We’ve been studying African kingdoms of the past with the kids and we’re thrilled to share what we learned with you! It’s fascinating (and tragic) to me that Africa is the largest of all the inhabited continents and yet it is largely overlooked in history programs for kids.

In fact, I use the “What Your ____th Grader Needs to Know” series with our children and there is no mention of African history outside of Egypt until fourth grade. This means that kids are first introduced to Sub-Saharan African history with a discussion of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

I feel that initially presenting Africa in the light of slavery tends to bias children to the beauty and historical significance of African rulers and people. We’ve decided not to cover the subject in that way with our children and we’ve found out some incredible things so far.

For starters, Africa is so much more than poverty, oppression, and slavery. In fact, these things were fairly uncommon until colonialism started. So before we got into our lesson about African Kingdoms with the kids, we decided to learn more about the African continent – as it is today.

Take a look at this Introduction to Africa lesson plan you can share with your kids too! And if you want to learn even more about Africa with your children, don’t miss our African Kingdoms printable unit study!

Introduction to Africa Lesson Plan for Kids

Let’s begin by tackling some common misconceptions about Africa.

The original name of Africa is not “Africa”!

First, did you know that Africa was not originally called Africa? That name was based on the name “Afri“, which was a Latin name given to the inhabitants of Carthage by the Romans in the second century B.C.E.

In fact, the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio was renamed Scipio Africanus after his victory against Hannibal at Carthage at the end of the century, because the name “Africa” was only used to denote the area surrounding the indigenous people who lived in and around Carthage at the time.

Somehow over the centuries, the name Africa was expanded to refer to the entire continent, but that was not the name that the inhabitants of Africa used. There is some disagreement about what the original name for Africa was, but some say that the original name was “Al-kebulan“, which is an Arabic name meaning “Land of the Blacks”.

How big is Africa?

After finding out that the name of Africa wasn’t even originally Africa, we had to re-examine our entire view of the area. We decided to sift through popular images of Africa and compare them to the reality of life on the largest continent on Earth.

The free resource “Exploring Africa” by Michigan State University is an excellent introduction to African culture, history, and geography. We started with the beginning exercises about the size of Africa and the common portrayals of Africa in popular culture.

We also found an incredible graphic showing the enormous size of the African continent:

Africa is a Culturally Rich, Civilized Continent

What kind of landscape comes to mind when you hear the name “Africa”? Do you think of people who live in huts? Do you picture extreme poverty and dirty surroundings? Those are the images commonly used in the media. And Africa does have poor people and slums. (Like literally every other continent, except Antarctica.)

I live in the U.S. and if I wanted to show the U.S. as a country of poor, impoverished people, I’d have no trouble finding photographs to support that story. We see homeless people in our area on a regular basis. So it’s unfair to paint this as a situation that’s unique to the African continent.

African countries have huge cities, beautiful buildings, and incredibly rich historical sites.

Antananarivo, Madagascar

Cape Town, South Africa

Kampala, Uganda

Marrakesh, Morocco

Nairobi, Kenya

Windhoek, Namibia

The People of Africa

The Exploring Africa lesson plan makes an excellent point that I had not previously realized. Most of the images of Africa in modern culture are either of animals, nature, or buildings. The people of Africa are not widely highlighted, unless they are shown looking malnourished or unhappy.

When I thought back to my childhood, I realized that this was definitely true when I was growing up. Of course, it’s important to publicize the extreme poverty that ravages much of Africa, but those images are not representative of life for all Africans. Seeing those pictures over and over can make us feel that life in Africa is miserable for everyone, which is not true.

Here are some of the images of Africans we shared with our kids:

Young Men in Ethiopia

Mother and Children in Angola

Young Maasai Women

Ugandan couple

Best Friends

 The Natural Wonders of Africa

We also discussed the incredible diversity of geography on the African continent. Utah State University hosts a very thorough resource list of Africa lesson plans and we explored one to learn about the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa.

Here are a few of these natural wonders:

Victoria Falls

Table Mountain

The Serengeti Plains

Books and Resources about Africa

Here are some of the resources we used for this lesson. They’re definitely worth a look. (Affiliate links are listed below. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

• University of North Carolina: How Do We Represent Africa? – A free PDF file with color pictures of life and nature scenes from Africa. Great for broadening common views of Africa to include people of all kinds.
• Afrobets: First Book About Africa by Veronica Freeman Ellis
• Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions by Margaret Musgrove

Learn even more about Africa with these learning activities!

Ready to dive into the royal history of Africa? Don’t miss our African Kingdoms unit study! It’s packed with unit activities to help elementary kids learn about the rich and regal history of African kingdoms!

>>> African Kingdoms Elementary Unit Study <<<

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This post is part of the Autumn 2013 Hopscotch from the women of iHomeschool Network! Click below to see the Hopscotch posts from all of our fellow bloggers!

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Hi there! Welcome to the final day of our 10 Days of African History for Kids series! We’re ending with a discussion of apartheid in South Africa.

What was Apartheid?

