Geography and Early Civilizations  Large size – more than 3 times the size of the U.S.  Four climate zones  Deserts – 40%  The Sahara is the largest in the world  Mild zone – 10%  South of the Sahara is a region of Africa called the Sahel - A strip of land that divides the desert from wetter areas  Several large rivers: the Congo and the Niger rivers  Savannas – 40%  Savanna = broad, open grassland  Most people in Africa live in the savannas  Rain Forests – 10% First civilizations were Egypt and Nubia (Eastern Africa)

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Society  The southern half of Africa developed states more slowly and most of the people lived in stateless societies until the 11 th century AD  Stateless society is a group of independent villages organized by clans and led by a local ruler or clan head  Many African societies were matrilineal, meaning that descent was traced through the mother  Music and story-telling were used to pass along community’s history in the absence of a written language  The task of remembering and passing on oral traditions was entrusted to storytellers called griots  Griots were highly respected  African societies used captives for forced labor and sold slaves  Slaves were people captured in war, debtors, and criminals

East Africa  Known as the Ivory Coast  Major kingdoms include, Kush (Nubia), Aksum, Ethiopia, and Great Zimbabwe  Main trading products include ivory, slaves, ebony, some gold  Swahili  Due to trade and invading Muslims, a new African- Arabian culture emerged along East Africas coast  The African language of Bantu blended with Arab into Swahili “peoples of the coast”  Is the national language of Kenya and Tanzania

East African kingdoms and empires  Kush – Nubia frees itself from Egyptian control around 1000 BC and forms the independent state of Kush  Modern day country of Sudan  750 BC conquers Egypt, but is soon forced to retreat back to the Upper Nile Valley by the Assyrians  Kush becomes one of the major trading states in the region  Trade from Africa, India, Arabia, and Rome  Major exports: ivory, gold, ebony, and slaves

 Aksum – 1 st century AD – 700s AD  located in the highlands of Ethiopia  Prosperity due to its location along the Red Sea  Trade route between India and the Mediterranean  Major exports: ivory, frankincense, myrrh, and slaves  Invades and conquers Kush  Had one of the first written languages developed in Africa  Converts to Christianity  Declined due to the arrival of Muslim invaders  Ethiopia – established in the 1100s AD by descendants of Aksum Christianity proved to be a unifying identity for the Ethiopian people

 Great Zimbabwe – 1100s to 1400s AD  Part of Africa’s thriving trade network due to its location  Was in the middle of a trade route linking Africa’s interior gold mines to the city-states on the coast  Great Zimbabwe served as a middleman  Swahili  Due to trade and invading Muslims, a new African- Arabian culture emerged along East Africa’s coast  The African language of Bantu blended with Arab into Swahili “peoples of the coast”  Is the national language of Kenya and Tanzania

West Africa  Known as the Gold Coast  Major kingdoms and empires include the Empire of Ghana, the Mali Empire, the Empire Songhai, and the Kingdom of Benin  Main trading products include gold, salt, iron, and slaves

West African kingdoms and empires  The Gold Coast  Empire of Ghana – located in the upper Niger river valley  By 800 AD Ghana controlled nearly all trade of salt and gold in sub-Saharan Africa  Ghana’s kings kept the supply of gold scarce to keep gold prices high  Only the kings could own gold nuggets and the location of gold mines were strictly guarded  Exports: Gold, iron, animal products, salt, and slaves

 Mali Empire – 1230s – 1430s  Much of the wealth of the empire came from the taxation of the gold-salt trade  Mali kept order along the trade routes by using a large army  Converted to Islam and their famous ruler Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca  Brought Mali to the attention of the Europeans  Exports: gold and salt  Famous trading city of Timbuktu  Empire of Songhai – 1460s – 1591  Grew wealthy trading goods along the Niger river  Converted to Islam  Took over Timbuktu  Exports: gold and salt

 Kingdom of Benin  Located in the forests of the Niger delta  Came into contact with the Europeans  Portuguese sailors arrived in the late 1400s  The people of Benin had many war captives, which they sold to the Portuguese as slaves  Exports: ivory, pepper, cotton, and slaves