Eyewitness AFRICA Eyewitness Africa Ancestor figure, Yoruba, Nigeria Masquerade costume, Chokwe, Angola Throwing knives, Congo (left) and Gabon (right) Carved elephant tusk, Zulu, South Africa War shield, Maasai, Kenya Bronze bells, Benin city, Nigeria War spear, Lango, Uganda Eyewitness Africa Carved gourds, South Africa Written by YVONNE AYO Photographed by RAY MOLLER & GEOFF DANN Harvest mask, Ogoni, Nigeria Thrusting Carved spear, Zulu, housepost, South Africa Yoruba, Nigeria DK Publishing, Inc. Dance staff, Nigeria London, new York, MeLbourne, Munich, and deLhi Flywhisk, Project editor Miranda Smith Nigeria Art editor Vicky Wharton Managing editor Gillian Denton Managing art editor Julia Harris Researcher Céline Carez Production Catherine Semark Gold weights, Asante, Ghana Picture research Deborah Pownell Editorial consultants Dr John Mack and John Picton Additional special photography David Garner This Eyewitness ® Book has been conceived by Dorling Kindersley Limited and Editions Gallimard © 1995 Dorling Kindersley Limited This edition © 2000 Dorling Kindersley Limited First American edition, 1995 Published in the United States by Ceremonial Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc. dagger, Asante, 375 Hudson Street, Ghana New York, NY 10014 10 9 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. Dorling Kindersley books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions or premiums. Special editions, including personalized covers, excerpts of existing guides, and corporate imprints can be created in large quantities for specific needs. For more information, contact Special Markets Dept., Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc. Secret society Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data figures, Yassi, Ayo, Yvonne. Sierra Leone Africa / written by Yvonne Ayo; photography by Geoff Dann, David Garner, and Ray Moller. p. cm. — (Eyewitness Books) 1. Africa — History — Juvenile Literature. 2. Africa — Social life and customs — Juvenile literature. [1. Africa — History. 2. Africa — Social life and customs.] I. Title. DT22.A96 2000 95-2638 960—dc20 ISBN 978-0-7894-6610-5 (ALB) ISBN 978-0-7894-6030-1 (PLC) Color reproduction by Colourscan, Singapore Printed in China by Toppan Printing Co. (Shenzhen) Ltd. Ceremonial sword, Asante, Discover more at Ghana Beaded belt, Zulu, South Africa Contents 6 A land of contrasts 8 A place to live 10 Great civilizations 12 Building a house 14 Gold trophy head, Asante, Ghana Home life 16 Life in the compound 18 Finding food 20 44 Pattern and color Into battle 22 46 Sports and entertainment Weapons and armor 24 48 Female dress Barter and exchange 26 50 Male attire A slave’s journey 28 52 Self-adornment Crafts and skills 30 54 Rulers and leaders The lost-wax process 32 56 Religion and beliefs Gold of the Asante 36 58 Myth and magic Masks and masquerade 38 60 Medicine and healing Musical instruments 40 62 A way of death Masquerade performed 42 64 Nations at war Index A land of contrasts A frica is a vast continent, 5,000 miles (8,000 km) north to south, and over 4,600 miles (7,600 km) across at its widest point. It is a land of deserts, savanna, high mountain ranges, and dense, equatorial forests. Its peoples have been LIFE ON THE EDGE OF A DESERT in contact with traders and slavers from Europe, India, and There are two great deserts on the African continent, the the Far East, as well as with the world religions Sahara in the north (above) and the Kalahari in the south. In prehistoric times much of these desert areas of Islam and Christianity. More than 1,000 was fertile, but gradually they have become dry, sandy regions. The lack of regular languages are spoken, and there are rainfall makes the life of shepherds many different social systems. Yet, for Tunisia and herdspeople of the desert very precarious. thousands of years, the way of life of Morocco many Africans has changed very little. Traditionally, Libya African peoples have made Algeria Egypt Western their living by herding, Sahara hunting, or farming. African Eritrea religions, art, and culture reflect these lifestyles, and Mauritania Mali Niger Djibouti outside influences are Chad adapted and incorporated. Senegal Sudan Gambia Burkina Faso Ethiopia Guinea Nigeria Guinea Bissau Ghana Ivory Central African Sierra Leone Coast Republic Cameroon Somalia Togo Liberia Uganda Congo Benin Gabon Kenya Equatorial Guinea Zaire Rwanda Cabinda Tanzania Burundi Map drawn by Malawi Ortelius in 1570, HOW THE MAP LOOKS TODAY from information Over the centuries, the political and brought back by geographical boundaries have early explorers continually been altered. Wars of Angola Mozambique conquest and colonization have Zambia remade the map of Africa over and EARLY JOURNEYS over again. Even today, civil wars in Europeans first heard of some African countries may change it Zimbabwe Madagascar Africa’s natural resources once again. Names of countries have from Arab geographers. In the 14th century, the changed as well. In the 1970s, the new Namibia arrival of the king of Mali in Cairo carrying gold president of the former French colony Botswana made the Europeans even more curious. Looking of Dahomey renamed it the People’s for a sea route to India, Portuguese explorers first Republic of Benin. But the city of Benin sailed around the southern tip of the continent in which flourished in the 1600s and is 1497 and arrived on the east African coast. famous for its bronzes (pp. 54–55), is Swaziland now part of modern Nigeria South Africa Lesotho THE PROS AND CONS OF TOURISM The savannas of east Africa are still home to many of the world’s most spectacular species of animals. This is largely due to the development of game parks, established nearly 100 years ago to protect the animals from big game hunting. Unfortunately, the Maasai, whose cattle have wandered across the Maasai Mara plains of Kenya (left) for centuries, can no longer follow this lifestyle or hunt wild game.  