The word apartheid literally means “separateness” and, true to its name, apartheid was used to enforce racial segregation between blacks and whites. Interestingly, the policy didn’t just apply to black Africans, but to Indians and all people of color. The prevailing view of many white Africans at the time is underscored by this property sign:

I had to explain to the children that this sign was informing all people of color that they would be killed for stepping foot on the property. Notice that this policy pointedly applies only to people of color, so this is not simply the work of an overly possessive property owner.

Image c/o: McDaniel.edu

We found it interesting that all people of color were grouped together under apartheid. Skin tone, country of origin, or language had no bearing on how they were viewed. On the other hand, all whites were viewed as “clean”, no matter where they came from or their ethnic heritage.

Back in August, we took an in-depth look at the life of Nelson Mandela and his efforts to overturn the apartheid policy. The kids remembered much of what we talked about from that lesson and mentioned it during this discussion. Homeschooling win! We read the book S Is for South Africa (World Alphabets) at the end to help the children look at how South Africans live today now that apartheid has ended.

African Kingdoms Timeline

Afterward, we wanted to go back and get a historical perspective of all of the kingdoms and events we covered in our African history series. We wrote all of the topics on the board and had the kids tell us which event they thought came first.

They were surprised to learn that Kush was actually an older empire than Egypt.

Everyone took turns filling in the timeline.

We included two timeline pages: a blank one for filling in the chronological order of the events and kingdoms and a second one with all of the topics and dates added.

Grab your free download of our basic African history timeline by clicking on either of the pictures or the link below!

Basic African History Timeline

Books and Resources about South Africa and Apartheid

Time for Kids: South Africa Timeline – Interactive timeline of the development of the country of South Africa, including dates during the anti-apartheid movement

Kids Net Encyclopedia: History of South Africa – A thorough kid-friendly summary of how the country of South Africa was formed, including the original African tribes, colonization by the Dutch and the British, and the end of apartheid

McDaniel.edu: Apartheid in South Africa – Upper elementary grade lesson plan with a picture activity and a discussion prompt

Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

African Beginnings

The Colonial Conquest of Africa

S Is for South Africa (World Alphabets)

Thank you so much for following along with our series 10 Days of African History for Kids! We hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as we enjoyed studying it!

This post is part of the 2013 Autumn Hopscotch from iHomeschool Network! Click below to read the Hopscotch posts from our fellow bloggers!

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Hi everyone! We’re coming to the end of our African History series and, as sad as it may be, no history of Africa is complete without a discussion of colonization and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Jay and I don’t agree with the idea of avoiding this subject with our kids simply because they are young. We’re careful about the extent to which we cover the topic, but we do talk about it with them. As they get older, we’ll decide when and how to explore this matter further.

The Scramble for Africa

If you’ve been following our series, you may have noticed that we’ve been marking the locations of the original African kingdoms on a map of the continent. We used this map from Exploring Africa as the basis for the activity:

As you can see from the map, Africa was sparsely populated as a whole. There were clusters where certain kingdoms and tribes resided, but much of the continent was empty (mostly because of lack of water). Despite Africa’s modern unrest, the ancient continent was fairly peaceful and united. Rival kingdoms engaged in warfare, but there were no ongoing civil wars or long-lasting periods of unrest.

The European colonization of Africa drastically altered this landscape. From 1881 to 1914, several European nations engaged in what has been called “The Scramble for Africa”. During this period, 90 percent of the continent came under European control. Contrast the map above with the redrawn map of Africa in 1914:

What’s really infuriating about the Scramble for Africa is that it began after the European countries met and signed the Berlin Treaty of 1884. This treaty was established at a summit to which NO AFRICAN LEADERS WERE INVITED. The governments of these countries literally got together and carved up the continent like a pie without even telling the people who lived there that it was happening. I don’t care how long ago that was. It was an unconscionable act.

We printed out a sketch version of the colonization map and had the kids color it in.

Since the lines were fairly complex, I outlined them in advance to give them a guide to follow.

The kids were amazed at how much of Africa went to France and the U.K. Interestingly, both Liberia and Ethiopia remained independent of European control during these years.

Here’s a look at Tigger’s completed colonization map.

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade got started during the 1400s when Portuguese traders began buying Africans from some of the tribal rulers. They needed cheap labor to help develop their colony in South America (which became Brazil) and African slaves were especially good workers. Over time, this ballooned into the worst part of what Africans refer to as the maafa, meaning “great and terrible tragedy”.

During the years 1450 to 1850, an estimated 10 to 15 MILLION Africans were sold into European and American slavery. That is a mind-boggling number, especially when you consider the logistics of overseas communication and transportation in those days. Eventually, the traders grew tired of paying for slaves and simply resorted to overpowering them and kidnapping them. In some cases, entire tribal villages were impressed into slavery.

Many African rulers who sold slaves to the Europeans imagined that they would be treated humanely. This proved not to be the case. Slaves were literally treated as cargo and were crammed onto and under shelves that were as low as 18 inches high, nearly on top of one another. Those who died or became sick along the way were thrown overboard.

