Africa Before The Europeans Arrived

Work

Daily Life

Economy

Rulers/Organisation

Attitudes towards slavery

African kingdoms enslaved other Africans when they conquered other kingdoms.

Benin traded slaves for gold, but when the Europeans arrived, they started trading with them for gold, weapons and other "luxury goods"

They would be used for chopping firewood or used as soldiers.

Soldier slaves would usually be freed.

A freed slave managed to take control and govern the Kingdom of Mali in the 13th century

Culture

Timbuktu was a treasure trove of academic prowess and Islamic literature

According to a traveller, the Kingdom of Mali was "seldom unjust" and described them as having a "greater dislike of injustice than other people"

He also said it was "very safe"

The Malian king apparently "sat in a domed pavillion"

He was also very rich

African kingdoms were usually very rich

The Ghanians wealth came from salt trading and collecting taxes.

Cairo was full of Egyptian architecture and Egyptian history

There was art in Africa, like sculpting/pottery in West Africa,

Women did the cooking, and some of them ran the markets (i.e Benin)

Africa is very big, meaning you could live a very different life depending on where you were from

The market was very prominent in African life

Mud Houses were used in some kingdoms, but not others

Initiation ceremonies for men

The Asante Kingdom was playing Dutch slave traders and British slave traders off of each other, making them rich

Cowrie shells were used for money in some places

Men worked as subsistence farmers

Women could work as midwives or carers

African kingdoms traded with European traders

subsistence means only for youself

Some of the languages spoken included

Egyptian (Egypt)

Yoruba (Nigeria)

Mande (West Africa)

Wolof (West Africa)

Fula (Central Africa)