amanda0195
African History
GEOGRAPHY
SAHARA
Divides northern coast from rest of continent
Once was cooler and wetter, then became warmer and dryer 3000 BC
Proof from rock paintings
Lakes dried up forcing many east to Nile and south to grassland
Camel
Early in 1st millennium
Stimulated trans-Saharan trade
WEST
Cape Verde, Senegal and Niger Rivers
Rich in natural resources
Empires: Ghana, Mali, Songhai (Songhay)
EAST (“safari country”)
Horn of Africa
Bordering Indian ocean
Snowcapped mountains, upland plateau and lakes
Grassland populated by wild beasts
Axum (Ethiopia) (Christian)
Swahili (Arabic and Bantu)
Madagascar (Malay)
NORTH (Maghrib or Maghreb)
Egypt (Nile River)
Nubia (Kingdom of Kush, Sudan)
Berbers
A pastoral people of North Africa
Intermediaries from Carthage across desert (food, manufactured goods)
In exchange for salt, gold, cooper, skins, slaves
Possibly spread ironworking from Carthaginians
Nok culture (one of most active iron-working societies)
MIDDLE
Congo River
Fertile land and deposits of copper and iron = agric. Surplus, commerce
Kingdom of Luba (center of continent, near Lake Kisale)
Centralized govt., king appointed provincial governors to collect tribute from village chiefs
Kingdom of Kongo
South of mouth of Congo River on Atlantic coast
Agriculture with manufacturing
Main crop millet
LANGUAGES
Niger-Congo
Largest language group
Senegal in west to Kenya in east, south to South Africa
Bantu-based languages spoken in south (including Swahili on east coast)
Sudanic (Nilo-Sudanic)
Second largest language family
Upper Nile and area known as Sudan
Afro-Asiatic languages
Spoken in north of Africa
Including Arabic (from Middle East)
And Semitic languages spoken by Somali and Ethiopian people
Khoisan or Click (!)
Spoken by San and Khoi people in southern Africa
As well as Xhosa in South Africa
Uses click sound (written as !)
--- Under Construction --
NORTHEASTERN AFRICA
NUBIA (Kingdom of Kush, Sudan)
Began to domesticate animals 9th millennium BC and gathered wild grains
Then cultivated grains (sorghum and millet)
Spread westward when Sahara was cool
After desiccation (or "drying" of Sahara in 3000 BC) they moved south and east
Major trading state by end of 2nd millennium BC
By mid 1st mil. BC declined
Eventually replaced by state south of great bend of Nile River near Fourth Cataract - Meroe
After Egyptian kingdom fell apart
Govt = all-powerful monarch
Gained wealth and military power
To north via Nile and east and west via camel caravans
Flourished from 300 BC to 100 AD
Tombs of Nubian kings
Gold, jewelry, pottery from Egypt
Urban center
Weavers, merchants, potters, iron workers, masons, laborers servants, slaves
Rural areas
Herders and farmers, rain-based agriculture
Fell apart after AD 100
Deforestation
Conquest by neighboring state of Axum
MEROE
Near iron deposits
Basis for area’s growing prosperity
Became major trading hub for iron goods and other manufacturers for the entire region
Connection with Egypt
At one point conquered Egypt
Kings and queens
All powerful monarchy
10 queens ruling or co-ruling
State not as centralized.
Rainfall allowed for more geographical spread out than Egyptians
Egypt close to Nile
Trade – n/s on Nile and east west via camel.
Coptic for 1000 years
300 to 1300 Coptic branch of Christianity dominated
Using Greek as language for worship
Construction churches in Coptic or Byzantine style
Rulers buried with sacrificed people
Mercants, weavers, potters, masons, servants, laborers and slaves
Iron tools and weapons
Rainfall was enough
Irrigation not needed
Agriculture flourished.
Wealth and miltiary power
From trading = profits
Lion god Apedemek
Meroitic writing
Kingdom declined
Deforestation
Trade routes switched
Wealth diminished
Kingdom fell to Axum
Later Nubian cities rise
Coptic Christian – 1000 year Nucia.
