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An essay on how Religion affect African Civilizations
An essay on how Religion affect African Civilizations
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Africa was isolated geographically by the Sahara Desert. The isolation made by the Sahara Desert has affected trade, religion, and trade within Africa. Trade in Africa was impacted by the Sahara Desert because it prevented goods from civilizations residing under the Sahara Desert to reach North Africa. Religion was affected by Africa's isolation because new religious ideas could not reach part of Africa due to the Sahara Desert. The impact made by the affect on transportation was that it had caused interactions between North Africa and civilization under the Sahara Desert to be limited. The importance of the isolation made by the Sahara Desert is that it had set limitations on Africa both technologically and socially. In Africa trade was …show more content…
This only permitted them a small pathway of interaction with North Africa giving them little more accessibility than most civilizations under the Sahara Desert. This demonstrates the impact made by the Sahara Desert on trade within Africa. Trade done in Africa is significant because it gave the civilizations in Africa resources for them to live on and the isolation made by the Sahara Desert had limited them. The prevention of trade through isolation had both technologically and socially impacted Africa by making it harder for information(discoveries) to be brought to civilizations North of the Sahara Desert and by separating North Africa from civilizations residing below the Sahara Desert. Religion was affected in Africa as a result of isolation from the Sahara Desert. The Sahara Deserts' affect on religion in Africa is imperative to understand because religion created legal systems and set lifestyles for integrated civilizations and empires throughout history. The Sahara Desert's affect on religion was exemplified by how civilizations in North Africa were predominately Islamic and most other African civilizations were Christian. This shows the spread of …show more content…
This is essential because the Sahara Desert has affected the interactions of civilizations within Africa. This is shown in how traveling through the Sahara Desert did not occur until camels were domesticated. The Sahara Desert created danger in travelling from and to North Africa. Another representation of how transportation was affected in Africa by the Sahara Desert is shown in how the city of Axum had created boats for crossing the Nile River for them to be able to reach North Africa. This demonstrates the limitations that were set on Africa socially and technologically. The Sahara Desert limited Africa socially by restricting transportation through the Sahara Desert thus preventing interactions between North Africa and civilizations living below the Sahara Desert. Africa's technology was limited by the Sahara Desert which lead to the city of Axum creating boats in order to safely cross the Nile
In documents one and two they explain and evaluate the trading system and routes of the African empires, kingdoms, and cities. Document one shows the layout of the Aksum trade center and the routes which lead to and from it. Aksum is an empire located right by the Red Sea, its location made it an important international trading center. African trade centers mainly focused on the exchanges of salt and gold. Since the red sea ports are controlled by the rea sea and Aksum was located right by it, its locations made it the center of the trade center. However, in document two it describes the trans-Saharan gold and salt trade. The trans-Saharan gold and salt trade was controlled by the rich and powerful Ghana kingdom. The king had shields
...e, unlike the surrounding nations which were powerful, rich empires, Africa consisted of small tribes and kingdoms. These kingdoms’ greatest exports would consist of gold, salt, and slaves, in exchange for the goods imported from the surrounding empires.
African society used bodies of water such as the Nile, the Red Sea, and many more to transport goods across the continent and generate profit. For example, the city of “Aksum reached its height between 325-360. Aksum’s location made it an important international trading center.” After analyzing the map of trade routes in Document 1, it is clear Aksum was strategically built to have ties to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. These two bodies of water give the city the freedom to import and export goods. Additionally, this work of trade did not come without reward. Cities who succeeded in the business became overly wealthy and had surpluses of gold and other riches. A king, Mansa Mansa, who expanded the Mali kingdom to be twice the size of Ghana, was not afraid to show his wealth as he showered other cities in riches out of generosity. In Cairo, Egypt, “there was no person, officer of the court, or holder of any office of the Sultanate who did not receive a sum of gold from him.” This is just one of the many examples of wealth in african cities and empires. What is impressive is the fact that before European trade became an influence, African people had already created a successful and very profitable system of
In the great empires of Africa they developed many things. In the Axum (Aksum) Empire (Ethiopia, in present time) they developed a trade route that stretched of Asia to Africa and back. Document one, states that people in the trade route traveled along the Red Sea. This affected the Axum Empire in many ways. They (Axum people) had gained wealth because it was a great trade point and from it, it was introduced to religions, Christianity and Islam. Another empire is called the Kingdom of Ghana in Western Africa. They became one of the richest civilizations due to commerce. In document two, it states that the amount of wealth was visible because of what the pages were wearing. They had on gold. Even the dogs guarding had on silver and gold.
Nomads were credited with being a large part in the spread of religion, languages, currency, teachings/educational techniques, between regions. New advancements also promoted regional interactions between Africa, Asia, and Europe. For example the invention of printing in China changed life in China but also in places that it spread to westward. Europe was one of the places that cultivated the advancement of paper and printing, causing an intellectual uprising in Europe and Asia. Gunpowder is another Chinese invention that has now made its way around the world and has changed the way we fight wars and use weapons in general. Technological advancements discovered and cultivated changed the economy and agriculture between Europe, Asia and Africa promoting more forms of trade and commerce. Trade between regions was practiced on a massive scale, routes were developed such as the Silk Roads, that furthered trade and regional connections. New forms of trade became popular such as slaves from Africa along with gold and fine art or glass trinkets. This is why there is much similarity in artwork between regions. For instance Europe mimicked a lot of Asia’s art techniques,
With Europe in control, “the policies of the governing powers redirected all African trade to the international export market. Thus today, there is little in the way of inter-African trade, and the pattern of economic dependence continues.” Europeans exported most of the resources in Africa cheaply and sold them costly, which benefited them, but many Africans worked overtime and were not treated with care.