We showed the children a slave ship diagram to help them imagine what it must have been like to cross the Middle Passage aboard a slave ship:

Image c/o: Hitchcock.Virginia.edu

A few weeks back, we visited the African Panoramic Experience (APEX) Museum as a family to learn more about the lives of enslaved people in America. After being marched to the western coast of Africa, slaves passed through the “Door of No Return” into the holds of the ships. 

A visual representation of the way slaves were packed into cargo holds

Those that made it through the Middle Passage were immediately sold. If they were fortunate enough to arrive in America as families, they were quickly separated and sold to different owners.

Our kids were frightened to learn that babies and children were routinely sold away from their parents. The tour guide explained that this was done so that children would forget their parents and become attached to their owners, making them less likely to run away.

A reproduction of a slave auction advertisement

Slaves were literally branded with cattle irons. This was typically done when they were first captured and then again after their arrival in America. Horrible.

These are some of the actual slave chains used to shackle small children. I teared up staring at these. The thought of someone taking my children away and treating them like this is unfathomable.

Visiting the APEX Museum was a difficult experience, but I’m glad we went. The museum also focuses on the incredible accomplishments of African Americans through the years. We’ll be sharing our complete field trip to the museum on the blog in a few weeks.

Books and Resources about the Colonization of Africa and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

Michigan State University: Exploring Africa – Complete lesson plan about the colonization of Africa with student activities

Teacher Ed: The African Slave Trade – Early elementary grade level lesson plan about the slave trade with a reading activity and discussion prompts

Michigan State University: Exploring Africa – Complete lesson plan about the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade with student activities

Africa for Kids: African Slave Trade – Kid-friendly summary of the slave trade and the extent of its operation

Wikipedia: Maafa – A thorough definition of the African term “maafa” and all of the events that played a role in it, including colonization and European/American slavery

The Colonial Conquest of Africa by Robin McKown

Africa: Postcolonial Conflict (Troubled World)

Daily Life in Ancient and Modern Cairo (Cities Through Time)

African Beginnings

Tomorrow we’ll finish up our 10 Days of African History for Kids series with a look at South Africa and apartheid. We’d love to “see” you there!

This post is part of the 2013 Autumn Hopscotch from iHomeschool Network! Click below to read the Hopscotch posts from our fellow bloggers!

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Since the Zulu tribe engaged in brutal warfare, they have often been called a nation of warriors. While the kingdom existed for years before his reign, it really came into power under the rule of the famous leader, Shaka.

Here’s a Zulu Empire History for kids unit that we enjoyed as a family!

What was the Zulu Nation?

Originally, the Zulus were a clan like all other African tribes at the time. Eventually, though, they would be united with other tribes under the rulership of Shaka Zulu. After his death, the empire continued for about 50 years before it was overtaken and colonized by Britain.

The Zulu Nation was located in South Africa, right along the coast of the Indian Ocean. On our Africa map from Discover Africa, we marked it in red.

Who was Shaka Zulu?

Shaka kaSenzangakhona was the illegitimate son of the Zulu chief Senzangakhona. He and his mother, Nandi, were never officially recognized as royal family and were driven away. Later Shaka was taken in by a chief of a neighboring clan, who helped him take charge of the Zulus after Senzangakhona died. After Shaka took the throne of the Zulus, he was given the name Shaka Zulu by a band of British colonists who landed in the area toward the latter part of his rule.

Shaka’s early childhood experiences seemed to harden him toward others. During his reign, he was incredibly cruel to potential rivals and dissenters. The only person who he showed affection for was his mother. He even forbid the people from planting crops for months after she died, nearly bringing the Zulus to starvation. Despite the cruelty of his rule, Shaka is widely admired by present-day Zulus and a memorial to him stands in South Africa:

Image c/o: Wikimedia Commons

The Zulus – A Nation of Warriors

Drawing on his own experiences, Shaka intended that his people be warriors. He assembled an army of 50,000 men and 10,000 women and insisted that youths be initiated into warfare from an early age. To prepare his soldiers, Shaka would force them to march 50 miles without food or water and require them to walk without sandals to toughen the soles of their feet. Needless to say, they were fairly successful in battle.

To conquer neighboring tribes, Shaka instituted the “bull horn” military formation. The majority of the warriors would go out to fight in a central group, flanked by two smaller, crescent-shaped regiments. While the central group took on the bulk of the enemy army, the flanking regiments would circle around and attack from the back, preventing any from escaping.

The military style that Shaka invented proved to be successful long after his death. In the late 1870s, the British invaded the Zulus, but underestimated their strength against “civilized” firearms. At the Battle of Isandlwana, British general Lord Chelmsford and his men accidentally stumbled upon 20,000 Zulu warriors who were resting on the day of the new moon. Chelmsford and his forces were completely overwhelmed by the bull horn formation and retreated, after losing over 1,000 soldiers.

The Zulus still hold on to some of these warrior rituals to this day. Groups of them perform traditional warrior dances dressed in full regalia but with smaller ornamental shields:

Image c/o: Jean-Claude Hanon via Wikimedia Commons

You can see a traditional Zulu warrior dance on the YouTube video below. It’s really worth watching. (Note: Zulu women did not wear tops, so the women in the video are topless. There is nothing whatever sexual about it, but I did want to tell you beforehand.)

