Religious and Ethnic Groups in Africa.

Religious and Ethnic Groups in Africa

a group of people with the same set of religious beliefs and practices, regardless of ancestral, cultural, lingual, and social characteristics

Religious Group

a group of people with shared ancestral, cultural, lingual, and social characteristics

Ethnic Group

The Difference between Ethnic and Religious Groups

​The people of Africa are incredibly diverse. In fact, there are more than 3,000 ethnic groups in Africa, each with distinct characteristics. Africa is also home to a wide variety of religious groups

Multiple Choice

What is the difference between an ethnic group and a religious group?

• An ethnic group is defined by political boundaries, while a religious group is defined by geographical location.
• An ethnic group is a social class, while a religious group is a type of government organization.
• An ethnic group is solely based on language, while a religious group is based on cultural practices.
• An ethnic group is based on culture and ancestry, while a religious group is based on shared beliefs and practices.

Major Religious Groups in Africa

Many people in Africa practice traditional African religions that developed many centuries ago and have been passed down within African cultures for generations. Traditional religions are a deeply rooted part of African culture. These beliefs influence what African people eat, the clothes they wear, and how they marry, divide work, educate their children, treat illness, and bury the dead.

• Many African religions view ancestors as important spiritual figures. Prayers, rituals, and other customs are performed to give honor and thanks to family who are deceased.

• Many African religions respect and honor nature. Their customs and rituals often involve natural elements, stories of nature spirits, and the worship of animals or holy objects.

• Oral traditions are often important to traditional African religions. By telling stories, elders pass on their beliefs and religious knowledge to younger members of the community.

Each traditional African religion is unique in its own way, but many of these traditional religions share certain similarities:

Fill in the Blank

Many African religions view _________ as important spiritual figures.

African tradtional religions influenced the beliefs, customs, traditions, and governments of their societies.

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Culture

Dominant Religions in Africa

Islam and Christianity

Today, the two largest religious groups in Africa are Christian and Muslim people. Christian people follow Christianity, and Muslim people follow Islam. Africa is not only geographically divided by the Sahara desert but also by these two major religions. Saharan Africa is primarily Muslim while sub-Saharan Africa is predominantly Christian.

Multiple Choice

What are the two largest religious groups in Africa?

• Judaism and Sikhism
• Christianity and Islam
• Hinduism and Buddhism
• Atheism and Agnosticism

Dropdown

Northern Africa mostly practices ​

Select answer

while Sub-Saharan Africa mostly practice ​

Select answer

.

Dominant Religions in Africa

Christianity first spread to northeastern Africa in the first and second centuries CE. Christianity spread further through sub-Saharan Africa due to the arrival of European explorers and colonialism.

Around 700 CE, Arab traders from the Middle East brought Islam to North Africa. Many indigenous and Christian African people converted to Islam, and Islam spread slowly over time.

Time, Change, and Continuity

Interactions with people outside of Africa, such as European explorers and Arab traders, resulted in religious changes in Africa. However, even with these changes, African culture and traditions remain an important part of African life.

Multiple Choice

How were Islam and Christianity introduced to Africa?

• Islam and Christianity were introduced through military conquests.
• Islam and Christianity were introduced to Africa through trade with Europe and the Middle East, colonization, and missionary activities.

• They were spread exclusively by local leaders and rulers.
• Both religions emerged independently in Africa without outside influence.

​There are several thousand ethnic groups in Africa. While each group has its own distinct history, art, and religious customs, the groups have influenced and enriched each other over time. Some examples are the Arab, Ashanti, Bantu, and Swahili ethnic groups.

Major Ethnic Groups in Africa

Arab People of North Africa

Arab people are the most common ethnic group in northern Africa. The Arab ethnic group arrived in Africa via Southwest Asia, also known as the Middle East. North African Arab people are descendants of people who migrated from Saudi Arabia many centuries ago.

Arab traders, travelers, and clerics came to Africa between the eighth and ninth centuries. Through trade, they connected the people of North Africa with the Arabic culture of Southwest Asia. As a result of Arabic influence, culture and learning in Africa flourished. From architecture to literature to mathematics, Arab people brought a wide range of skills into Africa.

Multiple Choice

What is the most common ethnic group in northern Africa?

