Chapter 4 notes
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Heritage of Africa Chapter 4
Transcript of Chapter 4 notes
Heritage of AfricaChapter 4
Patterns of Life – Section 2
Family Ties• Extended Families – farming and herding
communities. Eldest male heads family
• Lineage and Clan – creates a bond of loyalty
--- Kinship ties encouraged a strong sense of community
--- Several lineages make up a clan
Patterns of Government
• Rulers led a large empire, sometimes this ruler was a distant figure.
• Small villages: decisions are made through public discussion
--- goal is to reach a consensus
--- Elders make final decision
Economic Organizations
• Most Africans were farmers or herders
--- subsistence farmers
Women
• Planting, weeding, harvesting, educate the young, and prepared daughters for marriage.
• Ashanti Tribe: women ruled!• Other: women had little power. Women were
property of their man.• Bride Wealth: brides family got $$$ from
groom. Cattle was the gift in herding societies
--- recognizes a woman’s importance
Age Grade System• Ties of loyalty• Includes all boys and girls born the same year• Special ceremonies marking growth stages• Learn the values of society
1. Who was in charge of this system?
2. Why did they learn the songs and sacred knowledge?
3. What did they learn at the Koranic school?
African Religion
Religion helps to unite the society• Traditional Beliefs--- Most are monotheistic--- Ancestors can help or harm you• Diviners and Healers--- Interpreters between people and the divine
world• Christianity: Ethiopia for 1500 years, 1800’s
Europeans pushed into Africa• Islam: Jihad – holy war, Usuman dan Fodo
united the Fulani herders, conquered the Hausa, created the Hausa-Fulani Empire (current day)
Review Questions1. Who would use a consensus decision?2. What is polygamy?3. What crops do subsistence farmers
grow?4. How were the women of the Ashanti tribe
treated?5. What is bride wealth?6. Describe who participates in the Age-
Grade System and what it is.7. What Empire is Usuman dan Fodio part
of?
The Slave Trade – Section 3
• Olaudah Equiano: 11 year old slave
--- Kidnapped in Nigeria
--- Took the “Middle Passage”
--- Wrote book describing slave treatment
Slavery
• First Slaves were treated as part of an African Community. Servants, not property.
--- They could become members of their society.
• Colonies in the New World needed a large labor force. Slaves were cheaper than Indentured Servants.
Exploring the Coast of Africa• First contact between
Europeans and Africans was early 1400’s.
• Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator
--- looking for gold/Sea route around Africa to India
Items Traded for Slaves
• European Slavers relied on local African rulers to get slaves
• Traded Guns for slaves
--- Began trading with the “locals”
• Brought Christian missionaries, to convert.
Trade in Human Beings
• 1400 - Demand for slaves was limited until Columbus discovers America.
• 1500 – “Slavery” changes• 1700 – Height of slave trade. 60,000 per year• Middle Passage: trip from Africa to New World• Slaves for guns --- Paid local Africans for their
own race• Slave trade lasted 400 years – 2-3 million
deaths
End of the Slave Trade
• Abolition--- Quakers: strong supporters--- Europeans in 1800s• Effects--- Disrupted whole societies in Africa--- Economic life suffered--- Diaspora: the scattering of people--- Sierra Leone and Liberia: 1787 British set
up a colony in West Africa for freed slaves
Review Questions
1. Who is Olaudah Equiano?2. What is the Middle Passage?3. What was the first European country to
make direct contact with the Africans?4. How did Europeans get their slaves?5. What were some of the negative affects
caused by slavery --- in Africa?6. What happened in Sierra Leone and
Liberia in 1787?
Age of European Imperialism – Section 4
• 1800’s, Europeans begin to explore Africa
• David Livingstone• European Motives:
1. Economic – raw materials (rubber, palm oil, cotton, ivory, and rare hardwoods)
2. Political – Nationalism “We’re #1”
3. Religious – Spread Christianity, improve health
Scramble for Colonies
What helped the Europeans move into Africa?1. Maxim Gun2. Medication to prevent diseases
• The Berlin Conference: Europeans made decisions about dividing up Africa…..
France, Britain competed for Egypt• Belgium gets the Congo--- Exploited human and mineral resources--- Resist? Get hands or ears cut off
African Resistance
• Many Africans resist European Imperialism
--- millions of Africans died• Congo
--- population fell from 20 million to 8 million• Europeans had superior weapons and
other technology, locals did not have
Struggled for Southern Africa
• Migrating people
--- Zulus disrupt traditional patterns of life
--- Shaka Zulu• Boers: Dutch/African
citizens move to South Africa
--- Boers defeat the Zulus with help from the British.
Diamonds and Gold• Diamonds discovered in 1867; Gold in
1884• By 1902 British defeat the Boers in the
Boer War• South Africa settled in 1910
--- Only white men had the right to vote
--- Boers gain control of the government
Review Questions
1. What was David Livingstone's connection with Africa?
2. What type of person was Leopold II?3. Why did the Europeans take an interest in
Africa in the 1800’s?4. Why did African efforts to resist European
imperialism fail?5. What happened at the Berlin Conference?6. What was a Political interest in gaining a foot
in Africa?
• What methods did Europeans use to rule their colonies? (Define)
• How did the Europeans economically exploit their colonies?
• Why did a Money Economy change life in Africa?
• Where were material improvements made in Colonial Africa?
Effects of European Rule – Section 5
New Political System• Colonial Governments
--- Direct rule: colonial power controlled the govt. at every level
--- Indirect rule: leave local rulers in place, but colonial powers made decisions
• Traditional African rulers no longer had power or influence
Economic Systems
• Europeans expected their colonies to be profitable.
--- Exploited the natural resources of their colony (Mining and Plantations)
--- Upset traditional patterns of African life• Money Economy--- Men left homes for long periods to work in the
mines--- Land no longer part of the community--- Africans now more dependent on the Colonial
Rulers
Material Improvements•New Communication methods•Built roads•Railroads•Missionaries set up hospitals•Schools•Better sanitationBy 1900, new African leaders were emerging. Take pride in your African past. Set seed for future independence movement.
Educated Elite
• A small group of people with high social status.
Who is an ELITE member of CD EAST?
• Who to believe….Europeans and their traditions or African heritage…..
Review Questions
1. What happens with Direct Rule?
2. What is Indirect Rule?
3. How did Europeans treat their colonies? Give an example.
4. Name two improvements brought into Africa.
5. did European rule affect African culture?
6. How can European Imperialism of Africans compare to treatment during colonial America?
What methods did Europeans use to rule their colonies? (Define)
• Direct Rule – Colonial power controlled the govt. at every level.
• Indirect Rule – Leave traditional rulers in place
How did the Europeans economically exploit their colonies?
• Sent raw materials to Europe.
• Set up plantations to grow cash crops.
Why did a Money Economy change life in Africa?
• No more Bartering!
• Created differences in wealth
• Land was not communal anymore
• More dependent on the Imperialistic Nations
Where were material improvements made in Colonial Africa?
• Transportation (Roads, Rails)
• Communication (Telegraph)- Weakened family life
• Social (Hospitals, Sanitation, Schools)
