diverse societies in africa

1. Diverse Societies In Africa

2. Main Idea and Key Terms African peoples developed diverse societies as they adapted to varied environments Differences among modern societies are also based on people’s interactions with their environments Sahara Sahel Savanna Animism Griot Nok Djenné - Djeno

3. SSWH6: The student will describe the diverse characteristics of early African societies before 1800 A. identify the Bantu migration patterns and contribution to settled agriculture D. analyze the process of religious syncretism as a blending of traditional African beliefs with new ideas from Islam and Christianity GPS Standards

4. Africa is the second largest continent in the world It occupies approximately 1/5 of the world’s land area Narrow coastlines lie on either side of a central plateau This makes navigation by ship impossible to or from the coast Within the continent are deserts, largely uninhabitable The two largest are the Sahara in the north …and the Kalahari in the south Some Geography…

5. The Sahara stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, an area roughly the size of the United States Only a small portion is sand… most is gravel and rocks Each year, the desert expands south into the land that borders it, known as the Sahel Another uninhabitable area is the rain forest The tsetse fly is found in the rain forest, and has prevented the use of cattle, donkeys, and horses to farm It also blocked invaders from coming The Sahara… and the Rainforest

6. Not everything is so inhospitable… The northern coast and the southern tip of Africa have welcoming Mediterranean type climates and fertile soil Most people live on the savannas though The savannas are not just endless plains Include mountainous highlands Swampy tropical stretches Cover 40% of the continent

7. As we discussed at the beginning of the semester, the first humans appeared in the Great Rift Valley It runs through the Red Sea, and across eastern Africa They developed technologies that helped them survive in, and then alter, their environment The earliest people were nomadic hunter-gatherers Some of the San of the Kalahari and the BaMbuti of the rain forests are still hunter-gatherers They travel in small groups, hunt with spears and bows, and the women collect roots and berries Early Humans Adapt

8. Other Africans learned to domesticate and raise a variety of animals for food These were herders or pastoralists, and kept cattle, goats, or sheep They drove their animals to find water and good pastures during the dry season The Masai of Tanzania and southern Kenya still measure their wealth by the size of their herds

9. Agriculture probably began around 6000 b.c.e. Between 8000 and 6000 b.c.e., the Sahara received rainfall and turned into a savanna It began to dry again around 6000 b.c.e., and early farmers moved east into the Nile Valley and south into West Africa They began to grow grain and raise cattle Growing their own food allowed the people to settle permanently A Transition to a Settled Lifestyle

10. Growing food increased lifespan, the birthrate, and allowed some members to practice activities such as working metal, making pottery, and crafting jewelry An increase in the size of settlements required more organization Some governments consisted of a village chief and a council of the leaders of family groups Some strong groups moved to extend their land and centralized their power and their governments Some developed into great kingdoms

11. The family in these groups included parents and children, but also grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins Some families that shared common ancestors formed clans People also developed belief systems to help them understand and organize information Nearly all of these local religions involved a belief in one god The included elements of animism, where spirits are present in animals, plants, and other natural forces Early Societies

12. Few societies had a written language Instead, storytellers shared orally the history and literature of a culture These storytellers were known as griots Recent discoveries in West Africa have proved how old and extensive the history of this part of Africa is Discoveries in the areas of modern Mali and Nigeria reveal that West Africans developed advanced societies long before outsiders came to the continent

13. Archaeologists’ main source of information has been from artifacts such as pottery, charcoal, and slag; all byproducts of iron smelting The peoples of Africa south of the Sahara seem to have skipped the Copper and Bronze Ages and moved directly into the Iron Age Evidence of iron production dating to around 500 b.c.e. has been found in the area just north of the Niger and Benue rivers This was a major technological achievement of the Nok of sub-Saharan Africa West African Iron Age

14. The Nok culture lived in what is now Nigeria between 500 b.c.e. and 200 c.e. The name came from the village where the first artifacts were discovered Artifacts have been discovered between the Niger and Benue rivers There were the first West African people known to smelt iron Iron was fashioned into tools for farming and weapons for hunting, some of which made it to trade routes

15. South of the Sahara, villages began to develop between 600 and 200 b.c.e. Djenné-Djeno was one of those cities It was uncovered by archaeologists in 1977 It is located on a tributary of the Niger River Scientists discovered hundreds of thousands of artifacts Pottery, copper hair ornaments, clay toys, glass beads, stone bracelets, and iron knives

16. The oldest objects date to 250 b.c.e. The city was abandoned sometime after 1400 c.e. At its height, it had some 50,000 residents The lived in round reed huts, and later enclosed houses made of mud bricks They fished, raised cattle, and raised rice on the floodplains They exchanged rice, fish , and pottery for copper, gold, and salt Was linked by the river and overland camel routes