Unit One: Why Study Africa?

Teacher Discussion:

All of these pictures capture a part of Africa's rich and unique history. The picture on top shows us one of the Egyptian pyramids. The pyramids were built nearly 4000 years ago by one of Africa's great civilizations. The picture on the bottom left is perhaps one that we are most familiar with -- a picture of African slaves being traded at market. But this was only a small part of the continent's history and affected only a certain part of the continent's people. The picture on the right depicts a very important era of Africa's recent history -- it shows us a leader of one of Africa's countries at their independence from European rule. All of these images, and many more, are important to our understanding of Africa's past -- and present.