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)