This unit has been designed to offer students a rich and diverse experience in learning about early African civilizations, an area in history just beginning to be studied and explored truthfully. Africa’s early civilizations are many, covering a very large geographical region and long time span. For practical reasons, we have chosen to focus on five early African civilizations, which is appropriate for half a year’s work. Kush, Ghana, Timbuktu, Great Zimbabwe, and the Swahili Coast are the unit’s focus because of their cultural richness and diversity, their varied geographical settings, and their historical time span. It is also important to note that resources for these civilizations are both more appropriate and accessible for the junior level.

Project leader: Allan Hux.

Unit: Early African Civilizations -- Unit at a Glance -- Activities -- Activity 1: What Do We Know About Africa? -- Activity 2: Mapping Early Civilizations of the World -- Activity 3: The Physical Land of Africa -- Activity 4: Poetry About Africa -- Activity 5: Locating the Early Civilizations of Africa -- Activity 6: The Kingdom of Kush -- Activity 7: Social Roles in the Early Empire of Ghana -- Activity 8: Daily Life in Timbuktu -- Activity 9: Graphing Weather in Timbuktu -- Activity 10: Talking Drums of West Africa -- Activity 11: Griots and Folk Tales -- Activity 12: A Historical Travel Brochure of Great Zimbabwe -- Activity 13: Trade and Technology on the Swahili Coast -- Appendix A: Student Activity Sheets and Worksheets -- Activity 1.0: Images of Africa -- Activity 1.1: Africa: The Continent -- Activity 1.2: Africa: Animal Life -- Activity 1.3: Africa: Natural Resources -- Activity 1.4: Current Map of Africa -- Activity 1.5: Africa: Some Historical Information -- Activity 1.6: Fact Sheet About Africa -- Activity 2.0: Map of the World -- Activity 2.1: Locating Early Civilizations of the World -- Activity 3.0: Africa: The Physical Regions -- Activity 3.1: Physical Regions of Africa -- Activity 3.2: Characteristics of African Regions -- Activity 4.0: Excerpt fromà African Medley (Royal Kingdoms) -- Activity 4.1: Alphabet Poem About Canada -- Activity 4.2: Alphabet Poem About Africa -- Activity 5.0: Early Civilizations of Africa 100 -- Activity 5.1: Europe in Africa 101 -- Activity 6.0: Gathering Grid for Researching the Kingdom of Kush -- Activity 6.1: The Kingdom of Kush -- Activity 6.2: Guidelines on Taking Notes -- Activity 6.3: Writing a Report Checklist -- Activity 7.0: Social Roles in Early Ghana -- Activity 7.1: Descriptions of Social Roles in Early Ghana -- Activity 7.2: Notes on the Roles of People in Early Ghana -- Activity 8.0: Ahmed’s Letter, Year 1324 CE -- Activity 8.1: Faisal’s Journal Entry, Year 1324 CE -- Activity 9.0: Climate Data for Timbuktu, Mali, 2000 -- Activity 9.1: Student Graphing Instructions for ClarisWorks: Timbuktu Data -- Activity 10.0: The Talking Drums of West Africa -- Activity 10.1: Question Sheet on Drumming in West Africa -- Activity 11.0: A Selection of African Folk Tales -- Activity 11.1: Worksheet for Folk Tale Illustrations -- Activity 11.2: Group Co-operative Learning Evaluation -- Activity 12.0: Topics for the Historical Travel Brochure of Great Zimbabwe -- Activity 12.1: Contents of a Travel Brochure -- Activity 12.2: Checklist for Travel Brochure -- Activity 13.0: Questions on Trade and Technology on the Swahili Coast -- Activity 13.1: Charts of Modes of Transportation for Trade in Early African Civilizations -- Appendix B: Teacher Notes: Teacher Note #1: Performance Assessment Rubric for the Report on the Kingdom of Kush -- Teacher Note #2: The Venn Diagram -- Teacher Note #3: Finding Averages -- Teacher Note #4: Making a Drum -- Teacher Note #5: Performance Assessment Rubric for a Research Project: The Travel Brochure -- Teacher Note #6: The Web -- Teacher Note #7: The Grid -- Appendix C: Annotated Bibliography.