Download Africa, 500 BCE – 1200 CE WHAP/Napp Do Now: “The Bantu most

Africa, 500 BCE – 1200 CE
WHAP/Napp
Do Now:
“The Bantu most likely originated in an area south of the Sahara Desert in the region
around modern Nigeria. They may have begun leaving their homeland as early as 2000
B.C.E., possibly because of desertification, or the expansion of the Sahara Desert that dried
out their agricultural lands. They traveled for centuries all over sub-Saharan Africa, but
retained many of their customs, including their Bantu language. As their language spread,
it combined with others, but still retained enough similarity to the original that the family
of Bantu languages can still be recognized over a huge expanse of territory. Unlike the
surges by the Huns and Germanic people, the Bantu migrations were quite gradual, so that
by the end of the classical era, the Bantu migrations had introduced agriculture, iron
metallurgy, and the Bantu language to most regions of sub-Saharan Africa.”
~ World History
1. Why are the Bantus important to African 4. What kind of evidence finally confirmed
culture?
that iron technology was indigenous to
(A) They ruled Egypt for thousands of
Africa and not imported from other
years.
societies?
(B) They built major cities in Tunisia.
(A) the discovery of knife and ax blades
(C) They come the closest to resembling a
(B) the discovery of a pre-heating device
common cultural source in sub-Saharan
called a tuyére
Africa.
(C) the discovery of an iron-smelting
(D) They were the first civilization to use
furnace wall
numerals.
(D) All these answers are correct.
(D) All of the above.
5. Which of the following was NOT an
2. The earliest Bantu were
advantage that Bantu-speaking migrants
(A) Aggressive warriors
had over gatherer-hunters?
(B) Hunting and gathering peoples
a. The Bantu had political structures that
(C) Fishing peoples
made it possible for them to organize large
(D) Agriculturalists
armies and seize land from the gatherer(E) Horsemen
hunters.
b. The Bantu knew how to work iron, and
3. A historian researching the timeline of the thus could produce better tools and weapons
spread of iron metallurgy in sub-Saharan
than the people they displaced or absorbed.
Africa would find which of the following
c. The Bantu brought diseases to which the
sources most useful?
gathering/hunting peoples they encountered
(A) Bantu-language oral histories
had little immunity.
transmitted through generations
d. The Bantu were farmers, and thus could
(B) Archaeological evidence of early forges
support more people in a smaller area than
and smelting operations
the gatherer-hunters could.
(C) European travelers’ accounts from the
6. The Bantu spread
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
(A) iron metallurgy
describing African industrial practices
(B) agriculture
(D) North African Muslim merchants’
(C) language
account books detailing purchases of iron
(D) all of the above
tools
Key Words/ I. Geographical Diversity
Questions
A. Deserts, savannas, tropical rain forest, highlands and mountains in
eastern Africa and Mediterranean climate in north/south
B. Diverse geographic factors ensured variation and cultural diversity
C. But proximity to Eurasia
1. North Africa was incorporated into the Roman Empire
2. Christianity spread: Saint Augustine was an African theologian
D. Proximity to Arabia was another point of contact
1. Arrival of camel facilitated Trans-Saharan Trade
2. Also East Africa was part of the Indian Ocean Trade Network
E. Meroë
1. South of Egypt lay Nubia which selectively borrowed from Egypt
a) Nubian civilization came to center on the southern city of Meroë
b) Flourished between 300 BCE and 100 CE
c) Governed by an all-powerful and sacred monarch, sometimes female
d) Smelting of iron and the manufacture of iron tools and weapons
e) Rainfall-based agriculture was possible; extensive trade
f) After 100 CE, declined due to deforestation caused by need for wood
F. Axum
A. Lay in Horn of Africa, in what is now Eritrea and northern Ethiopia
B. Plow-based farming – relied on hoe or digging stick
C. Wheat, barley, millet, and teff, a highly nutritious grain
D. Participation in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean commerce
1. Adulis: largest port on the East African coast
E. Taxes on trade provided a major source of revenue
F. Capital city, also known as Axum, center of monumental building
1. Huge stone obelisks which most likely marked royal graves
2. Geez was a script derived from Arabia
3. Axum was introduced to Christianity in the fourth century CE
4. King Ezana, adopted Christianity about the same time as Constantine
1. Like Egypt [Coptic Christianity] but stronger in Ethiopia today
5. Sixth century CE, Axum mounted a campaign of imperial expansion
6. Next several centuries, declined due to soil exhaustion, deforestation
II. Around the Niger River – West Africa
1. City of Jenne-jeno [apparent absence of a state structure]
III. The Bantu
A. Homeland region in what is now southeastern Nigeria and the
Cameroons and then migration throughout sub-Saharan Africa
B. Slow movement that brought Africa south of the equator a measure of
cultural and linguistic commonality, marking it as a distinct region
C. Farming largely replaced foraging
D. Iron was spread during the Bantu migrations
E. Also spread banana cultivation [from Southeast Asia through Indian
Ocean Trade]
Reflections:
1. The arrival of camels in Africa
(A) Had little impact.
