African+Politics+and+Society+In+Early+Modern+Times+(695-699)

=**African Politics and Society In Early Modern Times (695-699)** =

**Interaction Between Humans and the Environment** **Development and Interaction of Cultures** **State-Building Expansion and Conflict** **Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems** **Development and Transformation of Social Structures**
 * Most of the African people were farmers.
 * Some commonly grown crops were millet, rice, sorghum, yams, melons and a few other vegetables.
 * Cattle, sheep, and goats were common livestock.
 * People farmed in the Niger river valley as early as 500 BCE.
 * Slaves combined African and European raditions to make a unique African-American culture.
 * The Portugues and other European nations spread Christianity and Islam throughout Africa.
 * The Songhay emperors viewed Islam as a cultural foundation for cooperation with Muslim merchants.
 * Early African religion was polytheistic based on nature.
 * Between 2000 BCE and 1000 CE Bantu-speaking people migrated throughout all of sub-Saharan Africa.[[image:http://library.thinkquest.org/13406/images/SONGHAY1.JPG width="465" height="377" align="right" caption="http://library.thinkquest.org/13406/images/SONGHAY1.JPG"]]
 * These Bantu Speakers started to form Chiefdoms and small regional Kingdoms.
 * Between the 8th and 16th Centuries CE, larger kingdoms dominate Africa.
 * Ghana was the first of these kingdoms.
 * Ghana was able to gain and keep power by controling tran-Saharan trade through taxation.
 * Use their riches to build a large army
 * Ghana was eventually overtaken by the Mali empire
 * Eventually over time in the 15 century the Mali empire fell to the state of Songhay
 * Songhay
 * Sunni Ali, a ruler during the Songhay reign, was able to expand with the help of his imperial navy on the Niger River.
 * Originaly a city state as well as one of the major trading cities of Africa
 * Was built in the 8th century
 * Conqured Trading Cities of Timbuktu and Jenne
 * All of the Emporers were Muslim
 * Global trade networks bring deep change to Africa by creating port cities and developing maritime trade.
 * Many laws were created to protect merchants, travelers, and property.
 * Theivery was punishable by either death or slavery.
 * The Atlantic Slave Trade was a much larger industry than slavery in Africa or Islamic regions.
 * Most of the slaves involved in the Atlantic Slave Trade went to the Americas or the Caribbean.
 * A caste system called was developed under Mali rule. It was not based on birth, but rather on the type of trade one practiced.
 * Farmers, government, military, and hunters were in a high caste called the horonu.

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[|http://www.worldbookonline.com]