1. Early Civilizations in Africa

2. Africa’s Size Second largest continent 10% of the world’s population
M I L E S
M I L E S
Second largest continent
10% of the world’s population

3. The Continent of Africa
Very different environments
Dessert & rainforests unihabitable
Insect diseases: tsetse fly & mosquito
Most people live in savannas

4. The Emergence of Civilization
The Land
Sahara is the great divide
Nomadic—herders
Migration: Bantu peoples
Farming and ironworking
Family=basic social unit
Extended families/clans
Animism: spiritual religion/ancestor worship
Griots: specialized storytellers, pass and preserve history orally

5. Bantu Migration
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Bantu migration spread use of iron, language across continent

6. North Africa: Axum Rich trading state Followed Coptic Christianity
King Ezana converts
Mixes Christian beliefs and African traditions
Fell to Islamic invaders
Now Ethiopia

7. Stele, Ezana’s Royal Tomb, Aksum (4c)

8. Christian Church, Lalibela

9. Christian Church, Lalibela
Coptic Christian Priest

10. The States of West Africa
Expansion of Islam
Arabic becomes main language
Ghana
Gold-Salt Trade
Very wealthy: “Land of Gold”
Kings did not convert to Islam, but the people did
Mali
Wealth come from Gold trade
Eventually conquer Ghana
Mansa Musa, encouraged Islam, built university in Timbuktu (yes, it’s a real city)
Songhai
Sunni Ali builds vast military state: expands empire
Ruled 1000 years
Lacked modern weapons: falls in 1591 to Morocco

11. Gold-Salt Trade
Berbers
SALT
GOLD

12. Gold “Money”, Ghana/Ivory Coast
Ghana Empire [4c-11c]
Gold “Money”, Ghana/Ivory Coast

13. Salt

14. King of Ghana
"The King . . .(wears). . . necklaces round his neck and bracelets on his forearms and he puts on a high cap decorated with gold and wrapped in a turban of fine cotton. He (meets people) in a domed pavilion around which stand ten horses covered with gold-embroidered materials…and on his right, are the sons of the (lesser) kings of his country, wearing splendid garments and their hair plaited with gold. At the door of the pavilion are dogs of excellent pedigree. Round their necks they wear collars of gold and silver, studded with a number of balls of the same metals."
10th century geographer Al-Bakri, quoted in Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History.

15. Mali Empire [13c-15c]
SALT
GOLD

16. Timbuktu-”Heavenly Clay”

17. Timbuktu Rooftop, Mosque

18. Great Mosque at Djenne, Mali

19. Mansa Musa [r ]

20. East Africa Self-governing city-states
Trade with the interior, Indian Ocean, China, and along the coast
Influenced by Arab traders
Ex: Zanzibar
Often traded slaves
Mixed African-Arab culture
Mixed culture and language called Swahili

21. Swahili-Speaking Areas of E. Africa
SWAHILI [“the coast’] = Bantu + some Arabic

22. Stateless Societies of South Africa
From the basin of the Congo River to the Cape of Good Hope
Stateless society: power is not in a government
Progress made with regional trade
Zimbabwe (Sacred House, Great Stone House)
Capital known as Great Zimbabwe
Benefited from trade between interior and coast
Evidence of great wealth, but Great Zimbabwe abandoned

23. Great Zimbabwe [ ]

24. Great Zimbabwe Street

25. Great Enclosure, Zimbabwe