List 3 facts from your reading of Chapter 13 yesterday.

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Chapter 13

Medieval Africa

The Rise of African

CivilizationsSection 1

2nd largest continentMost of Africa lies in the

Tropics Sahara desert NorthKalahari SouthAlmost all of Africa rests

on a plateau an area of high flat land

Nile RiverCongo RiverGreat Rift Valley

Africa’s Geography

Berbers first known people to settle North Africa

Traded salt and cloth for gold and ivory

During Medieval period, African empires were bigger than most European kingdoms in wealth and size.

West African

Empires

Ghana rose to power in the AD 400s.

“crossroads of trade”Taxes paid at these

crossroads made Ghana rich.

Made iron weaponsControlled groups who

had goldSalt was very valuable

Ghana

Gold discovered outside of Ghana’s control, led to lower prices.

Ghana fell in the 1200s and the kingdom of Mali replaced it.

West African griots (storytellers) give credit to a great warrior-king named Sundiata Keita or the “Lion Prince”.

He ruled from 1230 to 1255 Took control of Ghana’s capital

and Timbuktu. Rebuilt gold and salt trade.

Mali

Mansa Musa was Mali’s last strong king.

1468, Sunni Ali, the leader of Songhai stormed into Timbuktu and drove out the Berbers

He used Songhai’s location along the Niger River to his advantage.

Ordered a fleet of war canoes to seize control of the river trade

Took Berber salt mines By his death in 1492, he had

built the largest empire in West Africa.

Empire lasted almost 100 more years

Rise of Songhai

Griots who live in the Niger delta still tell stories about King Ewuare who founded the empire of Benin around 1440.

Farmers in the rain forest had several advantages SoilWarm, wet climateOften had a surplus of

bananas, yams, or rice.Traded these surpluses for

copper, salt, and leather goods from the savannas.

Kingdoms of the Rain Forest

Queen Makeda rose to the throne of the Saba empire, or Sheba

Glory of the King’s, Africa’s oldest written history, said Makeda traveled to meet with King Solomon of the Israelites.

Once he returned, he introduced Israel’s religion to her empire.

East Africa

Ethiopia, known in ancient times as Abyssinia did not decline like other African empires of the time.

Abyssinia’s power came from the city of Axum which was located on the Red Sea.

AD 300, King Ezana of Axum sent his armies against Kush and defeated it.

Rise of Axum

Africa’s Government and Religion

Section 2

Kings settled arguments, managed trade, and protected the empire.

Merchants would receive favors from the kings and the kings would receive taxes from the merchants.

Kings of Ghana relied upon a council of ministers.

No one could trade without the king’s permission.

No one could own gold nuggets except the king.

In Ghana, the king’s nephew, sister’s son, was the next to rule.

Government andSociety

Had many officials King’s divided the empire into

provinces “National Honor of the Trousers”

Mali’sGovernment

Sunni Ali divided empire into provinces, but he never finished setting up his empire, as he moved from one fight to another.

Muhammad Ture took over after Sunni Ali’s death.

Songhai’sGovernment

Many Europeans believed Africans did not have a religion

Olaudah Equiano disagreed Member of the Igbo “believed that there is one Creator of all

things, and that he…governs events, especially our deaths and captivity.”

Most African tribes shared the Igbo belief in one supreme god.

Nanti in East Africa thought people could speak directly with their god.

Igbo thought their god could only be spoken to through lesser gods.

Many believed that when their relatives died, their spirits stayed with the community.

Traditional African

Religions

Ibn Battuta young Arab lawyer from Morocco traveled the Islamic world.

Many believed Sundiata Keita and Sunni Ali did not do enough to advance the faith of Islam.

He found that in West Africa, women did not cover their faces, but many did study the Quran

Islam inAfrica

Mansa Musa had allowed different religions, but had worked to make Islam stronger

He used the wealth of Mali to build mosques and set up libraries at Timbuktu that collected books from the Muslim world.

1324, Mansa Musa made Mali known to the world as he set out on a journey to Mecca.

He brought a huge caravan and convinced some of the best architects to return to Mali with him.

Mali and Mansa Musa

Sunni Ali practiced the traditional religion of the Songhai, but declared himself a Muslim to keep the support of his townspeople.

Muhammad Ture drove Ali’s family from Songhai in a bloody war, then took the name Askia, a rank in the Songhai army.

Under Askia Muhammad, Songhai build the largest empire in medieval Africa.

Songhai and Askia Muhammad

1331, Ibn Battuta visited Mogadishu the sultan.

This sultan spoke in Arabic, then again in Swahili.

Swahili Arabic for “people of the coast”

Today, this is a blend of African and Muslim culture

Muslim schools drew people in from all across Africa.

Islam in East Africa

African Society and Culture

Section 3

3000 BC, fishing groups along the Benue River packed their belongings and moved south and west.

These “wanderers” called themselves Bantu, meaning “the people”

By AD 400, Bantu had settled much of Africa.

Today, more than 120 million Africans speak a form of Bantu, including Swahili.

The Bantu believed in one supreme creator and as spirit world where ancestors lived.

Life in Medieval Africa

Education was carried out by the family and neighbors.

Students learned the history of their culture and skills they needed as adults.

Oral history stories passed down from generation to generation.

Education andCommunity

Some women were soldiers in African kingdoms.

AD 600s, Queen Dahiaal-Kahina led the fight against a Muslim invasion.

Queen Nzinga spend almost 40 years battling Portuguese slave traders.

Role of Women

1441, a Portuguese sea captain captured 12 Africans and they became the first African slaves brought back to Europe.

Bantu chiefs would raid nearby villages and take captives who became their slaves.

Enslaved Africans might earn their freedom through hard work or marrying a free person.

The Quran forbade the enslavement of Muslims, but allowed non-Muslims to be slaves.

Slavery

Many of the first African slaves worked in Portugal.

Eventually, slaves began working on sugar cane plantations.

European Slave Trade

Cave paintings are the earliest form of art from Africa.

Would late use wood, ivory, and bronze for carvings.

Music expressed religious feelings or got people through everyday tasks.

Believed dance allowed the spirits to express themselves.

Music of hardship, sung by slaves, was the basis for the modern day genre of the blues.

Griots remained important.

African Culture

People often lived in extended families families made up of several generations.

Many villages, especially the Bantu were matrilineal, meaning they traced their descent through mothers rather than fathers.

Yoruba believed an ancestor could be reborn into a child.

Importance of Family