Topic 4. Sub-Saharan Africa [6.T4] Modern countries in Sub-Saharan Africa Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte (Fr.), Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Reunion (Fr.), Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe Significant early Sub-Saharan African states and societies Ancient Ghana, ancient Mali, Songhai, the ancient Kingdom of Axum, the Swahili city-states
a. Physical and political geography of Sub-Saharan Africa [6.T4a] 1. On a map of the world, locate the continent of Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea. On a map of Africa, locate the northern, eastern, western, central, and southern regions of Africa, the Sahara Desert, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Cape of Good Hope, the Great Rift Valley, Lake Victoria). Use other kinds of maps (e.g., landform, population, climate) to determine important characteristics of this region. Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for History and Social Science 92
2. On a political map of the region, demonstrate map reading skills to distinguish countries, capitals, and other cities and to describe their absolute location (using latitude and longitude coordinates) and relative location (relationship to other countries, cities, or bodies of water); use knowledge of maps to complement information gained from text about a city, country or region. 3. Explain how absolute and relative locations, major physical characteristics, climate (including drought and desertification), and natural resources in this region have influenced settlement patterns, population size, and economies of the countries.
b. Selected Sub-Saharan African states and societies, c. 100– 1000 CE [6.T4b] Supporting Question: How did long-distance trade influence the development of early subSaharan African states and societies? 1. Identify the location, sources of wealth, and importance of the Kingdom of Axum (c. 100-940 CE); explain the role it played in the adoption of Christianity in Ethiopia and the role east African societies played in the spread of Islam to South Asia, 2. Explain the pivotal role Swahili coastal societies along the Indian Ocean played in linking trade networks between interior Africa and maritime routes along the coasts of Central and South Asia, and connecting to China; identify key goods in this trade (e.g., gold, ivory, iron, people from Africa, and cloth, glass beads, and porcelain from Asia). 3. Identify the locations, sources of wealth and importance of West African cities and empires, including the city of Timbuktu (beginning c.5th century CE), and the empire of ancient Ghana (beginning c. 700 CE). i.