• Arab

• Sub-Saharan African
• European
• Asian

Arab People of North Africa

Arab people are people whose native language is Arabic. Not all Arabic people are Muslim, and not all Muslim people are Arab. However, most Arab people in North Africa practice Islam, and Islam is at the heart of North African culture.

Over time, more Arab traders and travelers moved from North Africa to the east coast of Africa and into western and central Sudan, which led to further spread of Islam in Africa. Mosques, which are Muslim places of worship, were built throughout these regions. Centers of learning were also established throughout Africa because Muslim people believed it was important to be able to read the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam.

Most Arab people follow the “Five Pillars of Islam,” religious laws that guide them in their daily lives. The majority of Arab cultures also follow Islamic codes of dress that require modesty. As a result, many Arab people traditionally wear clothing that covers much of their skin and hair. Men may wear long robes and some form of headdress. Women may wear full-length dresses and a veil called a hijab to cover their hair. Today, however, many Arab people dress in modern Western clothing the majority of the time and only wear traditional Islamic attire on special occasions and holidays.

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Multiple Choice

What is the Muslim place of worship?

• synagogue
• church
• temple
• mosque

Family life and community are highly important to Arab culture. In many families, several generation - grandparents, parents, and children - may live together in one household!

Fun Fact!

Ashanti People of Ghana

Ashanti people are the dominant ethnic group in Ghana, a sub-Saharan country on the western coast of Africa. The Ashanti people descended from the early Akan people, a group of people who speak the Akan language. Ashanti culture varies from one village to the next.

Early Ashanti people lived in clans, and each clan was ruled by a king. As the Ashanti kingdoms grew more powerful, they eventually formed an empire. The Ashanti empire established a centralized monarchy with four levels: state, district, village, and lineage. Their organization enabled them to operate and control a thriving trade network throughout West Africa from 1640 until 1902.

Multiple Choice

What language did the Ashanti develop from?

• Ewe
• Akan
• Fante
• Ga

Ashanti People of Ghana

The Ashanti Empire established important gold-based trade networks throughout West Africa. However, due to the growth of the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries, the transatlantic slave trade replaced gold as the more profitable trade.

Through contact with Muslim traders and Christian missionaries, many Ashanti people blended the elements of either the Islamic or Christian faith with their traditional religion. The Akan traditional religion values nature and holds that plants and animals have souls and should be respected. They also believe in fairies, witches, and forest monsters. The Ashanti people honor their ancestors, and they possess elaborate marriage, birth, coming of age, and death rituals.

Due to the lucrative gold trade in West Africa, European explorers called the western coast of Africa the Gold Coast. The British established the Gold Coast Colony in 1874, and in 1902, the British declared the Ashanti Empire a British Colony. In 1957, the Republic of Ghana became the first British African colony to gain its independence. Ghana then struggled through periods of conflict until it became a democratic nation in 1992.

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Multiple Choice

What did Europeans call the western Coast of Africa due to their lucrative gold trade?

• Silver Coast
• Gold Coast
• Ivory Coast
• Spice Coast

Ashanti culture flourished during the Ashanti Empire. The Ashanti people became renowned for their gold and brass craftsmanship. They also gained fame for their traditional, brightly colored woven cloths called kente, which are vertically woven strips of red, gold, green, and blue colored cloth.

Each color within the Ghana kente cloth is used to communicate a specific meaning: gold represented status/serenity, yellow signified fertility, green stood for renewal, blue denoted pure spirit/harmony, red indicated passion, black identified union with ancestors/spiritual awareness.

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Multiple Choice

What were the Ashanti known for?

• The Ashanti were known for their gold and brass works, as well as their kente.

• The Ashanti were famous for their contributions to modern architecture.
• The Ashanti were primarily recognized for their naval power.
• The Ashanti were known for their advanced technology in agriculture.

Bantu Peoples of Southern Africa

The term "Bantu" refers to Bantu-speaking people. Bantu people migrated through central and southern Africa around 4,000 years ago in one of ancient history’s largest migrations. As they migrated across Africa, they spread their language and brought farming to sub-Saharan Africa. Today, “Bantu” refers to around 400 groups of indigenous African people who speak languages that are part of the Bantu language family. Tens of millions of modern-day African people can trace their language back to those Bantu speakers of long ago.

