Chapter 8 - African Civilizations

Terms in this set (28)

Sahel means "coastline". African people may have named it this because the Sahara seemed like a vast ocean of sand.

Deadliest creature lurking in rain forests. They carry a disease that is deadly to livestock and can cause fatal sleeping sickness in humans.

Grassy plains. These are not just endless plains. They include mountainous highlands and swampy tropical stretches. Covered with tall grasses and dotted with trees, they cover over 40% of Africa. Home to the majority of the African peoples. In most years this produces abundant agricultural product.

herders or pastoralists

These people kept cattle, goats, or sheep. They were nomads who drove their animals to find water and good pastures.

Families that shared common ancestors sometimes formed groups known as this

The oldest known type of belief system in the world. A religion in which spirits play an importnant role in regulating daily life. They believe that spirits are present in animals, plants, and other natural forces, and also take the form of the souls of their ancestors.

Storytellers who kept Africa's histories alive, passing it from parent to child.

desertification

The process in which land slowly dries out until little or no vegetation exists becoming a desert. Primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.

Waste residue from smelting iron.

earliest known West African culture; consisted of farmers, first to smelt iron weapons and tools; traded; Settled in DJenne-DJenno near Niger river, also located on important trade routes

The process that uses a furnace to separate iron from the unwanted minerals bound up with it in rocks.

This city was uncovered by archaeologists in 1977; it is located on a tributary of the Niger River in West Africa. Here scientists discovered hundreds of thousands of artifacts dating from as early as 250 B.C. to 1400 A.D. -- making this city the oldest known city in Africa south of the Sahara. A bustling trading center.

A permanent move from one country or region to another.

push-pull factors

Environmental, economic or political factors that can affect the movement of peoples to or from a region.

effects of migration

-redistribution of the population may change population density
-cultural blending of lanuages or ways of life may occur
-ideas and technologies may be shared
-People's quality of life mybe improves as a result of moving.
-clashes between groups may created unrest, persecutions, or even war
-environmental conditions may change, causing famine, or depleted natural resources
-employment oppurtunites may dry up, creating unemployment and poverty

Bantu-speaking peoples

The speakers of a related group of languages who, beginnng about 2,000 years ago, migrated from West Africa into most of the southern half of Africa.

San people of the Kalahari Desert

Desert-dwelling African nomadic hunter-gatherers, not influenced by the Bantu-speakers culture

A strong ruler ( 325 - 360 A.D.) who enlarged Aksum, built up trade and introduced Christainity, Aksum reached its golden age under his rule.

First people to have written language call ge'ez. Africa's first and greatest Christian Kingdom. Now is modern day Ethiopia. An important East African center of trade that controlled a trading port on the Red Sea. In the 300s, King Ezana converted to Christianity and made it the official religion here. In the 600s the Muslims conquered the trading ports and gained control of the Red Sea. This ended the trade that had given the place its power and wealth.

terrace farming

steplike ridges constructed on mountain slopes which helped the soil retain water and prevented it from being washed downhill in heavy rains

The Aksum language - one of the few written languages of ancient Africa.

Aksumite innovations

-developed a written language
- minted its own coins
-developed irrigation canals/dams
- invented terrace farming ----
.

A towering stone pillar, such as those erected by Aksumites as monuments or tomb markers.

When Ezana finally became ruler of Aksum, he converted to this religion and established it as the kingdom's official religion.

Islamic Invaders

Aksum's cultural and technological achievemnts enabled it to last for 800 years. Then THESE PEOPLE conquered surrounding areas. To escape the advancing wave of the the invader's religion, Aksum's Christian rulers moved their capital over the mountains into what is now Northern Ethiopia. Its new geographic isolation led to its decline as a world power.

This city was Aksum's chief seaport where Aksum traded gold and other items. It was crowded with lots of activity from various merchants (Egypt, Arabia, Persia, India, and the Roman Empire).

a huge desert stretching across most of North Africa

Africans who were not Bantu speakers. Instead of producing food through agriculture, the were hunter-gatherers. They had to find ways to get along with the Bantu, get out of their way, or defend their lands and way of life. Armed with only stone weapons, however, the posed no threat to the Bantu people who pushed them into the far reaches of the Congo Basin.

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