Zulu Warrior Shields

One of the most widely used instruments of war was the Zulu shield. Shaka designed the original shield himself, lengthening it to cover the entire body so that warriors could engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. In the image below, you can see that the shields were designed so that warriors could carry their weapons directly behind them into battle.

We decided to make some Zulu shields of our own with drawing paper and cardboard.

To keep the colors authentic, we used neutrals and tans to evoke the cowhide that Zulu warriors used for their shields.

Once we colored the shields, we just added two holes at the top and bottom to slide the cardboard strips through.

After the initial decoration, we decided to go back and add alternating spaces like the authentic shields.

All done! We had quite a time reminding the kids that these were just shields, not weapons. Everyone seemed to think that they were Shaka Zulu once they held them.

Books and Resources about the Zulu Nation

Africa Junior: Shaka Zulu and the Rise of the Zulu Kingdom – Nice kid-friendly summary of the history of Shaka and the Zulus.

South African History Online: The Zulu Kingdom and the Colony of Natal – An excellent discussion on the Zulu empire and its interactions with the British before colonization

Wikipedia: Zulu Kingdom – The history of how the Zulu Empire was formed and what happened to it after Shaka’s death

Wikipedia: Shaka – Well-balanced article about the origin, life, and worldview of Shaka Zulu

Zulus of Southern Africa (Original peoples) by Harriet Ngubane

Shaka: King of the Zulus – (Note: This is an excellent, excellent book about Shaka’s life, written in a child-friendly manner with colorful illustrations. I highly recommend it.)

Tomorrow we’ll be covering the colonization of Africa and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and how these two events ended the centuries of rulership by traditional African kingdoms. Feel free to come back and learn with us!

For more on African kingdoms, visit our 10 Days of African History for Kids page to read about other civilizations, including the Asante, Great Zimbabwe, and Mali!

This post is part of the Autumn 2013 Hopscotch from iHomeschool Network! Click below to read all of the Hopscotch posts from our fellow bloggers!

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Hi everyone! We’re on Day 7 of our African History for Kids series! Today we’re learning about the Asante (Ashanti) Empire.

What was the Asante Confederacy?

The Asante Kingdom was actually a confederacy of several smaller tribes that banded together in the late 1600s. The original group was a migratory clan that traveled down from the area originally covered by the Ghana Empire. Over time, several clans began to join forces under the leadership of Osei Tutu, who ruled over the Asante from 1670 to 1717.

One of the things that set the Asante Empire apart from the earlier African kingdoms is that the king was not considered divine nor was he considered all-powerful. Rather, the Asante king (called asantehene) was sort of like a modern-day president. He had a group of advisors who he listened to and received suggestions from and he made his decisions based on their input. The city of Kumasi eventually became the Asante capital and most of the empire’s wealth came from its trading in gold, ivory, and slaves.

Where was the Asante Kingdom?

The Asante Kingdom was located in West Africa just below the area originally covered by the Mali Empire. If you look at the diagram we made below using the blank Africa map from Discover Africa, you’ll see it in light green below the teal lines of the Songhay Empire and the light purple lines of the Mali Empire.

One of the things I’m most proud of from this unit is that all three of our kids can look at this map and identify the kingdoms on it, even without the names. It’s great that they realize that Africa had a history long before that of the politically divided nations that exist on it today.

Asante Empire Culture

The most recognizable aspect of the Asante Empire was the kente cloth, which is still associated with African culture today. Kings and queens wore clothing made of it, but it was also woven and worn by the common people. Looking at it, it’s easy to see why it was so widely used. It’s stunning.

We decided to try our hands at construction paper weaving with kente-inspired colors. We got some paper weaving directions from Dick Blick and off we went!

The directions suggested cutting the loom lines on a curve to make a more visually interesting weaving.

The kids had a little trouble learning how to move the loom lines without tearing them, but they got the hang of it. Once we finished the weavings, we slid them through our favorite laminator and we were all done!

Ta-da! We think we’ll use them as placemats at snack time.

Books and Resources about the Asante Empire

Saylor.org: The Ashanti Empire – A printable PDF about the history and operation of the Asante Conferacy

Afropede@: Asante (Ashanti) Empire – A nice in-depth look at the ruling succession of Asante kings

Wikipedia: Ashanti Empire – Very thorough review of the history of the Asante Empire, its culture, and its eventual decline through colonization

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Art of the Asante Kingdom – Photo slideshow of a exhibition of Asante art previously on display at the Met

UNESCO: Asante Traditional Buildings – Slideshow of the remaining Asante traditional buildings that are still standing

Centuries of Greatness: The West African Kingdoms, 750-1900 (Milestones in Black American History)

Kings and Queens of West Africa (Watts Library)

African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa’s Royal Women

Tomorrow we’re wrapping up our look at African kingdoms with the last great African empire: The Zulu Nation! We hope you’ll come back to learn about this empire with us!

This post is part of the Autumn 2013 Hopscotch from iHomeschool Network! Click below to read all of the Hopscotch posts from our fellow bloggers!