(B) Quickened the pace of communication
across the Sahara.
(C) Led to replacing elephants as the
preferred transport animal throughout the
Sahara.
(D) Still made travel across the Saharan
impossible.
(E) Is unknown because they have always
been there.
2. Trade and communications networks
were slower to penetrate sub-Saharan
Africa compared to other regions because
(A) Africans had little contact with each
other.
(B) Africans did not have any goods that
others wanted to trade for.
(C) There was a language barrier.
(D) There were formidable geographic
barriers to overcome.
(E) All these answers are correct.
3. The earliest Bantu migrants were
(A) Aggressive warriors.
(B) Hunting and gathering peoples.
(C) Fishing peoples.
(D) Agriculturalists.
(E) Horsemen.
4. The introduction of bananas to Africa
(A) Had little impact.
(B) Permitted the Kushite people to
dominate sub-Saharan Africa.
(C) Allowed Malay city states to dominate
West Africa.
(D) Permitted the Bantu to expand into
heavily forested areas.
(E) All these answers are correct.
5. Axum prospered partly because it had a
port on the
(A) Mediterranean Sea (C) Atlantic Ocean
(B) Indian Ocean
(D) Red Sea
6. The original Bantu people
(A) Spoke a language in the Niger-Congo
family.
(B) Settled mostly on the banks of rivers.
(C) Came from what is now Nigeria.
(D) Cultivated yams and palm oils.
(E) All these answers are correct.
7. What can you infer from the fact that
many buildings in Meroë resembled
Egyptian buildings?
(A) The Egyptians constructed better
buildings than the Kushites.
(B) The Kushites did not know how to
construct good buildings.
(C) The Kushite culture was influenced by
Egyptian culture.
(D) The Egyptian culture was inferior to the
Kushite culture.
8. King Ezana of Axum strengthened ties
with the Mediterranean world by
(A) converting to Christianity
(B) making a hajj to Mecca
(C) observing Jewish Holidays
(D) following traditional religious beliefs
9. What makes Jenne-jeno such a significant
place?
(A) It proved that there were large cities in
ancient West Africa.
(B) It proved that there were no large cities
in ancient Africa until Arab traders
developed them.
(C) Its enormous mosque is celebrated for
its architectural style and copied all
throughout Africa.
(D) None of the above.
10. Which of the following was NOT a result of
iron technology in West Africa?
(A) Trees became scarce.
(B) People were able to produce more food and
further develop their civilization.
(C)Trans-Saharan trade became more possible.
(D) Warriors were able to defeat neighbors who
had inferior weapons.
Critical Thinking Prompts:
1- Compare and contrast Egyptian and Nubian society. Why is there so much more
known about Egypt? Come up with at least five good reasons.
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2- Herodotus said that Egypt was the “gift of the Nile.” What does this mean? In what
ways did the Nile affect Egyptian culture?
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3- Agriculture spread through sub-Saharan Africa considerably later than it did
through other parts of the world. Why do you think this is so? Come up with at least
three possible explanations.
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“Cultivation and domestication of animals transformed African cultures, like cultures in
southwest Asia, into distinctive societies with more formal states, specialized labor, and
more elaborate cultural traditions. The region around the Nile River, Egypt to the north
and Nubia to the south, supported the fastest growing and most complex societies in Africa.
These societies are notable for the following characteristics:
 Centralized political authority embodied in the absolute ruler, the pharaoh in Egypt
and the person of the king in the region of Kush (Nubia)
 Imperialist expansion in the second millennium B.C.E. as the Egyptian army pushed
into Palestine, Syria, and north Africa, and south into Nubia, and as the Kushites
later conquered Egypt and expanded their influence to the south
 Highly stratified and patriarchal societies based on an agricultural economy
 Development of industries, transportation, and trade networks that facilitated
economic growth and the intermingling of cultural traditions
 Writing systems: hieroglyphic, hieratic, demotic, and Coptic scripts in Egypt and
the yet-to-be-translated Meroitic inscriptions in Nubia
 Organized religious traditions that included worship of Amon and Re, sun gods; the
cult of Osiris; pyramid building; and in Egypt, mummification of the dead
 At the same time that Egypt and Nubia were becoming increasingly complex
societies, the Bantu-speaking peoples to the south were undertaking gradual
migrations from their homeland in west central Africa and displacing or
intermingling with the foraging peoples of the forests. These migrations, and others,
helped to spread both agricultural technology and, after 1000 B.C.E., iron
metallurgy throughout sub-Saharan Africa.”
~ Traditions and Encounters
Comparative Prompt: Analyze similarities and differences in the emergence and impact
of civilization in Africa and Southwest Asia.
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