Name_________________________________ Class_____________________ Date _____________

Early African Civilizations

Lesson 4

Main Ideas
1. Storytellers helped maintain the oral history of the cultures of West Africa.
2. Visitors to West Africa from other lands wrote histories and descriptions of
what they saw there.
3. Traditionally, West Africans have valued the arts.

Key Terms and People

oral history  a spoken record of past events
griots  West African storytellers
proverbs  short sayings of wisdom or truth
kente  a hand-woven, brightly colored fabric

Lesson Summary
Storytellers Maintain Oral HISTORY
Although cities like Timbuktu and Djenné were Underline the sentence that
known for their universities and libraries, writing tells about a similarity
among major early West
was not common in West Africa. None of the
African civilizations.
major early West African civilizations developed
a written language. Arabic was the only written
language used. However, West Africans passed
along information about their civilization
through oral history, a spoken record of past
events.
West Africa’s history was entrusted to Why might the history of
storytellers called griots. Griots’ stories were the griots not be perfectly
accurate?
entertaining and informative. Some acted out
past events like scenes in a play. Griots also told __________________________

proverbs, or short sayings of wisdom or truth. __________________________

Griots had to memorize hundreds of names and __________________________
events. However, some griots confused names and
events in their heads, so some stories became
distorted. Still, the griots’ stories tell a lot about
life in West African empires.
Some griot poems are epics, long poems about
kingdoms and heroes. Many of these poems were
collected in the Dausi and the Sundiata. The
Dausi tells the history of Ghana, but it also

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Name _________________________________ Class _____________________ Date _____________

Lesson 4, continued

includes myths and legends. The Sundiata tells

the story of Mali’s first ruler. A conqueror killed
his family, but the boy was spared because he was
sick. He grew up to be a great warrior who
overthrew the conqueror.

VISITORS WRITE HISTORIES

Although the West Africans left no written What role did some visitors
histories, visitors from other parts of the world play in educating the world
about early West Africa?
wrote about the region. Much of what we know
about early West Africa comes from the writings __________________________

of travelers and scholars from Muslim lands such __________________________

as Spain and Arabia. Arab scholar al-Masudi __________________________
described West Africa’s geography, customs, __________________________
history, and scientific achievements. Ibn Battutah __________________________
was the most famous visitor to write about West
__________________________
Africa. He described the political and cultural
__________________________
lives of West Africans.

West Africans Value Arts

West Africans valued the arts, including
sculpture, mask making, cloth making, music,
and dance. West African artists made statues and
carvings from wood, brass, clay, ivory, stone, and
Underline the names of
other materials. Some West African sculpture European artists inspired
inspired European artists such as Henri Matisse by West African sculptors.
and Pablo Picasso.
West Africans carved elaborate masks of List three ways in which
wood. They show the faces of animals and were music and dance had a
place in West African
worn during rituals. Also, African societies were
culture.
famous for the cloth they wore. The most famous
__________________________
is kente, a hand-woven, brightly colored fabric.
__________________________
Kings and queens wore kente garments for
special occasions. __________________________

In many West African societies, music and

dance were important too. Singing and dancing
entertained, but they also helped people honor
their history and were central to many
celebrations.

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Lesson 4, continued

CHALLENGE ACTIVITY
Critical Thinking: Compare and Contrast People
know about West Africa from oral histories or
visitors’ written accounts. Write a one-page paper
that compares and contrasts the accuracy of
these resources.

DIRECTIONS  Read each sentence and fill in the blank with the
word in the word pair that best completes the sentence.
1. West African storytellers are known as _________________________.
(griots/proverbs)
2. A hand-woven, brightly colored fabric is _________________________.
(griot/kente)
3. A spoken record of past events is a(n) _________________________.
(kente/oral history)
4. A short saying of wisdom or truth is a(n) _________________________.
(proverb/oral history)

DIRECTIONS  Look at each set of four vocabulary terms. On the

line provided, write the letter of the term that does not relate to the
others.
����� 5. a. spoken record
b. oral history
c. griots
d. kente
����� 6. a. kente
b. proverbs
c. hand-woven
d. bright colors

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181 Guided Reading Workbook