African carvings Figures are This figure is larger, of German carved in wood possibly to indicate colonial officials and painted importance of the early 20th century, Tanzania COLONIZATION When Europeans first arrived on the west coast of Africa in the late 1500s, they were interested in trading for gold and slaves. By the end of the 1800s, European nations were not only exploiting the peoples of Africa but also competing with each other for gold, diamonds, copper, and land. They drew boundaries on maps with no regard for the local peoples, such as the Tuareg of the Sahara, the San of the Kalahari Desert, and the cattle herders of eastern Africa. The boundaries completely changed the traditional ways of life of these people, who depend on their ability to travel with herds in search of water. LIFE IN THE CITIES As empires grew, so did major cities as centers for trade. In the 1500s, Timbuktu, in the savanna region of northern Africa, was a center of learning, and Gao, capital of the Songhay empire, was home to 75,000 people. Some cities were modernized during colonial rule. For example, Cairo, founded in a.d. 641, TROPICAL RAIN FORESTS expanded rapidly in the 1830s under French There were once tropical rain rule. As traditional ways of life have changed, forests across much of central many people have migrated to Africa. Because of poor farming cities, such as Harare in Mining for gold, methods and the cutting down Zimbabwe (left), to find Burkina Faso of trees for export, the hot, work, but they often humid rain forests are now retain strong links found only on the west coast and with “thhoemir es.” as far inland as eastern Zaire. rural MINERAL RESOURCES Africa is rich in mineral resources. Some of them – for example, the copper belt of Zaire, the diamond mines of Tanzania, and the gold deposits of South Africa – are exploited on a large scale. Most mineral extraction requires a large labor force and sophisticated machinery and technology. THE UPLANDS OF AFRICA Some of the mountains of Africa are so high that the tallest peaks, such as Mount Kilimanjaro on the border of Kenya and Tanzania, are always covered in snow. A layer of cloud causes mists, and water drips onto the dense forests below. Crops are often grown on the fertile high ground—for example, coffee on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and tea in Uganda, Malawi, and Kenya.  A place to live These pieces of wood help support the structure and serve W as scaffolding    during repairs around Africa, you see an enormous variety of buildings made from a wide range of materials. The type of dwellings depend not only on what is available locally but also on the lifestyle of the occupants. For example, the San of the Kalahari desert live by traveling through their territory, hunting game and collecting fruits. They carry few possessions and are without means of transportation, so they set up temporary shelters of sticks or branches covered with grass or leaves. Most other groups, such as the millet farmers of Chad in West Africa or the Nupe of Nigeria, need to have permanent dwellings close to their fields. They build their houses, often circular in shape, with a framework of wood, mud walls, and a grass thatched roof. These houses are erected near each other in a compound that has a surrounding A PLACE OF WORSHIP wall for defense (see pages 16–17). In the savanna regions of Africa, where the Islamic religion holds sway, enormous mosques are built. They are made from mud bricks that have been left in the sun to dry before being built into walls with mud plaster. Mud is an excellent material in hot, dry climates, and can withstand heavy rainfall if dried out by ON THE MOVE the sun soon afterward. In drier parts of Africa, such as Somalia, where there are no permanent rivers and little rainfall, the only reliable means of staying alive is to keep herds of animals. Because people have to be constantly on the move in search of water and grazing land, they live a nomadic life and need only temporary shelter. Each married woman has her own house, a collapsible structure of mats over a framework of branches, which she takes apart and packs onto a camel when it is time to move on. Walls are built from sun-baked mud A Somali nomadic family outside their collapsible house HOUSE DECORATION In parts of southern Africa, women decorate the outside walls of their houses with vivid and bold designs. At first sight, the Ndebele paintings appear to be a series of geometric shapes, but they are, in fact, a representation of architecture. The vertical and horizontal lines represent house supports and beams. The women make the designs with their fingers, hands, or brushes and fabric cloths. 8 LIVING ON WATER Building houses on stilts to raise Wall surrounding the floor above ground level has a district many advantages. Houses can be built on mountainous slopes or over water. Air circulates easily and the stilts are a protection from dangerous mammals and snakes. The space beneath houses built on land is often used for storage or to keep domestic cattle. Whole fishing villages, such as this one (right) in Benin, are built on water, and the only access is by dugout canoe. LIFE ON THE CLIFFS ANCIENT AND MODERN The Dogon peoples of Mali build their villages in high sandstone cliffs The structure of many towns in for defense. The villages are divided into districts, each surrounded by a Morocco reflects the Muslim stone wall. The only way into a village is through a narrow doorway, and or European communities that the only building outside the wall is the men’s house. live there. The traditional Muslim town, or medina (left), has an entrance gate. Inside, there are covered markets, ancient mosques, and houses built around hidden Weathering means courtyards. Later, when the that mud walls have Europeans arrived, they built to be frequently new towns with wide, replastered tree-lined streets.