The outward passage carried manufactured goods from Europe to Africa, then, the middle passage carried captives to the Americas or the Caribbean. This would generally carry American goods (tobacco, sugar, etc.) back to Europe. The slave trade affected Africa by the Europeans forcing trade. All the states close to the coast or trade area was riven by these actions of slave capturing and trading. Of course, there were also tribes in Africa at the times, these tribes did not always get along with one another and would have enemies. Often, one tribe would convince another tribe to come along with them, or capture a member, and bring them to the traders (who would put the Africans on the ships and send them to the Americas).
Many of the African kingdoms were quite powerful, having wealth, land, military power, and many natural resources. During the early 13th and 14th centuries Africa was in a power struggle, with different groups battling each other for power, land and resources. Some of the first instances of slavery occurred during this time, with the winning group taking captives. Such as in the book we read, Ama. They used to captives mostly for labor purposes but most often sold them and exported them to other countries. This exporting of captives lead to wealth for their captors and was a starting point for the slave trade. The increasing number of West African exports also increased the slave trade. During this time a great deal of trading was happening between Africa and other countries, mainly in Europe. Many resource rich African countries (Kingdoms) traded items such as ivory, gold, animal skins and spices, and in return mainly received salt. Although salt was coveted for its preserving properties, the Africans definitely got the short end of the stick. Thus, draining Africa of its many rich resources, and leaving outsiders to hold a lot of wealth.
Africa is the second largest of the earth's seven continents, covering about twenty-two percent of the world's total land area. From its northern most point, to its southern most tip is the distance of nearly five thousand miles. Africa is both north and south of the equator. The Atlantic Ocean is located west of the continent, and the Indian Ocean is on the east. Width of the continent is also nearly five thousand miles. Although Africa is so large, much of it is inhabitable. Desert soils, which have little organic content, cover large areas. The Sahara Desert, in the northern part, covers more than one fourth of Africa, and the Kalahari Desert is in the southern part of the continent. These two deserts are a natural detriment to the African continent because they make it difficult to reach the inland where most of the people live. Although Africa is relatively close to Europe, travel by land over the Sahara desert is very prohibitive. Another topographical feature that also isolates the central region of Africa is the coastline.
It is only recently that more reliable studies have brought to light much information about great civilizations that developed in Africa while Europe was in the period often referred to as the Dark Ages. The earliest of these mature civilizations were in West Africa. In a vast region south of the Sahara, Africans organized kingdoms which in time became great empires. This region is called the Sudan (a word meaning "land of the Blacks" in Arabic). The Sudan was important in the early history of Black Africa because the Africans first practiced agriculture in this region, and thus became the first people south of the Sahara to fashion and use iron tools and weapons.
Then by some chance, the river Nile formed and allowed Egypt to fructify into a populous civilization. Evidently, the river Nile affected a number of factors in Egypt’s development. Agriculture became widespread and possible due to the stable periodic inundation of the Nile, while the art and culture of the Egyptians became much more sophisticated and refined by the influences of the Nile. Commerce was manifest by the Nile when foreign countries sailed by the Nile to make their trades. Despite the Nile not being the only factor in affecting ancient Egypt’s trade and culture, the river itself is satisfactory enough, in that removing it from Egypt’s geography will significantly change the course of Egyptian trade and culture. Therefore, it is certain to declare that the Nile river has indeed substantially affected the agriculture, trade, and culture of ancient
The spread of Islam in Africa had taken course from a number of factors, including external and internal forces. After my analyzing of the spread of Islam in Africa, I have gather three main themes that stuck out during the expansion of Islam: Islam and trade, the conversion conditions of Islam, and the economics/political development involving Islam. These three themes provide great insight on how Islam started to spread through out Africa. Through trade the culture and religion of Islam was spread to many different areas. This correlates to the conversion of different people, which helped spread Islam. By these conversions Islam was able to establish Islamic states, which played a factor in the development of strong economic and political
The Europeans saw Africa as being a great place to obtain all types of resources from labor to natural materials. Items such as cotton, coal, rubber, copper, tin, gold, and other metals were considered very valuable and readily available in Africa (Nardo). The industrial revolution had already become a strong influence on the countries that attended the Conference. They had spent the past...
As the Europeans started to invade Africa and split up the land, they paid no attention to the already existing natural boundaries. Over time, villages with different cultures had set these boundaries. The Europeans ignored these invisible borders as they invaded. This caused soci...
There is no doubt that European colonialism has left a grave impact on Africa. Many of Africa’s current and recent issues can trace their roots back to the poor decisions made during the European colonial era. Some good has resulted however, like modern medicine, education, and infrastructure. Africa’s history and culture have also been transformed. It will take many years for the scars left by colonization to fade, but some things may never truly disappear. The fate of the continent may be unclear, but its past provides us with information on why the present is the way it is.