In this week of the course, you will be studying some aspects of African history. Please remember that Africa is huge, almost three times the size of the U.S. with a mixture of diverse climactic zones. In addition, Africa is also probably the place of origin of Homo Sapiens almost 300,000 years ago. Given the vast size of the continent and the very diverse societies that have existed, and still exist there, it is hard to find such a thing as "African civilization." This is not surprising given the lack of political or religious unity on the continent and the development of both states and "stateless" societies. If we want to reach a bit, we can identify some commonalities of the African experience: an oral tradition; some common linguistic features; animistic religion as common (power of natural forces personified as spirits appeased by rituals and dancing); concept of good and evil with evil usually attributed to witchcraft; idea of a central creator, with lesser deities; importance of lineage through the clan, which allowed ancestors to act as intermediaries to the gods. Key African states included Songhai on the Niger River under the leadership of Sunni Ali (1464-1492) and Mali under Sundiata (Sunjata, d1260), for whom the great epic is named, and Mansa Kankan Musa (1312-1337?), who made the Hajj in 1324.