South Africa's earliest people and farmers
Paper 1 work · 10 summaries- Hunter-gatherersHow hunter-gatherers lived, their tools and rock art, and how we know about them.
- The first farmersThe first farmers: crops, livestock, iron, villages, surplus and trade.
- From hunter to farmer: change over timeFrom hunter to farmer: what changed, advantages and disadvantages, and how we learn about prehistory.
- African farmers, kraals and cattleAfrican farmers: agriculture, the kraal, cattle, the chief, barter and the Lydenburg Heads.
- Khoikhoi herders of the Late Stone AgeThe Khoikhoi herders, how they differed from the San, and what they learnt from each other.
- Fire and how it changed people’s livesHow people learnt to control fire, how we know, and how fire changed food, safety and tools.
- Metals and what they changedHow people learnt to use metals: copper, bronze, iron and gold, smelting and what it changed.
- Food: evidence, sharing and rulesHow archaeologists know what people ate, storing and sharing food, and rules and stories about food.
- Transport through history (Revision: Grade 4 work)Revision: transport from feet and sleds to trains, cars and aeroplanes, and trade routes.
- Life in a first-farmer villageLife in an early farming village: migration, the homestead, division of work, leadership and barter.
Ancient Egypt and heritage
Paper 2 work · 9 summaries- Ancient EgyptAncient Egypt: the Nile, pharaohs, pyramids, mummies, writing and the social pyramid.
- Heritage and heritage routesHeritage, heritage sites and routes, and Frances Baard from Kimberley.
- Words and concepts in historyA historian’s words: centuries, BC and AD, sources, cause and consequence, and bias.
- The Cradle of Humankind and MapungubweThe Cradle of Humankind and Mapungubwe: fossils, gold, trade and World Heritage Sites.
- Egyptian knowledge, medicine and writingEgyptian knowledge: Imhotep, medicine and anatomy, writing, the sphinx and Tutankhamun.
- Ancient Egyptian discoveriesEgyptian discoveries: hieroglyphs, mathematics, the 365-day calendar, astronomy and the Sphinx.
- Tutankhamun and Egyptian knowledgeTutankhamun’s tomb: the discovery, the treasures, and what it teaches us about Egypt.
- The nine provinces and their capitalsSouth Africa’s nine provinces, their capitals, borders and coastlines.
- Heritage trail: from the Castle to MakhonjwaA heritage trail through the provinces: the Castle, the Cape aloe, the Free State, Kaditshwene and Makhonjwa.
For parents
- Choose one topic per evening. Let your child read the summary and then tell it to you in their own words.
- The ticks (“I know this”) are saved on this device only, so you can see how far you have come. We never ask for names or emails.
- After the summary the quiz is the perfect test: every question explains the answer.
Ready to test yourself? All the Grade 5 History quizzes are free.
Other grades: Grade 4 Grade 6 Grade 7
Follows CAPS for Grade 5 Social Sciences (History).