1300 started to erode with Arab immigration and Islam
became part of Islamic world
AXUM (c. 100–940 AD)
Location: Mountainous highlands of Ethiopia
Main port: Adulis
Language: Ge'ez for religion, Amharic for daily conversation
Religion: Coptic Christian (see below)
Founders of Axum
Claimed descent from migrants from Saba (Sheba) across Red Sea
Transit point for goods from South Asia
Queen of Sheba had vast wealth
Saba declined because of desiccation of the Arabian Desert.
Axum survived for centuries
Trade
Prosperous because of location on commercial trade route
Ships from Egypt stopped regularly at port of Adulis near Red Sea
Merchants got products from African interior (animal hides, rhino horns, ivory, slaves)
Made money from taxing the trade
Red Sea to Indian Ocean
Falk of Meroe and rise of Axum changed patterns of trade
Agriculture
Used plowing as opposed to digging sticks used elsewhere
Allowed people to grow large supply of grain crops
Millet, barley, wheat in abundance
Led to rise in population
50 CE developed into a state
Coins
Earlier inscribed with different gods
Later with cross
Axum expanded
To Mecca – military
Art and architecture
Monumental buildings and court culture
Capital city contained impressive architecture
Axum known for their stone obelisks
Royal grave markers, funeral monuments
King Lalibela (d. 1221) sponsored churches in rock
Religion
Around 356 CE,King Ezana converted to Christianity
Same time as Constantine
Rulers claimed descent from King Solomon
Through visit of queen of Sheba to Israel in biblical times
Followed the religion of Saba
Adopted Coptic Christianity
Possible as result of contacts with Egypt
Ethiopians speak Coptic to this day
Separated from Byzantine Christians by Muslim conquest of Egypt and Red Sea coast
Compared to Meroe
Meroe also adopted Christianity in the 340s CE
Both developed their own distinct writing scripts
A Mesolithic script eventually took the place of Egyptian-style writing
Both traded extensively with neighboring civilization
Exports
Ivory, frankincense, myrrh and slaves
Competed for ivory trade with neighboring state of Meroe
Axum hunters had imported iron weapons - sought elephants
4th century provoked Axumite invasion of Meroe – conquered
Created empire that rivaled Rome and Persia
Imports
Textiles, metal goods, wine, olive oil
“hermit kingdom”
Home to Prester John – legendary Christian king of East Africa
Decline
Started to decline in 600s due to
Soil exhaustion and erosion (over-exploitation of farm land)
Deforestation
Rise and spread of Islam
Shift in trade routes from Red Sea to Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf
Arab world increasingly served as focus of regional trade
by 8th c. number of Muslim trading sttaes on African coast turned Axum into a landlocked country
By 9th c. the capital had been moved farther into mountainous interior
Axum transformed from maritime power to isolated agricultural society
Arab world increasingly served as focus of regional trade
At first
Relations between Christian Axum and Muslim neighbors peaceful
Axumite kingdom tried to compel coastal Islamic state to accept a tributary relationship
Axum became prime source for ivory, gold, resins (frankincense, myrrh) and slaves form south (Amharic plateau)
Beg. 12th c.
Relations between Axum and neighbors deteriorated
As Muslim states along coast began to move inland
To gain control over growing trade in slaves and ivory
Axum responded with force
Early 14th c.
Muslim state of Adal launched new attack
Axum internal change
Zagwe dynasty (mid 12th c.) centralized govt. and extended Christian faith throughout kingdom
Now known as Ethiopia
Military commanders (and those with ties to royal court) established vast landed estates to maintain security and facilitate collection of taxes
Christian missionaries established monasteries and churches to propagate faith.
Close relations between leaders of Coptic church in Egypt and Christian officials in Holy Land
Continued by the Solomonids
Who succeeded Zagwe dynasty in 1270
Holy war with Muslim Adal early 15th c.
EAST AFRICA
SWAHILI
South of Axum on shores of Indian Ocean
Mixture of People
Some depended on hunting, others pastoral
BANTU
3rd millennium BC
Farming people who spoke dialects of Bantu family began to migrate from homeland in Nigeria
“Migrations of Peoples”
Introduced cultivation of crops and knowledge of ironworking
Bantu settled in rural communities
Based on subsistence farming
Crops: millet and sorghum, yams, melons, beans
Iron tools to till land,
Domesticated animals (cattle, sheep, goats, chickens)
Most settlements small
SWAHILI CULTURE
Mixture of local Bantus and immigrants from Arabia
(“Land of the Zanj”)
Continue to live there today
Trade facilitated by monsoon winds
Traders from sea – from as far away as southeast Asia in 1st mill. CE
By 12th and 13th c.
