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1._____ is the second-largest continent in the world.
The African continent contains rain forests; savannas, which
are tropical grasslands; and deserts.
The Sahara and Kalahari Desert are in Africa. The Sahara is the
largest desert in the world.
A 2._______is an area of high, flat land. Almost all of Africa,
except the coastal plains, rests on a plateau.
The Nile River is Africas longest river. The Congo River is about
2,700 miles long.
The 3._______was formed when parts of the plateaus surface
dropped. Some of the earliest human fossils have been
found in the Great Rift Valley.
The 4._______ were the first known people to settle in North
Africa.
After crossing the Sahara to trade with others, they told
stories of the gold in West Africa.
5._________, the first large empire to rise from trading wealth,
was located where trade routes came together. Ghanas
rulers required traders to pay a tax to Ghana to pass
through. Traders paid the taxes because Ghana made iron
weapons and had a huge army. Also, the traders wanted to
trade so much they would do so at almost any price.
Ghana was replaced by the kingdom of Mali. Legend tells of a
warrior-king named 6.______who seized Ghana and then won
control of Timbuktu, a trading city.
7.______was the last strong ruler of Mali. He died in 1332. The
kings who followed him were unable to stop the Berbers
from overrunning the kingdom.
8.________, the leader of Songhai, drove the Berbers out of
Timbuktu. His army pushed west and took over the Berber
salt mines. His empire became the largest in West Africa
and lasted almost 100 years after his death in 1492.
People in the rain forests built their own empires, such as
Kongo and Benin.
9.________founded the empire of Benin around 1440.
The country of Ethiopia today traces its origins to Queen
Makeda, who became queen of an empire called Saba or
Sheba in 1005 B.C.
10.________, Ethiopias oldest written history, recounts how
Makeda visited with King Solomon of Israel.
Around A.D. 300, King Ezana of Axum defeated Kush. King
Ezana converted to Christianity and made it the official
religion in A.D. 334.
Arabs invented triangular sails called 11._______that helped
them sail to Africa. Arab Muslim traders sailed to Africa to
trade with East African city-states
1. Africa
2. Plateau
3. Great Rift Valley
4. Berbers
5. Ghana
6. Sundiata Keita
7. Mansa Musa
8. Sunni Ali
9. King Ewuare
10. dhows
SECT.2
Ghanas government included a council of ministers, who
advised the king. The empire was divided into provinces,
ruled by lesser kings or conquered leaders. Below them,
local leaders ruled over a district that included the leaders
clana group of people descended from the same ancestor.
The throne of Ghana was passed on to the son of the kings
sister.
Malis royal officials had more responsibility than Ghanas
officials did. Malis empire was also divided into provinces,
and generals governed the provinces. The generals
protected the people from invaders and usually came from
the province they ruled.
Although Sunni Ali began dividing Songhai into provinces for
government, he died before he could finish. In 1492,
Muhammad Ture seized control of Songhai. He was a
faithful Muslim, and his religious ideas affected the Songhai
government.
Many African groups believed in one supreme god.
African religious practices vary from place to place, but their
beliefs served similar purposesto help people stay in touch
with their history and provide rules for living.
Mansa Musa had worked to spread Islam, though he allowed
different religions. He made a pilgrimage to Makkah, or
Mecca, with a caravan of thousands of people.
Sunni Ali practiced the traditional religion of the Songhai but
called himself a Muslim. His son refused to declare himself a
Muslim.
Muhammad Ture declared himself king and drove Alis family
from Songhai. He then took the name Askia Muhammad.
Under him, Songhai became the largest empire in West
Africa. Timbuktuits capitalwas a center of Islamic learning
and culture.
SECT.3
The Bantu people traveled through southern Africa, and had
settled most of Africa by A.D. 400. They spread their
language, Swahili, and their culture as they traveled.
Many African villages were matrilineal, meaning the people
traced their ancestors through their mothers rather than
their fathers.
Womens roles were mainly as wives and mothers. Men had
more rights than women did, and they controlled what
women did. There were exceptions. Dahia al-Kahina was a
queen who led the fight against a Muslim invasion. Nzinga
was a queen who battled Portuguese slave traders for
nearly 40 years.
Slavery existed in Africa before the arrival of Europeans.
Africans enslaved criminals and enemies captured in war.
The slave trade grew as trade with Muslim merchants
increased. Muslims were not allowed to enslave other
Muslims, but they could enslave people of other faiths.
The Portuguese brought enslaved Africans to Europe in 1441.
These enslaved people were used to farm crops of cotton,
grapes, and sugar cane.
Enslaved Africans took their culture with them when they were
traded. The African Diaspora is the spreading of African
people and culture around the world.
Early African cave paintings showed daily life, told stories, and
had some religious meaning or use.
Wooden masks celebrated religious beliefs, and wooden, ivory,
or bronze works showed the faces of important leaders,
everyday people, and European explorers and traders.
Africans used dance in important events because they felt that
dance allowed the spirits to express themselves.
Enslaved Africans used music to remind them of their
homeland.
Their songs of hardship and religious faith grew into gospel
songs. Jazz, blues, ragtime, rock n roll, and rap are genres
also based inAfrican musical traditions.
Storytelling is a strong African tradition.