Early African Civilizations 2000 B.C.–A.D. 1500 Key Events As you read this chapter, look for the key events in the history of the early African civilizations. • The continent’s immense size and distinct geographical and climatic zones influenced where civilizations developed and how they survived. • The introduction of Christianity and Islam affected the way civilizations developed and interacted. • The development of trade led to the exchange of goods and cultural ideas. The Impact Today The events that occurred during this time period still impact our lives today. • The expansion of trade creates a global society, allowing people to exchange goods, services, and ideas throughout the world. • African art, music, and dance remain very influential today. World History Video The Chapter 7 video, “Early African Empires,” chronicles the emergence and development of African culture. 2000 B.C. Trade thrives between A.D. 300 Egypt and Camel arrives Nubia in Africa 2000 B.C. A.D.1 A.D. 150 A.D. 300 A.D. 450 A.D. 600 c. A.D. 330 A.D. 641 King Ezana Arabs converts to control Christianity Egypt Bishop’s crown from Axum 220 The great mosque in Djenné, Mali, exemplifies mud architecture of this region of Africa. Leopard from Benin A.D. 1300 HISTORY A.D. 1250 Yoruba and Benin A.D. 1331 Mali produce bronze Ibn Battuta established sculptures visits Kilwa Chapter Overview Visit the Glencoe World History Web site at tx.wh.glencoe.com and click A.D. 750 A.D. 900 A.D. 1050 A.D. 1200 A.D. 1350 A.D. 1500 on Chapter 7–Chapter Overview to preview chapter information. A.D. 1100 A.D. 1493 Problems arise Muhammad Ture between Christian expands the Axum and its Songhai Empire Sixteenth-century sculpture found in Muslim neighbors modern-day Nigeria Mosque in Mali 221 Great Zimbabwe, the ruins of the capital of Zimbabwe, was the wealthiest city in southern Africa. Explorer Finds Great Zimbabwe n 1871, the German explorer Karl Mauch began to search South Africa’s Central Plateau for the colossal stone ruins Iof a legendary lost civilization. In early September, he found Why It Matters what he had been looking for, Great Zimbabwe. He wrote in his diary, “Presently I stood before it and beheld a wall of a The continent of Africa has played a central role in the long evolution height of about 20 feet (6 m) of granite bricks. Very close by of humankind. It was in Africa that there was a place where a kind of foot-path led over rubble the immediate ancestors of modern into the interior. Following this path I stumbled over masses human beings—Homo sapiens of rubble and parts of walls and dense thickets. I stopped in sapiens—emerged between front of a towerlike structure. Altogether it rose to a height 200,000 and 150,000 years ago. of about 30 feet (9.1 m).” Certainly, one of the first civiliza- Mauch was convinced that “a civilized nation must tions appeared in Africa: the king- once have lived here.” Like many other nineteenth-century dom of Egypt in the Nile valley. A Europeans, however, Mauch was equally convinced that number of advanced societies took the Africans who had lived there could never have built root in other parts of Africa as well. structures as splendid as the ones he had found at Great History and You The origins of Zimbabwe. Mauch and other archaeologists believed that Great Zimbabwe remain a mystery. Great Zimbabwe must have been the work of “a northern Using the Internet and traditional race closely akin to the Phoenician and Egyptian.” Not until print sources, investigate and then the twentieth century did Europeans finally overcome their document your theory about who prejudices and admit that Africans south of Egypt had devel- was responsible for building this city. oped advanced civilizations with spectacular achievements. 222 The Development of Civilizations in Africa Guide to Reading Main Ideas People to Identify Reading Strategy • Africa’s four distinct climate zones Kushites, King Ezana Cause and Effect As you read this sec- affected the development of African tion, create a chart that lists a significant civilizations. Places to Locate event that occurred (cause) and the effect • The mastery of farming gave rise to the Sahara, Great Rift Valley, Congo River, this event had on early African civiliza- first civilizations in Africa: Egypt, Kush, Kalahari Desert, Nubia, Ethiopia tion. Refer to this section’s main ideas and Axum. Preview Questions for causes. What were the main occupations of Key Terms 1. Cause Effect plateau, savanna early Africans? 