Chapter 8

migration

A permanent move from one country or region to another. Migration influenced world history from its outset and is an important pattern of human culture.

Nok

Africa's earliest known culture of the people. They lived in Nigeria between 500 BC and AD 200. Their name came from the village where the first artifacts from their culture were discovered. Nok artifacts have been found in an area stretching for 300 miles between the Niger and Benue rivers. They were the first West African people known to smelt iron. The iron was fashioned into tools for farming and weapons for hunting. Some of the tools and weapons made their way into overland trade routes.

Adulis

Aksum's chief seaport near present-day Massawa. Merchants traded necessities such as salt and luxuries such as rhinoceros horns, tortoise shells, ivory, emeralds, and gold from this port. In return, they chose items such as imported cloth, glass, olive oil, wine, brass, iron and copper.

push-pull factors

Factors that can either push people out of an area or pull them into an area. An example of an environmental pull factor might be abundant land attracts people. On the other hand, depletion of natural resources forces people away from a location -- a push factor. Employment or the lack of it.

savanna

Grassy plains. Africans lived on them. They are just endless plains. They include mountainous highlands and swampy tropical stretches. Covered with tall grasses and dotted with trees, they cover over 40 percent of the continent. Dry seasons alternate with rainy seasons, often two of each year. Unfortunately, the top soil throughout Africa is thin and heavy rains strip away minerals. In most years it supports abundant agricultural production.

Sahel

Land at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. It is the transition spot between the desert and the savannas. Each year the Sahara takes over a little more of the Sahel and the savannas.

Djenne Djeno

Or Ancient Djenne, was uncovered by archaeologists in 1977. It is located on a tributary of the Niger River in West Africa. There, scientists discovered hundreds of thousands of artifacts. These objects included pottery, copper hair ornaments, clay toys, glass beads, stone bracelets, and iron knives. The oldest objects found there dated from 250 BC, making Djenne Djeno the oldest city known in Africa south of the Sahara. The city was abandoned after AD 1400. At its height, it had 50,000 residents. They lived round reed huts plastered with mud. Later, they built enclosed houses made of mud bricks. They fished in the Niger River, herded cattle, and raised rice on the river's fertile floodplains. By 3rd century BC, they had learned how to smelt iron. They exchanged their fish, rice and pottery for copper, gold and salt from other peoples who lived along the river. Djenne Djeno became a bustling trading center linked to other towns not only by the Niger but also by overland camel routes.

Bantu-speaking peoples

People that moved southward throughout Africa. They originally lived in the savanna south of the Sahara, in the area that is now southeastern Nigeria. They were not one people but a group of people that shared certain cultural characteristics. They were farmers and nomadic herders who developed and passed along the skill of ironworking. Many experts believe they were related to the Nok people. Beginning at least 2000 years ago or earlier, small groups of Bantu speakers began moving south and east. The farming techniques used by these people forced them to move every few years. The technique is called slash and burn. A patch of the forest is cut down and burned. The ashes are mixed into the soil creating a fertile garden area. The land loses its fertility quickly and is abandoned for another plot in a new location. When they moved, the Bantu speakers shared their skills with the people they met, adapted their methods to suit each new environment, and learned new customs. They followed the Congo River through the rain forests. There they farmed the riverbanks -- the only place that received enough sunlight to support agriculture. As they moved eastward into the savannas, they adapted their techniques for herding goats and sheep to raising cattle. Passing through Tanzania, they learned to cultivate new crops. One crop was the banana, which came from Southeast Asia via Indonesian travelers.

Aksum

Powerful kingdom arose and conquered kingdom. It was located south of Kush on a rugged plateau on the Red Sea, in what are now the countries of Eritrea and Ethiopia. In this area of Africa, sometimes called the Horn of Africa, Arab traders from across the Red Sea established trading settlements. These traders were seeking ivory to trade in Persia and farther east in the Indian Ocean trade. They brought silks, textiles, and spices from eastern trade routes. Eventually the trading settlements became colonies of farmers and traders. Trade with Mediterranean countries also flowed into seaports here.

animism

Religion in which spirits play an important role in regulating daily life. Animists believe that spirits are present in animals, plants and other natural forces, and also take the form of the souls of their ancestors. Nearly all local religions in Africa included elements of animism.

Terraces

Steplike ridges constructed on mountain slopes helped the soil retain water and prevented its being washed downhill in heavy rains. The Askunites dug canals to channel water from mountain streams into the fields. They also built dams and cisterns, or holding tanks, to store water. It was how they adapted to their hilly environment.

griots

Storytellers. Because few African societies had written languages, griots orally shared the history and literature of a culture. In West Africa they kept the history alive, passing it from parent to child.

Ezana

Strong ruler who ruled during Aksum's height between AD 325 and 360. He was determined to establish and expand his authority. Ezana first conquered the part of the Arabian peninsula that is now Yemen. Then in 330 he turned his attention to the Kush, which had already begun to decline. In 350, they conquered the Kushites and burned Meroe to the ground.

Sahara

The largest desert in the north of Africa. The deserts are largely unsuitable for human life and also hamper people's movements to more welcoming climates. Stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, the Sahara covers an area roughly the size of the United States. Only a small part of the Sahara consists of sand dunes. The rest is mostly a flat, gray wasteland of scattered rocks and gravel. Each year the desert takes over more and more of the land. At the southern edge of the desert is the Sahel.