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Good morning everyone! We’re off on our second week of African history with a look at the Songhay Empire!

What was the Songhay Empire?

The Songhay Empire was the successor to the realm that was originally covered by the Ghana and Mali Empires. It was originally founded as a community of fishermen within the Mali Empire, but because the fishing industry was so profitable, the community refused to pay taxes to Mali’s rulers and always remained somewhat independent. Eventually, their wealth grew to such an extent that they were able to establish an army and a rival government. As the Mali Empire declined, the Songhay kingdom rose under the leadership of Sonni Ali the Great. (By the way, in some resources, Songhay is spelled as “Songhai”.)

Like many early African kingdoms, Songhay’s trading system was built largely on its large reserves of gold and salt. The profits from trading created an extremely wealthy ruling class in the kingdom. Cowry shells were used as the traditional currency within the area. At the height of its influence, the Songhay Empire covered more than 540,000 square miles.

Rulers of the Songhay Empire

Sonni Ali the Great was the first notable ruler of the Songhay Empire. As an general, Sonni Ali was skilled at leading the army into battle, eventually conquering the remaining parts of the Mali Empire and bringing them under his rule. He gave special attention to seizing the large cities of Mali, including Djenne and Timbuktu, turning them into even more prestigious learning centers of education. Some scholars have said that Sonni Ali was not a Muslim and that he practiced traditional animist beliefs. Others have disagreed with this assessment. One of the things that really struck me, though, was that the rulers of the Songhay Empire were typically Muslim, but the people often retained their traditional African religious rituals.

Muhammad Askia the Great was another of the empire’s most notable rulers. Interestingly, Askia had no right to the throne, either by birth or by heritage. Yet he was able to take power over the empire, largely because of his former role as a general for Sonni Ali. Historians have no doubt about Askia’s religious inclination. He was a devout follower of Islam, completing a legendary hajj similar to the one undertaken by Mansa Musa of Mali.

Songhay Empire Architecture

Like the rulers of Mali, Songhay’s rulers practiced Islam and their buildings reflected the traditional Islamic architecture of the Middle Ages. The city of Djado-nah was one of the area’s largest trading centers at the time. Some of its ruins are still standing in Niger today:

Even the burial tombs of the notable residents of Songhay were built with the Islamic style in mind. The tomb of Muhammad Askia the Great was built in the same architectural style as the Djennah Mosque we learned about last week – a combination of mud and wooden timbers:

Image c/o: Taguelmoust

West African Culture

Since Songhay covered much of the same area as the earlier West African kingdoms, the citizens of the area followed a traditional West African diet of lean meat, vegetables, and hearty stews. We decided to bring a little of the Songhay Empire into our kitchen by making benne cakes – a traditional West African dessert. We used the benne cake recipe from the book The History and Activities of the West African Kingdoms. It’s a very simple recipe, using just flour, brown sugar, lemon juice, egg, and sesame seeds. While the recipe uses the word “cakes”, these are actually cookies.

A note to my readers: If you make benne cakes yourself, DO NOT crowd them on the pan or you will end up with this:

Yes, that is one giant cookie, instead of 12 small cookies like I was supposed to have.

Biscuit cutters to the rescue!

Another note to my readers: Don’t tell your children about your plans to make these before you’re ready to do it. They will hound you until you finally give in and bake them. When I put those cookies down on their napkins, everyone was so excited they could barely wait.

See?

A certain someone even managed to get in a bite before I could take the picture! These were really good, by the way – not too sweet and very soft. (I reduced the cooking time from 15 minutes to 12 minutes, which kept them from getting too crispy.)

Books and Resources about the Songhay Empire

Wikipedia: History of Niger – An overview of the country of Niger’s history. The land that is now considered Niger was part of the ancient Songhay Empire.

BBC: The Story of Africa – Summary of the history of the Songhay Empire, from its early days to its eventual decline.

Wikipedia: Songhai Empire – Thorough discussion of the history of Ancient Songhai, including details about its two most notable rulers.

Africa for Kids: Ancient Kingdom of Songhay – Kid-friendly review of the trading, cultural, and economic practices of the Songhay people.

Wikispaces: West African Political Systems and Cultural Patterns – Excellent summary of several West African kingdoms, including Mali, Ghana, and Songhay.

Black African empires by Joan Joseph (A First book)

African Beginnings

Centuries of Greatness: The West African Kingdoms, 750-1900 (Milestones in Black American History)

The History and Activities of the West African Kingdoms (Hands-on Ancient History)

Tomorrow we’ll be continuing our African history unit with a look at the Asante Confederacy! Come back to see what we learned about this ancient African empire!

This post is part of the Autumn 2013 Hopscotch from iHomeschool Network! Click below to read the Hopscotch posts from our fellow bloggers!

The post Day 6: The Songhay Empire appeared first on Look! We're Learning!.

Good morning! We’re wrapping up our first week of African history with a look at the Ancient Ghana and Mali empires.

Where were Ancient Ghana and Mali?