A cosmopolitan culture eventually known as Swahili
From Arabic sahel (“coast”) began to emerge throughout seaboard area
Intermarriage between small number of immigrants and local population
Led to emergence of a ruling class of mixed heritage
Some had Arab or Persian ancestors
Many members of ruling class had converted to Islam
Mideast urban architectural styles and other aspects of Arab culture implanted within a society still predominantly African
Arabic words, phrases combined Bantu grammatical structures
Swahili language: National language of Kenya and Tanzania today
DECLINE
Vasco da Gama (Portuguese) went up east African coast towards India in 1497/8
He quarreled with local forces at Mozambique and Mombasa.
2nd voyage to India 1502 - da Gama forced ruler of Kilwa to pay tribute and faced cannons on Swahili ports along east African coast.
1505, massive Portuguese naval expedition subdued all Swahili cities from Sofala to Mombasa.
Portuguese built administrative centers at Mozambique and Malindi
And forts throughout the region
hoping to control trade in east Africa
They didn't succeed
but disrupted trade partners enough to send Swahili centers into decline (never recovered)
Malay
Brought cinnamon to Middle East, crossed Indian Ocean, to coast
Settlement on island of Madagascar
Introduced banana and yam
BANANA
High yield and ability to grow in uncultivated rain forest
Became preferred crop of may Bantu people
WESTERN AFRICA
The peoples who resided in the savannas set up trading systems joining the Mediterranean coast with the gold-producing areas of the forests
Along the Niger and Senegal Rivers.
States developed with the wealth established from the trade routes.
Takur, Ghana, Gao, and Kanem were all trade intermediaries.
GHANA (c. 400-c. 1200)
(not related to modern Ghana geographically or historically)
First of commercial state in West Upper Niger valley
Established before Islam
Height 9th to 12th c.
GEOGRAPHY
Grassland region (savannas) between Sahara and tropical forest along West African coast
POLITICS
Majority were farmers living in villages under local chieftains
United to form kingdom of Ghana
ECONOMICS
As trade and traffic across desert increased, Ghana went through transformation.
Became the most important commercial site in west Africa
Reason for growth -- Gold
(in high demand because of surging trade throughout eastern hemisphere.)
Ghana didn't produce gold
but
ISLAM
8th c. merchants from Maghrib (north Africa)
Began to carry Muslim beliefs to savanna areas south of Sahara
Converts to Islam
First: local merchants and rulers
Royal family of Gao converted to Islam at end of 10th c.
Kings of Ghana made no attempt to impose Islam forcibly on their society
nor accepted Islam exclusively even for their own purposes
Instead continued to observe traditional religious customs
Continued practicing magic and kept idols in woods around royal palace at Koumbi-Saleh
By 1500 most of population in grasslands south of Sahara had converted
Political impact of Islam
Introduced Arabic as first written language in region
Muslim law codes and administrative practices came from Middle East
Islam provided local rulers with tools to increase their authority
Common religion united previously diverse people into a unified community
Ghana’s influence increased with its conversion in 985 C.E.
Brought Ghana recognition and support from Muslim states in north Africa
ECONOMY
Ghana controlled the trans-Sahara trade
Sahara transformed into one of leading avenues of world trade (caravans)
Gold didn't come from Ghana
But Ghana's government taxed trade through the region.
Ghananian merchants were intermediaries between Berbers and the south
Transported gold to Morocco (Berbers)
Where it was distributed to world
In exchange for salt, cloth, manufactured goods
Other exports: ivory, ostrich feathers, hides, horses and slaves
Slaves from Berber tribesmen who seized African villages south of Sahara
Slaves sold to buyers in Europe or Middle East
Taxation of trade allowed rulers to militarize
Control of trade routes gave Ghana influence over subject states and provinces that depended on exchange of goods
MILITARY
Ghana kings financed a large army from levied taxes on trade
About 2,000 warriors who protected the sources of gold, maintained order and kept allied and tributary states in line
also defended Ghana against nomadic incursions from the Sahara
EXPANSION: Influence eventually extended into Sahara to towns along trade routes
CAPITAL: Kumbi Saleh
Extraordinarily wealthy
15-20,000 people
Flourishing trade city with stone buildings and more than a dozen mosques
Home to many Islamic scholars and qadis (judges in Shari'a courts)
Divided into halves
One part reserved for ruling family and indigenous residents,
Other for Islamic scholars and merchants.
