History Bookwork 2

HIS 111

Book Work Week 2

Chapter 5

African People (Approx. 1.5 Million years ago – present) Research shows that humans from this region evolved in the Rift Valley of highland East Africa at least 1.5 million years ago according to the book. The African people moved around quite a bit and we very diverse. They have spoken 1000 to 3000 different types of languages if you count all of the different dialects. The African people can historically be divided into four different families, the Afro-Asiatic, the Nilo-Saharan, the Niger-Kongo, and the Khoisan. This is important, because it is the roots of life in Africa.

The Sahara and the Sudan to the Beginning of the Common Era (Until 750 B.C.E) The land in the Sahara was a very good place to live until about 2500 B.C.E, when rapid climate changes changed the land from a grassy fertile land to a desert. This forced people to migrate to different places in Africa. As time passed the African people started to start up small towns, as many as 200 have been found. As they traveled further south they started to farm and domesticate new crops and animals. They eventually settled in the Sudan region. This is important because this marked a big change from strictly hunting and gathering to making more domesticated settlements.

Early Iron Age and the Nok Culture (7th century B.C.E. to 4th Century C.E.) The concept of iron smelting came from both locally within the continent of Africa and also from the East, via Egypt. The most significant place where iron smelting was found is in northeastern Nigeria. These people are today known as the Nok culture. These people made stone tools and were artists. The Nok people’s creations date from 900 B.C.E. to 200 C.E. The Nok people were also very spiritual, we know this because of burial sites that were found. This is important because it marks the Iron Age which is known to propel societies forward with the invention of sturdy tools.

Western and Central Sudan (400 C.E. – 900 C.E.) As the...