Despite their names, we learned that the Ghana Kingdom was not located in the same place where present-day Ghana is located. Rather, it was one of the first West African kingdoms. When we studied Egypt and Nubia, we learned that early kingdoms in Africa were generally located near large sources of water. The Ghana Empire was also located near a reliable water source, the Niger River. Mali, which later engulfed the Ghana Kingdom, covered a larger area that now includes Cote D’Ivoire, the Gambia, Niger, Senegal and Mali. At its height, the Mali Empire encompassed 500,000 square miles.

The Rulers of Ghana and Mali

One of the first rulers of the Ghana Empire was Dinga Cisse. What was fascinating about Ghana’s rulers is that, unlike some of the other empires in Africa such as Egypt and Kush, their kings had a semi-divine status. That means the people viewed them as kind of half-gods. Dinga Cisse set up his capital at Koumbi Saleh and turned it into a major stop along one of the trans-Sahara trade routes. The empire made most of its revenue by trading in gold.

Sundiata Keita was the first ruler of the Mali Empire. His story is recounted in the Epic of Sundiata, an oral legend passed down through generations. While he was the father of the Mali Kingdom, the empire’s greatest ruler was Mansa Musa, whose title means “King of Kings”. Mansa Musa was like the King Solomon of the Mali Empire. During his reign, the kingdom grew to its wealthiest status. When Mansa Musa made his hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca in 1324, he took along a caravan of over 70,000, along with 80 camels carrying more than 50 pounds of gold each. On the way, he handed out so much gold along to the citizens that the value of gold nationwide plummeted for the next 10 years!

Mansa Musa also commissioned some of the Mali Empire’s most memorable architectural works. After Islamic architects learned how to combine timber and mud brick, they were able to build taller buildings. The Djinguereber Mosque, which was built in 1327 in Timbuktu, still stands today:

In this image, you can get a closer look at the ends of the wooden timber sticking out of the sides of the mosque:

 

Life in Ancient Ghana and Mali

One of the games that originated in West Africa during this period was mancala. The game is considered to be the oldest board game on Earth. It’s still played today with the same exact rules:

 We used the activity in the book The History and Activities of the West African Kingdoms to create our own mancala game using an egg carton, some hair beads, and a couple of small containers.

A typical mancala board only has 12 holes, so you’re supposed to use a dozen-size egg carton. We only had the 18-egg size carton, so we just skipped the second row.

Mancala looks like a really simple game, but it actually requires quite a bit of logic and skill. The instructions require you to capture as many beads (or beans, or marbles, or any small item) from your partner into your mancala as possible. But it takes some serious planning and foresight to understand how to do it. In that way, mancala is very similar to chess.

It took some time for the kids to learn the rules, but once they got the hang of it, they loved it! It’s a testament to African ingenuity that a game played with such simple items can be so complex.

Books and Resources about the Ghana and Mali Empires

AncientWeb.org: Ancient Nigeria – An overview of the history of kingdoms that were located in present-day Nigeria: Mali, Ghana, and Songhay.

ThinkQuest.org: Africa: The Cradle of Civilization – Quick summary of both the Ghana and Mali Empires, including their rise and eventual fall.

BBC: The Story of Africa – Origin of the Ghana Kingdom and a look at its people, their religious beliefs, and the empire’s decline.

Wikipedia: Ghana Empire – Well-sourced article detailing the development of the Ghana Empire, the nation’s trade system, and its leaders.

Wikipedia: Mali Empire – An excellent in-depth article covering Mali’s kings, most significant cities, and the history of how the kingdom was formed.

Wikipedia: Sundiata Keita – Extensive article discussing the birth, growth, and rulership of Mali’s first king.

Wikipedia: Mansa Musa – Thorough history of Mali’s greatest king, including his ascent to power and his historic hajj to the city of Mecca.

PBS: Wonders of the African World – A look of the glory of Timbuktu, one of Africa’s most prestigious centers of learning in the Middle Ages.

University of Maine: Mancala Rules – A nice summary of basic mancala game rules, with variations for other styles of play and suggestions for making a mancala game board.

Black African empires by Joan Joseph (A First book)

Kings and Queens of West Africa (Watts Library)

Centuries of Greatness: The West African Kingdoms, 750-1900 (Milestones in Black American History)

The History and Activities of the West African Kingdoms (Hands-on Ancient History)

African Beginnings

We hope you’ll come back next week to learn more about African history with us! We’ll be discussing more ancient kingdoms, the colonization of Africa, and apartheid.

This post is part of the Autumn 2013 Hopscotch from iHomeschool Network! Click below to see all of the Hopscotch posts from our fellow bloggers!

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As we started researching the history of African kingdoms, we found out so much about empires that we didn’t even know existed! Africa was home to many advanced civilizations that existed long before the modern Western world. In fact, some of the architectural accomplishments of these empires were so advanced that people didn’t even believe they were real!

That’s what we discovered as we started learning about the Great Zimbabwe empire. Find out more about this kingdom in our Great Zimbabwe unit study!

Study even more African kingdoms with our Ancient Nubia Unit Study or our Zulu Empire Unit!

Great Zimbabwe Unit Study

Where Was Great Zimbabwe?