GOVERNMENT
King - divine right
Responsible for maintaining security of kingdoms
Served as intermediary with local deities
Functioned as chief law officer to adjudicate disputes
Kings of Ghana did not convert to Islam themselves
Although they welcomed Muslim merchants
And didn’t discourage subjects from adopting Islam
Aristocracy
Hereditary aristocracy assisted king
Leading members of prominent clans were district chiefs responsible for law and order and collecting taxes
DECLINE and FALL
Empire flourished several hundred years
By 12th c. weakened
By ruinous wars with Berber marauders from north
1076 Ghana fell to a group of Muslim revolutionaries, the Almoravids
Ghana's control over its empire waned
Collapsed by end of 12th c.
Political fragmentation: development of new African states in region
A number of new trading societies
Including large territorial empires
Mali and Songhai in the west
Kanem-Bornu in the east
Small commercial city-states like the Hausa states in northern Nigeria
Mali emerged as the most powerful of the new political units
MALI
Greatest empire that emerged after destruction of Ghana
SUNDIATA (r. 1230-1255)
Lion prince
Built the Mali empire in first half of 13th c. after returning from exile
While away, he made alliances with local rulers and gained reputation for courage in battles
By 1235 he consolidated his hold on Mali empire
Mali expanded to include Ghana and neighboring kingdoms in regions around Senegal and Niger rivers.
LOCATION:
From Atlantic coast to Timbuktu and Gao on Niger River
Extended to present day Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone
ECONOMICS:
Wealth and power of Mali built on trans-Saharan gold trade
On a larger scale than Ghana
From 13th - late 15th centry Mali controlled and taxed almost all trade passing through west Africa.
Caravans with as many as 25,000 camels linked Mali to north Africa
Money came from taxing commercial activities
Heartland of Mali, south of Sahara in savanna region, had enough moisture for farmers to grow sorghum, millet, rice.
CITIES
Niani (Capital) attracted merchants seeking to enter gold trade
Other trade cities along caravan routes
Timbuktu, Gao, Jenne
All became prosperous centers featuring buildings of brick and stone
RELIGION
Like kings of Ghana, rulers of Mali honored Islam
And provided protection, lodging and comforts for Muslim merchants from the north.
But didn't force Islam on the realm
encouraged voluntary conversion
GOVERNMENT:
Farmers lived in villages ruled by a local chieftain called a mansa.
Responsible for forwarding tax revenues from village to higher levels of govt.
Mansa was both religious and administrative leader
MANSA MUSA (1312-1337)
Sundiata's grand-nephew
One of most powerful kings of Mali
Ruled during the high point of the empire
Wealthiest person in history
Devout Muslim, went on pilgrimage to Mecca (1324-25)
Brought so much gold on his journey that gold decreased in value as much as 25% worldwide
Founded 1000s of seasonal camps for caravan traders on Niger River
Primary contribution wasn't economic prosperity -- but Muslim faith
Mansa Musa encouraged building of mosques and study of Quran
Imported scholars and books
Including four descendants of Muhammad
To make Islam better known in Mali
MOST IMPORTANT CITY
Timbuktu (“well of Bouctu” – the name of a Tuareg woman)
Under Mansa Musa and successors
City emerged as major intellectual and cultural center in W. Africa
Site of schools of law, literature and sciences
City had a well-furnished court
Doctors, judges, priests, books, gold coins with no stamp
Cowrie shells for matters of small value
DECLINE
Within a century of Mansa Musa's regin Mali in serious decline
factions crippled the central government
provices seceded from the empire
military pressures from neighhboring kingdoms and desert nomads
By late 15th century, the Songhay empire had completely overcome Mali
But Mansa Musa and other Mali rulers had established a tradition of centralized government that Songhay realm would continue
Also ensured that Islm would have a prominent place in west African society over long term
SONGHAY EMPIRE (1464-1591)
Developed by 8th c.
