Words to Study
southern, civilization, chiefdoms, Sahara, antiquity, fertile, stretch, empires, flourished, domain, throughout, vast
Introduction
From the southem Sahara to the top of southern Africa stretches the domain of hundreds of civilizations, many of which find their roots in antiquity. Throughout the continent great empires and small chiefdoms have flourished side by side over the centuries, giving rise to artistic, musical, and poetic traditions of extraordinary power and beauty.
Africa is a very big continent with very good, fertile soil, red mountains, dry, large deserts, and vast plains of vegetation with many kinds of birds and wild animals. The different nations of Africa have different gods, different languages, different costumes, etc.
In some parts of Africa the boys who help working in the fields and with the cattle, etc., live in separate camps of villages. They make their own social life even though they continue to form a part of the family, eating with the family and sharing everything. When the boy becomes old enough to marry, the village takes on a new character. Its houses become larger and farther apart; and the young men begin to cultivate the adjacent land.
There were other tribes living in the mountains whose villages centered on ceremonial wrestling. Every boy who is physically fit spends his youth mastering the rules of the movements of this sport, preparing himself step by step for the championship matches that mark the culmination of a wrestler’s career. When the boy is about 13 or 14, he is sent to an all male camp several miles from the village. He has high hopes of earning glory and his place in the tribe. The boy leaves the sport of wrestling when he is ready to get married.
Procedure
the teacher will prepare dittos with a map of the western part of Africa and will give them to the students.
Pointing to Beni on the map, the teacher will say: we will concentrate our study on the people from Beni. This is a very important commercial center, and this is the place from where the slaves were taken to America.
Beni merchants deal with ironwork, weapons, farm tools, wood carving, etc. Their currency consisted of cowrie shells and metal rings called manillas. They were a wellorganized people and very hard working. At least once a month they celebrated great festivities. They celebrated with wine made of bamboo, dances, games, etc. At many of these celebrations were the sacrificial execution of people convicted of felonies.
Hunting was very important to the people in Beni. The most exceptional boys would become hunters. They had to learn to track game on every type of terrain, how to move swiftly and silently through the thorny underbrush, and how to survive in the forest for days without food. If the boy proved to be an outstanding student, he might be fortunate enough to become not only a hunter but an elephant hunter. This was very dangerous work.
