7.4.1

1. Geography of Africa 7.4.1 • Essential Question • How did West Africa’s geography affect the people who lived there? • The Big Idea • West Africa has varied environments and valuable resources.

2. Africa is the second largest continent and is shaped like a soup bowl with mountains on the rim. The Niger River became a source of water, food, and transportation that allowed many people to live in the sub-Saharan plains, areas in Africa south of the equator. Main Idea 1: The landforms, water, climate, and plant life affected history in West Africa Study the Map

3. Quiz Time! Can you name the regions? Write the letter next to the region on your ntoes Africa’s Four Regions • 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. Grazing animals are common there. • Rain forests, or moist, densely wooded areas, are near the equator. They contain a variety of plants and animals.

4. Main Idea 2: West Africa’s resources included farmland, gold, and salt. West Africa’s land produced many crops, such as dates and kola nuts. Kola nuts could be used for medicine. 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.

5. Early Culture and Trade 7.4.2 • The Big Idea • Family ties, religion, iron technology, and trade all contributed to the growth of West African societies. • Essential Questions • (read, you do not have to write these down) • How did family and religion influence daily life in early West African society? • How did iron technology impact life in West Africa? • How did trade shaped the history of West Africa?

6. A typical West African family was an extended family including close relatives. Some people took part in another type of group, called age sets. In these groups, people who had been born within the same two or three years formed special bonds. Loyalty to families and age-sets helped the people of a village work together. Main Idea 1: Family and religion influenced daily life in early West African society.

7. Changes in technology helped some early communities grow. The people of Nok began using iron to make farm tools and weapons. Farmers could work the land faster and grow more food. Warriors gained power with better weapons. People could live in places they hadn’t been able to before. Main Idea 2: Iron technology impacted life in West Africa.

8. West Africans began to trade the area’s resources with buyers who lived thousands of miles away. They traded gold, salt, cloth, copper, silver, and other items. Camels were used to transport goods over long distances because they could store water and carry heavy loads. Main Idea 3:Trade shaped the history of West Africa.

10. Read more about Village Societies here: Kinship and Common Good Add more information to your notes Read about Trans-Saharan Travel here: Crossing the Sahara and add more information to your notes Click window above to start playing.