CAPITAL: Gao (trading city)
75,000 residents
RISE: Replaced Mali as dominant power in West Africa by 15th c.
Rejected Mali authority
mounted raids deep into Mali territory
EMPEROR: Sunni Ali (r. 1464-1493)
EXPANSION:
Sunni Ali expanded the empire by conquering neighbors
Including important trading cities: Timbuktu and Jenne
Used their wealth to dominate central Niger valley
GOVERNMENT
Sunni Ali built an elaborate administrative and miltiary apparatus to oversee affairs
Appointed governors to oversee provinces
Instituted hierarchy of command
MILITARY
Sunni Ali turned army into effective military force
He created an imperial navy to patrol Niger River (commercial highway)
Powerful military allowed Sunni Ali and sucessors to extend authority north into Sahara, east to Lake Chad and west to upper Niger R.
ECONOMY
Like Ghana, became rich through lucrative trans-Saharan trade
Salt, textiles and metal south
Gold and slaves north
RELIGION
Emperors were all Muslims
Supported mosques, schools for Quran and Islamic university at Timbuktu
Valued Islam as cultural foundation for cooperation with Muslim merchants and Muslim states in north Africa.
But didn't abandon traditional religious practices
FALL
Last of great imperial states of grasslands
Songhay fell to Moroccan army in 1591
Opened fire on previously invincible Songhay military
Also suffered from revolts (people taking advantage of disorder to rise up)
A series of small regional kingdoms and city-states developed
After Songhay crumbled
series of small regional kingdoms and city-states emerged
Kanem-Bornu dominated area around Lake Chad
Hausa city-state to the west
Oyo and Asante - in forests south of grasslands
Diule and Mande on coasts
Trade moved to Atlantic
NIGER RIVER VALLEY
Cities without states
Urbanization without imperial or bureaucratic systems
Over course of 5 centuries
Waves of immigrants from Sahara and Sahel
Settled around Niger R.
Brought trades and herding practices
They did not develop state systems of either imperial or local city-stte variety
Iron working and other specialization s
In lieu of poltical hierarchy
Social straftficiation did develop around skilled crafts with iron working being most important
Regional West African trade system
As cities often lacked various raw mateirals and commodities
Increased long trade netowrks linked various cities with producers of minerals, agriculral goods an other comodities
Jenne-jeno
40,000 people
Cities but not city-stats
More independent but coexisting
Remains show little sign of despotic power, warfare or inequlaity among people
Resemble early cities of Indus Valley
Cities specified
Iron smithing, cotton weaving, potters, leather workers and griots (singers of oral history)
Cities devleoped occupational caste system
Skills passed to children
And marriage in group only
Boat travel along Niger River
Trade – evidence of widespread trade in Africa
City-based civilization
Biggest city= Jenne-jeno (about 40,000 people)
No monarch, emperor. Or other kind fo leader controlling the cities
Not city-states because each city did NOT have its own indivdiual monarch and/or bureacracy
City “clusters”
Clusters of econoically specialized settlements surrounded a larger central town
Large central town
Surrounded by
Griots (praise-singers who preserved and recited the oral traditions of their socities)
Leather workers
Potters
Cotton weavers
Iron smiths
Artisan communities became occupational castes
Skills and jobs were passed down to children
Only allowed to marry within your own group
IN rural areas surrounding these urban clusters
Were the farmers
Specialization
Fishing, rice cultivation, animal domestication
Niger region witnessed the creation of large cities with the apparent absence of a corresponding state structure.
These cities were not like the city-states of ancient Mesopotamia
Instead they wer close to the early cities of the Indus Valley civilization
Where complex urban centers also apparently operated without the coercive authoirty of a centralized state.
ZIMBABWE
South of Zambezi River.
Mixed economy
Farming, cattle herding, commercial pursuits early 1st mill. CE
Villages inside walled enclosures
To protect animals at night
Zimbabwe
Between Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers
12th to mid 15th c. Zimbabwe most powerful, most prosperous state in region
Major role in gold trade with Swahili trading communities in east.
