1. African Cultures

2. Geography of Africa Mediterranean Sea Atlantic Ocean Equator Red Sea South Africa – Home to the 2010 World Cup

3. Sahara Desert – lies between the well watered regions of northern and southern Africa (made trade difficult, remained local)

4. Marathon of the Sands – a grueling six-day footrace across the Moroccan Sahara…151 miles!

5. Dakar rally

6. savanna – edges of the Sahara, rolling grasslands

7. African Safaris

8. Nile River – 4,132 miles

9. Herodotus called Egypt “The Gift of the Nile.”

10. Victoria Falls – Zimbabwe and Zambia – 360 feet

11. The Pyramids and the Sphinx

12. Arab merchants, camels, 5 th C. more weight, walk longer over a week without water withstand extreme temps. long-distance trade routes opened

13.  Islam, practiced by Muslims  8 th C., spread across N. Africa Sankore Mosque

14. Demand for gold opened up trade in Africa

15. Empires of West Africa

16. I. Ghana emerged in 5 th century, earliest located between gold & salt mines

17. Soninke, as people of Ghana were called, controlled region’s trade

18. Muslim traders arrived, built mosques Larabanga mosque – oldest in Ghana

19. II. Mali  Malinke people controlled upper Niger Valley  took over gold trade, conquered Soninke of Ghana  ruler was called the mansa – kept army ready The Great Mosque of Djenné is the largest adobe building in the world

20. Mali, peak, 14 th C. under Mansa Musa and his brother Mansa Sulayman

22. New gold mines opened, shifting trade routes farther east, led to the rise of Timbuktu (Muslim scholarship)

23. III. Songhai Sorko people, Niger River canoes to control river trade Sonni Ali seized Timbuktu in 1468, began series of conquests

24. Central & Southern Africa hunting and gathering matrilineal – lineage traced through mothers women – much influence

25. Slavery “Torn from their own cultures, they had to learn a completely new way of life amid often horrifying conditions.”