1. Warm Up March 2
What was the first of the great trading states to emerge in the area south of the Sahara in West Africa?
Ghana
Axum
Sierra Leone
Nubia

2. Bantu Migrations Originally lived in savanna south of Sahara
Bantu means “the people”

3. Bantu Migrations Started migrating south & east around 3,000 B.C.
Lived by slash-and-burn farming & nomadic herding
Slash-and-burn farming causes soil to lose its fertility quickly, forcing them to look for new locations every few years
Shared skills, learned new customs, adapted to environment
Subsistence Farmers

4. Causes of Bantu Migrations
Bantu speakers moved to find farmland
As agriculture developed, this led to specialization and permanent villages in many areas
To flee the growing Sahara Desert
Needed iron ore resources & hardwood forests for iron smelting
Within 1500 years, they reached the southern tip of Africa

5. Effects of Bantu Migrations
Bantu speakers drove out some inhabitants, intermixed with others
Bantu migrations produced a great variety of cultures
Language helped unify the continent
Technology of ironworking
Forged tools & weapons from bronze, copper & iron
Ideas about social & political organization

6. Background: African Societies (800-1500)
Hunter-Gatherers
Semi-nomadic; lived by gathering wild foods & hunting animals
The Efe were hunter-gatherers who traded with farming villages
The San (aka Bushmen) lived in southern Africa and part of East Africa

7. Background: African Societies (800-1500)
Stateless Societies
No centralized power
Power balanced among lineage groups, usually within villages
Tiv had no formal gov’t
Igbo resolved disputes by having elders from different lineages meet
Nuer organized over 250,000 people without an official ruler

8. Background: African Societies (800-1500)
Muslim States
Two Groups:
Almoravid Empire
In 11th century, they controlled Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, and part of Spain
Almohad Empire
Beginning in the mid-1100s, they controlled Morocco, much of Maghrib, and part of Spain

9. Key to Trade: CAMELS Causes: Effects:
Berbers began using camels because they could cover greater distances than pack animals (60 miles per day)
Could travel more than 10 days without water (twice as long as most pack animals)
Effects:
Using camels, Berber nomads created new routes across the Sahara – trade increased

10. West Africa: Ghana Grew from Kumba tribe around A.D. 200
Used iron weapons to conquer neighbors
Very wealthy due to surplus of gold and from taxing goods traders carried through their territory
Ghana’s king was able to keep the price of gold high by limiting its supply
Traded gold for salt (for meat preservation)
Islam brought by traders; attacked by Muslim Almoravids in 1076
This disrupted the gold-salt trade that Ghana had controlled. Ghana never regained power.

11. West Africa: Mali Reached its peak from 1230-1337
How?
Gold was discovered farther east, causing a shift eastward in trade routes
The people of Mali, who lived in the region of the new trade routes, were able to seize power.
Larger & richer than Ghana
Capital: Timbuktu
Mali = “where the king lives”

12. West Africa: Mali Sundiata Keita 1st great leader of Mali
Took title of “mansa” – emperor
Took over Ghana & a few trading cities – period of peace & prosperity followed
Accomplishments:
Put able administrators in charge of Mali’s finances, defense, & foreign affairs
Promoted agriculture
Re-established the gold-salt trade
Died in 1255

13. West Africa: Mali Mansa Musa (1312-1332)
Grandnephew of Sundiata, became a Muslim
Expanded size of the empire
Divided it into provinces & appointed governors
Built mosques in Timbuktu & Gao
Went on a pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca in 1324
Gave away gold and jewels along the way to show Mali’s strength and wealth

14. West Africa: Songhai Began to grow as Mali declined
Mali declined because:
most of Mansa Musa’s successors did not govern well
New gold deposits were developed and trade shifted eastward again
Took over the trade routes from the Atlantic Ocean to Gao (capital)

15. West Africa: Songhai Sunni Ali Became leader of Songhai in 1464
Ruled for 30 years
Expanded empire through his skill as a military commander and his aggressive leadership
Conquered Timbuktu in 1468
Died in 1492

16. West Africa: Songhai Askia Muhammad
Led revolt against the son of Sunni Ali and took over
Ruled for 37 years
Set up tax system and an efficient government
He was overthrown in 1591 by the army from Morocco who had advanced technology (Guns and cannons)

17. Trade: Gold, Salt, & Slaves
Gold-Salt Trade
Gold  from West African forest region south of savanna between Niger & Senegal rivers
Salt  from Sahara desert
Merchants brought each back and forth between trading cities where they exchanged the goods

19. Trade: Gold, Salt, & Slaves
Slave Trade
Arab Muslim traders exported enslaved persons from East African coast to places like India, China, Iraq, Persia, & Arabia
Numbers traded remained small (perhaps 1,000 a year)
Did not increase dramatically until 1700s when Europeans started to buy captured Africans for their colonial plantations
An Arab slave market in Yemen, A.D. 1237

20. What is religious syncretism?
Religious Syncretism - The blending of old beliefs with new ones
Example:
Blending Animism (traditional African belief) with Islam and Christianity