ANCIENT
AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS
Olivia,
Giulia, Victoria
GEOGRAPHY
2nd Largest Continent:
Africa is the second largest continent in the world. (Asia is the largest.)
Africa is three times the size of the continental United States. Measuring
north to south, Africa is 5,200 miles long!
At its widest point, Africa is nearly as wide as it is long.
Rivers: Africa has five
huge river systems. The big three, in order of size, are the Nile, the Congo,
and the Niger.
Oceans: In spite of its
size, Africa has few natural harbors. If you wanted to visit Africa by boat,
you would have to hunt for a safe place to land. Without a safe harbor, powerful
ocean current would slam your boat into the rocks along the coastline. The
Atlantic Ocean borders Africa to the west, the Indian Ocean borders Africa to
the east, and the Mediterranean borders Africa to the north. The Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet to border
Africa to the south. Africa is nearly surrounded by water.
Landforms: Africa has
rainforests, grasslands, and is home to the largest desert in the world, the
Sahara. Africa does have a few mountain ranges, like the Atlas Mountains in the
north. These are good size mountains, but they would appear to be hills if you
put them next to the Alps or the Himalayas. Africa does not have a huge
mountain range.
Prime Meridian: The prime
meridian, which is the imaginary line that separates the world into Eastern and
Western Hemispheres runs vertically through Africa. Another imaginary line runs
horizontally though Africa – the Equator.
Nubia (Land of Gold): The
Kingdom of Kush (also called Nubia - the Land of Gold) was located on the Nile
River, to the south of ancient Egypt.
CULTURE & DAILY LIFE
& RELIGION
Nubia was also known as
the Land of the Bow because their archers were expert and fierce. The army of
archers kept the Nubian people safe. It was important for them to be strong.
Many kingdoms wanted to control Nubia. Nubia was a land of natural wealth. They
had gold mines, ivory, incense, and iron ore.
Unlike Egypt, they were
not dependent upon the flooding of the Nile for good soil. They enjoyed
tropical rainfall all year long.
Daily Life of the Common
People: The common people lived in farming villages. Each village had a leader,
but their role was suggestive rather than controlling. Each village worked together
as a unit for the common good of the village. There was a division of labor.
For the common people in ancient Kush, daily life was village life.
There was a place inside
each village where the villagers would collect. And, there was a place where
many villages collected. When there was a festival, the people in individual
villages knew where the festival would be held if they were invited - it would
be held at the place where many villages collected.
Daily Life of the Nobles:
For many hundred of years, the nobles of ancient Kush thought of themselves as
Egyptians. They dressed like Egyptians. Their homes were similar. The kings and
nobles lived in riverside palaces. There were sailboats on the Nile. Their
daily life was very much like the people they envied - the ancient Egyptians.
As in ancient Egypt, many of their leaders were great Queens, not Kings.
When the capital of the
Kushite kingdom was moved further south along the Nile, they began to act less
like Egyptians and more like other civilizations in South Sahara Africa. Their
jewelry changed. They began wearing anklets and ear studs.
Religion: In the
beginning, they worshiped the same gods as did the ancient Egyptians, with a
few extra throw in like the three-headed Lion God. They mummified their dead.
They build pyramids. Kush pyramids looked a little differently - they had flat
tops, but they served the same purpose; they were tombs. The people of Kush
loved stories from the Bible. Many became Christians because of the Bible
stories they heard from passing traders.
Kush - the Iron Capital of
the Ancient African World: Although they were two different kingdoms, Egypt and
Kush were linked by the Nile River, by a shared past, and by the economics of
the day. Kush had something other kingdoms wanted. They had iron. This time in
history was known as the Iron Age. From about 1000 BCE to about 1000 CE, iron
was critically important. Iron was used to make tools and weapons. Kush was the
iron center of ancient Africa. Kush was also one of the major gold producers in
the ancient world.
Trade: Trade was very
important to Kush. They established flourishing ports on the Red Sea. They
tried to work out trade agreements with Egypt that would allow them free access
to the Mediterranean via the Nile River. Egyptians depended on Kush for iron,
gold, and for exotic goods like incense and ebony. Kush wanted Egyptian
manufactured goods, especially their cotton, an export for which Egypt is still
famous today.
