Towns and Cities Ironworking and trade helped some villages grow into sizable towns and cities. Iron tools allowed farmers to grow food more efficiently. As a result, more people could engage in other crafts. Villages traded their surplus goods for items they could not make themselves.
What changes did the development of iron tools in West Africa bring?
what changes did the ability to make tools out of iron bring? farmers could clear land and grow crops more efficiently , then the greater abundance of food supported larger villages, where more people were free to work at other trades. … they could then trade their surpluses for goods they could not produce themselves.
How did iron tools affect West African villages?
How did the ability to make iron tools affect the food production and the types of jobs that the villagers performed in West Africa? With the knew iron tools, farmers could clear land and grow crops more efficiently then when they were using stone tools.
How did the development of iron technology affect life in West Africa?
West Africans discovered they could heat certain kinds of rock to get a hard metal, iron, which they could heat to shape into useful tools and weapons. … useful iron farming tools, like the hoe, for digging. What were the most valuable goods traded across the Sahara? The most valuable goods traded were gold and salt.
How did villages towns and cities develop in West Africa?
Why did villages grow into cities in West Africa? Two important reasons were the growth of ironworking and the expansion of trade. Ironworking and Trade The Hittites of present-day Turkey mastered ironworking as long ago as 1500 B.C.E. Gradually, knowledge of ironworking spread.
Who helped spread farming and ironworking techniques in Africa?
Nonetheless, Bantu migrants aided this process of spreading iron working knowledge, farming techniques and their language to central, southern and eastern Africa, where iron ore, timber or charcoal, and water sources were available.
What was iron used for in Africa?
Iron played a central role in many societies of early Africa. It held both spiritual and material power. Physically, Africans used iron to create tools for agriculture, utensils for everyday life, and weapons for protection and conquest (Shillington, 2012, p. 45).
Why did West African families join together?
What are some reasons family-based communities joined together? Extended families formed villages to control flooding rivers, to mine for iron and gold, or for protections from raiders.
Who made the decisions in a family-based community?
Very likely, one of the male elders made decisions for the family community. Over time, family-based communities joined together to form villages. A village might contain one- to two-hundred people. The village leader was probably chosen for his wisdom and strength.
Where was iron working invented?
Iron working was introduced to Europe in the late 11th century BC, probably from the Caucasus, and slowly spread northwards and westwards over the succeeding 500 years. The Iron Age did not start when iron first appeared in Europe but it began to replace bronze in the preparation of tools and weapons.
Why did West Africans want to please nature spirits?
What is the most likely reason that early West Africans wanted to please nature spirits? to protect their ancestors from evil. to help them have success in battle. to increase their chances of becoming wealthy. to ensure their crops would get enough water.
How did iron working spread in Africa?
Although some nineteenth-century European scholars favored an indigenous invention of iron working in sub-Saharan Africa, archaeologists writing between 1945 and 1965 mostly favored diffusion of iron smelting technology from Carthage across the Sahara to West Africa and/or from Meroe on the upper Nile to central Africa …
What 3 major factors contributed to the decline of Ghana?
The Ghana Empire crumbled from the 12th century CE following drought, civil wars, the opening up of trade routes elsewhere, and the rise of the Sosso Kingdom (c. 1180-1235 CE) and then the Mali Empire (1240-1645 CE).
What are the problems in West Africa?
However, other forms of political violence and new threats have emerged such as election related violence, longstanding ethno-national conflict, drug trafficking, maritime piracy, and extremism. Other stresses include youth inclusion, migration, the rapid development of extractive industries, and land management.
Why did people in West Africa choose to live in villages?
Extended families formed villages to help control flooding rivers, to farm the land, to mine for iron or gold, or for protection.
How did kingdoms develop in West Africa?
How did the Kingdoms of West Africa develop and prosper? The were created by men who became wealthy because of the gold-salt trade. They were extremely cunning, extremely lucky, or both. Their wealth gave them power turning them and their descendants into powerful lords of land and people.