Early African Civilizations

Section 1 –Geography and Early Africa

Section 2 – The Empire of Ghana

Section 3 – Later Empires

Section 4 – Historical and Artistic Traditions

Landforms, Climate and Resources• Africa is the worlds second

largest continent• The Sahara Desert stretches

across most of North Africa• Four different regions run east

to west like broad bands.• The northern band is the

southern part of the Sahara• The Sahel is a strip of land

with little rainfall• The savannah is the

grasslands and the fourth band, near the equator is the rain forests

Early People’s Way of Life• Loyalty to ones family and age sets ( family close in age) helped the

people of a village work together• Many West Africans believed their ancestors stayed close to them.

They also believed in animism, the belief that natural objects have spirits

• As time passed civilizations became more advanced. The use of iron around 500bc was helpful in farming and making weapons

• This gave them an advantage in trade, eventually they would earn their riches in the trade of gold and salt.

Crossing the Sahara• Temperatures soared well to over 100 degrees

during the day and plunged to below freezing at night. Dying of heat or cold was a real danger

• Most areas of the Sahara get less than one inch of rain per year. Travelers had to bring lots of water or they could die of thirst

• The Sahara is huge, and the trade routes were not well marked. Travelers could easily get lost.

• Valuable trade goods were a tempting target for bandits. For protection traders traveled in caravans.

The Empire of Ghana• The Soninke people were the first to

ban together for protection against nomadic herders

• This movement was the beginning of the empire of Ghana

• As the people grew in strength and abilities, their population grew

• Their location was perfect for the trade of the regions two main resources –gold and salt

• As this trade increased so did the wealth and power of Ghana

• They began to build strong armies in order to maintain their power

Ghana Builds an Empire• By the 800s Ghana was in control of West Africa’s trade routes.• Nearly all trade north through south passed through Ghana and

their armies kept the routes safe.• Ghana rulers decided in order to make more money they would

place a tax on any goods coming in or leaving Ghana• In addition, the people of Ghana had to pay taxes and neighboring

tribe were also required to pay tribute• An interesting fact is, the rulers of Ghana banned anyone in the

empire from owning gold nuggets. They could only own gold dust, this ensured that the leader would always have more.

The Empire’s Expansion• Part of Ghana’s wealth went to support its armies. • The Ghana kings used their armies to conquer more land• To keep order the kings allowed the conquered ruler to retain much

of their power. • The local rulers acted as governors of their territories answering

only to the king of Ghana

Tunka Manin• Ghana reached its peak of power under

this man.

• A Spanish writer noted the splendor of Manin’s court in the following passage

• “The king adorns himself…round his neck and his forearms, and he puts on a high cap decorated with gold and wrapped in a turban of fine cotton. Behind the king stand ten pages [servants] holding shields and swords decorated with gold.”

–al-Bakri, from The Book of Routes and Kingdoms

Ghana’s DeclineThree major factors contributed to fall of Ghana

• Invasion – the Almoravids attacked Ghana in the 1060s and after 14 years of fighting they finally won (Almoravids)

• Overgrazing – The Almoravids brought herding animals into the territory and allowed them to eat all the grass, leaving

the soil exposed to the hot desert winds

• Internal Rebellion – one of the conquered countries rose up to attack Ghana and with in a few years they too were

successful

Later Empires• Mali had a great location,

helping the people control trade along the Niger River

• Sundiata helped Mali become powerful by controlling the gold and salt trade and introducing a new crop, cotton.

• Sundiata also kept power by taking power away from local leaders known as mansas. This gave him not only political power, but also religious power.

Mansa Musa• Mali’s most famous ruler• Under his reign. Islam spread

through a large part of West Africa

• A very religious man, Mansa made a pilgrimage to Mecca throughout his journey he spread the fame and fortune of Mali far and wide.

• A big supporter of education, he encouraged scholars to set up schools in Mali

• He also encourage people to read in Arabic so that Muslims in his empire could read the Qur’an.

• A famous city Mansa Musa was responsible for helping to grow was Timbuktu.

The Fall of Mali

• After Mansa Musa’s death, the empire began to decline.• In 1431 the Tuareg nomads from the Sahara took over

Timbuktu• By 1500 nearly all of the lands the empire had once

ruled were lost.

SONGHAIRivals of Mali and Strong

Traders• They rebelled and gained

their freedom from Mali• Berbers traded with Songhai and they shared

the same religion• Sunni Ali strengthened and expanded the empire• He encouraged the people to work together which created a more

stable empire

ASKIA THE GREAT

• Former emperor, Sunni Baru was not liked which was the cause of the rebellion

• Askia the Great overthrew Baru • He supported education and the

growth of Islamic influence• He set up five providences to

keep the empire in order

Songhai Falls to Morocco

• Moroccans wanted control of the Songhai salt mines

• Using guns acquired from south west Asia, they were able to gain control of the salt mines

• Trade patterns changed and the empire fell apart

Great Zimbabwe

• Large and powerful trade kingdom in South Africa

• The decline of gold lead to a weakened empire