Namibia

Herero

Kalahari Desert

Kalahari Bushmen

Homo Sapiens

Bantu Expansion

Indonesian colonization of Madagascar

African Pygmies

Khoisans

Zulu

Somali

Ibo

Berbers

Sahara Desert

Austronesian

Ma'anyan

Semitic Languages

Nilo-Saharan Languages

Niger-Congo Languages

Frisian

Fertile Crescent

Sahel zone

Periplus of the Erythrean Sea

Vasco de Gama

Rift Valley

Kilwa

Nubian Kingdom

Meroe

2. In what geographic way is Africa unique from the other continents?

3. Even before the coming of European colonialism, Africa harbored 5 of the world's six major divisions of humanity. What are the five?

4. What is the only major division of humanity not included among the African peoples?

5. What is the main area of Africa that has traditionally been occupied by Blacks and what was their main source of food?

6. When Diamond refers to `whites' who occupy Africa, to whom is he referring? What part of Africa did the whites occupy (pre-Colonial period) and what was their main source of food?

7. How do Pygmies differ from traditional African Blacks both physically and culturally? What seems to be the relationship between the Pygmies and the Bantu-speaking peoples?

8. Who are the Khoi (or San)? In what ways do they differ from the Pygmies?

9. The people of Madagascar seem to be a mix of two peoples? Which two?

10. On what grounds to historians and anthropologists argue that the people of Madagascar seem to have strong historical and cultural ties to Indonesia?

11. What are the five main African language groups named by Greenberg?

12. According to Greenberg, what are the historic roots of the Semitic language family? How is his theory different from `the common' way of explaining Semitic origins?

13. Which of the five main African cultural groups (based on physical characteristics) lacks a distinct linguistic tradition. What is the theory to what happened to their indigenous language?

14. What is unusual about the pattern of agriculture of North Africa? What are the main crops that grow in this part of Africa?

15. How is the rain pattern different south of the Sahara from north of it? What difference does that make to sub Saharan agriculture? What are the main crops that grow in this part of Africa?

16. What are the unique crops grown in the Ethiopian highlands? What famous product comes from this region that has spread around the world?

17. What are the crops associated with the wet climate of West Africa?

18. What is so unusual about the crops produced in Madagascar?

19. What was the climate like in the Sahara between 9000 BC and 4000 BC?

20. Why is it - once one know the history of E. Africa and the Indian Ocean- that it is not so surprising to learn that Madagascar was settled by people from Borneo?

21. What is it that archeology can tell us about the history of Khoisan culture?

22. What are the cultural highlights of the Bantu expansion (as explained by Diamond).

23. What was the fate of Khoisan cattle herders living in E. Africa?

24. How does Diamond explain the fact that African animals like elephants, rhinos and hippos were never domesticated?

25. Diamond gives a lot of importance in explaining the varying cultural histories of Africa and Europe to what he calls `the different orientation of the main axes of the continent'. What does he mean by this term? How does he explain its significance to the cultural history of both Europe and Africa?