Great Zimbabwe was the capital of the Zimbabwe Kingdom in the southern part of Africa. In fact, the capital’s ruins are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the country of Zimbabwe. Speaking of Zimbabwe, do you know what that name means?

We didn’t. But we learned that there are two possible meanings for the name: Dzimba-dza-mabwe, which is Karanga for “large houses of stone”, or dzimba-hwe, which is Zezuru for “venerated houses”. The city itself was in existence for about 400 years, from the years 1100 to about 1500 C.E.

How Big was Great Zimbabwe?

One of the most interesting things we learned about Great Zimbabwe is that it was an African metropolis. At its height, the city encompassed 100 to 200 miles and was home to 10,000 to 20,000 people. Since the city’s revenue was based on trading gold, ivory, and cattle, most inhabitants were fairly wealthy.

You can get an idea of its scope by looking at the size of the Great Enclosure, which was the wall that surrounded most of the city:

Image c/o: Jens Klinzing

To see just how large these buildings were, look at the scale of the man in the picture walking inside the city:

Great Zimbabwe Architecture

Since Great Zimbabwe was the capital, it had the most magnificent architecture. What was especially fascinating to us was that the builders created the city without using mortar or mud. Instead, they heated the stones to break them into bricks and then placed them atop each other in a way that ensured they would stay up.

The fact that some of these structures are still standing today when they are literally made of stacks of rocks is incredible. In fact, some early historians were so impressed with the design of these buildings that they claimed Africans could not have built the structures and attempted to manufacture a fake history to back up their story. Despicable.

Image c/o: rosshuggett

Naturally, we had to try our hand at the architecture of Great Zimbabwe. We broke out our play beach sand and attempted to recreate the Great Enclosure.

It’s harder than it looks. But it helps when you have lots of willing hands.

Not even close. I can’t imagine trying this by stacking enormous stone blocks on top of each other.

Books and Resources about Great Zimbabwe

These affiliate books and resources provide even more information about this incredible empire!

Wikipedia: Great Zimbabwe – Wikipedia’s page about Great Zimbabwe is very extensive, covering the entire dominant period of the Zimbabwe kingdom.

The BBC: The Story of Africa – Nice summary of the Great Zimbabwe capital and the efforts of some historians to deny that the city was of African origin.

UNESCO: Great Zimbabwe National Monument – Beautiful slideshow of pictures of the stone city.

Michigan State University: Exploring Africa – A complete lesson plan about the history of Africa during the Zimbabwe Kingdom

South African History Online: Great Zimbabwe – Basic facts about the Zimbabwe kingdom: trade system, size, and the history of the name.

PBS Nova: Mysteries of Great Zimbabwe – In-depth look at the discoveries made at Great Zimbabwe and the lengths one historian went to in an attempt to give credit for its architecture to non-Africans.

Black African empires by Joan Joseph (A First book)

African Beginnings

Zimbabwe (Enchantment of the World, Second)

Learn even more about Great Zimbabwe and other African empires in our African Kingdoms Printable Unit Study! Click the image or the link below to grab it from our Store!

>>> African Kingdoms Printable Unit Study <<<

This post is part of the Autumn 2013 Hopscotch from iHomeschool Network! Click below to see all of the Hopscotch posts from our fellow bloggers:

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Ancient Nubia is just one of the African empires we’ve studied over the years. Be sure to see our Zulu Empire Unit and our Ancient Egypt Unit also!

Ancient Nubia Unit Study for Kids

Where was Ancient Nubia?

Like most early civilizations in Africa, the kingdoms of Nubia were situated around water. In fact, the kingdom of Kush was located just down the Nile River from Egypt. We marked the location of the empire on our Africa map.

According to historians, the names Kush and Nubia can be used interchangeably, but most people still refer to the area as Nubia. While the name “Nubia” has come to be associated with dark skin or dark color, it actually means “Land of Gold”.

True to this name, Nubia’s revenue was largely based on its large reserves of gold. Eventually, Kush became so wealthy that it conquered Egypt for a time. Some ancient art shows images of traders from Kush bringing gold to Egypt for sale:

We also learned that the Bible speaks about the ancient kingdom of Kush. Psalm 68:31 associates Kush with Egypt when it says, “Bronzeware things will come out of Egypt, Cush (Kush) itself will quickly stretch out its hand with gifts to God.” Along with gold, Kush was also rich in precious stones, which were also used heavily in trade. The Bible also supports this at Job 28:19 speaking of “the topaz of Cush (Kush)”.

Nubian Architecture

Like Egypt, Nubia’s architecture consisted largely of religious buildings. The people of Kush viewed the ruler as divine and they constructed pyramids to honor them. Some of these pyramids and ruins are still standing today:

Pyramids at Meroe

Ruins of the Western Defuffa Religious Building at Kerma

The Kush Empire and The Nile River

Kush’s location on the Nile River allowed the people to flourish, thanks to plentiful irrigation for farming. Some of the typical crops included sweet potatoes, beans, and onions. The people in the area were also surrounded by several kinds of animals, which lived in the area around the Nile.