Great Zimbabwe
“Zimbabwe” means “stone house” in Bantu language
Zimbabwe’s capital
Illustration of kingdom’s power and influence
Strategically located
Between substantial gold reserves to west
And small river leading to coast
Trade coast to interior
Sits on hill overlooking the river
Surrounded by stone walls
Enclosed an area large enough to hold over 10,000 residents
Like Inca
Stacked stone blocks without mortar to build walls
Houses stone or cement
Common people houses of dried mud and thatched roofs
Artifacts
Household implements and ornaments of gold, copper, jewelry, porcelain from China
Most of royal wealth from two sources
Ownership of cattle
Ability to levy heavy taxes on the gold that passed through to coast.
City abandoned middle 15th c.
Possibly because of environmental damage caused by overgrazing
With decline of Zimbabwe
Focus of economic power shifted northward to valley of Zambezi River.
GENERAL AFRICAN CULTURE
ART AND CULTURE
Art for expressing religious convictions and communal concerns
Oldest – rock paintings
Most famous in Tassili Mountains in central Sahara from 5000 BC
Show two-horse chariots to transport goods before camel
Also rock paintings in Nile valley
San rock paintings
Illustrations of ritual ceremonies
In which village shamans induce rain, propitiate spirits or cure illnesses
African wood carvings and sculpture
Statues, masks, headdresses carved from living trees (after artist sacrifice to tree’s spirit)
Masks and headdresses
Won by costumed singers and dancers in performances to various spirits
Show intimacy of African with natural world
Mali 3 foot tall Ci Wara headdresses
One female, other male
Celebrate mythical hero who had introduced agriculture
Metal ware
13th and 14th c.
Metal workers at Ife (southern Nigeria) made bronze and iron statues
Using lost-wax method
Melted wax in a mod is replaced by molten metal
Music
Music and dance served a religious function
Heavy rhythmic beat, dances were means of communicating with the spirits
Frenzied movements intended to represent the spirits acting through humans
Instruments
drums, percussion, xylophones, bells, horns, flutes,
Stringed instruments (fiddle, harp, zither)
gourds, pots, bells, sticks, hand clapping
voice
musical instruments and voice woven together to tell a story
“talking drum” -- To represent voice
Pattern of repetition and variation
“call and response”
Audience participated into eh music by uttering a single phrase over and over as a choral response to changing call sung by soloist
Carried by slaves to Americas
Today in gospel music sung by African American congregations
Music
Social rituals (weddings, funerals, religious ceremonies, official inaugurations)
Education
Passing on to young people information about history and social traditions
No written languages in sub-Saharan Africa (except Arabic used in Muslim societies in east and West Africa)
Music was primary means of transmitting folk legends and religious traditions from generation to generation
Oral tradition
Priestly class or specialized class of storytellers (griots)
Architecture
Pyramids along Nile
Earliest surviving architectural form
Adopted by Meroe during last centuries of first millennium BC
Used for same purpose as Giza,
Pyramids at Meroe distinctive in style
Smaller and topped with flat platform rather than rising to a point
Zimbabwe
Ruins of Great Zimbabwe south of Zambezi river
Constructed without mortar
Outer wall and public buildings = creativity
Moorish palaces at Zanzibar
West Africa
Turreted mud mosques
Buildings of stone were rarity until 1st millennium CE
Most of population houses of dried mud
Leo Africanus 16th c. traveler
To Guinea on West African coast
Houses of ruler and other elites built of chalk with straw roofs
East coast
Architecture of elite reflected Middle Eastern styles
Coastal towns and islands
From Mogadishu to Kilwa
Houses of wealthy built of stone and reflected Arabic influence
Commoners lived in huts of mud, thatch, palm leaves
Mosques normally built of stone
Axum
stone pillars (stelae)
Used to mark tombs of dead kings
Some 100 feet
Christianity
During Zagwe dynasty, churches carved out of solid rock constructed throughout country
Earliest built in 8th c. CE
Combined indigenous techniques from pre-Christian period with elements borrowed from Christian churches in Holy Land
Literature
In sense of written works – did not exist in sub-Saharan Africa
Except where Islam had brought Arabic script form Middle East
African societies compensated for absence of a written language
With a rich tradition of oral lore
Bard (griot) – a professional storyteller
Way history was transmitted orally from generation to generation
West Africa Bards highly esteemed
Served as counselors to kings
As well as protectors of local tradition
Bards revered for their oratory and singing skills, phenomenal memory and astute interpretation of history
Death of a bard was like burning of a library
Bards served necessary functions in society
Chroniclers of history
Preservers of social customs and proper conduct
Entertainers who possessed a monopoly over the playing of several musical instruments
Which accompanied their narratives
Often were mediator between hostile families or clans
Credited with possessing occult powers
Could read divinations
Give blessings and curses
Advisor to the king
Sometimes inciting him to action (like battle) through the passion of their poetry
When captured by the enemy
Bards often treated with respect and released
Or compelled to serve the visitor with their art
Epic of Son-Jara (Sunjata, Sundiata)
West African poem
Passed won orally by bards for 700 years
Heroic exploits of Son-Jara
Founder of Mali’s empire
Its ruler from 1230 to 1255
More celebrated than Mansa Musa
Women
Appreciated for their story-telling talents
Role as purveyors of the moral values, religious beliefs
Women were glue that held community together
EAST AFRICA
Zanj (referring to “burnt skin” of indigenous population
7th and 8th c.
