1. Africa
Ancient

2. A former
name for
Africa;
was largely
mysterious
to
Europeans
until the
19th
century

3. B.C.
Kushites
move
capital to
Meroe
Axum
begins to
control
extensive
trade
network
800 400 A.D.
Islam
spreads
to North
Africa
1200
Mansa
Musa
journeys to
Mecca
1600
Slave
trade at
height
Bantu
migrations
begins
400
Ghana
develops
Songhai
expands
Great
Zimbabwe
completed
Axum
conquers
Kush
African History Timeline

4. A forest characterized by high rainfall

5. An open grassland dotted with shrubs and
scattered clumps of trees
SAVANNA

6. These migrations contributed to the
rich diversity of African peoples and
cultures.
Towards History
By 5500 B.C., Stone Age cultures
started to develop in North Africa
specifically in the Nile Valley region in
Egypt.
Africa cradled the dawning of mankind
primarily in the Great Rift Valley
region.
About 2500 B.C., a climate change
dried out the Sahara Desert
(desertification) which forced the
people to retreat towards the savanna
and rain forest regions.

7. North Africa

8. Kushites
Nubia
took shape on a wide band
of fertile land among the
cataracts of the Upper Nile
Also called Kush, located in
present-day Sudan
Kushites: darker-skinned
than the Egyptians

9. KushitesFrom time to time, Egyptian pharaohs
subdued Nubia.
Adopted many Egyptian traditions
Piankhi, conquered Egypt (730 B.C.)
Trading center, connecting Egypt,
Ethiopia, Red Sea and Central Africa
Trade along the Nile and riches from emerald and gold mines
made the kingdom prosperous

10. Meroë [capital of Kush]
Kushites
ADVANTAGES OF LOCATION
River’s yearly floods enriched more land; discovery of
iron ore; commanded trade routes

11. Nubia sent gold, ivory, animal
skins, perfumes and slaves to the
Mediterranean world and the
Middle East; major ironworking
center of the ancient world

12. Fall of Nubia
Desertification may have engulfed Nubian
farmlands; armies from the kingdom of Axum
overwhelmed Nubia

13. Conquered
the
Kushites
under King
Ezana
Ethiopia
Located SE of
Nubia;
people were
descended
from African
farmers and
from traders
who had
immigrated
from Arabia
Axum
culture is
an
African-
Arabic
hybrid;
brought
Hebrew
religious
traditions
and a
unique
written
and
spoken
language,
Geez
Commanded
a trade
network
linking
Africa, India
and the
Mediterranean
world;
Christianized
by the
Greeks
(through
trading);
Islam and
civil war
weakened
Axum
Axum

14. AxumIn the 1200s,King Lalibela had a
dozen of churches carved into the
mountains

15. Hannibal
Carthage
Empire; N Africa; wealth from trade;
founded by the Phoenician traders; rivalry
with Rome (Hannibal)

16. Roman rule
brought
Christianity to
North Africa
(St. Augustine,
the most
influential
Christian
thinker of the
late Roman
empire)

17. The camel revolutionized trade
By A.D. 200, camels had been brought to
North Africa from Asia; they were called
as the hardy ”ships of
the desert.”

18. 600s, Arab armies carried
Islam into North Africa;
Berbers and Arabs joined
forces to conquer Spain;
replaced Christianity,
Arabic replaced Latin;
Cairo, Fez and Marakesh,
famed for their mosques
and libraries; busy trade;
carried Islam into West
Africa
Spread of Islam

19. West Africa

20. Ghana “land of gold”, area north of
Niger River;
Kumbi Saleh, capital
people were farmers and traders;
controlled gold-salt trade routes;
invaded and influenced by the
Muslims; declined in the late 1100s
Soninke

21. Soninke
SILENT BARTER: traders who cannot
speak each other’s language can trade
without talking and to protect the
secrets of where gold and salt came
from. One group of traders would go
to a location, leave their trading
goods, withdraw to a distance and
then play a drum to signal other
traders that he was having a silent
barter. The other group would then
take goods (most commonly gold or
salt). If the goods met with approval,
the second group would then take the
goods, leave their own goods in return
and depart.

