World Civilization Chapter 8 – Flashcards

is the largest of the continents

is the second largest of the continents -stretches nearly 5,000 miles from the Cape of Good Hope in the south Mediterranean in the north-mountains Cape Verde (VURD) on the west coast to the Horn of Africa on the Indian Ocean. -Africa is as physically diverse as it is vast. east is the Nile River, heart of the ancient Egyptian civilization. Red Sea, separating Africa from Asia. major regions. west is the so-called hump of Africa, -dominated by the Niger River, is rich in natural resources -home of many ancient civilizations -east, bordering the Indian Ocean, is a very different terrain of snowcapped mountains, upland plateaus, grasslands, and lakes. -East African Rift valley in the lake district of modern Kenya, early hominids began their long trek toward civilization several million years ago. -west lies the Congo basin, with its rain forests watered by the mighty Congo River. -forests of equatorial Africa then fade gradually into the hills, plateaus, and deserts of the south.

the greatest desert on earth, the , which stretches from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.

-not certain when agriculture was first practiced -historians assumed that crops were first cultivated in the lower Nile valley about seven or eight thousand years ago, -wheat and barley were introduced- this area gave rise to the civilization of ancient Egypt. -Recent evidence, however, suggests that this may need some revision. -South of Egypt, near the junction of the White Nile and the Blue Nile, is an area historically known as Nubia -By the ninth millennium B.C.E. began to domesticate animals, first wild cattle and then sheep and goats -supplemented their diet by gathering wild grains and learned how to cultivate grains such as sorghum and millet, while also growing gourds and melons. -agriculture began to spread westward across the Sahara. -the world's climate was much cooler and wetter than it is today, but a warm, humid climate prevailed in parts of the Sahara, creating lakes and ponds, as well as vast grasslands. -indigenous peoples were able to provide for themselves by hunting, food gathering, and fishing. By the 7 ;6 millennia B.C.E., conditions were becoming increasingly arid -Rock paintings found show that by the 4 millennium B.C.E. fishing and pastoralism in the heart of the Sahara were being supplemented by the limited cultivation of grain crops, including a drought-resistant form of dry rice. peoples of northern Africa, were among the earliest in the world to adopt settled agriculture as a means of subsistence. -Shards of pottery suggest that they were first to manufacture clay pots. -5000 B.C.E., they were cultivating cotton plants and manufacturing textiles. -4000 B.C.E.many local inhabitants migrated eastward toward the Nile River and southward into the grasslands. -farming began to spread into the savannas on the southern fringes of the desert and eventually into the tropical forest areas to the south.

South of Egypt, near the junction of the White Nile and the Blue Nile

grasslands

drying up- of the Sahara intensified,

-kingdom of Kush had emerged as a major trading state by the end of the second millennium B.C.E. -mid-first millennium B.C.E., Kush declined and was eventually replaced by a new state near the Fourth Cataract. -capital was at Meroë, located near extensive iron deposits. -iron evidently provided the basis for much of the area's growing prosperity. -Meroë became a major trading hub for iron goods and other manufactures for the entire region. - a competitor to Meroë began to arise in present-day Ethiopia. -The founders of Axum claimed descent from migrants to Africa from the kingdom of Saba/Sheba)- Arabian peninsula. -During antiquity, -Saba was a major trading state serving as a transit point for goods carried from South Asia to the Mediterranean basin. -credited the "queen of Sheba" with vast wealth. -but a similarity in architectural styles suggests that some form of relationship existed between the two states -After Saba declined, because of the desiccation of the Arabian Desert, -Axum survived for centuries. -ships from Egypt stopped regularly at the port of Adulis. Axum exported ivory, frankincense, myrrh, and slaves, -primary imports were textiles, metal goods, wine, and olive oil. -Axum competed for control of ivory trade with Meroë, -competition, in the 4 century C.E., the Axumite ruler launched an invasion of Meroë and conquered it, creating an empire that rivaled those of Rome and Persia first civilizations on the African continent emerged in the Nile River valley. Axum emerged in Ethiopia 1st century C.E. -most distinctive feature of Axumite civilization was its religion. -the rulers of Axum (who claimed descent from King Solomon through the visit of the queen of Sheba to Israel in biblical times) followed the religion of Saba. -4th century C.E., Axumite rulers adopted Christianity, -Christianity was retained even after the collapse of Axum and the expansion of Islam - Axum/Ethiopia would be identified "hermit kingdom" home of Prester John, a legendary Christian king of East Africa.

kingdom of Saba

Christianity a form of Christianity, originally Egyptian, that has thrived in Ethiopia since the fourth century C.E.