Bantu

The Bantu people’s technological skills gave them an advantage over the other people they encountered as they moved across Africa. Their iron tools made farming easier, and their iron weapons enabled them to be victorious in battle. As a result, they established the first powerful states in Africa. Though their economy was primarily based on agriculture, they also traded copper, salt, and iron ore. They established settlements along the east African coast that, after Muslim traders from Arabia and Persia came to the area, became known as the Swahili Coast. Except for South Africa and the Namibian desert, the Bantu people dominated the majority of sub-Saharan Africa.

Multiple Choice

What skills did the Bantu have that gave them an advantage over others traveling across Africa?

• Advanced technological skills

• Navigation by stars
• Pottery making
• Basic hunting skills

Bantu

Bantu culture is highly diverse, and people were mostly divided into clans that ranged from hundreds to thousands of people. Chiefdoms in the clans were mostly hereditary, and the chief typically had trusted family members as his advisors. In Bantu society, the chief held the most power; however, he was not above the law and could be held accountable by his people.

Some Bantu people have converted to Islam or Christianity, and some adhere to their traditional religions. While the traditional religion varies from place to place, Bantu people demonstrate respect for their ancestral spirits, who they view as the guardians of morality. They also practice animism and believe that all existence, such as plants, rocks, streams, and trees, holds power. They believe in one supreme God, yet they focus more on ancestral and natural spirits. They also believe that negative human actions can cause social chaos and natural events such as droughts and floods.

During their migration, the Bantu people changed the continent of Africa through the spread of technology. They spread their knowledge of iron-working, and their agricultural techniques changed hunter-gatherer societies into pastoral communities.

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Fun Fact!

Swahili People of Eastern Africa

​Swahili people live in eastern Africa in an area called “Swahililand.” Swahili civilization spans the eastern coast of Africa from Somalia to Mozambique and includes the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba, Mafia, Comoros, and northern Madagascar.

Swahili

Swahili people are one of the many Bantu peoples of Africa. The Swahili language originated from contact with Arab traders and is a blend of the native Bantu and Arabic languages. Bantu people established city-states along the eastern coast, which became a hub of trade for African nations and European and Asian countries. Because Swahili people constructed most of their buildings out of stone and coral blocks, their city-states were called “stone towns.” The Swahili people gained their success through their trade of gold, ivory, and enslaved people. The Swahili culture reached its height during the 11th to 15th centuries.

Multiple Choice

What were Swahili city-states called, and why were they called that?

• Stone towns, due to the stone and coral blocks used

• Coastal trading posts, because they were by the coast

• East African empires, because they were in East Africa

• Swahili kingdoms, because Swahili city-states were ruled by kings

Multiple Choice

What two language groups are blended to create Swahili?

• Swahili and Portuguese
• Bantu languages and French
• Arabic and English
• Bantu languages and Arabic

Swahili

The booming trade in Swahililand made the East African coast a place of interest for traders and conquerors from Europe and Southwest Asia. The Swahili Coast was colonized numerous times. Arab nations colonized the Swahili Coast in the 8th century, Portugal in the 16th century, and Great Britain in the 20th century. However, Arab colonization had the most lasting influence on Swahili culture.

Multiple Choice

Why was the Swahili Coast colonized so many times?

• The Swahili Coast was colonized multiple times due to its strategic trade location and rich resources.
• The Swahili Coast was colonized because it was isolated from trade routes.
• The Swahili Coast was colonized due to its mountainous terrain.
• The Swahili Coast was colonized for its agricultural potential.

Swahili

The predominant religion of Swahili people is Islam, and religion is a part of everyday life for most Swahili people. Similar to Arab Muslim people, Swahili Muslim people follow the Five Pillars of Islam and typically dress conservatively. Whether or not they wear a hijab, women dress in brightly colored dresses. Men typically dress in western clothing, but some men choose to wear turbans to show their dedication to Islam, even though it is not required by Islamic code.

Though the majority of Swahili people practice Islam, there are small communities that practice Christianity or traditional African religions. Traditional Swahili religion is animistic, and people who adhere to the traditional religion believe in jini, spirits that can be good or evil. Swahili people seek people who are skilled in knowledge of the jini to help them please the spirits or invoke their powers.

​Swahili is the primary language of East Africa and is spoken by more than 100 million people across the world.

Fun Fact!

Next, go to Google Classroom and find the assignment called "Comparing Cultures."
After completing your graphic organizer, you will be making your own Anchor Charts!

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