Key Terms
Niger River
~2,500 miles long; West Africa's longest river; supported sorghum, African rice, millet; critical transport route; found
Limpopo River
Southern Africa; temperate, well-watered basin; drew San hunter-gatherers and Bantu peoples; foundation for Leopard's Ko
Primary crops
Sorghum and millet Livestock: cattle, pigs, chickens (secondary to farming) Early settlements: small; ~dozen round house
Early Iron Age
Small settlements; self-sufficient economy; limited trade; some copper and salt exchange (Congo and Tanzania) Later Iron
Three forms emerged
1. Isolated hermits (northern Egypt) 2.
Result of Council of Chalcedon
Monophysite Christians ejected from Egyptian church; Egypt's church followed independent path; became the Coptic Church
Umayyad dynasty
661; Mecca-based Umayya family; capital at Damascus; converted caliphate to hereditary position (father to son); fell to
Spread south of Sahara primarily through
Merchants, traders, scholars, missionaries Muslim Berbers (Amazigh) carried Islam along trans-Saharan trade routes Reach
Location
Zimbabwean plateau interior; near present-day Bulawayo in Zimbabwe; near confluence of Limpopo, Shashe, and Shashi River
Core
Four central provinces established by Diabe Cisse Periphery: conquered vassal chiefdoms; some semi-independent; paid sma
Duration
~10th to 13th centuries (flourished 11th-13th centuries)
Considered
Southern Africa's first state; first class-based social system in southern Africa Origin culture: Leopard's Kopje (cattl
Founded by
Shona; Iron Age Bantu-speaking people; first migrated to southern Africa ~2nd century CE Duration: flourished 13th-16th
Ghana
Kings never converted to Islam; tolerated Muslim merchants; allocated separate Muslim district of capital Mali: mansas (
Vassal state system
Both Ghana and Mali incorporated conquered kingdoms but often left internal structures intact Succession crises: major c