1. Early African Societies and the Bantu Migrations
Chapter 3
Early African Societies and the Bantu Migrations

2. 1 Civilizations Civilization- Advanced/complex human society
-Defining Characteristics: Large population, written language, unique art styles, division of labor, and social classes
Egypt, Nubia and Kush developed:
-Rule by pharaoh (Egypt), trading along the Nile River, hieroglyphics, iron production, and well-defined social classes

3. 2 Where did it developed?
-Early civilizations developed in Northern Africa along the Nile River.
-The Sahara desert was too dry to grow crops, so it was essential to be near the river where agriculture would be more successful.

4. 3 State
State- An area with an organized political community under one government
-Pharaohs ruled Egypt (Old Kingdom and New Kingdom)
Supporters: Upper class citizens

5. 4 Expansion and Conquering
3100 BCE: Egypt (Old Kingdom) and Nubia were the two societies in Northern Africa
-Egypt conquered Lower Nubia
Circa 1450 BCE: Egypt (New Kingdom) dominated eastern Mediterranean and North Africa
-Tuthmosis III personally led the army to Palestine and Syria
-Egypt was able to expand its borders with large population

6. 5 Role of Pastoral Civilizations
-made expeditions to Nubia in search of political alliances and relationships in caravans of three hundred donkeys
-Hyksos- horse riding nomads: used horses for military forces
-introduced horses to Egypt (used horse drawn chariots)
-used bronze weapons;bronze tipped arrows & relied on wooden weaponry
-Assyrian armies had iron weapons from the north (invaders)

7. 6 Culture -main cultural achievement: Nile River
-preserved bodies for funerary rituals: buried people with special belongings they would want for afterlife
-entombed royal servants when burying kings
-believed in crops dying, and resurrecting into another season
-rain=good and evil
-pharaohs= gods, who owned and ruled the land
-Horus:sky god Amon: sun god

8. 7 Architectural Forms
-Old Kingdom constructed pyramids as royal tombs from 2600 to 2500 BCE
-stand in Giza
-served as testimonies to pharaoh’s ability of resources
-writing systems=Egypt and Nubia which was religious reflection and preserving of government records

9. 7 Architectural Forms
-agriculture was the main water source for these people
-built dams and irrigation networks between other agricultural villages along the Nile
- The New Kingdom: Pharaohs built numerous temples, palaces, and monumental statues=power and authority

10. 8 Development of Art
-artistic representations showed pharaohs as towering subjects over humans
-artists contributed to building of pyramids

11. 9 Writing
- Early writing used pictographic, Later used hieroglyphs, from a Mesopotamian influence
-Hieratic = cursive way of hieroglyphs; Hieroglyphs means “holy inscriptions”= formal
-Ended when turned to the Greek alphabet
-Meroitic language borrowed hieroglyphs

12. 10 Relations between culture and literature
-Egyptian officials filled monuments with hieroglyphics of their deeds in Nubia
-Also in Early writing egyptians filled monuments with pictographic
-A scribe wrote “The Satire of the Trades” talking about the miseries associated with 18 professions

13. 11 Religion
-Polytheism
- Principal gods = Amon-Re are gods of the sun but had a monotheistic challenge with Aten which was a God of an early monotheism belief
-Osiris= killed by his brother Seth and buried by his wife Isis; because of that other Gods revived him as the God of the underworld
-For Nubian = Apedemak, a lion god of war and Sebiumeker who was known as a creator god and divine guardian for his followers

14. 12 Trade Routes and Outside People
-Traded south to the cities of “Aswan” meaning trade and “Elephantine” getting from the elephants they traded
- Also traded with Mesopotamians
-Traded through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with an eastern land called Punt
-Punt = (maybe) modern Somalia and Ethiopia

15. 13 Social/gender identities
Pharaoh<-Scribes<-Peasants<-Slaves
-Pharaoh = absolute ruler
-Mesopotamian had noble classes; Egypt didn't have much space for that
-Instead they had military leaders, tax collectors, and bureaucracy administrators
-Women from royal family guided the son to king

16. Period 5
Paul Solis
Alexis Jackson
Audrey Kohler