African History
Africa is a continent with an incredibly diverse array of cultures and worldviews. The landmass itself is huge, with terrain that includes vast deserts, dense forests, jungles, and broad savannahs. Africa is thought by most scientists to be the point of origin for the human species. Many people don't know very much about African history. They think that African people lived only in tribes and had no real "history" to speak of. They are wrong. In fact, most people living on the African continent before the 1500s, did not live in "tribes." Egyptian civilization, for example, is extremely old, and the Mali Empire of the 1300's was one of the largest and richest in the world at its time.
In this section, you will explore the rich culture and traditions contained in African history. You will find out about Pharoahs and pyramids. You will follow the camels and caravans of the Tuareg as they cross the sands of the great Sahara Desert; you will explore the ancient gold-trading city of Great Zimbabwe. You will learn about Mansa Musa, one of the most famous kings of Mali, and explore the beautiful city of Zanzibar. You will find out about ordinary people who lived in village communities, and how the development of the trans-Atlantic slave trade changed the face of Africa forever.