Please post at least two questions you have about Africa that show that you have read and thought about the material on the assigned web pages.
Please post by 6 p.m. Sunday (or email me to let me know why that's not possible, and post as soon as you can).
15 comments:
One question I have about Africa is in the reading about Zimbabwe. I don’t understand how or why British museum director Richard Hall; would try and destroy parts of Zimbabwe's ancient site. I understand that he did not believe that Africans had built it; but I find it very disrespectful that someone would go to such lengths to prove a point. (And he didn't even prove anything; he was wrong) I don't fully understand why Europeans were underestimating Africans so much? Was it because they were not as advanced as them?
I would also like to learn more about the ancient legends and old stories; such as Sundiata. I am wondering how these came about and who wrote them.
1. Since the ancient West Africans believed that many gods existed and did not accept the Muslim belief in one God, did this cause conflicts with Islam and Muslims?
2. In the reading it says the Nok went directly from the Stone Age to the Iron Age while other ancient cultures discovered copper and bronze before iron, so did the Nok have more technology or advances than other cultures?
The reading said that most of the African cultures fadded away. I was wondering how and why they fadded. Was it similar to how Harappa fadded (by flooding)?
My other question was, if Timbuktu is so far away from the other trading cities, why was it such a big trading city? I guess it was becuase Timbuktu had so many resources, but couldn't people find the resources closer to other cities?
What happed to all the great empires of Africa. Why is it that they seem to have not left a real mark on the world like some or the empires of the west/ middle east?
What impact did the Africans have on other empires and vis versa?
1) The reading said that Mansa Musa made a deep impression on those he met during his trip to Mecca. What cultures did he encounter? Did that bring him new ideas or affect the way he ruled?
2) Who were the Rhodesians, and how did they conquer Zimbabwe? Africa was colonized by many different countries.
It says that Samanguru left Sindiata because he thought he was just going to die soon. What illness made Samanguru think Sundiata would die soon? How old was Sundiata when he conquerred Samanguru? They make it sound like he was really young... It also mentions that Sundiata worshipped traditional west African religions. What were traditional west African religions?
The reading makes Mansa Musa sound like a ridiculously rich guy. Where did he gain so much gold? Did his gold make him powerful, or was it the other way around? Was Mansa Musa respected, too?
I want to know more(if it's not just a myth) about Samanguru and Kaniaga. Ow did he come about? I also want to know about Ghana and the salt and gold trade. How did they travel into the desert and all that jazz without all of the technology that people in Europe and Asia had. Or did they have the technology? If so, what kind?
1. In the war between Morocco and Songhai it mentioned that the Moroccan army had cannons and muskets. I was wondering where they got that technology?
2. Why was Samanguru so violent towards the Mandinka people?
1. In the Nok civilization I was wondering if they had any connection to the China civilization because they both made people out of terra cota?
2. How does Mali giving away so much gold effect the economy for 20years, and what made him give all the gold away?
My first question is how do archeologists think that the Nok sculptures were based off woodcarvings if all the woodcarvings are long gone?
I was also wondering when the Moroccan civilization was given the knowledge of gunpoweder and by whom. The Chinese discovered it in the 1000s, but it probably took a while for them to discover the bloody use of it, since they used gunpoweder for fireworks at first. And then the discovery had to get all the way from China to Africa. So I also want to know how gunpowder got to Morroco and how long it took to get there.
1. Was gold the only reason for Morocco's attack on Sonhai in 1590?
2. What are the reasons for there being no records of Zimbabwe's past, especially since it was around in the 17th century?
Was the Nok civilization in any way influenced by the Chinese civilization in the use of the terra cotta?
When Timbuktu began to fall, did anyone use it as a salt resource anymore or did it just completely go away?
1. In the Ghana reading, it mentioned gold and salt mines. Was salt more/equal to in value as gold? For what reason? Was it a rarity?
2. In the reading about Mansa Musa it states that he gave away all of his gold and it lost its value. What triggered him to give away so much?
1. I wondered how the archaeologists came about the Nok? What did they think about it at first?
2. Why did Mansa Musa have so many followers on his Hajj? What leadership qualities did he possess?
1) are all the countries in Africa suffering from AIDS?
2) what is causeing the hyper inflation in some of the countries there?
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