22. Mali is Arab version of Mandinke,
“where the king dwells”; took over
what is left of Ghana controlled
caravan routes; Sundiata, brilliant
military leader, crushed his
enemies, won control of the gold
trade routes and founded the
empire of Mali; king was called as
mansa; influenced by the Muslims;
1400s, disputes over succession
weakened Mali
Mandinke

23. Mansa Musa
Ruled 25 years; pushed
out the borders of his
empire; used his power
to ensure peace and
order; devout Muslim;
“There is
complete security
in their country,”
wrote Ibn Battuta
Mandinke

24. Mandinke
1324, Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca increased Muslim influence
in West Africa.

25. Grew out of Mali ; largest empire in
West Africa; Gao, wealthy trading
city and capital; prospered until
about 1586, when disputes over
succession led to civil war;
conquered by Morocco
Songhai

26. Set up a Muslim dynasty; further expanded the
territory of Songhai and improved the government;
set up a bureaucracy; his pilgrimage to Mecca
increased ties with the Muslim world; he built
mosques and opened schools for the study of the
Quran
Used his powerful army to forge the
largest state that had ever existed in
West Africa; brought key trade routes
and wealthy cities like Timbuktu under
his control; he did not adhere to the
practices of Islam
Sunni
Ali
Askia
Muhammad
Songhai

27. Askia Muhammad

28. Timbuktu
Became a leading center of trade and learning
Songhai

30. HAUSA
Between 500 to 1500, other kingdoms flourished in various parts
of West Africa.
Nigeria; successful farmers and traders; built clay-walled cities; Kano, most
prosperous city-state; made up of independent city-states that fought each
other
BENIN
Rose in the rain forest of the Guinea coast; forest peoples carved out
farming villages and traded pepper, ivory and later slaves to their neighbors
in the savanna; oba, or king was both a political and religious leader; Benin
City, capital
Other Kingdoms
of West Africa

31. BENIN BRONZE CASTING

32. BANTUMIGRATIONS

33. The Bantu Migrations. There are over 300-600
tribes of this ethnic group distributed across Central,
Eastern and Southern Africa.
Swahili
Khoisan
Movement from western to east and
south begun 2,500 years ago;
series of waves until 19th
century;
probably from Nigeria;
reasons for migrating are not clear
They lived by farming, fishing and
some herding; differed in appearance
and ways of living, but spoke related
languages
Came in contact with other African
groups and learned to live in a variety
of environments

34. From Nubia,
iron
technology
also developed
at Nok. Later
waves of
Bantu
migrants
carried this
knowledge
with them.
Iron tools
made savanna
cultivation and
forest areas
easier and
more
productive.
Iron weapons
were more
effective
against
enemies.
Metalworkers
also created
works of art
using bronze,
gold and other
metals.

35. East Africa

36. KILWA
While Axum declined, a string of commercial cities rose along the
East African coast.
Tanzania; “One of the most beautiful and well-constructed towns in the world.”;
a hub for slave trade
SOFALA
Somalia; famous for its high quality fabric that it exported to Egypt
East African
City-States
MOGADISHU
Mozambique; known for its gold trade
ZANZIBAR Islands off Tanzania; famous for its spices

38. Great ZimbabweZimbabwe; means “stone enclosure”;
massive stone ruins sprawled across rocky hilltops near the Limpopo River

39. A prosperous capital of a great inland empire;
part of a trade network that reached across
the Indian Ocean
Built by the
Bantus between
900 and 1500
By 1500, Zimbabwe was in decline due to
exhaustion of soil, civil war and dwindling
trade
The ruler was a god-king who presided over a
large court; a central bureaucracy ruled an
inner ring of provinces
Little is known
about its
government

40. Slave Trade
The
Atlantic

41. In the next 300 years, it grew into a huge and profitable business
Slave came from the word Slav (unpaid laborers in Roman times
History
Began in 1500s; to fill the need for labor in Spain’s American empire
Each year, traders shipped tens of thousands of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic
to work on tobacco and sugar plantations in the Americas.

42. Volume and Destinations

43. Middle Passage: voyage from Africa to the Americas on the
slave ships or the “floating coffins”
Africans were packed below the decks of slave ships.
Hundreds of men and women and
children were crammed into a
single vessel

44. Up to half of the Africans on board died
from disease or brutal mistreatment.
Sometimes, enslaved Africans committed
suicide by leaping overboard.

45. Others tried to seize
control of the ship
and return to Africa

46. Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade
By the 1800s, when the overseas slave trade was
finally stopped, an estimated 11 million enslaved
Africans had reached the Americas. Another two
million probably died under the brutal conditions
of the Middle Passage.
Loss of countless numbers of young women and
men from West Africa and extinction of some
societies and small states