Supply and Demand: As the
demand for iron grew, Kush ran into a problem. To make iron, they needed to
wood to burn. They had used up much of their wood. Their resources were
dwindling. Kush could not produce as much iron as they had in the past, yet
demand for iron was growing. Traders began to look elsewhere for iron. As trade
dwindled, the country began to weaken.
Kush looked around for new
avenues of trade. They had incense. They had ivory. Certainly someone would
want these wonderful products. The leaders of Kush began to turn their eyes
towards the vast Sahara Desert. What it possible? Could they develop a trade
route to the far away kings of which they had great things?
Camels (Ships of the
Desert): Around 750 CE, everything changed when Islamic traders began to use
camels to transports goods across the desert. The use of camels made it
possible to get from Kush to West Africa, to literally get from here to
there.
The Trans-Sahara Trade
Route: The day the first caravan of
camels headed west into the Sahara Desert was the day that marked the opening
of the Trans-Sahara Trade Route.
RELIGION: The people in
the villages believed that one god ruled the world, but that many gods were in
charge of daily life. They believed in two worlds – the world on earth, and the
world of the gods. Their religion was designed to bring these two worlds
together so that the elders, their religious leaders, could talk to the gods of
daily life and receive advice. To encourage these gods to drop by, they danced,
and sang, rattled noisemakers, made masks, and feasted. Certainly, the gods
would not wish to miss such a joyous time.
ANCESTOR WORSHIP: They
also asked their ancestors to talk to the gods on their behalf. They did many
things to please their ancestors so that they would intercede on their behalf –
things like storytelling and music and song and dance and feasting.
MAGIC: They believed in
magic amulets. People would visit the village witchdoctor in hopes of finding
help for their problems. The witchdoctor might make them a magic amulet. This
could be a bag tied tightly with instructions not to open it. It could be
anything. You might wear it around your neck. You might bury it and dance over
it. You might give it to someone.
The witchdoctors had a
good understanding of the many herbs that could heal. They also had a good
understanding of the hearts of people. It was no wonder the people believed in
magic. The amulets often worked!
GOVERNMENT
Mali means
"hippopotamus" or "where the king resides". Mali began as
one of the districts in the Kingdom of Ghana. Around 1230 CE, Ghana collapsed
and Mali took over. In time, they grew to be larger than Ghana.
The new king, Sundiata,
was a very good king. He was young and strong, courageous and clever. He kept the drums and storytellers busy with
tales of his achievements and accomplishments. Sundiata the Hero was soon
nicknamed the Lion King.
Strength: He built a
strong military to protect the routes. He had his army clear farmland to help
the people get back on their feet. He introduced cotton.
Trade: During the war with
Ghana, trade had just about disappeared. Trade was the way to wealth and he
knew it. He sent messengers out across Africa saying, "The invaders are
gone! Let us open up the trade routes!" And they did. Muslim merchants and
scholars began to come to Mali.
Religious Freedom: He was
a Muslim. He believed in one god - Allah. But he offered his people religious
freedom. He allowed his people to worship many gods in the tradition African
way.
Reduction of Slavery: He
allowed slaves to work for their freedom and to become an important part of the
new Kingdom of Mali. If you were bright and capable and hard working and
honest, he wanted you on his team.
He took a kingdom and made
it an empire. He ruled for 25 years, and his people loved him.
SLAVERY
Between 1450 and the late
1800's, it is estimated that between 10-15 MILLION Africans were kidnapped and
sold into slavery.
The expanding European
empires in the New World, in North, South, and Central America, lacked a major resource - workers. At first,
the European colonists attempted to use Native Americans as a work force, but
that did not work very well. Native Americans could slip away, and return with
others to punish those who tried to enslave them.
The early colonists tried
to bring people from Europe to work in the New World, both as indentured
servants and as slaves. That did not work well either, especially in the
tropical regions. The Europeans were not used to a tropical climate. Many died
of disease. Some ran away and blended with other early colonists.
The Portuguese soon
discovered that Africans were excellent workers. They were used to more tropical
climate conditions. The African people did not want to be slaves. They had to
be captured and forced into slavery. A business sprang up - slavers. These were
traders who captured and sold people into slavery.
Many captured people died
on the ships sailing to the New World. Conditions were terrible. People were
packed into the hold of ship without regard to their safety or their most basic
needs. The slaves who made it alive were strong workers and resistant to
disease.
