Section 1 – Geography and Early Africa - Page 380 - 383

EARLY AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS

VOCABULARY:

-Rift -Sub-Saharan Africa -Sahel -Savannah -Rain forests -Surplus-Animism

Geography, resources, culture, and

trade influenced the growth of

societies in West Africa.

BIG IDEAGeography,

resources,

culture, and

trade

influenced the

growth of

societies in

West Africa.

LANDFORMS, CLIMATE and RESOURCES

Geography, resources, culture, and

trade influenced the growth of

societies in West Africa.

MAIN IDEALandforms,

climate and

resources

affected the

history of West

Africa.

Africa is the second largest continent in the

world.

An immense desert thatstretches across most of

Northern Africa - Sahara.

Atlas Mountains -Northwestern edge of the Sahara.

can be found on Southeastern edge of Africa.

The Drakensberg Mountains

In Eastern

Africa –

Mountains

extend

along the

Great Rift.

A long, deep valley formed by the

movement of the earth’s crust

RIFT

From rifts, all the mountains dip into plateaus and wide, low plains.

-

SUB-

SAHARAN

AFRICA

Africa

south of

the

Sahara

…is

crossed

by mighty

rivers

(Nile,

Congo,

Zambezi,

and the

Niger).

REGIONS OF WEST AFRICA

Niger River – allowed people to live

in West Africa because of its water,

food, and transportation

Along Niger’s middle section is a low-lying area

of lakes and marshes. Many animals find food

and shelter there – fish are plentiful

Four different regions make up the

area surrounding the Niger River

which run east to west.

NORTHERN

BANDruns along the

southern part of

the Sahara

A semiarid region in Africa just south

of the Sahara that separates the

desert from wetter areas

SAHEL

SAHEL

SAHELa strip of land

with little

rainfall that

divides the

desert from

wetter areas.

SAVANNAH

An open grassland with

scattered trees

SAHEL

SAVANNAH

SAVANNAH open

grassland with

scattered treesSAVANNAH

RAIN FORESTS

A moist, densely wooded area that contains

many different plants and animals

SAHEL

SAVANNAH

RAIN

FORESTSruns near the

equator. Gets

heavy rain. A

place of moist,

densely

wooded areas.

SAVANNAH

Rain Forest

Savannah

Sahel

Northern Band

WEST AFRICA’S RESOURCES

West Africa’s land is one of the region’s many resources.

With its many

climates, the land

can produce

many different

crops.

The traditional crops grown in

Western

Africa were

dates, kola

nuts, and

grains

KOLA NUTS

Kola nuts are native to West Africa. The nuts are valued for it's stimulating, aphrodisiac and healing qualities. Extracts of these nuts are often found in energy drinks.

Kola nuts are important in many African societies, particularly in Western Africa. Besides the fact that Kola nuts contain caffeine and act as a stimulant and anti-depressant, they are also thought to reduce fatigue and hunger, aid digestion, and work as an aphrodisiac. In some parts of Africa, kola nuts are given as gifts to visitors entering a home, usually with some formal ceremony. Offering the kola nut is a gesture of friendship and hospitality.

Kola nuts are consumed by breaking them open and into pieces, then chewing the kola nut pieces as one chews gum. Most people find the taste very bitter, The stimulative effect is similar to a strong cup of coffee. In their raw form they are rather hard to find outside the tropics.

Kola nuts are best known outside of Africa as an ingredient in cola beverages. There is some evidence that the first kola (or cola) beverage was made by Western Africans who mixed water with dried or fermented kola nuts. Commercially produced cola drinks were developed in the late 1800s, when chemists and inventors the world over used kola nuts in various drinks and tonics. The most famous of these is Coca-Cola, which has become a truly global beverage.

More recently, kola nuts and kola nut extract have become popular in Europe and North America as a natural or alternative medicine.

Other resources were minerals

Gold (a mineral), from the forests, was

especially prized.

Salt from the Sahara, was also prized.

Salt was used to keep food from spoiling and people needed it in their diet to survive Africa’s hot climate.

What are some of West Africa’s major

resources?(FINDING MAIN

IDEAS)

Can you also answer these questions?

A. Where in Africa are the rifts located? (RECALL)

B. How were two of West Africa’s valuable mineral resources related to local physical geography? (EXPLAIN)

C. What does sub-Saharan Africa mean? (DEFINE)

D. What did the Niger River provide people living in theregion? (SUMMARIZE)

E. What impact might the vast Sahara have on the people of this continent? (PREDICT)

F. Why might more people live in the savannah than in the Sahel? (DRAW CONCLUSIONS)

G. How might the different climates in West Africa affect settlement patterns and the growth of towns? (PREDICT)

Can you also answer these questions?

H. What crops were harvested in West Africa? (RECALL)

I. Why was salt important to West Africans? (EXPLAIN)

"Early African Civilizations." World History. : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing

Company, 2012. . Print.

Content for this presentation was gotten from:

Early People’s Way of Life

Geography, resources, culture, and

trade influenced the growth of

societies in West Africa.

MAIN IDEAThe way of life of

early peoples in

West Africa was

was shaped by by

family ties, religion,

iron technology,

and trade.

The typical early West African family wasan

EXTENDED FAMILY

A family group that includes a father, mother,

children, and close relative in one household.

EXTENDED FAMILY

West African society expected each person to be loyal to his or her family.

In some area, people became part of age-sets.

Men born within a few years of each other (2-3 years) would form special bonds.

Women also formed age-sets.

Loyalty to family and age-sets helped people of a village to work

together.

Men would hunt, farm, and raise livestock

Women collected firewood, ground grain,

carried water, and cared for children.

Religion was another feature

of village life.

Many believed (Western Africans) that their ancestors’

spirits stayed nearby.

To honor these spirits, families marked places as sacred by putting specially carved statues there.

They also offered food to their ancestors.

Another common West African belief was animism.

The belief that bodies of water, animals, trees,

and other natural objects have

spirits.

ANIMISM

As time passed, the people of West Africa

developed into an advanced culture.

Changes in technology helped early

communities grow.

Around 500 BC, Western Africans found that they could

heat certain kinds of rock to get a hard metal.

IRON

Iron tools allowed farmers to clear land faster and grow food more easily than

they could with earlier tools.

Iron was stronger

than other metals, iron was good for making tools

and

weapons.

As Western Africa became more productive, villages had more than they

needed to survive.

This was called a SURPLUS

West Africans began to trade the areas’ resources with buyers who lived

thousands of miles away.

West African’ gold

and salt mines

became a source of

great wealth.

Traders used camels to cross the Sahara.

They took gold, salt,

cloth, slaves and other items to North

Africa and the Islamic

World.

How did religion in

West Africa reflect the

importance of family?

(ANALYZING)

Can you also answer these questions?

A. What are two groups to which a person in early WestAfrica may have owed loyalty? (IDENTIFY)

B. How did the use of iron change farming? (ANALYZE)

C. Who made up an extended family? (IDENTIFY)

D. What role did animism play in West African culture? (ANALYZE)

E. Why were extended families and age-sets important in early West African cultures? (ELABORATE)

Summarize how

geography, resources, culture and

trade influenced West

Africa.

"Early African Civilizations." World History. : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing

Company, 2012. . Print.

Content for this presentation was gotten from: