Did African tribes use iron?
Did African tribes use iron?
African Iron Age Lifeways From the 2nd century CE to about 1000 CE, ironworkers spread iron throughout the largest portion of Africa, eastern and southern Africa. The African communities who made iron varied in complexity from hunter-gatherers to kingdoms.
What was iron used for in 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. 45).
When was iron first used 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.
Which society is known for its iron work in Africa?
The Nok Culture
The Nok were one of the earliest iron-working societies from western Africa, but they are also known for their pottery.
Where did iron originate 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 …
How was iron introduced to Africa?
Although some nineteenth-century European scholars favored an indigenous invention of iron working in sub-Saharan Africa, archaeologists writing between 1945 and 1965 mostly favored diffusion of iron smelting technology from Carthage across the Sahara to West Africa and/or from Meroe on the upper Nile to central Africa …
Why was iron working Important?
The fabrication of iron tools and weapons allowed for the kind of extensive systematized agriculture, efficient hunting, and successful warfare necessary to sustain large urban centers.
What was the iron used for?
It is used to manufacture steel and also used in civil engineering like reinforced concrete, girders etc. Iron is used to make alloy steels like carbon steels with additives such as nickel, chromium, vanadium, tungsten, and manganese.
Where did iron Working begin?
However, iron working may have been practiced in Central Africa as early as the 3rd millennium BC.
When did iron work start?
The Iron Age was a period in human history that started between 1200 B.C. and 600 B.C., depending on the region, and followed the Stone Age and Bronze Age. During the Iron Age, people across much of Europe, Asia and parts of Africa began making tools and weapons from iron and steel.
What changes did iron bring to Africa?
The use of iron ushered in an Iron Age in Africa, with the expansion of agriculture, industry, trade, and political power. In some African cultures, smelters and ironworkers are of low status because of the manual labor inherent in their work. In others, they are of high status because of the value of their wares.
What are 3 interesting facts about iron?
This Metal Rocks! 10 Facts About Iron
- It’s the Sixth Most Common Element in the Universe.
- Iron Is Vital for the Human Body.
- It Was Originally Called Ferrum.
- The First Workable Iron Came from Outer Space.
- The Eiffel Tower’s Made from Wrought Iron.
- Steel Is Iron Too.
- It’s Incredibly Strong.
- It Just Keeps Getting Better.