People from Arabian peninsula and Persian gulf began to settle at ports along coast
And on small islands offshore
Middle of 10th c.
A Persian from Shiraz to area with six sons
Small fleet stopped along coast – each son disembarked on one of the coastal islands
And founded a small community
These communities grew into important commercial centers
Mombasa, Pemba, Zanzibar (coast of Zanj), Kilwa
African merchants served as middlemen
Between interior and traders from ports around Indian Ocean
9th/10th c.
String of trading ports from Mogadishu (capital of Somalia in north) to Kilwa (south of present-day Dar es Salaam) in south
Kilwa important
Near s. limit for ship hoping to complete round-trip journey in single season.
One of most magnificent cities of its day.
Goods traded
Exports: Ivory, gold, rhinoceros horn exported (to China)
Imports: iron goods, glassware, Indian textiles, Chinese porcelain
Lavish stone palaces
Some still standing in Mombasa and Zanzibar
Ibn Battuta
14th c. Arab traveler
Described Kilwa as “amongst the most beautiful cities, most elegantly built
Wood and ceilings of reeds
Husini Kubwa
Massive palace with vaulted roofs capped with domes and elaborate stone carvings
Surrounding an inner courtyard
Most of coastal states self-governing
Sometimes several towns groups together under a single dominant authority
Government revenue
From taxes imposed on commerce
Merchants sometime resorted to force to obtain goods from inland peoples
WOMEN
Subordinate to men but valued for their work
Polygyny common – esp. in Muslim societies
Women worked in fields while men tended cattle and hunted
Young girls sent into mines to extract gold (smaller )
Key differences between women in Africa and elsewhere
Matrilinear lineage (not patrilinear)
Inheritance to sons of sister before own son
Women could inherit property
Husband into wife’s house
Relations relaxed
Ibn Battuta – women are companions of men
SLAVERY
Enormous in 17th and 18th centuries
Originate when prisoners of war forced into perpetual servitude
Common in ancient Egypt
Prevalent during New Kingdom when slaving expeditions bought back 1000s of captives form upper Nile to be used in labor gangs, for tribute, as human sacrifices
10th c.
Berber tribes may have regularly raided agricultural communities south of Sahara for captives
Transported northward to Mediterranean
Soldiers or domestic servants
ISLAM
7TH C. spread across North Africa
Isolated Christian state of Axum to south
Although East Africa and West Africa south of Sahara
Not occupied by Arab forces,
But Islam eventually penetrated area
African relgion before Islam
Pantheism
Belief in single creator god from whom all things came
Sometimes creator god accompanied by pantheon of lesser deities
Ashanti people of Ghana in West Africa
Believed in supreme being called Nyame
Whose sons were lesser gods
Each son had different prupose (rain, compassion, sunshine)
Worship of Nyame was exclusive preserve of king through his priests
Common people worshiped Nyame’s sons (interceded with father on behalf of ordinary Africans)
Ancestor worship
Lineage group or clan traced to founding ancestor
Ancestral souls would into be extinguished as long as lineage group continued to perform rituals in their name
Believes challenged but no always replaced by arrival of Islam
Islam’s rejection of spirit worship and a priestly class ran counter to beliefs of many Africans
Was often ignored in practice
Also separation of sexes
Contrasted with informal relationships that prevailed in many African societies.