1. Deceased ancestors often were a direct link between their living relatives and the spirit world
2. Africa's location
2.1. Africa was never completely isolated: but contact with others was extremely hard
2.2. Africa was very dry; water sources were only located on the edges
2.3. a giant jungle was located in the center of Africa
2.3.1. The jungle was extremely thick and impossible to walk through
3. stateless society
3.1. Stateless societies had forms of government, but the authority and power normally exercised by a ruler and his court in a kingdom.
3.2. Stateless peoples who lived in villages organized around either lineages or age sets
3.2.1. did not need rulers or bureaucracies and existed side by side with states
3.3. little concentration of authority, and that authority affected only a small part of the peoples' lives. In these societies, government was rarely a full-time occupation
4. Religious
4.1. Religion, economics, and history were thus closely intertwined
4.2. The family, lineage, or clan around which many African societies were organized also had an important role in dealing with the gods
5. Important person
5.1. Sunni Ali
5.1.1. a great tactical commander and a ruthless leader
5.1.1.1. cavalry expanded the borders and seized the traditional trading cities of Timbuktu and Jenne
6. Language was different throughout Afica so converstaion between tribes was difficult
7. Social
7.1. Political
7.1.1. inteluctual
7.1.1.1. religious
7.1.1.1.1. enteluctural
8. african culture
8.1. Diverse language throughout tribes
8.2. Many African peoples shared an underlying belief in a creator deity whose power and action were expressed through spirits or lesser gods and through the founding ancestors of the group
8.2.1. The ancestors often were viewed as the first settlers and thus the "owners" of the land or the local resources, and through them the fertility of the land, game, people, and herds could be ensured
8.3. Life in the Songhay Empire
8.3.1. fusion of Islamic and pagan populations and traditions
8.3.1.1. wanted to impose a strict interpretation of the law of Islam and were shocked that men and women mixed freely in the markets and streets, that women went unveiled, and that at Jenne young girls went naked
9. Social Aspects of Africa
9.1. Africa was very distant from other civilizations
9.2. people of Songhay dominated
9.2.1. made up of "masters of the soil,"
9.2.2. "masters of the waters,"