Zander Allman World History, Period 2 October 22, 2012 Chapter 8 Key Terms: 1) Coptics or Copts are known

as the native people to Egypt that observed Christianity. Christianity hit a huge boom and expanded throughout the fourth and sixth centuries AD. It actually became one of the primary religions after the Muslim conquest and took over Egypt. They were known to speak the Coptic language. The Copts were known to make up the largest community or biggest gathering in one area of Christians in the Middle east during that specific time. The people in Africa of the Nile Valley are knows as Berbers. They spoke the Berber language and other various dialects of it. Mainly known for their trading expeditions, they were seen as the carriers or transporters of goods such as food and manufactured products. They would take them across deserts exchanging them for other items such as gold, metals, resources, and perhaps slaves. They were the ones responsible for the initiation of cultural diffusion and regional trade. Originally from numerous groups of local people, the Swahili people came about. Of a cosmopolitan culture, they still remain around coastal areas today. They are known as Bantu and found in East Africa. They are around the coast of Kenya and Zanzibar. Speaking the Swahili language, they were coastal dwellers. The language of Swahili was a very important development within the African society as it allowed for communication of people, trade and the ability to express themselves, reason and solve disputes of affairs. Pantheism was the African religious belief system. It states that there is one god and they believe in the idea of a single creator. This makes the African civilization a monotheistic community. The interesting thing about Pantheism was that this single creator more commonly known as God had a helping hand of lesser power deities. Certain groups of people believed other things and in other supreme beings such as Nyame by the Ashanti people of Ghana. African societies were commonly if not only Matrilinear. This means that the communities and peoples were that of a women dominant society. Stating that only women could inherit property and make important decisions. Males were prohibited to pass down inheritance to that other than their sisters sons and their own. Males were to most likely move into the womans estate rather than the other way around. Societies of Africa, were dominantly Matrilinear instead Patrilinear. Meaning that the women had more control, respect, and power over the more commonly seen male power throughout human history. A man would move into the womans property upon marriage

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rather than the males. The inheritance would go that to the sisters sons and his own. However, the relationships between both sexes is much more reform in comparison to China for example.

Focus Questions: 1) Islam greatly affected the religious values of the African people. The lineage group came before as well as Pantheism and the belief in an afterlife. Some things were similar like afterlife and a single god, however, many things conflicted with each other. The separation of the sexes in Islam was very different to Africa and completely changed the ways of the community. The cultural diffusion created a completely different and diverse section of an Africanized-Islam. Arabic became the first written language introduced in the region. Muslim law-codes and practices of the Middle-East were now practiced and produced in Africa. Islam actually sent rulers to govern the African cities. The common religion of Islam began to spread finally uniting people that werent once united before. The effect on trade wasnt drastic and most of the trade still continued. On the Mediterranean coast, ivory, ostrich feathers, leather goods, hides and other resources were traded along these shores, even slaves. 2) Migration is the key reason for the development of all societies and how they played out. Cultural diffusion and trade are results of migrations. These two simple things lead to new innovative ideas and inventions that further their civilization and possible civilizations of the future. The Migration of Muslims around the world spread the Islamic religion, culture, language, ideas, structures and philosophies. It shaped not only their world, but the others around them, human history and the future. Migration has never been a bad thing unless wars started, but this has also happened throughout history and it is all in an effect to what we know today. 3) Many different cultures believed in religions whether they have been poly or monotheistic. The belief in an afterlife is also a common reoccurring belief throughout human religions. A lineage group is basically a line of ancestry, also known as a clan. Each individual group could trace back to the founding fathers of their bloodline. Different societies had various changes about the same beliefs resulting in somewhat different customs and cultures throughout each individual community. The fact that these communities were developed without other influence and they werent all built upon the exact same principles, it accounted for changes. 4) In the North East part of Africa in Nubia, the first state/city-state/kingdom emerged called the Kingdom of Kush. It became a major trading state in the second millennium however, in the mid-first, it declined and was eventually replaced by Meroe. Geography was the main reason allowing for these city-state/kingdoms to rise. Agriculture was becoming widely practiced and due to the Nile River, this extremely helped. The population of people rose and they eventually banded together.