Global 12.4 Societies in Medieval Africa

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Global I Table of Contents

=The People of Africa=
 * The people of Africa were separated by clan. Each clan was based on family ties. Often times a clan was based on the lineage of the mother, making it a matrilineal society.
 * Husbands would join their wives' families and inheritance followed the line of the mother.
 * Farmer would practice "slash and burn farming" tactics. They would cut down the remaining vegetation and burn it, using the ash as fertilizer. When the soil ran out of nutrients, they would move to a new area.
 * Oral traditions were passed down by griots, professional poets and storytellers that were in charge of remembering the folk tales and the history of the people.