African Cultures

Geography of Africa Mediterranean Sea Atlantic Ocean Equator Red Sea South Africa – Home to the 2010 World Cup

Sahara Desert – lies between the well watered regions of northern and southern Africa (made trade difficult, remained local)

Marathon of the Sands – a grueling six-day footrace across the Moroccan Sahara…151 miles!

Dakar rally

savanna – edges of the Sahara, rolling grasslands

African Safaris

Nile River – 4,132 miles

Herodotus called Egypt “The Gift of the Nile.”

Victoria Falls – Zimbabwe and Zambia – 360 feet

The Pyramids and the Sphinx

Arab merchants, camels, 5 th C. more weight, walk longer over a week without water withstand extreme temps. long-distance trade routes opened

 Islam, practiced by Muslims  8 th C., spread across N. Africa Sankore Mosque

Demand for gold opened up trade in Africa

Empires of West Africa

I. Ghana emerged in 5 th century, earliest located between gold & salt mines

Soninke, as people of Ghana were called, controlled region’s trade

Muslim traders arrived, built mosques Larabanga mosque – oldest in Ghana

II. Mali  Malinke people controlled upper Niger Valley  took over gold trade, conquered Soninke of Ghana  ruler was called the mansa – kept army ready The Great Mosque of Djenné is the largest adobe building in the world

Mali, peak, 14 th C. under Mansa Musa and his brother Mansa Sulayman

New gold mines opened, shifting trade routes farther east, led to the rise of Timbuktu (Muslim scholarship)

III. Songhai Sorko people, Niger River canoes to control river trade Sonni Ali seized Timbuktu in 1468, began series of conquests

Central & Southern Africa hunting and gathering matrilineal – lineage traced through mothers women – much influence

Slavery “Torn from their own cultures, they had to learn a completely new way of life amid often horrifying conditions.”