Ch. 8 - World History Flashcards
(33 cards)
What were Africa’s Challenging Environments?
-Deserts and Rainforests
What were the two main deserts?
- The Sahara (north, bigger)
- Kalahari (southwest)
Why are the deserts challenging?
- unsuitable for human life
- no water
- they hamper people moving to more welcoming climates
What is desertification and where does it takes place?
- The Sahara gets bigger each year
- Takes place along the southern edge known as the Sahel
Why are the rain forests challenging and useful?
Challenging
- Partly inhabitable
- The presence of the Tsetse fly prevents Africans from using cattle, donkeys, and horses to farm near the rain forests
Useful
- prevented invaders like Europeans from colonizing the fly infested territories
- Provides essential wood resources, especially mahogany and teak
What are the Africa’s Welcoming Lands?
- Mediterranean zones
- Savannas (grassy plains)
Where is the Mediterranean zone located?
What is their climate?
What are they densely populated with?
- The northern coast and southern tip
- Mild climate which results in fertile land
- Farmers and herders
What percentage of the savannas covers part of Africa?
What does savannas support?
What inhabits this area?
- 40%
- Abundant agricultural revolution
- Much of natural wildlife
What were the commanalities in early sub-Saharan African?
- Basic social unit is the family
- Religions
- Keeping history
What is an extended family?
What is a clan?
- Besides parents and children they often included grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins
- Families that shared common ancestors sometimes formed groups
What are belief systems?
What was their belief?
What is animism?
- A belief in which helped people to understand and organize information about their world
- One creator/god and animism
- A belief that spirits play an important role in regulating daily life and that spirits are present in animals, plants, natural forces, and they take the form of the souls of ancestors
What did a few societies didn’t have?
How was history kept alive?
- No written language
- Through the storytelling of griots
The History of Early West Africa
What was the most unique quality of West Africa?
Who was West Africa’s earliest culture and what was their first thing to do?
- They developed an Iron Age without going through the Copper or Bronze Age
- The Nok; smelt iron
Understanding Migration:
What were 3 primary factors that caused migration to happen?
What did these factors resulted in?
- Environmental, economic, and political
- Resulted people being pushed or pulled out of a region
What were the push factors of:
- environment
- economic
- political
Env: climate changes, exhausted resources, earthquakes, volcanoes, and drought/famine
Econ: unemployment, slavery
Pol: religioius, ethnic, or political persecution; war
What were the pull factors of:
- environment
- economic
- political
Env: abundant land, new resources, and good climate
Econ: employment opportunities
Pol: politcal and/or religious freedom
What were the general effects of Migration?
- redistribution of the population may change population density
- cultural blending of languages or ways of life may occur
- ideas and technologies may be shared
- peoples quality of life may be improved as a result of moving
- clashes between groups may create unrest, persecution, or even war
- environmental conditions may change, causing famine or depleted natural resources
- employment opportunities may dry up
Who’s an example of migration taking place in Africa?
-The Bantu people
What were the causes of the Bantu Migration?
- increased food production,
- which lead to increasing population,
- which lead to needing to take over more land to plant food and to dig up minerals for iron smelting;
- this lead to land destruction and dense population/overpopulation
What were the effects of the Bantu Migration?
- Other people were pushed out (BaMbuti and San pushed into small areas)
- Territorial wars (BaMbuti and San fought the Bantu)
- Ideas and languages were exchanged (spread of the Bantu language, agricultural techniques, and iron smelting)
- Ethnic groups intermingled (Bantu intermarried which resulted in new cultures, customs, and traditions)
Where was the Aksum Kingdom located?
What did it determined?
- Along the Red Sea
- The fate of the kingdom
The history traces the kingdom and the Ethiopian royal dynasty to whom?
-the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
How did the Aksum Kingdom become well known?
-By conquering the Kush
Who did they controlled?
-An area known as the Horn of Africa