2. How did the introduction of Christian- ity and Islam affect African states? Preview of Events ✦700 B.C. ✦400 B.C. ✦100 B.C. ✦A.D. 200 ✦A.D. 500 ✦A.D. 800 ✦A.D. 1100 750 B.C. 663 B.C. A.D. 150 A.D. 1100 Kush conquers Assyrians drive Kush declines Conflicts arise between Egypt Kushites out of Egypt as Axum emerges Christians and Muslims Voices from the Past One king of the African state of Axum left this description of his conquest of Kush: With the help of the Lord of Heaven, who in heaven and earth conquers all, Ezana, king“ of Axum... by the power of the Lord of the Earth... burnt their towns, those with stone houses and those with straw [dwellings], and [my troops] pillaged their [crops] and bronze and iron and copper; they destroyed the [images] in their temples and also their stores of [crops] and cotton, and threw them into the river Seda... and the next day I sent my troops on a campaign up the Seda to the towns of stone and of straw.” —The Dawn of African History, Roland Oliver, ed., 1968 Axum stele with After the decline of the Egyptian Empire during the first millennium B.C., the focus of record of King Ezana social change moved to other areas of Africa. The Land of Africa After Asia, Africa is the largest of the continents. It stretches nearly five thou- sand miles (around eight thousand km) and is almost completely surrounded by two oceans and two seas. As diverse as it is vast, Africa includes several distinct geographical zones. The northern fringe, on the coast washed by the Mediterranean Sea, is mountainous. South of the mountains lies the largest desert on Earth, the Sahara. CHAPTER 7 Early African Civilizations 223 Climate Zones and Geography of Africa Desert Mild zone Rain forest Black Sea Savanna ᮤ Mild zone M ᮢ Strait of e Desert di Gibraltar te rr untains an Mo ean Sea s 30°N la At L i b y SAHARA a R TROPI n C OF CANC e ER D d S e . s e ARABIAN R a e e r l i PENINSULA 20°N Ahaggar t Mountains Tibesti N S Mountains en eg a l ᮢ Savanna R N . ig Kordofan e en r Lake Ad R Plateau f of . Chad Gul 10°N Amhara Lake Plateau Volta Lake Turkana Gulf of Guinea y le l EQUATOR a 0° . Lake Mount Kenya R Congo V o Victoria g t n Basin f INDIaN o i Mount C R N Kilimanjaro OCEaN ATLaNTIC t Lake a W E e OCEaN Tanganyika r S G 10°S Lake Nyasa mbezi R. Za r a c s a g ᮣ a Rain forest opo d p R a ° im . 20 S M TROPIC OF CAPRICORN L Kalahari . s Desert t M Orange R g . r e sb n ke ra D 0 1,000 miles ° Africa is divided30 S into several distinct geographical and Cape of 0 1,000 kilometers climatic zones that affect the way its people live. Good Hope Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection 1. Interpreting Maps20°W Using the10 text’s°W descriptions0° of the 10°E20°E30°E40°E50°E climate zones, analyze Africa’s food production capabili- ties relative to its total area. 2. Applying Geography Skills Explain how Africa’s geography would have affected its trading patterns. Africa south of the Sahara is divided into a num- Emerging Civilization ber of major regions. In the west is the so-called hump of Africa, which juts like a massive shoulder and the Rise of Islam into the Atlantic Ocean. Here the Sahara gradually About seven or eight thousand years ago, hunters gives way to grasslands in the interior and then to and gatherers in Africa began to tame animals and tropical jungles along the coast. grow crops. The mastery of farming gave rise to the Far to the east is a very different terrain of snow- first civilizations in Africa: Egypt (discussed in capped mountains, upland plateaus, and lakes. A Chapter 2), Kush, and Axum. Much later, Islam distinctive feature is the Great Rift Valley, where became an important factor in the development of mountains loom over deep canyons. Much of this African empires. region is grassland populated by wild animals. Fur- ther to the south lies the Congo basin, with its dense Kush By 2000 B.C., a busy trade had arisen between vegetation watered by the mighty Congo River. The Egypt and the area to the south known as Nubia. tropical rain forests of this area then fade gradually Egyptian merchants traveled to Nubia to obtain into the hills, plateaus (relatively high, flat land ivory, ebony, frankincense (a fragrant tree resin), areas), and deserts of the south. and leopard skins. Although Nubia was subject to Reading Check Describing Describe the distinct geo- Egyptian control for many centuries, it freed itself graphical zones in Africa.