AFRICA

Africa Today

How Big is Africa?

I. Early Africa• A. Earliest Civilization

1. 7 million years ago, 1st people2. Originated in southeast Africa (Hadar, Ethiopia, Lake Turkana, Kenya &

Laetoli, Tanzania)3. Moved north, northeast, northwest “Out of Africa”

I. Early Africa

I. Early Africa

I. Early Africa

I. Early Africa4. Discovered/created fire5. Hunters & Gatherers6. By 16,000 BCE, farming began with

okra, black eye peas, gourds, watermelons, yams, peanuts, kola nuts, cotton, beans, wheat, barley, domestication of cattle, sheep, etc

7. Metalwork which included, iron, copper, lead & bronze production

II. African Empires

II. African Empires• A. Prior to the colonialism, thousands of

empires/kingdoms existed throughout Africa

• B. Ancient Empires include: – 1. Ancient Egypt (3100 BCE-870 CE)– 2. Ancient Kush/Nubia (Sudan) (760 BCE-656 BCE)– 3. Ancient Carthage (Tunisia) (575 BCE-146 BCE)– 4. Ancient Axum (Ethiopia) (100-940 CE)

II. African Empires

Ancient Kush/Nubia (Sudan) Ancient Egypt

Ancient Carthage (Tunisia) Ancient Axum (Ethiopia)

III. West African Empires• A. “Sudanic Empires”, “Bilad al Sudan (“land of

the Blacks”) included:1. Ghana (800-1200 CE)2. Mali (1100-1700 CE)3. Songhai (1335-1591 CE) 4. Kanem-Bornu (1100-1846 CE)

III. West African EmpiresPresent day Mauritania & Mali

III. West African Empires

Mansa Musa

III. West African Empires

Timbuktu, Mali

Songhai Empire included present day Mali, Niger & Burkina Faso

III. West African Empires

Sunni Ali, Songhai Emperor

Idris Alooma, Kanem-Bornu Emperor

III. West African Empires

Present day Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon & Nigeria

III. West African Empires• B. Islam– 1. Sudanic Empires were all Muslim (followers of

Islam)– 2. Islam spread through trade routes that

connected West, North & East Africa with the Arabian peninsula, India & China

– 3. It brought literacy, political stability, economic prosperity

– 4. Africans combined existing traditions with Islamic doctrine, culture & even fashion

III. West African Empires

III. West African Empires• C. West African Empires included:

1. Benin (1447-1897 CE) Benin & Nigeria2. Yoruba/Oyo (1600-1800 CE) Nigeria

D. Practiced Indigenous African ReligionE. Organized in city-states, which were ruled

by a chief & the chiefs were ruled by a KINGF. Traded gold, pepper, ivory, slaves, blue fabric, leopard skins, glass beads, etc

III. West African Empires

Oba of Benin

III. West African Empires

IV. Southwestern African Empires

• A. Southwestern Empires included:1. Luba (1000-1600) Democratic Republic of Congo2. Kongo (1200-1600) Kongo, Angola & Gabon

B. Formed along the Congo RiverC. Luba was:

1. feudal system2. agrarian based3. metal work4. traded palm oil, metal work , salt, beads, etc

IV. Southwestern African Empires

IV. Southwestern African Empires

• D Kongo:– 1. Absolute monarch– 2. Traded gold, pepper, ivory, slaves, blue, fabric,

leopard skins, glass beads, etc– 3. King Alfonso converted to Christianity, so did

many of his subjects– 4. King Alfonso tried to curtail slavery, famously

wrote a letter

IV. Southwestern African Empires

V. South African Empires

• A. Zimbabwe1. located between Limpopo & Zambezi Rivers2. founded 1150 CE3. Indigenous African w/o Islamic influences4. Organized into city-states & ruled by a king5. traded gold, copper, cloth & glass6. zimbabwe means house of stone

V. South African Empires

V. South African Empires

V. South African Empires

• B. Zulu Kingdom 1816-18971. located along the southeast African coast2. Indigenous African language & religion3. founded by Shaka 4. extended slave trade in southeastern Africa

V. South African Empires

VI. East African Empires• A. East African Coastal areas

1. were organized into city-states, major city-states included:

a. Kilwa Island off the coast of Tanzania)

b. Mombasa (Kenya) c. Zanzibar (Tanzania) d. Mogadishu (Somalia)

VI. East African Empires

VI. East African Empires

Kilwa 900-1700s

VI. East African Empires2. Traded ivory, incense, gold, iron,

slaves, spices, perfumes with Africans, Arabs, East Indians, Malaysians & Persians

3. Islam dominant religion4. The Swahili language, a combination

of Arabic & Bantu (indigenous sub-Saharan African languages) developed

VI. East African Empires

VI. East African Empires• B. Ethiopia

1. Ethiopian people are combination of Indigenous African & Arab people2. Christianity is the dominant religion

a. 330CE King Ezana converted to Christianity

b. 900s CE Ethiopian Orthodox Church formed 3. Isolated from African neighbors4. Solomonic Dynasty ruled from 950 -1974

VI. East African Empires

VII. North African Empires

African Independence