Africa is divided into two distinct areas - North Africa and Sub-Sahara Africa

Major African Civilizations formed around rivers and lakes

• The ancient civilizations of northern Africa and the rest of the Mediterranean world created an exchange of scientific, political, economic and artistic knowledge that was unmatched in the world at that time

• The Romans imported Christianity and labeled their southern territories “Africa” creating the modern name for the continent

• Far more than the ancient Mediterranean civilizations ever did Arab Muslims had a profound effect on the culture of Africa– several centuries of

Islamic rule removed all other religions

– Muslims not only brought their faith but a coherent governmental and educational system

– After Africans and Arabs mixed genetically and culturally a new Muslim people known as the Moors were created

• Kingdom of Ghana• By A.D. 800 the

rulers of the Soninke people had united many farming villages to create the kingdom of Ghana – the land of gold.

• Ghana would soon decline in the late 1100s because of foreign invasion (the Almoravids) and would soon be absorbed by the Kingdom of Mali

• Kingdom of Mali• Mali would reach the

height of its power under the rule of Mansu Musa (1312 - 1327)

• Mansa Musa converted to Islam and based his system of justice on the Quran – he worked to ensure peace, order and justice within his empire

• An internal struggle over the succession of the throne led to the decline of Mali power and influence in west Africa

• Kingdom of Songhai• By 1450 the Kingdom of

Songhai dominated West Africa

• Under the soldier-king Sonni Ali, Songhai became the largest state that existed in West Africa.

• Sonhai prospered until 1586 – civil war and foreign invasion by a Morroccan army dismantled this empire into a number of smaller kingdoms

IV. Rise of New African States

A. West Africa1. Asante Kingdom

a) Osei Tutu wins control of the trading city Kumasi, conquers neighboring lands and organizes the Asante Kindom

1) the Asante Kingdom gained monopolies over the slave trade and gold trade in West Africa2) they kept power by securing modern military

technology and by playing rival European powers against one another

2. Islamic Crusadesa) led by Usman Dan Fodio, Muslims toppled local West African Rulers and founded a powerful Islamic state founded upon the Sharia

B. South Africa

1) Bantu-speaking Africans and Dutch immigrants, known as Boers, settled the Southern part of Africaa) the Boers founded the Cape Town Colony and enslaved the local Khoisan peoples

2) the Zulus slowly pushed into southern Africa under the leadership of Shaka Zulu

3. The Boer Wara) The Boers were forced off their land by the English

1) The Boers fought and conquered the Zulus; they established the Boer Republic

b) The Boer War – The English attacked the Boers because precious minerals were found within the Boer Republic

African Slavery: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (1500-1870)

• Triangular Trade– Europeans would trade manufactured goods to

Africa for slaves, precious metals and ivory– Europeans would trade with the colonies in the

new world the slaves for raw materials – cotton, tobacco, rum…etc

– Europeans would return to Europe from the New World with their raw materials to create manufactured goods