In the continent of Africa, there were numerous city states that were quite successful and powerful, particularly during the early centuries of the Common Era. Many African city-states increased the overall wealth, trade, and even territorial control in numerous regions, and as a result, different African societies experienced significant changes. One African city-state that was very powerful during the period from around 300 BCE to 700 CE, was Aksum, located in Northern Ethiopia. During the rise of Aksum, there was significant change in the horn of Ethiopia, as trade, agricultural production and military control increased. Through this, Aksum’s success increased, and as a result, Ethiopia and other nearby regions experienced significant change.
The ancient civilizations of the Ancient Egypt, as well as the great Mesopotamia, are the world’s greatest civilization as recorded by history. The civilization was highly facilitated by rivers which cut across their land. The Euphrates, Nile, as well as Tigris, constantly moving along the river banks which in turn resulted in the adjoining land is extremely fertile (Backman). This led to flourishment and development of Ur and Eriku cities in Mesopotamia as well as the city of Thebes in Egypt (Backman). The Nile was very significant in Ancient Egypt as it made invasion by enemies impossible due to its marshy deltas (Backman). On the other hand, Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia differed fundamentally in many aspects more specifically in how their societies were structured, cultural orientation, religion, technological experiences, literature, and art among other things (Backman). This paper will center on examining these differences as well as similarities between these two regions as well as what they communicate concerning the circumstances that people from these two regions faced.
Chapter three is about early Africa and Egypt. Africa is divided into five sections by climatic and vegetative differences. The five sections were: Mediterranean, Sahel, Deserts, rainforest and savannah. Depending on the climate section in which they lived, the range of people in Africa urbanized special ways of being. The chapter also talked about the people that lived during this time. The first group was called the Khoisan. Initially they populated the eastern part of Africa. The next groups were called the Nilo-Saharan and Afro-Asiatic. At first regions by the Nile River valley were occupied. The final group was called Niger-Congo. They occupied the forests of western Saharan Africa over the wet phase.
Throughout history, many can see differences in the empires of America and the empires of Africa, but some fundamental similarities exist among these empires that make them successful. While each of these empires is deeply rooted in promoting economic growth and spiritual connectivity, they go about these tasks in different ways due to their individual and unique circumstances.
The ancient kingdom of Kush was a civilization of vast and advanced cultures and governments that lasted for approximately 1500 years. Throughout those years, the ancient Kush has developed and maintained various distinct features in order to control and adapt to its way of life. But to set ancient Kush’s records straight, we need to closely observe how they developed as an independent kingdom and their main features.
In Southern Africa, there were mineral discoveries in the 1860, 70, and 80’s. These discoveries had an enormous impact on Southern Africa. These discoveries lead to a “rush” of many fortune hunters and the establishment of the town of Kimberly, which grew quickly and soon became the largest urban society in the interior of Southern Africa. Soon the diamond industry was controlled by one monopolistic company. This was one negative effect of imperialism in Africa.
During the years of 3500 BC to 2500 BC, the geography of a land often impacted a civilizations development in great measures. Depending on the resources available or the detriments present due to certain topographical characteristics like rivers or deserts, a civilization could flourish or collapse. By studying the geographic features of growing societies like the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris Rivers as well as the Mediterranean Sea of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the link between developing cultures and geography will be examined through sources, including Egypt: Ancient Culture, Modern Land edited by Jaromir Malek and Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek. To determine the extent
WH9 Kaulike Jansen Africa DBQ January 6, 2016 Before the Europeans arrived to the empires, kingdoms, and cities of Africa, the African civilization flourished in many achievements with Art, political status, trade, and culture. The Africa we know today is not like the Africa we knew before the Europeans arrived in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Africa traders have used their skills to trade with other lands. Beautiful cities were built with an advanced political structure like the city of Kilwa. They even maintained a thriving culture.
The relationship between the geography of West Africa and the development of the Kingdom of Ghana go hand in hand. It was a great place for civilization because it flourished over time. The Kingdom of Ghana’s development was helped because of trade and wealth.
In early Africa, the kingdom of Ghana was prosperous due to the trade of salt and gold. Ghana’s location benefited it in many ways. First Ghana’s location allowed them to be the center of the Gold/Salt trade. Since salt was so valuable at the time, the people of Ghana were able to sell salt for gold throughout Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Middle East. Ghana also made a lot of revenue from taxes on the Gold/Salt trade route. Since they were the center
In 1950, V Gordon Childe drew up a list of traits of to what he considered to be the common characteristics of early civilizations. According to Fagan & Scarre, a recent archaeologist Charles Redman divided Childe’s list into primary and secondary characteristics. The primary characteristics included cities and states, together with full-time specialization of labor, concentration of surplus, and a class-structured society. For the secondary, the characteristics included symptoms or by-products of these major economic and organizational changes: monumental public works, long-distance trade, standardized monumental artworks, writing, and the sciences (arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy)(Scarre and Fagan 2003). One of the most common characteristics involve was a large, dense population living in a city. This essay well state and describe two early cities in Mesopotamia and explore the layouts and characteristics of these two cities. Also, whether each city is unique or share common characteristics with each other. The two cities are Maskan-shapir and Ur.
Long, long ago, before the invention of TV, the radio, and phones, people lived in ways that are very questionable and thought provoking to us today. Their traditions, customs , and culture are very different than ours. Many questions have arisen, and many have been answered. But, as always, the are those few questions that were never given an answer. Today we will be looking at many questions, yet there is one question that we will be thinking about throughout this entire essay. How did geographic challenges lead to the rise of city-states in Mesopotamia? This question and much more will be answered within this text, And who knows? Maybe you'll find a question of your own to answer!
Axum is located in northeast of Ethiopia. Axum had a strong army and a really rich kingdom. The king who brought Axum to its height is King Ezana. Axum had controlled all the exchange in the East.
To contrast Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, we take a look at West Africa and the Niger River Valley. The Niger River Valley may have become civilized much later than Mesopotamia and Egypt. Because of this the first cities of West Africa were thought to be trade centers. Archeologists once thought that trade had originally brought cities to West Africa and outsiders had introduced city building. However, upon further investigation, this viewpoint is challenged. Technology was much more advanced by the time African cities were constructed. Iron smelting had been developed and introduced to the people of the region. The Bantu people of lower Niger had begun giving up nomadic herding and are responsible for spreading their knowledge of agriculture to the tip of South Africa. It appears that the Bantu people had not built cities but someone must
public wedding “probably” as a way of securing her niece's future as a wife (52).