African American History: Chapter 1

geographical characteristics of Africa

highland, deserts, rivers, lakes, rain forests, savannas, chaparrals, and the great rift valley

Where did humans originate?

Africa

Out of Africa model of human origins

A theory in which human life originated from Africa and then spread around the globe.

Which direction does the Nile River flow?

South to North

Where is Lower Egypt located?

At the top, closer to the Nile delta.

"Ardi"

Nickname for the fossilized skeleton of female, Ardipithecus ramidus, an early species hominid who lived approx. 4.5 mya. This 1992 Afar, Ethiopia discovery shows hominids diverged from apes much earlier than previously believed.

Savanna

An area of grassland with scattered trees and bushes

rain forest biome

a dense evergreen forest found in tropical areas of heavy rainfall

hunting and gathering societies

societies whose mode of subsistence is gained from hunting animals, fishing, and gathering edible plants

West Africans began making iron tools

long before Europeans arrived in Africa

Hieroglyphics

a writing system based on pictures and symbols

Patrilineal

based on or tracing descent through the male line

Patriarchal

society ruled by a senior man

Semitic

Refers to languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew, native to southwest Asia

Axum Stele

Berbers

A people native to North Africa and the Sahara Desert

Ghana, Mali, Songhai

• West African kingdoms that built wealth and power through trans-Saharan trade of salt and gold

Mansa Musa

Ruler of Mali (r. 1312-1337). His extravagant pilgrimage through Egypt to Mecca in 1324-1325 established the empire's reputation for wealth in the Mediterranean world.

Kumbi Saleh

The capital city in the Empire

of Ghana

Kongo Kingdom

Large agricultural state on the lower Congo River; capital at Mbanza Kongo.

Nok people

the first known West Africans to smelt iron - was used for tools and hunting weapons.

Great Mosque of Jenne

Largest Muslim architecture in (Sub-Sahara), was constructed during the Mali King Mansu Musa's reign.

Yoruba Art

Trans-Saharan Trade Route

gold-salt trade; linked North and West Africa; across Sahara Desert; spread Islam; land trade

lineage

A type of clan, typical of W. Africa, in which members claim descent from a single ancestor.

Matrilineal

relating to a social system in which family descent and inheritance rights are traced through the mother

Nzinga Mbemba (Afonso I)

ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo in the first half of the 16th century--> reigned over the Kongo Empire from 1509 to late 1543

nuclear family

Mother, father and children living as a unit

Polygnous Family

A family unit consisting of a man, his wives, and their children.

secret societies

West African societies whose membership is secret or whose rituals are known only to society members. Their most significant function is the initiation of boys and girls into adulthood

Assimilation

the social process of absorbing one cultural group into harmony with another

Polytheistic

Belief in many gods

Animistic

The belief inanimate objects have spiritual attributes.

fetish

a natural object or an artifact believed to have magical power. a charm.

call and response

a song style in which a singer or musician leads with a call and a group responds

Griot

a member of a class of traveling poets, musicians, and storytellers who maintain a tradition of oral history in parts of West Africa.

timeline: separation of hominids from apes

5-10 mya

timeline: emergence of australopithecines

4 mya

timeline: emergence of homo habilis

2.4 mya

timeline: emergence of homo erectus

1.7 mya

timeline: homo erectus beginning spread through Eurasia

1.6 mya

timeline: appearance of modern humans

100,000-200,000 yrs ago

timeline: beginning of Sahara desert formation

6000 BCE

timeline: first agricultural settlements in Egypt

5000 BCE

timeline: pre-dynastic period in Egypt

3800 BCE

timeline: unification of Egypt

c. 3150 BCE

timeline: Egypt's old kingdom

2700-2150 BCE

timeline: Egypt's middle kingdom

2100-1650 BCE

timeline: Egypt's new kingdom

1550-700 BCE

timeline: rule of Kushites over Egypt

750-670 BCE

timeline: Founding of Meroë

540 BCE

timeline: beginning of iron smelting in W. Africa

c. 500 BCE

timeline: destruction of Kush

50 CE

timeline: Islamic conquest of N. Africa

632-750 CE

timeline: Empire of Ghana; Islam begins to take root in W. Africa.

c. 750-1076 CE

timeline: Empire of Mali

1230-1468 CE

timeline: Rise of Yoruba States

c. 1300 CE

timeline: Start of Portuguese exploration and establishment of trading outposts on W. African coast.

1434 CE

timeline: Centralization of power in Benin

c. 1450 CE

timeline: Empire of Songhai

1464-1591 CE

timeline: Rise of Kingdom of Dahomey and the Akan states

c. 1650 CE

the role of Africa in the evolution of modern humanity

The origins of humanity lie in the savanna regions of Africa.

The argument over the race of the the Egyptians began in the __________ century when ____________________ sought to refute____________________________________________________.

19th century; African Americans and white reformers; claims by racist pseudo-scientists that people of African descent were inherently inferior to people of European descent.

What does the controversy surrounding the race of ancient Egyptians reflect and reveal?

It reflects more about the racial politics of recent history than it reveals about the Egyptians themselves, who did not regard themselves in ways related to modern racial terminology.

Describe West African society on the eve of the expansion of the Atlantic slave trade. What were the society's strength and weaknesses?

West African society's strength was its growth in farming, its weakness was that the governments were not powerful enough to stop Portuguese and other Europeans from entering the country and taking control of the slave trade.