Chapter 10

2. Plan for Today:
• Chapter 10
• Ancient Africa
• Major African Civilizations
• The Indian Ocean Trade
• Next Time
• Chapter 11
• The Americas

3. Geography of Africa
• Vast Sahara
• Tropical/Sub-tropical and Jungle
in the middle
• Smaller desert (Kalahari) in the
SW
• Mountains (purple areas and in
the NW – Atlas)

4. Peoples of Early Africa
• Mediterranean Coast
• Phoenicians/Carthaginians
• Greeks
• Romans
• Egyptians
• Red Sea
• Kush (Purpleish area S. of Egypt)
• Axum (ancestors of the Ethiopians)
• Khoisan
• Hunter/gatherers with some
agriculture
• Bantu Peoples
• Migrated from W. Africa to S and E
from 1000 BCE to 1500 CE

6. The Sudan and Trans-Saharan Trade

7. Ghana Empire
• Trans-Saharan trade brought
wealth to the region
• What was traded?
• Berbers from the North were
particularly good at crossing the
Sahara
• After their conversion to Islam,
Berbers brought the religion with
them to West Africa
• During this period the elite were
Muslim and separated themselves
from the common people.
• Began to decline around 1100

8. Mali Empire
• As Ghana declined and
fragmented, the Mandinka
people, under Sundiata,
founded the Mali Kingdom
• They would gradually
overtake other small
kingdoms such as the Gao and
Songhai (who would later rise
up) and form the Mali Empire
• Mansa Musa is the best
known leader of Mali
• Mali and its leaders were
extremely wealthy because of
gold mines

9. Videos
• Crash Course #16: Covers Mansa Musa, the Mali Empire, and East
African City-States
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvnU0v6hcUo&list=PLBDA2E52F
B1EF80C9&index=16
• Crash Course #18: Covers the Indian Ocean Trade and connects our
Chapter 12 (from the last section) to developments in East Africa and
the Middle East
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6XtBLDmPA0&list=PLBDA2E52F
B1EF80C9&index=18

10. East African City-States
• Many of these cities had
developed prior to the Indian
Ocean Trade system
• But grew and flourished under it
• Would often serve as gateways to
the interior, trading with many
tribes and kingdoms in central and
southern Africa
• Then taking those raw materials
and trading them for goods from
the Middle East, the Indian
Subcontinent, and China
• Saw the spread of Islam because
of Muslim traders

11. Axum (Aksum) and Christian Ethiopia
• Axum Kingdom (100 CE– 960 CE)
• Became a Christian Kingdom in the 300s
CE (first Christian state in the world)
• Legend says that this is where the Queen
of Sheba was from, where the Ark of the
Covenant is, and where King Solomon’s
Mines were.
• Was taken over by a non-Christian ruler
in 960 CE
• Christian lineage reestablished in 1270
CE and would be known as the
Ethiopian Empire until 1974.

13. Great Zimbabwe
• Thought to have been the
successor to a smaller kingdom,
the Mapungubwe
• Had extensive trade with the
coastal city-states, providing
them with raw materials and
gold
• Represented by a massive stone
complex discovered in 1871
• Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=quzjmZ-7s6w

14. Final Thoughts
• Take out a sheet of paper.
• What did you find the most interesting or did anything surprise you
today?
• For next time – Finish Chapter 11
• See you on Thursday!