Transcript Africa - Mahopac Central School District

Africa
400-1500
“The Kingdoms of Africa Prior to
European Rule”
Main ideas for “Classical Africa”
(600BC-1500 AD)
• “ALL ADVANCED CIVLIZATIONS PRIOR TO
EUROPEAN ARRIVAL”
• Trading kingdoms based on GOLD, SALT, SLAVES &
IVORY
• Trading kingdoms-GHANA, MALI & SONGHAI
• Geography and Climate impact the development of
Africa (RIVERS)
• Religion and belief system- ANIMISM &
WORSHIPPING OF DEAD ANCESTORS.
• Question- WHY DO WE KNOW SO LITTLE ABOUT
THE CIVLIZATIONS FROM ABOUT 600 BC-1500
AD?
Essential Questions
• What geographical features affected the development of
Africa?
• What conditions contributed to the varied cultures that
developed in Africa? How has this been changed over
time?
• Why is/was so little known about Africa prior to 1500?
• What products were traded along the Africa WesternSaharan routes?
• How did Islam affect the development of cultures in
Africa?
• Explain the family patterns of African societies and how
these influenced community and culture.
• Why has tribalism been more important than nationalism?
• How did European imperialism destroy the cultures and
societies of ancient Africa?
Climatic Zones of Africa
• Four main climates:
1. Rain Forest
2. Savanna
3. Desert
4. Mediterranean
Climates
• Rain Forest: Located near and around the equator.
(8% of Africa)
• Heavy rains, leeched soil, many animals, lush
vegetation.
• Deforestation is a major problem. Slash and burn
for farm land.
• Savannas: Grasslands dotted w/ trees. (Great for
wildlife)
• Unreliable rainfall, but it will support life.
• Deserts: dry and limited water.
• 40 % of Africa and GROWING each day, week
and year. Desertification.
• Sahara Desert is the largest desert in Africa, but
the Kalahari and Namib deserts are large as well.
• Mediterranean Climate Zone: the northern and
southern tips of Africa. Mild-Hot wet climate.
Great for farming.
• VERY IMPORTANT: Rivers in Africa are nonnavigable due to waterfalls and rapids.
– THERE ARE CATARACTS (WATERFALLS)
• Rift Valley: East Africa. This has created high
peaks and valleys (Mount Kilimanjaro.)
Bantu Migrations
• This is when tribes sudden left Northern
Africa and spread southward.
• Many dispersed in the rainforests and on the
coastal areas.
• Their common thread: similar language.
The Kingdoms
We Examine:
Name of
Civilization
Time Period
Kush: Meroe 2000-350 BC
Aksum
Axum
900 BC-600
AD
Swahili
(Kilwa)
Zimbabwe
Ghana
Mali
Songhai(y)
900-1500 AD
400-1200 AD
800-1400 AD
900- 1500 AD
Economic Basis for
Existence: Trade or
Agriculture
Noteworthy
Achievements
Trade & Farming
Ivory, ebony,
perfumes
Iron Tools, mixture
of Egyptian ideas
Trade: gold, iron,
emeralds, spice
incense, ivory
Obelisk, laws,
churches
Traders
Streets
Farmers
Monetary system
Traders: gold,
slaves, salt
Arabic alphabet,
taxes, Islam
Traders: gold
ivory and slaves
Islam, universities
Traders &
Commerce:
Slaves, Gold, Salt
Learning centers,
Islam
Kush
(2000BC-350BC)
• The Kingdom of Kush developed in the Upper
Nile
• This was a trading kingdom (ivory, gold, wood
and perfumes.)
• Used iron for their armies/weapons.
• Axum:
• As it declined Axum emerged!
• Axum continued the trade between Africa and the
Mediterranean. (gold, ivory, animal pelts)
• Blend of Arab and African values/cultures
West Africa Traders
•
•
•
•
Ghana (400-1200)
Gold-Salt trade route in the Niger Valley
Height of power in 900
Their time came to an end when devout
Muslims attacked
• The kingdom of Mali emerges from the
ruins of Ghana
ROYALTY GORGEOUSLY ATTIRED
"The King adorns himself like a woman wearing 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
holds an audience in a domed pavilion around which stand ten
horses covered with gold-embroidered materials…and on his right,
are the sons of the vassal 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.
Kingdom of Mali
• Sundiata Keita defeated rivals and built an empire
on the remains of Ghana
• Gold-Salt Traders
• Most were farmers and herders
• In the 1000’s most of Mali converts to Islam.
• In 1324 Mansa Musa went to Mecca because he
was a Muslim…this spread Islam across
Saharan Africa.
• Ibn Battuta wrote a famous description of his
travels (you’ll get this later!)
Kingdom of Songhai
• 1464 Songhai gained control of the Gold
Salt trade
• Sonni Ali was the leader
• Later Timbuktu became a great center.
• Invasions made Songhai splinter…then it
lead to it’s demise.
Family Life
• Africa Tribes center around the nuclear
family.
• All member contributed equally for the
success of the tribe.
• Women’s roles varied from tribe to tribe.
• Their importance rested in the fact she
could bare children…if no children then this
would be a disgrace!
• Marriages were arranged by the parents.
• Government and Law: Most of the
kingdoms of Africa were headed by a KING
who was divine.
• Local rule was done by a council of elders.
• Animism: There was a sense of a supreme
being, but there was a respect for nature and
the animals in nature.
• History and Literature: Oral History through
story tellers.
The Lost Wax Process
The process begins with beeswax, latex, or another material
with a low melting point. It must be soft enough for carving
fine details, but hard enough to retain its shape. After the wax
object has been carved, increasingly coarse layers of clay are
applied to the object and allowed to dry. The first and finest
clay slips capture the wax details in the smooth mold, and the
coarser clay layers provide strength. The entire assemblage
is fired, causing the original wax carving to melt away,
leaving only a baked clay shell. Liquid metal is poured into
the empty mold and left to cool and harden. Later, the clay
exterior is broken open, revealing the finished metal object
beneath. In direct lost-wax casting, the object produced is
always unique, as the mold is necessarily destroyed as
part of the casting process.
Cast in the lost wax method, gold weights are the result of a beeswax mold carved into
a specific shape or form. The beeswax mold form is then covered with a clay casing and
fired. As the heat melts away the wax mold, molten metal is poured into the clay casing
mold. Metal such as copper, bronze, or brass are most common. When the metal has
hardened, the clay mold is broken apart to reveal and remove the metal gold weight.
Since the mold is broken in the process, each gold weight is original and unique.
A variation of this process that is repeatedly and successfully practiced by the Asante is
a "direct cast technique", also known by some as the "lost beetle technique." In this
process, natural objects are used instead of a wax figure to create the clay mold.
Examples of objects that have been used to make such gold weights are the body of a
beetle, a peanut shell, an animal foot, or a cocoon.