lesson 1 africa's first people
Post on 03-Sep-2014
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Lesson 1: Africa’s First People
Bellringer: What is one thing you learned from the movie?
Africa’s First People
• Sahara wasn't always a desert– Used to have enough
water to support farms– Farmers lived in the
Sahara 4000 years ago (evidence of cliff paintings)
• Millions of years ago, the first people lived in East Africa
Fertile Crescent• Fertile Crescent or “Cradle of Civilization”
– Crescent-shaped region containing the comparatively moist and fertile land of otherwise arid and semi-arid Western Asia
– Where the first civilizations began– Mesopotamia
• Many people moved out of the area and brought knowledge with them
African Civilization Grows
• Earliest period African history is the Stone Age– Marked the first use of
stone tools– Hunter-gatherers– 8000 BCE – 4000 BCE,
hunter-gatherers began to farm and here animals• Wheat, barley,
sorghum, and millet
Settling Down
• Began to domesticate plants and animals– To adapt for your own use
• This allowed people to settle– Settled in fertile areas to
support farms– Produced a surplus, more
than needed, so members of the community could do other work besides farming
Civilization• Communities grew into
civilizations, societies with cities, government, and social classes
• Architecture, writing, and art
• Around 4000 BCE a civilization rose up around the Nile; Egypt– Each summer, the Nile
flooded, leaving a fertile layer of silt for farming
– 4000 BCE villages rose up– Transitioned to a civilization
Egypt
• Ancient Egypt was ruled by Pharaohs, god kings– Buried in pyramids– Murals, hieroglyphics, paper,
architecture, medicine, and math
• Nubia: 6000 BCE– South of Egypt– Thrived until 300 AD– Developed iron in Africa
Bantu Migrations
• 500 BCE, Bantu people developed iron in West Africa– Allowed for better farming, which led a surplus
and an increase in population– BUT, around the 1st century BCE, the Bantu people
began to migrate out of Western Africa– Settled in Central and Southern Africa– Introduced farming, herding, and iron to this
region
Cavemen to Civilization
• Hunter-gatherers were nomads; no permanent settlements
• Domestication allowed for settlements• Farming led to surplus and varied jobs• Allowed for more complex forms of society to
rise up, civilizations• Look at the transition from villages to
civilizations
Exit Cards
Where did early hunter-gatherers settle and why?
Transitions
• History is all about the transition from one time period to another based on changing ideas
• Illustrate the transition from hunter-gatherers to civilization
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