1. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Early African Civilizations

2. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. One of its most notable geographic features is the vast Sahara, the world’s largest desert. The variety of climate and geography in Africa influenced its diversity of culture.

3. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. The most populated regions are the savannas. Deserts, rain forests, and rivers with cataracts hindered easy movement. At the same time, the Great Rift Valley served as an interior passage. Varied vegetation regions form wide bands across Africa.

4. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Camels could carry heavy loads 20 or 30 miles a day. Merchants on both sides of the Sahara profited from these “ships of the desert.” Despite the difficulty of travel, trade across the Sahara expanded by A.D. 200 due to the introduction of camels from Asia.

5. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. The Sahara was a well-watered area at the time. However, around 2500 B.C. climate change led to desertification of the Sahara. As farmland was lost, people began to migrate south. By 5500 B.C., Neolithic farmers cultivated the Nile Valley. Farming villages also appeared in the Sahara.

6. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. West Africans who migrated south and east spoke a variety of languages derived from a root language called Bantu. This mass movement of peoples is known as the Bantu migrations.

7. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Located south of Egypt, Nubia was under Egyptian control for many years. It regained its independence by 1100 B.C. Around 730 B.C. the Nubian king Piankhi conquered Egypt. Assyrians later conquered Nubia. By 500 B.C., Nubia moved its capital to Meroë. The kingdom of Nubia took shape at the same time as the great Egyptian civilization.

8. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Ultimately, the civilization declined. Nubia was invaded from the south by the kingdom of Axum in A.D. 350. Nubians worshipped their own gods and developed their own form of writing. People in the Nubian capital Meroë mastered ironworking and the city became a trade center.

9. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Early North African civilizations had strong ties to the Mediterranean Sea and were influenced by outsiders. Phoenician traders built Carthage, which was powerful from 800 B.C. to 146 B.C. After the Punic Wars, Rome burned Carthage. Romans farmed North Africa to feed their people. Under Roman rule, Christianity spread to North Africa.

10. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Under Arab rule, Islam replaced Christianity as the dominant religion of North Africa, and Arabic replaced Latin as the dominant language. Muslim civilization flourished in cities such as Cairo, Fez, and Marrakesh. Over time, Muslim traders from North Africa spread Islam into West Africa. Islam spread to North Africa in the 690s as a result of the Arab invasions.

11. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. West African Kingdoms

12. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Gold and salt were two of the most traded commodities. The Sahara had an abundance of salt, which people needed in their diet to replace salt lost in perspiration. In the savanna, salt was scarce. A merchant might trade one pound of gold for one pound of salt. When farmers began to produce surpluses, trade expanded from the savanna across the Sahara.

13. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. As trade grew, cities developed on the northern edges of the savanna. Monarchs gained control of trade routes and built powerful kingdoms. Trade routes crisscrossed the African continent between 1000 B.C. and A.D. 1600

14. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. By A.D. 800, the rulers of the Soninke people united many farming villages to create the kingdom of Ghana. Ghana was located in the fertile area between the Niger and Senegal rivers. Rulers of Ghana controlled gold-salt routes across West Africa. Muslim merchants from North of the Sahara brought Islam to Ghana.

15. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. According to tradition, Mali was founded in 1235 by a young man named Sundiata. The kings of Mali, or mansas, took control of gold-mining regions and the gold-salt trade. The greatest ruler of Mali, Mansa Musa, came to power in about 1312. He conquered additional territory and converted to Islam. Ghana fell in around 1050. In time, the new kingdom of Mali replaced Ghana.

16. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. After a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, Mansa Musa brought Muslim scholars and architects to Mali. He built a university at Timbuktu that became a great center of learning. This map shows Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca.

17. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. He formed strong ties to the Muslim world. When he died, the emperor Askia Muhammad expanded Songhai territory, holding court at Gao. The soldier-king Sonni Ali brought trade routes and cities under his control. In the 1400s, Mali weakened and the new West African kingdom of Songhai arose.

18. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. In 1591, invaders from Morocco conquered the empire. Though the invaders couldn’t maintain control, the glory of the Songhai kingdom was over. The Songhai kingdom experienced disputes over succession in the late 1500s.

19. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. KingdomNotable CitiesYears GhanaKumbi Saleh800–1050 MaliTimbuktu1235–1400s SonghaiGao1464–1591 Great Kingdoms of West Africa

20. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Benin rose on the Guinea Coast during the 1300s. Its people knew how to cast bronze and brass. The Hausa of West Africa became prominent in the 1300s. They lived in walled city-states. The Hausa came to dominate many Saharan trade routes. In addition to the great kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai, there were several smaller societies in the region.

21. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. East African Kingdoms and Trading States

22. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Axum stretched from the mountains of present-day Ethiopia to the Red Sea. The people there were descended from African farmers and Middle Easterners. The two cultures blended and created a new language called Geez. The kingdom of Axum flourished between 300 B.C. and A.D. 600.

23. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. One of its main cities, Adulis, was a port on the Red Sea. Here, goods such as ivory, animal hides, and gold were brought to market. Axum controlled a triangular trade network between Africa, India, and the Mediterranean. Axum grew very wealthy through trade.

24. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. This conversion strengthened the kingdom’s ties with North Africa and the Mediterranean. However, when Islam spread in the 600s, Axum became isolated from many of its trading partners. Civil war and economic weakness led to the decline of Axum. Axum converted to Christianity in the 300s.

25. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. King Lalibela came to power in Ethiopia in the early 1200s. He directed the building of Christian churches, carved into solid rock. Protected by rugged mountains, Ethiopia kept its independence for centuries. The legacy of Axum survived in medieval Ethiopia.

26. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Ethiopian Christianity absorbed local customs over time. Ethiopian Christianity absorbed local customs over time. Some made pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Some made pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Ethiopian Christians kept ties with the Holy Land in the Middle East. Some Ethiopians practiced Judaism. Jews known as Falasha lived in Ethiopia until the late 1900s.

27. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Indian, Muslim, and Asian traders had visited since ancient times. By the 600s, sailors learned that monsoon winds would carry them from India to Africa each year. Foreign trade helped local rulers build strong, independent city-states, such as Kilwa. A rich cultural mix existed along the East African coast.

28. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Trade linked distant ports in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

29. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. This vibrant trading culture on the coast of East Africa led to the emergence of a new language. Swahili developed as greater numbers of people began to settle in East Africa. Arabic words were absorbed into the Bantu-based language to create Swahili, an Arabic word meaning “of the coast.”

30. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Bantu-speaking people who lived in this region between 900 and 1500 built huge stone towers in their capital city. The ruins left behind today are called Great Zimbabwe. Archaeologists are working now to learn more about this civilization. South of the coastal city-states, a great inland empire existed.

31. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. It had artisans and skilled builders. The ruler was probably a god-king who presided over a large court. Zimbabwe declined by 1500, probably due to civil war and slowing trade. Great Zimbabwe was part of an extensive trade network. It reached its height around 1300.

32. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. African Societies and Cultures

33. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. In medieval Africa, as elsewhere, the family was the basic unit of society. In some societies, the nuclear family formed the basic unit. In others, the extended family all lived and worked together. Some families were patrilineal, tracing inheritance through the father’s side, and some were matrilineal, tracing it through the mother’s side.

34. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Belonging to a particular family and lineage gave people a sense of community and responsibility. A lineage is a group whose members claim the same ancestry. A clan was made up of several lineages. People’s place in their community was also determined by age grades. An age grade was made up of all children born in the same year. Each age grade had its own particular responsibilities.

35. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. In smaller communities, power was shared among many people. Villages made decisions by reaching a consensus after open discussions. The opinions of elder men and women carried great weight. If villages were part of a kingdom such as Songhai, they had to obey decisions from a distant court and pay taxes. Governments arose in medieval Africa as communities grew. Political patterns varied.

36. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Each village paid taxes in cowrie shells to a governor. Each village paid taxes in cowrie shells to a governor. An example of this was the kingdom of Kongo, which existed around 1500. In another system of government, villages were grouped into districts and governed by officials named by a king.

37. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Like Greeks and Romans, some Africans worshiped many gods. Like the Chinese, some Africans believed that the spirits of their ancestors could help them. However, most Africans believed in a supreme being that was above all other gods. Religious beliefs in Africa before the arrival of Christianity and Islam were complex and tied to nature.

38. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Africans often associated the God of these religions with their supreme being. Christianity and Islam assimilated many local beliefs and traditions. Christianity and Islam spread into Africa by A.D. 1000.

39. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Examples of this power can be seen in: The ancient rock paintings of the Sahara The pyramids of Egypt and Nubia The rock churches of Ethiopia Early and medieval societies in Africa had great artistic and creative power.

40. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. They made decorative items such as bowls or jewelry. African art often served social or religious purposes. For example, elaborate masks were used in religious ceremonies. African artists used a variety of materials, such as ivory, wood, and gold.

41. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Professional storytellers called griots memorized and passed down ancient tales. Epics preserved the history of great leaders, such as Sundiata. Folk tales used humor and wordplay to teach moral lessons. Some stories were not spoken—they were communicated by the talking drums of western and central Africa. Oral traditions were an important part of African literature.