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Agriculture:
Early West Africans lived along the rivers and
grasslands. Different villages grew different crops. The crops you
grew depended upon where you lived in West Africa. If you lived
along the river, you grew rice and fished. If you lived in the
grasslands, you grew millet. People in the south, near the
rainforests, grew peanuts and sweet potatoes.
Trade:
People in different villages traded each other for the foods they
wanted and needed.
Kinship
and Common Good: People who lived in ancient African
villages were members of a clan, a family group. Everyone worked
together for the common good. Their first thought was not, “I want
to do this my way.” Rather,
their first thought was supposed to be, “I want to do what is best
for the people in my village.” Villages were close-knit
communities.
Villagers work
together as a team. They collectively worked the land, took care of
the children, tended livestock, administered justice, and worshiped
their ancestors. The community as a whole raised the children.
Villages were
broken up into 50 or 100 or 500 duplicate homes. Each individual
family had their own home, but each home looked alike. The chief was
the leader, but his home looked like other homes. There were no
palaces in the villages.
Although each
villager had a job to do, all jobs were designed to help each other.
The unwritten rule was - if something could be used for the
betterment of the whole tribe, it was not right to keep it for
yourself.
Village
Government: Each village ruled itself. Clan government
was based on kinship. In some cases, the head of government was a
group of village elders. In others, the head of the village was the
chief. Either way, the
head of the village made decisions for the village. But all
villagers were able to express their opinion prior to a ruling.
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