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Y209: African Kingdoms c.1400–c.1800: Four Case Studies

  • 7 subtopics
  • 17 things to know
  • Unit group 2
  • Non-British period study, one unit of twenty-four

What Y209: African Kingdoms c.1400–c.1800: Four Case Studies covers

African Kingdoms C.1400–c.1800: Four Case Studies is unit Y209 of OCR History A, one of the twenty-four options in unit group 2, the non-British period study; a student sits one of them. Its four key topics are the Songhay Empire c.1450–1591, the Kingdom of Kongo c.1400–c.1709, the Kingdom of Benin c.1500–c.1750, the Kingdoms and Empires of Oyo and Dahomey 1608–c.1800. 252 recall questions across 7 subtopics.

Where it is assessed

Unit group 2

Non-British period study, one unit of twenty-four.

Check the OCR specification ↗

The 7 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Process

How was Shari'a applied within the empire?

Who and when

How did Islam and traditional religion coexist in the empire?

Who and when

What role did succession disputes play in weakening Songhay?

Key term

Who was Diogo Cão and why is he important to Kongo's history?

Key term

Describe the ecclesiastical structures the kings of Kongo built.

Key term

Explain the role of clientage in Kongolese society.

Numbers

What part did the Dutch play in Kongo's wars of the 1640s?

Key term

Describe the condition of the kingdom during the civil war after 1665.

Who and when

What effect did firearms have on Benin's warfare?

Key term

Explain the relationship between Benin City and the empire.

Key term

Why was ivory important in Benin's material culture?

Who and when

How did Oyo control and tax its empire?

Key term

What was the political situation in the Sahel around 1450?

Key term

Contrast the armies of Oyo and Dahomey.

Key term

Identify Sonni Ali and give the dates of his reign.

Key term

Name the two commodities that formed the backbone of Songhay's long-distance trade.

Who and when

What did the kingdom use as currency?

Take Y209: African Kingdoms c.1400–c.1800: Four Case Studies further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

  • Oba vs Ogboni

    Oba: the sacred king of Benin, whose person and rituals stood at the centre of the state. Ogboni: the secret society of the Earth cult, made up of senior elders and titled men, which could restrain both the Alafin and the Oyo Mesi.

  • Benin vs Dahomey

    Benin: the forest kingdom west of the Niger known for its walls, its bronzes and its royal guilds. Dahomey: the kingdom of the Slave Coast whose army and royal monopoly of trade grew from the 1720s.

  • Songhay vs Oyo

    Songhay: the Sahelian empire of the Niger bend which fell to a Moroccan expedition in 1591. Oyo: the Yoruba state whose cavalry dominated the savanna north of the forest.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What was the political situation in the Sahel around 1450?

    Model answer

    The Mali Empire's authority was collapsing, leaving its provinces and trading towns semi-independent; the Tuareg held Timbuktu, and Songhay at Gao was emerging as the strongest power on the middle Niger.

  2. 2

    Identify Sonni Ali and give the dates of his reign.

    Model answer

    Sonni Ali was the ruler of Songhay from 1464 to 1492 and the real founder of its empire, a relentless campaigner who turned the kingdom of Gao into the dominant power of the western Sudan.

  3. 3

    Name the great trading and scholarly city Sonni Ali took in 1468.

    Model answer

    He took Timbuktu in 1468, driving out its Tuareg overlords and bringing the greatest commercial and intellectual centre of the Sahel under Songhay control.

  4. 4

    Why was cavalry so important to Songhay's military success?

    Model answer

    Horsemen could cross the open savannah quickly to raid, pursue and overawe rival states, and a costly armoured cavalry arm gave the ruler a permanent striking force that towns and villages could not resist.

  5. 5

    Besides cavalry, what other arm gave Songhay control of the middle Niger?

    Model answer

    A river fleet of war canoes, commanded by an officer known as the hi-koi, which moved troops and supplies along the Niger and allowed Songhay to besiege and blockade river towns such as Djenné.

  6. 6

    Why were the Muslim scholars of Timbuktu hostile to Sonni Ali?

    Model answer

    They regarded him as only nominally Muslim because he continued traditional religious practices, and he in turn distrusted them as a rival source of authority and persecuted, exiled and killed leading Sankore clerics.

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Y209: African Kingdoms c.1400–c.1800: Four Case Studies revision questions

What does Y209: African Kingdoms c.1400–c.1800: Four Case Studies cover in OCR A-Level History A?
7 subtopics: the songhay empire c.1450–1591: the sahel c.1450, sonni ali and askia muhammad, the songhay empire c.1450–1591: importance of timbuktu and reasons for decline, the kingdom of kongo c.1400–c.1709: the kingdom c.1400, conversion and royal power, the kingdom of kongo c.1400–c.1709: clientage, wars with portugal and the antonian movement, the kingdom of benin c.1500–c.1750: the obas, government, culture, trade and decline, the kingdoms and empires of oyo and dahomey 1608–c.1800: the rise of oyo and dahomey, their armies and their kings and the kingdoms and empires of oyo and dahomey 1608–c.1800: institutions, religion, the slave trade and decline. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is Y209: African Kingdoms c.1400–c.1800: Four Case Studies organised?
By the OCR H505 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

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