Early african civilizations 2003

Next
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
Chapter 13
World History: Ancient Civilizations Through the Renaissance
Geography and Early Africa
The Big Idea
Main Ideas
• Landforms, climate, and resources affected the history of West Africa.
• The way of life of early peoples in West Africa was shaped by family ties, religion,
iron technology, and trade.
Geography, resources, culture, and trade influenced the growth of societies in
West Africa.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Main Idea 1: Landforms, climate, and resources affected the history of West Africa.
• Africa is the second largest continent.
• The Niger River, a source of water, food, and
transportation, allowed many people to live
in West Africa.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
• The northern band across West Africa is the
southern part of the Sahara. It has the world’s
largest desert.
• The semiarid Sahel divides the desert from wetter
areas. It has enough vegetation to support hardy
grazing animals.
• Farther south is a band of savannah, or open grass
with scattered trees.
• Rain forests, or moist, densely wooded areas, are
near the equator. They contain a variety of plants
and animals.
Africa’s Four Regions

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
West Africa’s land
produced many
crops, such as dates
and kola nuts. Kola
nuts could be used
for medicine.
West Africa’s Resources
Gold could be
used for
jewelry or
coins.
Salt was a
resource that
was found
deep in the
earth, from
lakes that had
dried up.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Main Idea 2: The way of life of early peoples in West Africa was shaped by family
ties, religion, iron technology, and trade
• A typical West African family was an extended family that
included the father, mother, children, and close relatives in
one household.
• These loyalties helped the people of a village work together.
• As people became more productive, villages started to trade
the area’s resources with buyers who lived thousands of miles
away.
- Gold and salt mines were a source of wealth.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
• Everyone had
specific duties.
• Men hunted and
farmed.
• Women farmed and
cared for the
children.
• Elders taught
traditions to the
children.
• Children started
working as soon as
they were able.
• Many West Africans
believed that spirits
of their ancestors
stayed nearby.
• Families shared
problems and news
with the spirits.
• Another common
belief was animism,
the belief that
bodies of water,
animals, trees, and
other natural objects
have spirits.
Loyalties and Religion

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Empire of Ghana
The Big Idea
Main Ideas
• Ghana controlled trade and became wealthy.
• Through its control of trade, Ghana built an empire.
• Ghana’s decline was caused by attacking invaders, overgrazing, and the loss of trade.
The rulers of Ghana built an empire by controlling the salt and gold trade.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Main Idea 1: Ghana controlled trade and became wealthy.
• Ghana was created when groups of farmers banded
together.
• Ghana became a powerful state only when it gained
control of valuable trade routes.
• Ghana’s rulers gained power and wealth, and the
military grew in strength, too.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Main Idea 2: Through its control of trade, Ghana built an empire.
• Ghana protected traders
with its army. Traders
were not afraid to travel
to Ghana.
• With so many traders
passing through their
lands, they made money
by forcing traders to pay
taxes.
• In addition, the people
of Ghana and the small
neighboring tribes they
controlled had to pay
taxes.
• Ghana also had rich gold
mines.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Expansion of the Empire
• Ghana’s kings used their great wealth to build a
powerful army and conquered many of their
neighbors, especially ones that had centers of trade.
• To keep order in the empire, conquered kings were
allowed to keep much of their power. They acted as
governors of their territories.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Main Idea 3: Ghana’s decline was caused by attacking invaders, overgrazing, and the
loss of trade.
Invasion
- A Muslim group called the Almoravids cut off many trade
routes, without which Ghana could not support its empire.
Overgrazing
-When the Almoravids moved, they brought herds of animals
with them.
-These animals ate all the grass, leaving the land worthless for
farming.
Internal rebellion
- The people Ghana conquered rose up in rebellion and took over the
entire empire.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Later Empires
The Big Idea
Main Ideas
• The empire of Mali reached its height under the ruler Mansa Musa, but the
empire fell to invaders in the 1400s.
• The Songhai built a new Islamic empire in West Africa, conquering many of the
lands that were once part of Mali.
• Great Zimbabwe was a powerful state that developed in southern Africa.
Between 1000 and 1500 three great kingdoms-Mali, Songhai, and Great
Zimbabwe-developed in Africa.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Main Idea 1: The empire of Mali reached its height under the ruler Mansa Musa, but
the empire fell to invaders in the 1400s.
• Mali was located along the upper Niger River. The
fertile soil helped Mali grow and control river trade.
• Sundiata conquered Ghana and took over the salt
and gold trades.
• He had new farmlands cleared for crops of beans,
onions, and rice. He also introduced cotton as a new
crop.
• To protect his authority, he took power away from
others and adopted the title mansa.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Mansa
• Mansas had both political and religious roles in
society.
• The religious role of the mansa grew out of
traditional Malian beliefs.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
• He was Mali’s most
famous leader, and
he ruled from 1312
to 1337.
• Mali reached the
height of its wealth,
power, and fame in
the 1300s.
• He added important
trade cities to its
empire, including
Timbuktu.
• Islam was
important to
Musa, so he made
a pilgrimage to
Mecca.
• He stressed the
importance of
education and
learning to read
the Arabic
language.
Mansa Musa

