1. Chapter 7 Africa

2. Development of Civilization in Africa  After Asia, Africa is the largest of the continents.  Altogether, deserts cover about 40 percent of Africa.

3.  The Sahara is the largest desert on Earth.  The savannas, broad grasslands dotted with small trees and shrubs, cover about 40 percent of the African continent. 

4.  The other 20 percent is rainforest and temperate climates.  The African rain forest is home to several disease- carrying insects, including the tsetse fly, which carries the dreaded “sleeping sickness.”

5.  The Kush established one of the first trading civilizations in Africa.  The Assyrians overwhelmed them, though (Bronze). 

6.  Next, Axum emerged as an independent trading state that combined Arab and African cultures  The Kush declined because of the rise of Axum, a new power located in the highlands of what is now Ethiopia. 

7.  Axum owed much of its prosperity to its location along the Red Sea.  The official religion of Axum was Christianity, which was first brought by shipwrecked Syrians. 

8. Kingdoms and States of Africa  Ghana was the first of the great trading states to emerge in the area south of the Sahara in West Africa.

9.  Ghana had an abundance of gold.  The people of Ghana often traded their gold for salt, which was used to preserve food and improve its taste.

10.  The Berbers and their camel caravans became known as the “fleets of the desert” because of the great trade that flourished in and around Ghana.

11.  Soon, Ghana weakened and Mali eventually took its place as the next great African empire.  Sundiata Keita, the “lion prince”, established Mali in the mid-thirteenth century.  One of the richest and most influential Mali kings was Mansa Musa.

12.  Under Sunni Ali, the Songhai civilization expanded in the 1400’s.  Muhammad Ture, one of the most famous kings of the Songhai Empire, helped it reach the height of its power during his reign in the late 1400’s.

13.  In Southern Africa states were slow to organize.  A stateless society is a group of independent villages organized by clans and led by a local ruler or clan head.

14.  Most stateless societies resided in Southern Africa.  The Bantu communities were based on subsistence farming, which meant they grew crops for personal use, not for trade.

15. African Society & Culture  Although Islam was powerful in the Middle East, it was slow to spread in East Africa because many of Islam’s beliefs conflicted with traditional African beliefs and customs.

16.  Ancestors were a key element in African religion because the ancestors were believed to be closer to the gods.

17.  A special class of diviners believed they had the power to foretell events, usually by working with supernatural forces.  The Ashanti people in Ghana worshipped Nyame and a group of lesser gods

18.  Music and storytelling were used to pass along a community’s history in the absence of a written language.

19.  The Nok culture is the oldest known culture in West Africa to have created sculpture.  Many African societies were matrilineal, meaning descent was traced through the mother.

20. The End