1. Africa

2. Empires, Kingdoms & Ministates
Sudanic civilization emerged 9000b.c. in eastern West Africa traveling westward based on :
Domesticated cattle b.c.
Cultivation of sorghum and millet b.c.
Cultivation of cotton and production of cotton cloth b.c.
Copper and iron production b.c.
States were stratified and ruled by kings and princes; monotheistic religion was distinct from Christianity, Islam & Judaism

3. African Empires
Ghana Empire-used camels to create trade routes across the Sahara to North Africa
Mali Empire (13th century) & Songhai Empire (15th century) ---similar to Aztecs & Incas relying in military might to control trade routes
Gold was cornerstone of international trade—abundant in West Africa—constituted ½ to 2/3 of all the gold in circulation in Europe, North Africa and Asia by 1450

4. Kingdoms & Mini-states
Resource-rich lower savanna and tropical rainforest of West Africa was home to many kingdoms
Comparable to Italy’s city-states
Densely populated; relied on yam cultivation and gathering
Also fought frequently in a competition for local power

5. Trade
By mid-15th century, a new coastal trade with Europeans brought option fro smaller states along West African coast
European traders had to negotiate contracts on local terms, but welcomed chance to trade Asian and European goods for West Africa’s resources including gold, grain, and ivory
East of Africa’s Gold Coast was an early center of the slave trade; came to be called the Slave Coast

7. Slave Trade Slavery was widespread in Africa
Used as agricultural labor, concubines or military recruits
A key commodity of exchange
Central to trans-Saharan trade
Between a.d , estimated 9 million Africans were sold in the trans-Saharan slave trade
1482-Portuguese merchants exploited & redirected the existing slave trade
Enslaved Africans to work on sugar plantations
After 1550, the Atlantic slave trade expanded enormously as Europeans established sugar plantations in Brazil and the West Indies