Meroë and Axum part of the ancient trading network that were affected in various ways by cross-cultural contacts -Africa had different patterns prevailed; varied depending on the geography and climate. -unknown when goods first began to be exchanged across the Sahara -1st millennium B.C.E., the commercial center of Carthage became a focal point of the trans-Saharan trade. -Berbers = trade -trade initiated a process of cultural exchange that would exert a significant impact on the peoples of tropical Africa. -trade may have spread the knowledge of ironworking -Although historians once believed that ironworking reached sub-Saharan Africa from Meroë in the 1st centuries 500-600 years earlier. -Some scholars believe the technique developed there others believe it was introduced by the Berbers, who learned it from the Carthaginians. -Nok culture

an ethnic group indigenous to western North Africa. a pastoral people of North Africa, served as intermediaries, carrying food products and manufactured goods from Carthage across the desert and exchanging them for salt, gold and copper, skins, various agricultural products, and perhaps slaves.

culture became one of the most active ironworking societies in Africa. -Excavations =numerous terra-cotta and metal figures, as well as stone and iron farm implements, dating back as far as 500 B.C.E. -remains of smelting furnaces confirm that the iron was produced locally. -Early 1st millennium C.E., introduction of the camel -provided a major stimulus to the trans-Saharan trade. -able to store food and water, -better equipped to handle desert than the ox and donkey, -camel caravans of the Berbers "fleets of the desert."

were known to the Romans, carried salt, glass, metal, olive oil, and wine southward in return for gold, slaves, and various tropical products. -Not all the peoples involved were nomadic. -Recent exploratory work revealed an ancient kingdom that for over 100 years transported goods between societies along the Mediterranean Sea and sub-Saharan West Africa. -To provide food , -constructed a complex irrigation system consisting of several thousand miles of underground channels. -similar systems in Persia and Central Asia -Scholars =-the kingdom declined as a result of the fall of the Roman Empire and the drying up of the desert.

3 rd millennium B.C.E., farming peoples speaking dialects of the Bantu began to migrate from Nigeria -they reached East Africa, -responsible for introducing cultivation of crops & ironwork to much of East Africa -signs of some limited iron smelting in the area before their arrival. -Bantu settled in rural communities based on farming. -primary crops millet and sorghum/yams, melons, beans. -land tilled with stone and iron tools manufactured locally -domestic animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, or chickens -supplemented their diets by hunting and food gathering. -population was minimal -most settlements were relatively small; each village formed a self-sufficient political and economic entity. -New Kingdom in the 2 millennium B.C.E., Egyptian looked for gold, ivory, palm oil, slaves. 1st century C.E., established part of a trading network that included the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. -1st centruy Periplus-

-a Greek seafarer from Alexandria wrote an account of his travels down the coast from Cape Guardafui to the Strait of Madagascar provides descriptions of the peoples and settlements along the African coast and the trade goods they supplied. -the port of Rhapta was a commercial metropolis, exporting ivory, rhinoceros horn, and tortoiseshell and importing glass, wine, grain, and metal goods such as weapons and tools. -inhabited by local peoples supplemented immigrants from the Arabian peninsula. -this mixture emerged a cosmopolitan Swahili culture that continues to exist in coastal areas today. Beyond Rhapta was "unexplored ocean." -monsoon winds facilitated trade, -one of the most lucrative sources of commercial profit -origins of the trade remain shrouded in mystery, 1st millennium C.E., Malay peoples bringing cinnamon -Malay settlement established Madagascar, -historians proposed Malay immigrants introduced as the banana and the yam -archaeological evidence suggests these foods may have arrived in Africa 3rd millennium B.C.E. -the banana became the preferred crop of the Bantu peoples.

