8 Africa

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/africaarchive/map.html

[Chapter 8] Africa Human-like creatures lived in the rugged highlands of East Africa almost 4 million years ago. In fact, scientists believe that the continent of Africa may be where our species began. Fossils of early human like beings, which date back to over a million years ago, have been found in the Great Rift Valley. In this chapter you will learn about early civilizations in Africa. As in other parts of the world, civilizations emerged, flourished, and then gave way to new cultures.

Some amazing photos of animals on the Serengeti Plain

• Ibn Battuta

- World traveler from Morocco. He first visited Mecca, then proceeded to the far east. The records of his travels helped historians.

Link to the writings of Ibn Battuta Link to a Common Core Activity for Ibn Battuta

• The rise and fall of African Civilizations

  • Ghana (800 – 1000 AD)

    • Controlled gold-salt trade routes in West Africa

    • Viewed king as semi-divine

    • High status held by women

    • Influenced by Muslims

  • Mali (1200 AD– 1450 AD)

    • Mosque located in Timbucktu, Mali.

    • Timbuktu became a center for Islamic learning.

    • Islamic scholars traveled from around the Muslim world to study and teach and the University of Timbuktu.

    • Expanded influence over gold-salt trade.

    • Emphasized peace and order

    • Mansu Musa - a great Islamic emperor who went on a famous hajj to Mecca calling attention to the great Mali Empire

  • Songhai (1450 AD – 1600 AD)

    • Largest West African state

    • Controlled trade routes in West Africa

    • Muslim

    • Set up efficient government and bureaucracy

    • The Songhai were defeated by people using European weaponry

• All three kingdoms maintained trading networks across the Sahara desert

• Ghana, Mali, and Songhai were all influenced by Islam

  • The main export was gold, which made each kingdom wealthy, and provided them with the conditions for cultural and intellectual achievement.

  • Located along trade routes

• One similarity between the Ancient African kingdoms of Egypt, Ghana, Mali and Songhai is that all of these kingdoms were located

• on major trade routes in Africa.

• The contributions of the ancient civilizations of Ghana, Axum, Kush, and Mali demonstrate that advanced societies developed in Africa before Europeans colonized this region

• Axum

  • East African trading kingdom located along the Red Sea

  • The Axum were descendants from African farmers and Arabian traders

  • Introduced both Jewish and Christian traditions in Africa

  • Location relative to the Ethiopian Highlands and the Nile River

  • Christian kingdom

• Zimbabwe

  • Location relative to the Zambezi river and the Indian Ocean coast

  • City of “Great Zimbabwe” as capital of a prosperous empire

  • Artifacts from the Ming Dyansty (China) were found by archeologists which proves that the fleet of Chinese Admiral Zheng He arrived to trade with the Zimbabwe people.

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Activity: Locate the image of an African mask online and draw your own variation of the mask just as Picasso did.

Link to a TED talk on Animism

Animistic beliefs were found in

Asia, Africa and the Americas

This link explains the concepts

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Traditional Societies

Picture Board Activity using Google Draw

1. What are the elements of traditional societies?

2. What are traditional economic systems?

3. What are traditional political systems?

4. Where are traditional beliefs strongest (rural areas vs. urban areas)?

5. Why?

In addition to answering these questions, find a picture related to each of the four questions above as they pertain to Africa.

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Mr. Grey's West Africa Pages - This is a terrific teacher site on the African Unit

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Pre Unit Questions

1) In Africa, an effect of topography and climate has been to

1. encourage rapid industrialization of the interior

2. prevent the development of kingdoms

3. promote large-scale trade between African and Asia

4. promote the growth of diverse societies

2) Which condition is a major obstacle to economic development in the Middle East and Northern Africa

1. use of strip mining to obtain minerals

2. reliance on capitalist economic systems

3. lack of access to world markets

4. scarcity of water resources

3) Which factor contributes most to the recurring food shortages in Africa?

