Touring Africa – ONLINE MATERIALS

Instructions: Use the attached visuals & worksheet to complete assignment conducted in

class on 10/25-26. You may complete at Home OR in Tutorials.

YOUR HANDOUT IS DUE NO LATER THAN 3:15PM, FRIDAY, 10/28.

Station One: East Africa

East Africa consists of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi,

and Uganda. Label and color these countries on your map. Use the textbook page 430.

The Masai

The Masai

The Maasai are an indigenous African ethnic group of semi-

nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania.

Due to their distinctive customs and dress and residence near

the many game parks of East Africa, they are among the

most well-known African ethnic groups internationally. For

the Masai, cattle are what make the good life, and milk and

meat are the best foods. Their old ideal was to live by their

cattle alone – other foods they could get by exchange – but

today they also need to grow crops. They move their herds

from one place to another, so that the grass has a chance to

grow again; traditionally, this is made possible by a

communal land tenure system in which everyone in an area

shares access to water and pasture. Nowadays Maasai have

increasingly been forced to settle, and many take jobs in

towns. Maasai society is organised into male age-groups

whose members together pass through initiations to become

warriors, and then elders. They have no chiefs, although each

section has a Laibon, or spiritual leader, at its head. Maasai

worship one god who dwells in all things, but may manifest

himself as either kindly or destructive. Many Maasai today,

however, belong to various Christian churches.

The Samburu

The Samburu are semi-nomadic pastoralists whose lives

revolve around their cows, sheep, goats, and camels. Milk

is their main stay; sometimes it is mixed with blood. Meat

is only eaten on special occasions. Generally they make

soups from roots and barks and eat vegetables if living in

an area where they can be grown.

Most dress in very traditional clothing of bright red

material used like a skirt and multi-beaded necklaces,

bracelets and earrings, especially when living away from

the big cities.

Generally between five and ten families set up

encampments for five weeks and then move on to new

pastures. Adult men care for the grazing cattle which are

the major source of livelihood. Women are in charge of

maintaining the portable huts, milking cows, obtaining

water and gathering firewood. Their houses are of

plastered mud or hides and grass mats stretched over a

frame of poles. A fence of thorns surrounds each family's

cattle yard and huts.

Their society has for long been so organized around cattle

and warfare (for defense and for raiding others) that they

find it hard to change to a more limited lifestyle. The

purported benefits of modern life are often undesirable to

the Samburu. They remain much more traditional in life

and attitude than their Maasai cousins.

A Maasai traditional dance, Adumu

Samburu Men

Station Two: North Africa

North Africa consists of Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, and Sudan. Label and

color these countries on your map. Use the textbook page 430.

The Tuareg

The Tuareg are a group of mostly nomadic people who live in northern Africa. They divide themselves into five strictly defined social classes. Nobles own land and camels, and rule the confederations or political alliances. Vassals farm and graze their herds on land managed by nobles. And, although slavery was abolished in the Sahara in the 1940s, many descendants of slaves still work with their former owners.

The Tuareg have two other specialized groups. Scholars and religious leaders offer guidance. Finally, an outcast group of artisans, known as blacksmiths because they work with metals, makes everything needed for life in the desert, including camel gear, amulets, jewelry, weapons and most household items.

The Sahara Desert

The Sahara Desert, covering most of North Africa, is the largest desert in the world. From north to south the Sahara is between 800 and 1,200 miles and is at least 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from east to west. Due to the massive size of the Sahara, Africa is split into two regions: that which lies above or forms part of the Sahara and the rest of Africa south of the Sahara. On the west, the Sahara is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and on the east by the Red Sea, and to the north are the Atlas Mountains and Mediterranean Sea.

The Tuareg

In earlier times, 3 of their principal sources

of income were taxation of caravan routs

crossing Sahara, plundering settled

neighboring peoples, and pastoral activities.

These activities have been strongly reduced

du to stronger state structures, border

control, and need for control over citizens in

the modern state. Hence a large part of

today's Tuaregs have now moved into cities.

Tuaregs have since long converted to Islam,

but their beliefs has a higher part of

traditional religious elements than in many other Muslim communities.

Station Three: West Africa

West Africa consists of the countries of Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau,

Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D’Ivoire, Benin, Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger,

Chad, and Nigeria. Label and color these countries on your map. Use the textbook page

430.

West African Cuisine

The Arabs were an early influence on the African continent. Decades before Christ's birth, African kingdoms traded their own

slaves, gold and ivory for the Arabs' spices, herbs and salt. In the course of events, the Islamic religion gained new followers.

Cinnamon, cloves, mint and cilantro arrived in Africa from their Arab partners, and these flavorings continue to be used most

widely in North Africa.

