3 - Africa: Myths and Economics

This unit focuses on the nomadic people of Africa and centres of trade.

Students will investigate the rise and fall of the West African kingdoms and will identify the causes of their wealth, success and ultimate decline.

Key Concept

Global Interactions - the impact of migration on the interaction between people and their environments.

Related Concepts

Trade and diversity - how are goods traded in hostile areas? How diverse is Africa?

Global Context

Identities and Relationships - to explore the relationship between cultures and their communities.

Statement of Inquiry

Global interactions through trade effect and are affected by the diversity of culture and place.

Inquiry Questions

Factual Questions: Remembering facts and topics

  • How physically and culturally diverse is the continent of Africa?
  • What are the biomes that exist in the African continent? How are these biomes distributed across this vast land mass?
  • What is "Africa" like?
  • What natural resources in the African continent did medieval cultures exploit and how?
  • What kind of exchanges of resources took place (trade)?
  • Which were some of the important kingdoms of Africa during the Middle Ages?
  • How did religion impact the cultures of these kingdoms?
  • Where were they located?
  • How did they achieve their wealth?
  • When and how did they emerge and develop?
  • When and how did they decline?

Conceptual Questions: Analysing big ideas

  • How is "Africa" perceived? How have trade and associated global interactions affected Africa?
  • How has the diversity of landscape and culture affected the development of trade and the level of global interactions?
  • How in turn has diversity been affected by global interactions through trade?

Debatable Questions: Evaluating perspectives and developing theories.

  • To what extent has trade and associated global interactions kept "Africa" "underdeveloped"?

Unit Outlines and ATL sheets

Google Document
Google Document