Changes

==Africa==

==Africa==

As we have already seen in this course, language played a central role in defining a society.  This was also true in sub-Saharan Africa (south of the Saharan desert), where the Bantu language was shared by peoples in West Africa prior to 1000 B.C.  Historians refer to the West Africans as “Bantu speakers” who lived along the rain forest on the edge of what is now Nigeria.  The Bantu speakers began migrating to the east and south of Africa around 2000 B.C. (see the movement from the region labeled as "1" in the top figure to the right), and this migration was at its peak between about 700 and 500 B.C. (forming the nucleus marked as "9" in the bottom figure on the right).  By A.D. 1000, the migration southward (e.g., the arrow marked as "10" in the bottom figure on the right) had ceased and several Bantu kingdoms then arose in southern Africa.

As we have already seen in this course, language played a central role in defining a society.  This was also true in sub-Saharan Africa (south of the Saharan desert), where the Bantu language was shared by peoples in West Africa prior to 1000 B.C.  Historians refer to the West Africans as “Bantu speakers” who lived along the rain forest on the edge of what is now Nigeria.  The Bantu speakers began migrating to the east and south of Africa around 2000 B.C. (see the movement from the region labeled as "1" in the top figure to the right), and this migration was at its peak between about 700 and 500 B.C. (forming the nucleus labeled as "9" in the bottom figure on the right).  By A.D. 1000, the migration southward (e.g., the three downward arrows labeled as "10" in the bottom figure on the right) had ceased and several Bantu kingdoms then arose in southern Africa.

[[Image:Bantu migration.png|right]]

[[Image:Bantu migration.png|right]]

In eastern Africa, the Arabic language was influential.  When the Bantu language collided with Arabic, the result was the Swahili for the peoples of east Africa.

In eastern Africa, the Arabic language was influential.  When the Bantu language collided with Arabic, the result was the Swahili for the peoples of east Africa.

There was no private property in these settlements, as property was shared among the community.  Typically a family member served as the leader of each family or “kinship group,” and there was no formal government.

There was no private property in these settlements, as property was shared among the community.  Typically a family member served as the leader of each family or “kinship group,” and there was no formal government.

Fruits, particularly bananas, initially imported from Southeast Asia by traders, were a major source of nutrition that helped increase the health and population.  Malay sailors brought the banana over the Indian Ocean to an island known as Madagascar, where the people still speak a language similar to that spoken in Malaysia.

Fruits, particularly bananas, initially imported from Southeast Asia by traders, were a major source of nutrition that helped increase the health and population.  Malay sailors brought the banana over the Indian Ocean to an island known as Madagascar (see the large island off the east coast of Africa in the figures to the right), where the people still speak a language similar to that spoken in Malaysia.

The primary African religion was “animism”, or a belief that spirits exist in nature similar what some American Indians believe.  The religion was handed down from generation to generation not in writings, but in oral stories.  The storytellers are called “griots”.  There was a little bit of farming along the edges of the rain forests, but most of the activity was a “hunting-gathering” type, in when men hunted for food rather than growing it on farms.  In central Africa there was some cattle raising.

The primary African religion was “animism”, or a belief that spirits exist in nature similar what some American Indians believe.  The religion was handed down from generation to generation not in writings, but in oral stories.  The storytellers are called “griots”.  There was a little bit of farming along the edges of the rain forests, but most of the activity was a “hunting-gathering” type, in when men hunted for food rather than growing it on farms.  In central Africa there was some cattle raising.