African Trade and Language

Unit 4, SSWH 6 c

How did the movement of people and ideas affect early African societies?

SSWH 6 cDescribe the trading networks by examining trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt, and slaves; include the Swahili trading cities.

Trade Items• 2 most important trade items: gold & salt, 3rd most important: slaves• Gold came from forest, south region of the savanna but no salt• Salt is essential to human life, the Sahara contained deposits of salt

p.452-455

• Arab traders would bring weapons, cloth, salt, & manufactured goods for gold• African kingdom, Ghana, became a gold trading empire – religion, Islam, began to spread because of trade

• Slaves were kidnapped by rival tribes & sold to Arab Muslims traders: went to India & China• Agriculture leads to specialization and permanent villages

Swahili• Trade of the Bantu people increased the usage of the Swahili language• Language mostly used on the eastern coast and with Arab & Persian traders• Traded ivory, gold, tortoise shell, ambergris, leopard skins, & rhinoceros horns p.355

Shapely ReviewDraw a large triangle on your paper.

On the triangle…list the 3 most important trade items in African

kingdoms, in the center, tell how these 3 are interdependent.

Jot your answers – 1 minute prepare to share