Graeme's Medieval Africa

Medieval Africa Timeline


1070 – Ghana Empire at height of power

1200 – Empire of Mali begins its heyday

1230 – Collapse of Ghana Empire

1480 – Muslim traders dominate land trade on Sahara Trade Route

1488 - Captain Diaz rounds Cape of Good Hope opening sea trade

5 Questions


1. Who were nick named the “Ships of the Desert”?
2. What were the major exports of the Empire of Mali?
3. What was the heyday of the Mali Empire?
4. The Ancient African kingdom of Ghana was nicknamed what?
5. What is the main river in Ghana?

Answers


1. Camels
2. Gold and salt
3. 1200 AD to the late 1400’s
4. The Gold Coast
5. Niger River

Bibliography

1. www.historyforkids.org/learn/africa

2. saxakali.com/COLOR_ASP/timeline

3. World Book Encyclopedia

4. hamillgallery.com/SITE/Barkcloth

5. historyforkids.org/learn/africa/art/index

Medieval African

Art

There was a lot of art left behind from places like ancient Egypt because it was made in stone. Not that much art was found from the rest of Africa because they didn’t have the right kind of stone used to make sculptures. In the middle ages they used terra-cotta to make sculptures in the rest of Africa. Terra-cotta is made from a kind of clay so it brakes easily and there are not many examples of Medieval art. In the middle ages they started to carve figures from wood and metal as well.

A lot of the African art, especially the masks and sculptures that they made were religious in nature. The art was an expression of their religious beliefs. The Medieval Africans believed their ancestors were still with them and often though their spirits inhabited the art that they made. They used the mask and sculptures they made in their religious worship. From about 600 AD, Islam began to spread across much of North Africa and after that, Muslim religious art began to dominate.

Medieval African

Clothing

The earliest Africans would make their clothing out of animal skins. Then they started to take the bark from trees and pound it into cloth. They would usually use the fig tree or the raffia palm. The Egyptians in Northern Africa were the first ones to start making their clothes out of cloth. In the middle ages, probably at least by 800 A.D, the people in central Africa were making their cloth by weaving grass instead of pounding tree bark. This ultimately led to weaving with a loom. Archaeologists have found evidence of woven material from looms in Mauritania that were being used around 1100 A.D.

Originally the people made their own cloth, but as the process became more complicated with the weaving and dying of cloth, they started hiring experts to do it for them. By the 1400’s AD, the people that lived in West Africa were hiring professional dyers that were famous all across the Sahara. These professional dyers worked mainly for the king so that the king could have luxury clothes.

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The people of Africa were very happy. But they didn't always have the money they needed. So I'm asking you guys o donate even on dollar. And if you want more. Because just think about if you lived in Africa and you didn't have a lot of money. And every day you had to struggle to feed yourself and your family. So please donate some money.