ADVANCED PLACEMENT WORLD HISTORY
Homework
Stearns – Chapter Eight

Directions:  Read Chapter Eight in your textbook and answer the following inquiries in complete sentences.  Your responses must be either typewritten double spaced, or neatly written in blue or black ink. Responses written in pencil or odd colored inks will not be accepted.  You may email your responses if wish at your own risk, but you are responsible whether your responses are received or not.

A.     Examine Map 8.1 on page 177 – Empires of the Western Sudan.

a.       What are the geographic boundaries of the West Sudanic Empire?

b.      What city and river are shared by many of these civilizations?

B.      Examine Photo Essay 8.4 on page 187 – Benin Plaque

Bronzes from Benin have symbolic as well as aesthetic purposes. One purpose is to celebrate the powers and majesty of the royal lineage as well as represent the rituals surrounding kingship. How does the bronze sculpture accomplish these goals?

C.      Examine the Document on page 176 – The Great Oral Tradition.

a.       Document Analysis:

                                                              i.      Who wrote it? (Attribution includes biographical references.)

                                                             ii.      What was the author’s point of view?

                                                            iii.      How reliable is the document? Why?

                                                            iv.      What was the intent or purpose behind the document?

b.      Sundiata as the King:

                                                              i.      Describe the Sudanic qualities of being a king as represented by Sundiata.

                                                             ii.      What does iron represent and how is iron used in the epic?

                                                            iii.      Why would Sundiata need a griot?

c.       Sundiata and the Outside World:

                                                              i.      What evidence is there that Sundiata knew of the larger non-Sudanic world?

                                                             ii.      What elements of animism and Islam are present in the story?