1. poor distribution of agricultural products

2. extensive river systems

3. location between two major oceans

4. rainforest environment

4) Which is most directly influenced by the physical geography of that nation?

1. form of government

2. religious beliefs

3. population distribution

4. social class system

5) One reason the cultures of North Africa developed differently from the cultures of the rest of Africa was that these areas of Africa were

separated by the

1. Congo River Basin

2. Great Rift Valley

3. Sahara Desert

4. Arabian Sea

6) One reason the ancient kingdoms in western Africa prospered was that they

1. were located along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

2. had no contact with the rest of the world

3. followed the Hindu beliefs of their rulers

4. developed extensive trade in gold, ivory, and salt

7) Mansa Musa’s journey to Mecca in the 1300’s is evidence that

1. the Crusades had a great influence on western Africa

2. most African leaders were educated in the Middle East

3. European culture was superior to the cultures of western Africa

4. Islam had a major influence on the Mali Empire

8) Traditional African art has had the greatest influence on

1. classical Roman mosaics and pottery

2. Renaissance painting

3. 20th century sculpture and painting

4. Medieval European architecture

9) The contributions of the ancient civilizations of Ghana, Axum, Kush, and Mali demonstrate that

1. industrial technology was needed for African civilizations to develop

2. many African civilizations developed in southern Africa

3. most of the African Continent was unified under a single political system

4. advanced societies developed in Africa before Europeans colonized this region

10) Which generalization is characteristic of most traditional societies?

1. people move from city to city seeking new jobs

2. sons learn the same trades as their fathers

3. a high degree of social mobility exists

4. all people have the same economic opportunities

11) Geographic isolation of a people frequently reinforces

1. a traditional way of life

2. the development of scientific investigation

3. the need for higher education

4. a process of cultural diffusion

12) In most traditional societies, the teaching of values is mainly the responsibility of the

1. judicial system

2. government

3. educational system

4. family

13) Extended families and limited social mobility are characteristic of

1. constitutional monarchies

2. polytheistic religions

3. traditional societies

4. socialist economies

14) The study of culture primarily involves

1. observing the physical environment of people

2. learning why various peoples live as they do

3. understanding the technology of modern machinery

4. analyzing the personalities of children in the same family

15) Recent archeological studies suggest the theory that

1. the earliest humans evolved in the Rift Valley in Africa

2. farming societies developed before hunting and gathering societies

3. all the continents were settled at about the same time

4. the wheel was used by all ancient societies

16) A similarity between the ancient western African kingdoms of Mali, Ghana, and Songhai is that these kingdoms

1. limited the power of their rulers

2. practiced Christianity

3. established economies based on trade

4. isolated themselves from contact with other cultures

17) Traditional animistic beliefs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are based on

1. a desire for wealth

2. a written tradition

3. an appreciation for the forces of nature

4. a willingness to accept Christianity

18) In a traditional society, the influence of an extended family decreases when that society is

1. being governed by a council of elders

2. experiencing rapid urbanization and industrialization

3. faced with a decreasing population

4. raising only enough crops to feed its people

19) A belief of animism is that

1. after death the soul is reborn in another human form

2. holy wars must be fought to gain entry into heaven

3. meditation leads followers to nirvana

4. spirits of nature inhabit all living and nonliving objects

20) In many African nations, a major result of migration from rural to urban areas has been

1. a strengthening of traditional values

2. a decline in employment opportunities for educated Africans

3. a weakening of ancestral lines and kinship bonds

4. increased agricultural productivity

21) Which situation best illustrates a traditional practice of women in Masai society?

1. a young woman leaving her village to attend a university in the capital city

2. an educated woman returning to her village to become leader of her tribe

3. a young woman marrying and her husband giving cattle to her family as a wedding gift

4. a young mother discouraging her children from practicing animism

22) Which activity is the best example of cultural diffusion in Africa?

1. weaving kente cloth in Ghana

2. using masks in traditional African ceremonies

3. discovering bronze sculptures from Benin

4. practicing of Islam in Nigeria