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Weak rulers such as Maghan could not stop raiders, leading to the
empire’s gradual decline.
Invaders took almost all the lands of the Mali Empire by 1500.
The Fall of Mall

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Main Idea 2: The Songhai built a new Islamic empire in West Africa, conquering
many of the lands that were once part of Mali.
• Once a part of Mali, Songhai rose up against it and regained its
freedom.
• Songhai grew in many ways, mostly due to the work of Sunni
Ali.
• He participated in both Islam and local religions and brought
peace and stability as a result.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Askia the Great
• Muhammad Ture overthrew
Sunni Baru because he did
not support Islam.
- People thought they
would lose trade with
Muslim lands.
Ture took the title of askia, a
title of the highest military rank,
and eventually became known
as Askia the Great.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Education and Government
• Askia the Great worked to
support education and
especially supported learning
about medicine.
- Thousands of people
came to Timbuktu to use
the universities, libraries,
and mosques.
• To help maintain order, Askia
set up five provinces within
Songhai.
- He removed local
leaders and appointed
new governors who
were loyal to him.
- He created special
departments to oversee
certain tasks.
- He created a standing
professional army.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Songhai fell to Morocco.
• Because Morocco wanted to control the Saharan salt mines, it
invaded Songhai.
• The Moroccans brought with them a terrible new weapon, the
arquebus, an early form of gun.
• The Moroccans’ guns and cannons brought disaster to
Songhai.
• Changes in trade patterns completed Songhai’s fall.
- Overland trade declined as Atlantic ports became more
important.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Main Idea 3: Great Zimbabwe was a powerful state that developed in southern
Africa.
• Great Zimbabwe was a powerful kingdom in southern Africa.
• It was founded as a small trading and herding center in the
1100s.
• Gold mining and farming expanded, and the kingdom’s
population grew to become the center of a large trading
network.
- Trade made rulers wealthy and powerful.
• In the 1400s gold trade declined, and Great Zimbabwe
weakened. By 1500 it was no longer a political and trading
center.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Historical and Artistic Traditions
The Big Idea
Main Ideas
• West Africans have preserved their history through storytelling and the written
accounts of visitors.
• Through art, music, and dance, West Africans have expressed their creativity and
kept alive their cultural traditions.
Although the people of West Africa did not have a written language, their
culture has been passed down through oral history, writings by other people,
and the arts.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Writing was not common in West Africa. People passed along information
through oral histories, a spoken record of past events.
West African storytellers were called griots. They helped keep the
history of their ancestors alive for each new generation.
In addition to stories, they recited proverbs. These were short sayings of
wisdom or truth. They were used to teach lessons to the people.
Main Idea 1: West Africans have preserved their history through storytelling and the
written accounts of visitors.
Some of the griot poems are epics that are collected in the Dausi and the
Sundiata.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Visitors’ Written Accounts
• The people of West Africa
left no written histories of
their own.
• Much of what we know
about early West Africa
comes from the writings of
travelers and scholars from
Muslim lands such as Spain
and Arabia.
• Ibn Battutah was the most
famous Muslim visitor to
write about West Africa.
• His accounts describe the
political and cultural lives of
West Africans in great
detail.

NextPrevious
Chapter 13
Main Idea 2: Through art, music, and dance, West Africans have expressed their
creativity and kept alive their cultural traditions.
• Music and dancing were important.
• These activities helped people honor
their history and were central to many
celebrations.

Early african civilizations 2003

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (19)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (16)

Similar to Early african civilizations 2003

Similar to Early african civilizations 2003 (19)

More from dhtaylor3

More from dhtaylor3 (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Early african civilizations 2003