rise of Islam had ramifications beyond the Arabian peninsula. Arab armies incorporated North Africa, into the Arab Empire and isolating the Christian state of Axum to the south. -Islam eventually penetrated East and West Africa even though they were not occupied by the Arab force

upon Islam arrival African societies had well-developed systems of religious beliefs. -religious beliefs varied -characteristics shared by most African societies. -pantheism, belief in a single creator god from whom all things came/was common. Sometimes god was accompanied by lesser deities. -The Ashanti people of Ghana in West Africa believed in Nyame

whose sons were lesser gods. one was the rainmaker, the compassionate, the sunshine. This heavenly hierarchy paralleled earthly arrangements: worship of Nyame was the exclusive preserve of the king through his priests; lesser officials and the common people worshiped Nyame's sons, who might intercede with their father on behalf of ordinary Africans.

the descendants of a common ancestor; relatives, often as opposed to immediate family. -group could trace itself back to a founding ancestor or group of ancestors. -would not be extinguished as long as the lineage group continued to perform rituals in their name. -afterlife was closely connected to the importance of ancestors and the lineage group, or clan. -rituals benefited the lineage group on earth, for the ancestral souls, being closer to the gods, had the power to influence, for good or evil, the lives of their descendants.

a mixed African-Arabian culture that developed by the twelfth century along the east coast of Africa; also, the national language of Kenya and Tanzania.

passing through the male line, from father to son; often combined with patriarchy.

in Africa, a professional storyteller

passing through the female line, for example, from a father to his sister's son rather than his own, as practiced in some African societies; not necessarily, or even usually, combined with matriarchy, in which women rule.

a doctrine that equates God with the universe and all that is in it.

societies characterized by autonomous villages organized by clans and ruled by a local chieftain or clan head; typical of the southern half of the African continent before the eleventh century C.E.

in the West African state of Mali, a chieftain who served as both religious and administrative leader and was responsible for forwarding tax revenues from the village to higher levels of government.

In 641, Arab went into Egypt, seized the delta of the Nile River, brought Byzantine rule to an end. -built a new capital at Cairo -Tax rates were generally high -Christians subjected to persecution by the Byzantines, who viewed the local Coptic faith as heresies. -much revenue from taxing the local farming population, -tax rates were generally lower than when under the corrupt Byzantine government, -conversion to Islam brought exemption from taxation. -Islam did not move into the upper Nile valley until several hundred years later. - -had less success in the mountains of Ethiopia, where Coptic Christianity continued to win adherents -Arab rule was extended westward -Romans conquered Carthage in 146 B.C.E., -new province Africa, -fall of the Roman Empire, reverted to the control of local Berber chieftains, -Byzantines captured Carthage in the mid-sixth century C.E. In 690, city seized by Arabs, extended control al-Maghrib (al-MAH-greb) ("the west").

the west

Nubia

Nubia.

Coptic

Berbers

Nok culture

Swahili

a new capital—Cairo—was established

Ethiopia

pantheism

Gao

it introduced Arabic as the first written language.

Ghana

the gold trade

a lack of written sources.

Lineage was patrilinear (through the father).

-They were usually subordinate to men. -Lineage was matrilineal (through the mother). -Polygamy was common, particularly in Muslim societies. -Women often worked in the fields while men tended the cattle or hunted.

Slavery existed in Africa since ancient times

- Life was very easy for most slaves, because they were never employed on plantations but only as household servants. - Slavery was only introduced with the coming of the Europeans in the fifteenth century C.E. - Throughout Africa slaves made up approximately 75 percent of the population. - Slavery was abolished in Egypt during the New Kingdom.

Berbers

Great Zimbabwe

Axum

Africa was an active participant in regional global trade with the Mediterranean and across the Indian Ocean at least two millennium before the arrival of the Europeans.

went back to ancient times, long before the arrival of the Europeans.

Berbers

Niger River

Sahara

Great Zimbabwe.

Axum

employed various musical instruments, including the harp, bells and the xylophone.

False

Congo

40,000

Kush

both a lineage system that was often matrilineal rather than patrilineal and behavior patterns between the sexes that were more relaxed than those found in other societies.

As a language, it employed Bantu grammar and Arabic linguistic terms

Niger

Alexandria

True

True

trade.

westernmost grasslands and tropical forests that border on the Atlantic Ocean.

mansa.

Ghana

Solomonid

Adal

Zagwe

Mail