Where African farmers settled and why

Where African farmers settled and why: summer rain, crops, cattle, rivers and wood. Read one part at a time and tap “I know this”. Then test yourself in the quiz.

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Rain and settlement

Summer rain in the east (from the Indian Ocean), winter rain in the south-west, and dry in the Karoo.

Area	Rain	Good for African farmers?
A	Summer rain, about 700 mm a year	Yes, the best
B	Winter rain, about 500 mm	No: the rain falls when it is too cold
C	Less than 200 mm	No: too dry for crops

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The best place

A river valley with good soil and summer rain: water for people and crops, grass for cattle, and woodland for fires and smelting.
Round houses of poles, mud and thatch; grain in granaries on poles or in pits; sorghum was ground and cooked as porridge. Iron for hoes, axes and spears.
Communities moved when soil or grazing was worn out. Where they met the Khoikhoi in the east, they traded and shared words and customs. Maize came much later from the Americas.

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Remember this: your summary

Their main crops, sorghum and millet, need summer rain (October to March).
They settled in the east; the south-western Cape’s winter rain did not suit their summer crops, and the Karoo was too dry.
So in 1652 the Dutch first met the Khoikhoi and San: African farmers lived far to the east.
The first African farmers began settling south of the Limpopo about 1 700 years ago (around AD 300).
Mixed farmers keep cattle and grow crops; they avoided tsetse-fly areas, because the flies made cattle sick.

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Memory trick

Summer crops need summer rain: that is why African farmers stayed in the east.

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Important words

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Test yourself · Part 2

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