How did iron affect Africa?
Iron played a central role in many societies of early Africa. It held both spiritual and material power. Physically, Africans used iron to create tools for agriculture, utensils for everyday life, and weapons for protection and conquest (Shillington, 2012, p.
What was the impact of iron on West Africa?
Metal provided early human societies with a superior raw material for making their tools, weapons and decorative ornaments. Metal could be shaped, joined, sharpened and decorated in a far wider range of ways than stone.
How did the use of iron change farming in Africa?
How did the use of iron change farming? – Iron made them able to create tools to clear lands more quickly and easily and help them grow more food.
What changes did the development of iron tools bring in West Africa?
what changes did the ability to make tools out of iron bring? farmers could clear land and grow crops more efficiently , then the greater abundance of food supported larger villages, where more people were free to work at other trades. … they could then trade their surpluses for goods they could not produce themselves.
Did Africans invent iron?
African communities may or may not have independently invented a process to work iron, but they were enormously innovative in their techniques. The earliest iron artifacts in the world were beads made by the Egyptians about 5,000 years ago.
Does Africa have iron?
Iron ore production in Africa is dominated by South Africa, Mauritania and Algeria. Many countries possess iron ore deposits that are as yet untapped/unmined.
Who first used iron?
Archeologists believe that iron was discovered by the Hittites of ancient Egypt somewhere between 5000 and 3000 BCE. During this time, they hammered or pounded the metal to create tools and weapons. They found and extracted it from meteorites and used the ore to make spearheads, tools and other trinkets.
Where did iron Works begin in Africa?
Iron smelting and forging technologies may have existed in West Africa among the Nok culture of Nigeria as early as the sixth century B.C. In the period from 1400 to 1600, iron technology appears to have been one of a series of fundamental social assets that facilitated the growth of significant centralized kingdoms in …
When did iron Working start in Africa?
Iron technology first appears in the African continent in the 1st millennium BCE, and the term Iron Age is generally used, certainly south of the Sahara, to describe iron-using communities in Africa until the modern historical era.
Did Africa have a 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.
What is the name given to a person who makes iron tools?
Blacksmith, also called smith, craftsman who fabricates objects out of iron by hot and cold forging on an anvil. Blacksmiths who specialized in the forging of shoes for horses were called farriers. The term blacksmith derives from iron, formerly called “black metal,” and farrier from the Latin ferrum, “iron.”
What were some goods traded across the Sahara?
The West Africans exchanged their local products like gold, ivory, salt and cloth, for North African goods such as horses, books, swords and chain mail. This trade (called the trans-Saharan trade because it crossed the Sahara desert) also included slaves.