Early Civilizations of Africa. Geography of Africa  Bands of tropical rain forest, savanna, and desert  Interior plateau creates waterfalls and rapids.

Presentation on theme: "Early Civilizations of Africa. Geography of Africa  Bands of tropical rain forest, savanna, and desert  Interior plateau creates waterfalls and rapids."— Presentation transcript:

1 Early Civilizations of Africa

2 Geography of Africa  Bands of tropical rain forest, savanna, and desert  Interior plateau creates waterfalls and rapids on rivers  Great Rift Valley: interior passageway  Mediterranean and Red Sea provide trade routes  Natural resources encourage trade

3 Bantu Migrations  Between 1000 BC and 1000 AD, a group of West African farmers began migrating to the south and east  Their language, called Bantu, spread with them  Brought skills in farming, ironworking, and domesticating animals  Many South and East African languages today are varieties of Bantu

4 Nubia  2700 BC-350 AD, flourished on the upper Nile River (south of Egypt)  Trade brought them in close contact with Egypt and sparked cultural exchange  The capital city, Meroe, was a center of trade and natural resources (iron)  Nubian culture is mysterious, because their language is not understood today

5 Outside Influences on North Africa  Phoenician sailors established trading colonies on the North African coast  The Roman Empire ruled North Africa, bringing Christianity  Arabs later invaded, bringing Arabic language and Islamic religion

6 Kingdoms of West Africa

7 Patterns of Trade Develop  Agricultural villages traded across the Sahara  From West Africa, caravans carried leather, nuts, cotton, and slaves  From North Africa, Arabs brought silk, metals, beads, and horses  Largest trade was gold for salt-one pound of gold for one pound of salt

8 Kingdom of Ghana  Groups of trading agricultural villages united to form the Kingdom of Ghana, between the Niger and Senegal Rivers  Kings of Ghana controlled and taxed the gold-salt trade routes  Taxes were used to build rich cities and mighty armies  Many of the elite in Ghana converted to Islam  When Ghana lost control of its trade routes, the Kingdom collapsed

9 Kingdom of Mali  Mali was united by a leader named Sundiata who took control of the trade routes  Villages on caravan routes became great trading cities like Timbuktu  Mali’s greatest king, Mansa Musa, made hajj to Mecca, drawing attention to Mali’s wealth

10 Songhai Empire  As Mali weakened, the Songhai Empire grew in power  Ruler Askia the Great created a bureaucracy, government with different departments with different responsibilities  He brought Islamic scholars to Songhai  Weakened by fights over succession

11 Patterns in West African Kingdoms  Grew wealthy by controlling the salt-gold trade  Villages became great trading cities  Islamic influence  Conquered by invaders from the Sahara, but the invaders could not maintain an empire over both the Sahara and West Africa

12 Smaller Societies of West Africa  The Kingdom of Benin formed in the rainforests of the West African coasts  Benin traded with the savanna kingdoms to the north and created great bronze and brass sculptures  The Hausa people created many walled city states  These city states were home to great artisans and often had female rulers

13 Kingdoms and Trading States of East Africa

14 Axum  Located from highlands of Ethiopia to shores of Eritrea  Descended from African farmers and Jewish traders  Traded throughout Africa, with India, and the Middle East  Axum converted to Christianity in the 300s, was isolated when Islam spread to surrounding areas

15 Ethiopia  Axum culture survived in the highlands of Ethiopia  Ethiopians blended Christianity with East African traditions  The Churches of Lallibela were carved into the ground downward into the mountains  Some Ethiopians also practiced Judaism

16 East African City States  Trade cities flourished on the East African coast-easy access to India and the Middle East-the culture and language was called Swahili  Traded ivory, leopard skin, copper, gold, and slaves from Africa for cotton, cloth, silk, spices, porcelain, glass, and swords from Middle East, China, and India  Swahili culture and language was a mix of Arabic and African

17 Great Zimbabwe  Zimbabwe was the capital of an inland trading empire  Built by Bantu speakers who brought ironworking, mining, and farming skills  Part of a trading network connecting all the way to India