Did Africa have the first Iron Age?

Key Takeaways: African Iron Age The earliest iron artifacts in the world were beads made by the Egyptians about 5,000 years ago. The earliest smelting in sub-Saharan Africa dates to the 8th century BCE in Ethiopia.

Why did hard iron technology develop in Africa?

Iron has a number of advantages over copper, brass, wood, and stone. The use of iron ushered in an Iron Age in Africa, with the expansion of agriculture, industry, trade, and political power. In some African cultures, smelters and ironworkers are of low status because of the manual labor inherent in their work.

What is unique about the culture of sub-Saharan Africa?

Sub-Saharan Africa is a large region, not only in size and population but also in its cultural heterogeneity. Many different native groups live there, and each nation has a different history, beliefs, and traditions. This is a land of contrast and enormous cultural richness.

Did Africa skip the Bronze Age?

Unlike Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa lacks a Bronze Age, a period in which softer metals, such as copper, were made into artifacts. In Sub-Saharan Africa there is a Stone Age and an Iron Age. By 500 BCE, smelting and forging iron for tools were well-developed.

Did Sub Saharan Africa have metal?

Africa south of the Sahara, it now seems, was home to a separate and independent invention of iron metallurgy … To sum up the available evidence, iron technology across much of sub-Saharan Africa has an African origin dating to before 1000 BCE.

When did sub Saharan Africa enter the Bronze Age?

The Bronze Age in Nubia, started as early as 2300 BC. Copper smelting was introduced by Egyptians to the Nubian city of Meroë, in modern-day Sudan, around 2600 BC. A furnace for bronze casting has been found in Kerma that is dated to 2300–1900 BC.

How did the development of iron change lives in West Africa?

The fabrication of iron tools and weapons allowed for the kind of extensive systematized agriculture, efficient hunting, and successful warfare necessary to sustain large urban centers. Iron had significant ritual status in all these Nigerian states, in which the forge functioned as both a ritual shrine and sanctuary.

What do you already know about Sub-Saharan African history?

For centuries, sub-Saharan Africa was home to prosperous empires, including the Aksumite Kingdom in modern-day Ethiopia and Sudan and the Ghana and Mali empires in West Africa. Europeans began arriving at the end of the fifteenth century, driven by the desire for resources, including labor.

Why did diverse cultures develop in Africa?

Why did diverse cultures develop in Africa? Because of trade, different beliefs and other advances in every civilization.