1. CHAPTER 5, SECTION 2 Early Culture

2. Families - Lived with an extended family, made up of father mother, children, close relatives. - “Age sets”: men who were the same age formed loyalties and friendships. Sometimes women did too. - Loyalty to family and age-sets helped people in a village work together.

3. Daily Life  -Everyone had a specific job. - Men hunted and farmed. - Women farmed, collected firewood, ground grain, carried water, and took care of the children. - Farmers raised cattle, goats, and sheep. - Elders taught the family traditions to the young people. - They used songs, dances, and stories to pass down history and values. - Children worked hard because it was honorable to help their village.

4. Religion - Many West Africans believed that the spirits of their ancestors stayed nearby. - They honored the spirits by make sacred places with carved statues where they could visit their ancestors. - They offered food to the spirits to keep them happy, so the spirits would protect the village. - Animism is the belief that everything in nature had a spirit. This is similar to American Indian beliefs. - Animism shows how much West Africans respected nature and depended on it.

5. Technology and Change  Around 5ooBC West Africans discovered iron.  Iron could be shaped into tools like the hoe, which was used for farming.  It could also be made into arrow tips and spears for hunting and fighting.  It could also be made into blades which cut down trees for villages.  As a result, the population of West Africa grew.

6. Trade and West Africa  Before the Romans, West Africans rode horses in the desert.  In AD 200, they began to use camels.  Camels could cross the Sahara in 2 months.  Caravans led by the Berbers began to trade across the desert.  West Africa had gold and salt mines.  Salt came from mines in the Sahara and went south.  Gold went north to Europe and Islamic areas.  They also traded cloth, copper, silver and even people. Desert TradeTrade in Salt and Gold