De 8.1 How did the geography of Africa affect its settlement patterns and commerce?

Savanna

A savanna is a large expanse of vegetation, mostly grasses, that first appeared during the Cenozoic Era, about 66 million years ago. this is significant because it has lots of water scene the land is covered with green grass and they have trading goods.

Djenne

A town in the inland Niger Delta region of central Mali. Between the 15th and 17th century, most of the trans-saharan trade of salt, gold, and slaves came through Djenne. It also became a center for Islam.

Benin

Benin is a country in Western Africa. It extends from the Gulf of Guinea to the Niger River. It contains several cities. The significance of this city is that it has several access rivers which helps them trade with other countries and cities. It is part of the trade routes.

Bornu

Bornu is a historical kingdom in northeastern Nigeria. It surrounds a lake which makes makes traders come to them for water for their caravans. It has multiple trade routes criss-crossing through it.

Ghana

Ghana is country located along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean in West Africa. It is known for its many forests, lots of different types of animals, and sandy beaches. It had direct sea trade with Europe. Gold was the original source of trading, but then slave trading become popular.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Hundreds of ethnic groups live in the sub-Saharan region of Africa, creating a wide variety of languages and customs there. the significance of this is that there are so many different religions and tribes that so of the religions get blended together and make different ones.

How did the geography influence the settlement and economy of early Africa?

In the forest areas, the soil was poor, but farmers could grow tree crops such as kola and palm trees. The kola was a type of caffeine and highly prized. They could also grow coconuts, palm oils, and yams. In the savannah, farmers could grow grain crops like rice, millet, and sorghum. They used controlled burning of their fields to help with making the soil more fertile. In the sahel, the main type of economic activity was herding of goats, sheep, and cattle.

Mali

Mali is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east by Niger and Burkina Faso, to the south by Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea, and to the west by Senegal and Mauritania. the significant of this that they are neighbored by different places and can trade for different goods and can get farther places with their trade goods.

What was life like for people living in early Africa? (climate, natural resources, tools, transportation)

People settled along the rivers to use as trade routes. The different areas of Africa had different resources to trade, including salt, gold, cloth, palm oils, grains, kola nuts, and yams. There were four main climates including the lush forests, the harsh Sarhara desert, savannah grasslands where lions, tigers, and elephants roamed, and the semiarid strip that had lots of dust storms. Early Africans used wood and stone tools but later used metal and iron tools. There modes of transportation included rafts and boats, camels, and by foot.

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic ocean was an ocean that was next to Africa. This was significant to this chapter because the ocean helped them trade with different areas.

Atlas Mountains

The Atlas Mountains were mountains that separated Africa and the middle east. They were significant because they block some of the trading the happens with the middle east and Africa.

Who were the Bantus?

The Bantus were originally farmers, fishers, and herders. They lived in small villages with their families. Around 1000 BCE they started to migrate to the south and to the east. Their population exploded and they eventually changed into many different types of peoples. They are believed to have worked with iron first, and learned how to farm yams, kola, and taro in the forest lands.

Congo River

The Congo River, also called the Zaire, is one of the four great rivers of Africa. the significant of this is that it helped them trade with other places around the would scene it went straight in the the Atlantic ocean witch lead to different places.

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean sea is connected to the Atlantic Ocean and is almost completely surrounded by land. This sea is on the northern part of Africa. The Nile River spills into this sea. This sea was an important route for travelers and merchants and provided trade routes and culture exchanges.

Sahara Desert

The Sahara is the world's largest desert (not including polar Antarctica). It is also one of the hottest places in the world. this is significant because it shows that when you are a trader you have to go thought places that are hard to get though and then go back though them and get to the place you started.

Niger River

The main river of West Africa is the Niger River, which is thought to have received its name from the Greeks. the significant of this is that it helps people travel different places, trade to get different resources and it gives water to drink.

Trade products of Africa

The main trade products were salt from the mines of the Sarhara and gold from the mines in the forests.

What were the major cities and kingdoms in medieval Africa?

The major cities were Mali, Ghana, Songhai, Bornu, Benin, Timbuktu, Djenne, Fez, Walta, Taghaza, Sijilmasa, Marrakech, Awdoghast, Gao, Tunis, Cairo, Niani.

Geography of the region shaped the way of life of the people living there.

The people in the forests could grow taro, yams, and kola and trade it for gold and sold. The people in the desert could move herds of cattle, sheep, and goats to find food and water. The people in the grasslands could grow grains and rice and could trade for salts and gold also.

Why did trade routes run north and south in Sub-Saharan Africa?

The trade routes changed from the north to the south because of the climate changes. Farmers in the forests along the coasts would trade with farmers in the south savannahs and with the herders in the sahel. In time, salt and gold made the trade routes even bigger.

Timbuktu

Timbuktu is an ancient city in the country of Mali on the African continent. this is significant because it contributed its own way of life and goods to the trade routes.

Nile River

the Nile river is in Egypt and helps hem trade. the significant of the Nile is that it helps them trade with different places along the Nile and then they can trade with people around there to get different types of goods.

Bantu Migrations

the bantu migrations were the bantu people traveled over 2000 miles on foot. They could have migrated because they worked with iron sooner than other peoples and this gave them an advantage. They could have migrated because they had a population explosion which meant they needed more land. They could have migrated because they learned how to farm certain crops such as taro and yams.

Bantu

the bantu people were hunter gatherers and went all over Africa and traveled over 2000 miles. the significance of this is that they saw a bunch of different religions and went to many different types of land. they also spread the ways the do things.

Red Sea

the red sea is what fills the Nile river with water and lets it to flow all the time. it helps the traders get places faster and trade with more people. this is significant because it helps the trades trade with more people and get places faster.