance allowed the spirits to express themselves.  Music of hardship, sung by slaves, was the basis for the modern day genre of the blues.  Griots remained important.

 People often lived in extended families  families made up of several generations.  Many villages, especially the Bantu were matrilineal, meaning they traced their descent through mothers rather than fathers.  Yoruba believed an ancestor could be reborn into a child.