To look at animal life along the Nile, we made a paper craft about Nile animals from the book History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations, Grades 1-3.

Roo decided to color his entire Nile River map magenta, which made it look quite…interesting.

After we colored our Nile River maps, we added a crocodile attached with a string of yarn so it could “swim” up and down the river.

And, of course, we had to try out some African-inspired headwraps!

Books and Resources about Ancient Nubia

PBS: Wonders of the African World – Lots of facts and history about ancient Nubia with photographs of the region’s ruins.

Ancient Africa for Kids – A kid-friendly summary of how the kingdom of Kush was established and how it thrived.

HistoryFiles: Kingdoms of East Africa – Timeline of Nubia’s development and growth with photos

Black African Empires (A First book) – This is an excellent book by Joan Joseph about many of the early African kingdoms. It’s hard to find on Amazon, but there are several copies available from AbeBooks.

History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations, Grades 1-3

African Beginnings

YouTube: Wonders of the African World – Episodes 1 & 2 “Black Kingdoms of the Nile”

For more about Ancient Nubia and other African empires, pick up a copy of African Kingdoms! A Printable Elementary Unit Study about Ancient Africa! Click the image or the link below to grab it from our Store!

>>> African Kingdoms Printable Unit Study <<<

This post is part of the Autumn 2013 Hopscotch from iHomeschool Network! Click below to see all of the Hopscotch posts from our fellow bloggers:

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To start, we focused on the Ancient Egyptian civilization, which is world-famous as a kingdom that prized mathematics, law, agriculture, and writing – among other things. But many school lessons have presented a view of Ancient Egypt that is at odds with what historians have discovered, including what the Egyptians looked like, what they accomplished, and who ruled the kingdom over the years.

So we put together our own lesson about Ancient Egypt history for kids! Read on to learn more about this fascinating and accomplished civilization that you can share with your children!

If you love this unit, be sure to check out our list of must-read black history books for kids!

Ancient Egyptian Architecture

Egypt is probably the best known ancient African kingdom. The main reason for this is that there are so many archaeological sites that testify to what life was like in Ancient Egypt.

We looked at some images of Egyptian ruins to get an idea of the extraordinary accomplishments made in architecture, design, and mathematics by Egyptians. We looked particularly at the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the Abu Simbel temples.

The Great Pyramid, for example, took over 20 years to complete. Its design is so mathematically precise that historians still cannot understand how the Egyptians built it. They even doubt that the same structure could be reproduced today.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu and the Sphinx

The Temples at Abu Simbel

The kids made some miniature models of the Great Pyramid of Khufu out of paper. We got this activity from the book History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations.

To make the pyramids, we simply cut out the paper shapes and then colored them.

Then we folded them on the lines and added glue to make them stand up.

All finished!

As you can tell, this craft was a pretty big hit.

Hatshepsut, the Female Pharaoh

We also learned about the first female Pharaoh, Hatshepsut. Tigger, in particular, was interested to find out about her. We picked up the book African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa’s Royal Women and read about her life and reign.

She was truly an incredible woman and ruler. In many art pieces and statues, she is portrayed as a man with a beard. At the time, a female Pharaoh was unheard of and scholars think that the succeeding Pharaohs decided to show her as a man to hide her existence. But a few statues of her exist that show her as a woman.

This one is on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston:

Hatshepsut was so revered as a Pharaoh that she was buried at her own temple at Deir el-Bahari:

What Did Ancient Egyptians Look Like?

One of the things that has long irritated me about the images of ancient Egyptians in popular culture is that they are often portrayed as being very fair-skinned. I’ve personally seen a lot of children’s history resources use cartoons that show Egyptians as Caucasian people dressed in Middle Eastern attire.

To counter this view, we looked at some examples of ancient Egyptian art that clearly shows ancient Egyptians as brown-skinned people:

 Image c/o: StewartSynopsis.com

We also learned that Egyptians were very fond of jewelry and that both men and women wore it regularly. Women typically wore lots of eye makeup, as well as elaborate collars such as this:

 In fact, here’s a relief at the Hathor Temple showing the same kind of collar:

Where Was Ancient Egypt?

To give the kids a better idea of how the ancient kingdoms of Africa were situated, we decided to make a simple map of them. We purchased the Discover Africa notebooking set from Balancing Everything and used the blank Africa maps as the basis for our template. (It is a truly wonderful geography unit for all 54 countries on the African continent.)

We began by marking the area covered by Ancient Egypt and we’ll be filling in the map with the other kingdoms we feature.

If you’d like to check out the Discover Africa notebooking set, you can see it for yourself by visiting Balancing Everything or by clicking below:

Books and Resources about Ancient Egypt

Here are the books and resources we used for this lesson.

PBS: Wonders of the African World – This website is based on a PBS series from the 1990s written and narrated by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Sections cover Egypt, Nubia, and Swahili.

Be sure to check out the rest of our 10 Days of African History series!

This post is part of the Autumn 2013 Hopscotch from iHomeschool Network! Click below to visit the Hopscotch posts from all of our fellow bloggers!

For more awesome history ideas, follow my Living History for Kids board on Pinterest!

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