The Portuguese, French and British did have some influence in regional cuisines, but not as much as one might expect. More

deeply entrenched are the indigenous ingredients and the ones sent back from the slave trade ships of the Americas. The

Gambian products of rice, peanuts, yams and black-eyed peas have become cash crops of the United States' southern states. The

ships that brought these ingredients returned to Africa bearing foods of the New World and the Caribbean: okra, coconuts,

plantains, chile peppers, green beans. Portuguese explorers brought other items from Europe's cache: citrus, tomato, corn and

pineapple, many of which also originated in the Americas

A typical meal in West Africa is heavy on starchy foods, light on meat, generous on fat and commonly cooked in one pot. Other

than that, the most telling characteristic of an African dish is heat: chile peppers are used beyond what we would begin to think

of as hot. The most notorious peppers, the Scotch Bonnets and the pilli pilli, earn respect from even the most dedicated chile-

heads. Equatorial climates all tend to encourage the use of chiles, as these hot foods produce the effect of "gustatory sweating"—

distinguished from other types of bodily perspiration and resulting in an overall cooling effect.

West African cuisine bears more seafood than the rest of the continent, and unlike most other cultures, mixes seafood and meats

together in many dishes. Most dishes are some form of stew, allowing for the stringy, poorer quality lamb and goats to be used,

and chickens and eggs are commonly served throughout Africa.

Peanuts can be found in just about anything, from soups and stews to garnishes, snacks and pounded into a paste. West Africa is

blessed with rain, resulting in rice as the predominant starchy food, while corn, millet and sorghum dishes are featured on the

rest of the continent.

Along with rice, yams, sweet potatoes, cassava and potatoes and root vegetables fill the bellies of the people, as do plantains. All

can be cooked in multiple ways: roasted, baked, boiled, mashed, with cinnamon, or sugar or oil or in a range of both sweet and

savory dishes.

Palava Sauce: Ghana

Jollof Rice: Mali

Station Four: Central Africa

Central Africa consists of Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe,

Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, and Democratic Republic of Congo. Label

and color these countries on your map. Use the textbook page 430

1. Standing Female Figure Republic of Congo 19

th Century

2. Female Half Figure Gabon 19

th Century

3. Kneeling Figure

Democratic Republic of Congo

16th

– 19th

Century

4. Mask

Democratic Republic of Congo

19th

Century

5. Mask

Gabon

19th

Century

6. Mask

Gabon

19th

Century

Images obtained from the Metroplolitan Museum of Art

Station Five: Southern Africa

Southern Africa consists of Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar,

Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, and South Africa. Label and color

these countries on your map. Use the textbook page 430.

The Languages of South Africa

South Africans have been referred to as the 'rainbow nation', a title which epitomizes the country's cultural diversity. The population of South Africa is one of the most complex and diverse in the world. Of the 45 million South Africans, nearly 31 million are Black, 5 million White, 3 million Colored, and one million Indian. There are eleven official languages in South Africa. They are English, Xhosa, Zulu, Afrikaans, Venda, Ndebele, Sepedi, Setswana, Southern Sesotho, Swati, and Tsonga.

South African Rock Paintings

Photos from the University of Alabama

Name:

Touring Africa Worksheet

Instructions: As you move from station to station label the countries of that region and

color them. Be sure each region is colored a different color. Use the map on page 430 of

your textbook to assist you.

Station One: East Africa

Use the Venn Diagram below to compare and contrast the Masai and the Samburu tribes

of East Africa. Be sure to include all the ways they are similar and all the ways they are

different.

Masai

Sumburu

Station Two: North Africa

1. What might be some of the difficulties of living in a desert?

2. What are the social/political groups of the Tuareg people?

3. Why is it important in their society to have defined roles?

4. Many Tuareg people have moved to cities. What difficulties might these people face adapting to city life?

5. Why do you thin the blacksmiths are considered outcasts even though they provide valuable services to the

tribe?

Station Three West Africa

Instructions: Read the passage from Station Three on West African Cuisine. Answer the

following questions.

1. What cultures or countries influenced West African cuisine?

2. What products were brought back from the Americas?

3. After reading the article how would you describe West African food?

4. What vegetables, meats, or spices used in West Africa are also used in the United

States?

5. How is West African cuisine and example of cultural borrowing or cultural diffusion?

Station Four: Central Africa

1. How are figures 1, 2, and 3 similar?

2. How are figures 1, 2, and 3 different?

3. Which figure (1, 2, or 3) appears to be the most advanced? Explain your answer.

4. How are figures 4, 5, and 6 similar?

5. How are figures 4, 5, and 6 different?

6. What emotions are displayed in each mask?

Station Five: Southern Africa

1. List the benefits of a country having 11 official languages.

2. List the problems that might arise from a country having 11 official languages.

3. What appears to be the common theme of the rock paintings from South Africa?

4. What can be learned about an ancient people from this type of art?

5. In the box below create a rock painting that describes your daily life.