Africa Before The Iron Age

Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most-populous continent. The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra-”land of the Afri” for the northern part of the continent. Africa was discovered by Henry the Navigator during the Age of Discovery in the 15th century.

Africa before the Iron Age, the earliest indigenous people, the San, were nomadic and they survived by hunting and gathering. “Many scientists think they preferred the lives of the nomads because there was more food, resources and because their low numbers protected them from invasions and migrations “.The Bantu-speaking people were the first African people to farm with both planting crops and animals. They discovered and process

The north had the salt mines, the south had the gold, and Ghana was in the middle. Ghana set up the trade rules. Trade was even, for example, an ounce of salt for an ounce of gold. Ghana didn’t have the salt or the gold, but they got rich handling the trade of gold for salt. Word spread to West Africa and East Africa. All the east coast traders had to do was cross the Sahara desert to get there, but it wasn’t easy because the Sahara desert is a very hot desert. The major trade routes moved goods across the Sahara desert between western/central Africa and the port trade centers along the Mediterranean Sea. From Timbuktu across the Sahara to Sijilmasa was one trade route they used. Other trade routes included Gao to Tunis and Cairo to Agadez. Caravans were traders who moved their goods across the Sahara in large groups. Camels were the main transportation at this time and were used to carry materials. Without the camels, the trades across the Sahara would be nearly

Local African skilled workers built structures for Great Zimbabwe rulers, priests, and wealthy citizens.

The king’s court was served as the large structure. Great Zimbabwe was an economic based, that was based on mixed farming and cattle-herding. Because of

Great Zimbabwe's ecological crisis caused by overgrazing and the destruction of forests caused their decline and fall. There was little known about Great Zimbabwe, but it’s being rediscovered. The Swahili Coast is a coastal area in Southeast Africa inhabited by the Swahili people. The Swahili society increased because of it Islamic merchants and trade goods they had at the time.They had obtained ivory, slaves, exotic local products, and gold. In exchange, they got glass, textile, and pottery, that the Muslim merchants brought from Persia, India, and China. By the Swahili city-states doing this they became wealthy. The Swahili city-states had trade centers that were called Malindi, Zanzibar, Mombasa, Mozambique, Lamu, Mogadishu, Sofala, and Kilwa(Mcdonald 2018). These trade centers developed into powerful city-states controlled by a