Year 8 Term 1 Review

1 Illustrate the Bantu migration on the map  (2)

Bantu peoples originated in West Africa, in the land that now makes up the Nigeria-Cameroon
border. The migration began around 4000 years ago and lasted at least 2500 years. Bantu
peoples migrated east and south from Western Africa in search of fertile lands and new lands
to settle; they inhabit much of Sub-Saharan Africa and include the Swahili-speaking population
of East Africa.

3 List 6 Swahili city-states. (3)

4 Which other regions/nations did the city-states trade with? (3)

Arabia, Persia, India, China, Indonesia

5 Explain why the Swahili city-states were so successful. (6)

They were located strategically along the resource-rich East African coastline. These areas were rich with raw materials
and goods that foreign civilisations greatly desired such as Ivory, Iron, Spices, Coconut Oil and (although they are neither
raw materials nor goods) enslaved people. Additionally, Sofala was connected to Great Zimbabwe which produced much
Gold so the trade of gold through the East African Swahili city-states was also profitable. The region is also
geographically advantageous; Swahili traders could reach many important wealthy regions in Asia such as Arabia, Persia
and India by boat without having to spend months at sea – the monsoon rains in India were cleverly used by traders.
East African traders would use the tide and winds to transport them to and from India about 6 months apart, based on
the natural occurrence of monsoon rains and were able to trade upon arrival in Asia and replenish their stocks upon
their return to East Africa.

6 When was the height of the Swahili trading empire’s success? (2)

From the 8th century CE to the 15th century CE.

7 Which other empires influenced East Africa upon the decline of the Swahili city-states wealth/influence? (3)

Portugal, Shirazi (Persian) Arabs and Omani Arabs

8 Why did the Swahili city-states attract European interest? (4)

Because of their strategic location on the route to India from Europe. The city-states were in the perfect location to stop
for rest and refuelling. Their prosperity and wealth attracted European interest because European nations also wanted
to benefit from the ongoing trade. Furthermore, many European nations began becoming interested in buying and
selling enslaved people in order to benefit from their unpaid labour and the thriving trade in people in East Africa and
Asia attracted their interest.

9 Why did many people in the Swahili city-states adopt the religion of Islam? (5)

They adopted Islam for a number of reasons. One major reason was to make trade with other Islamic traders and
regions easier; speaking the same language, sharing religion and culture increased respect for the east African traders
and made trade more profitable. Another reason was that trading with Islamic nations simply brought the influence of
Islam to Swahili peoples who were attracted to the faith and adopted it willingly. Another major reason for the adoption
of Islam in East Africa is that the Quran forbids a Muslim to sell another Muslim into slavery. The thriving Arab Slave
Trade meant that people chose to adopt Islam in order to avoid being enslaved.

10 Explain what caused the decline of the power and wealth of the Swahili trading city-states. (5)

Once the Portuguese Vasco da Gama had established a route from Europe to India past the East African city-states and
Madagascar, the Portuguese began to use their superior navy (boats) to dominate the trade across the Indian Ocean.
The Portuguese began to tax traders operating between East Africa, India, Indonesia and Arabia to the extent that trade
declined and so did the wealth of the Swahili city-states. Additionally, the battles over influence and power in the Swahili
city-states such as Kilwa and Mombasa between the Shirazi Arabs and the Omani Arabs as well as the Portuguese (and
later the Germans and the English) meant that the power of the native/indigenous traders was diminished.

11 Describe the system of the Arab slave trade. (4)

The Arab slavers would make connections and deals with chiefs who were unpopular or were already involved with the
trade of enslaved people within the interior of Africa. These chiefs would organise the capture of people within the
interior, including the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda and Burundi and many more areas, to be
transported to the coastal city-states. The enslaved people would be held as cargo in places like the Shimoni Caves and
then sold to Arab slavers, typically from Zanzibar or the Island of Mozambique. This trade saw more than 14 million
people enslaved and transported to Asia. Men who were enslaved by the Arabs were typically castrated. Women were
often taken as concubines and forced into sexual slavery. Fewer men were taken than women. Enslaved people typically
worked in domestic/household jobs but also often were required to work on farms and plantations.

12 Why was there an increase in demand for enslaved people outside Africa in the 15 th – 18th century? (4)

During this period, colonialism was rising. As more European nations colonised fertile and resource rich areas in South
America, the Caribbean and South East Asia, they searched for labourers to work the plantations and mines in these
areas. Because their only concern was profit and they believed non-European people to be inferior to them, they chose
to exploit the labour of enslaved Africans in order to run their mines and plantations at low costs to gain high profits.
The Portuguese wanted labourers to work in their major colony in Brazil while the British and Spanish were capturing
and transporting enslaved people to America to work on cotton, sugar and tobacco plantations. The Arabs in Zanzibar,
under Sultan Seyyid Said, also wanted labourers for their huge new clove plantations.

13 Why was there a “Scramble for Africa” in the 19th century? (5)

When slavery became illegal (1865), many Western nations saw a decline in their profits, so they turned to other
avenues to increase their incomes. One way to do this was to conquer foreign territories and exploit the land and people
for raw materials and labour. It was also the rise of Imperialism that made nations feel that those with the biggest
Empires were the best nations with the most power and pride. Additionally, the demand for workers’ rights and
higher/fair wages in their own homes meant that Europeans could no longer exploit their own working class to turn a
high profit, so they looked for cheap labour outside of Europe. Further, there was a desire to spread Christianity to non-
Christian regions in order to ‘save’ or to ‘civilise’ African natives who did not believe in Christianity. The French called
this the ‘mission civilatrice’ or the ‘civilising mission’ of Africa, the ‘dark continent’.

14 Bonus: What is a city-state? (2)

A city-state is an independent and sovereign city with its own political, economic and cultural systems. It is self-
governing, meaning it has its own leaders who make decisions over how it runs. It is not part of a larger country/nation.

15 Extra credit: How did the Arab Slave Trade impact Tanzania? (6)

Much of the damage from the Arab Slave Trade has been psychological and includes the choice of many Tanzanian
Muslims to identify as Omani or Arab and casting off their identity as African or Swahili. It caused a huge loss of
population in the area, as millions of people were forced out of their homeland and enslaved, which had the future
impact of diminishing the growth of the population in the area which also results in slower development and
advancement.