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Diverse Societies in Africa - Coggle Diagram
Diverse Societies in Africa
West African iron age
As early as 500 BC
Archialiigists main source of information has been from artifacts such as Pottery, charcoal and slag
Slag is a waste product of iron smelting
How do artifacts provide a picture of daily life? It helps us have a better understanding of what they did and how they lived there lives.
They skipped the copper and bronze ages and went straight to the iron age
The ability of iron smelting was a major technological achievement of that region
What major changes affected societies during Africa’s Iron Age?
expansion of agriculture, industry, trade, and political power
The Nak people lived in what is now Nigeria between 500 BC to AD 200
Djenne-Djeno
Djenne-Djeno was uncovered by archaeologists in 1977
What are some possible reasons that Djenne-Djeno was abandoned? the spread of Islam and the building of the Great Mosque of Djenne
A Land of Geographic Contrasts
What problems might the expansion of the Sahara Cause?
Africa’s coastline has few harbors, ports, or inlets. Because of this, the coastline is actually shorter than that of Europe, a land one third Africa’s size.
Why might the rain forest be called “Nature’s Greenhouse”?
Another very different but also partly uninhabitable African environment is the rain forest. Sometimes called nature’s greenhouse
Stateless Societies
Societies South of the Sahara, like all cultures shared a common element, that element was the importance of the family.
African society families are organized in groups called lineages
Members of lineage believe they are descendants of a
common ancestor. Lineage includes past generations and future generations. With lineage members feel strong loyalties to one another
Many african groups developed systems of governing based on lineages.
How is lineage important to Stateless societies?
The stateless societies are balanced among the lineage of equal power, so that no one family has more control and power than the other
They organized themselves into family groups, with that also developed belief systems that helped them understand and organize information about their world
What were some religous beliefs of many early Africans
In most African religions, the supreme god was not involved in human lives, in stead the spirits of nature and their ancestors were responsible for many life events like plentiful harvest and illness.
Social Systems
They Created systems to help them keep order and fairness within the society
Few African societies had written languages, instead storytellers shared orally the history and literature of a culture
In west Africa the storytellers or Griots kept the history alive passing it from parent to child
Why were Oral traditions important in early Africa?
Without the Griots telling orally the stories, their kings would vansish into oblivion, because they were seen as the memory of mankind
Stateless societies had no centralized authority, no administrative apparatus, and no courts of justice. They lacked any form of the power pyramid. There were no chiefs or councils with the authority to issue commands that were obligatory on everybody. They were said to be in a state of ‘organized
anarchy.’
Early Humans Adapt to their Environment
SOCIAL SYSTEMS
Women are the gatherers (looked for roots, yams, mushrooms, and wild seeds)
Efe men and older boys did the hunting
Respected older males (uncles, fathers, etc.) served as the group leader - his opinions were valued, but he never gave orders or acted as a chief
arguments were settled through long discussions
if conflict cannot be settled, the group might decide to find another group
TRADE
The Efe added to their diets by trading honey, wildgame, and other forest products for crops grown by farmers in the nearby villiages
To what might the Efe attribute their long success as a hunter-gatherer society?
they had groups to hunt and to gather
they moved as nomadics so they were able to find food sources more and not have to worry about running out
GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS
complex settlements required more organization than small communities
many types of governing bodies were built to fill this need
some governments consisted of a village chief and a council of the leaders from the individual family groups
as stronger groups moved to extend their groups, they conquered weaker settlements and centralized their governments
some societies developed into great kingdoms
Why would complex settlements require more government than smaller communities?
there are more people in the communities so there are more chances for things to mess up
there is a bigger need for leadership throughout the community due to a bigger population
What happened to the pastoralists of the Sahara 8,000 years ago?
they were forced out due to high amounts of rainfall
they had to move east into the Nile Valley and south into Western Africa
most pastoralists were able to keep their herds of cattle unless they moved where the tsetse fly lived
The Efe are one of several hunting-gathering societies in Africa
(they live in the Ituri Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo)
Nomadic hunting-gathering societies - began in Africa
Scattered throughout the continent, these groups speak their own languages and often use their own hunting techniques (studying these groups, scholars learn clues about how hunter-gatherers may have lived in the past)
Other early Africans eventually learned to domesticate and raise a variety of animals for food
Herders, or pastoralists, kept cattle, goats, or sheep (nomads drove their animals to find water and good grazing pastures during the dry season)
The Masai of Tanzania and southern Kenya still measure their wealth by the size of their herds